Group communication through broadcast channels

A method of efficiently utilizing bandwidth for video-conferencing in a wireless network, wherein the wireless network has a connectivity network portion and an access portion made up of one or more access networks, the method comprising:

• communicating a first request from a first user to a base station in a first access network;
• forwarding the first request to a transmission proxy server associated with the base station;
• forwarding the first request from the transmission proxy server to a video conferencing server;
• communicating a first video-conferencing stream (“first stream”) from the videoconferencing server to the transmission proxy server;
• at the transmission proxy server, determining a channel selection for efficient use of bandwidth in the first access network based on a bandwidth requirement of each stream and a temporal duration of each stream, wherein the channel selection utilizes either a broadcast channel or a unicast channel;
• sending the first video-conferencing stream utilizing the most efficient channel;
• receiving subsequent requests at the transmission proxy server;
• determining most efficient channels to send video-conferencing streams associated with the subsequent requests;
• and
• sending the subsequent streams via the most efficient channels
• at the transmission proxy server, determining whether unicast or broadcast is more efficient for the first stream;
• when unicast is more efficient, then unicasting the first stream;
• when broadcast is more efficient, then determining whether bandwidth is available for broadcasting the first stream;
• when bandwidth is available, then broadcasting the first stream;
• when bandwidth is not available, then switching another stream from broadcast to unicast, and then broadcasting the first stream.

A system for optimal delivery of video conferencing streams in a wireless microwave access network, wherein the network includes one or more sectors serviced by at least one base station, the system comprising:

• one or more contact management servers that receive requests to authenticate users to one or more video conferencing servers;
• and
• one or more video transmission proxy servers, wherein the one or more video transmission proxy servers store authentication information to send to the one or more contact management servers, wherein the authentication information is sent from a first video transmission proxy server to a second video transmission proxy server, and wherein each video transmission proxy server
• (A) is associated with a base station in the wireless microwave access network,
• (B) communicates with the one or more video conference servers to receive video-conferencing streams, and
• (C) determines whether a video-conferencing stream will be sent through a broadcast channel or a unicast data channel by the base station, based on
• a) how many users are requesting the video-conferencing stream,
• b) the number of available channels,
• c) whether the users are moving, and
• d) a temporal duration of each video-conferencing stream,
• wherein streams on broadcast channels are moved to unicast channels when efficiency is improved and bandwidth permits, and streams on unicast channels are moved to broadcast channels when efficiency is improved and bandwidth permits.