Method of, and system for, webcasting with just-in-time resource provisioning, automated telephone signal acquisition and streaming, and fully-automated event archival

In a webcast system including a Web-based reservation system accessible over a computer network for enabling an entity to reserve a webcast event and to obtain an attendee URL, the improvement comprising:

• a set of one or more voice server subsystems each connectable to a telephone network, wherein each voice server subsystem includes a set of one or more voice servers, each voice server having a storage disk associated therewith, a telephone interface for receiving an audio signal, an encoder for generating a data stream from the audio signal derived from speech of an individual speaker, and code (a) for validating a user-entered access code, (b) for verifying that a value derived from a one-way hash of an event identifier entered by the entity together with a shared secret matches the user-entered access code, (c) for writing the data stream to the storage disk, and (d) for initiating an upload of the data stream from the disk to a storage system when the audio signal is interrupted;
• and
• a set of one or more attendee access subsystems each connectable to the computer network and including code responsive to a client browser, associated with a listener, who is an audience member, requesting the attendee URL for returning to the client browser a data structure including a stream URL at which a streaming media player associated with the client browser can obtain the data stream so that the listener can hear the speaker, who is not an audience member, during the webcast event;
• a set of one or more archive subsystems each connectable to the computer network and including code (a) for creating a directory for the event, (b) for storing in the directory an event information file, (c) for creating an archive of the webcast event;
• and (d) for storing the archive in the directory for subsequent access using the attendee URL.

A method of webcasting, comprising:

• reserving a webcast event (a) by providing an entity with an event identifier, access code and attendee URL, (b) by generating an event information file, and (c) creating a directory associated with the webcast event in which the event information file is stored, wherein the webcast event is an audio conference casting event;
• initiating the webcast event (a) by verifying, without access to the directory, that a value derived from a one-way hash of the event identifier entered by a host together with a shared secret matches the access code entered by the host;
• and (b) upon verification, encoding speech data of a speaker into a data stream;
• enabling a listener, who is an audience member, to access to the data stream (a) by returning to a client browser launched to the attendee URL a data structure including a stream URL at which the data stream can be obtained so that the listener can hear the speaker, who is not an audience member, during the webcast event;
• and
• generating an archive upon completion of the webcast event;
• and
• at a later time, having an end user access the archive by opening a client browser to the attendee URL.

A method of webcasting wherein a given webcast event has been reserved by providing a webcast event with an event identifier, access code and attendee URL, comprising:

• initiating the webcast event at one or more locations (a) by verifying that a value derived from a one-way hash of the event identifier entered by a host together with a shared secret matches the access code entered by the host;
• and (b) upon verification, encoding speech data into a data stream, wherein the speech data is derived from speech of a speaker;
• enabling a listener, who is an audience member, access to the data stream (a) by returning to a client browser launched to the attendee URL a data structure including one or more stream URLs at which the data stream can be obtained, wherein the so that the listener can hear the speaker, who is not an audience member, during the webcast event;
• as the webcast event progresses, storing a copy of each data stream in a local data store;
• upon interruption of the speech data, transferring a copy of the stored data stream to a central storage;
• upon completion of the webcast event, automatically generating an archive;
• and
• at a later time, enabling access to the archive using the attendee URL.