Patent ID: 9628538
Date: 2017-04-18
CPC Classifications: G06Q,H04L,H04N

Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, using one or more computing devices, a discrete video stream from each of a plurality of users of a social network, resulting in a plurality of discrete video streams; providing a synchronous communication session for the plurality of users based, at least in part, upon the plurality of discrete video streams; rendering, for the plurality of users, a first video stream of a first user of the plurality of users within a first primary viewing field of one or more primary viewing fields in a video layout associated with the synchronous communication session, wherein the first video stream is chosen from the plurality of discrete video streams; rendering, for the plurality of users, a secondary viewing field that is associated with the synchronous communication session and includes a plurality of portions; rendering, for the plurality of users, video streams of a subset of the plurality of users within the plurality of portions of the secondary viewing field, wherein the video streams of the subset of the plurality of users are chosen from the plurality of discrete video streams; broadcasting the plurality of discrete video streams to one or more broadcast recipients, each broadcast recipient being a non-participant user that is not providing a respective discrete video stream to the synchronous communication session; and providing one or more user-selectable templates to one or more client electronic devices associated with the one or more broadcast recipients, wherein each of the user-selectable templates defines a number and a location of the one or more primary viewing fields and define a number of the plurality of portions of the secondary viewing field in the video layout for one or more of the plurality of discrete video streams and enables the one or more broadcast recipients to manipulate, via the one or more client electronic devices, a manner in which the plurality of discrete video streams are rendered by the one or more client electronic devices.