Method and system for providing an audio/video conference

Abstract

A method and system for providing an audio/video conference includes receiving audio from a moderator via a circuit-switched telephone network, transmitting a representation of the audio to a first listener group via the circuit-switched telephone network, and transmitting a representation of the audio to a second listener group via a packet-switched network. The audio/video conference may be transmitted to the first listener group and the second listener group in real-time or near real-time (e.g., within a few seconds). The method and system may be used with a circuit-switched telephone network such as, for example, a public switched telephone network. Further, the method and system may be used with a packet-switched network such as, for example, the Internet. The method and system further provide synchronization of video data, including slide data, and audio data related to the audio/video conference.

1 . A method of synchronizing audio data and visual data for later playback, the method comprising:
 receiving audio data at a computing device;   receiving visual data at the computing device;   receiving, at the computing device, an indication of a change to the visual data;   storing, at the computing device, the indication of the change to the visual data; and   embedding, at the computing device, the indication of the change to the visual data in the audio data.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the audio data is an MP3 stream. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising storing the indication of the change to the visual data in an ID3 tag of the MP3 stream. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visual data is a slide show and the change to the visual data is a slide transition. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising streaming the audio data, comprising the indication of the change to the visual data, and the visual data to one or more listener computers. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the indication of the change to the visual data changes the visual data on the one or more listener computers. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising storing the audio data and the visual data as one or more downloadable files for later playback on one or more listener computers. 
     
     
         8 . A method for recording an audio/visual performance for later playback, the method comprising:
 receiving an audio performance at a conferencing system;   receiving visual data while receiving the audio performance at the conferencing system;   receiving, at the conferencing system, an indication of a change to the visual data while receiving the audio performance;   embedding the indication of the change to the visual data in an audio file; and   storing the visual data in a file server, wherein the file server is programmed to deliver the audio file and the visual data to a user.   
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the embedding the indication of the change to the visual data comprises embedding the indication of the change to the visual data in one or more meta data tags associated with segments of the audio file. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more meta data tags are MP3 ID3 tags. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein embedding the indication of the change to the visual data comprises embedding the indication of the change to the visual data in a Frame ID field of an MP3 ID3 tag. 
     
     
         12 . An audio server system comprising:
 a conferencing system programmed to receive an audio/video conference and to transmit the audio/video conference to one or more real-time media encoders and to receive one or more indications of changes to video data, wherein the audio/data conference comprises audio data and the video data;   the one or more real-time media encoders programmed to receive, in real-time, the audio data of the audio/video conference, to encode the audio data into a streaming media format, and to transmit the encoded audio data to a time sync server; and   the time sync server programmed to receive the encoded audio data and to modify the encoded audio data by embedding the one or more indications of changes to the video data into the encoded audio data.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more real-time media encoders are further programmed to encode the audio data into an MP3 format, and the time sync server is further programmed to modify one or more MP3 ID3 tags to embed the one or more indications of changes to the video data in the encoded audio data. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the time sync server is further programmed to embed the one or more indications of changes to the video data in a Frame ID field of an MP3 ID3 tag. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the time sync server is further programmed to embed the one or more indications of changes to the video data in a variable-length padding field of an MP3 ID3 tag. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising a streaming server programmed to receive the encoded audio data from the time sync server and to transmit the encoded audio data to one or more listener computers. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising a file server programmed to receive the encoded audio data and the video data from the conferencing system and to record the encoded audio data and the video data in one or more files. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the file server is further programmed to upload the one or more files to one or more listener computers. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18  further comprising a streaming server programmed to receive the encoded audio data, embedded with the one or more indications of changes to the video data, from the time sync server. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  further comprising a web server programmed to connect one or more listener computers to the streaming server.