Presenting information in a conference

• US 8,682,972 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2010
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pixion Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pixion Incorporated
• Inventors: Salesky, Joseph, Madams, Peter, Flower, John, Kaul, Clint, Wells, Benjamin, Janne, Edward Arthur Ho-Ming
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN, FRANTZ B
• Application Number:
  US12/854,140
• Publication Number:
  US 20100306674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 709/227, 709/231, 715/751, 715/752, 715/753, 370/260, 370/261, 348/14.01, 348/14.08, 348/14.09, 348/14.11
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 steams where intermediate updates can be dropped if they are obsoleted by later arriving data updates, optimizing the utilization of network and node resources. One 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. 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 pointer, even when not presenting, so that every participant can see what each conferee is pointing to. These and other features apply to other data streams shared in the conference or in meetings where there is no shared-image data stream.

Claims

1. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:

receiving a command from an attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;

receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the attendee in a first form;

transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;

matching the form of the information to one or more of the other attendee clients in the conference;

transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the matching; and

transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the other attendee clients in the conference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is presented as a bitmap of device-dependent pixels.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein matching the form of the information to the other attendee clients in the conference includes transcoding the information subsequent to receipt and prior to transmission.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein matching the form of the information to the other attendee clients in the conference includes fitting the information to CPU capability of a particular attendee.

5. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:

receiving a command from an attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;

receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the attendee in a first form;

transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;

transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and

transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the other attendee clients in the conference.

6. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:

receiving a command from a first attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;

receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the first attendee in a first form;

transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;

transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and

transmitting the information in the device dependent form to a second attendee client in the conference in accordance with capabilities of the second attendee client.

7. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:

receiving a command from a first attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;

receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the first attendee in a first form;

transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;

transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and

transmitting the information in the device dependent form to a second attendee client in the conference in accordance with privileges of the second attendee client.

8. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:

receiving the information from a first attendee in the conference;

transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;

matching the form of the information to a second attendee client in the conference; and

transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data;

transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the second attendee client in the conference in accordance with capabilities of the second attendee client.

9. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:

receiving the information from a first attendee in the conference;

transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;

matching the form of the information to a second attendee client in the conference;

transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and

transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the second attendee client in the conference in accordance with privileges of the second attendee client.