Load reduction and scalability

• US 7,593,987 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2007
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pixion Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pixion Incorporated
• Inventors: Wells, Benjamin, Madams, Peter, Kaul, Clint, Salesky, Joseph, Janne, Edward Arthur Ho-Ming, Flower, Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean; Frantz B
• Application Number:
  US11/926,058
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 695 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204, 709/227, 709/228, 370/260, 370/261
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1415 with means for detecting differences between the image stored in the host and the images displayed on the displays
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• 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 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1836 with heterogeneous network architecture
• 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 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

An improved networked computer communications system handles arbitrary streams of data, and transports at varying speeds those streams where intermediate updates can be dropped if they are obsoleted by later arriving data updates, optimizing the utilization of network and node resources. Complex buffering by system server software allows distributed, parallel, or redundant processing, transmission, and storage for performance, reliability, and robustness. Various parameters of the system can be monitored, and the system can be reconfigured automatically based on the observations. Varied techniques reduce the perceived end-to-end latency and take advantage of software and hardware capabilities that assets connected to the system may possess. One conferencing system allows conference participants to share all or a portion of the display seen on their computer screens. The conferees may be at sites removed from each other, or may view a recorded presentation or archived conference at different times. Conference participants are either “presenters” who can modify the display or “attendees” who cannot modify the display. A pointer icon, which can be labeled to identify the conferee, is displayed on the shared image area. Each conferee can modify the position of his or her own pointer, even when not presenting, so that every participant can see what each conferee is pointing to, should a conferee choose to point to an element of the display. These and other features apply to other data streams shared in the conference or in meetings where there is no shared-image data stream.

Claims

1. A method for reducing distribution loads in a conferencing network, the method comprising:

associating a primary conference server with a presenter client;

associating a first server from a group of secondary conference servers with the primary conference server;

associating a first group of attendee clients from all attendee clients involved in a particular conference in the conferencing network with the first server from the group of secondary conference servers; and

distributing conferencing data from the presenter client to all the attendee clients involved in the particular conference, wherein a load associated with distribution of the conferencing data by the primary conference server is reduced as a result of the primary conference server delegating distribution of the conference data to at least the first server from the group of secondary conference servers, the first server from the group of secondary conference servers distributing the conference data from the presenter client to the first group of attendee clients from all attendee clients.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a second server from the group of secondary conference servers with the primary conference server;

associating a second group of attendee clients from all attendee clients involved in the particular conference in the conferencing network with the second server from the group of secondary conference servers; and

distributing conferencing data from the presenter client to all the attendee clients involved in the particular conference, wherein the load associated with distribution of the conferencing data by the primary conference server is further reduced as a result of the primary conference server further delegating distribution of the conference data to at least the second server from the group of secondary conference servers, the second server from the group of secondary conference servers distributing the conference data from the presenter client to the second group of attendee clients from all attendee clients in conjunction with the first server from the group of secondary servers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first server from the group of secondary servers can handle a different number of attendee clients than the second server from the group of secondary servers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference data includes a response to an independent command.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference data includes an update in response to a request to update.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference data includes a resend in response to a request to resend.

7. A system for reducing distribution loads in a conferencing network, the system comprising:

a presenter client;

a primary conference server associated with the presenter client;

a first server from a group of secondary conference servers associated with the primary conference server;

a second server from the group of secondary conference servers associated with the primary conference server;

a first group of attendee clients from all attendee clients involved in a particular conference in the conferencing network, the first group of attendee clients associated with the first server from the group of secondary conference servers; and

a second group of attendee clients from all attendee clients involved in the particular conference in the conferencing network, the second group of attendee clients associated with the second server from the group of secondary conference servers, and wherein a load associated with distribution of conferencing data from the presenter client to all the attendee clients involved in the particular conference is reduced as a result of the primary conference server delegating distribution of the conference data to at least the first server and the second server from the group of secondary conference servers, the first server from the group of secondary conference servers distributing the conference data from the presenter client to the first group of attendee clients, the second server from the group of secondary conference servers distributing the conference data from the presenter client to the second group of attendee clients in conjunction with the first server from the group of secondary servers.