Method and system for connecting electronic devices

• US 10,693,924 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2016
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Barco NV
• Original Assignee: Barco NV
• Inventors: Devinck, Wouter, Wang, Hsing Yung, Pirot, Johan, Chen, Wenho, Hung, Meng-Chung, Jain, Saurabh, Kale, Rahul Pratap
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayard, Djenane M
• Application Number:
  US15/261,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20170078341A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,383 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• 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: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

A method and system for conducting meetings, e.g. making it easy for the user to connect his device to the meeting or come to a common shared view of the meeting content, where all devices participating in the meeting are located within one physical meeting room. In another embodiment, at least some devices are located outside the meeting room. In principle there is no meeting room necessary, but all devices can be distributed anywhere in a region or in the world, and after connection, the meeting content is shared to all physical meeting rooms and remote devices of the system.

Claims

1. A method for sharing data streams between meeting devices in a meeting in which the following are participating:

at least two meeting devices adapted for electronic digital communication, at least two base units, at least one server, at least three communication networks, the method comprising the steps of;

the at least two meeting devices each connecting for electronic digital communication to a different base unit over at least two different networks,

at least one meeting device initiating the creation of a meeting identifier, each meeting identifier being shared, over a third network, with the at least two base units belonging to a meeting associated with the meeting identifier,

at least one of the at least two meeting devices sending at least one data stream to a first base unit with which it is connected, over one of the at least three communication networks or within the at least one meeting device, and

the first base unit and the at least one server exchanging set-up messages associated with the meeting identifier and the at least one data stream, via a service bus, and sending data streams between the at least two meeting devices according to the set-up messages, wherein the data streams are not communicated via the service bus.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the at least two base units are located in different rooms or different buildings or different countries or different continents, or in any combination thereof.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein setup messages from the at least two base units are being posted to a service bus queue.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one server comprises a media service and a control service, and the control service is instructing the media service how to manipulate the at least one data stream.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the media service comprises a method to combine a plurality of data streams into a single data stream based on instructions from the control service.

6. A method according to claim 4 comprising a set of instructions that can natively be executed by a web browser.

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein one of the at least two meeting devices and at least one of the two base units are integrated into one device.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one server uses audio signals to uniquely pair initiation signals and creating the meeting identifier.

9. A method according to claim 8 wherein the audio signal comprises ambient sound at the locations of the respective meeting devices.

10. A method according to claim 1 wherein the system comprises a means for short distance communication, and one of the at least two meeting devices is being placed within range of the means for short distance communication technology of at least one base unit the at least one base unit is continuously transmitting a signal comprising network information the one of the at least two meeting devices picking up the signal transmitted by a nearest base unit, and using the network information to connect with the nearest base unit.

11. A method according to claim 10 wherein further connection information is exchanged over the means for short distance communication the one of the at least two meeting devices and the base unit using said connection information to connect.

12. A method according to claim 10 wherein the nearest base unit is selected by one of using signal strength and/or triangulation between base units, and using signal strength and/or triangulation between signals from base units and signals from meeting devices already paired with the base unit.

13. A method according to claim 10 wherein short distance communication is implemented using Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy or Near Field Communication.

14. A method according to claim 1 wherein the each base unit is providing a shared stream to its at least one meeting device.

15. A method according to claim 1 wherein a base unit communicates with the service bus via secure websockets.

16. A method according to claim 1 wherein a meeting device is a laptop or a tablet or a mobile phone or a smartphone or a palm pad or a stationary computer.

17. A method according to claim 1 wherein a base unit is a collaboration platform communicating with meeting devices over the first network and communicating with the at least one server, using the service bus, over the second network.

18. A system for sharing data streams between meeting devices, the system comprising at least two meeting devices, at least two base units, at least one server, a service bus, hosted by the at least one server, a meeting identifier, at least two local networks separated from a global network, the at least two meeting devices being each connected to a different base unit over the at least one local network, the at least two base units being connected to the service bus over the global network and, wherein base units belonging to the same meeting share one meeting identifier,

wherein a function of the base unit is implemented as a computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium carrying instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of claim 1.

19. A method for sharing data streams between meeting devices in a meeting in which the following are participating:

at least two meeting devices adapted for electronic digital communication, at least two base units, at least one server, at least three communication networks, the method comprising the steps of the at least two meeting devices each connecting for electronic digital communication to a different base unit over at least two different networks, at least one meeting device initiating the creation of a meeting identifier, each meeting identifier being shared, over a third network, with the at least two base units belonging to a meeting associated with the meeting identifier, at least one of the at least two meeting devices sending at least one data stream to a first base unit with which it is connected, over one of the at least three communication networks or within the at least one meeting device, and the first base unit and the at least one server exchanging set-up messages associated with the meeting identifier and the at least one data stream, via a bus,

wherein the initiating of the creation of a meeting identifier is selected from one of the following method flows;

a first meeting device sending an initiation signal to the first base unit, the first base unit sending the signal to the at least one server via the bus, the signal arriving at the at least one server at a first time (t1), a second meeting device sending an initiation signal to a second base unit, the second base unit sending the signal to the at least one server via the bus, the signal arriving at the at least one server at a second time (t2), and if the difference between the second and first time (t2−

t1) is less than or equal to a predefined value, the at least one server sends out notifications of the first and second meeting devices to the second and first meeting devices, respectively, the first and second meeting devices selecting the second and first meeting device, respectively, and when the selections are received by the at least one server, the at least one server is creating a meeting identifier, or

a first meeting device sending a request to the at least one server, via the first base unit and the bus, to list active or pending meetings, if there are meetings associated with the first meeting device, the at least one server sending back a list of meetings to the first meeting device a second meeting device sending a request to the at least one server, via a second base unit and the bus, to list active or pending meetings, if there are meetings associated with the second meeting device, the at least one server sending back a list of meetings to the second meeting device selecting a meeting by associated users and the first and second meeting devices sending the selections to the at least one server via the first and second base units and the bus and when the selections are matching each other and are received by the at least one server, the at least one server is creating a meeting identifier, or

a first meeting device sending an initiation signal to the first base unit by entering a pre-defined token, the first base unit sending the token to the at least one server via the bus, a second meeting device sending an initiation signal to a second base unit by entering the above pre-defined token, the second base unit sending the token to the at least one server via the bus, the at least one application server defining the predefined token as the meeting identifier, or

a first meeting device sending an initiation signal to the first base unit when a first button is pressed, the first base unit sending the signal to the at least one server via the bus, a second meeting device sending an initiation signal to a second base unit when a second button is pressed while the first button is still being pressed, the second base unit sending the signal to the at least one server via the bus, the at least one server sending out notifications of the first and second meeting devices to the second and first meeting devices, respectively, the first and second meeting devices selecting the second and first meeting devices, respectively, and when the selections are received by the at least one server, the at least one server creating a meeting identifier.

20. A method according to claim 19 wherein sending an initiation signal comprises a user action selected from changing orientation of the meeting device or shaking the meeting device or pushing a physical or virtual knob or button associated with the meeting device.

21. A method according to claim 20 further comprising an external communication channel of ambient audio signals associated with the at least two meeting devices and the ambient audio signals from each of meeting device location being sent along with the initiation signal to the at least one server from the first and second base units and via the external communication channel, if the audio signals from the first and second base units that travelled via the external communication channel match with the audio signals sent directly by the first and second base units, the at least one server creating a meeting identifier for matching signals.

22. A method according to claim 19 wherein the list of pending meetings is created locally on the first and second meeting devices via a local calendar application.

23. A system for sharing data streams between meeting devices, the system comprising:

at least two meeting devices,

at least two base units,

at least one server,

a service bus, hosted by the at least one server,

a meeting identifier,

at least two local networks separated from a global network,

the at least two meeting devices being each connected to a different base unit over the at least one local network,

the at least two base units being connected to the service bus over the global network,

wherein at least one of the at least two meeting devices is configured to initiate the creation of the meeting identifier, the meeting identifier being shared, over the global network, with the at least two base units,

wherein at least one of the at least two meeting devices is configured to send at least one data stream to a first base unit with which the at least one meeting device is connected,

wherein the first base unit and the at least one server are configured to exchange set-up messages associated with the meeting identifier and the at least one data stream, via the service bus,

wherein the at least one of the at least two meeting devices is configured to send the at least one data stream according to the set-up messages, wherein the data stream is not communicated via the service bus, and,

wherein base units belonging to the same meeting share one meeting identifier.

24. A system according to claim 23 wherein set-up messages from the at least two base units to the at least one server are posted to a service bus queue.

25. A system according to claim 24 wherein a base unit is connected to an input device, for example a physical button or an emulated button.