Patent ID: 8749610

Claim:
A method for managing nodes of a synchronous communication conference executing on one or more computing devices, the method comprising: receiving a mute request to mute a first conferencing node, wherein a connected group of two or more users is associated with two or more second conferencing nodes and the two or more second conferencing nodes do not include the first conferencing node; transmitting a mute authorization request to at least one conferencing node of the two or more second conferencing nodes associated with the connected group of two or more users; receiving a mute authorization response from the at least one conferencing node of the two or more second conferencing nodes; muting a first synchronous communication data stream designated for transmission to the first conferencing node based at least in part on the mute request and the mute authorization response; receiving an un-mute request to un-mute the first synchronous communication data stream; transmitting the un-mute request to at least one conferencing node of the two or more second conferencing nodes associated with the connected group of two or more users; receiving an un-mute authorization response from the at least one conferencing node of the two or more second conferencing nodes; and un-muting the first synchronous communication data stream based at least in part on the un-mute request and the un-mute authorization response.