Non-causal speaker selection for conference multicast

摘要

A method for non-causal speaker selection is provided. In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention the method includes receiving a plurality of video streams at a multipoint control unit, each of the plurality of video streams being associated with a respective endpoint of a multipoint conference. A plurality of audio streams may also be received at the multipoint control unit, and each audio stream may be associated with a respective one of the video streams. The audio streams are buffered in respective audio buffers, and the video streams are buffered in respective video buffers. First video data is copied from the video buffers to obtain a low latency video stream for distribution to active conference participants. In a particular embodiment, second video data may be copied from the video buffers to obtain a high latency video stream for distribution to passive conference participants, the high latency video streams being delayed in time with respect to the low latency video stream.