MIDDLEWARE SERVER FOR INTERFACING COMMUNICATIONS, MULTIMEDIA, AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• US 20070239899A1
• Filed: 04/06/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Polycom Incorporated (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Rakhlin, Boris, Toren, Shai, Gonen, Edward, Rafael, Vladislav
• Granted Patent: US 7,975,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/249
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a middleware server for interfacing a MCU with a communication system and/or a management system within the context of an organization. The middleware server uses modular architecture, making the middleware server highly adaptable to different types of communication systems and management systems. The middleware server is useful for interfacing a MCU with communication devices including POTS telephones, IP-telephones, and multimedia endpoints and with management applications such as exchange servers and databases. The middleware server is useful for managing multimedia sessions according to organizational policies.

Claims

1. An apparatus for interfacing a multipoint control unit (MCU) with one or more communication devices or management applications to conduct a multimedia session and adaptable to a particular organization premises, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of logical modules, each adapted to manage a communication device or a multimedia session and wherein the plurality of logical modules is independent of the particular organization premises; and

a solution specific set of components (SSSC) specific to the particular organization premises, the SSSC comprising a plurality of application program interfaces (APIs) adapted to translate between the apparatus and the one or more communication devices or management applications;

wherein the apparatus is adapted to respond to a request to conduct a multimedia session coming from the one or more communication devices or management applications by selecting one or more logical modules from the plurality of logical modules and one or more APIs from the plurality of APIs in response to a request to conduct a multimedia session and to initiate and manage the requested multimedia session using the selected logical modules and APIs.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SSSC comprises one or more logical modules for implementing organization policies.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SSSC comprises one or more graphical user interfaces (GUI) that are specific to the organization premises.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more communication devices is a multimedia endpoint, internet protocol (IP) telephone, POTS telephone, private branch exchange (PBX), or IP-PBX.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more management applications is a scheduling server, exchange server, or data base.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of logical modules comprises one or more communication device drivers.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a business logic module adapted to conform the requested multimedia session according to one or more policies.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more policies comprise permission to schedule a multimedia session, permission to reserve multimedia resources, maximum number of conferees in a conference, type of multimedia layout, or method of selecting one or more speakers in a multimedia layout.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a memory adapted to store information used by the one or more selected logical modules.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a decision matrix module adapted to determine an optimum topology for the requested multimedia session.

11. A method for interfacing a multipoint control unit (MCU) in an organization premises with one or more of communication devices or management applications to conduct a multimedia session, the method comprising:

receiving a request at a middleware server (MWS) to conduct a multimedia session;

in response to the request, causing the MWS to;

select one or more logical modules from a plurality of logical modules adapted to manage one or more communication devices or a multimedia session function, and

select one or more application program interfaces (APIs) from a plurality of APIs;

wherein the plurality of logical modules is independent of the particular organization premises and wherein the plurality of APIs are specific to the organization premises and are adapted to translate between the MWS and the one or more communication devices or management applications; and

executing the selected logical modules and APIs.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more communication devices is a multimedia endpoint, internet protocol (IP) telephone, POTS telephone, private branch exchange (PBX), or IP-PBX.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more management applications is a scheduling server, exchange server, or data base.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of logical modules comprises one or more communication device drivers.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the multimedia session function comprises establishing a multimedia session or reserving resources for a multimedia session.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining an optimum topology for the multimedia session and establishing the multimedia session according to the optimum topology.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising retrieving one or more policies specific to the organization premises from a management application and establishing the multimedia session according to the one or more policies.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising comparing the request to conduct a multimedia session with one or more policies and denying the request if the request conflicts with the one or more policies.