Methods and systems for linking virtual meeting attendees over a network
First Claim
1. A method for communicating real time data streams between a plurality of virtual meeting attendees over a digital data network comprising the steps of:
- receiving a plurality of real time data streams that include a first and a second real time data stream communicated from at least one attendee computer at each of a plurality of virtual meeting attendees, each of said plurality of real time data streams encoded in a packet based protocol that includes a discrete control portion and a discrete data portion;
linking said first real time data stream from each of the plurality of virtual attendees to a first network interface that is separate from said at least one attendee computers, said first network interface includes a first port linked to said first real time data stream data portion to and a second port linked to said first real time data stream control portion;
linking said second real time data stream from each of said plurality of virtual meeting attendees to a second network interface that is separate from said at least one attendee computers, said second interface including a first port linked to said second real time data stream data portion and a second port linked to said second real time data stream control portion wherein said data and control portions are communicated through different ports; and
,allowing a requestor to selectively link to one but not the other of said first and said network interfaces.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to methods and computer program products for communicating real time data streams between a plurality of virtual meeting attendees over a digital data network. One exemplary method of the invention includes the steps of receiving a plurality of real time data streams from each of a plurality of virtual meeting attendees, of linking a first and a second of the real time data streams from each of the attendees to a first network interface, of linking only the first data stream from each of the attendees to a second network interface, and of linking only the second data stream from each of the attendees to a third network interface.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A method for communicating real time data streams between a plurality of virtual meeting attendees over a digital data network comprising the steps of:
-
receiving a plurality of real time data streams that include a first and a second real time data stream communicated from at least one attendee computer at each of a plurality of virtual meeting attendees, each of said plurality of real time data streams encoded in a packet based protocol that includes a discrete control portion and a discrete data portion; linking said first real time data stream from each of the plurality of virtual attendees to a first network interface that is separate from said at least one attendee computers, said first network interface includes a first port linked to said first real time data stream data portion to and a second port linked to said first real time data stream control portion; linking said second real time data stream from each of said plurality of virtual meeting attendees to a second network interface that is separate from said at least one attendee computers, said second interface including a first port linked to said second real time data stream data portion and a second port linked to said second real time data stream control portion wherein said data and control portions are communicated through different ports; and
,allowing a requestor to selectively link to one but not the other of said first and said network interfaces. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A computer program product for linking data communications between a plurality of users in each of a plurality of virtual meetings on a data network, the program product comprising computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable medium that when executed cause one or more computers to:
-
receive a first plurality of real time data streams from each of a plurality of attendees at a first meeting, said plurality of real time data streams including at least one real time video data stream and at least one real time audio data stream from each of said plurality of first meeting attendees; receive a second plurality of real time data streams from each of a plurality attendees at a second meeting, said second virtual meeting occurring at least partially concurrently with said first virtual meeting, said second plurality of real time data streams including at least one real time video data stream and at least one real time audio data stream from each of said second virtual meeting attendees; link only said real time video data streams from said plurality of first meeting attendees to a first network interface and linking only said real time audio data streams from said plurality of first meeting attendees to a second network interface; link only said real time video data streams from said plurality of second meeting attendees to a third network interface and linking only said real time audio data streams from said plurality of second meeting attendees to a fourth network interface; allow a requestor to selectively choose which of said interfaces to receive data streams from whereby said requestor may choose to receive data streams from only one of said first, second, third or fourth interfaces; and
,assign identifiers to each of said network interfaces, said identifier for said first network interface including A and X, said identifier for said network second interface including A and Y, said identifier for said third network interface including B and X, and said identifier for said fourth network interface including B and Y, where A is an identifier for said first virtual meeting, B is an identifier for said second virtual meeting, X is an identifier for an interface having only video data, and Y is an identifier for an interface having only audio data. - View Dependent Claims (19)
-
Specification