Patent ID: 8717407

Claim:
A method for performing a videoconference, the method comprising: establishing, at a first videoconferencing location, a videoconference between at least three videoconferencing locations, wherein the at least three videoconferencing locations comprise the first videoconferencing location, a second videoconferencing location, and a third videoconferencing location, wherein the first videoconferencing location maintains a first plurality of videoconferencing units, wherein the second and third videoconferencing locations each maintain a single videoconferencing unit, wherein each videoconferencing unit has a corresponding at least one display and at least one video input, wherein a first videoconferencing unit of the first videoconferencing location acts as a multipoint control unit (MCU) of the videoconference; the MCU receiving respective video conferencing information from each videoconferencing unit of the at least three videoconferencing locations; and the MCU providing a respective video stream to each of the videoconferencing units of the at least three videoconferencing locations, wherein each of the respective video streams comprises videoconferencing information from a respective one or more of the videoconferencing units of the videoconference, wherein the respective video streams provided to the videoconferencing units of the first videoconferencing location comprise videoconferencing information from only videoconferencing units of other videoconferencing locations, and wherein the respective video streams provided to the videoconferencing units of the first videoconferencing location each comprise videoconferencing information from a different one or more of the videoconferencing units of the videoconference than the respective video streams provided to the others of the videoconferencing units of the first videoconferencing location.