Conferencing over LAN/WAN using a hybrid client/server configuration
US6327276A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 22, 1998 |
| Grant date | Dec 4, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 22, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M7/1205
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method of and system for conferencing a plurality of clients over a local or wide area network using multicasting where the conferencing function is distributed between a server and the clients. The invention takes advantage of certain capabilities of existing client equipment and multicasting capabilities of the server to distribute the conference function between the server and the clients in a conference call over a LAN/WAN in a way that reduces network congestion and protocol complexity. The system of the present invention for providing conferencing over a local or wide area network, includes: a plurality of clients connected to the network for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from the network; and a server connected to the network for receiving a plurality of signals transmitted from the plurality of clients, mixing the received signals to create a single multicast signal, and transmitting the multicast signal to each of the clients. Each of the plurality of received signals is made up of data packets of a defined length. The server includes: a jitter buffer for synchronizing the data packets received from the plurality of clients; an adjustable gain/loss contro…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.