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 a modem, direct serial, or network connection using a TCP/IP or Windows sockets Dynamic Link Library.
The communications between the Conference Gateway and the other applications on a computer that will be used during a conference are done using Windows Dynamic Data Exchange. Actions that are taken in any of the associated conferencing aware applications in the Conferencing System will cause an Dynamic Data Exchange message 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 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 a Dynamic Data Exchange message, which is sent to the corresponding Application. For instance, if the QuickTime Movie and Slide Player sends a "Play Movie" message to the Conference Gateway on a broadcasters computer, that same message will be delivered to the QuickTime Movie and Slide Player application that is running on all other attendee's Computer.
Copyright 1996 by Seth Snyder All Rights Reserved