Enhanced discovery for ad-hoc meetings

• US 9,882,990 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Cutler, Ross Garrett, Sinclair, Andrew Peter, Kauffman, Jonathan Adam, Krantz, Anton
• Primary Examiner(s): GREENE, JOSEPH L
• Application Number:
  US14/529,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350333A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,187 Days
• Field of Search: 709227
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• 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 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• 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 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software are disclosed herein for enhancing ad-hoc online meetings. A service client, when executed by a computing system, directs the computing system to at least detect an in-room discovery signal, identify a room from the in-room discovery signal, identify a session based on the room associated with the in-room discovery signal, and join the session.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media; and

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media and comprising a service client for facilitating online meetings that, when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least;

detect a first in-room discovery signal obtained from a first component of a system in a room;

detect a second in-room discovery signal obtained from a second component of the system in the room;

validate, by the apparatus, the first in-room discovery signal using the second in-room discovery signal;

identify a session for an online meeting associated with the room based on a validation of the first-discovery signal; and

join the session.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first in-room discovery signal comprises an identity of the room encoded therein, and wherein the second in-room discovery signal comprises an identity of the room.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein service client further directs the processing system to compare the identity of the room encoded in the first in-room discovery signal and the identity of the room encoded in the second in-room discovery signal to confirm the validation.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein to identify the session based on the room associated with the in-room discovery signal, the service client directs the processing system to:

communicate a location of the room to a conference service;

receive in a reply from the conference service a service identifier associated with an in-room service client associated with the location;

query the in-room service client using the service identifier; and

receive a session identifier from the in-room service client.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the service client joins the session using the session identifier received from the in-room service client.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the session comprises an online meeting.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the service client directs the processing system to communicate with the in-room service client through the conference session.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first in-room discovery signal comprises a wireless radio frequency signal and wherein the second in-room discovery signal comprises one of:

a modulated light signal, an audible sound, an inaudible sound, and ambient noise.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first in-room discovery signal comprises one of:

a modulated light signal, an audible sound, an inaudible sound, and ambient noise and wherein the second in-room discovery signal comprises one of another modulated light signal, another audible sound, another inaudible sound, and other ambient noise.

10. A conference room system comprising:

a plurality of components within a room that each comprise at least one processor,

wherein a first component of the plurality of components is configured to transmit, to a mobile computing device, a first in-room discovery signal that comprises a proximity code associated with the room encoded therein,

wherein a second component of the plurality of components is configured to transmit, to the mobile computing device, a second in-room discovery signal that comprises the proximity code associated with the room encoded therein,

and wherein the conference room system is configured to connect to the mobile computing device with the plurality of components based on a received validation of the proximity code of the first in-room discovery signal using the proximity code of the second in-room discovery signal.

11. The conference room system of claim 10 wherein the conference room system comprises:

a wireless system that transmits the first in-room discovery signal and the second in-room discovery signal; and

a computing system having a service client installed thereon that participates in an online conference session and exchanges communications with the mobile computing device through the online conference session.

12. The conference room system of claim 11 wherein the second component is a speaker that transmits the second in-room discovery signal as modulated sound.

13. The conference room system of claim 11 wherein the second component is a lighting system that transmits the second in-room discovery signal as modulated light.

14. A method for facilitating ad-hoc joining of online meetings comprising:

in a conference service, receiving a query from a service client that identifies a room and that requests access to an online meeting ongoing in the room;

receiving, from a first component of a conference room system in the room, a first in-room discovery signal that comprises a proximity code associated with the room encoded therein;

receiving, from a second component of a conference room system in the room, a second in-room discovery signal that comprises the proximity code associated with the room encoded therein;

validating that the service client is proximate to the room based on a comparison of the proximity code associated with first in-room discovery signal and the proximity code associated with the second in-room discovery signal; and

in response to validating the service client is proximate to the room, communicating a service identifier to the service client that identifies an in-room service client participating in the online meeting.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the service client requesting a session identifier for the online meeting from the in-room service client using the service identifier.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the in-room service client providing the session identifier to the service client and communicating with the service client via the online meeting.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising requesting a third in-room discovery signal from another component of the conference system when the proximity code received in the first in-room discovery signal does not match the proximity code received in the second in-room discovery signal.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the first in-room discovery signal is one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a modulated light signal, an audible sound, an inaudible sound, and ambient noise.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the second in-room discovery signal is one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a modulated light signal, an audible sound, an inaudible sound, and ambient noise.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the first in-room discovery signal comprises a wireless radio frequency signal and wherein the second in-room discovery signal comprises one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a modulated light signal, an audible sound, an inaudible sound, and ambient noise.