RFID for available resources not connected to the network

• US 20070036318A1
• Filed: 07/27/2005
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gits, Peter, Seavey, Dale
• Granted Patent: US 8,537,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/78 Architectures of resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/80 Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• 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 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2094 Proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection

Abstract

Disclosed are apparatus and techniques for providing presence and location information from available media resources to participants in a media conference so that the participants can use then use such available resources in the conferencing interaction. When participating in such rich media conferences with presence and location capabilities, apparatus and techniques are provided for determining the device(s) being used and their capabilities and determining available resources presently connected to a network that is available to the participants and presenting such presence information to the conference participants. Additionally, apparatus and techniques are provided for obtaining presence and location knowledge of potential resources that are accessible but not connected to the network or shutdown and presenting such information to the participants. Thus, the participants can obtain presence and location information regarding accessible resources, including off-line or shutdown resources, and then use such information to enhance the conference in a number of ways.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a conference between a plurality of participants, comprising:

when a request for information regarding a particular participant is received from a requesting participant, providing status information for one or more owned resources that are provisioned to the particular participant or in-use by the particular participant; and

when a request for information regarding other resources that are available for use by the particular participant is received from the requesting participant, providing status and location information of available resources that are proximate to the particular participant regardless of whether the available resources are off-line or shutdown so as to allow enhancement of the conference.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein a particular available resource is proximate to the particular participant when the particular available resource is in a same geographical hot spot as the particular participant or within a predetermined distance from the particular participant.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the hot spot is selected from a group consisting of a specific room of a building, a specific floor of a building, and a particular building.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein each resource is in the form of a components selected from a group consisting of an IM (instant messaging) application, an email application, a conferencing or meeting application, a soft IP (Internet Protocol) telephone, a physical voice or video IP telephone, a cellular telephone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), and a computer device such as a desktop or laptop computer.

5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the provided location information for one of the available resources includes a location of a badge of the particular participant.

6. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein location information of at least one of the available resource originates from a location mechanism integrated with the at least one available resource.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the location mechanism includes a RFID (radio frequency identifier).

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the RFID is read by an RFID reader or transmitted via a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol.

9. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the location mechanism includes a GPS (global position system) or AGPS (assisted GPS) receiver.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the provided status information of the available resources specifies one or more of the following values:

on, off, in use, open, closed, online, offline, use duration, last use timestamp, location of resource, an identifier of the particular participant, a resource'"'"'s identifier, a hotspot identifier, a communication type that can be used to identify a particular application, and an address for specifying a way to contact the corresponding resource or particular participant.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the status information is obtained from one or more presence aggregation server(s) that collect status information regarding a plurality of resources and the location information is obtained from one or more location server(s) that collect location information from a plurality of resources.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the status and location information of each resource is only provided when the requesting participant is authorized to access information from such each resource.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising escalating the conference based on the provided status and location information of available resources.

14. A computer system for facilitating a conference between a plurality of participants, comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memory, wherein at least one of the processors and memory are configured for;

when a request for information regarding a particular participant is received from a requesting participant, providing status information for one or more owned resources that are provisioned to the particular participant or in-use by the particular participant; and

when a request for information regarding other resources that are available for use by the particular participant is received from the requesting participant, providing status and location information of available resources that are proximate to the particular participant regardless of whether the available resources are off-line or shutdown so as to allow enhancement of the conference.

15. A computer system as recited in claim 14, wherein a particular available resource is proximate to the particular participant when the particular available resource is in a same geographical hot spot as the particular participant or within a predetermined distance from the particular participant.

16. A computer system as recited in claim 15, wherein the hot spot is selected from a group consisting of a specific room of a building, a specific floor of a building, and a particular building.

17. A computer system as recited in claim 14, wherein each resource is in the form of a components selected from a group consisting of an IM (instant messaging) application, an email application, a conferencing or meeting application, a soft IP (Internet Protocol) telephone, a physical voice or video IP telephone, a cellular telephone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), and a computer device such as a desktop or laptop computer.

18. A computer system as recited in claim 15, wherein the provided location information for one of the available resources includes a location of a badge of the particular participant.

19. A computer system as recited in claim 15, wherein location information of at least one of the available resource originates from a location mechanism integrated with the at least one available resource.

20. A computer system as recited in claim 19, wherein the location mechanism includes a RFID (radio frequency identifier).

21. A computer system as recited in claim 20, wherein the RFID is read by an RFID reader or transmitted via a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol.

22. A computer system as recited in claim 19, wherein the location mechanism includes a GPS (global position system) or AGPS (assisted GPS) receiver.

23. A computer system as recited in claim 14, wherein the provided status information of the available resources specifies one or more of the following values:

on, off, in use, open, closed, online, offline, use duration, last use timestamp, location of resource, an identifier of the particular participant, a resource'"'"'s identifier, a hotspot identifier, a communication type that can be used to identify a particular application, and an address for specifying a way to contact the corresponding resource or particular participant.

24. A computer system as recited in claim 14, wherein the status information is obtained from one or more presence aggregation server(s) that collect status information regarding a plurality of resources and the location information is obtained from one or more location server(s) that collect location information from a plurality of resources.

25. A computer system as recited in claim 14, wherein the status and location information of each resource is only provided when the requesting participant is authorized to access information from such each resource.

26. An apparatus for facilitating a conference between a plurality of participants, comprising:

means for when a request for information regarding a particular participant is received from a requesting participant, providing status information for one or more owned resources that are provisioned to the particular participant or in-use by the particular participant; and

means for when a request for information regarding other resources that are available for use by the particular participant is received from the requesting participant, providing status and location information of available resources that are proximate to the particular participant regardless of whether the available resources are off-line or shutdown so as to allow enhancement of the conference.