Patent ID: 7698365

Claim:
A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for bridging a plurality of multicast conferences, each of the plurality of multicast conferences having at least one client, the computer-executable instructions are executed by a computer to perform the steps of: receiving a first call from one client of a first conference to join a second conference, the client of the first conference using a first type of control signaling and media streaming, the client generating an audio stream and a video stream of the first type; looking for a description of the second conference, the description of the second conference indicating that the second conference uses a second type of control signaling and media streaming, the second type being different from the first type, the second conference generating an audio stream and media stream of the second type; and joining the one client into the second conference to effect the bridging of the first conference with the second conference, the step of joining comprising: creating a second call to call the second conference; creating a multicast bridging terminal for inputting the audio stream of the first type and outputting an audio stream of the second type, a multicast bridging terminal for inputting the audio stream of the second type and outputting an audio stream of the first type, a multicast bridging terminal for inputting a video stream of the first type and outputting a video stream of the second type, and a multicast bridging terminal for inputting a video stream of the second type and outputting a video stream of the first type; connecting the second call to each multicast bridging terminal via the stream of the second type; and connecting the first call to each multicast bridging terminal via the stream of the first type wherein at least one multicast bridging terminal is an audio multicast bridging terminal comprising: an audio sink module to receive at least one input stream from one of the first call and one of the second call, wherein the audio sink module timestamps audio samples of the at least one input stream with a time of a clock, the time of the clock being updated when a discontinuity flag is set in response to a first sample of a talk spurt is delivered to the audio sink module, the updating of the clock including: if the data in the at least one input stream is continuous data, increasing the clock by a first time based on an amount of data passed through the audio sink module; and if there is a silence period in the at least one audio input stream, adjusting the clock by a second time being the length of time of the silence period; an audio source module to send at least one output stream to one of the first call and one of the second call; and an interface to send one of at least one input stream to the source module.