Very large conference spanning multiple media servers in cascading arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9641798-B2
Application number	US-56593109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2009
Priority date	Sep 24, 2009
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

A communication method for transferring communication data between a plurality of participants is provided. The participants include at least one active participant that generates the communication data and at least one passive participant that does not generate the communication data. The communication method includes receiving, by a primary server, the communication data generated by the active participant and transmitting, by the primary server, the communication data received from the active participant to at least one secondary server that does not receive any communication data from any of the active participant and the at least one passive participant. The secondary server receives the communication data transmitted from the primary server and transmits the received communication data to the passive participant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication method for transferring communication data between a plurality of participants, the communication method comprising:
establishing a primary communication session between a primary server and an active participant of the plurality of participants;
receiving, by the primary server, communication data generated by the active participant of the plurality of participants;
transmitting, by the primary server, the communication data received from the active participant to the active participant and to each of a plurality of secondary servers that is configured not to receive directly any communication data from the plurality of participants;
determining whether a predetermined event has occurred, the predetermined event being the active participant not providing the communication data for a predetermined period of time;
terminating the primary communication session between the primary server and the active participant and establishing a secondary communication session between one of the plurality of secondary servers and the active participant when the predetermined event occurs; and
establishing the primary communication session between the primary server and a passive participant of the plurality of participants in response to the primary server receiving a request from the passive participant while the secondary communication session is established between the passive participant and one of the plurality of secondary servers, and terminating the secondary communication session between the passive participant and the one of the plurality of secondary servers in response to the primary communication session being established, the request being an out-of-band communication,
wherein each of the plurality of secondary servers is configured to receive the communication data transmitted from the primary server, not perform mixing of the communication data, transmit the communication data to different ones of passive participants of the plurality of participants that do not generate any communication data, and not transmit the communication data to the active participant when the primary communication session is established between the primary server and the active participant, and
an application server determines whether the predetermined event has occurred, the application server terminating the primary communication session and establishing the secondary communication session when the predetermined event occurs.

2. The communication method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the primary server and the plurality of secondary servers are interconnected via one-way communication, with the primary server being configured to not receive any communication data from the plurality of secondary servers.

3. The communication method as set forth in claim 1 ,
wherein the secondary communication session is established between each of the plurality of secondary servers and the different ones of the passive participants for transmitting the communication data from each the plurality of secondary servers to the different ones of the passive participants.

4. The communication method as set forth in claim 3 , further comprising:
detecting, by one of the primary server and the plurality of secondary servers, a signal from a signaling passive participant of the passive participants to establish the primary communication session; and
establishing, by the primary server, the primary communication session with the signaling passive participant in response to the detecting of the signal, whereby the signaling passive participant becomes another active participant.

5. The communication method as set forth in claim 3 ,
wherein the predetermined event further includes a signal being detected by one of the secondary servers.

6. The communication method as set forth in claim 3 , wherein the primary communication session and the secondary communication session are established via session initiation protocol.

7. The communication method as set forth in claim 3 , wherein,
the application server is configured to receive a request from a requesting passive participant of the passive participants to establish the primary communication session,
the application server is configured to establish the primary communication session with the requesting passive participant in response to receiving the request, whereby the requesting passive participant becomes another active participant,
the application server is configured to signal the requesting passive participant and the primary server to indicate an establishment of the primary communication session with the requesting passive participant, and
the primary server and the plurality of secondary servers are media servers.

8. The communication method as set forth in claim 4 , wherein, when the primary server establishes the primary communication session with the signaling passive participant, the secondary communication session between one of the plurality of secondary servers and the signaling passive participant is terminated.

9. The communication method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein
the passive participant becomes another active participant when the primary communication session is established between the primary server and the passive participant.

10. The communication method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein,
the primary server receives communication data generated by a plurality of active participants, and
the primary server mixes the communication data received from the plurality of active participants before the transmitting of the communication data to the active participant and to each of the plurality of secondary servers.

11. A primary server for transferring communication data between a plurality of participants in a communication system, the primary server comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:
establishing a primary communication session between the primary server and an active participant of the plurality of participants;
receiving communication data generated by the active participant of the plurality of the plurality of participants;
transmitting the communication data received from the active participant to the active participant and to each of a plurality of secondary servers that is configured to not directly receive any communication data from the plurality of participants;
determining whether a predetermined event has occurred, the predetermined event being the active participant not providing the communication data for a predetermined period of time;
terminating the primary communication session between the primary server and the active participant and establishing a secondary communication session between one of the plurality of secondary servers and the active participant when the predetermined event has occurred; and
establishing the primary communication session between the primary server and a passive participant of the plurality of participants in response to the primary server receiving a request from the passive participant while the secondary communication session is established between the passive participant and one of the plurality of secondary servers, and terminating the secondary communication session between the passive participant and the one of the plurality of secondary servers in response to the primary communication session being established, the request being an out-of-band communication,
wherein each of the plurality of secondary servers is configured to receive the communication data from the data transmitting processor, not perform mixing of the communication data, trans

Assignees

• Cheung Eric
• Karam Gerald Michael
• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Cheung Eric
• Karam Gerald Michael

Classifications

• H04N7/147

  Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals (selecting H04Q) · CPC title

• H04L65/403

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• H04L12/18

  for broadcast or conference {, e.g. multicast} · CPC title

• H04N7/15 Primary

  Conference systems · CPC title