Patent ID: 8791982
Filing Date: 2014-07-29
Classification: H04L,H04M,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method of conducting a video conference with reduced bandwidth usage, comprising: receiving a video stream at a multicast engine connected to a participant of a plurality of participants in the video conference, the video stream being supplied by the participant, the multicast engine including a first memory and a first processor configured to execute instructions stored in the first memory; selectively transmitting the video stream of the participant from the multicast engine to a server station based on a determination of whether the video stream is a candidate for a conference video stream to be transmitted to at least some of the plurality of participants from the server station, the server station including a second memory and a second processor configured to execute instructions stored in the second memory; receiving the conference video stream at the multicast engine from the server station; and transmitting the conference video stream to any participants in the video conference that are connected to the multicast engine.