SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFERENCE SERVER ARCHITECTURE FOR LOW-DELAY AND DISTRIBUTED CONFERENCING APPLICATION

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and a method for conducting a multi-endpoint video signal conference.SOLUTION: Conferencing endpoints are linked by pairs of a high reliability communication channel and a low reliability communication channel. Conference video signals undergo scalable coding in base layer and enhancement layer formats. Video signal base layers, which correspond to minimum picture quality, are communicated through the high reliability channels. Video signal enhancement layers may be communicated through the low reliability channels. A conference server mediates switching of video layer information from transmitting endpoints to receiving endpoints without any intermediate coding or re-coding operations. The video conference can be integrated with an audio conference by using either scalable coded audio signals or non-scalable coded audio signals.