SEAMLESS ESCALATION OF MESH VIDEOCONFERENCES TO BRIDGED VIDEOCONFERENCES

摘要

Techniques allow seamless transitioning of a mesh-based videoconference to a bridged videoconference. Criteria are defined for use in a triggering point function that may be evaluated to determine whether to make the transition. Escalation logic in an escalation manager may be used to manage the transition, allowing some participants to connect via a multipoint control unit, which is in turn a participant in the mesh-based videoconference, with the escalation manager relaying media streams from the mesh-connected participants. The mesh-connected participants may then drop their mesh connections without disruption to the videoconference. Escalation logic in the endpoints may be used as an alternate to an escalation manager unit.

主权项

1. An videoconferencing system, comprising:
a multipoint control unit; and an escalation manager, communicatively coupled to the multipoint control unit via a network, configured to:
receive media streams from meshed endpoints of a videoconference;receive a request to join the videoconference from another endpoint; andresponsive to an evaluation of triggering point criteria,
connect the escalation manager to the videoconference;direct the multipoint control unit to connect to the videoconference via the escalation manager; anddirect the another endpoint to connect to the videoconference via the multipoint control unit.