Minimizing delays in web conference switches between presenters and applications

• US 8,904,293 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2010
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wrp IP Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bastide, Paul Roger, Loredo, Robert E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): ORR, HENRY W
• Application Number:
  US12/797,365
• Publication Number:
  US 20110307805A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,637 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 715/753
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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: H04M 2201/14 Delay circuits; Timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication

Abstract

A method for minimizing delays in web conference switches between presenters and applications may include receiving a key frame of content selected by a user for sharing in response to the user being a presenter and having content to share. The method may also include storing the key frame of the selected content in a buffer in response to the user not being a current presenter. The method may additionally include sharing the key frame of the content with participants of the web conference, by the processing device, in response to an indication that a previous presenter has completed his presentation and the user being a next presenter in a presenter queue.

Claims

1. A method for minimizing delays in web conference switches between presenters and applications, the method comprising:

sending, by a processing device, a request to each user of a plurality users that are presenters having content to share and in response to the presenters not being a current presenter, the request requesting each presenter that is not the current presenter to select the content to share on their computer system;

receiving, by the processing device, a key frame of the content selected by each presenter for sharing in response to each presenter selecting the content to share;

receiving, by the processing device, the key frame of the content selected by each presenter for sharing in response to each presenter selecting the content to share;

storing the key frame of the selected content of each presenter, by the processing device, in a buffer in response to the presenter not being the current presenter;

sharing the key frame of the content in the buffer of the presenter that is a next presenter in a presenter queue with participants of the web conference, by the processing device, in response to an indication that a previous presenter has completed his presentation and the presenter being the next presenter in the presenter queue, sharing the key frame of the content in the buffer causing minimal delay in switching between presenters and applications during the web conference;

streaming the selected content of the current presenter, by the processing device, to the participants after sharing the key frame of the selected content; and

deleting the key frame of the selected content of the previous presenter from the buffer after the previous presenter completes his presentation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the buffer is full;

receiving the key frame of the selected content from any other presenter and storing the key frame in the buffer in response to the buffer not being full; and

waiting for a scene change, in response to the buffer being full, and the key frame of the previous presenter to be deleted from the buffer before receiving the key frame of the selected content from any other presenter and storing the key frame in the buffer, wherein the scene change comprises at least one of the previous presenter having completed his presentation, the next presenter beginning his presentation, and starting to share the key frame of the content of the next presenter.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a status of each participant of the web conference as each participant joins the web conference.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein determining the status of each participant comprises determining if the participant is one of a moderator, one of the presenters, a speaker and a viewer.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the status of each participant comprises reading a pass code pre-assigned to each participant, wherein the pass code comprises an indication of the status of the participant.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the status of each participant comprises sending a request to each participant for the participant to designate the status of the participant as one of a moderator, one of the presenters, a speaker and a viewer.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a participant of the web conference is a moderator of the web conference; and

presenting a graphical user interface for the moderator to configure any queuing preferences for each speaker and presenter in response to queuing preferences not having been configured.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining if the moderator is one of the presenters;

determining if the moderator has content to share in response to the moderator being one of the presenters; and

receiving the key frame of the content for sharing with the participants of the web conference in response to the moderator having content to share.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a participant of the web conference is one of the presenters; and

sending an alert to a moderator of the web conference in response to the participant having a presenter status.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining if the presenter has content to share; and

starting a queuing process in response to the presenter having content to share.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the key frame of the content comprises storing the key frame of the content of each of the presenters in the presenter queue in the buffer.

11. A system for minimizing delays in web conference switches between presenters and applications, the system comprising:

a processor;

a module, operating on the processor, for minimizing delays in web conference switches between presenters and applications, the module comprising;

a module for sending a request to each user of a plurality users that are presenters having content to share and in response to the presenters not being a current presenter, the request requesting each presenter that is not the current presenter to select the content to share on their computer system;

a module for receiving a key frame of the content selected by each presenter for sharing in response to each presenter selecting the content to share;

a module to receive the key frame of the content selected by each presenter for sharing in response to each presenter selecting the content to share; and

a buffer for storing the key frame of the selected content of each presenter in response to the presenter not being a current presenter, wherein the module shares the key frame of the selected content in the buffer of the presenter that is a next presenter in a presenter queue with participants of the web conference in response to an indication that a previous presenter has completed his presentation and the presenter is the next presenter in the presenter queue, sharing the key frame causing minimal delay in switching between presenters and applications during the web conference;

a module operating on the processor to stream the selected content of the current presenter to the participants after sharing the key frame of the selected content; and

a module operating on the processor to delete the key frame of the selected content of the previous presenter from the buffer after the previous presenter completes his presentation.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a module to determine if the buffer is full, wherein the key frame of the selected content from any other presenter is received and stored in the buffer in response to the buffer not being full; and

a module to detect a scene change, in response to the buffer being full, and the key frame of the previous presenter being deleted from the buffer before receiving the key frame of the selected content from any other presenter and storing the key frame in the buffer, wherein the scene change comprises at least one of the previous presenter having completed his presentation, the next presenter beginning his presentation, and starting to share the key frame of the content of the next presenter.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a module to determine a status of each participant of the web conference as each participant joins the web conference, wherein the status of each participant comprises one of moderator, presenter, speaker, and viewer.

14. A computer program product for minimizing delays in web conference switches between presenters and applications, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to send a request to each user of a plurality users that are presenters having content to share and in response to the presenters not being a current presenter, the request requesting each presenter that is not the current presenter to select the content to share on their computer system;

computer readable program code configured to receive a key frame of the content selected by each presenter for sharing in response to each presenter selecting the content to share;

computer readable program code configured to receive the key frame of the content selected by each presenter for sharing in response to each presenter selecting the content to share;

computer readable program code configured to store the key frame of the selected content of each presenter in a buffer in response to the presenter not being a current presenter;

computer readable program code configured to share the key frame of the content in the buffer of the presenter that is a next presenter in a presentation queue with participants of the web conference in response to an indication that a previous presenter has completed his presentation and the presenter being the next presenter in the presenter queue, sharing the key frame of the content in the buffer causing minimal delay in switching between presenters and applications during the web conference;

computer readable program code configured to stream the selected content of the current presenter to the participants after sharing the key frame of the selected content; and

computer readable program code configured to delete the key frame of the selected content of the previous presenter from the buffer after the previous presenter completes his presentation.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to delete the key frame of the previous presenter in response to a scene change, wherein the scene change comprises at least one of the previous presenter having completed his presentation, the next presenter beginning his presentation, and starting to share the key frame of the content of the next presenter.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises:

computer readable program code configured to determine if the buffer is full

computer readable program code configured to receive the key frame of the selected content from any other presenter and storing the key frame in the buffer in response to the buffer not being full; and

computer readable program code configured to detect a scene change, in response to the buffer being full, and the key frame of the previous presenter to be deleted from the buffer before receiving the key frame of the selected content from any other presenter and storing the key frame in the buffer, wherein the scene change comprises at least one of the previous presenter having completed his presentation, the next presenter beginning his presentation, and starting to share the key frame of the content of the next presenter.