DECOUPLED CASCADED MIXERS ARCHITECHTURE AND RELATED METHODS

• US 20110149810A1
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: KOREN, EITAN, Tooba, Abraham, Yalon, Nira, Shperling, Itzhak, Rahamim, Yosi
• Granted Patent: US 8,169,936 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/261
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership

Abstract

Methods for inter-mixer communication enable a “self-formed” cascaded mixer node tree topology. One method enables inter-mixer node signaling and includes first selecting a plurality of media flow payloads at a first cascaded mixer node. A set of conference payloads are generated and each include the media flow payloads from the plurality of media flow payloads that are part of the same conference call, an identifier for the conference call, and a node identifier for each media flow in the conference call. For each media flow in the conference call, each conference payload further identifies whether the first cascaded mixer node is a root node or a leaf node. The set of conference payloads are bundled into a single packet and sent to a second cascaded mixer node. Another method enables the “self-forming” of the mixer node tree topology. Yet another method enables active talker identification within the “self-formed” tree topology.

Claims

1. A method for inter-node signaling in a conferencing network, the method comprising:

at a first cascaded mixer node;

selecting a plurality of media flow payloads;

generating a set of conference payloads, wherein each conference payload includes media flow payloads from the plurality of media flow payloads that are part of the same conference call, an identifier for the conference call, and a node identifier for each media flow payload in the conference call, wherein each conference payload further identifies for each media flow payload in the conference call whether the first cascaded mixer node is a root node or a leaf node;

bundling the set of conference payloads into a single packet; and

sending the single packet to a second cascaded mixer node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the single packet is a single Internet Protocol packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of conference payloads comprises at least two conference payloads.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the single packet further comprises a node load field that includes a measure of:

a number of conference participants connected to the first cascaded mixer node, a number of tree roots currently running on the first cascaded mixer node, and a number of leaves currently running on the first cascaded mixer node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one conference payload comprises a single combined media flow payload that includes a summation of two or more different media flow payloads, wherein the node identifier for the different media flow payloads is a single node identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one conference payload comprises two or more different individual media flow payloads, wherein each of the individual media flow payloads is associated with a participant identifier that identifies a conference participant that sent the media flow payload, and wherein the node identifier for each individual media flow payload identifies a cascaded mixer node to which the conference participant is connected.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cascaded mixer node comprises a cascaded mixers framer, and wherein the set of conference payloads are bundled into a single packet by the cascaded mixers framer.

8. A method for building a conference node tree for a conference call, the method comprising:

at a first cascaded mixer node of a plurality of cascaded mixer nodes;

accepting a request to connect a participant to the conference call;

determining that the participant is a first participant to join the conference call; and

determining a state of the first cascaded mixer node as either a root node or a leaf node for the conference call;

communicating the state of the first cascaded mixer node to the remaining cascaded mixer nodes in the plurality.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the request to connect is from a Focus server.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving an announcement that a second cascaded mixer node of the plurality of cascaded mixer nodes has a self-determined state of root node for the conference call; and

based on the received announcement, selecting the second cascaded mixer node as the root node for the conference call, and determining the state of the first cascaded mixer node as the leaf node for the conference call.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining a state of the first cascaded mixer node as a root node for the conference call;

receiving an announcement that a second cascaded mixer node is a conflicting root node for the conference call;

comparing a first node load of the first cascaded mixer node to a second node load of the second cascaded mixer node;

based on the comparison, selecting the first cascaded mixer node as the root node and determining a state of the second cascaded mixer node as the leaf node for the conference call, when the first node load is smaller than the second node load;

otherwise, selecting the first cascaded mixer node as the leaf node and determining a state of the second cascaded mixer node as the root node for the conference call, when the first node load is larger than the second node load.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining the state of the first cascaded mixer node as the leaf node for the conference call and a state of a second cascaded mixer node as the root node for the conference call;

identifying that the second cascaded mixer node is an overloaded root node; and

based on the identifying, designating the first cascaded mixer node as the root node for the conference call, and determining the state of the second cascaded mixer node as the leaf node for the conference call.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining a node load of the first cascaded mixer node at periodic intervals based on a clock signal; and

communicating the node load of the first cascaded mixer node to the remaining cascaded mixer nodes in the plurality.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining the state of the first cascaded mixer node as the root node for the conference call; and

sending a root node report of talker identification events to the Focus server from the root node;

wherein the root node report identifies active talkers directly connected to the root node by RTP IP/port information, and wherein the root node report identifies active talkers connected through a leaf node by one selected from the group consisting of;

a node identifier and a user identifier for a low bit rate/PTT conference; and

a node identifier for a high bit rate conference.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining the state of the first cascaded mixer node as the leaf node for the conference call; and

sending a leaf node report of talker identification events to the Focus server from the leaf node;

wherein the leaf node report identifies active talkers by RTP IP/port information, a node identifier, and a user identifier.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

at the Focus server;

receiving the root node report of talker identification events from the root node;

correlating the root node report to a leaf node report; and

based on the correlation, resolving an active talker identity for the conference call.

17. A method for a talker identification for a conference call, the method comprising:

at a Focus server;

receiving a root node report of talker identification events from a first cascaded mixer node, wherein the first cascaded mixer node is a root node for the conference call, wherein the root node report identifies an active talker connected to the root node by RTP IP/port information, and wherein the root node report identifies an active talker connected through a leaf node by one selected from the group consisting of;

a node identifier and a user identifier for a low bit rate/PTT conference; and

a node identifier for a high bit rate conference;

receiving a leaf node report of talker identification events from a second cascaded mixer node, wherein the second cascaded mixer node is a leaf node for the conference call, and wherein the leaf node report identifies an active talker by RTP IP/port information, a node identifier, and a user identifier;

correlating the root node report to the leaf node report; and

based on the correlation, resolving an active talker identity for the conference call.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein resolving the active talker identity further comprises generating a uniform resource identifier scheme for the active talker.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the root node report further identifies a conference descriptor, wherein the root node report further identifies itself as the root node report, and wherein the root node report further identifies the conference call as one selected from the group consisting of:

a low bit rate/PTT conference; and

a high bit rate conference.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the leaf node report further identifies a conference descriptor, wherein the leaf node report further identifies itself as the leaf node report, and wherein the leaf node report further identifies the conference call as one selected from the group consisting of:

a low bit rate/PTT conference; and

a high bit rate conference.