An apparatus and method for providing multimedia conferencing services with
selective performance parameters delivers a different representation of
the same video signals to each of a plurality of users depending on the
hardware limitations, software limitations, network limitations, and user
preferences of each user device. Thus, each user can choose the quality of
service he/she wants to receive in view of system limitations and cost
considerations. The quality of service may be defined in terms of
bandwidth, jitter, frame rate, and delay, for example. The apparatus
includes a multimedia bridge that receives video signals from at least one
of the plurality of users. The multimedia bridge scales-down the video
signals as necessary before sending the video signals to the end users.
The multimedia bridge also detects congestion occurring during the
multimedia conference and scales-down the video signals, if necessary, to
meet reduced network availability. In addition, the multimedia bridge
accommodates changes in user preferences occurring during the multimedia
conference and adjusts the video signals as necessary.
