Patent ID: 7006455

Claim:
A first station for supporting a conference call with a plurality of other stations over a packet-switched network, the first station enabling a voice conference in response to a conference request signal received from each of the plurality of other stations, the first station comprising: a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming modules including a means for conferencing and a means for establishing a communication channel, wherein: said means for conferencing is operable to receive a conference request signal, and said means for establishing a communication channel is operable to establish a communication channel between the first station and a second station in response to said means for conferencing receiving the conference request signal, the communication channel supporting voice communication over the packet-switched network; means for mixing input signals which mixes the signals received at the first station to produce a combined signal output which is played at said first station; and means for transferring a communication session between the first station and the second station to a third station by disconnecting the second station from the conference call and establishing a communication channel between the first station and the third station based upon a transfer signal transmitted by said second station, wherein the transfer signal includes a conference request signal designating the third station.