Dynamic signaling and resource allocation in secure media-based conferencing

• US 9,131,112 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2014
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edifire LLC
• Original Assignee: Edifire LLC
• Inventors: Anderson, Eric, Goepp, Daniel P.
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US14/500,422
• Time in Patent Office: 344 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1076 Screening of IP real time communications, e.g. spam over Internet telephony [SPIT]
• 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 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for allocating resources in a media-based conferencing session. A server computing device receives a first request to join a conference session from a first end point device associated with a non-organizer participant, including a first media stream. The server computing device determines a hosting site by querying a media location service and determines configuration attributes by querying a database. The server computing device connects the media stream to a waiting room at the hosting site. The server computing device receives a second request to join the conference session from a second end point device associated with an organizer, including a second media stream. The server computing device determines a meeting room for the conference session by querying the media location service and establishes the conference session by transferring the first media stream and the second media stream into the meeting room.

Claims

1. A method of allocating resources in a media-based conferencing system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a server computing device, a first request to join a conference session from a first end point device associated with a non-organizer participant in the conference session, the first request including a first media stream from the first end point device;

determining, by the server computing device, a hosting site of the conference session by querying a media location service based upon attributes of the first media stream, attributes of the first end point device, and attributes of the conference session, wherein the server computing device dynamically determines the hosting site when the first request is received;

dynamically allocating, by the server computing device, one or more resources to support the conference session when the hosting site is determined;

connecting, by the server computing device, the media stream of the first end point device to a waiting room at the hosting site;

receiving, by the server computing device, a second request to join the conference session from a second end point device associated with an organizer of the conference session, the second request including a second media stream from the second end point device;

determining, by the server computing device, a meeting room for the conference session at the hosting site by querying the media location service based upon attributes of the second media stream, attributes of the second end point device, and attributes of the conference session, wherein the server computing device dynamically determines the meeting room when the second request is received; and

establishing, by the server computing device, the conference session by transferring the first media stream and the second media stream into the meeting room.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hosting site of the conference session comprises one or more of:

a geographical location of computing devices used to host the conference session and a logical location of computing devices used to host the conference session.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the conference session comprise one or more of:

authentication data, session organizer data, session participant data, session media capability data, and session feature data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the waiting room comprises an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a hosting site of the conference session comprises retrieving a list of available hosting sites from the media location service and selecting a hosting site based upon a geographic location of the first end point device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a hosting site of the conference session comprises retrieving a list of available hosting sites from the media location service and selecting a hosting site based upon a selection of the organizer of the conference session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a meeting room for the conference session at the hosting site comprises retrieving a list of available meeting rooms from the media location service and selecting a meeting room based upon the resources supporting the conference session.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the server computing device, the non-organizer participant by querying a user profile database based upon the first request.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising connecting, by the server computing device, to a third end point device and transferring a third media stream from the third end point device into the meeting room.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request comprises first authentication credentials associated with the non-organizer participant and the server computing device determines whether to connect the first end point device to the meeting room based upon the first authentication credentials.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second request comprises second authentication credentials associated with the organizer and the server computing device determines whether to establish the conference session based upon the second authentication credentials.

12. A system for allocating resources in a media-based conferencing session, the system comprising a server computing device configured to:

receive a first request to join a conference session from a first end point device associated with a non-organizer participant in the conference session, the first request including a first media stream from the first end point device;

determine a hosting site of the conference session by querying a media location service based upon attributes of the first media stream, attributes of the first end point device, and attributes of the conference session, wherein the server computing device dynamically determines the hosting site when the first request is received;

dynamically allocate one or more resources to support the conference session when the hosting site is determined;

connect the media stream of the first end point device to a waiting room at the hosting site;

receive a second request to join the conference session from a second end point device associated with an organizer of the conference session, the second request including a second media stream from the second end point device;

determine a meeting room for the conference session at the hosting site by querying the media location service based upon attributes of the second media stream, attributes of the second end point device, and attributes of the conference session, wherein the server computing device dynamically determines the meeting room when the second request is received; and

establish the conference session by transferring the first media stream and the second media stream into the meeting room.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the hosting site of the conference session comprises one or more of:

a geographical location of computing devices used to host the conference session and a logical location of computing devices used to host the conference session.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the attributes of the conference session comprise one or more of:

authentication data, session organizer data, session participant data, session media capability data, and session feature data.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the waiting room comprises an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein determining a hosting site of the conference session comprises retrieving a list of available hosting sites from the media location service and selecting a hosting site based upon a geographic location of the first end point device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein determining a hosting site of the conference session comprises retrieving a list of available hosting sites from the media location service and selecting a hosting site based upon a selection of the organizer of the conference session.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein determining a meeting room for the conference session at the hosting site comprises retrieving a list of available meeting rooms from the media location service and selecting a meeting room based upon resources supporting the conference session.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the server computing device is further configured to identify the non-organizer participant by querying a user profile database based upon the first request.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the server computing device is further configured to connect to a third end point device and transferring a third media stream from the third end point device into the meeting room.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the first request comprises first authentication credentials associated with the non-organizer participant and the server computing device determines whether to connect the first end point device to the meeting room based upon the first authentication credentials.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the second request comprises second authentication credentials associated with the organizer and the server computing device determines whether to establish the conference session based upon the second authentication credentials.

23. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, for allocating resources in a media-based conferencing session, the computer program product including instructions operable to cause a server computing device to:

receive a first request to join a conference session from a first end point device associated with a non-organizer participant in the conference session, the first request including a first media stream from the first end point device;

determine a hosting site of the conference session by querying a media location service based upon attributes of the first media stream, attributes of the first end point device, and attributes of the conference session, wherein the server computing device dynamically determines the hosting site when the first request is received;

dynamically allocate one or more resources to support the conference session when the hosting site is determined;

connect the media stream of the first end point device to a waiting room at the hosting site;

receive a second request to join the conference session from a second end point device associated with an organizer of the conference session, the second request including a second media stream from the second end point device;

determine a meeting room for the conference session at the hosting site by querying the media location service based upon attributes of the second media stream, attributes of the second end point device, and attributes of the conference session, wherein the server computing device dynamically determines the meeting room when the second request is received; and

establish the conference session by transferring the first media stream and the second media stream into the meeting room.