Rich signaling feedback mechanism for group communication

• US 8,161,113 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2009
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gaurav, Suraj, Jayandra, Arun Prasad
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US12/392,912
• Publication Number:
  US 20100218120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,147 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-205
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Managing a web based conference. The web based conference includes one or more presenters connected through a network to one or more conference attendees. The presenters control data sent to the attendees. User input is received at a presenter computing system from a presenter indicating that a message should be sent to a number of computing systems being used by attendees. In response to receiving the user input at the presenter computing system, a message is sent to the of computing systems. One or more acknowledgment messages are received from at least a portion of the plurality of computing systems. Based on the one or more acknowledgement messages, a metric is generated for the number of recipients that received the message. The metric is displayed to the presenter.

Claims

1. In a network computing environment, a method of managing a web based conference, the web based conference including one or more presenter computing systems connected through a network to a plurality of attendee computing systems, wherein the presenter computing systems control data sent to the attendee computing systems, the method comprising:

receiving user input at a presenter computing system from a presenter, during a web based conference, indicating that a slide flip message should be sent to a plurality of attendee computing systems, the message instructing each of the plurality of attendee computing systems to flip a slide in a presentation being used in the web based conference;

in response to receiving the user input at the presenter computing system, sending the slide flip message to each of the plurality of attendee computing systems, wherein the slide flip message is sent via a first attendee server that connects the presenter computing system to each of the plurality of attendee computing systems;

receiving an acknowledgment from each of at least a portion of the plurality of attendee computing systems indicating that each of the at least a portion of the plurality of attendee computing systems has flipped the slide in the presentation;

based on the number of acknowledgements received, generating a metric that represents the number of attendee computing systems that flipped the slide in the presentation;

displaying the metric to the presenter on the presenter computing system;

after at least one additional attendee computing system has been joined the web based conference in response to the number of attendee computing systems participating in the web based conference exceeding a specified threshold, receiving second user input at the presenter computing system from the presenter, during the web based conference, indicating that another slide flip message should be sent to the plurality of attendee computing systems as well as the at least one additional attendee computing systems; and

in response to receiving the second user input at the presenter computing system, sending the slide flip message to the plurality of attendee computing systems via the first attendee server, and to the at least one additional attendee computing system via a second attendee server that was added to route messages of the web based conference from the presenter computing system to each of the at least one additional attendee computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an attendee experience view to a presenter.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying an attendee experience view to a presenter is performed as a result of the presenter connecting to the conference as an attendee in addition to being connected as a presenter.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying an attendee experience view to a presenter comprises simulating an attendee experience in the aggregate by applying average or mean latencies to display graphical transitions.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an attendee interaction portion of a user interface to the presenter, the attendee interaction portion displaying messages received from attendee computing systems and the attendee interaction portion including functionality for receiving user input from a presenter to respond to attendee messages or to sua sponte send messages to one or more attendee computing systems.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving user input at the user interface indicating that an interactive message should be broadcast to a plurality of the attendee computing systems, and in response, broadcasting the interactive message to the attendee computing systems.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving user input at the user interface indicating that an interactive message should be unicast to a single attendee computing system, and in response, unicasting the interactive message to the single attendee computing system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the slide flip message to each of the plurality of attendee computing systems comprises sending the slide flip message to one or more attendee servers which then send the slide flip message to the plurality of attendee computing systems.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the metric comprises displaying a percentage of attendee computing systems that flipped the slide in the presentation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the metric comprises displaying an average or mean latency for the slide flip message to reach the attendee computing systems.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that an attendee computer system has disconnected from the web based conference prior to receiving the slide flip message;

detecting that the attendee computer system has reconnected to the web based conference; and

in response to detecting that the attendee computer system has reconnected to the web based conference, resending the slide flip message to the attendee computer system.

12. A system for monitoring participants in a web

based conference comprising:

a presenter computing system;

a presenter server connected to the presenter computing system;

an attendee server connected to the presenter server; and

a plurality of attendee computing systems connected to the attendee server;

wherein during the web based conference in which a slide show is displayed on each of the plurality of attendee computing systems, the presenter computing system sends a slide flip message to each of the attendee computing systems via the presenter server and the attendee server,

wherein the attendee computing systems flip a slide in the slide show when a slide flip message is received, and send an acknowledgement to the presenter computing system indicating that the slide was flipped,

wherein the presenter computing system receives the acknowledgements from each of the plurality of attendee computing systems, and

wherein the presenter computing system displays a metric to represent the percentage of attendee computing systems that have flipped the slide based on the number of attendee computing systems from which an acknowledgement has been received; and

wherein the system further comprises one or more additional attendee servers that are added to the system and which route messages from the presenter server to additional attendee computing systems when the number of attendee computing systems participating in the web based conference exceeds a specified threshold.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the presenter computing system resends the slide flip message when it is determined that the number of attendee computing systems from which an acknowledgement has been received is below a threshold after a specified duration of time after the initial slid flip message was sent.

14. One or more computer storage media, which do not include signals, storing computer executable instructions which when executed perform the following steps:

receiving user input at a presenter computing system from a presenter, during a web based conference, indicating that a slide flip message should be sent to a plurality of attendee computing systems, the message instructing each of the plurality of attendee computing systems to flip a slide in a presentation being used in the web based conference;

in response to receiving the user input at the presenter computing system, sending the slide flip message to each of the plurality of attendee computing systems, wherein the slide flip message is sent via a first attendee server that connects the presenter computing system to each of the plurality of attendee computing systems;

receiving an acknowledgment from each of at least a portion of the plurality of attendee computing systems indicating that each of the at least a portion of the plurality of attendee computing systems has flipped the slide in the presentation;

based on the number of acknowledgements received, generating a metric that represents the number of attendee computing systems that flipped the slide in the presentation;

displaying the metric to the presenter on the presenter computing system;

after at least one additional attendee computing system has been joined the web based conference in response to the number of attendee computing systems participating in the web based conference exceeding a specified threshold, receiving second user input at the presenter computing system from the presenter, during the web based conference, indicating that another slide flip message should be sent to the plurality of attendee computing systems as well as the at least one additional attendee computing systems; and

in response to receiving the second user input at the presenter computing system, sending the slide flip message to the plurality of attendee computing systems via the first attendee server, and to the at least one additional attendee computing system via a second attendee server that was added to route messages of the web based conference from the presenter computing system to each of the at least one additional attendee computing system.

15. The one or more computer storage media of claim 14, wherein sending the slide flip message to each of the plurality of attendee computing systems comprises sending the slide flip message to one or more attendee servers which then send the slide flip message to the plurality of attendee computing systems.

16. The one or more computer storage media of claim 14, wherein displaying the metric comprises displaying a percentage of attendee computing systems that flipped the slide in the presentation.

17. The one or more computer storage media of claim 14, wherein displaying the metric comprises displaying an average or mean latency for the slide flip message to reach the attendee computing systems.