Patent ID: 8483098

Claim:
A conference spanner, comprising: a presentation mechanism configured to present a plurality of conferences in a plurality of media modes at a same time, wherein the plurality of conferences are presented in a spatial arrangement to provide a distinction among the plurality of conferences to a user participating in the plurality of conferences, the distinction to the user being based on a varying level of intensity related to at least one of the plurality of media modes; and a selector mechanism configured to enable the user to select a first conference from the plurality of conferences to be a selected conference, wherein the user is enabled to indicate the selection by selecting any one of the plurality of media modes available for the first conference, and wherein: non-selected conferences of the plurality of conferences are designated as background conferences and presented to the user with intensities associated with plurality of media modes of the background conferences reduced in level compared to the intensities associated with the corresponding media modes of the selected conference, and based on being selected, the first conference is configured to be presented to the user as an active conference with an intensity associated with at least one media mode of the first conference enhanced in level in the presentation mechanism relative to intensities associated with corresponding media modes for each of the background conferences, wherein the plurality of conferences are spatially divided, the selected conference being presented from a front direction and the non-selected conferences being presented from a direction other than the front direction.