Virtual meeting place system and method

• US 8,887,069 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voispot, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Voispot, LLC
• Inventors: Tipirneni, Kishore
• Primary Examiner(s): Theriault, Steven B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Levy, Amy M
• Application Number:
  US12/750,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20100251140A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,686 Days
• Field of Search: 715/753
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• 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 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

A virtual meeting place system is disclosed. The online virtual meeting place facilitates initiating, scheduling, or spontaneously organizing an online discussion or meeting, organizing the discussion into active and passive participants, limiting or eliminate participation of selected participants and soliciting, receiving and answering questions. The system is configurable to allow for customization based upon the social protocols or preferences of meeting participants and may present different user interfaces based upon participant identity, meeting topic or meeting format.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

creating, by a virtual meeting computer, a first meeting, wherein the first meeting is associated with a user interface, a plurality of participants each associated with a participant type, and a plurality of participant areas, wherein the plurality of participant areas comprise an active participant area comprising active participants, a passive participant area comprising passive participants, and an OTM participant area comprising on-the-microphone (OTM) participants, and wherein the plurality of participant areas are stored in a database;

assigning, by the virtual meeting computer, a first participant type to a first participant of a plurality of first participants, wherein the first participant type is an active participant that engages in a discussion in the active participant area of the first meeting, and wherein input from the active participant is accessible by the first participant type and a second participant type;

receiving, by the virtual meeting computer using a communication protocol, a first attendance request from a second participant to join the first meeting;

assigning, by the virtual meeting computer, the second participant type to the second participant, wherein the second participant type is a passive participant that listens to the discussion in the passive participant area of the first meeting, and wherein the passive participant cannot directly enter input into the discussion;

presenting, by the virtual meeting computer using the communication protocol, the user interface to the plurality of participants, wherein the user interface comprises the plurality of participant areas, each of the plurality of participant areas associated with at least one of an area role or an area permission;

receiving, by the virtual meeting computer and from the second participant using the communication protocol, a queue request to be placed in a queue for offering input;

providing, by the virtual meeting computer and to the second participant using the communication protocol, an indication of at least one of an estimated wait time or a position within the queue;

determining, by the virtual meeting computer, that a predetermined number of OTM participants has not been exceeded;

converting, by the virtual meeting computer, the second participant from the queue to the OTM participant in the first meeting for a limited period of time;

allowing, by the virtual meeting computer using the communication protocol, the OTM participant to provide input and interact, with a plurality of the first participants for a limited period of time;

promoting, by the virtual meeting computer, the OTM participant to an active participant type, based on volume of input and quality of input;

displaying, by the virtual meeting computer and on the user interface using the communication protocol, the active participants in the active participant area, the passive participants in the passive participant area and the OTM participants in the OTM participant area;

receiving, by the virtual meeting computer using the communication protocol, a request from the first participant to exclude a third participant from the first meeting, wherein the request includes the first participant requesting a vote from the plurality of first participants to exclude the third participant from the first meeting;

prompting, by the virtual meeting computer using the communication protocol, the plurality of first participants to provide the votes whether the third participant should be excluded from the first meeting;

determining, by the virtual meeting computer and based upon the votes received from the first participants, that the third participant be excluded from the first meeting;

excluding, by the virtual meeting computer, the third participant from the first meeting;

receiving, by the virtual meeting computer, a scan request via a scan control of the user interface, wherein the scan request includes a request to search for a subset of meetings related to a first topic and a meeting within the subset of meetings where certain multiple participants exist, including where the first participant is an active participant, and where the OTM participant is currently a quasi-active participant;

iterating, by the virtual meeting computer and based upon the scan request, through a plurality of active meetings, wherein the iterating comprises providing first audio data associated with the first meeting to a user device of the user for a predetermined period of time and, in response to the first predetermined period of time expiring, providing second audio data associated with a second meeting to the user device of the user for the predetermined period of time;

receiving, by the virtual meeting computer using the communication protocol and from at least one of the first participant or the second participant, a new discussion request to create a new discussion with similar parameters as the discussion in the first meeting, wherein the similar parameters are stored in the database; and

creating, by the virtual meeting computer, the new discussion in a second meeting.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request from the second participant to send input to the first participant and, based upon the second participant type, denying the communication request.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, in response to the denying, placing the second participant in a quasi-participant queue associated with the quasi-participant area.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising moving the second participant to the quasi-participant area and associating the second participant with the OTM participant type.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a participation limit has been reached by evaluating at least one of a number of comments, an amount of input, a length of a queue, a time limit or input from a third participant.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting the user interface comprises presenting a first user interface to a first subset of the plurality of participants wherein each participant in the first subset is associated with the first participant type and presenting a second user interface to a second subset of the plurality of participants wherein each participant in the second subset is associated with the second participant type.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the virtual meeting computer, a participation limit associated with the second participant acting as an OTM participant has been reached; and

in response to the determining the participation limit has been reached, moving, by the virtual meeting computer, the second participant from the OTM participant area to the passive participant area.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, in response to the receiving the exclusion request, excluding the third participant based upon the vote of the plurality of first participants and at least one of a participant type associated with the third participant, a participation limit associated with the third participant being reached, or a meeting type associated with the first meeting.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating the first meeting occurs in response to receiving a request from the first participant and wherein the receiving the request to create the first meeting comprises receiving a request to at least one of:

schedule the first meeting, list the first meeting on a meeting schedule, and configure the first meeting with user specified parameters wherein the user specified parameters comprise at least one of number of total participants, number of active participants, invitation list, participant exclusion rules, participation rules, participation types, number of passive participants, number of quasi-active participants, meeting type, topic, agenda, or time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first meeting is associated with a meeting type associated with predefined meeting type rules, wherein the meeting type comprises at least one of a panel discussion, a debate, a discussion, a speech, a presentation, a parent teacher conference, an association meeting, an expert question and answer session, a club meeting, an association meeting, a nightclub interaction, an academic discussion, or a. consultation with an expert.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the presenting the user interface comprises presenting each participant in the plurality of participants with a predefined meeting type user interface, wherein the predefined meeting type user interface is based upon at least one of the meeting type or a participant type associated with the respective participant.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the first participant with the user interface further comprising a control and, in response to the first participant selecting the control, at least one of moving the participant to a second meeting, receiving a question input by the first participant, recording a meeting, or spawning a new a new meeting.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to exclude a third participant from the first meeting further occurs in response to at least one of content or data contributed to the first meeting by the third participant, wherein the virtual meeting computer shares the contribution of the third participant with the first participant.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the virtual meeting computer, first input from the first participant;

determining, by the virtual meeting computer and based upon the second participant type, that he second participant should receive the first input.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising moving, by the virtual meeting computer, the second participant from the passive participant area to the active participant area and changing the second participant type to the first participant type.

16. A system comprising:

a network interface communicating with a tangible memory;

the memory communicating with a virtual meeting processor; and

the memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

creating, by the processor, a first meeting, wherein the first meeting is associated with a user interface, a plurality of participants each associated with a participant type, and a plurality of participant areas, wherein the plurality of participant areas comprise an active participant area comprising active participants, a passive participant area comprising passive participants, and an OTM participant area comprising on-the-microphone (OTM) participants, and wherein the plurality of participant areas are stored in a database;

assigning, by the processor, a first participant type to a first participant of a plurality of first participant, wherein the first participant type is an active participant that engages in a discussion in the active participant area of the first meeting, and wherein input from the active participant is accessible by the first participant type and a second participant type;

receiving, by the processor using a communication protocol, a first attendance request from a second participant to join the first meeting;

assigning, by the processor, the second participant type to the second participant, wherein the second participant type is a passive participant that listens to the discussion in the passive participant area of the first meeting, and wherein the passive participant cannot directly enter input into the discussion;

presenting, by the processor using the communication protocol, the user interface to the plurality of participants, wherein the user interface comprises the plurality of participant areas, each of the plurality of participant areas associated with at least one of an area role or an area permission;

receiving, by the processor and from the second participant using the communication protocol, a queue request to he placed in a queue for offering input;

providing, by the processor and to the second participant using the communication protocol, an indication, of at least one of an estimated wait time or a position within the queue;

determining, by the processor, that a predetermined number of OTM participants has not been exceeded;

converting, by the processor, the second participant from the queue to the OTM participant in the first meeting for a limited period of time;

allowing, by the processor using the communication protocol, the OTM participant to provide input and interact with a plurality of the first participants for a limited period of time;

promoting, by the processor, the OTM participant to an active participant type, based on volume of input and quality of input;

displaying, by the processor and on the user interface using the communication protocol, the active participants in the active participant area, the passive participants in the passive participant area and the OTM participants in the OTM participant area;

receiving, by the processor using the communication protocol, a request from the first participant to exclude a third participant from the first meeting, wherein the request includes the first participant requesting a vote from the plurality of first participants to exclude the third participant from the first meeting;

prompting, by the processor using the communication protocol, the plurality of first participants to provide the votes whether the third participant should be excluded from the first meeting;

determining, by the processor and based upon the votes received from the first participants, that the third participant be excluded from the first meeting;

excluding, by the processor, the third participant from the first meeting;

receiving, by the processor, a scan request via a scan control of the user interface, wherein the scan request includes a request to search for a subset of meetings related to a first topic and a meeting within the subset of meetings where certain multiple participants exist, including where the first participant is an active participant, and where the OTM participant is currently a quasi-active participant;

iterating, by the processor and based upon the scan request, through a plurality of active meetings, wherein the iterating comprises providing first audio data associated with the first meeting to a user device of the user for a predetermined period of time and, in response to the first predetermined period of time expiring, providing second audio data associated with a second meeting to the user device of the user for the predetermined period of time;

receiving, by the processor using the communication protocol and from at least one of the first participant or the second participant, a new discussion request to create a new discussion with similar parameters as the discussion in the first meeting, wherein the similar parameters are stored in the database; and

creating, by the processor, the new discussion in a second meeting.