Patent ID: 7492731

Claim:
A method for dynamically optimizing bandwidth allocation in a variable bitrate conference environment, comprising: a) providing conference means having two or more outputs, each of which is capable of outputting data at different rates, thereby supporting two or more endpoints which may have different media rates; b) connecting two or more endpoints to said conference means for participating in said conference; c) whenever more than one video rate is used by participants in said conference: i. selecting each set of output rates from all possible combinations of output rates in said conference means, wherein the lowest output rate in each selected set is the entry rate of the endpoint joining said conference at the lowest rate; ii. for each selected set, determining a Quality Drop Coefficient (QDC) for each endpoint that joins said conference, wherein said QDC is computed according to the endpoint entry rate and the highest rate, among the output rates of each selected set, that is lower or equal to said endpoints' entry rate; iii. calculating a Quality Drop Value (QDV) for each of said selected sets, wherein, preferably, the set of output rates having the lowest QDV is determined as the optimal video rate set to select; d) reducing the video rate of all the endpoints having a video rate above the highest optimal video rate to said highest optimal video rate, if required, and reducing the video rate of other endpoints having video rate between two consecutive levels of optimal video rates to the lowest level among said levels; and e) whenever a change occurs in either the amount of participating endpoints in the conference or in the declared bitrate capability of the participating endpoints, recalculating the video rates of all the outputs.