Patent ID: 8316089

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving over a network multiple media streams for a multimedia conference event; decoding the multiple media streams; calculating a total number of available display frames in a visual composition based at least on technical constraints of the network and viewing constraints of a display; determining that a total number of decoded media streams is greater than the total number of available display frames in the visual composition; selecting an active group of decoded media streams from among the total number of decoded media streams for mapping to the available display frames based on speech activity; generating a first activity score to represent a ratio value of speech activity to non-speech activity, a second activity score to represent a length value for speech activity by a participant, and a third activity score to represent a most recent time for speech activity by a participant; and selecting a member of the active group of decoded media streams as an active replacement candidate to be replaced by a member of the non-active group of decoded media streams based on the first, second, or third activity score.