Polycom®, Inc. 140
Sharing Content During Conferences
Content such as graphics, presentations, documents or live video can be shared with conference
participants using the H.239 (H.323) or BFCP (SIP) protocol, which are the standard protocols for content
sharing or Polycom’s proprietary protocol People+Content.
Content Sharing Using H.239 Protocol
The H.239 protocol allows compliant endpoints to transmit and receive two simultaneous video streams:
● People video stream – displays the video of the people participating in the meeting. This is the
primary video channel of the conference and it is displayed in all the conferencing modes.
● Content video stream – displays the content being shared, such as graphic presentations, files,
movies, or any information that can be displayed on the computer’s screen.
By default, all conferences, Entry Queues, and Meeting Rooms launched on the Collaboration Server have
H.239 content sharing capabilities.
Endpoints may not send Content while connecting to an Entry Queue.
Endpoints without H.239 capability can connect to the video conference without Content.
Cascade links declare H.239 capabilities and they are supported in Star and MIH cascading topologies. For
more details, see Cascading Conferences - H.239-enabled MIH Topology.
Content Sharing Using People+Content Protocol
People+Content utilizes a different signaling protocol and is Polycom’s proprietary equivalent of H.239. It is
supported in CP conferences.
Guidelines for Content Sharing Using People+Content Protocol
● All network environments are supported.
● Conferences can include a mix of endpoints that support H.239 or People+Content.
● All endpoints will receive Content at the highest resolution common to all connected endpoints.
● H.239 is supported in MIH, Star and Basic Cascading topologies.
● People+Content is supported in cascaded conferences but cannot be used as the protocol for a
cascade link.
● If an endpoint supports both H.239 and People+Content protocols, H.239 is selected as the preferred
communications protocol.
● H.263 Annex T and H.264 protocols are supported for Content transmission.