Interactive, computer network-based video conferencing system and process

摘要

A video conferencing system and process is presented that employs a distributed computer network, such as the Internet or a proprietary intranet, to conduct virtual conferences. Each conferencee has a computer that has access to the network, as well as audio equipment and a video camera for capturing audio and video (A/V) at the conferencee's site. Conducting a conference generally entails each of the conferencee's computers multicasting the A/V data captured at the conferencee's location over the network. At the same time, each conferences subscribes to A/V data multicasted by other conferencees participating in the conference. The A/V data received by a conferencee over the network from the other conferencees is rendered and played by the conferencee's computer. In this way, each conferencee can see and hear the other participating conferencees during the conference.