Apparatus and method for asymmetrical conferencing between local and external transceivers
First Claim
1. A multimedia conferencing apparatus for managing simultaneous asymmetrical public and/or private conferences wherein a conference takes place between an external transceiver and at least a local transceiver, local transceivers being able to take part to a plurality of conferences simultaneously, the apparatus comprising at least:
- a communication interface connected to at least a packet data communication network, the communication interface being operable to send and receive multimedia signals to and from the transceiversa conference managing means;
for managing data indicating the existing public and/or private conferences and corresponding ones of the transceivers participating to said conferences;
for managing, for each transceiver, a state, in the sense of a state of a Finite state machine, indicating whether a transceiver is participating to a private conference or to a public conference, wherein the conference managing unit is operable to determine, for each transceiver, which of the incoming multimedia signals received from other ones of the transceivers are accessible to said transceiver, based on the transceivers state and on the data characterising the existing conferences; and
a signal generating means for generating, for each transceiver, at least an outgoing multimedia signal by mixing the incoming multimedia signals accessible to said transceiver.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
These multimedia conferencing apparatus and method manage asymmetrical public and/or private conferences. A conference takes place between an external transceiver and at least a local transceiver; local transceivers may take part to a plurality of conferences simultaneously. The apparatus comprises a communication interface connected to a packet data communication network in order to send and receive multimedia signals to and from the transceivers. A conference managing means is operable to determine, for each transceiver, which of the incoming multimedia signals received from the other transceivers are accessible to said transceiver, based on a transceiver'"'"'s state and on data characterising the existing conferences, said state indicating whether said transceiver is participating to a private conference or to a public conference. A signal generating means generates for each transceiver at least an outgoing multimedia signal by mixing the incoming multimedia signals of the transceivers accessible to said transceiver.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A multimedia conferencing apparatus for managing simultaneous asymmetrical public and/or private conferences wherein a conference takes place between an external transceiver and at least a local transceiver, local transceivers being able to take part to a plurality of conferences simultaneously, the apparatus comprising at least:
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a communication interface connected to at least a packet data communication network, the communication interface being operable to send and receive multimedia signals to and from the transceivers a conference managing means; for managing data indicating the existing public and/or private conferences and corresponding ones of the transceivers participating to said conferences; for managing, for each transceiver, a state, in the sense of a state of a Finite state machine, indicating whether a transceiver is participating to a private conference or to a public conference, wherein the conference managing unit is operable to determine, for each transceiver, which of the incoming multimedia signals received from other ones of the transceivers are accessible to said transceiver, based on the transceivers state and on the data characterising the existing conferences; and a signal generating means for generating, for each transceiver, at least an outgoing multimedia signal by mixing the incoming multimedia signals accessible to said transceiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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13. Method for managing simultaneous asymmetrical public and/or private conferences, wherein a conference takes place between an external transceiver and at least a local transceiver, local transceiver being able to take part to a plurality of conferences simultaneously, the method being performed in a data processing apparatus connected to a data packet-switched network, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving, through at least a communication interface connected to the network, incoming multimedia signals from transceivers; managing, by a conference managing means; data indicating the existing public and/or private conferences and the transceivers participating to said conferences; for each transceiver, a state, in the sense of a state of a finite state machine, indicating whether a transceiver is participating to a private conference or to a public conference; determining, by said conference managing means, for each transceiver, which incoming multimedia signals received from corresponding other ones of the transceivers are accessible to said transceiver, based on the state of said corresponding other ones of the transceivers and on the data characterising the existing conferences; and generating, for each transceiver, by a signal generating means, at least an outgoing multimedia signal by mixing the incoming multimedia signals of the transceivers accessible to said transceiver. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28)
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Specification