Patent ID: 6192395
Filing Date: 2001-02-20
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
A computer product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:(i) a participant data structure comprising a plurality of participant records, each participant record associated with a different participant in a multi-participant event;(ii) an application module for providing a user interface to said multi-participant event;(iii) a sound control module for receiving a plurality of packets from a network connection, each said packet associated with a participant in said multi-participant event and including digitized speech from said participant, said sound controller comprising:a plurality of buffers, each buffer including instructions for managing a subset of said packets;a packet controller that includes instructions for determining said participant associated with said packet and instructions for routing said packet to a buffer, wherein when said packet is routed to said buffer, said packet is managed by said buffer; anda visual identification module that includes instructions for visually identifying said participant in said multi-participant event and a characteristic associated with said participant; and(iv) a sound mixer that includes instructions for mixing digitized speech from at least one of said buffers to produce a signal that is presented to an output device.