System and method for setup of meetings and conferences

• US 20050027581A1
• Filed: 06/21/2004
• Published: 02/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tandberg Telecom AS (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tandberg Telecom AS (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hammer, Vegard, Schrader, Thies, Kjesbu, Snorre, Dahle, Hakon
• Application Number:
  US10/871,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20050027581A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• 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 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A system and method for connecting one or more systems to a user for automatic determination of which system the user may use to participate in a call. A predefined list of videoconferencing systems and/or locations for each user is predefined and arranged in a prioritized order. When scheduling a meeting and/or a videoconference, the predefined user lists are taken into account when selecting end-points and other resources involved in the meeting/conference. The selection process may be controlled by predefined rules also taking various system availability, network resources and the routes required for connecting the other systems in the conference into account. The present invention also introduces presence applications to facilitate scheduling and set up of ad hoc meetings/conferences.

Claims

1. A conference management system configured to attempt to schedule a meeting between two or more individuals and to reserve associated locations or facilities for the meeting based on availability, comprising:

one or more storage devices each configured to store a priority list, each priority list associated with an individual and including a number of locations arranged in a preferred order;

a scheduler configured to select one or more locations and associated facilities, each of which is respectively included in at least one of the priority lists, wherein the facilities include conference resources configured to provide communication between the individuals if more than one location is selected, wherein the resources at least include conference end-points respectively associated with the selected one or more locations.

2. The conference management system of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is configured to minimize a total cost derived from a number of cost values assigned to the locations and facilities when selecting among said cost values.

3. The conference management system of claim 2, wherein each location is assigned a cost value according to priority within the respective priority lists.

4. The conference management system of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is configured to minimize the one or more locations included in the meeting.

5. The conference management system of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is configured to filter out occupied locations and facilities.

6. The conference management system of claim 1, wherein said conference resources further include one or more communication routes, one or more Gateways, or one or more Multiple Conference Units.

7. The conference management system of claim 2, wherein said cost values respectively represent at least one of bandwidth capabilities, WAN capabilities, LAN capabilities, and routing costs.

8. A conference management system configured to attempt to schedule a meeting between two or more individuals and to reserve associated locations or facilities for the meeting based on availability or capability information, comprising:

a scheduler configured to determine availability of the locations or facilities for each individual by means of (1) a presence application, integrated into or connected to the system, the presence application configured to monitor a presence of each individual at one or more of the locations, and (2) the availability of the respective facilities.

9. A conference management system according to claim 8, further comprising:

one or more storage devices configured to store priority lists, each priority list associated with an individual and including a number of locations arranged in a preferred order,

wherein the scheduler is configured to select one or more locations and associated facilities, each of which is respectively included in at least the priority lists associated with present individuals, and

the facilities include conference resources configured to provide communication between the individuals if more than one location is selected, wherein the resources at least include conference end-points respectively associated with the selected one or more locations.

10. The conference management system of claim 9, wherein the scheduler is configured to allow selection of individuals to participate in the meeting from a “

buddy”

list provided by said presence application.

11. The conference management system of claim 8, wherein said presence application is supported by a central presence server at least providing presence information for each individual.

12. The conference management system of claim 9, wherein the selection process is adapted to minimize a total cost derived from a number of cost values assigned to the locations and facilities when selecting among said cost values.

13. The conference management system of claim 9, wherein each location is assigned a cost value according to priority within the respective priority lists.

14. The conference management system of claim 9, wherein the scheduler is configured to minimize the one or more locations included in the meeting.

15. The conference management system of claim 9, wherein said conference resources further include one or more communication routes, one or more Gateways, or one or more Multiple Conference Units.

16. The conference management system of claim 13, wherein said cost values respectively represent bandwidth at least one of capabilities, WAN capabilities, LAN capabilities, and routing costs.

17. The conference management system of claim 12, further comprising:

a supporting scheduler server configured to store said priority lists and said number of cost values in addition to the availability and capability information of the locations and the facilities.

18. The conference management system of claim 12, wherein said presence server further stores said priority lists and said number of cost values in addition to the availability and capability information of the localizations and the facilities.

19. A method for attempting to schedule a meeting between two or more individuals and to reserve associated locations or facilities for the meeting based on availability or capability information, comprising:

selecting one or more locations and associated facilities, each of which is respectively included in at least one priority list, each priority list stored in one or more storage devices associated with an individual and including a number of locations arranged in a preferred order,

wherein the facilities include conference resources adapted to provide communication between the individuals if more than one location is selected; and

said resources at least include conference end-points respectively associated with the selected one or more locations.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

minimizing a total cost derived from a number of cost values assigned to the locations and facilities when selecting among said cost values.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

assigning a cost value according to priority within the respective priority lists to each location.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

minimizing the one or more locations included in the meeting.

23. A method for attempting to schedule a meeting between two or more individuals and to reserve associated locations or facilities for the meeting based on availability or capability information, comprising:

determining availability of the locations or facilities for an individual by means of a presence application, and;

monitoring presence of the individual at one or more of the locations and the availability of the respective facilities.