Patent ID: 7627629

Claim:
A method of controlling a multimedia multipoint conference that includes a plurality of participants, each participant a multimedia terminal that includes one or more codecs or a gateway that includes one or more codecs, the method implemented in all participant of the conference, the method comprising: receiving from each other participant information on the capabilities of its one or more codecs as part of a terminal capabilities exchange between the participants; ascertaining if there is a set of codec output characteristics for all participants such that each participant's codec capabilities can be simultaneously met without any media stream from one participant to the other participants needing to be decoded and re-encoded en route to the other participants, and if so, determining, in cooperation with the other participant or participants, the codec output characteristics for all participants that simultaneously meet each participant's codec capabilities without any decoding and re-encoding being needed, the codec output characteristics including one or both of a codec type and a bit rate; and sending instructions to the participants to set the participant's respective one or more codecs to the respective determined codec output characteristics; such that after each participant's one or more codecs are set to the respective codec output characteristics, the participants can successfully send and receive media streams encoded at the respective determined codec output characteristics of the respective terminal without any en-route decoding and re-encoding of any of the media streams and without any participant needing to carry out video mixing to generate its output video stream, and wherein Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) functionality is carried out by the participants operating jointly and cooperatively to jointly determine how to communicate with each other without any transcoding, with no single terminal or device needing act as a Multipoint Controller (MC), such that no distinct MCU device or functionality is needed for conferencing between the participants; wherein if the step of ascertaining ascertains that there are not codec output characteristics that simultaneously meet the codec capabilities of all participants, the method includes: ascertaining whether there is a subset of participants and a first set of codec output characteristics that simultaneously meet the codec capabilities of all members of the subset; if such a subset and first set of common codec output characteristics exist, directing the subset members to communicate using the common codec output characteristics; and directing those participants whose codec characteristics cannot be met by a common set of codec output characteristics shared by more than one participant to communicate via an (MCU), the MCU including one or more Multipoint Processors (MPs) that can decode, scale, and re-encode streams as necessary to meet the codec requirements of the participants.