Offline virtual participation in an online conference meeting

• US 10,542,126 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2014
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nayak, Panchanan
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Raza, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US14/579,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20160182580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,856 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Abstract

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for allowing an invitee to record a presentation prior to an online conference meeting. For example, invitations to an upcoming meeting hosted on an online conferencing system can be sent by a conference server. The invitation can have a meeting time associated with the meeting. The conference server can receive a request by an invitee of the upcoming meeting. The request can be to access the upcoming meeting prior to the meeting time. In response to the request, the invitee can record a presentation for the upcoming meeting. During the online conference, the recorded presentation can be played.

Claims

1. A method for hosting an online meeting event, the method comprising:

sending, via a conference server, an invitation to an online meeting event having a meeting start time and a list of invited meeting participants;

processing, via the conference server, a request to access the online meeting event from a network computing device of a meeting participant prior to the meeting start time based on a preselected threshold to determine whether the meeting participant can record a presentation;

prompting, via the conference server, the meeting participant to record the presentation in response to the request meeting the preselected threshold, the prompting of the meeting participant to record the presentation does not occur in response to the request not meeting the preselected threshold;

receiving, at the conference server, the recorded presentation for the online meeting event prior to the meeting start time, by the meeting participant;

hosting, via the conference server, the online meeting event by;

connecting one or more invited meeting participants to the conference server as online meeting participants via a connection between each of the one or more invited meeting participants and the conference server, the connecting occurring via the conference server initiating an opening of the connection to the one or more invited meeting participants;

showing the meeting participant as a virtual presenter; and

playing the recorded presentation in response to receiving another request for the virtual presenter to participate in the online meeting;

recording the online meeting event, the online meeting event including at least the recorded presentation and one or more interactions between the online meeting participants; and

saving the recording of the online meeting event, the recorded presentation associated with a timestamp, the one or more interactions between the online meeting participants associated with one or more other timestamps.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein hosting the online meeting event comprises:

providing a chat function and receiving one or more questions for the virtual presenter; and

forwarding the one or more questions for the virtual presenter to the meeting participant.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from the meeting participant, one or more answers to the one or more questions; and

forwarding the one or more answers to the invited meeting participants.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the one or more answers are forwarded to the invited meeting participants via the chat function of the online meeting event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the recorded presentation further comprises one or more presentation documents, the one or more presentation documents containing content related to voice data of the meeting participant.

6. An online meeting system comprising:

a conference server;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by a processor of the conference server, cause the processor to;

send an invitation to an online meeting event having a meeting start time and a list of invited meeting participants;

process a request transmitted from a network computing device of a meeting participant to access the online meeting event prior to the meeting start time based on a preselected threshold to determine whether the meeting participant can record a presentation;

prompt the meeting participant to record the presentation in response to the request meeting the preselected threshold, the prompt of the meeting participant to record the presentation does not occur in response to the request not meeting the preselected threshold;

receive the recorded presentation for the online meeting event prior to the meeting start time, by the meeting participant;

host the online meeting event, wherein hosting the online meeting event comprises instructions to cause the processor to;

connect one or more invited meeting participants to the conference server as online meeting participants via a connection between each of the one or more invited meeting participants and the conference server, the connection occurring via the conference server initiating an opening of the connection to the one or more invited meeting participants;

show the meeting participant as a virtual presenter; and

play the recorded presentation in response to receiving another request for the virtual presenter to participate in the online meeting;

record the online meeting event, the online meeting event including at least the recorded presentation and one or more interactions between the online meeting participants; and

save a recording of the online meeting event, the recorded presentation associated with a timestamp, the one or more interactions between the online meeting participants associated with one or more other timestamps.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein hosting the online meeting event comprises instructions to cause the processor to:

provide a chat function and receive one or more questions for the virtual presenter; and

forward the one or more questions for the virtual presenter to the meeting participant.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein hosting the online meeting event further comprises instructions to cause the processor to:

receive, from the meeting participant, one or more answers to the one or more questions; and

forward the one or more answers to the invited meeting participants.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the one or more answers are forwarded to the invited meeting participants via the chat function of the online meeting event.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein the recorded presentation further comprises one or more presentation documents, the one or more presentation documents containing content related to a voice data of the meeting participant.

11. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor of a conference server, effective to cause a computing system to:

send an invitation to an online meeting event having a meeting start time and a list of invited meeting participants;

processing a request transmitted from a network computing device of a meeting participant to access the online meeting event prior to the meeting start time based on a preselected threshold to determine whether the meeting participant can record a presentation such that, in response to the request not meeting the preselected threshold, then the meeting participant cannot record the presentation;

prompt the meeting participant to record the presentation in response to the request meeting the preselected threshold, the prompting of the meeting participant to record the presentation does not occur in response to the request not meeting the preselected threshold;

receive the recorded presentation for the online meeting event prior to the meeting start time, by the meeting participant;

host the online meeting event, wherein hosting the online meeting event comprises instructions to cause the computing system to;

connect one or more invited meeting participants to the conference server as online meeting participants via a connection between each of the one or more invited meeting participants and the conference server, the connection occurring via the conference server initiating an opening of the connection to the one or more invited meeting participants;

show the meeting participant as a virtual presenter; and

play the recorded presentation in response to receiving a request for the virtual presenter to participate in the online meeting;

record the online meeting event, the online meeting event including at least the recorded presentation and one or more interactions between the online meeting participants; and

save a recording of the online meeting event, the recorded presentation associated with a timestamp, the one or more interactions between the online meeting participants associated with one or more other timestamps.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the computing system to:

provide a chat function and receive one or more questions for the virtual presenter; and

forward the one or more questions for the virtual presenter to the meeting participant.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein hosting the online meeting event further comprises instructions to cause the computing system to:

receive, from the meeting participant, one or more answers to the one or more questions; and

forward the one or more answers to the invited meeting participants.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the instructions cause the computing system to forward the one or more answers to the invited meeting participants via the chat function of the online meeting event.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the recorded presentation further comprises one or more presentation documents, the one or more presentation documents containing content related to a voice data of the meeting participant.