Method and system for providing conferencing services

• US 20050034079A1
• Filed: 07/30/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Far North Patents, LLC
• Original Assignee: Tekla PEHR LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Roberts, Paul A., Gunasekar, Duraisamy, Moore, Richard G., Espino, Mayel, McKiel, Frank A. Jr., Freeman, Michael B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,980 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• 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 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2061 Language aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1324 Conference call
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13248 Multimedia
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

An approach is provided for supporting multi-media conferencing. Textual information (e.g., text associated with a presentation) is received for display during a conference session to multiple participants. For a particular participant, configuration information corresponding to the participant specifies language assistance for the textual information. Language assistance involves augmenting the textual information according to the configuration information for comprehension of the textual information by the particular participant. In one embodiment, the augmented textual information includes language translation of the textual information. Additionally, the augmented textual information can encompass definitions of terms, including acronyms. The augmented textual information is forwarded for display to the participant during the conference session.

Claims

1. A method for providing multi-media conferencing, the method comprising:

receiving textual information for display during a conference session among a plurality of participants;

retrieving configuration information specifying language assistance for the textual information, wherein the configuration information is associated with one of the participants;

augmenting the textual information according to the configuration information for comprehension of the textual information by the one participant; and

forwarding the augmented textual information for display to the one participant during the conference session.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information specifies type of language, the method further comprising:

translating the textual information according to the type of language, the augmented textual information including the translated textual information.

3. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining whether the textual information is contained in a predetermined list of terms and associated supplemental information; and

if the textual information is in the list, retrieving the associated supplemental information for inclusion with the augmented textual information.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the supplemental information includes definitions of the corresponding terms, one of the terms being an acronym.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the textual information is marked for notifying the one participant that the supplemental information is available for the textual information.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a plurality of invitation messages to the participants; and

determining confirmation status of the conference session based upon response messages received from the participants in response to the invitation messages.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the invitation messages are transmitted over one of a plurality of transmission mechanisms including e-mail, page, instant messaging, and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the conference session is established collaboratively.

9. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

preparing the augmented textual information for display according to a type of device.

10. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

recording the conference session;

marking the recorded conference session; and

selectively providing marking information to one or more of the participants.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein each of the participants records individual annotations for the conference session for subsequent individual playback including the individual annotations.

12. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

monitoring service quality of the conference session experienced by the one participant.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the one participant automatically joins the conference session by selecting an icon on an electronic calendar.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to whether the conference session is active.

15. A method according to claim 1, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to whether recorded information pertaining to conduct of the conference session is available to the participant.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to at least one of the start time of the conference session, the stop time of the conference or the duration of the conference.

17. A method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining billing information associated with the conferencing session for charging an account of the one participant.

18. A method according to claim 17, the method further comprising:

determining whether the account is valid, wherein the augmented textual information is forwarded to the one participant only if the account is valid.

19. A system for providing multi-media conferencing, the system comprising:

a conference scheduling application configured to receive textual information for display during a conference session among a plurality of participants, and to retrieve configuration information specifying language assistance for the textual information, wherein the configuration information is associated with one of the participants; and

a language assistance application configured to augment the textual information according to the configuration information for comprehension of the textual information by the one participant, wherein the augmented textual information is forwarded for display to the one participant during the conference session.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the configuration information specifies type of language, and the language assistance application translates the textual information according to the type of language, the augmented textual information including the translated textual information.

21. A system according to claim 19, wherein the language assistance application determines whether the textual information is contained in a predetermined list of terms and associated supplemental information, and if the textual information is in the list, the language assistance application retrieves the associated supplemental information for inclusion with the augmented textual information.

22. A system according to claim 21, wherein the supplemental information includes definitions of the corresponding terms, one of the terms being an acronym.

23. A system according to claim 21, wherein the textual information is marked for notifying the one participant that the supplemental information is available for the textual information.

24. A system according to claim 19, wherein the conference scheduling application is further configured to transmit a plurality of invitation messages to the participants, and to determine confirmation status of the conference session based upon response messages received from the participants in response to the invitation messages.

25. A system according to claim 24, wherein the invitation messages are transmitted over one of a plurality of transmission mechanisms including e-mail, page, instant messaging, and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony.

26. A system according to claim 19, wherein the conference session is established collaboratively.

27. A system according to claim 19, wherein the conference scheduling application is further configured to prepare the augmented textual information for display according to a type of device.

28. A system according to claim 19, wherein the conference scheduling application is further configured to record the conference session, mark the recorded conference session, and selectively provide marking information to one or more of the participants.

29. A system according to claim 28, wherein each of the participants records individual annotations for the conference session for subsequent individual playback including the individual annotations.

30. A system according to claim 19, wherein the conference scheduling application is further configured to monitor service quality of the conference session experienced by the one participant.

31. A system according to claim 19, wherein the one participant automatically joins the conference session by selecting an icon on an electronic calendar.

32. A system according to claim 19, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to whether the conference session is active.

33. A system according to claim 19, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to whether recorded information pertaining to conduct of the conference session is available to the participant.

34. A system according to claim 19, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to at least one of the start time of the conference session, the stop time of the conference or the duration of the conference.

35. A system according to claim 19, further comprising:

a billing system configured to determine billing information associated with the conferencing session for charging an account of the one participant.

36. A system according to claim 35, wherein the billing system determines whether the account is valid, the augmented textual information being forwarded to the one participant only if the account is valid.

37. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions for providing multi-media conferencing, the one or more sequences of one or more instructions including instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving textual information for display during a conference session among a plurality of participants;

retrieving configuration information specifying language assistance for the textual information, wherein the configuration information is associated with one of the participants;

augmenting the textual information according to the configuration information for comprehension of the textual information by the one participant; and

forwarding the augmented textual information for display to the one participant during the conference session.

38. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the configuration information specifies type of language, the computer-readable medium further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the step of:

translating the textual information according to the type of language, the augmented textual information including the translated textual information.

39. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining whether the textual information is contained in a predetermined list of terms and associated supplemental information; and

if the textual information is in the list, retrieving the associated supplemental information for inclusion with the augmented textual information.

40. A computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein the supplemental information includes definitions of the corresponding terms, one of the terms being an acronym.

41. A computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein the textual information is marked for notifying the one participant that the supplemental information is available for the textual information.

42. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

transmitting a plurality of invitation messages to the participants; and

determining confirmation status of the conference session based upon response messages received from the participants in response to the invitation messages.

43. A computer-readable medium according to claim 42, wherein the invitation messages are transmitted over one of a plurality of transmission mechanisms including e-mail, page, instant messaging, and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony.

44. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the conference session is established collaboratively.

45. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the step of:

preparing the augmented textual information for display according to a type of device.

46. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

recording the conference session;

marking the recorded conference session; and

selectively providing marking information to one or more of the participants.

47. A computer-readable medium according to claim 46, wherein each of the participants records individual annotations for the conference session for subsequent individual playback including the individual annotations.

48. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the step of:

monitoring service quality of the conference session experienced by the one participant.

49. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the one participant automatically joins the conference session by selecting an icon on an electronic calendar.

50. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to whether the conference session is active.

51. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to whether recorded information pertaining to conduct of the conference session is available to the participant.

52. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein an icon displayed to the one participant is responsive to at least one of the start time of the conference session, the stop time of the conference or the duration of the conference.

53. A computer-readable medium according to claim 37, further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the step of:

determining billing information associated with the conferencing session for charging an account of the one participant.

54. A method according to claim 53, further including instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform the step of:

determining whether the account is valid, wherein the augmented textual information is forwarded to the one participant only if the account is valid.