Approach for sharing electronic documents during electronic meetings

• US 10,554,728 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2015
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Reyes, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Walsh, John B
• Application Number:
  US14/920,677
• Publication Number:
  US 20170118271A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,566 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1089 by adding media; by removing media
• 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 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

An approach is provided for sharing electronic documents during electronic meetings. Client devices of meeting participants are configured with a file sharing application that allows participants of an electronic meeting to request and receive, during the electronic meeting, electronic documents that are displayed during the electronic meeting, allows presenters to review and approve or deny requests for electronic documents, and to apply security restrictions to electronic documents on a participant-by-participant basis. Private electronic meetings may be established concurrent with an existing electronic meeting and include one or more participants from a general electronic meeting from which they were instantiated, and may include other participants that are not participants of the general electronic meeting. Participants may be selected by a meeting organizer and various criteria may be used to select participants. Content shared during a private electronic meeting may be designated as not to be shared during the general electronic meeting.

Claims

1. An apparatus providing an improvement in electronic meetings conducted over computer networks, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;

a collaboration client executing on the apparatus and configured to support an electronic meeting via one or more networks with another apparatus that is external to the apparatus and to;

cause to be displayed on a display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants,

detect a user selection of the one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants, and

in response to detection of the user selection of the one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants;

cause creation of the private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with the existing electronic meeting,

cause to be displayed on the display, an add/remove participants control that allows a user to add participants to the private electronic meeting and one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting,

detect a user selection of the add/remove participants control and at least one graphical user interface object from the one or more graphical user interface objects that specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting,

in response to detecting the user selection of the add/remove participants control and the at least one graphical user interface object from the one or more graphical user interface objects that specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting;

determine a subset of participants from the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting that satisfy the one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting that correspond to the selected at least one graphical user interface object, and

display the subset of participants from the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting as user-selectable candidate participants for the private electronic meeting on the display,

detect a user selection of one or more candidate participants, from the plurality of candidate participants, for the private electronic meeting,

in response to detecting the user selection of one or more candidate participants, from the plurality of candidate participants for the private electronic meeting, adding the one or more candidate participants to the private electronic meeting.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the private electronic meeting includes a particular participant that is not included in the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting, and

the collaboration client is further configured to cause to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify, for inclusion in the private electronic meeting, the particular participant that is not included in the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting include one or more of a level within a business organization, a member of a group or project, or a security clearance level.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collaboration client is further configured to cause to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify one or more permissions for a particular participant of the private electronic meeting, wherein the one or more permissions specify whether the particular participant is authorized to add or delete content to and from the private electronic meeting.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein:

wherein the one or more permissions further specify attributes of content that the particular participant is authorized to add or delete to and from the private electronic meeting.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the existing electronic meeting provides for the sharing of a plurality of information among the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting, and

the collaboration client is further configured to cause to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify particular information, not included in the plurality of information shared among the plurality of participants of the electronic meeting, to be included in the private electronic meeting and prevented from being included in the existing electronic meeting.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein both the existing electronic meeting and the private electronic meeting are implemented as video conferencing sessions and the information includes one or more of one or more electronic documents, audio/visual content or one or more messages.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collaboration client is further configured to cause to be displayed, on the display, a graphical user interface that supports display of the private electronic meeting concurrently with the existing electronic meeting.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media providing an improvement in electronic meetings conducted over computer networks, the apparatus, the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause a collaboration client executing on an apparatus, and configured to support an electronic meeting via one or more networks with another apparatus that is external to the apparatus, to:

cause to be displayed on a display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants,

detect a user selection of the one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants, and

in response to detection of the user selection of the one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants;

cause creation of the private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with the existing electronic meeting,

cause to be displayed on the display, an add/remove participants control that allows a user to add participants to the private electronic meeting and one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting,

detect a user selection of the add/remove participants control and at least one graphical user interface object from the one or more graphical user interface objects that specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting,

in response to detecting the user selection of the add/remove participants control and the at least one graphical user interface object from the one or more graphical user interface objects that specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting;

determine a subset of participants from the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting that satisfy the one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting that correspond to the selected at least one graphical user interface object, and

display the subset of participants from the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting as user-selectable candidate participants for the private electronic meeting on the display,

detect a user selection of one or more candidate participants, from the plurality of candidate participants, for the private electronic meeting,

in response to detecting the user selection of one or more candidate participants, from the plurality of candidate participants for the private electronic meeting, adding the one or more candidate participants to the private electronic meeting.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein:

the private electronic meeting includes a particular participant that is not included in the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting, and

the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media store additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the collaboration client to cause to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify, for inclusion in the private electronic meeting, the particular participant that is not included in the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting include one or more of a level within a business organization, a member of a group or project, or a security clearance level.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the collaboration client to cause to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify one or more permissions for a particular participant of the private electronic meeting, wherein the one or more permissions specify whether the particular participant is authorized to add or delete content to and from the private electronic meeting.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein:

wherein the one or more permissions further specify attributes of content that the particular participant is authorized to add or delete to and from the private electronic meeting.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein:

the existing electronic meeting provides for the sharing of a plurality of information among the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting, and

the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media store additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the collaboration client to cause to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify particular information, not included in the plurality of information shared among the plurality of participants of the electronic meeting, to be included in the private electronic meeting and prevented from being included in the existing electronic meeting.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein both the existing electronic meeting and the private electronic meeting are implemented as video conferencing sessions and the information includes one or more of one or more electronic documents, audio/visual content or one or more messages.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the collaboration client is further configured to cause to be displayed, on the display, a graphical user interface that supports display of the private electronic meeting concurrently with the existing electronic meeting.

17. A computer-implemented method providing an improvement in electronic meetings conducted over computer networks, the apparatus, the computer-implemented method comprising:

causing, by a collaboration client executing on an apparatus and configured to support an electronic meeting via one or more networks with another apparatus that is external to the apparatus, to be displayed on a display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants,

detecting, by the collaboration client executing on the apparatus, a user selection of the one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes participants from the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants, and

in response to detection of the user selection of the one or more graphical user interface objects that allow a user of the apparatus to request creation of a private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with an existing electronic meeting, wherein the private electronic meeting includes a subset of participants from a plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting and allows for the sharing of information between participants in the subset of participants from the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting;

cause, by the collaboration client executing on the apparatus, creation of the private electronic meeting to be conducted concurrently with the existing electronic meeting,

cause to be displayed on the display, an add/remove participants control that allows a user to add participants to the private electronic meeting and one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting,

detect a user selection of the add/remove participants control and at least one graphical user interface object from the one or more graphical user interface objects that specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting,

in response to detecting the user selection of the add/remove participants control and the at least one graphical user interface object from the one or more graphical user interface objects that specify one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting;

determine a subset of participants from the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting that satisfy the one or more required attributes of participants to be able to participate in the private electronic meeting that correspond to the selected at least one graphical user interface object, and

display the subset of participants from the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting as user-selectable candidate participants for the private electronic meeting on the display,

detect a user selection of one or more candidate participants, from the plurality of candidate participants, for the private electronic meeting,

in response to detecting the user selection of one or more candidate participants, from the plurality of candidate participants for the private electronic meeting, adding the one or more candidate participants to the private electronic meeting.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the private electronic meeting includes a particular participant that is not included in the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting, and the collaboration client causes to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify, for inclusion in the private electronic meeting, the particular participant that is not included in the plurality of participants of the existing electronic meeting.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the collaboration client is further configured to cause to be displayed on the display, one or more graphical user interface objects that allow the user of the apparatus to specify one or more permissions for a particular participant of the private electronic meeting, wherein the one or more permissions specify whether the particular participant is authorized to add or delete content to and from the private electronic meeting.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein:

wherein the one or more permissions further specify attributes of content that the particular participant is authorized to add or delete to and from the private electronic meeting.