Systems and methods for integrating live audio communication in a live web event

• US 20090164876A1
• Filed: 05/08/2008
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BrightTALK Limited (TechTarget, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BrightTALK Limited (TechTarget, Inc.)
• Inventors: Winter, Kenneth, Logan, Dorian
• Granted Patent: US 9,584,564 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• 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 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program for integrating live audio communication in a web event is provided. In exemplary embodiments, live audio data is received from one or more presenters. The live audio data is then encoded to create a formatted audio stream. The formatted audio stream may be synchronized with presentation events to generate the live web event by injecting control data for the presentation events. A combined formatted stream may be distributed to one or more users.

Claims

1. A method for integrating live audio communication in a live web event comprising:

receiving live audio data from one or more presenters;

synchronizing the received live audio data with control data associated with at least one presentation event to generated a combined formatted stream; and

distributing the combined formatted stream to one or more users.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a request for data associated with the control data from one or more subscriber devices and providing the data to the one or more subscriber devices.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the data is associated with a next image.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the data is associated with audience feedback.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing the received live audio data and control data comprises encoding the live audio into a formatted audio stream

6. The method of claim 5 wherein synchronizing the received live audio data and control data comprises injecting the control data into the formatted audio stream.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing the received live audio data and control data comprises generating a webcast configuration file.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving control instruction from the one or more presenter and using the control instruction to generate the control data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving live audio data comprises receiving audio data from each of the one or more presenters via a separate feed.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving live audio data comprises passing high definition audio through a VoIP client.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving live audio data comprises receiving the audio data from a conference bridge.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising allocating resources in order to perform the synchronization.

13. A system for integrating live audio communication in a live web event comprising:

a communication interface configured to receive live audio data from one or more presenters;

a media engine configured to create a combined formatted stream comprising the live audio data and control data associated with one or more presentation events; and

a distribution module configured to provide the combined formatted stream to one or more subscribers.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising an image processing engine configured to process images to be used in the live web event.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the distribution module is further configured to distribute data associated with the control data.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the media engine is further configured to encode the live audio data into a formatted audio stream.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the media engine is further configured to inject the control data into the formatted audio stream.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the media engine is further configured to introduce a delay to the formatted audio stream to allow synchronization of the audio data with the presentation event.

19. The system of claim 13 further comprising a resource manager configured to allocate resources to enable distribution of web events.

20. The system of claim 13 further comprising a telephony server configured to receive live audio data from the one or more presenters.

21. A computer readable medium having embodied thereon a program, the program providing instructions for a method for integrating live audio communication in a live web event, the method comprising:

receiving live audio data from one or more presenters;

combining the received live audio data and control data for at least one presentation event to generated a combined formatted stream; and

distributing the combined formatted stream to one or more users.