Presenter-only meeting canvas for collaborative electronic meeting space

• US 8,091,029 B1
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Gay, Jonathan, Guilizzoni, Giacomo
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton, Jr., Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dasgupta, Soumya
• Application Number:
  US10/856,734
• Time in Patent Office: 2,776 Days
• Field of Search: 715/719, 715/756, 715/751, 715/810, 715/753, 715/734
• US Class Current: 715/734
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A collaborative electronic meeting environment is described that provides an additional presentation canvas to the active meeting canvas that is only accessible by meeting presenters. Using this presentation canvas, additional meeting objects may be established by the presenters or even created and staged by a presenter to be dragged onto the meeting canvas for use during the active meeting. The meeting participants who are not presenters may not view or interact with this presentation canvas or any of the objects located thereon.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a meeting interface to each of a plurality of meeting participants in a collaborative electronic presentation, the meeting interface having at least one meeting object arranged the meeting interface;

assigning a presenter right to presenters of the plurality of meeting participants;

exclusively appending an additional workspace to each meeting interface displayed to presenters of the plurality of meeting participants without appending the additional workspace to the meeting interface displayed to non-presenters of the plurality of meeting participants;

including an additional meeting object associated with the collaborative electronic presentation on the additional workspace; and

responsive to at least one of the presenters moving the additional meeting object onto the meeting interface, placing the additional meeting object within the meeting interface and rendering the additional meeting object viewable to the plurality of meeting participants.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein including an additional meeting object associated with the collaborative electronic presentation on the additional workspace, comprises:

managing input streams for the at least one meeting object distinctly from an input stream for the additional meeting object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein responsive to at least one of the presenters moving the additional meeting object onto the meeting interface, placing the additional meeting object within the meeting interface and rendering the additional meeting object viewable to the plurality of meeting participants, comprises:

relating the input stream for the additional meeting object with the input streams for the at least one meeting object.

4. A method comprising:

displaying a meeting space that is electronically accessible and viewable by a plurality of users, the meeting space having a plurality of meeting objects arranged on the meeting space;

assigning a presenter right to select ones of the plurality of users;

rendering, onto a display that is viewable only by the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned, a presenter canvas associated with an electronic meeting presented on the meeting space, wherein an additional meeting object that is related to the electronic meeting is displayed on the presenter canvas; and

responsive to at least one of the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned, moving the additional meeting object onto the displayed meeting space, placing the additional meeting object within the meeting space and rendering the additional meeting object viewable to the plurality of users.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein rendering, onto the display that is viewable only by the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned, the presenter canvas associated with the electronic meeting presented on the meeting space, comprises:

maintaining data feeds for the plurality of meeting objects arranged on the meeting space distinct from a data feed for the additional meeting object displayed on the presenter canvas.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein responsive to at least one of the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned moving the additional meeting object onto the meeting space displayed, placing the additional meeting object within the meeting space and rendering the additional meeting object viewable to the plurality of users, comprises:

associating the data feeds for the plurality of meeting objects with the data feed for the additional meeting object.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the presenter right is not assigned to all of the plurality of meeting participants.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the presenter canvas is not added to each meeting space displayed to ones of the plurality of meeting participants who are not assigned the presenter right.

9. A collaborative electronic meeting environment that is generated by at least one computer executing software code that is stored on a non-transient computer-readable medium, the generated collaborative electronic meeting environment comprising:

a meeting space electronically accessible and viewable by a plurality of users;

a plurality of meeting objects arranged on the meeting space;

a presenter right assignable to select ones of the plurality of users; and

a presenter canvas associated with an electronic meeting being presented on the meeting space and having one or more additional meeting objects displayed thereon, wherein the one or more additional meeting objects are related to the electronic meeting, the presenter canvas rendered onto a display that is viewable only by the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned,

wherein ones of the one or more additional meeting objects are placed within the meeting space and rendered viewable by the plurality of users responsive to at least one user of the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned moving the ones of the one or more additional meeting objects onto the meeting space rendered on the display.

10. The collaborative electronic meeting environment of claim 9, wherein interaction with the one or more additional meeting objects is restricted to the select ones of the plurality of users having a presenter right.

11. The collaborative electronic meeting environment of claim 10, further comprising:

a server-side electronic meeting application for managing data streams for the collaborative electronic meeting environment, wherein the server-side electronic meeting application maintains a distinction between data streams for the plurality of meeting objects and data streams for the one or more additional meeting objects.

12. The collaborative electronic meeting environment of claim 11, wherein the server-side electronic meeting application integrates the data streams for the one or more additional meeting objects with the data streams for the plurality of meeting objects responsive to at least one user of the select ones of the plurality of users having presenter rights moving one of the one or more additional meeting objects onto the meeting space.

13. The collaborative electronic meeting environment of claim 9, wherein the presenter right designates the select ones of the plurality of users as a presenter of information in the collaborative electronic meeting.

14. The collaborative electronic meeting environment of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of users is not assigned the presenter right.

15. The collaborative electronic meeting environment of claim 14, wherein the at least one of the plurality of users not assigned the presenter right is designated as a non-presenting observer of the collaborative electronic meeting.

16. A computer program product having computer program logic stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program product comprising:

code for displaying a meeting space that is electronically accessible and viewable by a plurality of users, the meeting space having a plurality of meeting objects arranged on the meeting space;

code for assigning a presenter right to select ones of the plurality of users;

code for rendering, onto a display that is viewable only by the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned, a presenter canvas associated with an electronic meeting presented on the meeting space, wherein an additional meeting object that is related to the electronic meeting is displayed on the presenter canvas; and

code for, responsive to at least one of the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned, moving the additional meeting object onto the displayed meeting space, placing the additional meeting object within the meeting space and rendering the additional meeting object viewable to the plurality of users.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein code for rendering, onto the display that is viewable only by the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned, the presenter canvas associated with the electronic meeting presented on the meeting space, comprises:

maintaining data feeds for the plurality of meeting objects arranged on the meeting space distinct from a data feed for the additional meeting object displayed on the presenter canvas.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein code for, responsive to at least one of the select ones of the plurality of users to whom the presenter right is assigned moving the additional meeting object onto the meeting space displayed, placing the additional meeting object within the meeting space and rendering the additional meeting object viewable to the plurality of users, comprises:

associating the data feeds for the plurality of meeting objects with the data feed for the additional meeting object.