A conferencing system provides for the simultaneous processing of audio and document
information during a conference call. An audio conferencing bridge includes the
functionality to provide an audio connection between attendees who have dialed
into the bridge through either the Public Switch Telephone Network or over a data
network using IP telephony. Each of the meeting attendees has access to a user
interface with a connection to a data network. On each user interface is a web
browser which includes a specially designed plug-in for converting documents from
traditional word processing or database formats to HTML. A list is compiled in
the conferencing bridge which includes the names and IP addresses for each of the
attendees. Once the plug-in has converted the documents to HTML format, a series
of icons are incorporated into the documents which provide for the transmission
of this information to the other parties. At the time a party wishes to broadcast
this information to the others, it is first transmitted via an e-mail to the conferencing
bridge which accesses a list of attendees. Using PUSH technology, the documents
are transmitted via the data network to the web browsers of all the other attendees.
The specially designed plug-in allows each conference attendee to broadcast documents
to all other attendees.
