METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VIDEO COMMUNICATION

• US 20120062688A1
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitel Networks Corporation
• Original Assignee: Aastra Technologies Limited (Mitel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Sayson, David, Shen, Francis, Francisco, Paulo, Angelot, Stephane, Huthmacher, Keith, Hucke, Lloyd
• Granted Patent: US 9,648,279 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.03
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/136 Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A network apparatus in a collaboration system with a plurality of participants, the apparatus comprising a processing structure and a non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instruction executable by the processing structure to cause the processing structure to at least: automatically discover a network server configured to distribute shared content among the plurality of participants; couple the apparatus to the network server; present content on a display coupled to the processing structure; select a portion of the display for sharing, the portion having the shared content; and automatically send the shared content to at least one of the plurality of participants.

Claims

1. An apparatus for facilitating a video communication session between at least two correspondents, each correspondent being associated with said apparatus having a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising a first partition for displaying video content corresponding to at least one of said correspondents;

a second partition for displaying a first set of GUI objects associated with application programs; and

a third partition for displaying GUI objects corresponding to said video communication session.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said partitions is scalable.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said graphical user interface is touch sensitive, said first and second partitions being scaled depending on the characteristics of said video communication session.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said first and second partitions are scaled depending the characteristics of the application programs executing concurrently during said video communication session.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said first and second partitions are scaled by at least one of a control GUI object and a predetermined touch gesture.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said GUI objects comprise at least one of a button, dialog box, pop-up window, pull-down menu, icon, scroll bar, resizable window edge, progress indicator, selection box, windows, tear-off menu, menu bar, toggle switch, forms, image, text, video, widget, and any combination thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said second scalable partition comprises subsets of GUI objects corresponding to application programs, wherein each of said subsets pertains to a particular logical theme.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said subsets of GUI objects are user defined.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said subsets of GUI objects are defined automatically.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said second scalable partition displays at least one selected application program associated with said one of said GUI objects.

11. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said GUI displays said at least two correspondents in said first scale partition and said second scalable partition.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said second scalable partition displays a first set of GUI objects associated with application programs following actuation of at least one control GUI object.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said GUI objects in said third partition are arranged in logical subsets corresponding to various states of said video communication session.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said various states pertain to one of an active call state, an idle call state and a passive call state.

15. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon and executable by a processor to cause said processor to:

initiate a video communication session between at least two correspondents, each correspondent being associated with an apparatus with a graphical user interface (GUI);

display video content corresponding to said at least one of said correspondents in a first scalable partition;

display a first set of GUI objects associated with application programs in a second scalable partition; and

display a second set of GUI objects corresponding to said video communication session in a third partition being scalable.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to execute at least two application programs concurrently in said second scalable partition while displaying video content corresponding to said at least one of said correspondents in a first scalable partition.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 wherein said second set of GUI objects in said third partition arranged in logical subsets corresponding to various states of said video communication session.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17 wherein said second set of GUI objects are control buttons comprising at least one of select line, search, logoff, contacts, history (call, contact), directory, dialpad, dnd, forward, voice only, mic, mute, speaker/headset, saved conferences, hold, transfer, add party, save conference, moderator, participants, and conference format.

19. A network apparatus in a collaboration system with a plurality of participants, the apparatus comprising a processing structure and a non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon, said instruction executable by said processing structure to cause said processing structure to at least:

automatically discover a network server configured to distribute shared content among said plurality of participants;

couple said apparatus to said network server;

present content on a display coupled to said processing structure;

select a portion of said display for sharing, said portion having said shared content; and

automatically send said shared content to at least one of said plurality of participants.

20. The network apparatus of claim 19 wherein said instructions comprise:

(a) a first set of instructions to determine the availability of a video application server in a collaboration system;

(b) a second set of instructions to couple a computing device to said video application server, said first set of instructions having at least a network address of said video application server, or having the ability to discover said address through a network service;

(c) a third set of instructions to select an entire display or a portion of a display of said computing for sharing via said video application server, said portion of display having shared content;

(d) a fourth set of instructions to send said shared content periodically, without further user intervention; and

(e) a fifth set of instructions to send said shared content to said video application server for distributing to at least one of said participants.

21. A system for automatically scheduling a conference call session between at least two correspondents, said system comprising:

a directory server including entries associated with said correspondents, a non-transitory machine readable medium having instructions executable by a processor to extract conference call scheduling details, said details including date and time;

executable instructions to search said directory server for said entries;

executable instructions to determine at least one date and time for said conference call suitable to said correspondents; and

whereby said conference call session is scheduled in an expeditious manner.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein each entry is associated with a corresponding name, contact phone number, an email address, image, presence data, time zone data and calendar availability of each of said correspondents.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein said at least one date and time for said conference call suitable to said correspondents is based on presence data, time zone data and calendar availability of each of said correspondents.

24. The system of claim 23 further comprising a speech recognition engine for detecting audio input from any of said correspondents, and executable instructions to receive said audio input from said speech recognition engine and extract conference call scheduling details, said details including date and time.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising executable instructions to receive said audio input from said speech recognition engine and search said directory server for entries associated with said audio input.