Controlling a Conference

Your site is chairing the conference.

The microphones of the site have been muted, and the other sites in the conference cannot hear the site. This icon indicates that the site itself, not the chair site, mutes the site's microphones.

The microphones of the site have been muted, and the other sites in the conference cannot hear the site.

The speakers of the site have been muted, and the site cannot hear the current conference.

The site is being broadcast.

The site is being viewed.

The site is not in the conference.

The site is in the conference.

The site is sharing a presentation.

The site is specified as the only site that can share content.

The site is a PSTN, H.323 PHONE, or SIP audio site.

Refreshes the conference control page.

Displays sites in a list.

Displays sites as icons.

Request Chair

The conference chair site can use more conference control functions than other sites.

Only non-chair sites can request chair control rights when no chair site exists in a conference. Audio-only sites cannot request chair control rights.

The conference access number is required when a site requests chair control rights. Obtain this number from the calling party or the SMC administrator.

Request Floor

If a non-chair site wants to speak during a conference, the site can request the floor from the chair site. This function is especially useful when a remote site is being broadcast.

This function is available only when a chair site exists in the conference. After a site requests the floor, the request is submitted to the chair site. The chair site can then determine whether to give the floor to the site.

• If the chair site gives the floor to the site, the site is broadcast, and all the sites, except the chair site and the site given the floor, are muted.
• If the chair site does not give the floor to the requesting site, the conference status remains unchanged.

View Site

Views a site (available for all sites) or multiple sites in turn at preset intervals (available for the chair site only).

• Non-chair site: can use this function when no site or continuous presence is being broadcast during a conference; can view the sites residing on the local MCU or MCUs of the same level only.
• Chair site: can view any sites residing on the local MCU and MCUs cascaded to the local MCU; can view a site even when another site is being broadcast in continuous presence.

Revoke Chair

Only the site that initiates or pays for the conference can revoke chair control rights.

When chair control rights are revoked, no chair site exists in the conference. Sites in the conference can then request to chair the conference.

Call Site

Call All

You can place a call to a site that is not in the conference. The site joins the conference after answering the call.

To call all absent sites included in the conference site list into the conference, click Call All.

Hang Up

The chair site can disconnect a site from the conference without removing the site from the site list. To have the site join the conference again, the chair site can perform the Call Site operation.

Delete Site

The chair site can disconnect a site from the conference and remove the site from the site list. To enable the site to join the conference again, the chair site must add the site to the conference by performing the Add Site operation.

Add Site

You can add sites to an ongoing conference, regardless of whether those sites have been defined in the address book. The MCU hosting the conference then places calls to the added sites.

Broadcast Site

The chair site can broadcast any non-audio-only sites, including the chair site itself. When a site is broadcast, all non-chair sites are forced to view the broadcast site, while the chair site can view any sites present in the conference.

Select In Turn. You can then set the broadcast interval and adjust the broadcast sequence of sites.

To stop broadcasting a site, click Stop Broadcasting or Discussion.

When the chair site stops broadcasting a site, all the sites can view any other sites.

End Conference

If a conference is completed before the scheduled time, the chair site can use the End Conference function to end the conference in advance.

Set Continuous Presence

Views multiple sites at the same time.

The continuous presence function is used to display the video from two or more sites on the same display at the same time. The number of the sites to be displayed and the layout of the site videos vary according to continuous presence modes.

This function is available only when continuous presence resources have been reserved for the conference.

Mute/Unmute Speaker

Mute/Unmute MIC

Voice activation

Voice activation is used in discussion mode. When voice activation is enabled, the site with the loudest voice is displayed to other sites in the conference.

After you enable voice activation and set the sensitivity:

• If the sound of one or multiple sites exceeds the voice activation threshold defined on the MCU, the video of the loudest site is broadcast.
• If the voice activation threshold is not exceeded, the conference status is not changed.

To disable the voice activation function, click Disable.

Lock Presentation

Restricts the presentation sharing rights of a site or a conference.

• Locking site presentation: When the chair site locks the presentation rights of a site, only that site can share presentations.
• Locking conference presentation: When the chair site locks the conference presentation, a site can share its presentation if no other site in the conference is doing so.

Extend Conference

If a conference is not likely to be complete by the scheduled time, the chair site can extend the conference using the Extend Conference function.

Before extending a conference, you must ensure that the videoconferencing resources and your account balance are sufficient to cover an extension. To increase the chances of success, extend the conference by 30 minutes at most at a time.

Revoke Presentation

To stop a site from sharing a presentation, the chair site can revoke the presentation sharing right of the site.

This function is available in a dual-stream conference.

Discussion

The chair site can enable discussion to cancel certain ongoing site control or conference control operations, such as broadcasting sites.

This Discussion function is used to cancel the following operations performed by the chair site:

• Broadcasting a site
• Muting the speaker
• Muting the microphone
• Giving the floor

In discussion mode:

• Audio: All sites have unmuted microphones, and the sound of all the sites together are broadcast to every site.
• Video: The video viewed by each site does not change and each site can view any other site.

Give Floor

Using this function, the chair site can give the floor to a site and mute all other sites.

After the chair site gives the floor to a site, the video and sound of the site are broadcast, and all sites are muted, except the chair site and the site that has the floor.

Although the Stop Broadcasting function is available even when a site has the floor, the chair site cannot take back the floor using Stop Broadcasting. After the chair site gives the floor to a site, the video and sound of the site are broadcast, and all sites are muted, except the chair site and the site that has the floor. If the chair site clicks Stop Broadcasting at this time, broadcasting a site stops, but the other non-chair sites are still muted.

Sites Requesting Floor

The chair site can use this function to view a list of sites that are requesting the floor.

During a conference, after a non-chair requests the floor, the site is added to the floor-requesting sites list. The chair site can select a site from the list to give the floor to that site. The video of that site is then broadcast, and the microphones of all sites are muted, except the chair site and the site that has the floor.

Once given the floor, the site is removed from the floor-requesting sites list.

Release Chair

Releases chair control rights. When chair control rights are released, any sites in the conference can request to become the chair site.

Enable Chair Control

When a conference is held with a built-in MCU, Enable Chair Control and Disable Chair Control are available only to the site where the built-in MCU is being used.

The sites in the conference can request chair control rights only after you enable the chair control on the terminal whose built-in MCU is being used. After a site becomes the chair site, the following conference control functions are unavailable to the terminal whose built-in MCU is being used:

• Lock conference
• Conference video layout
• Recording

You can use the preceding conference control functions on the terminal whose built-in MCU is being used only after click Disable Chair Control.

Disable Chair Control

This function is used to disable chair control in a conference. For example, if a chair site exists in a conference, the site whose built-in MCU is being used can use this function to revoke chair control rights. In addition, the sites in the conference cannot request to become the chair site afterward.

Lock conference

The Lock conference operation can be performed only from the endpoint whose built-in MCU is being used. After the Lock conference operation is performed, the endpoint whose built-in MCU is being used can call the other endpoints to join the conference, but other endpoints cannot call into the conference. To enable other endpoints to call into the conference, perform the Unlock Conference operation.

Conference Video Layout

This function is used to set the view displayed to all participant sites.

• Voice activated, full screen: The remote sites view, in full screen, the video of the site that generates the loudest volume.
• Voice activated, in panes: The remote sites view continuous presence, with the main pane displaying the video of the site that generates the loudest volume.
• Bisect: The remote sites view, in bisect mode, the videos of the other participant sites. The site that generates the louder volume is highlighted. A presentation will not be displayed in this layout.
• Fixed site, full screen: The remote sites view, in full screen, the video of a specified site. To view a site in full screen, click it in the site list.
• Fixed sites, in panes: The remote sites view continuous presence, with the main pane displaying the video of a specified site. To add a participant site to the main pane, click it in the site list.

Monitor Video

From the conference control page for the chair site or the site where the built-in MCU is used, you can view the video and presentation of a remote site. You can also adjust the sizes of the video or the presentation. In this way, you can monitor the status and video quality of the remote site.

This function is available only to the Web interface of the chair site or the site where the built-in MCU is used.

You can also monitor the video from the page described in section Monitoring Video.

Recording

From the conference control page, click Start to start recording and Stop to stop recording.