Bifurcated conferencing functions

Abstract

A source conference function is provided for each source device, and a destination conference function is provided for each destination device. Any given user terminal may act as both a destination device when receiving media content and a source device when sending media content to facilitate bidirectional conferencing. The source device generates media content, which is sent to the associated source conference function. In general, the source conference function identifies destination conference functions to which the media content should be delivered, and delivers the media content to the identified destination conference functions. Any given destination conference function receives the media content from this and other source conference functions. The media content received from all or select of the source conference functions may be processed by the destination conference function as desired, and then mixed together to form destination media content, which is delivered to the destination device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A conference system comprising:
 at least one communication interface for coupling to a communication network;   at least one processor coupled to the communication interface; and   at least one storage element storing instructions for execution by the at least one processor, the instructions comprising:
 instructions executable to produce media content; 
 instructions executable to produce control information for association with the media content; and 
 instructions executable to provide the media content and at least some of the associated control information to at least one conference destination function for selection of at least some of the media content for presentation to at least one media destination in association with at least one media conference based at least in part on the control information. 
   
     
     
         2 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the conference system is incorporated in a communication device and the instructions executable to produce media content comprise instructions executable to derive media content based on activity of a user of the communication device. 
     
     
         3 . The conference system of  claim 2 , wherein the media content comprises audio content derived from a user utterance. 
     
     
         4 . The conference system of  claim 2 , wherein the media content comprises video content generated by the user of the communication device. 
     
     
         5 . The conference system of  claim 2 , wherein the media content comprises text content generated by the user of the communication device. 
     
     
         6 . The conference system of  claim 2 , wherein the media content comprises graphics content generated by the user of the communication device. 
     
     
         7 . The conference system of  claim 2 , wherein the media content comprises at least two of audio content, video content, text content and graphics content. 
     
     
         8 . The conference system of  claim 2 , comprising a destination conference element configured to select media content for presentation to the user of the communication device 
     
     
         9 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to produce media content comprise instructions executable to receive media content from at least one remote communication device over the at least one communication interface. 
     
     
         10 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to provide the media content and at least some of the associated control information to at least one conference destination function comprise instructions executable to send the media content and at least some of the associated control information to the at least one conference destination function via the communication interface, the at least one conference destination function being remote from the conference source network element. 
     
     
         11 . The conference system of  claim 10 , wherein the instructions executable to send the media content and at least some of the associated control information comprise instructions to send at least some of the associated control information to the at least one conference destination function via a conference control plane. 
     
     
         12 . The conference system of  claim 11 , wherein the control plane comprises at least one control node. 
     
     
         13 . The conference system of  claim 10 , wherein the instructions executable to send the media content and at least some of the associated control information to the at least one conference destination function via the communication interface comprise instructions to send a media stream carrying the media content, the media stream including the associated control information. 
     
     
         14 . The conference system of  claim 10 , wherein the instructions executable to send the media content and at least some of the associated control information to the at least one conference destination function via the communication interface comprise instructions to send a media stream carrying the media content and instructions executable to send the associated control information outside of the media stream carrying the media content. 
     
     
         15 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to produce control information for association with the media content comprise:
 instructions executable to obtain participant information for each media conference of the at least one media conference; and   instructions executable to identify at least one media destination for the received media content based on the participant information.   
     
     
         16 . The conference system of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions executable to produce the control information for association with the received media comprise instructions executable to associate media content received from one media source with multiple simultaneous media conferences. 
     
     
         17 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to produce control information for association with the media content comprise:
 instructions executable to obtain priority information for each media conference of the at least one media conference; and   instructions executable to generate control information comprising source mixing information based on at least the priority information for each media conference of the at least one media conference.   
     
     
         18 . The conference system of  claim 17 , wherein the priority information bears on at least one relative priority for presentation of the received media content to at least one media destination participating in the at least one media conference. 
     
     
         19 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to produce control information for association with the received media content comprise:
 instructions executable to obtain orientation information for each media conference of the at least one media conference; and   instructions executable to generate control information comprising source mixing information based on at least the orientation information for each media conference of the at least one media conference.   
     
     
         20 . The conference system of  claim 19 , wherein the orientation information identifies a location to be associated with the media content. 
     
     
         21 . The conference system of  claim 20 , wherein the orientation information identifies the location relative to other media content sources associated with the at least one media conference. 
     
     
         22 . The conference system of  claim 19 , wherein the orientation information identifies a direction to be associated with the media content. 
     
     
         23 . The conference system of  claim 22 , wherein the orientation information identifies the direction relative to other media content sources associated with the at least one media conference. 
     
     
         24 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to produce control information for association with the media content comprise:
 instructions executable to obtain supplemental information for each media conference of the at least one media conference; and   instructions executable to generate control information comprising source mixing information based on at least the supplemental information for each media conference of the at least one media conference.   
     
     
         25 . The conference system of  claim 24 , wherein the supplemental information relates to additional media content to be provided to at least one media destination associated with the at least one media conference. 
     
     
         26 . The conference system of  claim 25 , wherein the supplemental information relates to at least one of background sounds, music, graphics and video clips. 
     
     
         27 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to produce control information for association with the media content comprise instructions executable to produce the control information once per media conference. 
     
     
         28 . The conference system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions executable to produce control information for association with the media content comprise instructions executable to produce initial control information for a media conference for use when the media conference begins. 
     
     
         29 . The conference system of  claim 28 , wherein the instructions executable to produce control information for association with the media content comprise instructions executable to produce updated control information for the media conference for use during the media conference. 
     
     
         30 . The conference system of  claim 29 , wherein the updated control information is a subset of the initial control information.