Automatic Testing of Scheduled Telepresence Meetings

• US 20090231438A1
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Srivastava, Aseem, Monaghan, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,320,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/180
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems

Abstract

Equipment and network resources are automatically tested in advance of scheduled telepresence meetings in order to discover problems before the actual telepresence meeting. When a meeting between telepresence sites is scheduled, a test time is automatically scheduled for performing a test in advance of a scheduled time of the telepresence meeting. At the test time, performing the test to determine whether equipment functions at telepresence sites involved in the telepresence meeting and network resource availability are sufficient to support the telepresence meeting.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

scheduling a test time for a test of equipment and network resources that will be used for a telepresence meeting in advance of a scheduled time of the telepresence meeting; and

performing the test at the test time to determine whether telepresence equipment and network resource availability are operating sufficiently to support the telepresence meeting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing comprises generating and transmitting from one of the telepresence sites to another of the telepresence sites involved in the scheduled meeting probe test traffic that comprises signals and data that are suitable for testing telepresence equipment and network resources, but which have a traffic volume that is much smaller than that for an actual telepresence meeting.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating and transmitting the probe test traffic is performed when there is an ongoing telepresence meeting between telepresence sites that are involved in the scheduled telepresence meeting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein performing comprises generating and transmitting from one of the telepresence sites to another of the telepresence sites involved in the scheduled meeting simulated telepresence meeting test traffic comprising signals and data that have a traffic volume comparable to that for signals and data associated with an actual telepresence meeting between the telepresence sites.

5. The method of claim 1, and further comprising sending a notification to one or more participants of the scheduled telepresence meeting when the test determines that the scheduled telepresence meeting cannot be conducted.

6. A method comprising:

capturing scheduling information for a telepresence meeting initiated by a meeting organizer;

scheduling a test time to test equipment and network resources that will be used for the telepresence meeting based on the scheduling information, wherein the test time is before the scheduled time for the telepresence meeting; and

performing the test at the test time to determine whether equipment functions and network resource availability are sufficient to support the telepresence meeting.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein scheduling comprises storing information representing participants of the telepresence meeting, identity of the meeting organizer, and identifiers of telepresence sites that are to be used in the telepresence meeting.

8. The method of claim 7, and further comprising, at the test time, determining whether there is ongoing telepresence meeting activity that is using the telepresence sites which are to be used in the telepresence meeting.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein performing comprises simulating a telepresence meeting by generating and transmitting from an originating telepresence site to another telepresence sites involved in the scheduled meeting simulated telepresence meeting test traffic comprising signals and data that have a traffic volume comparable to that for signals and data associated with an actual telepresence meeting when it is determined that there is no ongoing telepresence meeting activity that is using the telepresence sites which are to be used in the telepresence meeting.

10. The method of claim 9, when it is determined that there is ongoing telepresence meeting activity at the test time, performing comprises generating and transmitting from the originating telepresence to the other telepresence site probe test traffic that comprises signals and data that are suitable for testing telepresence equipment and the network resources, but which have a traffic volume that is much smaller than that for an actual telepresence meeting.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein after completion of the test performed using the probe test traffic, performing further comprises simulating a telepresence meeting with simulated telepresence meeting test traffic when it is determined that there is sufficient time remaining before the scheduled time of the telepresence meeting.

12. The method of claim 8, and further comprising receiving a notification that the ongoing telepresence meeting activity has terminated, and wherein performing comprises simulating a telepresence meeting by generating and transmitting from an originating telepresence site to another telepresence site involved in the scheduled meeting simulated telepresence meeting test traffic comprising signals and data that have a traffic volume comparable to that for signals and data associated with an actual telepresence meeting when it is determined that there is no ongoing telepresence meeting activity that is using the telepresence sites which are to be used in the telepresence meeting.

13. The method of claim 6, and further comprising generating test result data from performing the test, wherein the test result data indicates the actual test time that the test was performed and whether there was any failure of telepresence equipment and/or network resource availability issues that would degrade quality of voice, data or video during the telepresence meeting.

14. The method of claim 13, and further comprising sending a notification to a network management entity, wherein the notification contains information describing the test result data and reasons for failure of the test when the test failed.

15. The method of claim 6, and further comprising sending a notification to at least one participant of the telepresence meeting when results of the test indicates that the telepresence meeting cannot be conducted or when audio and/or video quality may be severely degraded.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein capturing comprises receiving a message resulting from a meeting organizer sending a telepresence meeting notification to one or more other meeting participants.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein performing comprises performing the test with initial test parameters that are based on expected or known performance criteria for the scheduled telepresence meeting.

18. The method of claim 17, and further comprising adjusting the test parameters when it is determined that telepresence equipment and/or network resources cannot support a telepresence meeting at the initial test parameters.

19. A computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform testing of a scheduled telepresence meeting by:

scheduling a test time for a test of equipment and network resources that will be used for the scheduled telepresence meeting in advance of a scheduled time of the telepresence meeting; and

performing the test at the test time to determine whether telepresence equipment functions involved in the scheduled telepresence meeting and network resource availability are sufficient to support the telepresence meeting.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, and further comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to generate test result data from performing the test, wherein the test result data indicates the actual test time that the test was performed and whether there was any failure of telepresence equipment functions and/or network resource availability issues that would degrade quality of voice, data or video during the telepresence meeting.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, and further comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to send a notification to a network management entity, wherein the notification contains information describing the test result data and reasons for failure of the test when the test failed.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 19, and further comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to generate and send a notification to at least one participant of the scheduled telepresence meeting when results of the test that the scheduled telepresence meeting cannot be conducted.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions for performing comprise instructions for generating and transmitting from one of the telepresence sites to another of the telepresence sites involved in the scheduled meeting simulated telepresence meeting test traffic comprising signals and data that have a traffic volume comparable to that for signals and data associated with an actual telepresence meeting between the telepresence sites.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions for performing comprise instructions for generating and transmitting from one of the telepresence sites to another of the telepresence sites involved in the scheduled meeting probe test traffic that comprises signals and data that are suitable for testing telepresence equipment and the network resources, but which have a traffic volume that is much smaller than that for an actual telepresence meeting.