On Demand in-band signaling for conferences

• US 10,462,197 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2018
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atlassian Pty Ltd (d/b/a Confluence) (Atlassian Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Atlassian Pty Ltd (d/b/a Confluence) (Atlassian Corporation)
• Inventors: Ivov, Emil, Grozev, Boris
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Stella L.
• Application Number:
  US16/200,959
• Publication Number:
  US 20190098060A1
• Time in Patent Office: 336 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• 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: 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 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

A computer implemented method comprises transmitting initial signaling data for a video conference from a signaling server to a plurality of client computing devices, the initial signaling data omitting identifiers for media data, establishing, by a media server, the video conference with the plurality of client computing devices, the plurality of client computing devices having used the initial signaling data to connect to the media server, sending, by the media server, media data for a subset of the plurality of client computing devices to the plurality of client computing devices, sending, by the media server, identifiers of the media data to the plurality of client computing devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting initial signaling data for a video conference from a signaling server over a video conference signaling channel to a plurality of client computing devices, wherein the initial signaling data comprises data needed for a client computing device to connect to the video conference;

transmitting signaling data for the video conference to the plurality of client computing devices providing identifiers to media data corresponding to a selective subset of the client computing devices;

establishing, by a media server, the video conference with the plurality of client computing devices, the plurality of client computing devices having used the initial signaling data to connect to the media server;

selectively sending, by the media server, media data to the selective subset of the client computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the selective subset of client computing devices is selected based upon dominant speaker identification.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing, by the media server, the subset of the plurality of client computing devices to generate an updated subset;

sending, by the media server, updated media data for the updated subset to the plurality of client computing devices;

sending, by the media server, updated identifiers of the updated media data to the plurality of client computing devices.

4. The method of claim 1, the initial signaling data comprising one or more of a media type in use, a certificate fingerprint, or a credential.

5. The method of claim 1, the identifiers comprising one or more of a Synchronization Source Identifier (SSRC), a Media Stream Identifier (MSID), or a client computing device identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, the media server using an in-band data channel to send the identifiers of the media data.

7. The method of claim 1, the media server using Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE).

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving the identifiers, updating a mapping by each of the plurality of client computing devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the video conference uses Web Real Time Communication (WebRTC).

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 in which the identifiers to media data corresponding to a selective subset of the client computing devices is transmitted with the initial signaling data from a signaling server.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

transmitting initial signaling data for a video conference from a signaling server over a video conference signaling channel to a plurality of client computing devices, wherein the initial signaling data comprises data needed for a client computing device to connect to the video conference;

transmitting signaling data for the video conference to the plurality of client computing devices providing identifiers to media data corresponding to a selective subset of the client computing devices;

establishing, by a media server, the video conference with the plurality of client computing devices, the plurality of client computing devices having used the initial signaling data to connect to the media server;

selectively sending, by the media server, media data to the selective subset of the client computing devices.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein the selective subset of client computing devices is selected based upon dominant speaker identification.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to perform:

changing, by the media server, the subset of the plurality of client computing devices to generate an updated subset;

sending, by the media server, updated media data for the updated subset to the plurality of client computing devices;

sending, by the media server, updated identifiers of the updated media data to the plurality of client computing devices.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the initial signaling data comprises one or more of:

a media type in use, a certificate fingerprint, and a credential.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the identifiers comprise one or more of a Synchronization Source Identifier (SSRC), a Media Stream Identifier (MSID), and a client computing device identifier.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the media server to use an in-band data channel to send the identifiers of the media data.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the media server to use Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE).

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform:

in response to receiving the identifiers, updating a mapping by each of the plurality of client computing devices.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the video conference uses Web Real Time Communication (WebRTC).

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 in which the identifiers to media data corresponding to a selective subset of the client computing devices is transmitted with the initial signaling data from a signaling server.