Patent ID: 8908005

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for broadcasting a multiway video conference, the method comprising: transmitting, using one or more computing devices and to each of a plurality of user devices, an indication that the user device should transmit a video stream at a high quality level relative to a capability of the user device; receiving, using the one or more computing devices and based on the transmitted indication, a plurality of video streams from the plurality of user devices; broadcasting, using the one or more computing devices, the plurality of video streams, wherein a first video stream of the plurality of video streams is broadcast at a first quality level and the remaining video streams of the plurality of video streams are broadcast at a second quality level, the first quality level being higher than the second quality level, and wherein the broadcasting is based on a determination that the first video stream is associated with a participant who is currently communicating in the multiway video conference; determining, using the one or more computing devices, that the participant who is currently communicating has changed, from being associated with the first video stream to a second video stream of the plurality of video streams; and in response to the determining, and independent of control signaling transmitted to the plurality of user devices, updating the broadcast, using the one or more computing devices, so that the second video stream of the plurality of video streams is broadcast at the first quality level and the remaining video streams of the plurality of video streams are broadcast at the second quality level, wherein the broadcast is for third-party viewers not participating in the multiway video conference, and wherein the broadcast comprises a composite video stream which includes each of the plurality of video streams.