Patent ID: 8717408

Claim:
A method for conducting a private videoconference within a first videoconference, comprising: performing, by a multipoint control unit (MCU), the first videoconference between a plurality of videoconference endpoints, wherein the MCU performs decoding and encoding operations on video information transmitted in the first videoconference; receiving input requesting the private videoconference for a plural subset of the plurality of videoconference endpoints, wherein the plural subset is not the entirety of the plurality of videoconference endpoints, and wherein the input is received during the first videoconference; initiating the private videoconference between the plural subset of the plurality of videoconference endpoints, wherein said initiating the private videoconference does not end the first videoconference; wherein during the private videoconference: transmitting, by the MCU, first videoconference information from a first videoconference endpoint of the plural subset to one or more second videoconference endpoints of the plural subset to conduct the private videoconference, wherein the MCU does not encode, decode, nor generate a composite image using the first videoconference information; and transmitting, by the MCU, second videoconference information from a first videoconference endpoint of a remaining subset to one or more second videoconference endpoints of the remaining subset to conduct the first videoconference, wherein the MCU encodes and decodes the second videoconference information; wherein the first videoconference information of the plural subset is not transmitted to the remaining subset.