ENHANCED DISCOVERY FOR AD-HOC MEETINGS

• US 20150350267A1
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cutler, Ross Garrett, Sinclair, Andrew Peter, Kauffman, Jonathan Adam, Krantz, Anton
• Granted Patent: US 9,609,066 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• 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: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software are disclosed herein for enhancing ad-hoc online meetings. In an implementation, a service client receives an initial handoff of an online session from an initial service client that was ongoing between the initial service client and at least one other service client. The service client detects when proximate to an in-room service client. When proximate to the in-room service client, the service client initiate a subsequent handoff of the online session to the in-room service client.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media; and

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media and comprising a service client for facilitating online meetings that, when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least;

receive an initial handoff of an online session from an initial service client that was ongoing between the initial service client and at least one other service client;

detect when proximate to an in-room service client; and

when proximate to the in-room service client, initiate a subsequent handoff of the online session to the in-room service client.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein, to receive the initial handoff, the service client directs the processing system to:

establish an initial wireless communication channel with the initial service client;

receive a session identifier over the initial wireless communication channel; and

join the online session using the session identifier.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein to join the online session using the session identifier, the service client directs the processing system to communicate a request to join the online session to an online service that hosts the online session.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein to initiate the subsequent handoff to the in-room service client, the service client directs the processing system to:

establish a subsequent wireless communication channel with the in-room service client; and

communicate the session identifier to the in-room service client over the subsequent wireless communication channel.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the initial wireless channel comprises a near-field communication channel and wherein the subsequent wireless channel comprises another near-field communication channel.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the service client further directs the processing system to at least detect an in-room discovery signal;

identify a room from the in-room discovery signal;

identify one other session based on the room associated with the in-room discovery signal; and

join the one other session.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising the processing system configured to execute the service client, wherein the in-room discovery signal comprises an identity of the room encoded in the in-room discovery signal, and wherein to identify the room from the in-room discovery signal, the service client directs the processing system to decode the in-room discovery signal to obtain the identity of the room.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the service client further directs the processing system to detect a proximity signal that comprises a proximity code that is potentially associated with the room, where the service client directs the processing system to decode the proximity signal to obtain the proximity code.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein to identify the online session based on the room associated with the in-room discovery signal, the service client directs the processing system to at least:

communicate the identity of the room and the proximity code to a conference service;

receive in a reply from the conference service comprising a service identifier associated with one other in-room service client associated with the room;

query the one other in-room service client using the service identifier;

receive one other session identifier from the one other in-room service client; and

join the one other session using the one other session identifier.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the in-room discovery signal comprises a wireless radio frequency signal and wherein the proximity signal comprises one of a modulated light signal, an audible sound, an inaudible sound, and ambient noise.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the in-room discovery signal comprises one of a modulated light signal, an audible sound, an inaudible sound, and ambient noise and wherein the proximity signal comprises one of another modulated light signal, another audible sound, another inaudible sound, and other ambient noise.

12. A service architecture for facilitating ad-hoc online meetings comprising:

a service client that receives an initial handoff of an online session from an initial service client that was ongoing between the initial service client and at least one other service client, detect when proximate to an in-room service client, and when proximate to the in-room service client, initiate a subsequent handoff of the online session to the in-room service client; and

a conference service remote from the service client that hosts the online session before, during, and after the initial handoff and the subsequent handoff.

13. The service architecture of claim 12 wherein to receive the initial handoff the service client establishes an initial wireless communication channel with the initial service client, receives a session identifier over the initial wireless communication channel, and joins the online session using the session identifier.

14. The service architecture of claim 13 wherein to join the online session using the session identifier, the service client communicates a request to join the online session to the conference service.

15. The service architecture of claim 14 further comprising an in-room service client;

wherein to initiate the subsequent handoff to the in-room service client, the service client establishes a subsequent wireless communication channel with the in-room service client, and communicates the session identifier to the in-room service client over the subsequent wireless communication channel.

16. The service architecture of claim 15 wherein the in-room service client joins the online session using the session identifier.

17. The service architecture of claim 16 wherein the initial wireless channel comprises a near-field communication channel and wherein the subsequent wireless channel comprises another near-field communication channel.

18. A method for facilitating ad-hoc online meetings comprising:

in a service client, receiving an initial handoff of an online session from an initial service client that was ongoing between the initial service client and at least one other service client;

upon entering a room with an in-room service client installed on a conference room system, the service client detecting when proximate to the in-room service client;

when proximate to the in-room service client, the service client initiating a subsequent handoff of the online session to the in-room service client; and

in a conference service remote from the service client, hosting the online session before, during, and after the initial handoff and the subsequent handoff.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein receiving the initial handoff comprises the service client establishing an initial wireless communication channel with the initial service client, receiving a session identifier over the initial wireless communication channel, and joining the online session using the session identifier.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the initial wireless channel comprises a near-field communication channel.