An architecture for realizing a distributed voice conference system over IP networks

With the rapidly spreading use of IP networks such as intranets and the Internet, there have been efforts to develop voice-over IP (VoIP) devices and services by utilizing them. In particular, in the commercial user environment, wide use is likely to be made of services with a high added value in which the telephone network function and the IP network connection function are combined by fully utilizing a high-level user interface provided by an information processing terminal. This paper considers a voice conference service as the value-added service in which the telephone function terminals on the telephone network and IP network are interconnected. The construction of a system for providing a voice conference service is investigated, considering requirements such as flexibility, scalability, and quality. A method of construction is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by performance evaluation of an experimental system based on the method. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.