Patent ID: 8893204

Claim:
A transcoding server comprising: a processor; memory; and a dynamic encoding module, maintained on the memory and executable by the processor, for: defining at least one initial transcoding scheme under which at least one media stream is to be transcoded as it passes between at least two endpoints, wherein the defining includes negotiating an initial transcoding scheme with at least two endpoints including selecting an initial transcoding scheme where a minimum number of codecs are selected; and dynamically updating the initial transcoding scheme in response to a change in at least one condition affecting the media streams, the updating comprising re-negotiating a transcoding scheme comprising: determining at least one codec that is supported by at least one of the at least two endpoints; analyzing bandwidth availability and bandwidth usage related to codecs supported by the at least one endpoint; reducing a total number of codecs to be used in the transcoding scheme by selection of the at least one codec for use with the at least one endpoint; dropping the media stream in response to the change in the at least one condition; and reacquiring the media stream in response to a further change in the at least one condition.