Dynamic Designation of a Central Distributor in a Multi-Participant Conference

• US 20110252090A1
• Filed: 07/07/2010
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Jeong, Hyeonkuk, Tung, Berkat S., Garcia, Roberto JR., Abuan, Joe S., Patel, Nirav
• Granted Patent: US 8,433,755 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• 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: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

Some embodiments dynamically designate one of several network nodes as a network hub of a star network, at the start of a network communication session among the several network nodes that is facilitated by a mesh network and the star network. Some embodiments dynamically designate a new network hub when the previously designated network hub leaves the communication session, which continues among the other network nodes. Different embodiments use different techniques to dynamically designate the network hub of the star network. For instance, some embodiments use communications transmitted along the mesh network to dynamically identify the network hub at the start of the network communication session or after the departure of a previously designated network hub.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium of a first computing device that participates in a communication session among a plurality of computing devices, the computer readable medium storing a computer program that is executable by at least one processing unit, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

joining a star network that uses a second computing device as a central network hub for receiving content from each computing device in the star network, compositing the received content, and distributing the received content to other computing devices in the star network;

exchanging content with other computing devices through the second computing device;

determining that the second computing device should no longer be the central network hub for the communication session;

while maintaining the communication session, dynamically identifying a third computing device as a new central network hub; and

exchanging content with other computing devices through the third computing device.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for exchanging data with the other computing devices to identify the third computing device as the new central network hub after determining that the second computing device should no longer be the central network hub.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for exchanging data with the other computing devices to identify the third computing device as the new central network hub before determining that the second computing device should no longer be the central network hub.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the third computing device comprises sets of instructions for:

sending central network hub capabilities of the first computing device to other computing devices; and

receiving central network hub capabilities of the other computing devices.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein central network hub capabilities comprises at least one of (i) device type of the computing device, (ii) type of Network Address Translation (NAT) router the computing device is behind, (iii) number of links that a computing device can establish with the other computing devices, and (iv) quality of the links, wherein a link is either physical or logical connection between two computing devices.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the device type comprises at least one of (i) the speed of the computing device'"'"'s Central Processing Unit (CPU), and (ii) memory capacity of the computing device.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 5, the quality of links comprises at least one of (i) bandwidth of each link, and (ii) bit error rate of each link.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the first computing device identifies the new central network hub based on the number of links.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein said number of links is adjusted based on other central network hub capabilities.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the third computing device comprises a set of instructions for exchanging data with other computing device through the second computing device regarding capabilities of the remaining computing devices as a central network hub.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the third computing device comprises a set of instructions for exchanging data with other computing device through another network regarding capabilities of the remaining computing devices as a central network hub.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for determining that the second computing device should no longer be the central network hub comprises a set of instructions for detecting disconnection of a link that connected the first and second computing devices.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for determining that the second computing device should no longer be the central network hub comprises a set of instructions for receiving a notification message from the second computing device before the second computing devices stops participating in the communication session.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the third computing device comprises a set of instructions for exchanging data with other computing device through second computing device regarding capabilities of the remaining computing devices as a central network hub.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first computing device identifies the new central network hub using an algorithm that each of the other computing devices uses.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first computing device identifies the new central network hub based on the exchanged data that each of the other computing device also has.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for:

determining whether there are less than three remaining computing devices when it is determined that the second computing device no longer is participating in the communication; and

exchanging content with the other remaining computing device when it is determined there are two remaining computing devices including the first computing device.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for:

determining that the third computing device no longer is participating in the communication session;

identifying dynamically a fourth computing device as a new central network hub based on the exchanged data;

exchanging content with other computing devices through the fourth computing device.

19. A method for a first computing device to participate in a communication session among a plurality of computing devices through a first network, the method comprising:

joining a star network that uses a second computing device as a central network hub for receiving content from each computing device in the star network, compositing the received content, and distributing the received content to other computing devices in the star network;

exchanging content with other computing devices through the second computing device;

determining that the second computing device should no longer be the central network hub for the communication session;

while maintaining the communication session, dynamically identifying a third computing device as a new central network hub; and

exchanging content with other computing devices through the third computing device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said identifying the third computing device comprises:

sending central network hub capabilities of the first computing device to other computing devices; and

receiving central network hub capabilities of the other computing devices.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said identifying the third computing device comprises exchanging data with other computing device through another network regarding capabilities of the remaining computing devices as a central network hub.