Patent ID: 7499416

Claim:
A method of operating a conference, comprising: receiving a first input signal from a first audiovisual terminal, the first input signal including first compressed video data; receiving a second input signal from a second audiovisual terminal, the second input signal including second compressed video data; decompressing the first compressed video data and thereby generating first decompressed digital data; decompressing the second compressed video data and thereby generating second decompressed digital data; outputting at least some of the first decompressed digital data to a bus during a first plurality of timeslots; outputting at least some of the second decompressed digital data to the bus during a second plurality of timeslots; reading at least some of the first decompressed digital data from the bus during the first plurality of timeslots; reading at least some of the second decompressed digital data from the bus during the second plurality of timeslots; combining at least some of the first and second decompressed digital data read from the bus to form third decompressed data representative of a first composite image; compressing at least some of the third decompressed data and thereby forming third compressed data; using at least some of the third compressed data to generate a first output signal; sending the first output signal to a third audiovisual terminal.