Presenter client operations

• US 7,934,002 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2007
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pixion Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pixion Incorporated
• Inventors: Wells, Benjamin, Madams, Peter, Flower, John, Kaul, Clint, Salesky, Joseph, Janne, Edward Arthur Ho-Ming
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean; Frantz B
• Application Number:
  US11/925,999
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,276 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709/228, 379/202.01
• US Class Current: 709/228
• 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. A 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.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for operating a presenter client in a conferencing network, the method comprising:

retrieving at least a portion of a capture rectangle from display memory; and

generating a delta block from a copy of a next most recent capture rectangle in display memory, wherein the delta block indicates nothing has changed from the portion of the capture rectangle retrieved from display memory in comparison to the next most recent capture rectangle in display memory, and whereby the presenter client transitions to an idle status.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the delta block indicates a change from the portion of the capture rectangle retrieved from display memory in comparison to the next most recent capture rectangle in display memory, and whereby the presenter client prepares the capture rectangle or the corresponding delta block for transmission to a conference server.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, the method further comprising dividing the capture rectangle into a series of blocks.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, the method further comprising estimating an amount of work to transmit the capture rectangle or the corresponding delta block for transmission to a conference server, determining attendee requirements, or determining local hardware requirements.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, the method further comprising compressing the capture rectangle or the corresponding delta block.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, the method further comprising transcoding the capture rectangle or the corresponding delta block.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, the method further comprising transmitting the capture rectangle or corresponding delta block to a conference server.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein a command message is transmitted with the capture rectangle or corresponding delta block.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the command message corresponds to color map change.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the command message corresponds to a pointer icon position.