Patent ID: 7668916
Filing Date: 2010-02-23
Classification: H04L,H04M,H04Q

Abstract:
1. A method of linking a first plurality of clients connected to a packet-switched conferencing server to a second plurality of clients connected to a circuit-switched conferencing server, the method comprising the steps of: (1) establishing, by the packet-switched conferencing server, a connection to the circuit-switched conferencing server; (2) designating the connection as an active speaker connection on the packet-switched conferencing server; (3) designating a first client of the first plurality of clients connected to the packet switched conferencing server as a first active speaker by the packet-switched conferencing server; (4) designating a second client of the first plurality of clients connected to the packet switched conferencing server as a second active speaker by the packet switched conferencing server; (5) designating a third client of the second plurality of clients connected to the circuit switched conferencing server as a third active speaker by the circuit-switch conferencing server; (6) designating a fourth client of the second plurality of clients connected to the circuit switched conferencing as a fourth active speaker by the circuit switched conferencing server; (7) limiting, by the packet-switched conferencing server, one or more of the first plurality of clients added to the active speaker connection; (8) receiving by the packet switched conference server, over the active connection, a first combined audio packet from the circuit-switched conferencing server, wherein the first combined audio packet is a mixture of audio packets received from the third client and received from the fourth client and is converted by the circuit-switched conferencing server to a format that the first plurality clients can receive; (9) receiving by the third client the first combined audio packet without an audio packet transmitted by third client and receiving by the fourth client the first combined audio packet without an audio packet transmitted by the fourth client; (10) receiving, by the packet-switched conferencing server, a first audio packet from the first client and a second audio packet from the second client of the first plurality of clients, wherein the plurality of first and second audio packets are received using an asynchronous transmission method; (11) forwarding, over the active speaker connection, a second combined audio packet to the circuit-switched conferencing server, wherein the second combined audio packet is a mixture of the first audio packet and the second audio packet, and wherein the circuit-switched conferencing server converts the second combined audio packet to a format that the second plurality of clients can receive; (12) mixing the first combined audio packet with the second combined audio packets from the first plurality of clients into a composite packet; and (13) forwarding the composite packet to each of the first plurality of clients connected to the packet-switched conferencing server, wherein the first client receives the composite packet without the composite packet containing an audio packet transmitted from the first client and the second client receives the composite packet without the composite packet containing an audio packet transmitted from the second client; wherein the first and the second plurality of clients, using varying equipment and protocols, can simultaneously participate in a single audio conference application; wherein the packet-switched conferencing server is independent from the circuit-switched conferencing server; wherein the packet-switched conferencing server keeps a first list of the first plurality of clients who have been designated as an active speaker and limits a number of active speaking IP-based clients; and wherein the circuit-switched conferencing server keeps a second list of the second plurality of clients who have been designated as an active speaker and limits a number of active speaking phone-based clients.