Systems and methods for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing allowing real-time bandwidth management and prioritized media distribution

• US 9,367,876 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2010
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Spencer, Barry, Egenberger, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Debrow, James J
• Application Number:
  US12/885,479
• Publication Number:
  US 20110072366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,096 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• 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 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/157 defining a virtual conference space and using avatars or agents computer conference optimisation or adaptation H04L12/1827

Abstract

A system is disclosed for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing that includes a communication module to receive a request to share media content in a virtual room setting. The content may include an audio, a video, a text, or a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) code referencing a third-party resource. The system may further include a content encoder at the host website to create a data packet encapsulating the transport characteristics and the routing requirements and a multipoint router to share the content via the transport protocol in the real-time group conference associated with the users of the virtual room.

Claims

1. A method for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing, the method comprising:

receiving, from a client embedded in a host website, a request to share content from a third-party resource in a real-time group conference associated with users of a virtual room provided by a multipoint real-time conferencing engine within the host website, the request being encapsulated in a data packet with tags associated with the content and routing requirements describing one or more recipients of the content, wherein the content includes at least Markup Language code referencing the third-party resource;

based on the tags and the routing requirements, sharing the content from the third-party resource in the real-time group conference with the users of the virtual room; and

creating a response code, wherein the content is shared via a transport protocol in the real-time group conference to enable viewing of media from the third-party resource by the users.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the host website includes one or more instructions stored in memory to facilitate the embedded client, the one or more instructions being specific to the host website.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the host website is one or more of the following:

a social networking website, a blog, and a dating website.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transport characteristics include one or more of the following:

a prioritization, a media scaling, a caching, an addressing, a synchronization, a sequencing, and a redundancy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a response data packet includes implicit and explicit recommendations associated with the content.

6. A system for multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing, the system comprising:

a communication module to receive, via a transport protocol, from a client embedded in a host website, a request to share content from a third-party resource in a real-time group conference associated with users of a virtual room within the host website having a multipoint real-time conferencing engine, wherein a client software creates a packet encapsulating tags describing the content and routing requirements and transport characteristics, wherein the content includes at least Markup Language code referencing the third-party resource, and creating an creator to create response code, wherein the response code is shared as a part of the content via the transport protocol in the real-time group conference to enable viewing of media from the third-party resource by the users; and

a multipoint router to share the third-party content via the transport protocol in the real-time group conference associated with the users of the virtual room.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the host website includes one or more instructions stored in memory to facilitate the embedded client, the one or more instructions being specific to the host website.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the host website is one or more of the following:

a social networking website, a blog, and a dating website.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein transport characteristics include one or more of the following:

prioritization, media scaling, caching, addressing, synchronization, sequencing, and redundancy.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein a response data packet includes implicit and explicit recommendations associated with the content.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a program embodied thereon, the program executable by a processor in a computing device to perform a multimedia multipoint real-time conferencing method, the method comprising:

receiving, from a client embedded in a host website, a request to share content from a third-party resource in a real-time group conference associated with users of a virtual room provided by a multipoint real-time conferencing engine within the host website, the request being encapsulated in a data packet with tags associated with the content and routing requirements describing one or more recipients of the content, wherein the content includes at least Markup Language code referencing the third-party resource;

based on the tags and the routing requirements, sharing the content from the third-party resource in the real-time group conference with the users of the virtual room; and

creating a response code, wherein the content is shared via a transport protocol in the real-time group conference to enable viewing of media from the third-party resource by the users.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the host website includes one or more instructions stored in memory to facilitate the embedded client, the one or more instructions being specific to the host website.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the host website is one or more of the following:

a social networking website, a blog, and a dating website.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein transport characteristics include one or more of the following:

a prioritization, a media scaling, a caching, an addressing, a synchronization, a sequencing, and a redundancy.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein a response data packet includes implicit and explicit recommendations associated with the content.