Systems and methods for collaborative communication

• US 7,701,882 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2003
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intercall Incorporated (West Corporation)
• Inventors: Jones, Dan, Marcum, William, Wanek, Charles, Vernon, Todd, Puentes, Emmanuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Jr.; Michael J
• Application Number:
  US10/676,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20050071440A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,394 Days
• Field of Search: 370/260, 370/270, 37920201-20501, 709/204, 709/227, 709/228
• US Class Current: 370/260
• 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 12/1818 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 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• 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 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

A collaborative communication system comprises a highly flexible architecture that facilitates connecting communication devices and networks to establish multimedia collaboration sessions in a manner that allows distribution of various services and features throughout the collaborative communication system to provide scalability and selectable combination of cost, resource usage, and performance.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically configuring and optimizing a multimedia conference session, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of services to be used in a multimedia conference session, wherein each of the plurality of services is hosted by and independently executable through at least one service endpoint in a communications network;

enabling a plurality of users to participate in the multimedia conference session, wherein each user participates in the conference session through at least one respective user endpoint in the communications network, wherein each of the at least one respective user endpoints is hosted by and independently executable through at least one service endpoint, wherein the at least one service endpoint is configurable as an authentication service and a presence service such that the at least one service endpoint is able to authenticate and publish a presence of each user endpoint hosted by and independently executable through the at least one service endpoint;

receiving a request to initiate the multimedia conference session;

in response to the session initiation request, establishing the multimedia conference session via the steps of;

(a) identifying respective user endpoints for each of the plurality of users participating in the session;

(b) identifying and verifying a subset of services selected from the plurality of the services for the conference session and respective service endpoints associated with each of the subset of services in the communications network; and

(c) defining a message routing mesh comprising all of the user endpoints and service endpoints identified in (a) and (b);

wherein resources for establishing the multimedia conference are distributed among the plurality of service endpoints, wherein the resources are a function of a conference logging service that is located via a presence service, wherein the conference logging service publishes its presence with the presence service, wherein the presence service removes a pending presence entry of the conference logging service and replaces it with an actual presence entry;

routing messages between any of the user and service endpoints in the message routing mesh during real-time performance of the conference session;

updating the multimedia conference session with a newly selected service from the plurality of the services; and

in response to the newly selected service, identifying a particular service endpoint associated with the newly selected service and including the particular service endpoint into the message routing mesh.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of establishing the conference session further comprises:

creating a temporary conference endpoint corresponding to the conference session; and

including the temporary conference endpoint into the message routing mesh.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of routing messages between any of the user and service endpoints in the message routing mesh further comprises routing messages from a source endpoint to a destination endpoint directly in the domain of the service endpoint and outside of the domain.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of routing messages between any of the user and service endpoints in the message routing mesh further comprises routing messages from a source endpoint to a destination endpoint via an intermediate service endpoint in the communications network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating an additional user or service endpoint by installing and executing a software program on a computing platform connected to the communications network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the additional user endpoint or service endpoint is immediately available for communication with any existing endpoints in the conference session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular service is available simultaneously via more than one service endpoint so that identifying a service endpoint associated with said particular service further comprises determining a most suitable service endpoint from all service endpoints associated with said particular service pursuant to predefined protocols.

8. A collaborative communication system configured to conduct multiple multimedia conference sessions simultaneously, wherein each conference session is dynamically configurable, said system comprising:

a plurality of endpoints in a communications network, said plurality of endpoints comprising at least a first group of endpoints involved in a first multimedia conference session and a second group of endpoints involved in a second multimedia conference session; and

a plurality of services wherein each service is provided by at least one of a plurality of service endpoints and each one of the plurality of endpoints having at least one of the plurality of services endpoints associated with the at least one of said plurality of endpoints, wherein the at least one service endpoint is configurable as an authentication service and a presence service such that the at least one service endpoint is able to authenticate and publish a presence of each user endpoint hosted by and independently executable through the at least one service endpoint, distributed over the communications network, wherein the services are a function of a conference logging service that is located via the presence service, wherein the conference logging service publishes its presence with the presence service, wherein the presence service removes a pending presence entry of the conference logging service and replaces it with an actual presence entry;

wherein,

the first multimedia conference session is initiated from a first endpoint in the first group of endpoints, the first group of endpoints establishing a first message routing mesh so as to render the first conference session dynamically configurable,

the second multimedia conference session is initiated from a second endpoint in the second group of endpoints, the second group of endpoints establishing a second message routing mesh so as to render the second conference session dynamically configurable,

the first and second multimedia conference sessions are conducted simultaneously, and

the first and second message routing meshes contains service endpoints in common.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of services is a media service providing at least one of an audio feature, a video feature or a graphic feature.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of services is a control service providing at least one of a presence feature, an authentication feature, or an endpoint locator feature.

11. A collaborative communication system configured to conduct multiple multimedia conference sessions simultaneously, wherein the system is dynamically configurable and expandable, said system comprising:

a plurality of endpoints in a communications network; and

a plurality of services for conducting a multimedia conference session, wherein each service is provided by at least one of a plurality of service endpoints distributed over the communications network, wherein the at least one service endpoint is configurable as an authentication service and a presence service such that the at least one service endpoint is able to authenticate and publish a presence of each user endpoint hosted by and independently executable through the at least one service endpoint, wherein the services are a function of a conference logging service that is located via a presence service, wherein the conference logging service publishes its presence with the presence service, wherein the presence service removes a pending presence entry of the conference logging service and replaces it with an actual presence entry;

wherein, each of the multiple multimedia conference sessions is configured dynamically by adding or deleting any one of the plurality of endpoints in a message routing mesh associated with the conference session, and

wherein, the collaborative communication system can be expanded by adding additional services and associated service endpoints into the plurality of service endpoints.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each additional service and associated endpoint is added during any of the conference sessions without modification to any existing services or endpoints in the communications network.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein each additional service and associated endpoint is added by installing and executing a software application on the endpoint, said software application relating to the service and accessible from a computing platform connected to the communications network.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one service and associated endpoint provides customized service instances pursuant to one or more specific subscriptions by users participating in each multimedia conference session.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the customized service instances comprise at least one service instance reflecting a pre-subscribed security degree.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the customized service instances comprise at least one service instance reflecting a pre-subscribed audio quality.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the customized service instances comprise at least one service instance reflecting a pre-subscribed video quality.