# US 2010/0165889 A1 · Distributed audio conferencing architecture with optimum resource utilization and seamless scalability

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- Number: US 2010/0165889 A1
- Document ID: US20100165889A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 12/345,077
- Filed: 2008-12-29
- Published: 2010-07-01
- Earliest claimed: 2008-12-29
- Assignees: ShoreTel, Inc.
- Inventors: Pramod Madabhushi; Prasannakumar Mallappa; Puneet Saran Sarna
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20100165889A1

## CPC

- H04L 41/0668: by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
- H04L 65/1069: Session establishment or de-establishment
- H04L 65/403: 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)
- H04M 3/2227: {Quality of service monitoring}
- H04M 3/56: Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities (video conference systems H04N7/15)
- H04M 3/562: {where the conference facilities are distributed}
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)

## Abstract

A conference call solution with one or more conference server, one or more conference bridge and one or more media mixer. A conference server is chosen as the conference bridge for the conference call using various optimization techniques. A media mixer for the conference call may also be chosen using various optimization techniques. The media mixer mixes media data from one or more conference bridge. If a conference bridge or the media mixer fails, the system recovers from the failure with minimal interruption to the users.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A conference server apparatus for facilitating a conference call, the apparatus comprising:
a bridge controller for directing other components in the apparatus, the bridge controller communicatively coupled to a memory and a soft switch;
the memory for storing information for one or more component in the apparatus, the memory communicatively coupled to the bridge controller; and
the soft switch for establishing call connections, the soft switch communicatively coupled to the bridge controller.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the bridge controller comprises a conference session management module and the conference session management module manages information about a plurality of conference servers.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the bridge controller comprises a media mixer module and the media mixer module mixes media received from a plurality of conference bridges.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the bridge controller comprises an optimization module and the optimization module implements media stream number optimization, media stream bandwidth optimization or resource fragment optimization.

### Claim 5

A method for selecting an assigned conference server for a participant telephone in a conference call, the method comprising:
determining whether a default conference server has required resources for connecting the telephone participant to the conference call; and
selecting the default conference server as the assigned conference server if the default conference server has the required resources for connecting the participant telephone to the conference call.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 comprising:
determining that the default conference server does not have the required resources;
determining whether a first conference server in a first site of the default conference server has the required resources; and
selecting the first conference server as the assigned conference server if the first conference server has the required resources.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 comprising;
determining that the default conference server does not have the required resources;
determining that a number of conference servers in a first site of the default conference server has the required resources; and
selecting one of the number of conference servers as the assigned conference server.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 comprising:
determining that the default conference server does not have the required resources;
determining that no conference server in a first site of the default conference server has the required resources;
determining whether a first conference server in a second site has the required resources; and
selecting the first conference server as the assigned conference server if the first conference server has the required resources.

### Claim 9 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 comprising:
determining that the default conference server does not have the required resources;
determining that no conference server in a first site of the default conference server has the required resources;
determining that a number of conference servers in a second site has the required resources; and
selecting one of the number of conference servers as the assigned conference server.

### Claim 10 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 comprising:
determining that the default conference server does not have the required resources;
determining that no conference server in a first site of the default conference server has the required resources;
determining that no conference server in a second site has the required resources; and
delivering an error message to the participant telephone.

### Claim 11

A method for resource fragmentation optimization for a conference session, the method comprising:
determining a first conference bridge for a first connection to the conference call wherein the first conference bridge transmits mixed media to the first connection; and
assigning a second connection for the conference call to the first conference bridge if the first conference bridge is an assigned conference server for the first connection and the second connection.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 comprising:
assigning a second connection for the conference call to the first conference bridge if the first conference bridge is the assigned conference server for the first connection and not the second connection.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 comprising:
determining a second conference bridge for transmitting mixed media to the first connection and the second connection wherein the second conference bridge is the assigned conference server for the second connection; and
assigning the second conference bridge to the first connection and the second connection.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 comprising:
determining a second conference bridge for transmitting mixed media to the second connection wherein the second conference bridge is not the assigned conference server for the second connection; and
assigning the second conference bridge to the second connection.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 comprising:
establishing a media connection with a media mixer for the conference call wherein the media mixer mixes media data from a plurality of connections.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 comprising transmitting update information to a conference server.

### Claim 17

A method for optimizing bandwidth usage in a conference call system, the method comprising:
becoming, by a first conference server, a first conference bridge for a conference call;
determining whether one or more other conference bridge for the conference call exist in the conference call system; and
selecting a media mixer for the conference call in response to the determining whether the one or more other conference bridge exist in the system.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17 wherein selecting the media mixer comprises:
determining that the one or more other conference bridge does not exist; and
assigning the first conference bridge as the media mixer.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18 comprising establishing a media connection with the media mixer.

### Claim 20 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17 wherein selecting the media mixer comprises:
determining that the one or more other conference bridge does not exist;
determining that the first conference bridge does not have a required resource to become the media mixer; and
selecting a conference server with the required resource as the media mixer.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The method of claim 20 comprising establishing a media connection with the media mixer.

### Claim 22 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17 wherein selecting the media mixer comprises:
determining that one or more other conference bridge for the conference call exist in the conference call system;
determining that one or more other conference bridge for the conference call does have a required resource to become the media mixer;
determining that the first conference bridge does have the required resource to become the media mixer;
assigning the first conference bridge as the media mixer if the first conference bridge has the maximum amount of resources when compared to resources of the first conference bridge and the one or more other conference bridge; and
assigning one of the one or more other conference bridge as the media mixer if the one or more other conference bridge has the maximum amount of resources when compared to resources of the first conference bridge and the one or more other conference bridge.

### Claim 23 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17 wherein selecting the media mixer comprises:
determining that one or more other conference bridge for the conference call exist in the conference call system;
determining that one or more other conference bridge for the conference call does not have a required resource to become the media mixer;
determining that the first conference bridge does not have the required resource to become the media mixer; and
assigning a conference server with the required resources as the media mixer.

### Claim 24

A method for a conference bridge failover in a conference call system, the method comprising:
determining that a first conference bridge with a connection for a participant telephone has failed;
determining, whether one or more conference bridge have resources to manage the connection for the participant telephone of the first conference bridge; and
assigning the connection for the participant telephone to the one or more conference bridge in response to the determination.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24 wherein assigning comprises:
determining a max conference bridge with maximum resources amongst the one or more conference bridge; and
assigning the connection for the participant telephone to the max conference bridge.

### Claim 26 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24 wherein the one or more conference bridge is in a site of the first conference bridge.

### Claim 27 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24 wherein the one or more conference bridge is in a sub-network of the first conference bridge.

### Claim 28 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24 wherein assigning comprises:
assigning the one or more participants to more than one of the one or more conference bridge such that the more than one of the one or more conference bridge collectively manage the one or more participants.

### Claim 29 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24 wherein assigning comprises:
assigning the one or more participants to one or more conference server that has required resources to manage the one or more participants.

### Claim 30 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24 comprising:
updating one or more conference server or one or more conference bridge with an update information.

### Claim 31

A method for a media mixer failover in a conference call system, the method comprising:
determining that a first media mixer for a conference call has failed;
determining whether one or more conference server in the system has a required resource to become the media mixer; and
assigning one of the conference server from one or more conference servers as the media mixer.

### Claim 32 (depends on 31)

The method of claim 31 wherein one of the conference server is an existing conference bridge for the conference call.

### Claim 33 (depends on 32)

The method of claim 32 comprising:
determining that the existing conference bridge has the required resource to become the media mixer.

### Claim 34 (depends on 32)

The method of claim 32 comprising:
determining that none of the one or more conference server in the system have the required resource to become the media mixer; and
assigning more than one conference server as the media mixer such that the more than one conference server has a collective resource to become the media mixer.

### Claim 35 (depends on 31)

The method of claim 31 comprising:
dropping latest joined connections to the conference call until one of the conference server has the required resource to become the media mixer.

### Claim 36 (depends on 31)

The method of claim 31 comprising:
dropping connections to the conference call with lower priority until one of the conference server has the required resources to become the media mixer.

### Claim 37 (depends on 31)

The method of claim 31 comprising:
changing the compression format for one or more connection to the conference call to reduce the amount of required resources.

### Claim 38 (depends on 31)

The method of claim 31 comprising:
updating the one or more conference server with an update information.

### Claim 39

A system for setting up conference call, the system comprising:
a first conference bridge for transmitting media data from one or more participants of the conference call to a media mixer; and
the media mixer for preparing mixed media data from media data received from one or more conference bridges and transmitting the mixed media data to the first conference bridge.

### Claim 40 (depends on 39)

The system of claim 39 comprising an assigned conference server for routing the connection to the conference bridge.

### Claim 41 (depends on 39)

The system of claim 39 wherein the media mixer is a second conference bridge for a second participant of the conference call;

### Claim 42 (depends on 41)

The system of claim 41 wherein the media mixer mixes media data from the second participant with the media data from the first conference bridge.

### Claim 43

A system for setting up conference call, the system comprising:
a first conference bridge for transmitting to a second conference bridge a first mixed participant media stream including media data from a first group comprising at least first loudest party; and
the second conference bridge for transmitting to the first conference bridge a second mixed participant media stream including media data from a second group comprising at least second loudest party.

### Claim 44 (depends on 43)

The system of claim 43 wherein the first conference bridge mixes the first mixed participant media stream with the second mixed participant media stream into a conference media stream.

### Claim 45 (depends on 44)

The system of claim 44 wherein the conference media stream includes media data from the at least first loudest party and the at least second loudest party.

### Claim 46 (depends on 44)

The system of claim 44 wherein the first conference bridge transmits the conference media stream to the at least first loudest party.

### Claim 47 (depends on 43)

The system of claim 43 wherein the first conference bridge is configured to mix media data from a first maximum number of loudest participants and the second conference bridge is configured to mix media data from a second maximum number of loudest participants.