Patent ID: 9596504
Date: 2017-03-14
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04N

Claim:
1. A method for mixing at least two video streams comprising: generating a first video stream by a first end point, the first video stream comprising a first temporal sequence of frames; generating a second video stream by a second end point, the second video stream comprising a second temporal sequence of frames; the first end point sending the first temporal sequence of frames to a mixing device; the second end point sending the second temporal sequence of frames to the mixing device; the mixing device deriving a synchronization signal from at least one of: the first temporal sequence of frames, the second temporal sequence of frames, and a timing signal; the mixing device sending the synchronization signal to at least one of the first end point and the second end point so that subsequent frames of the first temporal sequence and subsequent frames of the second temporal sequence sent to the mixing device are synchronized with each other via synchronized encoding of the first and second subsequent frames by encoders of the first and second end points; at least one of the first end point and second end point receiving the synchronization signal; at least one of the first end point and the second end point, in response to the received synchronization signal, adjusting encoding of the frames of the first video stream and the frames of the second video stream such that subsequent frames of the first temporal sequence sent to the mixing device and subsequent frames of the second temporal sequence sent to the mixing device are synchronized with each other to have a same predictive structure based on the received synchronization signal; the mixing device receiving the subsequent frames of the first temporal sequence and the subsequent frames of the second temporal sequence after having sent the synchronization signal and mixes the received subsequent frames of the first temporal sequence with the received subsequent frames of the second temporal sequence to generate a mixed video stream.