Apparatus for the efficient transmission of multimedia streams for teleconferencing
First Claim
1. A method for supporting operations of a teleconference across a telecommunications network, the teleconference being held by participants at a plurality of locations including one or more source locations and a plurality of remote locations, each location being associated with a different corresponding node, at least one of said nodes coupled to a telecommunications controller which directs transmission of media streams generated at the one or more source locations to the plurality of remote locations participating in the teleconference, wherein the plurality of remote locations are divided into first and second subsets, the first subset of remote locations receiving a media signal directly from a source location, and the second subset of remote locations not receiving the media signal directly from the source location, at least one of said nodes corresponding to a location included in the first subset of remote locations being a peer-to-peer forwarding node, the method performed by the peer-to-peer forwarding node, the method comprising:
- receiving a request from the telecommunications controller to provide peer-to-peer forwarding of said media signal from said source location to a remote location included the second subset of remote locations;
receiving said media signal directly from said source location; and
forwarding said media signal received from said source location to said remote location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A peer-to-peer forwarding node supports the operation of a teleconference across a telecommunications network. The telecommunications network comprises a plurality of nodes including one or more source locations and one or more remote locations. The teleconference includes teleconference participants at each of the source and remote locations. The peer-to-peer forwarding node is located at a given one of the plurality of nodes. The peer-to-peer forwarding node comprises a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver receives a request from a telecommunications controller to provide peer-to-peer forwarding of a media signal to be received from a first one of the source locations to a first one of the remote locations and which further receives the media signal from the first one of said source locations. The transmitter forwards the media signal from the first one of the source locations to the first one of the remote locations.
22 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for supporting operations of a teleconference across a telecommunications network, the teleconference being held by participants at a plurality of locations including one or more source locations and a plurality of remote locations, each location being associated with a different corresponding node, at least one of said nodes coupled to a telecommunications controller which directs transmission of media streams generated at the one or more source locations to the plurality of remote locations participating in the teleconference, wherein the plurality of remote locations are divided into first and second subsets, the first subset of remote locations receiving a media signal directly from a source location, and the second subset of remote locations not receiving the media signal directly from the source location, at least one of said nodes corresponding to a location included in the first subset of remote locations being a peer-to-peer forwarding node, the method performed by the peer-to-peer forwarding node, the method comprising:
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receiving a request from the telecommunications controller to provide peer-to-peer forwarding of said media signal from said source location to a remote location included the second subset of remote locations; receiving said media signal directly from said source location; and forwarding said media signal received from said source location to said remote location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A peer-to-peer forwarding node for supporting operations of a teleconference across a telecommunications network, the teleconference being held by participants at a plurality of locations including one or more source locations and a plurality of remote locations, each location being associated with a different corresponding node, each of said nodes coupled to a telecommunications controller which directs transmission of media streams generated at the one or more source locations to the plurality of remote locations participating in the teleconference, wherein the plurality of remote locations are divided into first and second subsets, the first subset of remote locations receiving a media signal directly from a source location, and the second subset of remote locations not receiving the media signal directly from the source location, at least one of said nodes corresponding to a location included in the first subset of remote locations being the peer-to-peer forwarding node, the peer-to-peer forwarding node comprising:
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a receiver, which receives a request from the telecommunications controller to provide peer-to-peer forwarding of the media signal from said source location to a remote location included the second subset of remote locations, and which further receives said media signal directly from said source location; and a transmitter, which forwards said media signal received from said source location to said remote location. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A telecommunications network, comprising a plurality of nodes including one or more source locations and a plurality of remote locations, and a telecommunications controller which directs transmission of media streams generated at the one or more source locations to the plurality of remote locations participating in a teleconference, each of said nodes coupled to the telecommunications controller, wherein the plurality of remote locations are divided into first and second subsets, the first subset of remote locations receiving a media signal directly from a source location, and the second subset of remote locations not receiving the media signal directly from the source location, at least one of said nodes corresponding to a location included in the first subset of remote locations being a peer-to-peer forwarding node, the peer-to-peer forwarding node comprising:
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a receiver, which receives a request from the telecommunications controller to provide peer-to-peer forwarding of the media signal from said source location to a remote location included the second subset of remote locations and which further receives said media signal directly from said source location; and a transmitter, which forwards said media signal received from said source location to said remote location.
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Specification