Integrated user interface for unified communications applications

• US 9,130,899 B1
• Filed: 04/27/2011
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Baird, Randall B., Friedl, Stephan E., Mayer, J. Steven, Smyth, Joe, O'Gorman, Liam P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hussain, Tauqir
• Application Number:
  US13/094,897
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45545 Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox
• 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 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70

Abstract

Techniques are provided for establishing a Unified Communications (UC) session between a client endpoint device and remote endpoint devices, the client endpoint device managing the session using a first-party call control protocol in response to commands from a third-party control protocol and user input. A hosted virtual desktop (HVD) generates an HVD image and communicates it to the client endpoint device for display, via a virtual desktop interface (VDI) protocol. The HVD image comprises a UC user interface generated by a UC application on the HVD, the user interface comprising at least one user interface element and at least one placeholder where a client-provided user interface element may be inserted. A client UC application receives the HVD image and inserts client-provided user interface elements over the placeholders before sending the integrated image to a client operating system to be rendered on the display of client endpoint device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a client Unified Communications (UC) application on a client endpoint device;

receiving a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) display comprising a UC user interface from a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) host at the client UC application, the UC user interface comprising a host-provided user interface element including one or more host-provided controls for managing a UC call session and one or more placeholders, each placeholder for a client-provided user interface element including a video element placeholder;

modifying the received HVD display by commanding a client operating system of the client endpoint device to insert the client-provided user interface element into each placeholder on the HVD display, prior to rendering the client-provided user interface element for display, to produce a modified HVD display;

generating a client endpoint display by rendering the modified HVD display;

establishing the UC call session between the client endpoint device and a remote endpoint device; and

displaying the client endpoint display, which comprises the one or more host-provided controls and each client-provided user interface element to enable a user to manage the UC call session between the client endpoint device and the remote endpoint device using the UC user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving third-party control information associated with the UC call session via a third party control protocol session; and

managing the UC call session using a first-party control protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the third party control information is received via a UC control connection between a UC protocol stack on the client endpoint device and a call agent, wherein the UC control connection is configured to allow the UC protocol stack to register with the call agent, and to send or receive commands from the call agent that are based on signals from a UC control application running on the HVD host.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating rich media data associated with the UC call session between the client endpoint device and the remote endpoint device without passing through the HVD host.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the rich media data comprises audio data, video data, or a combination of audio and video data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the client endpoint display further comprises rendering the HVD display into a first client window, and rendering the at least one client-provided user interface element into a second client window that always has a higher z-order than the first client window.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a notification of a changed client state to the HVD; and

receiving a new HVD display comprising the UC user interface from the HVD at the client UC application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the UC user interface further comprises a placeholder where the at least one client-provided user interface element may be rendered, and wherein the generating of the client endpoint display further comprises rendering the at least one client-provided user interface element over the placeholder of the received HVD display.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

the client endpoint device communicating additional information with a host UC application on the HVD host via an application-to-application protocol.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional information comprises identity information received by the client UC application from the host UC application, and wherein the identity information enables the client UC application to register the client endpoint device with a call agent.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional information comprises call state and client state information.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional information comprises user interface geometry information received by the client UC application from the host UC application, said user interface geometry information comprising one or more of the following:

position of placeholder user interface elements;

size of placeholder user interface elements; and

descriptions of regions of the placeholder that are occluded by other HVD applications in the HVD display.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

establishing a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) connection between a VDI client in the client endpoint device and a VDI server in the HVD host, wherein the application-to-application protocol is transported as a virtual channel in the VDI connection.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the HVD display further comprises an application window, wherein the placeholder may be partially occluded by the application window in the HVD display, and wherein the generating of the client endpoint display further comprises rendering the client-provided user interface element into the portion of the placeholder that is not occluded by the application window.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the HVD host is a hosted virtual application (HVA) host, and wherein the hosted virtual desktop (HVD) display is a hosted virtual application (HVA) display.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor configured to;

establish a client Unified Communications (UC) application;

receive a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) display comprising a UC user interface from a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) host at the client UC application, the UC user interface comprising a host-provided user interface element including one or more host-provided controls for managing a UC call session and one or more placeholders, each placeholder for a client-provided user interface element including a video element placeholder;

modify the received HVD display by commanding a client operating system of the client endpoint device to insert the client-provided user interface element into each placeholder on the HVD display, prior to rendering the one or more client-provided user interface elements for display, to produce a modified HVD display;

generate a client endpoint display by rendering the modified HVD display;

establish the UC call session between the apparatus and a remote endpoint device; and

display the client endpoint display, which comprises the one or more host-provided controls and each client-provided user interface element, on the display device to enable a user to manage the UC call session between the client endpoint device and the remote endpoint device using the UC user interface.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one client-provided user interface element comprises a graphical user interface control.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is a thin client or a personal computer.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is communicably connected to a video-incapable phone and wherein the apparatus enables a user to view video associated with the UC call session on the display device while hearing audio associated with the UC call session on the video-incapable phone.

20. One or more non-transitory computer readable media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

establish a client Unified Communications (UC) application on a client endpoint device;

receive a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) display comprising a UC user interface from a hosted virtual desktop (HVD) host at the client UC application, the UC user interface comprising a host-provided user interface element including one or more host-provided controls for managing a UC call session and one or more placeholders, each placeholder for a client-provided user interface element including a video element placeholder;

modify the received HVD display by commanding a client operating system of the client endpoint device to insert the client-provided user interface element into each placeholder on the HVD display, prior to rendering the client-provided user interface element for display, to produce a modified HVD display;

generate a client endpoint display by rendering the modified HVD display;

establish the UC call session between the client endpoint device and a remote endpoint device; and

display the client endpoint display, which comprises the one or more host-provided controls and each client-provided user interface element to enable a user to manage the UC call session between the client endpoint device and the remote endpoint device using the UC user interface.

21. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

communicate rich media data associated with the UC call session between the client endpoint device and the remote endpoint device without passing through the HVD host.

22. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 20, wherein the UC user interface further comprises a placeholder where the at least one client-provided user interface element may be rendered, and wherein the instructions that cause the processor to generate the client endpoint display comprise instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

render the at least one client-provided user interface element over the placeholder of the received HVD display.

23. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 22,

wherein the HVD display further comprises an application window, the placeholder may be partially occluded by the application window in the HVD display, and wherein the instructions that cause the processor to generate the client endpoint display comprise instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

render the client-provided user interface element over the portion of the placeholder that is not occluded by the application window.