Tracking user locations over multiple networks to enable real time communications

• US 7,908,320 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pragmatus AV LLC (Pragmatus, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Pragmatus AV LLC (Pragmatus, LLC)
• Inventors: Lauwers, J. Chris, Burns, Emmett R., Burnett, Gerald J., Ludwig, Lester F., Lantz, Keith A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas; Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): NASH, LASHANYA RENEE
• Application Number:
  US11/264,926
• Publication Number:
  US 20060041616A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,960 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709203-207, 709217-219, 379/202.01, 379/204.01, 715751-759
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• 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: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A multimedia collaboration system that integrates separate real-time and asynchronous networks—the former for real-time audio and video, and the latter for control signals and textual, graphical and other data—in a manner that is interoperable across different computer and network operating system platforms and which closely approximates the experience of face-to-face collaboration, while liberating the participants from the limitations of time and distance. These capabilities are achieved by exploiting a variety of hardware, software and networking technologies in a manner that preserves the quality and integrity of audio/video/data and other multimedia information, even after wide area transmission, and at a significantly reduced networking cost as compared to what would be required by presently known approaches. The system architecture is readily scalable to the largest enterprise network environments. It accommodates differing levels of collaborative capabilities available to individual users and permits high-quality audio and video capabilities to be readily superimposed onto existing personal computers and workstations and their interconnecting LANs and WANs. In a particular preferred embodiment, a plurality of geographically dispersed multimedia LANs are interconnected by a WAN. The demands made on the WAN are significantly reduced by employing multi-hopping techniques, including dynamically avoiding the unnecessary decompression of data at intermediate hops, and exploiting video mosaicing, cut-and-paste and audio mixing technologies so that significantly fewer wide area transmission paths are required while maintaining the high quality of the transmitted audio/video.

Claims

1. A method of communication between a plurality of users comprising:

in response to at least a first user using any one of a plurality of communications devices to establish communication with at least a first communications network having at least one associated first server, causing the sending of respective initialization information to the at least one first server, the initialization information including first user location information indicating the location of the first user;

tracking the first user location information on the at least one first server;

in response to the initialization information, causing retrieval from at least one server of identifiers for a plurality of potential callees including at least one identifier in the form of an icon for a second user;

in response to at least the second user using any one of the plurality of communications devices to establish communication with at least a second communications network having at least one associated second server, sending respective initialization information to the at least one second server, the initialization information including second user location information indicating the location of the second user;

tracking the second user location information on the at least one second server;

causing presenting of a user interface on a display associated with the communication device used by the first user to establish communication with the first communications network, the user interface displaying the retrieved identifiers of the plurality of potential callees, including the icon for the second user; and

in response to the first user requesting communication with the second user by selecting the displayed icon for the second user, initiating a real-time communication between the first and second users over at least a wide area network by,

causing the at least one first server to coordinate with the at least one second server to retrieve the second user location information,

using the second user location information to find the second user no matter where the second user is logged in, and

coordinating the real-time communication between the first and second users.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein respective location information for a respective user includes that user'"'"'s addressing information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising using the second user'"'"'s addressing information by at least one first server to send data to the second user during a real-time data conferencing communication between the first and second users.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the sending of the second user'"'"'s addressing information to the first user in response to the first user'"'"'s request for communication with the second user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein using the second user location information includes retrieving the second user'"'"'s addressing information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing an indication to the first user of whether another user is not logged into at least one of the communications networks.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the communications networks is a wireless network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing a notification to a third user of a request by the first user to initiate a real-time communication with the third user;

allowing the third user to accept or refuse the request; and

causing a notification to the first user of the acceptance or refusal by the third user.

9. The method of claim 1, during the real-time communication between the first and second users, further comprising:

causing a notification to the first or second user of a request by a third user to initiate a real-time communication with the respective first or second user;

in response to the respective first or second user accepting or refusing the request, allowing the respective first or second user to add the third user into the real-time communication involving the first and second users.

10. A system for communication between a plurality of users in which:

a first user in association with at least one first communication device of a plurality of communication devices including at least one display,

a second user in association with at least one second communication device of a plurality of communication devices including at least one display,

the first user being enabled to establish communication with at least a first communications network using the first communication device, and

the second user being enabled to establish communication with at least a second communications network using the second communication device,

the system comprising;

at least one first server associated with the first communications network and configured to;

in response to the first user establishing communication, retrieve identifiers for a plurality of potential callees wherein at least one identifier is in the form of an icon for the second user, and

track a first user location information associated with the first user no matter where the first user is logged in; and

at least one second server associated with the second communications network, for tracking a second user location information associated with the second user no matter where the second user is logged in;

the system being configured to;

present, in a user interface on the display of the first communication device, identifiers of the plurality of potential callees including the icon for the second user;

allow the first user to select the displayed icon for the second user to request communication with the second user;

in response to the request by the first user, initiate a real-time communication over at least a wide area network between the first and second users by having the at least one first server coordinate with the at least one second server to retrieve second user location information;

use the second user location information to find the second user no matter where the second user is logged in; and

coordinate the real-time communication between the first and second users by using the second user location information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein respective location information for a respective user includes that user'"'"'s addressing information.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system is further configured to allow the first server to use the second user'"'"'s addressing information to send data to the second user during a real-time data conferencing communication between the first and second users.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the communications networks is a wireless network.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the system is further configured to:

cause a notification to a third user of a request by the first user to initiate a real-time communication with the third user;

allow the third user to accept or refuse the request; and

cause a notification to the first user of the acceptance or refusal by the third user.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the system is further configured to:

notify, during the real-time communication between the first and second users, the first or second user of a request by a third user to initiate a real-time communication with the respective first or second user;

allow the respective first or second user to accept or refuse the request; and

allow the respective first or second user to add the third user into the real-time communication involving the first and second users upon the respective first or second user'"'"'s acceptance of the request.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the system is configured to send the second user'"'"'s addressing information to the first user in response to the first user'"'"'s request for communication with the second user.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein using the second user location information includes the system being configured to retrieve the second user'"'"'s addressing information.

18. The system of claim 10, further configured to cause an indication to the first user if another user is not logged into at least one of the communications networks.

19. A method of communication between a plurality of users comprising:

in response to at least a first user using any one of a plurality of communications devices to establish communication with at least a first communications network having at least one associated first server from a plurality of first servers, causing the sending of respective initialization information to the at least one first server, the initialization information including first user location information indicating a location of where the first user has logged in;

tracking the first user location information on the at least one first server;

in response to the initialization information, causing retrieval from at least one server of identifiers for a plurality of potential callees including at least one identifier in the form of an icon for a second user;

causing presenting of a user interface on a display associated with the communication device used by the first user to establish communication with the first communications network, the user interface displaying the identifiers of the plurality of potential callees including the icon for the second user;

in response to the first user requesting communication with the second user by selecting the displayed icon for the second user, when

the second user is in communication with at least a second communications network having at least one associated second server from a plurality of second servers using any one of the plurality of communications devices, and

at least one of the plurality of second servers has tracked the second user location information no matter where the second user is logged in;

causing retrieval of the second user'"'"'s location information and initiating a real-time communication between the first and second users over at least a wide area network by using the second user location information to find the second user no matter where the second user is logged in, at least one of the plurality of first servers having coordinated with at least one of the plurality of second servers to set up the real-time communication between the first and second users.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein respective location information for a respective user includes that user'"'"'s addressing information.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising using the second user'"'"'s addressing information by at least one first server to send data to the second user during a real-time data conferencing communication between the first and second users.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein using the second user location information includes retrieving the second user'"'"'s addressing information.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising causing indication to the first user of whether another user is not logged into-at least one of the communications networks.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the communications networks is a wireless network.

25. A method of communication between a plurality of users comprising:

receiving, by at least one first server associated with at least one first communications network, respective initialization information associated with at least one first client device used by a first user to log in, the initialization information including first user location information indicating the location of the first user no matter where the first user is logged in;

tracking the first user location information on the at least one first server;

in response to the initialization information, causing retrieval from at least one server identifier information for a plurality of potential callees including information for causing the display of at least one icon for identifying a second user;

receiving information indicative of a request from the first user to communicate with the second user over at least a wide area network, the request having been made by the first user selecting at least one displayed icon identifying the second user from a plurality of potential callees displayed on a display of the first client device; and

in response to receiving the request, coordinating between the at least one first server and at least one second server, separated from the at least first server by at least one Wide Area Network and associated with at least one second communications network to which the second user is connected to retrieve address information of a second client device and to use the retrieved address information to find the second user, no matter where the second user is logged in, and to set up a real-time communication between the first and second users.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the location information for the first user includes the first client device'"'"'s addressing information.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprises using addressing information for the second client device to send data to the second user during a real-time data conferencing communication between the first and second users.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising causing an indication to the first user of whether another user is not logged into at least one of the communications networks.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one of the communications networks is a wireless network.

30. A system for communication between a plurality of users comprising:

at least one first server associated with at least one first communications network, wherein at least one first server is configured to;

receive initialization information associated with at least one first client device used by the first user to log in, the initialization information including first user location information indicating the location of the first user no matter where the first user is logged in;

track the first user location information;

in response to the initialization information, cause retrieval of identifier information for a plurality of potential callees including information for causing the display of at least one icon for identifying a second user;

receive a request from the first user to communicate with the second user over at least a wide area network, the request having being made by the first user selecting at least a displayed icon for the second user from a plurality of potential callees displayed on a display of the first client device; and

in response to receiving the request, coordinate with at least a second server, separated from the at least first server by at least one Wide Area Network, and associated with at least one second communications network to which the second user is connected to cause retrieval of address information of a second client device used by the second user to log in and to use the retrieved address information to find the second user no matter where the second user is logged in, and to set up a real-time communication between the first and second users.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the location information for the user includes the first client device'"'"'s addressing information.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein at least one of the communications networks is a wireless network.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the system is further configured to allow using the second client device'"'"'s addressing information to send data to the second user during a real-time data conferencing communication between the first and second users.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the system is further configured to:

notify a third user of a request by the first user to initiate a real-time communication with the third user;

allow the third user to accept or refuse the request; and

notify the first user of the acceptance or refusal by the third user.

35. The system of claim 30, during the real-time communication between the first and second users, wherein the system is further configured to:

notify the first or second user of a request by a third user to initiate a real-time communication with the respective first or second user;

allow the respective first or second user to accept or refuse the request; and

allow the respective first or second user to add the third user into the real-time communication involving the first and second users upon the respective first or second user'"'"'s acceptance of the request.

36. The system of claim 30, further comprising causing an indication to the first user of whether another user is not logged into at least one of the communications networks.