Subsystem-scoping architecture for breakout rooms in a virtual space

• US 20070203980A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Andersen, Hans
• Granted Patent: US 7,716,284 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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

Abstract

A method, system, and architecture for providing a web conference system that efficiently provides a breakout room or multiple breakout rooms within a single web conference (also referred to herein interchangeably as a “meeting” or “virtual meeting”) is provided. In some embodiments, the web conference system architecture provides a web conference system that allows for the creation of breakout rooms within a single web conference, where each breakout room provides a named view onto each feature subsystem of the web conference, with or without separate permission levels on each view. Each breakout room may also provide a named view of the contents of the web conference, with or without separate permission levels on each view.

Claims

1. A method in a web conference system for providing a breakout room, the method comprising:

providing a web conference comprised of a plurality of feature subsystems, each feature subsystem providing a feature or multiple features in the web conference, wherein the plurality of feature subsystems denote a main room of the web conference;

when the web conference system receives a request to create a first breakout room having a first name within the web conference,

creating a first scoped proxy to each of the plurality of feature subsystems, each of the first coped proxies providing a view onto its corresponding feature subsystem; and

associating the first name to each of the first scoped proxies, wherein the collection of the first scoped proxies associated with the first name denote the first breakout room within the web conference, and further wherein meeting participants assigned to the first breakout room participate in the first breakout room by interacting with the plurality of feature subsystems via each feature subsystem'"'"'s first scoped proxy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first scoped proxies is a thin scoped proxy.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

assigning at least one web conference participant to the first breakout room; and

creating an ACL for each of the first scoped proxies, wherein the ACL specifies, for each meeting participant assigned to the first breakout room, the meeting participant'"'"'s permissions while participating in the first breakout room.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the meeting participant'"'"'s permissions specify the actions the meeting participant can perform while participating in the first breakout room.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the meeting participant'"'"'s permissions specify the contents the meeting participant can act on while participating in the first breakout room.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising specifying, for each of the first scoped proxies, content that is to be exposed through the first scoped proxy.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the specified content is a subset of the corresponding feature subsystem'"'"'s contents.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

when the web conference system receives a request to create a second breakout room having a second name within the web conference,

creating a second scoped proxy to each of the plurality of feature subsystems, each of the second coped proxies providing a view onto its corresponding feature subsystem; and

associating the second name to each of the second scoped proxies, wherein the collection of the second scoped proxies associated with the second name comprise the second breakout room within the web conference, and further wherein meeting participants assigned to the second breakout room participate in the second breakout room by interacting with the plurality of feature subsystems via each feature subsystem'"'"'s second scoped proxy.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, upon successfully creating the first breakout room within the web conference, informing each privileged participant in the web conference of the creation of the first breakout room.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

when the web conference system receives a request to destroy the first breakout room within the web conference,

moving all meeting participants assigned to the first breakout room back into the main room of the web conference; and

moving all content associated with the first breakout room into the main room of the web conference.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising informing all meeting participants moved from the first breakout room of their removal from the first breakout room.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising, for each meeting participant moved from the first breakout room back into the main room of the web conference, restoring the meeting participant'"'"'s privileges in the main room.

13. A subsystem-scoping web conference system comprising:

a component that provides at least one virtual meeting, the virtual meeting comprising;

a scope manager component that manages the creation and destruction of breakout rooms within the virtual meeting; and

at least one feature subsystem that, upon receiving an instruction to create a breakout room, creates a scoped proxy to itself, the scoped proxy providing a manifestation of the feature subsystem in the breakout room, the scoped proxy representing a named view of the feature subsystem'"'"'s contents,

such that a client interacting in the breakout room interacts with the feature subsystem via the scoped proxy created for the breakout room by the feature subsystem.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the feature subsystem further exposes an item of content in the feature subsystem through the scoped proxy.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the exposing the item of content through the scoped proxy includes annotating the item of content without physically moving the item of content.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the feature subsystem further creates an ACL for the scoped proxy, wherein the ACL specifies permissions for meeting participants who are interacting via the scoped proxy.

17. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for a web conference system to provide a breakout room within a virtual meeting, by a method comprising:

providing a virtual meeting comprised of a plurality of feature subsystems, each feature subsystem providing a feature or multiple features in the web conference;

when the web conference system receives a request to create a breakout room having a name within the virtual meeting,

generating a scope ID;

associating the scope ID with the name;

creating a scoped proxy to each of the plurality of feature subsystems, each of the scoped proxies providing a view onto its corresponding feature subsystem; and

assigning the scope ID to each of the scoped proxies,

such that the collection of the scoped proxies having the same scope ID denote the breakout room having the name within the virtual meeting.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, including exposing contents through the breakout room by annotating the contents to associate the contents with the scoped proxy without physically moving the contents.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, including creating an ACL for each of the scoped proxies, wherein the ACL specifies permissions for meeting participants who are interacting via its corresponding scoped proxy.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein each of the scoped proxies is a thin scoped proxy that filters actions that are requested through the thin scoped proxy to determine whether the actions are authorized.