Title :
Multimedia conferencing in the Etherphone environment
Author :
Vin, Harrick M. ; Zellweger, Polle T. ; Swinehart, Daniel C. ; Rangan, P.
Author_Institution :
Xerox Palo Alto Res. Center, CA, USA
Abstract :
The latest extension of the Etherphone project is described. It creates a powerful conferencing system that lets users control their participation in multiple conferences across multimedia networks. The emphasis is on the software mechanisms that support its new features: first, a Sparcstation facility called Phoenix that extends the Etherphone software architecture to permit more flexible conferencing and to control Sparcstation-based Ethernet audio transmission, and, second, the integration of the Phoenix capabilities with Macaw, the earlier video extensions. Also described is a multicast packet protocol for audio transmission, which reimplements and extends the earlier special-purpose protocols, adding per-channel volume control and full support for the extended conferencing modes.<>
Keywords :
local area networks; multimedia systems; packet switching; protocols; teleconferencing; Ethernet audio transmission; Etherphone environment; Macaw; Phoenix; Sparcstation; multicast packet protocol; multimedia conferencing; multimedia networks; software mechanisms; Bandwidth; Communication system control; Ethernet networks; Hardware; Multimedia computing; Multimedia systems; Streaming media; Telephony; Videoconference; Workstations;
