RFID for available resources not connected to the network

• US 8,537,997 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2005
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gits, Peter M., Seavey, Dale J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US11/191,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20070036318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,974 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.12, 379/202.01, 379/90.01, 379/93.01, 379/93.21, 379/157, 379/158, 379/201.01, 379/207.01, 370/259, 370/260, 370/261, 370/262, 455/414.1, 455/416, 455/41.1, 455/442
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• 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 47/78 Architectures of resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/80 Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• 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 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2094 Proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection

Abstract

Disclosed are apparatus and techniques for providing presence and location information from available media resources to participants in a media conference so that the participants can use then use such available resources in the conferencing interaction. When participating in such rich media conferences with presence and location capabilities, apparatus and techniques are provided for determining the device(s) being used and their capabilities and determining available resources presently connected to a network that is available to the participants and presenting such presence information to the conference participants. Additionally, apparatus and techniques are provided for obtaining presence and location knowledge of potential resources that are accessible but not connected to the network or shutdown and presenting such information to the participants. Thus, the participants can obtain presence and location information regarding accessible resources, including off-line or shutdown resources, and then use such information to enhance the conference in a number of ways.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a conference between a plurality of participants, comprising:

tracking a location of a particular participant of the conference;

when the particular participant comes within proximity of a particular hot spot selected from a plurality of different hot spots corresponding to different environments, detecting resources that are available and proximate to the particular hot spot and thereby the particular participant;

when a request for information regarding resources that are available for use by the particular participant of the conference is received during the conference from a requesting participant of the conference, during the conference providing status and location information of the available resources that are detected and proximate to the particular participant regardless of whether the available resources are off-line or shutdown so as to allow enhancement of the conference during the conference, wherein the particular participant and the requesting participant are conferencing with each other via a plurality of current resources, including communication devices, and wherein the available resources are communication devices that can each be used by the particular participant to communicate with the requesting participant; and

escalating the conference by upgrading a current resource of the plurality of current resources that is currently being used by the particular participant in the conference to a selected one of the available resources based on the provided status and location information.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein a particular available resource is proximate to the particular participant when the particular available resource is in a same geographical hot spot as the particular participant or within a predetermined distance from the particular participant.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the different environments of the different hot spots each correspond to a specific room of a building, a specific floor of a building, or a particular building.

4. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the provided location information for one of the available resources includes a location of a badge of the particular participant.

5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein location information of at least one of the available resource originates from a location mechanism integrated with the at least one available resource.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the location mechanism includes a RFID (radio frequency identifier).

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the RFID is read by an RFID reader or transmitted via a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol.

8. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the location mechanism includes a GPS (global position system) or AGPS (assisted GPS) receiver.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein each current and available resource is in the form of an IM (instant messaging) application, an email application, a conferencing or meeting application, a soft IP (Internet Protocol) telephone, a physical voice or video IP telephone, a cellular telephone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), or a computer device such as a desktop or laptop computer.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the provided status information of the available resources specifies one or more of the following values:

on, off, in use, open, closed, online, offline, use duration, last use timestamp, location of resource, an identifier of the particular participant, a resource'"'"'s identifier, a hotspot identifier, a communication type that can be used to identify a particular application, and/or an address for specifying a way to contact the corresponding resource or particular participant.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the status information is obtained from one or more presence aggregation server(s) that collect status information regarding resources that are provisioned to or in use by the particular participant and the location information is obtained from one or more location server(s) that collect location information from a plurality of resources, the method further comprising when a request for information regarding the particular participant'"'"'s provisioned resources is received from a requesting participant, providing, to the requesting participant if authorized, status information for one or more owned resources that are provisioned to the particular participant or in-use by the particular participant.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the status information is related to available resources that are not provisioned to or in use by the particular participant.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the status and location information of each available resource is only provided to the requesting participant when the requesting participant is authorized to access information regarding such each available resource.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting participant is not the particular participant.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein providing status and location information of the available resources that are detected and proximate to the particular participant comprises:

providing at least a portion of the status and location information to the requesting participant.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least a portion of the status and location information of the available resources is only provided to the requesting participant if the requesting participant is authorized to access the at least a portion of the status and location information.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein providing status and location information of the available resources that are detected and proximate to the particular participant comprises:

providing the status and location information of one of the available resources to the requesting participant if the requesting participant is authorized to access the status and location information of the one of the available resources.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein providing status and location information of the available resources that are detected and proximate to the particular participant comprises:

providing the status and location information to the particular participant.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein providing status and location information of the available resources that are detected and proximate to the particular participant comprises:

providing the status and location information to conference participants including the particular participant and the requesting participant.

20. A computer system for facilitating a conference between a plurality of participants, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory, wherein at least one of the processors and memory are operable for;

tracking a location of a particular participant of the conference;

when the particular participant comes within proximity of a particular hot spot selected from a plurality of different hot spots corresponding to different environments, detecting resources that are available and proximate to the particular hot spot and thereby the particular participant;

when a request for information regarding resources that are available for use by the particular participant of the conference is received during the conference from a requesting participant of the conference, during the conference providing status and location information of the available resources that are detected and proximate to the particular participant regardless of whether the available resources are off-line or shutdown so as to allow enhancement of the conference during the conference, wherein the particular participant and the requesting participant are conferencing with each other via a plurality of current resources, including communication devices, and wherein the available resources are communication devices that can each be used by the particular participant to communicate with the requesting participant; and

escalating the conference by initiating the upgrading of a current resource of the plurality of current resources that is currently being used by the particular participant in the conference to a selected one of the available resources based on the provided status and location information.

21. A computer system as recited in claim 20, wherein a particular available resource is proximate to the particular participant when the particular available resource is in a same geographical hot spot as the particular participant or within a predetermined distance from the particular participant.

22. A computer system as recited in claim 21, wherein the different environments of the different hot spots each correspond to a specific room of a building, a specific floor of a building, or a particular building.

23. A computer system as recited in claim 21, wherein the provided location information for one of the available resources includes a location of a badge of the particular participant.

24. A computer system as recited in claim 21, wherein location information of at least one of the available resource originates from a location mechanism integrated with the at least one available resource.

25. A computer system as recited in claim 24, wherein the location mechanism includes a RFID (radio frequency identifier).

26. A computer system as recited in claim 25, wherein the RFID is read by an RFID reader or transmitted via a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol.

27. A computer system as recited in claim 24, wherein the location mechanism includes a GPS (global position system) or AGPS (assisted GPS) receiver.

28. A computer system as recited in claim 20, wherein each current and available resource is in the form of an IM (instant messaging) application, an email application, a conferencing or meeting application, a soft IP (Internet Protocol) telephone, a physical voice or video IP telephone, a cellular telephone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), or a computer device such as a desktop or laptop computer.

29. A computer system as recited in claim 20, wherein the provided status information of the available resources specifies one or more of the following values:

on, off, in use, open, closed, online, offline, use duration, last use timestamp, location of resource, an identifier of the particular participant, a resource'"'"'s identifier, a hotspot identifier, a communication type that can be used to identify a particular application, and/or an address for specifying a way to contact the corresponding resource or particular participant.

30. A computer system as recited in claim 20, wherein at least a portion of the status information is obtained from one or more presence aggregation server(s) that collect status information regarding resources that are provisioned to or in use by the particular participant and the location information is obtained from one or more location server(s) that collect location information from a plurality of resources, wherein the at least one of the processors and memory are further configured for providing, to the requesting participant if authorized, status information for one or more owned resources that are provisioned to the particular participant or in-use by the particular participant when a request for information regarding the particular participant'"'"'s provisioned resources is received from a requesting participant.

31. A computer system as recited in claim 30, wherein at least a portion of the status information is related to available resources that are not provisioned to or in use by the particular participant.

32. A computer system as recited in claim 20, wherein the status and location information of the available resources is only provided to the requesting participant when the requesting participant is authorized to access information regarding such each available resource.

33. An apparatus for facilitating a conference between a plurality of participants, comprising:

means for tracking a location of a particular participant of the conference;

means for when the particular participant comes within proximity of a particular hot spot selected from a plurality of different hot spots corresponding to different environments, detecting resources that are available and proximate to the particular hot spot and thereby the particular participant;

means for when a request for information regarding resources that are available for use by the particular participant of the conference is received during the conference from a requesting participant of the conference, during the conference providing status and location information of the available resources that are detected and proximate to the particular participant regardless of whether the available resources are off-line or shutdown so as to allow enhancement of the conference during the conference, wherein the particular participant and the requesting participant are conferencing with each other via a plurality of current resources, including communication devices, and wherein the available resources are communication devices that can each be used by the particular participant to communicate with the requesting participant; and

means for escalating the conference by initiating the upgrading of a current resource of the plurality of current resources that is currently being used by the particular participant in the conference to a selected one of the available resources based on the provided status and location information.