METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MULTIMEDIA COLLABORATION USING A SOCIAL NETWORK SYSTEM

• US 20100138492A1
• Filed: 12/02/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: GUZMAN, CARLOS, Agraharam, Sanjay
• Granted Patent: US 8,468,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

In one embodiment, the present invention is a method and apparatus for multimedia collaboration using a social network system. In one embodiment, a method for using a social network to establish a collaborative multimedia interaction includes receiving a request from a user to establish the collaborative multimedia interaction, where the user has established the social network, and notifying one or more members of the social network of the collaborative multimedia interaction using, in some embodiments, information about the members'"'"' current or last known digital presence and a customizable set of notification rules.

Claims

1. A method for using a social network to establish a collaborative multimedia interaction, comprising:

receiving a request from a user to establish the collaborative multimedia interaction, where the user has established the social network; and

notifying one or more members of the social network of the collaborative multimedia interaction.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

opening the collaborative multimedia interaction in response to the request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

joining at least one of the one or more members to the collaborative multimedia interaction.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the joining is performed automatically.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the joining is performed manually.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notifying comprises:

determining a location of each of the one or more members; and

sending a notification to the location of each of the one or more members inviting the one or more members to join the collaborative multimedia interaction.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the notifying comprises:

retrieving contact information for the one or more members from the social network; and

sending a notification to a device belonging to the one or more members in accordance with the contact information, the notification inviting the one or more members to join the collaborative multimedia interaction.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sending comprises:

determining a best method of contacting the one or more members, in accordance with prioritized list of contact methods.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the sending comprises:

determining a best method of contacting the one or more members, in accordance with network usage of the one or more members within a time frame of the collaborative multimedia interaction.

10. A computer readable storage medium containing an executable program for using a social network to establish a collaborative multimedia interaction, where the program performs the steps of:

receiving a request from a user to establish the collaborative multimedia interaction, where the user has established the social network; and

notifying one or more members of the social network of the collaborative multimedia interaction.

11. A system for using a social network to establish a collaborative multimedia interaction, comprising:

a social network system for supporting social networking among a user and members of a social network associated with the user, where the social network is further configured receiving a request from a user to establish a collaborative multimedia interaction;

a conferencing system interfaced to the social network system for hosting the collaborative multimedia interaction; and

a notification system interfaced to the conferencing system for notifying one or more members of the social network of the collaborative multimedia interaction.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a network usage module interfaced to the notification system for providing usage information about one or more communications devices used by the one or more members.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the notification system is a rules based system containing one or more rules pertaining to at least one of:

who of the one or more members to notify, how to notify the one or more members, or when to notify the one or more members.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more rules is inferred by the system.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more rules is configured by the user or configured by the one or more members.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more rules is specific to a location of the social network system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one of the one or more rules is based on at least one of:

language, time zone of the user, time zone of the one or more members, or local culture.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the conferencing system further supports data content delivery.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the data content is based on one or more profiles of the user or of the one or more members, the one or more profiles being maintained by the social network system.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the social network system indicates usage information associated with the user and with the one or more members.