Videoconference data relay server

• US 20070171274A1
• Filed: 01/25/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Yim, Wai
• Granted Patent: US 7,746,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.80
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A method, which may be implemented by an apparatus and/or computer program(s), for a data relay server comprises receiving a request to relay data for a videoconference between a videoconference server protected by a firewall and N videoconference clients not protected by the firewall, wherein N≧1; creating a connection pool in response to the request to relay the data for the videoconference comprising accepting a plurality of first connections from the videoconference server; accepting a plurality of second connections from each of the N videoconference clients after creating the connection pool; associating each of the second connections from each of the N videoconference clients with a different one of the first connections in the connection pool; and relaying the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients over the first and second connections.

Claims

1. A method for a data relay server, the method comprising:

receiving a request to relay data for a videoconference between a videoconference server protected by a firewall and N videoconference clients not protected by the firewall, wherein N≧

1;

creating a connection pool in response to the request to relay the data for the videoconference comprising accepting a plurality of first connections from the videoconference server;

accepting a plurality of second connections from each of the N videoconference clients after creating the connection pool;

associating each of the second connections from each of the N videoconference clients with a different one of the first connections in the connection pool; and

relaying the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients over the first and second connections.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein relaying the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients over the first and second connections comprises:

receiving first data over the first connections, and sending the first data over the respective second connections; and

receiving second data over the second connections, and sending the second data over the respective first connections.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a connection pool identifier to the videoconference server in response to the request to relay data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients;

wherein associating each of the second connections from each of the N videoconference clients with a different one of the first connections in the connection pool comprises

receiving the connection pool identifier over each of the first connections, and

associating each of the first connections with the connection pool identifier received over the first connection,

receiving the connection pool identifier over each of the second connections, and

associating each of the second connections with the connection pool identifier received over the second connection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the data relay server has sufficient resources to relay the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients; and

relaying the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients only when the data relay server has sufficient resources to relay the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients.

5. The method of claim 4:

wherein the request to relay data for the videoconference identifies a time slot for the videoconference; and

wherein determining whether the data relay server has sufficient resources to relay the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients comprises determining whether the data relay server has sufficient resources to relay the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients during the time slot.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a connection type for each of the second connections; and

securing each of the second connections in accordance with the connection type of the second connection.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first connections comprise:

Transport Control Protocol (TCP) connections protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second connections comprise at least one of:

Transport Control Protocol (TCP) connections protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connections, or

Secure HTTP (HTTPS) connections.

9. An apparatus to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A computer program for performing the method of claim 1.

11. A method for a videoconference server protected by a firewall, the method comprising:

creating a connection pool between the videoconference server and a data relay server not protected by the firewall comprising initiating a plurality of first connections with the data relay server;

sending invitations to a videoconference to N videoconference clients not protected by the firewall, wherein N≧

1, wherein each of the invitations comprises an identifier of the data relay server, wherein each of the N videoconference clients initiates a plurality of second connections with the data relay server in response to the invitations after the videoconference server creates the connection pool; and

exchanging data for the videoconference with the data relay server over the first connections, wherein the data relay server exchanges the data with the N videoconference clients over the second connections.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending, to the data relay server, a request to relay the data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients;

receiving a connection pool identifier from the data relay server in response to the request to relay data for the videoconference between the videoconference server and the N videoconference clients;

wherein creating the connection pool with the data relay server comprises sending the connection pool identifier over the first connections;

wherein each of the videoconference invitations comprises the connection pool identifier;

wherein each of the N videoconference clients receives a respective one of the videoconference invitations and sends the connection pool identifier in the videoconference invitation over each of the second connections between the videoconference client and the data relay server; and

wherein the data relay server associates each of the second connections from each of the N videoconference clients with a different one of the first connections in the respective one of the N connection pools according to the connection pool identifiers.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first connections comprise:

Transport Control Protocol (TCP) connections protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

14. An apparatus to perform the method of claim 11.

15. A computer program for performing the method of claim 11.

16. A method for a videoconference client, the method comprising:

receiving an invitation to a videoconference from a videoconference server protected by a firewall that does not protect the videoconference client, wherein the videoconference invitation comprises a connection pool identifier and a data relay server identifier, wherein the data relay server identifier identifies a data relay server not protected by the firewall, and wherein the connection pool identifier identifies a connection pool comprising a plurality of first connections between the data relay server and the videoconference server;

creating a plurality of second connections between the videoconference client and the data relay server, after creation of the first connections, in response to the invitation; and

exchanging data for the videoconference with the data relay server over the second connections, wherein the data relay server exchanges the data for the videoconference with the videoconference server over the first connections.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the videoconference server sends the connection pool identifier over each of the first connections, further comprising:

sending the connection pool identifier over each of the second connections;

wherein the data relay server associates each of the second connections with a different one of the first connections according to the connection pool identifiers.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the second connections comprise at least one of:

Transport Control Protocol (TCP) connections protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connections, or

Secure HTTP (HTTPS) connections.

19. An apparatus to perform the method of claim 16.

20. A computer program for performing the method of claim 16.