Proxy for asynchronous meeting participation

• US 10,163,077 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2016
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Tang, John C., Hoff, Aaron, Inkpen, Kori, Johns, Paul, Roseway, Asta, Zhao, Chen, Cao, Xiang, Marlow, Jennifer
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Manglesh M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hasty, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US15/231,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20160350724A1
• Time in Patent Office: 869 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

Embodiments described herein relate to enabling a lightweight way of recording and sharing video messages intended to provide input to a future meeting that cannot be personally attended. A person who cannot attend the meeting pre-records their thoughts and remarks for the meeting as video clips for presentation at the meeting. A physical device with at least a display is presented at the meeting. The physically present participants can play the pre-recorded clips on the device. Video of participants'"'"' responses to the clips is recorded and made available so that the represented attendee can view the participants'"'"' responses.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computing device comprised of storage hardware and processing hardware, the method comprising:

prior to a meeting that includes a second person, providing the computing device with access to;

media clips of a first person and associations associating the media clips with respective clip topics, wherein each association associates one of the media clips and one of the clip topics, wherein the device renders audio and/or video content of the media clips;

during the meeting and while the computing device is rendering the media clips, monitoring, by the processing hardware of the computing device, actions of the second person to identify meeting topics as they arise during the meeting, the monitored actions comprising speech and/or manual inputs directed to the computing device;

during the meeting, comparing, by the processing hardware of the computing device, the identified meeting topics with the clip topics to determine when clip topics relate to meeting topics;

during the meeting, based on a meeting topic having been determined to relate to a clip topic, and based on one of the associations associating the clip topic with a media clip, rendering the media clip by the processing hardware device of the computing device; and

during the meeting, recording to the storage hardware media portions of the second person and storing to the storage hardware indications indicating which media portions are associated with which rendering of which media clips, wherein each time one of the media clips is rendered;

(i) recording of a corresponding media portion is started and stopped in correspondence with a start and stop of the media clip, and (ii) an indication indicating an association between a media portion and the clip topic is formed by the processing hardware and stored by the storage hardware.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the actions comprise speech of at least the second person, and wherein the actions are determined by analyzing the speech.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the actions comprise manual inputs directed to the computing device by the second person.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein timings of rendering the media clips, respectively, depends on when the meeting topics are respectively determined to be related to the clip topics.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein starts and/or extents of the media portions are determined according to when respective renderings of the media clips start or end.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein formation of the media portions depends on when renderings of the media clips occur.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the media portions comprise discrete portions of media recorded during the meeting or locations within a same media recording recorded during the meeting.

8. A method performed by a computing device, the method comprising:

during a meeting in which a participant is present and participating, causing a device to operate to monitor changing context of the meeting during the meeting, the device having access to media messages of a person that were recorded by the person prior to the meeting, wherein each media message comprises a respective media clip and an indication of a respective target context for the media clip, and wherein the device renders the media clips;

during the meeting and while the computing device is rendering the media clips, the monitoring monitors the context of the meeting according to inputs to the computing device that correspond to actions of the second person, the inputs comprising voice or manual inputs;

during the meeting, according to the target contexts and the monitored context, determining when the target contexts correspond to the monitored context of the meeting, and each time a target context is determined to correspond to the monitored context, for the media message of the determined target context;

(i) causing the media clip of the determined media message to be rendered by the device, and (ii) storing an association between the media message and a recording of a portion of the meeting that is associated with the rendering of the media clip, wherein starting and stopping of the recording are timed based on synchronized to starting and stopping of the media clip, respectively; and

after the meeting, displaying a user interface that enables interactive selection of the media messages, wherein responsive to a media message being selected via the user interface, based on a corresponding one of the stored associations associating the media message and a recorded portion of the meeting, rendering the recorded portion of the meeting.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the actions comprise manual selections directed to the computing device and/or speech.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the causing comprises controlling a timing of rendering of the media clip according to target context having been determined to correspond to the monitored context of the meeting.

11. A method according to claim 8, wherein the media clips comprise video content.

12. A method according to claim 8, wherein the media clips comprise audio content.

13. A method according to claim 8, wherein the accessing comprises retrieving the media clips via a network from a server device.

14. A method according to claim 8, wherein the recorded portions of the meeting are formed to include portions of the meeting during which the media clips are being rendered.

15. A method according to claim 8, wherein the person does not attend the meeting.

16. A computing device comprising:

processing hardware;

storage hardware storing instructions configured to cause the processing hardware to perform a process, the process comprising;

monitoring voice or manual actions of one or more participants of a meeting during the meeting;

accessing first associations between media clips recorded prior to the meeting and trigger conditions of the media clips, each media clip having a first association with a respective trigger condition;

according to the monitoring, determining when the actions satisfy the trigger conditions, and based on each determination of an action satisfying a trigger condition, according to the first association of the satisfied trigger condition, rendering the media clip associated with the satisfied trigger condition; and

forming feedback recordings of the meeting to capture feedback of the one or more participants to the renderings of the media clips, and storing second associations indicating which feedback recordings captured feedback for which of the media clips, wherein each feedback recording is formed by starting recording of the meeting in correspondence with starting rendering of the associated media clip.

17. A computing device according to claim 16, wherein the computing device further comprises a display, the media clips comprise respective video portions, and the renderings of the media clips comprises displaying the video portions on the display.

18. A computing device according to claim 16, wherein the process further comprises determining ends of the feedback recordings based on a fixed time duration following the respective renderings of the media clips or based on determinations that feedback of the one or more participants has ended.

19. A computing device according to claim 16, wherein the process further comprises providing a graphical user interface with access to the second associations to enable selection, in association with the media clips, for rendering, of the feedback portions, wherein the graphical user interface displays information indicating which media clips are associated with which feedback portions.

20. A computing device according to claim 16, wherein the trigger conditions comprise topics and the actions are automatically analyzed to determine when the topics arise during the meeting.