Internet video conferencing on a home television

• US 8,230,012 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2008
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jaff, Kosar, AbiEzzi, Salim S
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Lynn
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liu, Lin
• Application Number:
  US12/179,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20080278568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,461 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/231, 725/105, 725/109, 725/110
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4113 PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/148 Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

Techniques for auto provisioning and publication of applications are described. The auto provisioning process enables automatic installation of applications having their respective file packages pre-stored in the server. Subsequently, publication of these applications is conducted automatically. By employing such an automatic process, the latency involved in provisioning and publication of remote applications is reduced, thereby making the process more efficient.

Claims

1. A television comprising:

a processor; and

executable instructions configured to be operated by the processor to implement a thin client, the thin client performing operations including;

sending a request to a computing device to conduct an Internet video conference, wherein;

the thin client controls display of images on the television, the thin client having inadequate resources to communicate over a wide area network and conduct video conferencing by itself, and

the computing device has connectivity to the Internet and is further connected to the television through a home networking environment;

receiving, via data tunneling, outgoing video conferencing data from a video camera directly connected to the television;

wrapping the outgoing video conferencing data into Internet protocol (IP) packets; and

sending packets of the outgoing video conferencing data over the home network to the computing device for processing to enable the computing device to forward the processed outgoing video conference data to a conferencing party on the Internet.

2. The television of claim 1, wherein the operations further include providing instructions to the computing device, the computing device setting up the Internet video conference with a conferencing party on the Internet at the computing device according to the request.

3. The television of claim 1, wherein the operations further include receiving incoming conferencing user interface data from the computing device representing incoming video conferencing data, wherein the computing device packages and transmits the conferencing user interface data using a remote desktop protocol (RDP).

4. The television of claim 1, wherein the outgoing video conferencing data is universal serial bus (USB) data received by the thin client from a video camera.

5. The television of claim 1, wherein the operations further include receiving data and instructions from the computing device to display on television interactive user interface screens for setting up a new Internet video conference, and sending user inputs to the computing device for parameters for the Internet video conference.

6. The television of claim 1, wherein the incoming video conferencing data is converted by the computing device into the conferencing user interface data for display on the television by the thin client.

7. The television of claim 1, wherein the operations further include receiving an alert regarding an incoming call that is received by the computing device for Internet video conference from a conferencing party.

8. The television of claim 1, wherein the operations further include discovering the computing device on the home network as providing Internet video conferencing functionality.

9. The television of claim 1, wherein the operations further include:

displaying a selectable option to conduct an Internet video conference on the television;

receiving an input signal selecting to conduct an Internet video conference.

10. In a home networking environment, a method for a thin client connected to a computing device that has connectivity to the Internet to provide video conferencing, the method comprising:

sending, by a device implementing the thin client, a request to the computing device to conduct an Internet video conference, wherein the thin client is connected to a television and controls display of images on the television, the thin client having inadequate resources to communicate over a wide area network and conduct video conferencing by itself;

receiving, at the device implementing the thin client, incoming conferencing user interface data from the computing device representing incoming video conferencing=data, wherein the computing device packages and transmits the conferencing user interface data using a first transmission protocol; and

transmitting, from the device implementing the thin client outgoing video conferencing data to the computing device through the home network using a second transmission protocol that is different from the first transmission protocol.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising receiving data and instructions from the computing device to display on the television interactive user interface screens for setting up an Internet video conference, and sending user inputs to the computing device for parameters for the Internet video conference.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the incoming video conferencing data is converted by the computing device into the conferencing user interface data for display on the television by the thin client.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first transmission protocol is a remote desktop protocol (RDP) and the second transmission protocol is an Internet Protocol (IP).

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the outgoing video conferencing data is universal serial bus (USB) data received by the thin client from a video camera, the USB data being packetized by the thin client into IP packets prior to performing the transmitting.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising receiving an alert regarding an incoming call that is received by the computing device for Internet video conference from the conferencing party.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising discovering the computing device on the home network as providing Internet video conferencing functionality.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing instructions to the computing device, the computing device setting up the Internet video conference with a conferencing party on the Internet at the computing device according to the request.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

displaying a selectable option to conduct an Internet video conference on the television;

receiving an input signal selecting to conduct an Internet video conference.

19. A computer-readable storage medium not consisting of a propagated data signal comprising executable instructions stored thereon, the executable instructions configured to program a television to implement a thin client, the thin client configured to perform operations including:

sending a request to a computing device, to conduct an Internet video conference, wherein;

the thin client Controls display of images on the television, the thin client having inadequate resources to communicate over a wide area network and conduct video conferencing by itself, and

the computing device has connectivity to the Internet and is further connected to the television through a home networking environment;

receiving incoming conferencing user interface data from the computing device representing incoming video conferencing data in accordance with a remote desktop protocol (RDP);

receiving outgoing video conferencing data from a video camera connected directly to the television implementing the thin client;

wrapping the outgoing video conferencing data into Internet protocol (IP) packets; and

sending packets of the outgoing video conferencing data over the home network to the computing device for processing to enable the computing device to forward the processed outgoing video conference data to a conferencing party on the Internet.

20. The computer-readable storage medium not consisting of a propagated data signal as recited in claim 19, wherein the television receives the outgoing video conferencing data through data tunneling.