Integrated user interface for unified communications applications

• US 10,182,085 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2015
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Baird, Randall B., O'Gorman, Liam P., Friedl, Stephan E., Mayer, J. Steven, Smyth, Joe
• Primary Examiner(s): Hussain, Tauqir
• Application Number:
  US14/807,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20150326628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 709203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45545 Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox
• 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 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70

Abstract

Techniques are provided for establishing a Unified Communications (UC) session between a client endpoint device and remote endpoint devices, the client endpoint device managing the session using a first-party call control protocol in response to commands from a third-party control protocol and user input. A hosted virtual desktop (HVD) generates an HVD image and communicates it to the client endpoint device for display, via a virtual desktop interface (VDI) protocol. The HVD image comprises a UC user interface generated by a UC application on the HVD, the user interface comprising at least one user interface element and at least one placeholder where a client-provided user interface element may be inserted. A client UC application receives the HVD image and inserts client-provided user interface elements over the placeholders before sending the integrated image to a client operating system to be rendered on the display of client endpoint device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a host Unified Communications (UC) application on a host device;

communicating, by the host UC application, additional information with a client endpoint device via an application-to-application protocol, wherein the additional information comprises identity information sent by the host UC application to a client UC application via the application-to-application protocol, and wherein the identity information enables the client UC application to register the client endpoint device with a call agent;

generating a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) display comprising a UC user interface generated by the host UC application, the UC user interface comprising a host-provided user interface element including one or more host-provided controls for managing a UC call session and one or more placeholders where a client-provided user interface element may be rendered, the one or more placeholders including a video element placeholder; and

sending the HVD display including the one or more host-provided controls and the one or more placeholders to the client endpoint device using a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) connection to enable the client endpoint device to manage the UC call session via the UC user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information comprises user interface geometry information generated by the host UC application and sent to the client UC application, the user interface geometry information comprising one or more of the following:

a position of the one or more placeholders for the user interface element;

a size of the one or more placeholders for the user interface element; and

descriptions of regions of the one or more placeholders that are occluded by other HVD applications in the HVD display.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the application-to-application protocol is transported as a virtual channel in the VDI connection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a notification of a changed client state from the client endpoint device;

generating a new HVD display; and

sending the new HVD display to the client endpoint device via the VDI connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the HVD display is a hosted virtual application (HVA) display.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user request from the client endpoint device; and

calling a host UC protocol stack to fulfill the user request.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a UC protocol stack event;

determining whether a change to the HVD display is required based on the UC protocol stack event;

in response to determining that a change to the HVD display is required, generating a new HVD display; and

sending the new HVD display to the client endpoint device via the VDI connection.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface unit configured to enable network communications;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the network interface unit and the memory, and configured to;

establish a host Unified Communications (UC) application in memory on the apparatus;

communicate additional information between the host UC application and a client endpoint device via an application-to-application protocol, wherein the additional information comprises identity information sent by the host UC application to a client UC application via the application-to-application protocol, and wherein the identity information enables the client UC application to register the client endpoint device with a call agent;

generate a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) display in memory, wherein the HVD display comprises a UC user interface generated by the host UC application, the UC user interface comprising a host-provided user interface element including one or more host-provided controls for managing a UC call session and one or more placeholders where a client-provided user interface element may be rendered, the one or more placeholders including a video element placeholder; and

send the HVD display including the one or more host-provided controls and the one or more placeholders to the client endpoint device using a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) connection to enable the client endpoint device to manage the UC call session via the UC user interlace.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the additional information comprises user interface geometry information, and wherein the processor is configured to:

generate the user interface geometry information, wherein the user interface geometry information is generated by the host UC application and sent to the client UC application, the user interface geometry information comprising one or more of the following;

a position of the one or more placeholders for the user interface element;

a size of the one or more placeholders for the user interface element; and

descriptions of regions of the one or more placeholders that are occluded by other HVD applications in the HVD display.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the application-to-application protocol is transported as a virtual channel in the VDI connection.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive a notification of a changed client state from the client endpoint device;

generate a new HVD display; and

send the new HVD display to the client endpoint device via the VDI connection.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the HVD display is a hosted virtual application (HVA) display.

17. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a user request from the client endpoint device; and

call a host UC protocol stack to fulfill the user request.

18. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a UC protocol stack event;

determine whether a change to the HVD display is required based on the UC protocol stack event;

in response to determining that a change to the HVD display is required, generate a new HVD display; and

send the new HVD display to the client endpoint device via the VDI connection.

11. One or more non-transitory computer readable media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

establish a host Unified Communications (UC) application on a host device;

communicate additional information between the host UC application and a client endpoint device via an application-to-application protocol, wherein the additional information comprises identity information sent by the host UC application to a client UC application via the application-to-application protocol, and wherein the identity information enables the client UC application to register the client endpoint device with a call agent;

generate a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) display, wherein the HVD display comprises a UC user interface generated by the host UC application, the UC user interface comprising a host-provided user interface element including one or more host-provided controls for managing a UC call session and one or more placeholders where a client-provided user interface element may be rendered, the one or more placeholders including a video element placeholder; and

send the HVD display including the one or more host-provided controls and the one or more placeholders to the client endpoint device using a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) connection to enable the client endpoint device to manage the UC call session via the UC user interface.

12. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the additional information comprises user interface geometry information, and further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

generate the user interface geometry information, wherein the user interface geometry information is generated by the host UC application and sent to the client UC application, the user interface geometry information comprising one or more of the following;

a position of the one or more placeholders for the user interface element;

a size of the one or more placeholders for the user interface element; and

descriptions of regions of the one or more placeholders that are occluded by other HVD applications in the HVD display.

13. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the application-to-application protocol is transported as a virtual channel in the VDI connection.

14. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

receive a notification of a changed client state from the client endpoint device;

generate a new HVD display; and

send the new HVD display to the client endpoint device via the VDI connection.

19. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

receive a user request from the client endpoint device; and

call a host UC protocol stack to fulfill the user request.

20. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

receive a UC protocol stack event;

determine whether a change to the HVD display is required based on the UC protocol stack event;

in response to determining that a change to the HVD display is required, generate a new HVD display; and

send the new HVD display to the client endpoint device via the VDI connection.