Systems and methods for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing allowing real-time bandwidth management and prioritized media distribution

• US 10,362,072 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2016
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Spencer, Barry, Egenberger, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Debrow, James J
• Application Number:
  US15/176,051
• Publication Number:
  US 20160285931A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,141 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• 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 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• 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 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/157 defining a virtual conference space and using avatars or agents computer conference optimisation or adaptation H04L12/1827

Abstract

A system is disclosed for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing that includes a communication module to receive a request to share media content in a virtual room setting. The content may include an audio, a video, a text, or a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) code referencing a third-party resource. The system may further include a content encoder at the host website to create a data packet encapsulating the transport characteristics and the routing requirements and a multipoint router to share the content via the transport protocol in the real-time group conference associated with the users of the virtual room.

Claims

1. A method for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing, the method comprising:

receiving a request to share content in a real-time group conference provided by one or more hardware processors coupled with at least one memory device, the real-time group conference associated with users of a virtual room, the virtual room to share external content via a link to the content to allow multiple users of the virtual room to access the shared content, the request being encapsulated in a data packet with tags associated with the content and describing one or more recipients of the content; and

sharing the content in the real-time group conference with the one or more recipients of the content based on the tags by creating with the one or more hardware processors a response to enable the multiple users of the virtual room to view the content, wherein the response is shared via a transport protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is received via a client embedded in a host website that includes one or more instructions stored in memory to facilitate the embedded client, the one or more instructions being specific to the host website.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the host website is one or more of the following:

a social networking website, a blog, and a dating website.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transport characteristics include one or more of the following:

a prioritization, a media scaling, a caching, an addressing, a synchronization, a sequencing, and a redundancy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes one or more of the following:

an audio, a video, a text, and a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) code.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the HTML code references a third-party resource.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising creating a response HTML code, wherein the response HTML code is shared via a transport protocol in the real-time group conference to enable viewing of media associated with the third-party resource.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a response data packet includes implicit and explicit recommendations associated with the content.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to share the content in the real-time group conference is facilitated by dragging and dropping the content on a share panel of the client embedded in the host website.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, are configurable to cause one or more processors to:

receive a request to share content in a real-time group conference provided by one or more hardware processors coupled with at least one memory device, the real-time group conference associated with users of a virtual room, the virtual room to share external content via a link to the content to allow multiple users of the virtual room to access the shared content, the request being encapsulated in a data packet with tags associated with the content and describing one or more recipients of the content; and

share the content in the real-time group conference with the one or more recipients of the content based, at least in part, on the tags by creating with the one or more hardware processors a response to enable the multiple users of the virtual room to view the content, wherein the response is shared via a transport protocol.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the content is received via a client embedded in a host website that includes one or more instructions stored in memory to facilitate the embedded client, the one or more instructions being specific to the host website.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the host website is one or more of the following:

a social networking website, a blog, and a dating website.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein transport characteristics include one or more of the following:

a prioritization, a media scaling, a caching, an addressing, a synchronization, a sequencing, and a redundancy.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the content includes one or more of the following:

an audio, a video, a text, and a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) code.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the HTML code references a third-party resource.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising creating a response HTML code, wherein the response HTML code is shared via a transport protocol in the real-time group conference to enable viewing of media associated with the third-party resource.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein a response data packet includes implicit and explicit recommendations associated with the content.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the request to share the content in the real-time group conference is facilitated by dragging and dropping the content on a share panel of the client embedded in the host web site.

19. A system for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing, the system comprising:

a communication module to receive a request to share content in a real-time group conference provided by one or more hardware processors coupled with at least one memory device, the real-time group conference associated with users of a virtual room, the virtual room to share external content via a link to the content to allow multiple users of the virtual room to access the shared content, the request being encapsulated in a data packet with tags associated with the content and describing one or more recipients of the content; and

a multipoint router to share the content in the real-time group conference with the one or more recipients of the content based, at least in part, on the tags by creating a response to enable the multiple users of the virtual room to view the content, wherein the response is shared via a transport protocol.