Method and system for visualizing social connections in a video meeting

• US 9,344,520 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2014
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Griffin, Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US14/287,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350372A1
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401- 1416, 715/753, 705/319
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• 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 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A method implemented on a computing device for conducting a video conference includes identifying at least some attendees of the video conference, acquiring a social graph associated with at least some of the attendees, and presenting at least a representation of a portion of the social graph to the attendees during said video conference.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a computing device for conducting a video conference, the method comprising:

detecting the presence of individual attendees in said video conference; and

identifying at least one of said individual attendees using at least one of face recognition, voice recognition, site, location, or combinations thereof;

accessing social network profiles associated with attendees of said video conference;

for a non-identified individual attendee for whom said identifying individual attendees is unsuccessful, identifying said non-identified individual attendee at least according to information from one of said accessed social network profiles associated with at least one of said identified individual attendees;

mapping at least relationships between at least some of said attendees at least according to information in said profiles, thereby generating a social graph of said attendees; and

presenting at least a representation of a portion of said social graph to said attendees during said video conference.

2. The method according to claim 1 and wherein said portion of said social graph represents relationships between said attendees, wherein said relationships are at least one of:

shared characteristics, and or connections in a social network.

3. The method according to claim 1 and wherein said identifying non-identified individual attendee comprises:

identifying said non-identified individual attendee from among connections of at least one of said identified individual attendees attending said video conference, wherein said connections are procured via said accessing.

4. The method according to claim 1 and wherein said identifying a non-identified individual attendee comprises:

searching at least one social network for public profiles of members sharing at least one common characteristic with at least one said identified attendee attending said video conference; and

identifying said non-identified individual attendee from among said public profiles.

5. The method according to claim 4 and wherein said at least one common characteristic is at least one of an email domain, a place of employment, a site, or location, or a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1 and wherein said social network profiles are from an enterprise social network associated with an enterprise with which said computing device is associated.

7. The method according to claim 1 and wherein said social network profiles are from a social network external to an enterprise with which said computing device is associated.

8. The method according to claim 1 and wherein said relationships are at least in part based on non-current statuses of said attendees.

9. The method according to claim 1 and wherein said presenting may comprise forwarding said representation of at least a portion of said social graph to a companion device for presentation, wherein said companion device is at least one of a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop or a personal computer.

10. The method according to claim 9 and wherein said representation of at least a portion of said social graph is configurable in accordance with requests by a user of said companion device.

11. The method according to claim 1 and also comprising:

receiving a request for a representation of relationships between at least one specific attendee and at least one other attendee;

generating said representation of relationships based at least on said social graph; and

forwarding said representation of relationships for presentation to a video conference site associated with said request.

12. The method according to claim 1 and also comprising restricting said presenting in accordance with a policy.

13. The method according to claim 1 and also comprising saving said social graph.

14. The method according to claim 13 and also comprising merging two saved social graphs.

15. The method according to claim 13 and also comprising using at least a part of said saved social graph to generate a new social graph for a subsequent video conference.

16. The method according to claim 1 and also comprising:

—

based on said social graph, suggesting to at least one attendee to connect with at least one other said attendee using said social network profiles.

17. A video conference user interface implemented on a computing device, the user interface comprising:

an attendee social relationship service operative to at least;

detect the presence of individual attendees in a video conference,

identify at least one of said individual attendees using at least one of face recognition, voice recognition, site, location, or combinations thereof,

access at least one social network to receive information regarding profiles of video conference attendees,

for a non-identified individual attendee for whom said identifying individual attendees is unsuccessful, identify said non-identified individual attendee at least according to information from one of said accessed social network profiles associated with at least one of said identified individual attendees, and

identify a non-identified individual attendee according to at least said information associated with at least one of said identified individual attendees;

a social graph renderer operative to render a social graph based at least on said information from said enterprise social network; and

a meeting service to provide a presentation of at least a part of said social graph to at least one video conference site participating in an associated video conference.

18. The system according to claim 17 and also comprising a video conference site comprising at least one display operative to display said presentation.