US 8,402,099 B2
METHOD FOR CARRYING OUT A MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION BASED ON A NETWORK PROTOCOL, PARTICULARLY TCP/IP AND/OR UDPGeneral
US 8,402,099 B2
METHOD FOR CARRYING OUT A MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION BASED ON A NETWORK PROTOCOL, PARTICULARLY TCP/IP AND/OR UDP
Tech Center:
2400 Networking, Multiplexing, Cable, and Security
Examiner:
Adnan Mirza
Art Unit:
2443 Computer Networks
Agent:
Inventors:
Philipp Freiherr Von Werther; Steffen R¿der
Assignee:
Priority:
08/21/08
Filed:
03/26/10
Granted:
03/19/13
Expiration:
11/23/29
Abstract
The invention relates to a process for executing a multimedia communication, in particular a video, audio and/or text chat, between a totality of terminals (2) arranged in a communication network (1), which communication is based on a network protocol, in particular TCP/IP and/or UDP. The method is characterized in that at least one subscriber generates a personalized user account in the form of a virtual subscriber profile on a server (3) or in a peer-to-peer network, wherein, by setting up the virtual subscriber profile, the multimedia communication is established at each of the terminals. Thus, a mode of a subscriber selection preceding the communication, a communication type and/or a number of communication links to one of the terminals and/or the type of data transmission employed for the communication are freely defined. An arrangement for executing a process according to the preceding claims comprises a communication network with a valid communication protocol, in particular the internet (1). There are provided a plurality of terminals (2) having means for transmitting and receiving multimedia contents, and a server (3) or a peer-to-peer network having means for operating a hierarchical layer structure consisting of a database layer (4) for managing subscriber data, terminal addresses and multimedia contents, a link layer (5) for executing a switched communication between the terminals, a subscriber layer (6) for operating subscriber profiles set up by the users of the terminals, and a front end layer (7) having means for generating and operating a graphical user interface.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
H04H04L12/1818H04L