Virtual conference center architecture

• US 20060195519A1
• Filed: 02/25/2005
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: George, Robert W., Vernon, Jay L., Hagel, Kyle, Slater, Chadlee R., Smith, Jeremy B., Desai, Natasha
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• 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

Abstract

A method, system, and architecture for providing a virtual conference center that effectively increases the number of accounts supported by a conference center is provided. The virtual conference center architecture provides a virtual conference center that interfaces with multiple conference centers that each support a certain number of accounts. The virtual conference center provides an interface through which users can access their accounts on the conference centers as if their accounts were created on a single conference center. The users access their accounts and join conferences through the virtual conference center.

Claims

1. A virtual conference center comprising:

a user store having entries, each entry identifying a user of the virtual conference center and a conference center on which the user has an account;

an add user component that receives a user identifier, selects a conference center, directs an account on the selected conference center to be created for the identified user, and adds an entry to the user store for the identified user indicating the conference center on which the account has been created; and

a login component that receives a request for a user to log in to the virtual conference center, retrieves from the user store the entry for the user, and directs that the user be logged in to the conference center on which the user has an account as indicated by the retrieved entry.

2. The virtual conference center of claim 1 including:

a join conference component that receives a request for a user to join a conference, identifies a conference center that is hosting the conference, and directs that the user join the conference at the hosting conference center.

3. The virtual conference center of claim 2 wherein the join conference component provides a display page for the user to provide the identification of the user and the conference.

4. The virtual conference center of claim 3 wherein the join conference component directs the user'"'"'s computer to send a join conference request to the hosting conference center.

5. The virtual conference center of claim 3 wherein the conference center that is hosting the conference is identified from the identification of the conference.

6. The virtual conference center of claim 5 wherein the identification of the hosting conference center is part of the identification of the conference.

7. The virtual conference center of claim 1 wherein the login component provides a display page for the user to provide their identification.

8. The virtual conference center of claim 7 wherein the login component directs the user'"'"'s computer to send a login request to the identified conference center.

9. The virtual conference center of claim 1 wherein the add user component identifies a conference center based on available capacity of conference centers.

10. The virtual conference center of claim 1 including:

a synchronization component that identifies the users of the conference centers and adds an entry to the user store for any identified user that does not already have an entry in the user store.

11. The virtual conference center of claim 10 wherein the synchronization component removes entries from the user store when the user of the entry is not an identified user of the conference centers.

12. A virtual conference center that provides an interface to multiple conference centers, the virtual conference center comprising:

a user store identifying a user of the virtual conference center and a conference center to which the user is assigned; and

an add user component that receives an identification of a user, selects a conference center, directs that the user be assigned to the selected conference center, and stores in the user store an indication that the user is assigned to the conference center.

13. The virtual conference center of claim 12 including:

a join conference component that receives a request for a user to join a conference, identifies a conference center that is hosting the conference, and directs that the user join the conference at the hosting conference center.

14. The virtual conference center of claim 13 wherein the join conference component provides a display page for the user to provide the identification of the user and the conference.

15. The virtual conference center of claim 14 wherein the join conference component directs the user'"'"'s computer to send a join conference request to the hosting conference center.

16. The virtual conference center of claim 15 wherein the identification of the hosting conference center is part of the identification of the conference.

17. The virtual conference center of claim 12 wherein the add user component identifies a conference center based on available capacity of the conference centers.

18. The virtual conference center of claim 12 including:

a synchronization component that identifies the users of the conference centers and updates the user store for any identified user that is not already identified in the user store.

19. The virtual conference center of claim 18 wherein the synchronization component removes an identification of a user from the user store when the user is not an identified user of the conference centers.

20. A method for aggregating multiple conference centers, the method comprising:

providing multiple conference centers; and

providing a virtual conference center that is a front end to the multiple conference centers through which users can be added to the conference centers, log in to the conference centers, and join conferences.