METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SELECTIVELY SHARING CONTENT

• US 20120110196A1
• Filed: 10/29/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Balasaygun, Mehmet C., Yoakum, John H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,602,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• 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: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A method for sharing content with participants in a conference including establishing a network conference session, identifying restricted content to be shared, and identifying global content which is a subset of the restricted content. The method further includes the steps of identifying a global participant group for the network conference session wherein members of the global participant group attend the network conference session using one or more communication devices, identifying a restricted participant group for the network conference session wherein members of the restricted participant group attend the network conference session using one or more communication devices, transmitting the restricted content to the restricted participant group, and transmitting the global content to the global participant group.

Claims

1. A method of sharing content with participants in a network conference session, the method comprising:

establishing a network conference session;

identifying restricted content to be shared;

identifying global content which is a subset of the restricted content;

identifying a global participant group for the network conference session wherein members of the global participant group attend the network conference session using one or more communication devices;

identifying a restricted participant group for the network conference session wherein members of the restricted participant group attend the network conference session using one or more communication devices;

transmitting the restricted content to the restricted participant group; and

transmitting the global content to the global participant group.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the restricted content comprises visual information.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the restricted content comprises audio information.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising selectively muting the audio information, resulting in muted audio.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the muted audio corresponds to content not included in the global content.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising members of the global participant group and members of the restricted participant group receiving different invitations to the network conference session.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising assigning each of the participants an identifier indicating membership in either the global participant group or the restricted participant group.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling the members of the global participant group to amend the global content and enabling the members of the restricted participant group to amend the restricted content.

9. A network conferencing server for sharing content with participants, the network conferencing server comprising:

a processor configured to establish a network conference session;

an application configured to;

identify restricted content to be shared;

identify global content which is a subset of the restricted content;

identify a global participant group for the network conference session wherein members of the global participant group attend the network conference session using one or more communication devices; and

identify a restricted participant group for the network conference session wherein members of the restricted participant group attend the network conference session using one or more communication devices; and

a communication interface configured to transmit the restricted content to the restricted participant group and transmit the global content to the global participant group.

10. The network conferencing server of claim 9 wherein the restricted content comprises visual information presented on a display device.

11. The network conferencing server of claim 9 wherein the restricted content comprises audio information.

12. The network conferencing server of claim 11 wherein the audio information is selectively muted, resulting in muted audio.

13. The network conferencing server of claim 12 wherein the muted audio corresponds to content not included in the global content.

14. The network conferencing server of claim 9 wherein members of the global participant group and members of the restricted participant group receive different invitations to the network conference session.

15. The network conferencing server of claim 9 wherein each of the participants is assigned an identifier indicating membership in either the global participant group or the restricted participant group.

16. The network conferencing server of claim 9 wherein the members of the global participant group are enabled to amend the global content and the members of the restricted participant group are enabled to amend the restricted content.

17. A software product for conducting a network conference session for participants, the software product comprising:

software operational when executed by a processor to direct the processor to establish a network conference session, identify restricted content to be shared, identify global content which is a subset of the restricted content, identify a global participant group for the network conference session, identify a restricted participant group for the network conference session and to direct a communication interface to transmit the restricted content to the restricted participant group and transmit the global content to the global participant group; and

a storage medium configured to store the software.

18. The software product of claim 17 wherein the restricted content comprises visual information presented on a display device.

19. The software product of claim 17 wherein the restricted content comprises audio information.

20. The software product of claim 19 wherein the audio information is selectively muted, resulting in muted audio.

21. The software product of claim 20 wherein the muted audio corresponds to content not included in the global content.

22. The software product of claim 17 wherein members of the global participant group and members of the restricted participant group receive different invitations to the network conference session.

23. The software product of claim 17 wherein each of the participants is assigned an identifier indicating membership in either the global participant group or the restricted participant group.

24. The software product of claim 17 wherein members of the global participant group are enabled to amend the global content and members of the restricted participant group are enabled to amend the restricted content.