Patent ID: 7412533

Claim:
A method for synchronizing display of first stream content that is transmitted to a plurality of client nodes with at least second stream content after the second stream content is selected in place of the first stream content at the client nodes, wherein the first and at least second stream content each represent respective multimedia content that originates from a respective first and at least second source, the method comprising at least the following: receiving the first stream content from the first source, the first stream content having a first stream delay associated therewith; receiving the second stream content from the at least second source, the second stream content having a second stream delay associated therewith, wherein the second stream delay is greater than the first stream delay; selecting the first stream content for display to the client nodes; issuing a command to display the second stream content at the client nodes in place of the first stream content; synchronizing display of the second stream content in place of the first stream content to the client nodes based at least in part on a difference between the first and second stream delays; transmitting at least a portion of the first stream content to the client nodes based on the synchronizing; after transmitting at least the portion of the first stream content, transmitting at least a portion of the second data stream to the client nodes based on the synchronizing; wherein the difference between the first and second stream delays is determined by: transmitting first data representing an audio sample of given stream content from the host to the client node via a phone bridge; transmitting second data representing the audio sample from the host to the client node via a stream transmission; comparing transmission times associated with the phone bridge and the stream transmission; and establishing a difference therebetween as the delay difference.