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AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsGordon W. Bonsall, Howard S. Lambert, H. David Mitchell, Barry K. Aldred
Estimating the term…
A network comprises a set of nodes, each comprising a computer workstation in a computer network and including means responsive to messages from other computers in the network to join or leave a call. Each node maintains a list of calls in which that node is participating, an entry in the list for a call including the identities of all the other nodes in that call. In order to split a single call one node sends messages to a subset of nodes to join a second call, and leave the original call. The remaining parties in the original call then continue in a call of reduced scope. In order to merge two calls together, a node that is common to both calls sends messages to all the nodes in both calls, instructing them to leave the existing call and join a new call.
A method of splitting an initial call that exists across an initial set of nodes into first and second calls across first and second disjoint subsets of the initial set, each node comprising a computer workstation in a computer network and including means responsive to messages from other computers in said network to join or leave a call, and each node maintaining a list of calls in which that node is participating, an entry in the list for a call including the identities of all the other nodes in that call, the method comprising the steps of:
A method of splitting a call as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein as each node of said first subset receives said message from said one node, it sends back a confirmation message to said one node, which then forwards the message to the other nodes that have so far joined said subset.
A method of merging first and second calls that exist across first and second initial sets of nodes into a single call across a superset of said first and second initial sets, each node comprising a computer workstation in a computer network and including means responsive to messages from other computers in said network to join or leave a call, and each node maintaining a list of calls in which that node is participating, an entry in the list for a call including the identities of all the other nodes in that call, the method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.