Method and system for providing an audio conference
First Claim
1. A method of providing an audio conference in near real time, comprising:
- * receiving audio from a moderator via a network;
transmitting a representation of the audio to a first listener via a public switched telephone network; and
transmitting a representation of the audio to a second listener via the Internet.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for providing an audio conference includes receiving audio from a moderator via a circuit-switched telephone network, transmitting a representation of the audio to a first listener group via the circuit-switched telephone network, and transmitting a representation of the audio to a second listener group via a packet-switched network. The audio conference is preferably transmitted to the first listener group and the second listener group in real-time or near real-time (e.g., within a few seconds). Although the method and system could be used with any suitable circuit-switched telephone network, the method and system are preferably used with a public switched telephone network. Further, although the method and system could be used with any suitable packet-switched network, the method and system are preferably used with the Internet.
34 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of providing an audio conference in near real time, comprising:
- * receiving audio from a moderator via a network;
transmitting a representation of the audio to a first listener via a public switched telephone network; and transmitting a representation of the audio to a second listener via the Internet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- * receiving audio from a moderator via a network;
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20. A computer program product that, when executed by a machine, provides an audio conference in real time, comprising:
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instructions to receive audio from a moderator via a public switched telephone network; instructions to transmit a representation of the audio to a first listener via the PSTN; and instructions to transmit a representation of the audio to a second listener via the Internet.
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21. A method for administrating network-based audio conferencing, comprising the steps of:
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enabling a two-way audio conference between a moderator and a guest; encoding, in real-time, audio data indicative of the two-way audio conference in a streaming format; and publishing a representation of the audio data in the streaming format in real-time or near real-time. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. An audio server system for establishing two-way audio communication between a moderator terminal and a guest terminal, the audio server system comprising:
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a conferencing system enabling two-way audio communication between the moderator terminal and the guest terminal; a media encoder receiving audio data representative of the two-way audio communication, and encoding the audio data representative of the two-way audio communication in a streaming format; and means for publishing, while the two-way audio communication between the moderator terminal and the guest terminal is ongoing, the two-way audio communication in a streaming format.
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24. An audio server system for establishing two-way audio communication between a moderator terminal and a guest terminal, the audio server system being accessible by a listener terminal via the Internet, the audio server system comprising:
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a conferencing system enabling two-way audio communication between the moderator terminal and the guest terminal; a media encoder receiving audio data representative of the two-way audio communication in real-time, and encoding the audio data representative of the two-way audio communication in a streaming format, the media encoder storing the two-way audio communication in the streaming format on one or more computer readable medium; a streaming server having a URL and also having access to the two-way audio communication in the streaming format; and a web server providing a web page having a hyperlink including the URL of the streaming server whereby upon activation of the hyperlink by the listener terminal, the listener terminal is connected to the streaming server to stream the two-way audio communication to the listener terminal. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification