Patent ID: 6961416

Claim:
A system for conferencing callers that have called in to the system to participate in a previously scheduled conference, comprising: a time division multi-plexed (TDM) bus; a public switched telephone network (PSTN) interface node coupled to the TDM bus, the PSTN interface node coupled to the TDM bus operable to receive PSTN signals from a PSTN caller that has called in to the system to participate in the previously scheduled conference and to communicate corresponding information in a first timeslot using the TDM bus to enable the PSTN caller to participate in the previously scheduled conference; an Internet Protocol (IP) interface node coupled to the TDM bus, the IP interface node coupled to the TDM bus operable to receive IP packets from an IP caller that has called in to the system to participate in the previously scheduled conference and to communicate corresponding information in a second timeslot using the TDM bus to enable the IP caller to participate in the previously scheduled conference; and a digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus, the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus operable to: receive the information for the IP caller from the IP interface node coupled to the TDM bus at the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus, this information having been communicated between the IP interface node coupled to the TDM bus and the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus in the second timeslot using the TDM bus, and communicate this received information for the IP caller from the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus to the PSTN interface node coupled to the TDM bus in a first conference timeslot using the TDM bus independent of input from any other caller participating in the previously scheduled conference, information for the IP caller being communicated using the TDM bus from the IP interface node coupled to the TDM bus through the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus to the PSTN interface node coupled to the TDM bus throughout the previously scheduled conference; and receive the information for the PSTN caller from the PSTN interface node coupled to the TDM bus at the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus, this information having been communicated between the PSTN interface node coupled to the TDM bus and the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus in the first timeslot using the TDM bus, and communicate this received information for the PSTN caller from the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus to the IP interface node coupled to the TDM bus in a second conference timeslot using the TDM bus independent of input from any other caller participating in the previously scheduled conference, information for the PSTN caller being communicated using the TDM bus from the PSTN interface node coupled to the TDM bus through the digital conference bridge node coupled to the TDM bus to the IP interface node coupled to the TDM bus throughout the previously scheduled conference.