TVM The Virtual Meeting

Visual Communications Software for Macintosh and Windows Computers

Conference gateway

The Conference Gateway application acts as a message router and handles the reception and transmission of messages between a conference attendee and the Conference Server. The connection between the Conference Gateway and the Conference Server is made using Apple's Communications ToolBox. Communications tools are available from Apple and other third parties to support connections using modems or Network with any of the following protocols: Serial, ISDN, X.25, ADSP, TCP/IP.

The communications between the Conference Gateway and the other applications on a Macintosh that will be used during a conference are done using Apple Events. Actions that are taken in any of the associated conferencing aware applications in the Conferencing System will cause an AppleEvent to be sent to that users Conference Gateway application. The Conference Gateway application will first check to see if the user is designated to broadcast to the group. If he or she is the designated broadcaster the AppleEvent will be converted to a message and will be sent along to the Conference Server, which will broadcast it to all the other members of the conference. When the message is received by another Conference Gateway it gets converted to an AppleEvent, which is sent to the corresponding Macintosh Application. For instance, if HyperCard sends an AppleEvent to the Gateway on a broadcasters Macintosh, that same message will be delivered to the HyperCard application that is running on all other attendee's Macintosh.

It's Current Speaker window displays the photograph of the person who is currently speaking.
It's Room View Window displays a layout of the conference with each participant's photograph.
Many features can be added using standard resource editing tools like ResEdit, ViewEdit, Rez, PostRez
Many functions are scriptable. Pull down menus that execute scripts can be added.
Custom control panels with various styles of buttons and popup menus that execute scripts can be added.

The File menu contains commands for managing session documents while you are using the Conferencing Gateway.

The Edit Menu contains the commands for editing in the terminal window. In addition the menu includes the Undo/Redo command which lets you reverse editing or setup operations

The Session menu contains commands that affect the operation of the Conference Gateway during a communications session.

The Configure menu is used to set the various attributes of your conferencing communications environment. The Connection, Terminal, and File Transfer commands are used to define the types of communications session established between your Macintosh and the Conference Server you will be connecting to.

The Processes menu contains commands that control other application programs (processes) on your Macintosh. If you have the floor in a conference these commands will control the same application programs on every body elses Macintosh as well.

The Conference Menu can be used to issue commands that control the conferencing facilities on your Macintosh. The commands in the Conference Menu will also control other conference attendees Macintosh's if you are currently the designated broadcaster or have the conference floor.

The Applications Menu allows you to use the World Wide Web Browsers and recordable AppleScript applications with The Virtual Meeting.

The moderators menu is used by the moderator of a conference in order to control various functions of the conferencing system.