Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/14—Systems for two-way working
  • H04N7/141—Systems for two-way working between two video terminals, e.g. videophone
  • H04N7/147—Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals

Definitions

• Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to video conferencing, and more specifically, to integrating real-time, personalized documents into a video conference session.
• a method comprises establishing a video conference between a first application instance and a second application instance, and during the video conference: receiving, by an application server from the first application instance, an indication of a first data element required to prepare a tax return, storing, by a notification server, the indication of the first data element, and publishing, by a notification server, the indication of the first data element to the second application instance, wherein the second application instance is configured to output the indication of the data element for display.
• a system comprises a processor and a memory containing a program which when executed by the processor performs an operation comprising establishing a video conference between a first application instance and a second application instance, and during the video conference: receiving, by an application server from the first application instance, an indication of a first data element required to prepare a tax return, storing, by a notification server, the indication of the first data element, and publishing, by a notification server, the indication of the first data element to the second application instance, wherein the second application instance is configured to output the indication of the data element for display.
• a non-transitory computer readable medium stores instructions, which, when executed by a processor, performs an operation comprising establishing a video conference between a first application instance and a second application instance, and during the video conference: receiving, by an application server from the first application instance, an indication of a first data element required to prepare a tax return, storing, by a notification server, the indication of the first data element, and publishing, by a notification server, the indication of the first data element to the second application instance, wherein the second application instance is configured to output the indication of the data element for display.
• Figure 1 illustrates an example system for integrating real-time personalized documents into a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• Figures 2A-2C illustrate example graphical user interfaces for integrating real-time personalized documents into a video conference session, according to various embodiments.
• Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method to integrate real-time personalized documents into a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method to establish a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method to generate a list of real-time personalized documents, according to one embodiment.
• Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating a system configured to integrate real-time personalized documents into a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• Embodiments disclosed herein provide techniques to integrate real-time, personalized documents in video conferencing sessions.
• one or more client users may participate in a networked video conferencing session with a professional user via respective instances of a common application.
• GUIs graphical user interfaces
• a notification server orchestrates the receipt of the generated indications from the professional user, and the transmission of the generated indications to the client user (e.g., in real-time as they are generated by the professional user).
• embodiments disclosed herein provide GUIs to allow the client user to view the indications in real-time.
• FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 for integrating real-time personalized documents into a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• the system 100 includes a client system 101 , one or more servers 102 -N , and a professional system 103.
• the client system 101 and professional system 103 are representative of any type of physical or virtual computing system, such as a laptop, desktop, tablet, and/or mobile device.
• the client system 101 and the professional system 103 include respective instances of a tax application 104, namely instances 104A and 104C.
• the tax application 104 is generally configured to facilitate preparation of a tax return for one or more users.
• the instances of the tax application 104A,C include a video conferencing interface 1 1 1 and data stores of client data 1 12.
• the video conferencing interface 1 1 1 allows users of the client system 101 and professional system 103 to engage in a real-time audio/video conference.
• a user of the client system 101 may initiate a video conference with a tax professional.
• the user may be paired with an available tax professional, e.g., a user of the professional system 103, and a video conference is established.
• the parties may discuss the information needed for the professional to prepare a tax return for the client.
• the tax professional may then identify data elements necessary to prepare the tax return, such as income statements, receipts, and the like.
• the instance of the tax application 104C on the professional system 103 provides a generation interface 1 13 that allows the professional to enter indications of the necessary data elements.
• the indications may be stored in the instance of the client data 1 12 on the professional system 103 (and/or on the servers 102i -N ).
• the instance of the tax application 104A on the client system 101 includes a client data interface 1 15 for viewing the indications of data elements entered by the tax professional.
• the servers 102i -N include a plurality of application servers 105 -N , a plurality of notification servers 106 -N , and a data store of client data 1 12.
• the servers 102, 105, and 106 are representative of physical and virtualized servers.
• the application servers 105i -N execute instances of the tax application 104, namely instances 104B, which support the functionality (including video conferencing) provided by the tax application 104.
• the notification servers 106-i -N are generally configured to receive indications of data elements entered by the professional via the generation interface 1 13, and store the indications in the client data cache 1 14.
• the notification servers 106 -N may then generate push notifications of the data elements entered by the professional, and transmit the notifications to any subscribing application server 105 1- ⁇ and/or subscribing instances of the client data interface 1 15.
• a given instance of the tax application 104 executing on the client system 101 and/or professional system 103 establishes a socket connection with an application server 105 1- ⁇ when the respective instance of the tax application 104 is launched.
• the instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client system 101 may establish a socket with application server 105-1
• the instance of the tax application 104C executing on the professional system 103 may establish a socket connection with the application server 105 2
• the instances of the tax application 104A,C on the systems 101 , 103 may establish socket connections with the same application server 105 N .
• a user of the client system 101 may then use the video conferencing interface 1 1 1 to initiate a video conference with a professional (e.g., a user of the professional system 103).
• the instances of the tax application 104B on the application servers 105 -N may then establish a connection to initiate the video conference between the client and the tax professional.
• a socket connection is established between the associated application servers 105i -N and the notification servers 106i -N .
• the instances of the tax application 104B and/or the respective application servers 105i 2 may each establish a socket connection with the notification server 106 ! .
• the client data interface 1 15 and/or the tax application 104A on the client system 101 may then subscribe to receive push notifications from the notification server 106-
• the respective instance of the tax application 104B on the application server 105i subscribes to receive push notifications from the notification server 106-1 , which then pushes applicable notifications to the client data interface 1 15. Therefore, in one embodiment, when the tax professional enters indications of needed data elements via the generation interface 1 13, the generation interface 1 13 transmits an indication of the needed data element to the application server 105 2 .
• the instance of the tax application 104B executing on the application server 105 2 then transmits an indication of the needed data element to the notification server I O6-1 , which stores the indication in the client data cache 1 14.
• the instance of the tax application 104C on the professional system 103 transmits the indication directly to the notification server I O6-1.
• the notification server I O61 then generates a push notification to all subscribing client data interfaces 1 15.
• the push notification is sent from the notification server I O61 to the application server 105i, where the instance of the tax application 104B transmits the push notification to the client data interface 1 15 on the client system 101.
• the client data interface 1 15 then outputs an indication of the push notification to the user, and optionally stores an indication of the needed data in the client data 1 12.
• FIG. 2A illustrates an example GUI 200 used by a professional user of the professional system 103, according to one embodiment.
• the GUI 200 includes a video 205 and an example generation interface 1 13.
• the video 205 depicts the video data of the user of the client system 101 .
• the generation interface 1 13 allows the professional user to enter indications of needed data elements.
• the generation interface 1 13 includes a plurality of fields 210 corresponding to different types of tax forms.
• the generation interface 1 13 also includes a plurality of fields 21 1 allowing the tax professional to enter additional information related to the corresponding type of tax form 210 (e.g., the professional may indicate a particular employer from whom a particular type of tax form is needed).
• the tax professional has entered two example W2 forms and an example form 1099-INT via the generation interface 1 13 of the GUI 200.
• an indication of the entry is transmitted to the corresponding application server 105 N , which then forwards the indication to the corresponding notification server 106 N .
• the indication may include metadata describing the required data element, such as the type of data element, and a source of the data element (e.g., a W2 from employer "examplel ").
• the indication may further include a copy of the data element, or a template thereof (e.g., a blank W2 form, a W2 form pre-populated with some information describing the user, etc.).
• the notification server 106 N may then store the indication in the client data cache 1 14. In some embodiments, the notification server 106 N stores a copy of the data element. However, if the size of the data element exceeds a threshold, the notification server 106 N may store a link to the data element in the cache 1 14, and store the actual data element at a different network location to minimize the size of the cache 1 14.
• FIG. 2B illustrates an example GUI 201 which includes a video 205 and an example client data interface 1 15, according to one embodiment.
• the video 205 is the video data from the tax professional using the professional system 103 in the video conference.
• the client data interface 1 15 includes a list of data elements that correspond to the data elements entered by the tax professional via the generation interface 1 13.
• the client data interface 1 15 displays new data elements in real-time, as they are added by the tax professional via the generation interface 1 13.
• FIG. 2C depicts a GUI 202 which includes a list 220 of data elements, according to one embodiment.
• the GUI 202 is accessible to the user of the client device 101 outside of a video conferencing session (e.g., after a tax consultation via video conferencing has completed).
• the list 220 includes example data elements (e.g., tax forms, address information, user metadata) that the tax professional entered via the generation interface 1 13.
• the GUI 202 further includes elements 221 that allow the user to enter the corresponding information. For example, the user may upload a W2 document, enter address information, and the like, via the GUI elements 221 .
• the information is stored in the client data 1 12 (e.g., on one or more of the client device 101 , the servers 102i -N , and/or the professional device 103). Furthermore, the user provides the necessary information, the GUIs 200-202 may be updated to reflect the user submission. For example, the professional may use the GUI 200 to view the information (e.g., forms, metadata, etc.) submitted by the user.
• the application server 105 N and/or the notification server 106 N generates and sends a notification to the professional. For example, if a user uploads their W2 document, the application server 105 N and/or notification server 106 N may generate and send an email to the associated tax professional.
• FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 to integrate real-time personalized documents into a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• the method 300 begins at block 310, where an instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client device 101 establishes a socket connection with an application server 105 -N .
• the connected application server 105i -N receives a request from the instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client device 101 to initiate a video conference with a tax professional.
• a video conference session is established between the requesting user and a tax professional.
• the tax professional generates a real-time list during the video conferencing session.
• the real-time list includes one or more required data elements necessary to allow the tax professional to prepare the requesting user's taxes.
• the realtime list and associated objects are integrated into the video conference. For example, as the tax professional enters indications of the data elements via the GUI 200, the user of the client device 101 may view the indications of the data elements in real-time via the GUI 201.
• the tax application 104A may optionally provide the list generated at block 350 to the user (e.g., via email and/or the GUI 202) after the video conference is completed.
• FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 corresponding to block 330 to establish a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• the method 400 begins at block 410, where an available tax professional is identified.
• the instances of the tax application 104B on the application servers 105i -N maintain indications of tax professionals available for video conferences.
• the instances of the tax application 104B on the application servers 105 -N may select an available tax professional based on any number of factors, such as an expertise of the tax professional matching a need or business requirement of the client, a favorability rating of the tax professional, an amount of time since the last video conference the tax professional participated in, and the like.
• a socket connection is established between the application servers 105i -N connected to the instances of the tax application 104A,C executing on the client device 101 and the professional device 103 (e.g., the devices participating in the video conference).
• a socket connection is established between a notification server 106i -N and the application server 105i -N to which the instance of the tax application 104C of the professional device 103 is connected.
• a socket connection is established between a notification server 106 -N and the application server 105 -N to which the instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client device 101 is connected.
• the application server 105i -N to which the instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client device 101 is connected subscribes to push updates provided by the notification server 106 -N .
• the instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client device 101 subscribes to receive push updates from the notification server 106i -N .
• the video conference is established, and the parties may begin communicating via the video conference.
• FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method 500 corresponding to block 340 to generate a list of real-time personalized documents, according to one embodiment.
• the method 500 begins at block 510, where the instance of the tax application 104C executing on the professional device 103 receives indications of needed data elements from the tax professional. Generally, the tax professional enters the indications via the generation interface 1 1 1 during the video conference.
• a loop including blocks 530-590 is executed for each received indication.
• the instance of the tax application 104C executing on the professional device 103 determines whether to publish the current data element or a link to the data element, based on the size of the current data element.
• data elements having a size that exceeds a threshold are not stored in the client data cache 1 14. Instead, larger data elements are stored at a storage location in the cloud (e.g., on a server 102 -N ), and a uniform resource locator (URL) to the storage location is stored in the client data cache 1 14.
• a uniform resource locator URL
• the notification server 106 1- ⁇ receives an indication of the current data element via the socket connection between the notification server 106i_ N and the application server 105i -N to which the instance of the tax application 104C of the professional device 103 is connected.
• the notification server stores an indication of the current data element in the client data cache 1 14.
• the indication includes metadata describing the current data element, such as a type (e.g., tax form, personal metadata, income information, etc.), an associated party (e.g., the client, a spouse, a dependent, etc.), and the like.
• a type e.g., tax form, personal metadata, income information, etc.
• an associated party e.g., the client, a spouse, a dependent, etc.
• the current data element is also stored in the client data cache 1 14.
• the current data element is stored at a storage location in a server 102 1- ⁇ (e.g., in the client data 1 12), and a URL of the storage location is stored in the client data cache 1 14.
• the notification server 106 -N generates a push notification for the current data element, and pushes the notification to any subscribed application servers 105i -N .
• the subscribing application servers 105i -N transmit the received push notification to the instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client device 101 .
• the instance of the tax application 104A executing on the client device 101 outputs an indication of the current data element for display during the video conference. Doing so allows the client to view the information in real-time and during the video conference without having to switch screens or manually save the list of required data elements.
• the method returns to block 590. Otherwise, the method 500 ends.
• FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a system 600 configured to integrate real-time personalized documents into a video conference session, according to one embodiment.
• the networked system 600 includes a computer 602.
• the computer 602 may also be connected to other computers via a network 630.
• the network 630 may be a telecommunications network and/or a wide area network (WAN).
• the network 630 is the Internet.
• the computer 602 generally includes a processor 604 which obtains instructions and data via a bus 620 from a memory 606 and/or a storage 608.
• the computer 602 may also include one or more network interface devices 618, input devices 622, and output devices 624 connected to the bus 620.
• the computer 602 is generally under the control of an operating system (not shown). Examples of operating systems include the UNIX operating system, versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and distributions of the Linux operating system. (UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.
• the processor 604 is a programmable logic device that performs instruction, logic, and mathematical processing, and may be representative of one or more CPUs.
• the network interface device 618 may be any type of network communications device allowing the computer 602 to communicate with other computers via the network 630.
• the storage 608 is representative of hard-disk drives, solid state drives, flash memory devices, optical media and the like. Generally, the storage 608 stores application programs and data for use by the computer 602. In addition, the memory 606 and the storage 608 may be considered to include memory physically located elsewhere; for example, on another computer coupled to the computer 602 via the bus 620.
• the input device 622 may be any device for providing input to the computer 602. For example, a keyboard and/or a mouse may be used.
• the input device 622 represents a wide variety of input devices, including keyboards, mice, controllers, and so on.
• the input device 622 may include a set of buttons, switches or other physical device mechanisms for controlling the computer 602.
• the output device 624 may include output devices such as monitors, touch screen displays, and so on.
• the memory 606 contains the application servers 105i -N and the notification servers 106 -N , each described in greater detail above.
• the storage 608 contains the client data 1 12, which stores user profile data.
• the profile data stored in the client data 1 12 may include data elements identified by a tax professional as being necessary to prepare a tax return for the user.
• the data elements may be identified during a video conference leveraging the video cameras 650 of the client system 101 and the professional system.
• the system 600 is configured to implement all systems, methods, and functionality described above with reference to Figures 1 -5.
• aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "component,” “circuit,” “module” or “system.”
• aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
• the computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium.
• a computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
• a computer readable storage medium include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
• a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program.
• each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s).
• the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures.
• two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.
• Each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations can be implemented by special- purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=59702819

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Family Cites Families (8)

• 2017
  • 2017-08-02 EP EP17757942.2A patent/EP3662658A1/de active Pending
  • 2017-08-02 CA CA3070860A patent/CA3070860C/en active Active
  • 2017-08-02 WO PCT/US2017/045156 patent/WO2019027458A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2017-08-02 AU AU2017426445A patent/AU2017426445B2/en active Active

Non-Patent Citations (3)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events