Conference resource allocation and dynamic reallocation

• US 20080063173A1
• Filed: 08/09/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Asthana, Aseem, Vadlakonda, Sravan, Chotai, Ashish, Sarkar, Shantanu
• Granted Patent: US 8,526,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• 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 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• 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 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• 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: H04Q 2011/0086 Network resource allocation, dimensioning or optimisation

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system for conducting a conference session among a group of participants includes a server for establishing communication channels over a network connected with endpoint devices of the participants. The server operates to allocate initial resources on the network to conduct the conference session, the initial resources including the communication channels and at least one conferencing bridge. Code running on the server selects one or more different resources currently available during the conference session. The one or more different resources is selected to optimize a quality of service (QoS) criteria. Execution of the code causes the server to move the conference session to the one or more different resources responsive to a triggering event. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

fetching, prior to a conference session starting, history and/or presence information about a set of participants to the conference session;

predicatively determining, based on the history and/or presence information, a probable call location of each of the participants; and

selecting from a set of available resources on a communications network, one or more resources that provide optimal performance for the conference session based on the probable call location of each of the participants and a quality of service (QoS) criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS criteria comprises a lowest average latency for all the participants in the conference session, and selecting one or more of the available resources comprises:

calculating the lowest average latency for all the participants in the conference session with respect to the set of available resources.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more available resources comprises a conferencing bridge.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more available resources comprises a mixer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein fetching the history and/or presence information comprises:

accessing a database that stores the history and/or presence information about the participants.

6. A method comprising:

determining of a probable call location of each participant to a conference session based on history and/or presence information of the participant;

allocating initial resources for the conference session from a set of available resources on a communications network, the initial resources providing an initial optimal performance based on the probable call location of each participant and a quality of service (QoS) criteria; and

during the conference session, reallocating one of more different resources for the conference session responsive to a triggering event, the one or more different resources providing a current optimal performance based on a current condition of the communications network and the quality of service (QoS) criteria.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the triggering event comprises an input command from a moderator of the conference session.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the QoS criteria comprises latency, and further comprising:

periodically measuring latency from an actual call location of each participant with respect to one or more newly available resources, wherein the triggering event comprises an improved latency value with respect to the one or more newly available resources relative to a latency value associated with the initial resources.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the QoS criteria comprises latency, and wherein reallocating one of more different resources for the conference session comprises:

identifying a set of most active participants to the conference session;

finding a resource that minimizes the average latency with respect to the most active participants.

10. Logic encoded in one or more media for execution and when executed is operable to:

initially allocate one or more resources on a communications network to facilitate a conference session among a set of participants, the initial allocation optimizing a quality of service (QoS) criteria based on a probable call location of each participant; and

dynamically move the conference session to one or more different resources on the communications network responsive to a triggering event, the one or more different resources optimizing a second QoS criteria based on a current condition of the communications network and actual call locations of each participant.

11. The logic of claim 10 wherein the first and second QoS criteria both comprise an average latency.

12. The logic of claim 10 wherein the first QoS criteria comprises an average latency with respect to all of the participants, and the second QoS criteria comprises an average latency with respect to a subset of the participants.

13. The logic of claim 10 wherein the subset comprises a group of most active speakers.

14. The logic of claim 10 wherein execution of the one or more media is further operable to:

determine the probable call location of each participant to the conference session based on history and/or presence information of the participant.

15. The logic of claim 14 wherein execution of the one or more media is further operable to:

fetch the history and/or presence information of each participant from a database.

16. The logic of claim 10 wherein the triggering event comprises an input command from a moderator of the conference session.

17. The logic of claim 11 wherein execution of the one or more media is further operable to:

periodically measure latency from the actual call locations of each participant with respect to currently available resources on the communications network, and wherein the triggering event comprises an improved latency value with respect to the one or more of the currently available resources relative to a latency value associated with the one or more resources initially allocated.

18. A system comprising:

a server for establishing communication channels over a network connected with endpoint devices of a group of participants, the server being operable to allocate initial resources on the network to conduct the conference session, the initial resources including the communication channels and at least one conferencing bridge; and

code that runs on the server to select one or more different resources currently available during the conference session, the one or more different resources being selected to optimize a quality of service (QoS) criteria, execution of the code causing the server to move the conference session to the one or more different resources responsive to a triggering event.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the triggering event comprises an input command from a moderator of the conference session.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the QoS criteria comprises latency and the triggering event comprises measurement of an improved latency value with respect to the one or more different resources relative to the initial resources.