Method and apparatus for providing full duplex and multipoint IP audio streaming

• US 7,313,593 B1
• Filed: 10/24/2000
• Issued: 12/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pulito, Brian, Johnson, Mark, Cline, Brian, Lochbaum, Andrew, Durham, Jeff, Kressin, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Oanh
• Application Number:
  US09/695,193
• Time in Patent Office: 2,618 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/227, 709/231, 709/246, 709/248, 370/260
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A conference server enables collaborative communications among a variety of client processes of varying configurations all operatively coupled over a computer network to each other and to the server. The server receives audio streams from participating client processes in a conference, selects which audio streams are active, and broadcasts one or more of the active audio streams to the client processes participating in the conference depending on the clients receiving capabilities and the conference parameters. The client processes receiving multiple active audio streams perform mixing locally at the client node. Without having to perform mixing at the server, resources are saved and the number of simultaneous participating client processes to the conference may be increased accordingly. The server is further capable of simultaneously accommodating multipoint clients and non-multipoint H.323 clients, as well as operating in multiway and “push to talk” modes.

Claims

1. A system embedded in a computer-readable storage medium, when executed by one or more processors, for conferencing over a computer network, the system comprising:

a plurality of client processes operatively coupled to the computer network and configured to establish a point-to-point communication connection with an other process operatively coupled to the computer network, each of the plurality of client processes configured to receive first and second active streams of audio data, first and second client processes of the plurality of client processes are configured to transmit the first and second active streams of audio data; and

a server process operatively coupled to the computer network and configured to identify the first client process of the plurality of client processes which is transmitting the first active audio stream from a first single audio source and to retransmit the first active audio stream of the first identified client process to others of the plurality of client processes in unmixed form, the server process further configured to identify the second client process of the plurality of client processes which is transmitting the second active audio stream from a second single audio source and to simultaneously retransmit the first and second active audio streams of the first and second audio sources associated with the identified first and second client processes, respectively, to the others of the plurality of client processes in unmixed form,

wherein the first and second active audio streams comprise a plurality of audio data packets, each of the audio data packets havinq a packet header includinq a source identifier and sequence number associated with each of the audio data packets, and wherein the server process is further configured to modify the source identifier and sequence number of each of the packet headers in the first and second active streams of audio packets,

wherein the plurality of client processes do not support multipoint conferences.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of client processes are configured to receive the first and second active audio streams in unmixed form from the server process and to mix the first and second active audio streams into a form suitable for presentation.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein each packet header further includes a time stamp and wherein the server process is further configured to modify the time stamp of the packet headers in the active stream of audio packets.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the server process is further configured to retransmit the modified packets of the first and second active streams of audio packets to the others of the plurality of client processes.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the plurality of client processes are configured to transmit an active stream of video data.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the server process is further configured to identify the one of the plurality of client processes which is transmitting the active video stream and to retransmit the active video stream of the one identified client process to the others of the plurality of client processes.

7. In a server process operatively coupled over a computer network to a plurality of client processes configured to establish a point-to-point communication connection with an other process operatively coupled to the computer network, each of the plurality of client processes configured to receive at least one active stream of audio data, a first and second client processes of the plurality of client processes are configured to transmit a first and second active streams of audio data, a method for conferencing over the computer network comprising:

identifying the first client process the plurality of client processes which is transmitting the first active audio stream from a first single audio source;

retransmitting the first active audio stream of the first identified client process to others of the plurality of client processes in unmixed form,

identifying the second client process of the plurality of client processes which is transmitting the second active audio stream from a second single audio source, and

retransmitting the first and second active audio streams of the first and second audio sources associated with the identified first and second client processes, respectively, to the others of the plurality of client processes in unmixed form,

wherein the first and second active audio streams comprise a plurality of data packets, each of the data packets having a packet header including a source identifier and sequence number associated with the each of the packets, and wherein the server process is further configured to modify the source identifier and sequence number of each of the packet headers in the first and second active streams of audio packets when the plurality of client processes do not support multipoint conferences.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the others of plurality of client processes are configured to receive the first and second active audio streams in unmixed form from the server process and to mix the first and second active audio streams into a form suitable for presentation.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the packet header further includes a time stamp, and further comprising:

modifying the time stamp, of the packet headers in the first and second active stream of audio packets.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

retransmitting the modified packets of the first and second active streams of audio packets to the others of the plurality of client processes.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein one of the plurality of client processes are configured to transmit an active stream of video data.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

identify the one of the plurality of client processes which is transmitting the active video stream.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

transmitting the active video stream of the one identified client process to others of the plurality of client processes.