Multimedia conferencing using parallel networks

A CONFERENCE SERVER (30, 93) SYSTEM, FOR INTERNAL USE IN THE PUBLIC SWITCHED TELEPHONE NETWORK (PSTN) (1, 104-108), LINKS TO PUBLIC DATA COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (E.G. THE INTERNET) (16, 116) FOR DISTRIBUTING COMPUTER DISPLAYABLE DATA BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS IN VOICE TELEPHONE CONFERENCES. THE SERVER SYSTEM INCLUDES A COMPUTER SUB-SYSTEM FOR STORING DATA GENERATED BY THE PARTICIPANTS AND DISTRIBUTING THE DATA IN COORDINATION WITH VOICE PRESENTATIONS OF RESPECTIVE PARTICIPANTS. DATA SO STORED AND DISTRIBUTED INCLUDES COMPUTER-DISPLAYABLE DATA. OTHER DATA HANDLED BY THE COMPUTER SUBSYSTEM REPRESENTS COMMANDS AND FUNCTIONAL REQUESTS ISSUED BY PARTICIPANTS WHICH PERTAIN TO THE HANDLING OF COMPUTER-DISPLAYABLE DATA AND VOICE PARAMETERS OF THE CONFERENCE. CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS, HAVING SEPARATE AND CONCURRENT ACCESS TO BOTH THE PSTN AND THE DATA NETWORK, RECEIVE AND VIEW COMPUTER-DISPLAYABLE DATA PREPARED BY ONE OF THE PARTICIPANTS IN COORDINATION WITH THE RESPECTIVE VOICE CONFERENCE. THE CONFERENCE SERVER SYSTEM CONNECTS TO VOICE CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT RESOURCES OF THE PSTN IN A MANNER ENABLING THE SERVER SYSTEM TO CONTROL VOICE PARAMETERS OF A VOICE CONFERENCE IN RESPONSE TO DATA REQUESTS RECEIVED FROM PARTICIPANTS (E.G. REQUESTS FROM HEARING-IMPAIRED PARTICIPANTS FOR ENHANCED AUDIO SERVICE), AS WELL AS ENABLING THE CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT RESOURCES TO CONTROL FUNCTIONS PERFORMED IN RESPECT TO DISTRIBUTION OF DISPLAYABLE DATA IN RESPONSE TO SPOKEN REQUESTS UTTERED BY THE PARTICIPANTS, WHEN THE TELEPHONE SYSTEM CONTAINS APPROPRIATE SPEECH RECOGNITION EQUIPMENT. TELEPHONE SYSTEM CONFERENCES UTILIZING THE PRESENT CONFERENCE SERVER SYSTEM HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING USABLE TO SUPPORT VOICE-ONLY AND/OR DATA-ONLY PARTICIPANTS (PARTICIPANTS RESPECTIVELY LINKED TO ONLY THE VOICE OR DATA DISTRIBUTION PARTS OF A CONFERENCE SESSION), AS WELL AS TO PROVIDE CONFERENCE SERVICE BETWEEN EXACTLY TWO PARTICIPANTS WHICH MAY BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN COMPARABLE SERVICES THAT THE SAME TWO PARTICIPANTS WOULD OBTAIN USING A DIRECT DIAL-UP TELEPHONE CONNECTION FOR VOICE AND A PUBLIC DATA NETWORK CONNECTION COMPLETELY ISOLATED FROM THE VOICE CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT RESOURCES OF THE PSTN TO EXCHANGE DATA. (FIG.3)