Patent ID: 9742574
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04M,H04N

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.