Patent ID: 8621003

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying an overall plurality of nodes for a conference call, the overall plurality of nodes comprising: a plurality of bridging nodes that can mix individual audio signals into a composite audio signal and provide the composite audio signal to another node; a plurality of mixing-capable nodes that can mix the individual audio signals but do not provide the composite audio signal to another node; and a plurality of mixing-incapable nodes that are not capable of mixing the individual audio signals; associating a mixing-incapable node from the plurality of mixing-incapable nodes and a mixing-capable node from the plurality of mixing-capable nodes with a bridging node from the plurality of bridging nodes to yield a subconference; and when the bridging node receives an audio stream from an external node that is outside of the subconference: relaying audio signals in the audio stream to the mixing-capable node as unmixed individual audio signals based on predetermined performance criteria; and mixing the audio signals and providing the composite audio signal to the mixing-incapable node.