Patent ID: 7865834

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for displaying participant panels in a user interface window of a videoconferencing application, the method comprising: receiving in a single computer at least two live video streams, each live video stream associated with a remote participant; generating in the computer a single user interface window; determining a three dimensional model view for displaying participant panels; generating in the three dimensional model view a participant panel for each of the live video streams, each participant panel associated with a remote participant, the participant panels including a first participant panel and a second participant panel; determining a viewport for rendering the three dimensional model view, including the first participant panel and the second participant panel, in the single user interface window; determining a projection of the participant panels in the viewport such that a projected size of each participant panel in the viewport is the same number of units as a size of the participant panel in the model view; displaying the first participant panel to the left of a horizontal center of the user interface window, the first participant panel displayed in a coplanar orientation with respect to the plane of the user interface window; displaying the second participant panel to the right of the horizontal center of the user interface window, the second participant panel displayed in the coplanar orientation with respect to the plane of the user interface window; receiving a trigger event to display the first participant panel and the second participant panel in a perspective orientation relative to the plane of the user interface window; and responsive to receiving the trigger event: displaying the first participant panel in a perspective orientation relative to the plane of the user interface window, wherein the first participant panel is angled towards the horizontal center of the user interface window; and displaying the second participant panel in the perspective orientation relative to the plane of the user interface window, wherein the second participant panel is angled towards the horizontal center of the user interface window.