Peer-to-peer multipoint videoconferencing

A peer-to-peer architecture for multipoint video conferencing is presented. The architecture targets end points with symmetrical, low bandwidth connections. Without creating any additional demand on the networking and computing resources needed for a point-to-point video conference, this architecture can extend it into a multipoint one. A protocol for a completely distributed implementation has been developed and tested on a prototype system extending a point-to-point video phone to a multipoint one.