MEETING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20140068463A1
• Filed: 07/25/2013
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nowhere Digital Limited
• Original Assignee: Nowhere Digital Limited
• Inventors: KAY, Bozwell, Cornwell, Marc, Udall, Nicholas
• Granted Patent: US 10,097,598 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• 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 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• 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

Abstract

The present invention relates to a meeting management system including an interface for defining the structure of a meeting, an unstructured waiting space to facilitate communication between participants, an interface to display the structure, process and timings of a meeting, a check-in/out process, an input and exchange process, and a task allocation process.

Claims

1. A meeting management method, including the step of:

receiving input from a user to define a format of a meeting;

wherein the user selects from a predefined list of possible stages within the meeting and wherein the user can select multiple instances of each stage.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user defines the relative locations of participants of the meeting within a GUI.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the relative locations of the participants define the structure of the meeting process.

4. A meeting management method, including:

a) displaying representations for a plurality of users within a GUI of a system in an unstructured layout, wherein the plurality of users correspond to participants in an upcoming meeting;

b) the plurality of users communicating with one another within the system in an unstructured manner; and

c) the system receiving input from at least one of the users to determine when a structured meeting will begin.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, including the step of, after the structured meeting has begun, displaying representations for the plurality of users within a GUI of a system in a structured layout and plurality of users communicating with one another within the system in an structured manner.

6. A meeting management method, including:

a) generating a plurality of nodes corresponding to stages for a meeting; and

b) displaying an indicator identifying the node corresponding to the current stage of the meeting.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, further including the step of displaying a timing indicator for each stage.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the stages of the meeting include a plurality of stages selected from the set of:

check-in, input, exchange, next steps, and check-out.

9. A method as claimed in claim 6, further including the step of displaying a timing indicator for the entire meeting.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the timing indicator for the entire meeting extends if a timing predefined for a stage is exceeded.

11. A meeting management method, including:

a) displaying a plurality of meeting participants within a GUI within a device of each participant, wherein the participants are arranged in a layout defined by one of the participants; and

b) each of the meeting participants having the opportunity to provide input, wherein each participant has the opportunity to provide input in accordance with the layout.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein, when input has ceased, the process proceeding to a structured meeting.

13. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the meeting participants originated from a structured meeting.

14. A meeting management method, including:

a) a designated meeting participant providing input which is then transmitted to each of a plurality of participants via a communications platform;

b) the designated meeting participant indicating an end to providing the input within the platform;

c) two or more of the plurality of participants indicating an intention to provide input within the platform; and

d) determining selection of a further meeting participant to provide input in accordance with a first selection method within the platform.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14, further including the step of selecting remaining participants to provide input in sequence using the first selection method.

16. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the first selection method includes the step of receiving input from the designated meeting participant to select the further meeting participant.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the first selection method includes the step of receiving input from a user who created the meeting to select the further meeting participant.

18. A method as claimed in claim 14, further including the step of selecting the designated meeting participant in accordance with a second selection method.

19. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the second selection method includes the step of receiving input from two or more participants and selecting the first participant to provide input as the designated meeting participant.

20. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein during transmission of input to the plurality of participants, a participant indicating a mood, and visually displaying the mood for that participant within the GUI of the designated meeting participant.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the mood is visually displayed as a colour modification of an existing GUI element or as an icon.

22. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the mood is visually displayed for a specific time period.

23. A meeting management method, including:

receiving input from one of a plurality of participants to a meeting to allocate a task to another one of the plurality of participants;

where each participant can communicate with each other during task allocation.

24. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein the task includes a title and a due date.

25. A meeting management system, including:

A server configured to receive input from a user to define a format of a meeting via an interface on a user device;

wherein the user selects from a predefined list of possible stages within the meeting and wherein the user can select multiple instances of each stage.

26. A meeting management system, including:

A server configured to display representations for a plurality of users within a GUI on a user device in an unstructured layout, wherein the plurality of users correspond to participants in an upcoming meeting;

to coordinate unstructured communication from the plurality of users via their user devices for transmission to each other user'"'"'s user device;

and to receive input from at least one of the users via their user device to determine when a structured meeting will begin.

27. A meeting management system, including:

A server configured to generate a plurality of nodes corresponding to stages for a meeting, and to display an indicator identifying the node corresponding to the current stage of the meeting on a user device.

28. A meeting management system, including:

A server configured to display a plurality of meeting participants within a GUI on a user device of each participant, wherein the participants are arranged in a layout defined by one of the participants;

to receive input from one or more of the meeting participants via their user devices, wherein each participant has an opportunity to provide input in accordance with the layout; and

to transmit the input to the user devices of the other participants.

29. A meeting management system, including:

A server configured to receive input from a user device of a designated meeting participant, to transmit the input to each of a plurality of participants via each participant'"'"'s user device, to receive an indication of an end to input from the user device of the designated meeting participant, to receive an indication of an intention to provide input from the user devices of two or more of the plurality of participants, and to select a further meeting participant to provide input in accordance with a first selection method.

30. A meeting management system, including:

A server configured to receive input from a user device of one of a plurality of participants to a meeting to allocate a task to another one of the plurality of participants, to receive communication from a user device of at least one other participant during the input and to coordinate delivery from the at least one other participant to every other participant.