REAL-TIME EVENT NOTIFICATION FOR COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING SESSIONS

• US 20100005142A1
• Filed: 07/07/2008
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Xiao, Sihai, Yuan, Zheng
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,141 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 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 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

In one embodiment, a determination is made that a specified event of a collaborative computing session has occurred. In response to the specified event, a real-time electronic notification is transmitted to a particular set of one or more attendees of the session that the event has occurred, the notification illustratively transmitted via a communication channel other than the session.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining that a specified event of a collaborative computing session between nodes in a network has occurred; and

transmitting, in response to the specified event, a real-time electronic notification to a particular set of one or more attendee nodes of the session that the event has occurred, the notification transmitted via a communication channel other than the session.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

specifying the event as a host node of the session joining the session.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

specifying the event as a particular attendee node of the session joining the session.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

specifying the event as a specified number of attendee nodes of the session joining the session.

5. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

specifying the event as a particular meeting topic occurring during the session.

6. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

specifying the event by an attendee node, the particular set comprising each attendee node specifying the same event.

7. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

specifying a plurality of events; and

transmitting a notification in response to occurrence of each specified event.

8. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, by each of the one or more attendee nodes, the communication channel via which each respective notification is to be transmitted.

9. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

specifying the event by a host node of the collaborative computing session.

10. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the notification via a plurality of communication channels other than the session.

11. The method as in claim 1, wherein the collaborative computing session utilizes a web browser application, and wherein the communication channel of the notification is selected from a group consisting of:

phone, pager, fax, short message service (SMS), email, instant messaging (IM), and pop-up message.

12. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

inviting attendees to join the session in advance of the session through an electronic invitation communication.

13. The method as in claim 12, further comprising:

specifying the event as a host node of the session joining the session;

determining, in response to the host node joining the session, the particular set as invited attendee nodes that have not joined the session before the host node joined the session; and

transmitting the notification to the particular set of invited attendee nodes of the session that have not joined the session before the host node joined the session.

14. The method as in claim 12, further comprising:

including within the invitation communication a selectable option for an attendee node to request inclusion within a particular set and to receive a notification in response to a specified event.

15. The method as in claim 14, further comprising:

forwarding the invitation communication from a first attendee node to a second attendee node, wherein the forwarded invitation communication includes the selectable option for the second attendee node to request inclusion within a particular set and to receive a notification in response to a specified event.

16. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

including within the notification a selectable option for an attendee node to join the session.

17. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

servicing the collaborative computing session by one or more collaborative computing servers, wherein the servers determine that the specified event has occurred and transmit the notification in response.

18. The method as in claim 1, wherein attendee nodes join the collaborative computing session from a join meeting web page serviced by one or more collaborative computing servers, the method further comprising:

responsive to a host node of the session having not joined the session;

preventing attendee nodes from joining the session; and

allowing attendee nodes to request inclusion within the particular set and to receive the notification in response to the host node joining the session.

19. The method as in claim 1, wherein attendee nodes join the collaborative computing session from a join meeting web page serviced by one or more collaborative computing servers, the method further comprising:

responsive to a host node of the session having not joined the session;

allowing attendee nodes to join the session; and

allowing attendee nodes to request inclusion within the particular set and to receive the notification in response to the host node joining the session.

20. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

servicing a join meeting web page by one or more collaborative computing servers through which attendee nodes join the collaborative computing session; and

including within the join meeting web page a selectable option for an attendee node to request inclusion within the particular set and to receive a notification in response to a specified event.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces adapted to communicate first traffic for a collaborative computing session and second traffic on a communication channel other than the collaborative computing session;

a processor coupled to the network interfaces and adapted to execute one or more processes; and

a memory adapted to store a collaborative computing server process executable by the processor, the server process when executed operable to;

determine that a specified event of the collaborative computing session has occurred; and

transmit, in response to the specified event, a real-time electronic notification to a particular set of one or more attendee nodes of the session that the event has occurred, the notification transmitted via second traffic on a communication channel other than the session.

22. Software encoded in one or more computer-readable media and when executed operable to:

determine that a specified event of a collaborative computing session between nodes in a network has occurred; and

transmit, in response to the specified event, a real-time electronic notification to a particular set of one or more attendee nodes of the session that the event has occurred, the notification transmitted via a communication channel other than the session.