Systems and methods for enabling communication between users of common virtual spaces
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- identifying, by a communication manager executed by a processor of a server that is communicatively coupled to a communication network, that a plurality of clients are communicatively coupled to the communication network and are accessing a document via a common virtual space, wherein the common virtual space is configured to communicate with both at least one first application and at least one second application having different functionality than the at least one first application, wherein identifying the plurality of clients accessing the common virtual space comprises;
identifying at least one first edit to the document by the at least one first application executed by at least one first client of the plurality of clients;
identifying at least one second edit to the document by the at least one second application executed by at least one second client of the plurality of clients; and
autonomously initiating, by the communication manager, voice communication between the plurality of clients in response to identifying that the plurality of clients are accessing the document via the common virtual space and identifying the at least one first edit and the at least one second edit to the document,wherein the common virtual space has a primary functionality that is not voice-communication centric.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for enabling voice communication between users of common virtual spaces. A communication manager autonomously identifies a plurality of clients who are accessing a common virtual space, and autonomously initiates voice communication between the plurality of clients. The common virtual space may encompass any number of software applications (which may reside locally on client computers and/or which may be network-accessed applications) and which may be applications that are not communication centric. The communication manager comprises peer group identifying logic that is operable to identify a plurality of users who are accessing a common virtual space. The communication manager further comprises connection management logic that is operable to autonomously initiate voice communication between the peer group members. A light-weight communication module may be implemented on each client, which provides logic for enabling voice communication between the clients who are determined as being members of a peer group.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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identifying, by a communication manager executed by a processor of a server that is communicatively coupled to a communication network, that a plurality of clients are communicatively coupled to the communication network and are accessing a document via a common virtual space, wherein the common virtual space is configured to communicate with both at least one first application and at least one second application having different functionality than the at least one first application, wherein identifying the plurality of clients accessing the common virtual space comprises; identifying at least one first edit to the document by the at least one first application executed by at least one first client of the plurality of clients; identifying at least one second edit to the document by the at least one second application executed by at least one second client of the plurality of clients; and autonomously initiating, by the communication manager, voice communication between the plurality of clients in response to identifying that the plurality of clients are accessing the document via the common virtual space and identifying the at least one first edit and the at least one second edit to the document, wherein the common virtual space has a primary functionality that is not voice-communication centric. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system comprising:
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a non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions; a processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to perform operations comprising; identifying that a plurality of clients are communicatively coupled to communication network and are accessing a document via a common virtual space, wherein the common virtual space has a primary functionality that is not voice-communication centric and is configured to communicate with both at least one first application and at least one second application having different functionality than the at least one first application, wherein identifying the plurality of clients accessing the common virtual space comprises; identifying at least one first edit to the document by the at least one first application executed by at least one first client of the plurality of clients; identifying at least one second edit to the document by the at least one second application executed by at least one second client of the plurality of clients; and autonomously initiating voice communication between the plurality of clients in response to identifying that the plurality of clients are accessing the document via the common virtual space and identifying the at least one first edit and the at least one second edit to the document. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method comprising:
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receiving, by a communication manager executed by a processor of a server that is communicatively coupled to a communication network, respective information from each of a plurality of clients that are communicatively coupled to the communication network, wherein the respective information identifies the corresponding client; determining, by the communication manager, based at least in part on the received information, that a peer group of the plurality of clients are accessing a document via a common virtual space, wherein the common virtual space has a primary functionality that is not voice-communication centric and is configured to communicate with both at least one first application and at least one second application having different functionality than the at least one first application, wherein identifying the peer group accessing the common virtual space comprises; identifying at least one first edit to the document by the at least one first application executed by at least one first member client of the peer group; identifying at least one second edit to the document by the at least one second application executed by at least one second member client of the peer group; and autonomously initiating, by the communication manager, voice communication between member clients of the determined peer group in response to identifying that the member clients of the determined peer group are accessing the document via the common virtual space and identifying the at least one first edit and the at least one second edit to the document.
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14. A method comprising:
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communicating, by a communication module of a client to a manager that is executed by a processor communicatively coupled to a communication network, information that identifies the client corresponding to the communication module and an edit by at least one client application executed at the client to a document being accessed by the client via a common virtual space wherein the common virtual space has a primary functionality that is not voice-communication centric and is configured to communicate with both the at least one client application and at least one additional application having different functionality than the at least one client application; receiving, by the communication module, voice communication connection instructions from a communication manager identifying other clients determined as member clients of a peer group that are accessing the corresponding virtual space, wherein identifying the member clients of the peer group that are accessing the common virtual space comprises; identifying the edit to the document by the at least one client application executed at the client; identifying at least one additional edit to the document by the at least one additional application executed by at least one additional member client of the peer group; and responsive to the voice communication connection instructions, autonomously establishing, by the communication module, a voice communication connection between the client and the identified other clients based on the communication manager identifying that the member clients of the peer group are accessing the document via the common virtual space and identifying the edit and the at least one additional edit to the document. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. Computer-executable software code stored to a non-transitory computer-readable medium, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform a method comprising:
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identifying that a plurality of clients are communicatively coupled to communication network and are accessing a document via a common virtual space, wherein the common virtual space has a primary functionality that is not voice-communication centric and is configured to communicate with both at least one first application and at least one second application having different functionality than the at least one first application, wherein identifying the plurality of clients accessing the common virtual space comprises; identifying at least one first edit to the document by the at least one first application executed by at least one first client of the plurality of clients; identifying at least one second edit to the document by the at least one second application executed by at least one second client of the plurality of clients; and autonomously initiating voice communication between the plurality of clients in response to identifying that the plurality of clients are accessing the document via the common virtual space and identifying the at least one first edit and the at least one second edit to the document. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification