Patent ID: 7640303

Claim:
Apparatus for webcasting over a computer network, comprising: one or more processors; a first subsystem accessed over the computer network and including code executed by a processor for enabling an entity to reserve a webcast event, to obtain an event identifier, an access code, and an attendee URL, where the webcast event is a web-based audio event for casting speech of a speaker to one or more audience members over the computer network; a second subsystem connected to a telephone network and including code executed by a processor for enabling the entity to initiate the webcast event by verifying that a value derived from a one-way hash of the event identifier entered by the entity together with a shared secret matches the access code entered by the entity, and code executed by a processor for generating a data stream from an audio signal derived from speech of a speaker, wherein the speech of the speaker is received by the second subsystem over the telephone network; and a third subsystem accessible over the computer network and including code executed by a processor responsive to a client browser associated with a listener, who is an audience member, requesting the attendee URL for returning to the client browser a data structure including a stream URL, wherein the stream URL enables a streaming media player to obtain the data stream so that the listener can hear the speaker during the webcast event; wherein the data structure is generated dynamically based on a current state of the webcast event.