Duplicating digital streams for digital conferencing using switching technologies

A method of transmitting data units to participants of a conference using a switch, the method comprising:

• receiving, at the switch, a first data unit from a first conferencing participant, the first data unit addressed to the switch and including a payload portion;
• forwarding, by the switch, the first data unit to at least a second conferencing participant and a third conferencing participant by:
• generating a first and a second duplicated data unit by duplicating at least a portion of the payload portion of the first data unit and adding header information to reflect destination address information;
• and
• transmitting the first duplicated data unit to the second conferencing participant and transmitting the second duplicated data units to the third conferencing participant;
• receiving, at the switch, a second data unit from the second conferencing participant;
• and
• forwarding, by the switch, the second data unit to at least the first conferencing participant and the third conferencing participant.

A method of transmitting data in a conference, the method comprising:

• receiving a first datagram from a first conference terminal, the datagram including at least a payload portion and a first attribute portion;
• duplicating the payload portion of the datagram;
• generating a second attribute portion for a second conference terminal and a third attribute portion for a third conference terminal;
• associating the second attribute portion with the duplicated payload portion to generate a second datagram;
• associating the third attribute data portion with the duplicated payload to generate a third datagram;
• and
• enabling access to the second datagram by the second conference terminal and enabling access to the third datagram by the third conference terminal.