JP2013533526A - System, method, and computer program for providing a conference user interface - Google Patents

Abstract

 Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer programs for providing a conference user interface. One embodiment is a method for providing a conference. One such method is that a conferencing system establishes an audio conference between a plurality of participants via a communication network, and the conferencing system includes the graphical user interface and the communication network via the communication network. Presenting a conference interface to the participant via a corresponding client device in communication with a system, wherein the conference interface is configured to each of the plurality of participants in the audio conference according to a graphical representation specified by the corresponding participant. Displaying a unique participant object that identifies

Description

  Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer programs for providing a conference user interface.

  Many so that people can have live meetings, conferences, presentations, or other types of meetings over the Internet, public switched telephone network (PSTN), or other voice and / or data networks There is a meeting solution. Typically, participants use a telephone, computer, or other communication device that connects to the conference system. A conference includes auditory and visual elements such as shared presentations, videos, whiteboards, or other multimedia, text, graphics, and the like. These types of conventional conferencing solutions have become essential for many business and personal communications.

   Despite the many advantages and commercial success of existing conferences, meetings, gatherings or other types of gathering systems, improved conferences, meetings, gatherings or other kinds of gathering systems, methods and computers in the art There is a demand for the program.

  Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer programs for providing a conference user interface. One embodiment is a method for providing a conference. One such method includes the step of a conference system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants via a communication network, and the conference system communicating with the conference system via a graphical user interface and communication network. Presenting a conference interface to a participant via a corresponding client device, and the conference interface identifying each of the plurality of participants in the audio conference according to a graphical representation specified by the corresponding participant Displaying the object.

   Another embodiment is a computer system, a conference system, and a server. The conference system establishes an audio conference session between a plurality of computer devices connected via a communication network. The server is configured to communicate with the conference system and the plurality of computer devices via a communication network. The server includes one or more processors and a virtual conference room application stored on and executed by the computer. The virtual conference room application is configured to receive from the conferencing system an audio conference audio stream associated with each computer device and audio stream data identifying corresponding participants, a predetermined simulated location view Logic configured to generate a virtual conference room for the audio conference session based on the network, logic configured to synchronously present the virtual conference room and the audio conference session to the computer device via the communication network, The virtual conference room includes a first graphical representation of the conference room according to a predetermined simulated location view and a second graphical representation of each of the plurality of participants having corresponding contact information displayed at the conference room. .

   Further embodiments include a computer program executable by a processor to provide a conference interface embodied in a computer readable medium and associated with an audio conference. The computer program establishes an audio conference between multiple participants over a communication network and presents the conference interface to the participants via a graphical client interface and a corresponding client device that communicates with the conference system via the communication network And logic configured to display a unique participant object that identifies each of the plurality of participants in the audio conference according to a graphical representation specified by the corresponding participant.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computer system that integrates a conference interface with an audio conference. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of the operation of the computer system of FIG. 2 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a conference interface presented via a graphical user interface in the computer system of FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the server of FIG. 1 integrating a conference interface with an audio conference. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of the embodiment of the participant settings module of FIG. 5 is a conference interface login screen presented via the graphical user interface of FIGS. 1 and 4. FIG. 5 is a participant setting screen of a conference interface presented via the graphical user interface of FIGS. 1 and 4. FIG. 5 is a conference interface host configuration screen presented via the graphical user interface of FIGS. 1 and 4. FIG. FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a conference interface presented via the graphical user interface of FIGS. 1 and 4 according to a first location view. 6 is a screen shot of another embodiment of a conference interface with a tile view. FIG. 11 illustrates the screenshot of FIG. 10 with an expanded attendee list. FIG. 6 is a screen shot of a further embodiment of a conference interface with theater view. 6 is a screen shot of another embodiment of a conference interface. FIG. 13 illustrates the screen shot of FIG. 13 in which two participants display a business card. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of the automated location view configuration module of FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of the server of FIGS. 1 and 4. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an integrated speech to text / search module in the server of FIG. 6 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a map view of participants in a conference interface. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a location-based service module in the server of FIG. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an incoherent participant identification module in the server of FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a VoIP conference system in which the conference interface of FIGS. 1 and 4 can be implemented. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed VoIP conference system in which the conference interface of FIGS. 1 and 4 can be implemented. FIG. 23 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed conference using the distributed VoIP conference system of FIG. FIG. 24 is a call flow diagram for the PSTN participant embodiment in the VoIP conference system of FIGS. 21-23. FIG. 24 is a call flow diagram for an embodiment of a VoIP participant in the VoIP conference system of FIGS. 21-23. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for providing real-time resources to participants in a conference interface. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a server that implements another embodiment of the integrated speech to text search module of FIG. 4. FIG. 28 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of an association engine in the server of FIG. FIG. 29 illustrates an exemplary data structure implemented by the relevance engine of FIG. 28. 28 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of the resource engine embodiment of FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computer system for sharing social network content within a conference interface. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example social network system. FIG. FIG. 32 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary social network website in the social network system of FIG. 31. FIG. 4 is a user interface screen shot of an embodiment of a conference interface that allows social network content to be shared with participants during an audio conference. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for providing social network content within a conference interface. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for incorporating social network data into a conference interface. 21 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for collecting participant information for a participant database in the system of FIG. FIG. 21 illustrates an example data structure implemented by the associated engine of FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of an in-meeting participant identification module in the server of FIG. 4 is a user interface screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a conference interface implementing aspects of the in-conference participant identification module. FIG. 41 is a more detailed view of one of the participant objects in the conference interface of FIG. 40. FIG. 41b illustrates the participant object of FIG. 41a with a voice indicator in the conversation state. Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a participant object for an unidentified participant. Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a user interface screen for implementing participant profile user interface controls. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computer system that implements a conference application store in a conference system. 2 is a screenshot illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a conference interface that implements certain aspects of a conference application store to allow a conference application and participants to interact during an audio conference. 4 is a screen shot of another embodiment of a conference interface that implements aspects of a conference application store to allow participants to view conference applications available during an audio conference. FIG. 44 illustrates an exemplary data structure implemented by the conference application store and / or conference participant application control module in FIG. 43. FIG. 5 is a screen shot of another embodiment of a conference interface that implements aspects of a conference application store to allow participants to purchase or use a conference application. 44 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of a participant application control module in the conference system of FIG. 44 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of another embodiment of a participant application control module in the conference system of FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computer system that implements a conference notification application on a client device. FIG. 51 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a desktop user interface for accessing an exemplary service provided by the conference notification application of FIG. 50. FIG. 51 is a user interface screen shot illustrating another embodiment of a mobile user interface for accessing services provided by the conference notification application of FIG. 50. FIG. 53 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a method for launching a conference notification menu via the mobile user interface of FIG. 52. FIG. 52 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a meeting notification menu in the desktop user interface of FIG. 51. FIG. 51 is a block diagram illustrating an example implementation of a conference API in FIG. 50. FIG. 53 is a user interface screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a meeting notification function displayed on the mobile user interface of FIG. 52. FIG. 58 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 57 that allows a user to join a meeting via a meeting notification function. 2 is a user interface screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a conference interface for an exemplary mobile computing device. FIG. 52 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of the embodiment of the conference notification application of FIG. FIG. 51 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of another embodiment of the conference notification application of FIG. 4 is a screen shot of a user interface illustrating an embodiment of a conference scheduler function. 20 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of the embodiment of the location-based service module of FIG. 20 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of another embodiment of the location-based service module of FIG. 2 is a block / flow diagram combination illustrating an exemplary embodiment that enables a conferencing system to obtain location information. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computing device that implements a drag and drop participant management function in a conference interface. 6 is a user interface screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a conference interface implementing aspects of a drag and drop participant management function. FIG. 67 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 66 in which a user selects a contact object associated with a contact to be added to the conference. FIG. 67 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 66 where a contact object is moved to the conference interface. FIG. 67 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 66 where the contact object is released in the conference interface to add the contact to the conference. FIG. 66 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of a drag and drop participant management module in the computing device of FIG. 6 is a user interface screenshot illustrating another embodiment of a drag and drop participant management function in which a user selects a participant object to be removed from a conference. FIG. 72 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 71 in which participant objects are moved from the conference interface. FIG. 73 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 71 where the user releases the participant object to remove the participant from the conference. FIG. 72 illustrates a screen shot of the user interface of FIG. 71 where a confirmation display is presented to confirm participant removal. FIG. 66 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of another embodiment of a drag and drop participant management module in the computing device of FIG. 65. FIG. 66 is a user interface screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a conference interface that implements aspects of the information distribution module in the computing device of FIG. 65. FIG. 67 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 66 in which the selected participant object has been moved to the contact list to create a new contact. FIG. 67 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 66 where a new contact is added to the contact list. 66 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 66 with an “Add Contact” menu for identifying a target database that stores new contacts. FIG. 66 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of an information distribution module in the computing device of FIG. FIG. 66 is a user interface screen shot illustrating another embodiment of a conference interface from the perspective of a first participant for implementing additional aspects of the information distribution module in the computing device of FIG. 65. 81 illustrates a screen shot of the user interface of FIG. 81 in which a document object is selected. 81 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 81 in which a document is distributed to participants by dropping the selected document object onto the participant object in the conference interface. 81 illustrates the screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 81 where the document is distributed to all participants by dropping the selected document object into the conference interface. 81 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 81 having a “delivery method” menu that identifies the manner in which documents are distributed to participants. 81 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 81 from the perspective of a second participant receiving a document from the first participant. 86 illustrates the user interface of FIG. 86 after a document has been distributed from a first participant to a second participant. 65 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of another embodiment of an information distribution module in the computing device of FIG. FIG. 66 is a user interface screen shot illustrating another embodiment of a conference interface implementing further aspects of the information distribution module in the client device of FIG. 65. 89 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 89 in which a video object from a collaborative application has been selected. 89 illustrates the screen shot of the user interface of FIG. 89 in which the selected video object is distributed to participants by moving the selected video object from the collaborative application to the “My Source” window. 89 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 89 in which the selected video object is distributed to participants by moving the selected video object from the collaborative application to the participant object. 89 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 89 in which the selected video object is distributed to all participants in the conference by moving the selected video object from the collaborative application to the conference interface. FIG. 66 is a user interface screen shot illustrating another embodiment of a conference interface implementing further aspects of the information distribution module in the client device of FIG. 65. 94B illustrates the screen shot of the user interface of FIG. 94a in which the selected video object is distributed to non-participants by moving the selected video object from the collaborative application to the contact object displayed in the contact list. 65 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of a further embodiment of an information distribution module in the computer apparatus of FIG. FIG. 66 is a user interface screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a conference interface implementing aspects of the conference session management module in the client device of FIG. 65. 96 illustrates the user interface screen shot of FIG. 96 after the user initiates a breakout session. FIG. 98 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 97 in which the user has selected a participant object in the main conference session. FIG. 99 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 98 in which the selected participant object has been moved from the main conference session to a breakout session. FIG. 99 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 99 in which the user is selecting a second participant object in the main conference session. FIG. 100 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 100 where a second participant object has been moved from the main conference session to a breakout session. 102 illustrates a screen shot of the user interface of FIG. 101 where both sessions are active. FIG. 66 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of the conference session management module embodiment of FIG. FIG. 4 is a combined block / data diagram illustrating a main conference session prior to the start of a breakout session. FIG. 6 is a combined block / data diagram illustrating the schematic operation and management of a breakout session implemented by the conference session management module. Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a conference interface for combining a breakout session with a main conference session. FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of a conference interface for combining a breakout session with a main conference session. FIG. 66 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of a participant authentication module in the computing device of FIG. FIG. 4 is a user interface screen shot of an embodiment of a conference interface that authenticates participants through a signature capture area before entering an online conference. 6 is a screen shot of another embodiment of a user interface of a conference interface that authenticates participants through a signature capture area before distributing a secure document. 6 is a screenshot of a user interface of another embodiment of a conference interface that authenticates participants via a trace sequence. FIG. 111 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 111 where the trace sequence matches the stored trace sequence associated with the participant. FIG. 7 is a user interface screen shot illustrating a further embodiment of a conference interface for authenticating a participant vote. 113 illustrates a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 113 having a signature capture area. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a conference recording / playback system. FIG. 116 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a conference channel selectively recorded, played back and distributed via the conference recording / playback system of FIG. 115. FIG. 6 is a data diagram of an embodiment of a recorded conference illustrating a plurality of synchronized conference channels. FIG. 118 is a data diagram illustrating an additional embodiment of a conference channel in the recorded conference of FIG. 117. FIG. 116 is a user interface screen shot illustrating an embodiment of a conference interface implemented in the conference recording / playback system of FIG. 115. 119 illustrates an implementation of an interactable participant object in the conference interface of FIG. 119 illustrates another implementation of an interactable participant object in the conference interface of FIG. 119 illustrates an embodiment of an “Invite” menu in the conference interface of FIG. 119 that allows a participant to invite additional participants. 119 illustrates an embodiment of a “share” menu in the conference interface of FIG. 119 that allows a participant to share information resources with multiple participants. 119 illustrates the conference interface of FIG. 119 after a participant has inserted a web video. 119 illustrates an embodiment of the “Applications” menu in the conference interface of FIG. 119 that allows participants to access the conference application. 119 illustrates the conference interface of FIG. 119 after a participant has launched the conference note application. 119 illustrates an embodiment of a “Record” menu in the conference interface of FIG. 119 that allows a participant to launch a record / playback controller and set record and alert options. 119 illustrates an embodiment of a “Record Options” menu in the conference interface of FIG. 119. 119 illustrates an embodiment of the “Alert Options” menu in the conference interface of FIG. 119. 119 illustrates the conference interface of FIG. 119 with a record / playback navigation controller. FIG. 131 is a more detailed illustration of the recording / playback navigation controller of FIG. 130. FIG. FIG. 116 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of the conference session management module of FIG. 115. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an inter-participant device conference transfer system that allows participants to change devices seamlessly during a conference. FIG. FIG. 134 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of the embodiment of the inter-participant conference transfer system of FIG. Illustrates an embodiment of a method for initiating a transfer to a second client device in the inter-participant device conference transfer system of FIG. 133 in which the first client device sends a transfer request to the second device via the local communication network To do. Another embodiment of a method for initiating transfer to a second client device in the inter-participant device conference transfer system of FIG. 133 in which the first client device sends a transfer request to the second client device via the conference system Is illustrated. Fig. 4 illustrates one implementation of a method in which a second client device confirms a transfer request from a first client device. 6 illustrates another implementation of a method in which a second client device confirms a transfer request from a first client device. FIG. 6 illustrates a second client device that establishes a connection with a conference system and participates in an online conference seamlessly without showing device-to-device transfers to other participants.

  Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs for providing a visually attractive meeting experience to meeting participants via a meeting user interface presented on a client device are disclosed. A conference interface includes, but is not limited to, one or more people, groups or organizations (including combinations thereof) with or without audio elements including audio of simultaneous broadcasts with such conferences to participants. A meeting, meeting, assembly or other type of collection (collectively referred to herein as a “conference system”) is provided to the meeting for various purposes (collectively referred to as “participants”) May be used for “conferencing”) having a system to do. As described above and below with reference to one or more embodiments illustrated in the drawings, the conference interface may be configured to provide any desired content and / or functionality, Various user interfaces and conference functions may be supported. In some embodiments, the conference interface includes a computer-simulated virtual conference room that is presented to one or more participants in the audio conference via a graphical user interface.

   FIG. 1 illustrates a computer system 100 that represents an exemplary work environment for providing an audio conference to a virtual conference room. Computer system 100 includes a plurality of client devices 102a-102d that communicate with conferencing system 106 and server 108 via one or more communication networks 110. Network 110 may be via any suitable protocol, including, for example, the Internet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), cellular or mobile networks, local area networks, wide area networks, or any other suitable communication infrastructure. Wired and / or wireless communication may be supported. Client devices 102a-102c may each be associated with audio conference participants 104a-104c, and client device 102d may be associated with audio conference host 104d. The terms “host” and “participant” simply refer to different user roles or permissions associated with an audio conference. For example, a “host” may be the initiator of an audio conference and may have user privileges that are not provided to participants. The conference interface may also provide additional functionality that is not available to other participants. However, it should be understood that the terms “host”, “participant”, and “user” may be used interchangeably according to the context in which they are used.

   Client device 102 may include any desired computer device configured to communicate with conferencing system 106 and server 108 via network 110. The client device 102 is, for example, a personal computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile computer device, a portable computer device, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a land radio telephone, a soft phone, a web-compatible electronic book reader, a tablet computer, or one Any other computer device capable of communicating with the conference system and / or the server 108 via the network 110 may be included. Client device 102 may include client software (eg, a browser, plug-in, or other functionality) configured to facilitate communication with conferencing system 106 and server 108. The hardware, software, and any other performance specifications of the client device 102 are not critical and may be configured according to the specific context in which the client device 102 is used.

   Conference system 106 generally includes a communication system for establishing an audio conference 114 between client devices 102. The conferencing system 106 may support voice over a voice network and / or a data network. In one of many possible embodiments, the conferencing system 106 is, among other platforms, US patent application Ser. No. 11 / 637,291 filed Dec. 12, 2006 and entitled “VoIP Conferencing”. May be configured to support the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) conference platform disclosed in U.S. Pat. It should be understood that the conferencing system 106 may support various alternative platforms, technologies, protocols, standards, features, etc. Regardless of the communication infrastructure, the conferencing system 106 may be configured to establish an audio connection with the client devices 102a-102d, although the audio portion may be removed in some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 1, the conferencing system 106 may establish an audio conference 114 by combining audio streams 122a-122d that are respectively associated with client devices 102a-102d.

   In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the server 108 includes logic for configuring and presenting a virtual conference room 118 (or other conference user interface) with an audio conference 114 to the client device 102 via the graphical user interface 132. Or a virtual conference room application 116 that typically has functionality. Those skilled in the art will understand that the virtual conference room application 116 (and any related or other modules described herein) may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. Will understand. In one embodiment, the system is implemented in software or firmware stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. In software or firmware embodiments, the logic may be written in any suitable computer language. In a hardware embodiment, the system includes a discrete logic circuit having logic gates to perform logic functions on any or combination of the following data signals known in the art, suitable combinatorial logic gates. It may be implemented by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable gate array (PGA), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or the like.

  As described above, the virtual conference room 118 includes a computer simulated conference room presented to the client device 102. Virtual conference hall 118 may be presented to participants 104a-104d via graphical user interface 132. The virtual conference room 118 may store various types of data in associated memory for managing and presenting computer-simulated conference rooms. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the virtual conference room 118 includes a graphical representation 128 of one or more virtual location views 124. The same virtual location view 124 may be provided to each participant 104. In some embodiments, participant 104 may customize location view 124 or other aspects of the conference interface. In that case, the system may present different location views 124 to multiple client devices 102. In addition, the virtual conference room 118 may include a graphical representation 128 of the participants 104 and user related information 130 associated with each participant 104. In this way, the virtual conference room 118 graphically represents the participants of the audio conference 114 at the conference room simulated via the GUI 132.

   The graphical representation 128 of the participant 104 may be, for example, a 2D graphic, a 3D graphic, an avatar, an icon, an uploaded image, or any suitable graphic, element, design, or the like to uniquely identify the participant 104. It should be understood that other marks (each "graphical representation") are included. User related information 130 (eg, name, address, email, phone number, profile information, etc.) may be associated with graphical representation 128 or displayed separately. FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the virtual conference room 118 presented on the graphical user interface 132 as one of many possible embodiments of the conference interface. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the virtual location view 124 includes an office conference table with chairs and a golf course background image 302. Participant 104 is visually represented using participant objects (eg, tiles 304a and 304b). Image 302 may generally include any background or visual backdrop or functionality for tile 304. The graphical representation 128 in the tile 304a includes a picture or photo of the corresponding participant 104. However, any content, audio, video, media, or functionality may be presented. Graphical representation 128 in tile 304b includes an avatar such as an image that may be uploaded to server 108 or selected or customized from a default image.

   FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a method for providing a virtual conference room 118. At block 202, the conferencing system 106 establishes an audio conference 114 between the client devices 102. As is well known in the art, conferencing system 106 may establish a separate audio stream 122 (FIG. 1) for each client device 102. The audio streams 122a-122d may be combined into a single audio stream that is presented to the client device 102 as an audio conference 114. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the audio conference 114 can be established in a variety of ways depending on the particular conferencing technology utilized. At block 204, the virtual conference room application 116 may obtain information from the participant 104 via the graphical user interface 132. Information may be obtained via the conferencing system 106 and / or the server 108. For example, participant 104 may provide or select graphical representations 128 and / or 126 and user-related information 130, or other media. At block 206, the server 108 sets up the virtual conference room 118 according to the virtual location view 124. The virtual location view is identified by the participant 104 or, for example, the known or acquired characteristics of the participant 104, the location of the participant 104, the identity of the organization associated with the conference, the planned subject for the conference It should be understood that the server 108 is automatically generated based on other desired information for manually or automatically matching the virtual location view 124 with the meeting. In some embodiments, virtual location view 124 may be modified or replaced manually or automatically during a meeting by participant 104 or server 108. At block 208, the virtual conference room 118 may have added the participant 104, for example, by graphically representing the participant in a participant object (eg, tile 304) according to the graphical representation 128 and / or user-related information 130. Also good. The graphical representation 128 may be logically associated with a corresponding audio stream to visually distinguish the participant 104 while the person is speaking. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the graphical representation 128 may include a microphone image that is visually altered while the participant 104 is speaking. At block 210, the virtual conference room 118 and the audio conference 114 are provided to the client device 102.

   As further illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the conference interface provides additional participation in the audio conference 114, drop-down menu for participants to select and / or change the following virtual conference room 118, view, etc. Invite control for inviting the person 104, lock room control for locking the current conference, audio control for managing aspects of the audio conference 114 (eg, recording of the audio conference 114), volume control, Further includes mute / unmute controls, and various user interface controls to allow access to any of the account controls for accessing and managing the participant's account by the conferencing system 106, or other functions. May be.

   FIG. 4 illustrates a general embodiment of a server 108 for supporting a virtual conference center application 116 (or other conference interface or application presented or resident on the client device 102 or server 108) and related features, functions, etc. The structural structure and mechanism are illustrated. The server 108 may include, for example, one or more processors 402, a network interface 406, and a memory 404 that communicate via the local interface 405. The network interface 406 is configured to communicate over the network 110 with the conferencing system 106 and other computer systems or servers (eg, servers that host or provide the map site 409, social network site 415, search engine 418, etc.). The Server 108 and virtual conference room application 116 may support various services, functions, applications, etc. that may be implemented via computer programs stored in memory 404 and executed via processor 402. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the memory 404 includes a location-based service module 408, a meeting alert module 404, a social network integration module 414, an in-meeting participant identification module 406, a participant setting module 424, a meeting application 410, It includes a virtual conference center application 116 and various additional modules to implement related functions including an automated location view configuration module 424, an integrated speech to text / search module 422, and a conference application store function 420.

   As described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 50-64, the conference alert module 404 supports conference alert or notification functionality that may be provided to the client device 102. An alert application (or other software) that resides on the client device 102 is initiated a conference (eg, an audio conference 114, an online conference, a virtual conference room 118, or other conference interface), for example, to push from the application. It may be configured to notify the host that the participating person is managed by indicating the name and number of the participant 104 via the host. As participants join, the notification may maintain a count of the number of participants 104. The host 104d may also be able to quickly enter the conference from the application and modify settings prior to the start of the audio conference 114 to provide easy access to the account number. The application may display icons or other user interface controls or functions, for example, in the system application tray of the client device 102. This presents a menu or other functionality that allows the user to modify certain settings, configurations, options, etc.

   During execution of the conference alert application, it communicates with the conference infrastructure using, for example, the conference API 112 (FIG. 4). The communication may include, for example, a status check of the user's conference bridge or location to determine whether there are any active participants 104. This action may be sent to the alert application as a status update when someone enters the user's location or joins one of the bridges via phone. Updates are new participations such as incoming phone numbers, email addresses, names, or other identifiable details that can be determined using, for example, a caller ID database (eg, user related information 130, FIG. 1) Other information regarding the participant 104 who has played may also be included.

   The application alerts the user by displaying a message on the display of the client device 102. The message may appear for a predetermined time that can be set in the application settings. The content of the message may further include details transmitted with the status update described above. The message display may also provide a mechanism for the user to confirm the message either by revoking or joining the location. If the user chooses to cancel a particular message, subsequent messages will appear when a new member joins the location or voice bridge, with an active count showing the total number of participants. If the user chooses to join his location, the alert will be stopped until the event ends.

   The in-conference participant identification module 406 generally supports various techniques for developing and operating a database (eg, participant ID database 2018, FIG. 20) to identify participants in the audio conference 114. Conferencing system 106 and / or server 108 may utilize a caller identification (ID) database to obtain information regarding who dialed or accessed voice conference 114. For callers who dial in without participating through the presence of the web, the system can obtain a dial-in number (ANI). There are many databases that store information such as name, location, etc. for that ANI. In order to better identify the caller in the audio conference 114, data may be retrieved from various databases and made visible at the virtual conference room 118. Once obtained, the data may be stored for use when the caller dials in again. In this way, the virtual conference room application 116 may create and manage a dedicated caller ID database 2018 (FIG. 20) for the participant 104, thereby providing more information about the participant. .

   As illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 20, the virtual conference center application 116 obtains information about the participant 104 by sending a request 2002 to the client device 102, or the participant informs the virtual conference center application 116. It may be possible to submit 2004 (for itself or for other participants 104). For example, GUI 132 (FIG. 1) may include various UI mechanisms to allow a user to provide information 2004. During the audio conference 114, the participant 104 may recognize the audio of the unidentified participant and provide appropriate contact information. It may then be stored in the database 2018 via the interface 2014. Participant 104 may also identify additional information about himself, for example by supplementing user information 130 (FIG. 1) or providing new information. This information may be specified manually. Alternatively, participant 104 may authorize server 108 to access user information stored on a remote server. For example, participant 104 may authorize the server to access data stored on social network site 415 (FIG. 4). Alternatively, the information may be automatically acquired via the search engine 419 based on currently available user information 130, for example. As illustrated in FIG. 20, user information may be obtained from the caller ID database 2016 (or other server) via a request 2006 and a response 2008 between the server 108 and the database 2016. Information obtained from the database 2016 or server may be stored in the participant identification database 2018 (via the interface 2012).

   FIG. 37 illustrates an embodiment of a method 3700 for obtaining participant information at an audio conference 114 via a conference interface. In block 3702, participant 104 requests to participate in audio conference 114. The request may originate from the client device 102 and be sent to the conferencing system 106 via a voice network, a data network, any combination thereof, or some other network. In this regard, it is understood that in some embodiments, the participant 104 may have requested to join the audio conference 114 via an audio call originating from a client device having a telephone number. Should. Voice calls may be carried over to the mobile phone system, PSTN, etc. The voice call may originate from computer device 102 as an incoming voice call to conference system 106. Or, as described above, the participant 104 may request the computer device 102 to make an outgoing voice call. Alternatively, participant 104 may participate in audio conference 114 by establishing an audio session via, for example, a VoIP session, a web-based connection, or some other connection.

   At decision block 3704, the conferencing system 106 may determine whether the participant 104 is participating in the audio conference 114 via an incoming audio call. If the participant 104 has not joined the audio conference 114 via an incoming voice call (eg, the participant has joined via the presence of the web), the system will allow the participant 104 to obtain participant profile information. It may be requested to provide (block 3706). Participant profile information may include any desired parameters that identify participant 104 or other information associated with participant 104 (eg, parameters identified in the exemplary screenshots of FIGS. 6-8). . At block 3708, the conferencing system 106 receives the identified parameters and stores them in a database (eg, database 2018) at block 3710. FIG. 38 illustrates an embodiment of a data structure 3800 for storing various participant profiles associated with a particular participant 104. Each participant 104 in the audio conference 114 may be identified by a unique participant identifier 3802, which includes the following name 3804, title 3806, email address 3808, telephone number 3810, resident and / or home address 3812, current location 3814 (which may be obtained from an IP address, for example, by GPS coordinates from a client device), social network profile parameters 3816, graphical representation 124 (FIG. 1), virtual location view 124 (FIG. 1), and participant 104 purchased , A conference application 3818 that is selected or accessible to participants during an audio conference 114, or other parameters.

   At block 3712, the conferencing system 106 may present a conferencing user interface to the computing device 102 associated with the participant 104 (along with other devices / participants in the audio conference 114). To identify the participant 104, the conference user interface may display one or more specific participant profile parameters associated with the audio indicator 3820 (FIG. 38). Audio indicator 3820 includes user interface controls that indicate that the participant is speaking. In this regard, each participant identifier 3802 may have a corresponding audio indicator 3820. In one embodiment, as described above, the term conference user interface or conference interface presents information, data, multimedia, etc., and / or functionality or applications (eg, conference application 3818) to participants, It should be understood that it means an audio conference 114, an online conference, or any graphical user interface associated with any other conference, but the conference user interface may be configured as a virtual conference room 118. .

   FIG. 40 illustrates an embodiment of a conference user interface 4000 for displaying participant profile parameters. The conference user interface generally includes a screen portion 4002 that displays a participant object 4004 for each participant 104. Object 4004 may be arranged in any manner described below in connection with FIGS. 9-14. Screen portion 4002 may further include a virtual location view 124. Object 4004 may include a graphical representation 4102, profile information 4104, a voice indicator 4106 (corresponding to voice indicator identifier 3820 in FIG. 38), and a business card element 4108. The graphical representation 4102 includes pictures, photos, icons, avatars, etc. for identifying the corresponding participant 104. The graphical representation 4004 may be similar to the graphical representation 128 and may include images uploaded to the server 108 and / or customized from default images.

   Profile information 4104 may include one or more participant profile parameters. The audio indicator 4106 visually identifies when the associated participant 104 is speaking during the audio conference 114. By monitoring the audio stream 122 for predetermined audio characteristics, the conferencing system 106 may determine when the participant is speaking. Audio stream 122 may be logically mapped to corresponding audio indicator 4106 according to participant identifier 3802 and / or audio indicator identifier 3820 (FIG. 38). If the participant is speaking, the audio indicator 4106 may be displayed in a first visual state (FIG. 41a), for example, by graying out the audio indicator 4106. If the participant 104 is speaking, the audio indicator 4106 may be displayed in a second visual state (FIG. 41b), for example, by blacking out the audio indicator 4106. It should be understood that any visual and / or auditory distinction may be utilized to identify participants speaking at the conference interface.

   The business card element 4108 includes user interface controls that, when selected, display further information about the participant 104. The business card element 4108 may trigger the display of any additional participant profile parameters. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 42 b, the business card element 4108 “flips” the object 4004 to display additional parameters 4202. As further illustrated in FIG. 42 b and block 3724 (FIG. 37), the object 4004 may further include a specific profile control 4204. It includes user interface controls that allow participants 104 to edit participant profile parameters of their own or another participant during an audio conference 114.

   Referring again to FIG. 37, if the participant 104 is participating in the audio conference 114 via an incoming audio call (decision block 3704), the caller ID database, resource, or service may automatically May be used to identify automatically (block 3714). If the calling telephone number is not available, the participant 104 may be added to the audio conference 104 and displayed on the conference user interface as an unidentified participant (FIG. 42a). If the calling telephone number is available, at decision block 3718, the number may be used as input to a lookup table, database, service, etc. to determine additional information. In one embodiment, the calling telephone number may reference a stored participant profile, eg, data structure 3800 (FIG. 38). If additional information is not available (either in the stored participant profile or response 2008), the participant 104 may be identified in the conference user interface based on the calling telephone number and the associated voice indicator 4106. Good. Regardless of availability of participant information, phone numbers, etc., at block 3724, object 4004 may be presented with participant profile edit control 4204.

   Participant profile control 4204 is a convenient mechanism that allows participants 104 to identify additional profile information regarding themselves and / or other participants 104 via the conference user interface during an audio conference 114. It should be understood to provide In this manner, the conferencing system 106 may develop its own database (eg, participant database 2018) to identify the participant 104. FIG. 39 illustrates an embodiment of a simplified method for operating the participant profile control 4204 to develop or supplement the participant database 2018. At block 3902, the first participant 104 and the second participant 104 participate in the audio conference 114. At block 3904, the conference user interface displays an object 4004 associated with the first and second participants 104. Object 4004 may not include profile information (ie, unidentified participants) or any level of profile details, as described above. Regardless of the presence or level of profile information, each object 4004 displays a corresponding audio indicator 4106 to indicate when the participant 104 is speaking. Each object 4004 may further display a corresponding participant profile control 4902 to identify information about the participant 104. Participant profile control 4902 may be selected by any participant 104 in audio conference 114 (decision block 3908), thereby allowing the participant to specify information about himself or other participants. Become. This mechanism is particularly useful if, for example, the participant is an unidentified participant, if the participant has specified minimal information at login, or otherwise has minimal and / or incorrect profile information. It may be.

   For example, assume that the first participant 104 is an unidentified participant. During the audio conference 114, the second participant 104 may recognize the identity of the first participant 104 based on the speaker's audio and the state of the audio indicator 4106 on the object 4004. The second participant 104 may select the participant profile edit control 4204 on the object 4004 associated with the first participant 104. In response, the conference user interface 4000 may allow the second participant 104 to specify the profile parameters described above. Once selected, the conference user interface may prompt the participant 104 to enter known parameters. In another embodiment, the conferencing user interface allows the second participant 104 to receive information via, for example, a search engine results page, a local or remote contact application, a social network system, or some other source of profile information. It may be configured to allow identification. At block 3910, the identified profile parameter may be tied to the participant identifier 3802 (FIG. 38). At block 3912, the conferencing system 106 receives the identified profile parameters and stores the parameters in the participant database 2018 according to the participant identifier 3802 at block 3914. At block 3916, the identified parameters may be added or updated to the participant object 4004 displayed in the conference user interface.

   Referring back to FIG. 4 and the various modules installed in the server memory 404, the location-based service module 408 comprises logic and / or functionality to support various location-based services provided by the conferencing system 106. . As illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 19, the location-based service module 408 may receive location information from the client device 102 (arrow 1902). It should be understood that the location information may be obtained in various ways. As described in more detail below, when a participant 104 joins an audio conference 114, an online conference, or accesses the conferencing system 106, the location information includes GPS information, caller ID, IP address, signature. You may obtain from in profile.

  The client device 102 may include a GPS transceiver that obtains GPS signals. When the client device 102 accesses the conferencing system 106, the GPS coordinates may be passed to the location-based service module 408. The conferencing system 106 may also obtain caller ID information as described herein. Caller ID information may be automatically acquired by the conference system 106 when the participant 104 participates in the audio conference 114. The conferencing system 106 may perform various references to determine the location associated with the telephone number. The conferencing system 106 may convert the region code into a corresponding geographic region. In other embodiments, the conferencing system 106 may use the phone number as an input to a lookup table, web service query, etc. to determine whether an associated location exists. The location may be a stored current location associated with the participant identifier (eg, current location, FIG. 38). The stored current location may be a previously stored location that was specified by the user or obtained as described herein. The conferencing system 106 may also query (or obtain) the client device 102 for the client's IP address. This may be used to determine the current location of the device.

   In additional embodiments, the location information may be obtained from the participant's social network data via a request 1904 and a response 1906 to the social network system 3102 (FIG. 31). For example, as described below, the participant may be a member of the social network system 3102 and provide location information to the communication channel 3202 (FIG. 32). This information may be obtained automatically by the social network system 3102 from the client device 102 or specified by the user. Regardless of the manner in which location information is obtained by social network system 3102, conferencing system 106 obtains this information via API 3108 and associated social network integration module 414 (FIG. 4), as described below. It should be understood that it may be.

   As illustrated in FIG. 64, the conferencing system 106 may implement various software mechanisms to obtain location information from the client device 102. In the embodiment of FIG. 64, the conferencing system 106 includes a participant management service 6402, a location service 6404, and a caller ID service 6406. In operation, computing device 102 may access conferencing system 106 by visiting a particular website. Participant management service 6402 may send a getClientPAddress () message 6410 to computer device 102. In response, the client device 102 may send a ClientIP response 6412 that includes an IP address associated with the device. It should be understood that the IP address may be associated with the client device or other communication device associated with the client device 102. Participant management service 6402 may send a getLocationbyP () request 6414 to location service 6404. It returns a response 6416 to the client device 102. Response 6416 may identify the location, for example, by latitude and longitude, or other means.

   In another embodiment, the client device 102 may access the conferencing system 106 and send a Login Request 6418 to the participant management service 6402. Participant management service 6402 may authenticate participant 104. If the login is successful, the participant management service 6402 may transmit a getClientPhoneNumber () request 6416 to the client device 102. Participant 104 may provide information via, for example, a conference user interface as described herein or otherwise. The entered telephone number may be provided to the participant management service 6402 as a PhoneNumber response 6422. Participant management service 6402 may send a getLocationbyPhoneNumber () request 6424 to caller ID service 6406. It contains the entered phone number. Caller ID service 6406 may provide location information corresponding to the client device in response 6426.

   It should be understood that additional information may be requested from the client device 102. For example, the participant management service 6402 may send a getClientCurrentLocation () response 6428 and receive a City / State response 6430 including the entered city, state, zip code, etc. Participant management service 6402 may send a getLocationByCity () request 6432 (which may include some entered information) to location service 6404. Location service 6404 may provide location information corresponding to the client device in response 6434. Regardless of how the location information is obtained, the client device 102 may send a getMapParticipantLocation () request 6436 to the map service 6408. The map service 6408 may return a showMapWithParticipantDetails response 6438. The conferencing system 106 may perform this process for each participant 104 and then present location information coupled to the map view 1908. An exemplary embodiment of a map view 1908 is illustrated in FIG. However, it should be understood that the location information may be presented at the conference interface in any manner.

   Based on the location information, the conference interface may customize the presentation of the interface with location-based information associated with one or more participants 104. For example, the conferencing system 106 may provide each participant 104 with a unique conference interface based on the participant's corresponding location. Customization includes providing location-based resources, services, functionality, etc. to participants 104 (eg, news, weather, traffic, events, etc.). Further, in some embodiments, a virtual location view may be selected by the conferencing system to match the location information obtained from the participant (eg, San Francisco participant 104 may include a virtual gate including a Golden Gate Bridge). Location view may be presented).

   In further embodiments, the location information may be used to provide intelligent conference dial-out and / or dial-in functionality. It can be used to join the audio conference 114 (eg, via the login screen 604 (FIG. 6)) or to set up the screen 702 (FIGS. 7 and 8) or from the conference system 106 to the participant 104. The participant 104 is dynamically provided with guidance on whether to automatically set an appropriate dial-out. Location information may be obtained when the participant 104 accesses the conference system 106. Based on the participant location, the conferencing system 106 may recommend a dial-in number or automatically determine a desired dial-out number in view of customer data and / or voice plan and carrier provider speed. . For example, based on this information, conferencing system 106 may select a dial-in number for more cost-effective incoming calls from participant 104. Furthermore, it should be understood that location information may be used to present an optimal (eg, lowest cost, highest quality) dial-in option along with optimal dial-out. For example, the conferencing system 106 may check out the routing database and then dial out to the participant 104 after initiating dial-out from the optimal node on the network based on the obtained location information.

   FIG. 63 illustrates an embodiment of a method for implementing certain aspects of the location-based service module 408. At block 6202, the conferencing system 106 obtains location information from the plurality of participants 104. At block 6204, the conferencing system 106 associates the unique location information with the corresponding participant identifier 3802 (FIG. 38). At block 6206, the conferencing system 106 establishes an audio conference 114 between the plurality of participants 104. At block 6208, the conferencing system 106 presents a conferencing interface (eg, conferencing interface 4100 or 4400, virtual location view 116, etc.) to the plurality of participants 104. At block 6210, the conference interface selectively displays a map view 1902 that identifies the location of each of the plurality of participants 104.

   FIG. 64 illustrates another embodiment of a method for implementing aspects of the location-based service module 408. At block 6302, the client device 102 accesses the conferencing system 108 to join a conference having an audio element. At block 6304, the conferencing system 106 obtains location information associated with the client device 102. At block 6306, the conferencing system 106 determines a telephone number to allow the participant 104 to access the audio element of the conference. The phone number is determined based on the location information to provide the most cost effective means for allowing the participant 104 to access the audio conference 114. It should be understood that the telephone number may include a dial-in number provided to participant 104 (block 6308) and used by participant 104 to access the audio conference. In other embodiments, the telephone number may include a dial-out number that is used by the conferencing system 106 to initiate an outgoing call to the participant 104. At block 6310, the client device joins the audio conference 114 via a telephone number determined by the conferencing system.

   The virtual conference room application 116 (or other conference interface application) may support real-time speech to text functionality that can automatically convert speech from the audio stream 122 (FIG. 1) to text. As described in more detail below, the output text is processed by one or more algorithms to identify keywords, topics, themes, or other subjects that are considered during the audio conference 114. Keywords are used as input to search engines, knowledge bases, databases, etc. for the purpose of identifying resources associated with the keywords. It may be presented to the participant 104 in real time during the audio conference 114 via a conference interface (eg, virtual conference room 118). In this way, participants 104 may be provided with additional materials, information, educational materials, etc. (collectively referred to as “resources”) based on the subject matter considered during the audio conference 114. . The resources may be embodied in any desired format that can be presented via a conference interface and / or an audio conference session, including, for example, audio, video, graphics, text, or any other media Should be understood.

   As illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 17, the server 108 may include a speech to text conversion engine 1704 that processes the audio stream 122 from the conferencing system 106. Speech to text conversion engine 1704 may output text (via interface 1706) to one or more algorithms 1708. The algorithm 1708 may be configured to identify relevant keywords or topics of interest based on words spoken at the audio conference 114. The identified keyword or other identified term (ie, the output of algorithm 1708) may be received by resource engine 1712 (via interface 1710). Resource engine 1712 may be configured to select additional information, data, or other resources associated with the identified term to provide information to participants at the conference interface. The resource engine 1712 may make a request 1720 to the resource database or knowledge base 1718 and receive a response 1722 therefrom. Also, the resource engine 1712 may make a call 1714 to the search engine via the API 421 (FIG. 4), for example, and then receive a response 1716.

   FIG. 27 illustrates another embodiment of a computer system 2700 for implementing real-time speech to text conversion in an audio conference 114. Computer system 2700 includes conference system 106 and one or more servers 108. The conferencing system 106 may be configured as described above or otherwise to establish an audio conference 114 between a plurality of participants 104 operating the client device 102 via a communication network. The conferencing system 106 controls the audio stream 122 for each computer device 102 in the audio conference 114. The audio stream 122 is combined by the conferencing system 106 to include the audio conference 114.

   Server 108 includes one or more functional processors to implement aspects of the overall speech to text conversion process. It should be understood that the functional processor may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. The entire speech to text conversion process and any associated processes are preferably performed in real time during the audio conference 114. In one embodiment, the functional processor comprises a pre-processing engine 2702, a speech to text conversion engine 1704, a relevance engine 2704, and a resource engine 1712. The pre-processing engine 2702 communicates with the conferencing system 106 that may be integrated with the server or installed remotely. Pre-processing engine 2702 receives audio streams 122 from conferencing system 106, extracts audio signals 2704 from each audio stream 122, and provides audio signals 2704 to speech to text conversion engine 1704. Speech to text conversion engine 1704 receives speech signal 2704, extracts word 2706 from the speech signal, and provides word 2706 to relevance engine 2704. It should be understood that any desired transformation algorithm, model, process, etc. may be used to extract words 2706 quickly and accurately.

   The relevance engine 2704 processes the word 2706, for example, with a heuristic algorithm to determine the related keywords 2708 spoken at the audio conference 114. The relevance engine 2704 provides the related keyword 2708 to the resource engine 1712. It should be understood that the related keywords 2708 may represent, for example, frequently spoken words, statistically important words, topics, and the like. The keyword 2708 may include one or more words 2706, or in an alternative embodiment, may include related words based on the subject of the audio conference 114.

   Resource engine 1712 receives keyword 2706 and determines resource 2714. Resource 2714 is selected to provide participant 104 with any desired information, material, data, or other subject matter related to keyword 2708 during the audio conference. As illustrated in FIG. 27 and described in more detail below, resource 2714 selects from remote search engine 418 and / or local resource database by sending query 2720 and receiving response 2722 to query 2720. May be.

   FIG. 26 illustrates an embodiment of a method implemented by the computer system 2700 to provide real-time resources 2714 to the participants 104. In general, real-time resources 2714 are identified based on content that is reviewed at the audio conference 114 and provided to the participant 104 during the audio conference 114 via the conference interface. At block 2602, an audio conference session, such as audio conference 114, is established between the plurality of computing devices 102 via the communication network 110. Each computer device 102 that participates in an audio conference session has an associated audio stream 122 that includes an audio signal for the corresponding participant 104. During an audio conference session, the audio stream 122 may be provided to one or more servers 108 and, in an alternative embodiment, established by or under the control of the servers 108. In real time during the audio conference session, the server 108 processes the audio stream 122. In some embodiments, the processing is performed as fast as possible to ensure proper execution of the associated algorithm while at the same time minimizing any delay in the feedback loop associated with blocks 2604-2612. It should be understood that it is advantageous to obtain.

   At block 2604, the audio stream 122 is received and processed, for example, by a preprocessing engine 2702 that converts the audio stream 122 into a corresponding audio signal 2704. At block 2606, the word 2706 is extracted from the speech signal 2704 using any suitable algorithm for converting the speech signal 2704 into computer readable data that identifies the word 2706. Word 2706 may be extracted in a real-time stream, in batch mode, or otherwise. At block 2608, the words 2706 are analyzed individually or collectively to determine related keywords 2708 to be considered in the audio conference session. Related keywords 2708 include identification of frequently spoken words, determination of specific topics, or meaningful subject matter that is spoken in an audio conference session and / or associated with one or more extracted words 2706. May be identified. In this regard, it is understood that in one embodiment, the keyword 2708 may include extracted words 2706 that are repeated a predetermined number of times, either absolutely or relative to a time period (eg, word appearance or usage density). It should be. The keyword 2708 may also include an extracted word 2706 that appears to be particularly important based on, for example, the identification of the participant 104 speaking the extracted word 2706, the waveform characteristics of the audio signal 2704, and the like.

  The keyword 2708 may be determined using various algorithms. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 28, keyword 2708 is determined based on, for example, a relevance score calculated when word 2706 is analyzed by relevance engine 2704. At block 2802, one or more extracted words 2706 are identified. Extracted word 2706 may be identified by a word identifier stored in a database. In this regard, it should be understood that the database may store records or other data structures for maintaining data associated with the relevance score for one or more words 2706.

   FIG. 29 illustrates exemplary data including the following data fields: extracted word 2902, word identifier 2904, occurrence identifier 2906, one or more timestamps 2908, utterance identifier 2910, counter 2912, and real-time relevance score 2914. Structure 2900 is illustrated. The extracted word 2902 identifies a specific word or combination of words extracted from the audio signal 2704 with a corresponding identifier 2904. To record the occurrence or instance of the extracted word 2902, the data structure 2900 may include an occurrence identifier 2906. Each occurrence of extracted word 2902 may include a time stamp 2908 that indicates a temporary location within audio conference 114 where extracted word 2902 was spoken. A speaker identifier 2910 may identify which participant 104 spoke the extracted word 2902 for any given occurrence. The speaker identifier 2910 may include a weighting or other priority scheme that determines the relevance of the participant 104 with respect to identifying the keyword 2708. For example, a host may be given higher priority than other participants 104. A priority scheme may incorporate one or more roles or classifications of participants. In one embodiment, the role may be based, for example, on the rank of the organization in which the participant is an employee, seller, or “friend” on the social network. The counter 912 may record the number of appearances of the extracted word 2902 in absolute terms or relative to time based on the time stamp 2908.

   Referring again to FIG. 28, when word 2706 is extracted, at block 2804, a timestamp 2908 may be generated for each instance of extracted word 2902 and stored in the associated record according to word identifier 2904. At block 2806, counter 2912 may be set or incremented. At block 2808, speaker identification may be determined and stored in the database. At block 2810, a relevance score is calculated according to various desired algorithms based on one or more of the following or other types of data types: time stamp 2908, speaker identifier 2910, and counter 2912. Also good. The relevance score at any point in the audio conference may be stored in the real-time score 2914.

   At decision block 2814, it may be determined whether the relevance score exceeds a predetermined or calculated threshold. If the threshold is not exceeded, flow returns to block 2802. If the threshold is exceeded, at block 2816, it is determined that the extracted word 2902 is associated and the system attempts to find the desired resource associated with the extracted word 2902. At block 2818, resources 2714 are provided to participants in real time during the audio conference 114.

   In one embodiment, it should be understood that the resource 2714 may be identified according to the resource identifier 2916 associated with the extracted word 2902 (FIG. 29), eg, by matching the extracted word 2902 with a default resource. It is. Resource identifier 2916 may be linked to a record in resource database 2916. In another embodiment, resource 2714 may be determined by querying resource database 1718 or search engine 418 (query 2720 and response 2722, FIG. 27).

   FIG. 30 illustrates an embodiment of a method for performing a search to determine a resource 2714. At block 3002, a related keyword 2708 is received from, for example, a relevance engine 2704. At block 3004, a resource request 2722 is generated. Resource request 2722 may include keywords 2708 or other search terms using any desired search method, API, etc. At block 3006, the resource request 2722 is provided to a search function or database (eg, database 1718, search engine 418, etc.). At block 3008, a response 2722 identifying one or more resources 2714 is received. Response 2722 may include, for example, a link to resource 2714 (eg, resource identifier 2916, URL) or actual information embodying resource 2714. At block 3010, resources 2714 are provided to one or more computing devices 102. Resources 2714 are provided to the participant 104 via the audio conference 114 and / or the conference interface. In one embodiment, the result of the resource request 2722 may be provided to the participant, thereby allowing the participant 104 to select and / or navigate the result. For example, search engine results may be passed to or made visible to the participant 104 via the graphical user interface 132. Referring again to FIG. 26, the resource 2714 is provided to the participant 104 (block 2612) as described above, with the resource 2714 identified (block 2610).

  Various embodiments of the conference application store function 420 (FIG. 4) are described with reference to FIGS. 43-49. The conferencing application store function 420 generally provides various audio and / or web conferencing applications 416 or other desired applications (collectively referred to as “conference applications” or “conference app”) to participants 104. Stores or markets (referred to as “conference application store” or “conference app store”). The conference application store may be presented to the participant 104 via a conference interface (eg, conference user interface 4400) that is presented to the computing device 102 during the audio conference 114. The conferencing application may include, for example, a web-based application, widget, or other computer program that is made available to the participant 104 via the conferencing system 106 and / or the server 108. The conferencing application may be provided by a host associated with the conferencing system 106 or, in some cases, provided and / or developed by a third party developer 4310. In such an embodiment, the conferencing system 106 may include an associated API (to allow developers to develop various conferencing applications that may be included in the conferencing application store and made available to the participant 104. For example, API 4302) and / or Software Developer Kit (SDK) may be included.

   As illustrated in FIG. 43, a conferencing application store as described below in connection with FIGS. 31-36 or others may be integrated with the social network system 3102. Social network system 3102 may include a social network application 3218 (FIG. 32) provided to member 3201. In one embodiment, the conferencing system 106 communicates with the social network system 3102 (eg, via the API 3108, API 4302, etc.), accesses the social network application 3218, and connects to the social network application 3218 in the conferencing application store. It may be configured to include access. In this manner, a member 3201 who is also a participant 104 in the audio conference 114 may conveniently access the social network application 3218 via the conferencing system 106. Similarly, social network system 3102 may access conferencing system 106 and make them available to members 3102 via social network website 3106.

   To facilitate certain aspects of the conference application store, the conference system 106 may include a conference application database 4306, a participant database 4306, a participant application control module 4304, and a conference user interface 4400. The conference application database 4306 may store information related to the conference application 410 such as, for example, a link to the application code or the application code itself. In this regard, it should be understood that the conferencing system 106 may store code that is not required, but is associated with the conferencing application. In some embodiments, the conferencing application may be provided by a third party system, for example. Nevertheless, within the conference application database 4306, each conference application may be identified by a unique application identifier.

   Participant database 4306 may store information related to participant 104 and the corresponding conference application. An exemplary data structure 4600 is illustrated in FIG. Each participant 104 in the audio conference 114 may be identified by a unique participant identifier 3802, which includes the following name 3804, title 3806, email address 3808, telephone number 3810, resident and / or home address 3812, current location 3814 (e.g., can be obtained from an IP address by GPS coordinates from a client device), social network profile parameters 3816, graphical representation 124 (Fig. 1), virtual location view 124 (Fig. 1), conferencing application 3818, and account Profile 4602, or other parameters may be included. Conference application 3818 may be identified by a corresponding unique application identifier as described above. Account profile 4602 includes information associated with participant 104 including, for example, an account number, credit card number, etc., to facilitate online transactions that allow participant 104 to purchase a conference application. But you can.

   Participant application control module 4304 includes logic, functionality, etc. to perform various functions associated with the conference application store. Participant application control module 4304 allows the conferencing system to manage which conferencing application the user has purchased or selected and presents the appropriate application via the conferencing interface when the user joins audio conference 114. To do. In this regard, it should be understood that the conferencing system 106 may provide enterprise-level conference services to businesses, organizations, government agencies, and the like. In such an embodiment, the control module 4304 may manage access, permissions, etc. for corporate employees. For example, a company may specify which conference applications a particular employee may access based on title, organizational role, organizational level, employee ID, and the like. This information may be stored in a corporate database and used by the control module to select which conferencing applications should be made available to employees.

   FIG. 44 illustrates an embodiment of a conference user interface 4400 for presenting a conference application store to participants 104 during an audio conference 114. The conference user interface 4400 generally comprises a screen portion 4002 that can display a participant object 4004 for each participant 104 in the audio conference 114 as described above. The conference user interface 4400 further includes a conference application store element 4402 and a my application element 4404. Conference application store element 4402 generally comprises a user interface mechanism for presenting application store functionality. The conference application store element 4402 may be accessed by the participant 104 in various ways, for example, via a menu system or any other user interface input, control, or object. The conference application store element 4402 need not be displayed simultaneously with the screen portion 4002. The conference application store may include a number of conference applications organized by category or organized to present the desired browsing experience to participants.

   As illustrated in FIG. 45, the conference application store element 4402 may display a category menu 4502 and a top application menu 4504. Category menu 4502 includes a scrollable list displaying a plurality of categories. Each category may be selected using a category object or control 4506. Once selected, the control 4506 may present a further user interface that allows the participant to view applications within that particular category. The conference application store may provide other browsing, guidance, or other mechanisms to allow the participant 104 to view the conference application in the conference interface. In one embodiment, a search engine may be provided via a search text box displayed on the conference user interface 4400. In addition, the conference application store may implement a recommendation function for automatically displaying an application suggested to a participant based on, for example, a current application, a character used, a profile parameter, a social network profile, and the like. In further embodiments, the conference application store may allow a participant 104 to recommend or share a conference application with other participants 104 and / or members 3102.

   Top application menu 4504 may display, for example, another scrollable list of application objects 4508 organized based on a ranking algorithm. Each application object 4508 is associated with a further user interface screen (eg, component 4702, FIG. 47) to display information about the corresponding conference application. As illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 47, when selected, one or more of the following types of information: application title 4704, conference application description 4706, user ranking 4708, one or more conferences. Application screenshots 4710 and comments 4712 provided by other participants 104 may be displayed. The application addition object 4714 (FIG. 47) may be displayed or presented at any location within the conference user interface 4400. The add application object 4714 provides user interface controls that allow the participant 104 to select a corresponding conference application. Once selected, the conference application may be automatically added to the participant's profile and made available to the participant 104. Some conferencing applications may be made available by purchase from the host of conferencing application 106 or a third party 4310, but others may be free. If a conference application is purchased, the add application object 4714 may be linked to an online transaction function that allows participants to purchase the application. In other embodiments, the purchaser may be automatically processed according to a stored account profile 4602 (FIG. 46) and made available to the participant.

   FIG. 48 illustrates an embodiment of a method for operating a conference application store stored in the conference system 106. At block 4802, participant 104 joins audio conference 114. At block 4804, participant application control module 4304 determines a participant identifier 3802 associated with participant 104. Participant identifier 3802 may be obtained in various ways. In one embodiment, participant 104 may provide profile information during login, which is used to reference participant identifier 3802 in participant database 4308. However, the participant identifier 3802 is determined based on any available information including, for example, the participant's calling telephone number, IP address, social network profile, or request (eg, URL) from the computing device 102. It should be understood that it may be.

   In block 4806, the participant application control module 4304 determines the conference application associated with the participant identifier 3802. Participant application control module 4304 may access this information from a database (eg, conference application database 4306, participant database 4308) and / or from social network system 3102. As described above, a conference application associated with an employee in connection with a company may be identified according to permissions, roles, etc. provided by the company. Thus, at block 4806, a conference application is determined based on the company related information.

   At block 4808, the conference user interface 4400 is presented to the computing device 102 associated with the participant. Also, the associated conference application can be used. The conference user interface 4400 may display available conference applications in the My Application element 4404 (FIG. 44) having a corresponding conference application control 4406. Application control 4406 may be selected to launch a conference application, set application settings, share an application, or access other functions.

   In blocks 4810 and 4812, the participant application control module 4304 may automatically launch one or more available conference applications. Alternatively, participant 104 may manually launch the conference application by selecting the corresponding application control 4406.

   FIG. 49 illustrates an embodiment of a method for providing a conference application store to participants 104 of an audio conference 114. At block 4902, the participant joins the audio conference 114. At block 4904, the conference user interface 4400 is presented to the computing device 102 associated with the participant 104. The conference user interface 4400 includes a conference application store element 4402 for viewing conference applications available via the conference system 106. The conference application store element 4402 may display a plurality of application objects. Each object is associated with one of the available conference applications.

   Participant 104 may select one or more available conference applications in the conference application store. At decision block 4906, participant application control module 4304 may determine that one application object has been selected by participant 104. The selected conference application may be launched or enabled to be launched by the participant. In some embodiments, the participant 104 may be required to purchase it in order to access the conferencing application. At block 4908, the participant application control module 4304 may determine an account identifier associated with the participant 104 and approve the purchase (block 4910). At block 4912, the conference application may be added to the participant profile.

   Referring back to FIG. 4 and the software modules stored in memory 404, participant configuration module 412 generally enables participants to join a conference and set user-related information via the conference interface. Includes logic or functionality. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of the virtual participant settings module 412. In block 502, the server 108 receives a request from the client device 102. The request may originate or be initiated from a link embedded in an electronic message sent by the host to the participant 104, for example. By selecting the embedded link, the client device 102 may access the server 108 to initiate a login and / or configuration procedure (FIGS. 6-8). In block 504, the server 108 may prompt the participant 104 to select a graphical representation for visually representing the participant 104 in the conference interface. At block 506, the server 108 may prompt the participant to provide profile or contact information (eg, user related information 130). At block 508, the server 108 may receive user selections and / or information. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary login screen 600 for allowing participants 104a-104c to participate in a conference. Login screen 600 includes a “first name” text field, a “last name” text field, an “email address” text field, and a “phone number” text field. The login screen 600 also allows the user to request that the server 108 and / or the conferencing system 106 initiate an outgoing call to the user in order to join the audio conference 114.

  FIGS. 7-14 illustrate various embodiments of the virtual location view 124. FIG. 7 illustrates a participant setting screen 700 that allows the participant 104 to set a user profile. FIG. 8 illustrates a host configuration screen 800 that allows the host 104d to set up a conference and customize the profile. FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary conference room view of the conference. 10 and 11 illustrate exemplary tile views of a virtual meeting. In the embodiment of FIGS. 10 and 11, tiles 304 are arranged in a grid format. The conference interface further includes various selectable side panels. An attendee panel may display participants 104 in a list format with any desired user information. A chat panel may allow participants to chat during the audio conference 114. A map panel may display the location of the participant 104 in the map view. FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary theater view of a conference interface that is desirable in a conference with a relatively large number of participants 104. In this embodiment, participants 104 defined as presenters may be displayed on the stage, and other participants 104 may be displayed on the theater seats. In theater view, contact information may be accessed by appropriate user interface commands (eg, mouse over, mouse click, hot key, etc.) (FIG. 12), but participant 104 reduces visual clutter. Therefore, it may be presented in a default state without contact information. 13 and 14 illustrate an alternative embodiment of a conference interface where the virtual location includes a conference room environment in which participants 104 are placed around the conference table.

   FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment of an automated location view setting module 424. In general, the automated location view setting module 424 includes functionality logic that automatically sets the location view 124 based on, for example, the number of participants 104 that participated in the conference, the characteristics of the conference, and the like. At block 1502, the virtual conference room 118 is set up with a default first location view 124. This may be selected by the default location view 124 or the host and / or participant 104. At blocks 1504 and 1506, one or more participants join the conference and are added to the first location view. At block 1508, the conference interface and audio conference 114 are provided to the client device 102 simultaneously. At decision block 1510, the configuration module 424 determines that the additional participant 104 is participating in the conference. The configuration module 424 may be configured to determine that the existing location view 124 is not appropriate for the additional participant 104. This determination may be made based on the number of participants or other information associated with, for example, existing participants and / or new participants. At block 1512, the configuration module 424 selects the new location view 124 and automatically reconfigures the conference interface to accommodate additional participants 104.

   It should be understood that the location view 124 may be stored in a database 1602 (FIG. 16) that is accessible to one or more modules stored in the memory 404. The location view database 1602 may be utilized to provide various advertising campaigns to the advertiser server 1604. For example, an advertiser may desire to provide a product placement advertisement or other advertisement to the virtual conference room 118. Server 108 may manage such advertisements via database 1604. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the database 1604 may further support licensed assets provided to the virtual conference room 118 during the audio conference 114. For example, the virtual conference room 118 may be customized to resemble a specific setting such as a boardroom, host office, or current license asset in the location view 1602.

   The conferencing system 106 may certify assets from third parties and provide them for purchase by the participant 104 for use at the virtual conference room 118.

   License assets may include a licensed location for the virtual conference room 118 that is licensed from a third party and presented in the location view 1602, or graphics, audio, video, items, etc. As an example, the license asset may include displaying a particular celebrity as the participant 104 and displaying a work of art (eg, a mural, sculpture, etc.) in the location view 1602. Although it need not be considered a license asset, it should be understood that a license asset may include any embodiment of any media intellectual property rights that may be presented to the virtual conference room 118.

   The conferencing system 106 supports any desired conferencing system such as, for example, a video conferencing system, a VoIP based (Voice Over Internet Protocol) system, a web-based or online conferencing system, or any other suitable conferencing platform or system. It may be configured as follows. FIGS. 21-25 illustrate multiple exemplary, non-limiting embodiments of a VoIP conferencing system or platform for supporting the audio portion of a conference that can be integrated with a conference interface. The VoIP conference system may be configured to easily handle different protocols, add and distribute resources, and manage the failover situation.

  FIG. 21 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a VoIP conference system 2100. In the following description, one or more applications and / or servers are single, clustered, or load balanced to increase system capacity and / or improve system reliability and / or system response time. Also good. The system includes a gateway (GW) 2102 that is coupled to telephones 2104, 2106 via a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) 2108. Telephones 2104 and 2106 use a public switched telephone network format. The gateway 2102 converts a PSTN format call into a control unit, usually a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) or control unit, and a media unit, usually RTP (Real Time Protocol). The gateway 2102 connects to the proxy 2110 via a network 110 such as, for example, the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), etc. or any other suitable network. Proxy 2110 passes the SIP information to voice service director (VSD) 2112. The VSD 2112 includes back-to-back user agents (UAs) 2114, 2116. One user agent 2114 serves as an end point for the original call. On the other hand, another user agent 2116 communicates with the media server 2118 for control. VSD 2112 also communicates with back office server 2120 using some back office communication protocol (BOC) via B2BUA (Back to Back User Agent) or via another mechanism and / or protocol. The back office 2120 includes an APS 2122 (Advanced Protocol Server) that routes back office messages, a DDS 2124 (Dialog Database Server) that holds conference information and confirms a user passcode, and an ACS 2126 (Active Conference Server) that tracks information about an active conference. ) Including a number of control services. The ACS 2126 assigns various bridges to the conference, and performs additional distribution among the bridges. When media server 2118 is designated for a particular conference, RTP media 2129 is routed from gateway 2102 to media server 2118. The media server 2118 performs voice (audio, video, or real-time data) mixing. Each media server 2118 may have a number of blades each having a larger number of ports. As a result, a given media server 2118 may perform audio mixing for multiple conferences. Media server 2118 is connected to a bridge application that includes one or more conference bridges (ie, bridge 2130).

   The bridge 2130 performs control functions for active conferences including functions such as mute, recording, and conference creation and destruction. If the user is using a computer 2132 or a VoIP hard phone as the phone, they can connect directly to a proxy 2110 that routes the SIP and RTP portions of the call to the appropriate location. Phone 2132 uses a VoIP connection rather than a PSTN.

 Bridge 2130 is enabled for SIP protocol, as illustrated by reference numeral 2134. The SIPSHIM 2136 (control layer) may include an implementation of B2BUA, where the bridge application 2130 does not directly handle the SIP protocol and SIP signaling events, but rather via the general high-level command, the caller and media server 2118. Allows to interact with.

   When a PSTN user places a call to the conference, the call is routed through the gateway 2102, through the proxy 2110, to the VSD 2112. The VSD 2112 plays the greeting and asks the user for a passcode. In addition to selecting a particular conference, different passcodes may be used to distinguish conference leaders for a given conference. Such a passcode is confirmed by the DDS 2124 at the request of the VSD 2112. Instead of playing a general greeting based on DNIS, ANI, passcode, or any combination thereof (customer defined code), a specific greeting may be selected by VSD 2112. The VSD 2112 then asks the ACS 2126 which bridge 2130 the conference is assigned to. The VSD 2112 then forwards the caller to the appropriate conference bridge 2130 so that the caller's media is added to the conference.

   Back-to-back user agents 2114, 2116 allow the system to handle conference resource failures. A call from the telephone 2104 is terminated at the first user agent 2114. If the media server 2118 stops functioning or gives an indication of an outstanding failure (failure mode), the second user agent 2116 is instructed to reroute the call to another media server 2118. Back-to-back user agents 2114, 2116 also allow the system to handle different protocols. The first user agent 2114 generally receives SIP protocol information, but the second user agent 2116 can use a different protocol if it is convenient. This allows the system 2100 to interoperate between resources that use different protocols.

   Systems connected to SIP / BOC channels may be considered part of the conference control system, but systems connected to RTP or media data streams may be considered to be part of the data portion of the conference system It should be understood.

   FIG. 22 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed VoIP conference system 2200 for implementing a conference platform. The conferencing system 2200 is similar to that shown in FIG. 21 except that the system is distributed and has multiple instances such as the system described in FIG. A number of conference centers 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208 are installed at different locations in a geographical area (eg, country or worldwide). Each conference center 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208 is coupled to the network 110. Also, one or more gateways 2210a, b may be coupled to the network 110. Also, a VoIP phone or VoIP based company 2212 can be coupled to the system. Each conference center will generally have one or more proxies 2214a-d, VSD 2216a-d, bridges 2218a-d, and media servers 2220a-d. A software-based distributed cache 2222a-d or other information sharing mechanism (such as back office 2201) becomes available to all VSDs 2216 to provide shared information regarding ongoing conferences and available resources. The caches 2222a-d share this information via the network 110. The call may arrive at proxy 2214b at LA 2204 and be routed to VSD 2216a at New York 2202. VSD 2216a may select media server 2220d in Tokyo 2208 and bridge 2218c in Atlanta 2206. This allows proxy 2214, VSD 2216 and bridge 2118c to load balance all available resources in network 110. Further, in a failover situation, VSD 2216a in New York 2202 may detect that bridge 2218d in Tokyo is not responding. Under these circumstances, the VSD 2216 may redirect the conference to the Atlanta bridge 2218c.

   FIG. 23 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a suitable conference platform in which the virtual conference center application 116 may be implemented. This implementation uses a distributed conference using the distributed VoIP conference system VOIP. FIG. 23 shows how distributed resources can be shared. System 2300 includes a plurality of media servers 2302, 2304, and 2306, each of which may provide multiple conference port resources. For example, it is assumed that the conference 2308 has started on the media server 2302. Five minutes after entering the meeting, only 10 ports remain unused on the media server, but 20 new people want to join the meeting. These people can be assigned to other media servers. For example, 10 port 2310 can be used by media server 2304 and 10 port 2312 can be used by media server 2306. In order to link RTP or media to two other media servers, each using one media (RTP) linking port in addition to its own 10 callers, two additional conference ports are added to the original conference and It may be requested from the media server 2302. Even if one or more media servers are installed at a remote location relative to the location of the bridge, a single bridge 2318 can connect to all three media servers 2302, 2304, and 2306 via SIP 2320 or another protocol. And three conferences 2308, 2310 and 2312 may be controlled. Conference bridge applications may also be linked at a high level, with each bridge 2314, 2318 controlling its own media server resources and linked via some form of back office communication (BOC) that may include SIP. The Conference media (RTP) linking may be initiated from one bridge acting as a parent, and multiple subordinate or child conferences are instantiated at other media servers and possibly at other bridges.

   This approach minimizes audio latency by having a common focus where all child conferences converge. However, this approach may use more “linking” ports for the parent conference. Thus, the initial meeting may be deprecated for the child meeting, but by assigning the second meeting to the parent (or successor), the media for all meetings are linked to the second meeting as the focus. Is done. When instantiating the second conference, enough ports may be reserved to allow linking further child conferences in the future.

   This method of linking conferences is also applicable when a large number of callers are installed in different geographic regions or possibly on different types of networks, such as standard VoIP networks or combinations of proprietary networks. However, they need to be linked together. Rather than having all callers connected to a single location, each region or network may be connected to a regional bridge, and then the bridge and media are linked together. This may minimize voice latency for callers in the same area, further reducing media transport and / or conversion costs. Each region or network can also use parent and child conferences as needed. Also, only two parent (or step-parent) conferences in different areas or networks will have media linked to each other.

   FIG. 24 illustrates an embodiment of a method 2400 for establishing a call with a participant 104 via a PSTN. Gateway 2102 receives an incoming call 2402 from the PSTN. The gateway 2102 converts the PSTN call into a control (SIP) part and a media (RTP) part. FIG. 24 shows the SIP portion of the call coupled to the gateway 2102. The SIP part is not shown. Since this figure details control messages (SIP) as opposed to media, RTP is not shown in FIG. Proxy 2110 forwards the control portion of incoming call 2402 to VSD 2112. In response to call 2406, VSD 2112 plays one or more prompts requesting the passcode to the caller. After the caller enters the necessary information, eg, by DTMF, by speaker independent voice recognition, or by other means, the media for the original call is queued 2408. The VSD 2112 then queries the back office system to see if the passcode is valid, and if valid, the caller is transferred 2410 to the bridge 2130 identified by the back office system. When the caller hangs up 2412, the gateway 2102 notifies the bridge 2130 of this event 2412 so that the call is terminated at both ends.

   During the call, the conference and individual user status is either directly or indirectly connected to the bridge 2130 by the user, such as a web-based interface that connects to the bridge 2130 via the DTMF by the caller or via the back office. Can be controlled from any other mechanism that allows access to Subsequently, the bridge 2130 will control the media server in use.

   For VSD 2112 and conference bridge 2130, when the caller presses a phone number, the number press may be passed as an in-band tone in the RTP voice media stream, or to the phone event signaling protocol carried in RTP. It may be selectively converted by the gateway 2102. In either case, the numeric press is detected by the media server and reported to the VSD 2112 or bridge application. The above is a basic call flow for a typical conference user.

   FIG. 25 shows the same call flow from FIG. 24, but originates from a native VoIP call rather than a PSTN. The main difference is that the gateway 2102 is not used. Such flow changes are also needed to handle error conditions that may occur, for example, the bridge cannot respond when the caller is transferred. These have been omitted for clarity.

   The SIP commands utilized in the methods of FIGS. 24 and 25 are described below for exemplary purposes.

   SIP: Session Initiation Protocol. Primarily defined by IETF standard RFC3261. SIP is an application layer control protocol that can establish, modify, and terminate multimedia sessions such as Internet telephone calls.

   INVITE: SIP request method used to set up (start) or modify a SIP-based communication session (referred to as SIP “dialog”).

   SDP: Session Description Protocol. An IETF protocol that defines a text-based message format for describing multimedia sessions. Data such as version number, contact information, number of broadcasts, and audio and video encoding types are included in the message.

   ACK: Acknowledgment. SIP request used within SIP INVITE process to establish SIP session or “dialog” establishment or renegotiation.

   100, 200, 202: SIP response codes returned to the originator of the SIP request. The response code indicates a specific result for a given request.

   NOTIFY: SIP request method used to convey information about the status of another SIP session or “dialog” to the SIP session.

   REFER: A SIP request method used to transfer one end of a SIP session to a different SIP destination.

   Sipfrag: SIP fragment. A fragment of a SIP message (such as a response code) from another SIP session that is sent as part of the body of a SIP NOTIFY message.

   BYE: A SIP request method used to terminate an existing SIP session or “dialog”.

   Conferencing systems such as those described above or other conferencing systems may interface with social network systems to provide various enhanced communication functions. FIG. 31 illustrates a computer system 3100 comprising a conferencing system 106 and a social network system 3102 that can communicate with a client device 102 via a communication network 110. In the embodiment of FIG. 31, the conferencing system 106 is configured as described above and includes one or more servers 108, a social network integration module 414, a conferencing interface, and one or more data stores 3110. As described in more detail below, the social network integration module 414 enables the social network integration module 414 to communicate with the social network system 3102 via, for example, an API (application programming interface) 3108. Conferencing system 106 and / or social network system 3102 may access data, applications, or any other stored content or functionality associated with each system.

   It should be understood that the social network integration module 414 is configured to interface with any desired social network system 3102. However, various exemplary embodiments of the social network system 3102 will be described to illustrate the general principles of an integrated system.

   The social network system 3102 generally comprises one or more servers for providing the social network website 3106 to the client device 102 via, for example, a client or web browser 3110. Social network system 3102 may show application program interface (API) 3108 to other computer systems, such as conferencing system 106. The API 3108 allows third party applications to access data, content, or any other stored content or functionality provided by the social network system 3102 to the member 3201.

   The social network system 3102 provides its members 3201 the ability to communicate and interact with other members of the social network 3201. Member 3201 may join social network system 3102 and then add connections to many other members 3201 that wish to be connected. Connections may be explicitly added by member 3201. For example, the member 3201 may select a particular other member 3201 to become a friend, or the social network system 3201 may be a member that is a graduate of a member's common characteristics (eg, the same educational institution, organization, etc.) Etc.), a connection may be automatically recommended or generated. As used herein, the term “friend” means any other member with whom the member has formed a connection, association, or relationship through the social network system 3102. The connection in social networks is usually bi-directional, but is not necessary, so the terms “member”, “friend” or “follower” may follow a frame of reference. For example, if both Bob and Joe are members and are connected to each other on the website, both Bob and Joe are also friends of each other. The connection between members may be a direct connection. However, some embodiments of social network system 3201 may allow the connection to be indirect via one or more levels of connection. It should be understood that the term friend does not require member 3201 to be a friend in real life. It simply suggests a connection in the social network system 3102.

   The social network system 3102 may be implemented on various types of computer systems. An implementation of social network system 3102 may provide a mechanism for members 3201 to communicate with each other, form a connection with each other, store information, and share objects of particular interest. The implementation described below includes a social network website 3106 that interacts with a member 3201 at a client device 102 via a communication network 110, such as a web-based interface (eg, via a browser 3110). However, other implementations such as one or more servers 3104 that communicate with clients using various client and server applications (eg, non-web based applications) are possible. Further, the social network system 3102 may not include a centralized server; instead, for example, peer-to-peer running on the client device 102 that allows the member 3201 to communicate and perform other functions. It may be implemented as a peer-to-peer system with applications. One example is a peer-to-peer network of smartphones communicating via a short message service (SMS) over a cellular network. It should be understood that the embodiments of the social network website 3106 described below may be adapted to various other implementations of the social network system.

   FIG. 32 illustrates a social network system 3102 implemented in one embodiment as a social network website 3106. The social network website 3106 may communicate with each other or, for example, activities associated with friends, applications installed by friends, comments made by friends about other friend activities, etc. The member 3201 is provided with various mechanisms for obtaining information of interest. The mechanism for communication between members is referred to as a social network communication channel 3202. In one embodiment, communication channel 3202 is a computer-based communication mechanism that facilitates communication between two or more members 3201 of social network website 3106 and / or social network website 3201 itself.

   32 illustrates various exemplary communication channel 3202 embodiments, it should be understood that various modifications, changes, etc. may be implemented on the social network website 3106. FIG. An invitation channel 3204 conveys one or more invitations between users. An invitation is a message sent by a member 3201 inviting another member 3201 to do something, for example, a member 3201 recommends that a friend install an application. Notification channel 3210 conveys a message notifying member 3201 that some activity relating to member 3201 has occurred at social network website 3106. Email channel 3206 allows member 3201 to communicate via email. Wall post channel 3212 allows member 3201 to share information between friends. A wall is an application that allows members 3201 to provide information shared between friends. A message written on a member's wall is called a wall post. Members can post on their wall as well as on any friend's wall. A friend of member 3201 may see what is written on his wall. The news feed channel 3208 notifies the member 3201 of the activity of the member's friend. The news feed is continuously updated as member friends perform various activities such as adding applications, commenting on photos, or creating new friends. In one embodiment, the news feed may be integrated with an online publishing system such as a blog or other authoring tool. Mini-feed channel 3214 provides a mini-feed that lists actions taken by member 3201. For example, the member 3201 may add a new friend to his social network or install a predetermined application. One or more member activities may be listed in the member's minifeed.

   In addition to interacting with other members 3201, the social network website 3106 provides members 3201 with the ability to take action on various types of items supported by the social network system 3102. Such an item may be a group or social network to which member 3201 belongs (social network does not mean a physical communication network, but a social network of people), an event that member 3201 may be interested in, or Calendar entries, computer based applications that member 3201 can use via social network website 3106, and members 3201 can purchase, sell, auction, rent, or exchange items via social network website 3106 You may include transactions that These are just some examples of items that member 3201 acts on on social network website 3106, and many other items are possible.

   As illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 32, social network website 3106 maintains a number of objects for different types of items with which member 3201 can interact on social network website 3106. In one embodiment, such objects include member profiles 3220, group objects 3222, events 3216, and application objects 3218 (hereinafter referred to as profiles 3220, groups 3222, events 3216, and applications 3218, respectively). In one embodiment, an object is stored by social network website 3106 for each instance of its associated item. For example, a member profile 3220 is stored for each member 3201 participating in the social network website 3106, a group 3220 is stored for each group defined in the social network website 3106, and so on. The types of objects and the data stored for each are described in more detail below.

   Members 3201 of social network website 3106 may take specific actions on social network website 3106 where each action is associated with one or more objects. The types of actions that member 3201 can perform in relation to an object may be defined for each object and may follow the types of items represented by the object. A particular action may be associated with multiple objects. The following description is an illustration of a number of specific types of objects that can be defined for the social network website 3106 in addition to the number of actions that can be taken per object. Objects and behaviors are provided for illustrative purposes only, and one of ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that infinite variations and functions can be provided in the social network website 3106.

   Social network website 3106 maintains a member profile 3220 for each member of website 3106. Any action that a particular member 3201 takes on another member 3201 is associated with each member's profile 3220 via information maintained in other data warehouses such as a database or action log 3310 (FIG. 33). It is done. Recorded actions include, for example, adding connections to other members 3201, sending messages to other members, reading messages from other members 3201, content associated with other members 3201. Viewing, attending an event posted by another member 3201. In addition, a number of actions described below in connection with other objects may be directed to a particular member 3201, in which case such actions may also be associated with the member 3201.

   Group 3222 may be defined for a group or network of members 3201. For example, member 3201 may define that the group is a fan club for a particular band. The social network website 3106 maintains a group 3222 about the fan club, which includes information about the band, media content by the band (eg, song or music video), and a bulletin board where group members 3201 can comment on the band. I will. In this regard, possible member actions with respect to group 3222 may include joining the group, watching content, listening to songs, watching videos, and posting messages on bulletin boards.

   An event 3216 may be defined for a particular event, such as a birthday party. Member 3201 may create event 3216 by defining information about the event such as time and place and a list of invited guests. Other members 3201 receive an invitation, comment on the event, post their content (eg, a photo of the event), and perform any other actions enabled by social network website 3106 for event 3216. May be. Event invitees and event creators may perform various actions associated with the event 3216.

   Social network website 3106 also allows member 3201 to add application 3218 to the profile. Such applications provide improved content and interactivity within the social network website 3106. It maintains an application object 3218 for each application hosted on the social network system. The application may be provided by the social network system 3102, the conferencing system 106, and / or a third party developer. The social network system 3102 and the conference system 106 may share an application between the computer systems. Use of any functionality provided by the application may constitute an action by member 3201 associated with application 3218. The behavior may be passive and may not require active participation by member 3201. The scope and type of applications provided is limited only by the creativity and creativity of the application developer. The application is typically written as server-side code that runs on the server of the social network website 3106, but in other embodiments, the application uses client-side code or a combination thereof as appropriate. May be. When member 3201 logs into social network website site 3106, the system determines which applications are installed (eg, registered, purchased, etc.) by the user and then the basic functions of social network website 3106. Load and run such applications along with

   When member 3201 takes action on social network website 3106, the action is recorded in action log 3312. In one embodiment, the social network website 3106 maintains the action log 3312 as a database entry. As an action is taken, social network website 3106 may add an entry for the action to log 3312. The action log 3312 may include any of the following or other types of information: a time stamp when the action occurred, an identifier for the member who performed the action, an identifier for the member 3201 to which the action was directed, An identifier for the type, an identifier for the object affected by the action (eg, application), and content associated with the action may be maintained. It should be understood that many types of actions possible on social network website 3106 need not require all of this information.

   Social network website 3106 generally includes a computer system that allows members 3201 to communicate or interact with each other to access the content and / or functionality described above. Social network website 3106 stores member profile 3220 in member profile store 3302, for example. Member profile 3220 may describe a member. For example, biographical, demographic, and other types of descriptive information such as work history, educational background, hobbies or preferences and location. The social network website 3106 further stores data describing one or more relationships between different members 3201. The related information may indicate a member 3201 having a similar or common work history, group membership, hobby or educational background. Social network website 3106 may include member-defined associations between different members 3201, thereby allowing members 3201 to identify relationships with other members 3201. For example, a member-defined relationship may allow the member 3201 to generate a relationship with another member 3201 that is equivalent to a real-life relationship such as a friend, colleague, partner, etc. The member 3201 may select from a predetermined type of relationship, or define its own relationship as necessary.

   To further illustrate how the conferencing system 106 may share data and / or applications with a social network system, FIG. 33 shows a block diagram of a social network website 3106. In this embodiment, social network website 3106 includes web server 3104, behavior logger 3316, behavior log 3312, member profile store 3302, application data store 3306, group store 3310, and event store. In other embodiments, the social network website 3106 may include additional, fewer, or different modules for various applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operation consoles are not shown in order not to obscure the details of the system.

   Web server 3104 links social network website 3106 to client device 102 via network 110. The web server 3104 provides a web page together with other web-related contents such as Java (registered trademark), Flash, and XML. Web server 3104 may include a mail server or other message function for receiving and routing messages between social network website 3106, client device 102, and conferencing system 106. The message can be an instant message, a queued message (eg, email), a text and SMS message, or any other suitable messaging technology using any suitable protocol.

   Behavior logger 3316 may receive communications from web server 3104 for social network website 3106 and / or other member behavior. The behavior logger 3316 inputs information regarding the behavior of the member to be tracked into the behavior log 3312.

   As described above, the social network website 3106 maintains data regarding a number of different types of objects with which members can interact on the social network website 3106. In this regard, each of the member profile store 3302, application data store 3306, group store 3310, and event store 3308 stores an instance of a corresponding type of object maintained by the social network website 3106. Each object type has an information field suitable for storing information appropriate to the object type. For example, the event store 3308 may include a data structure that includes the time and location for the event, and the member profile store 3302 may include a data structure with fields suitable for describing the member's profile 3220. When a new object of a particular type is created, social network website 3106 begins to initialize a new data structure of the corresponding type, assign it a unique object identifier, and add data to the object as needed. Also good.

   An exemplary embodiment of a social network system 3102 in which the conferencing system 106 may share data and / or functionality is described, and the operation of additional embodiments of the social network integration module 414 are illustrated in FIGS. 34-36. Will be described. FIG. 34 illustrates another embodiment of a graphical user interface 3400 for presenting an audio conference 114 and a conference interface to participants 104. The graphical user interface 3400 may include a first portion 3402, a second portion 3404, and a third portion 3406. A conference interface may be presented in the first part. Second portion 3404 and third portion 3406 may include a user interface mechanism for accessing communication functions associated with social network system 3102 via, for example, API 3108. It should be understood that the second portion 3404 and the third portion 3406 may be provided on a separate screen from the first portion 3402. The graphical user interface 3400 may utilize any desired layout and other user interface mechanisms to access the associated content and / or functionality.

   In one embodiment, the first portion 3404 may comprise an input mechanism for capturing content during the audio conference 114, which may be posted to one or more social network communication channels 3202 (FIG. 32). . The input mechanism may allow participants to enter text, upload photos and / or videos, send invitations, join groups, and the like. The content may include any form of content and may be identified by the participant 104 or captured by hardware and / or software at the client device 102.

   As illustrated in FIG. 35, in operation, the conferencing system 106 establishes an audio conference 114 with the participant 104 (block 3502). At block 3504, the conferencing system 106 presents the graphical user interface 3400 to the client device 102 operated by the participant 104. At block 3506, at any point during the audio conference 114, the participant 104 enters or identifies content provided to the social network system 3102. At block 3508, the request is sent to the social network system 3102. The request may originate from the client device 102 (eg, browser 3110) or the conferencing system 106. The social network system 3102 may send a response to the caller to allow the content to be added to the participant's profile 3220 (block 3512). It should be understood that the content can be provided with the request or via subsequent additional messages. Further, the request may include participant authentication information (eg, user name, password, etc.) to automatically authenticate the participant 104. In other embodiments, participant 104 may be prompted to enter authentication information for authentication by either conferencing system 106 or social network system 3102 (block 3510).

   FIG. 36 illustrates another embodiment of a method for sharing content between the conferencing system 106 and the social network system 3102. After establishing audio conference 114 and presenting graphical user interface 3400 (blocks 3602 and 3604), conferencing system 106 or social network system 3102 may prompt the participant to enter authentication information for authentication. . At block 3606, the participant 104 may be authenticated to access social network functions. Authentication may be performed when the participant 104 logs into the conferencing system 106, or the participant 104 may be prompted for authentication information for authentication when social network functions are being accessed. Further, in one embodiment, the conferencing system 106 may allow the participant 104 to access the conferencing system 106 by using the social network profile 3220. In this way, when authentication is required, there is no need for separate authentication by the social network system 3102.

   Once participant 104 is properly authenticated for access to social network system 3102, data from social network system 3102 (eg, communication channel 3202) may be integrated with graphical user interface 3400 at block 3608. The data may be presented in the second portion 3406 and may include any of the above data, or any other data, and / or functionality associated with the social network system 3102. As described above, data may be accessed using API 3108, in which case appropriate requests and responses may be sent from client device 102 or conferencing system 106 (block 3608) and received thereby. Good. Participant 104 may also access social network application 3218 via user interface control 3408. Participant 104 may select or touch control 3408, which may trigger a menu that allows participant 104 to access application 3218 associated with the participant's social network profile 3220. .

   50-61, the conferencing system 106 enables participants 104 to receive information about the audio conference 114 and the associated conference without having to attend the audio conference 114 or view the conference interface. An alert / notification function may be supported. The alert / notification function generally monitors content / functionality presented in the audio conference 114 and the conference interface and alerts, notifications, or other messages (collectively referred to as “alerts”) to the participant 104. Includes logic to provide Alerts may be presented via hardware and / or software elements embodied in any media and supported by a computing device including browser 3110, operating system 5004, GUI 132, microphone, and touch screen 5004, for example. Includes possible audio, video, text, graphics, or other information.

   In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 50, the alert / notification function includes a conference notification application 5002 that is resident in memory 404 (FIG. 4) on client device 102 and executed by processor 402. It should be understood that the logic associated with the conference notification application 5002 may be installed and / or controlled in the conference system 106 or other computer device, system, etc.

  In general operation, the conference notification application 5002 may provide alerts based on various events monitored by the conference system 106. For example, the conference notification application 5002 notifies the host when the audio conference 114 or conference has started by indicating the name of the participant, the number of current participants, etc., and who joined the audio conference 114 or The host may be warned that the meeting has been accessed. Alerts are, for example, a push method in which alerts are “pushed” from the conferencing system 106 by the computing device 102 using the conferencing API 4302 or other alerting protocols, services, methods, etc., and alerts are “pulled” from the conferencing system 106. May be implemented using a pull method. When a participant 104 joins an audio conference 114 or an associated conference, the conferencing system 106 maintains a counter and identification of the number of participants 104 to provide host related or other information. The conference notification application 5002 also provides convenient access to the conference interface from within the application (eg, via menus, key shortcuts, or other user interface controls) from within the application to allow conference notifications before or during a virtual conference. Or it may be possible to modify the account settings.

   Conference notification application 5002 allows a user to launch an application or conveniently access certain functions or features of the application (eg, set remote or local settings, join a virtual conference, etc.) User interface controls may be incorporated. User interface controls may be presented in a variety of ways, for example, depending on operating system 5004 settings, GUI 132, display type and / or size, and other hardware and / or software characteristics.

   FIG. 51 illustrates an embodiment of user interface controls 5118 implemented in the desktop environment 5100 for accessing the conference notification application 5002. The desktop environment 5100 includes a desktop 5102 that can display one or more icons, folders, wallpapers, widgets, or other desktop objects associated with the system. The desktop object allows a user to easily access, configure, or modify aspects of the operating system 5004 and / or other software or functionality of the computing device 102. In the embodiment of FIG. 51, desktop 5102 accesses system application tray 5104, one or more folder icons 5108 for organizing files, and a hierarchical folder structure for accessing files stored on computer device 102. A hard drive icon 5106 may be displayed.

   User interface control 5118 may be displayed anywhere within desktop 5102. In FIG. 51, the user interface control 51 is displayed on the system application tray 5104. The system application tray 5104 displays various icons (eg, search icon 5110, battery level icon 5112, system time icon 5114, volume icon 5116, or any other system icon, application icon, or user-defined icon). Also good.

   FIG. 52 illustrates another embodiment of a user interface control 5214 for providing user access to certain aspects of the conference notification application 5002. In this embodiment, computing device 102 includes a mobile phone 5200 having a touch screen display 5004. Touch screen display 5004 includes a display device that can detect the presence and location of contact in a display area with, for example, a finger or hand or a passive object such as a stylus, pen, or other object. The touch screen display 5004 may be based on any current or future touch screen technology and may utilize various forms of input gestures to perform related functions.

   Touch screen display 5004 may include a resistive touch screen panel having two thin metal conductive layers separated by a narrow gap. When an object such as a finger presses a point on the outer surface of the panel, the two metal layers are connected at that point. The touch screen panel then operates as a pair of voltage dividers with the connected outputs. This causes a change in the current sent to the controller (eg, processor 402) to register and process as a touch event.

   Touch screen display 5004 may be implemented using surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology that uses ultrasonic waves to pass through the touch screen panel. When the panel is touched, some of the waves are absorbed. This change in ultrasound registers the location of the touch event and sends this information to the processor 402.

   In another embodiment, touch screen display 5004 supports capacitive sensing via a capacitive touch screen panel. The capacitive touch screen panel includes an insulator such as glass covered with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide. Since the human body is also a conductor, contact with the surface of the screen results in local electrostatic field distortion that can be measured as a change in capacitance. Different techniques may be used to determine the location of contact. The location may be passed to a processor 402 that calculates how the user contact or gesture relates to a particular function of the conference notification application 5002.

   Touch screen display 5004 may also support surface capacitance implementation. There, only one side of the insulator is covered with a conductive layer. In such an implementation, a small voltage is applied to the layer, resulting in a uniform electrostatic field. Capacitors are formed dynamically when a conductor, such as a human finger, touches an uncovered surface. The sensor controller may indirectly determine the location of the contact from the change in capacitance measured from the four corners of the display area 5206.

   In a further embodiment, the touch screen display 5004 implements a projected capacitive touch (PCT) display having an etched conductive layer. For example, an XY array can be formed by etching a single layer to form a grid pattern of electrodes, or by etching two separate vertical layers of conductive material with parallel lines or tracks to form a grid. May be. Applying a voltage to the array creates a grid of capacitors. By bringing a finger or conductive stylus close to the surface of the sensor, the local electrostatic field changes. The change in capacitance at every point on the grid may be measured to accurately determine the contact location. The use of a grid allows higher resolution than resistive technology and also allows multi-touch operation. The PCT display may allow operation without direct contact. As a result, the conductive layer is covered with a further protective insulating layer and is operable even under the screen protector.

   The touch screen display 5004 includes, for example, infrared (IR) light emitting diodes (at two adjacent bezel ends of the display) along with photosensitive devices disposed at the two opposite bezel ends to analyze the system and determine touch events. LED) may be used to optically sense contact. The LED and photosensitive device pair may produce a grid of rays on the display. An object (such as a finger or a pen) that touches the screen blocks the light beam, so that the light reduction is measured in the corresponding photosensitive device. The measured output of the photosensitive device can be used to locate the contact point coordinates.

   Another embodiment of touch screen technology relates to distributed signal technology that uses sensors to detect mechanical energy in the glass caused by the touch. An algorithm stored in memory 404 and executed by processor 402 interprets this information and provides the actual location of the contact.

   Acoustic pulse recognition may also be used to detect contact. In this embodiment, two piezoelectric transducers are placed on a portion of the screen to convert the mechanical energy of contact (ie vibration) into an electrical signal. The screen hardware then uses an algorithm to determine the location of the contact based on the transducer signal.

   Referring back to FIG. 52, the mobile phone 5200 includes various hardware keys including a microphone 5202 and, for example, scroll buttons 5204 for navigating the GUI 132. Mobile phone 5200 includes a notification bar 5208 for displaying system information, such as signal strength icon 5210, battery level icon 5212, or any other system of application information. Notification bar 5208 may be expandable based on contact input to display additional notification icons.

   Regardless of the type and configuration of the computing device 102, the conference notification application 5002 may be accessed by selecting a user interface control. For example, the user may select user interface control 5214 (FIG. 53) to display conference notification application menu 5402 (FIG. 54). The conference notification application menu 5402 may include a display header 5404 and one or more additional user interface controls for selecting certain settings or other options. In the embodiment of FIG. 54, the conference notification application menu 5402 displays an iMeet Now button 5406, a Manage Account button 5408, a Notification Settings button 5410, a Conference Scheduler button 5416, a Help button 5412, and an About button 5414.

   An iMeet Now button 5406 may allow a user to connect to the conferencing system 106. When the user selects button 5406, conference notification application 5002 may launch browser 3110 to allow the user to participate in audio conference 114 and access conference user interface 4400. A Manage Account button 5408 may allow the user to set up an account profile 4602 (FIG. 46). In one embodiment, the user may set parameters via the conference notification application 5002 and the parameters are subsequently provided to the conference system 106 via the conference API 4302. In an alternative embodiment, the Manage Account button 5408 may guide the user to a web page provided by the conferencing system 106 that receives the configuration parameters. The Notification Settings button 5410 may operate in a similar manner to allow the user to set parameters associated with the conference notification. For example, the conference notification parameters may specify any of the following or other parameters: alert push enabled / disabled, alert pull enabled / disabled, alert frequency, and alert type.

   In operation, the conference notification application 5002 may communicate with the conference system 106 using the conference API 4302. Conference API 4302 may allow conference notification application 5002 to submit response 5516 to conference system 106 and receive request 5514 therefrom. Such communications may include, for example, a user's conference status check to determine if there are any active participants 104. This action may be sent to the conference notification application 5002 as a status update or alert when someone enters the user's conference or joins one of the bridges via the phone. Updates may include other information about newly joined participants, such as the participant parameters illustrated above and illustrated in FIGS. 38 and 46, information stored in the participant database 4308 (FIG. 43), or the social network system 3102 ( Other related information about the user including information related to FIG. 31) may be included.

   Alerts provided to the conference notification application 5002 may be presented on a display. FIG. 56 illustrates an exemplary message or alert 5602 that notifies the user of the identity of the newly joined participant and the current number of participants. Alert 5602 may appear for a predetermined amount of time that can be set via Notification Settings button 5410. Alternatively, the user may cancel alert message 5602 by selecting Done button 5610. It should be understood that the content and / or format of alert 5602 may vary depending on, for example, events being monitored by conferencing system 106. Alert 5602 may include any convenient mechanism to allow a user to participate in audio conference 114 and / or related conferences from displayed alert 5602. In one embodiment, the conference notification application 5002 may prompt the user to join an audio conference 114 and / or an associated conference. As illustrated in FIG. 56, the displayed alert 5602 may include a Join button 5606. Once selected (FIG. 57), the conference notification application 5002 may initiate a process that allows the user to join the audio conference 114 and present the conference user interface 4400 on the computing device 102. The conference user interface 4400 may be configured as described herein.

   If the user chooses to cancel a particular message or the message expires without the user joining the conference, the conferencing system 106 may continue to send alerts when an event occurs. If the user chooses to join the meeting, the conferencing system 106 may disable the alert.

   To implement the conference notification application 5002, the conference system 106 may support various web services to exchange structured information with the conference notification application 5002. Web services may be implemented using any suitable protocol. In one embodiment, the web service may be implemented via SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) using XML (Extensible Markup Language) as the messaging format. The conferencing system 106 responds to the web service call from the conferencing notification application 5002 by quickly returning the requested information or by providing a result (later) after initiating the request via a voting action. May be.

   FIG. 55 illustrates various exemplary web services for implementing one or more aspects of the conference notification application 5002. Web services may include any of the following or other web services: subscription / non-subscription service 5502, conference monitoring service 5504, conference voting service 5506, authentication service 5508, conference scheduling service 5510, and conference participation service 5512. Good. Each of these web services is generally described below with reference to exemplary request and response XML messages.

   The subscribe / unsubscribe service 5502 may be implemented with a Subscribe () call that establishes an authorization to use the resources provided by the conferencing system 106. The Subscribe () call may be a first call to the conference system 106 made by the conference notification application 5002. In one embodiment, the Subscribe () call may require an approval response before the conference notification application 5002 accesses other services. In this regard, the subscribe / unsubscribe service 5502 may be configured without a security token in the SOAP header. Other web services may be implemented with a security token (eg, a session ID obtained with a Subscribe () call).

   An exemplary XML request for a Subscribe () call may be set up as follows:

  An exemplary XML response to a Subscribe () call may be set up as follows:

  The Unsubscribe () call may be made to unsubscribe the user from the web service when the conference notification application 5002 is closed. The call may end the session with the conferencing system 106. Further interaction with the conferencing system 106 may require a subsequent Subscribe () call to be made by the conference notification application.

   An exemplary XML request for Unsubscribe () call may be set up as follows:

  An exemplary XML response to an Unsubscribe () call may be set up as follows:

  Conference monitoring service 5504 may invoke a SetConferenceWatch () call that establishes conference monitoring that allows the conferencing system 106 to send an alert to the conference notification application 5002. After setting up the conference monitoring, the user can, for example, associate information with the social network system 3102 when the participant 104 speaks during the audio conference 114 when the participant 104 joins or leaves the conference. You may receive notifications or alerts about meetings associated with users, including when posting or receiving.

  The conference monitoring service 5504 may be convenient for hosts that are busy and cannot participate in the conference, hosts that do not want to participate in the conference, or hosts that cannot participate in the conference but want to monitor the activity of the conference. For example, a host may be interested in joining a meeting only after a particular person has joined or some other event has occurred. The host may view the alert message as provided by the conferencing system 106 and displayed by the computing device 102. When the desired event occurs, the host may choose to join the conference. As described below, alerts may be retrieved from the conferencing system 106 via the conferencing voting service 5506.

   An exemplary XML request for a SetConferenceWatch () call may be set up as follows:

  An exemplary XML response to a SetConferenceWatch () call may be set up as follows:

  Conference monitoring service 5504 may also invoke a ClearConferenceWatch () call that may be used to clear previously established conference monitoring. By removing conference monitoring, alerts for specific conferences may be disabled. After clearing conference monitoring, the user will no longer receive alerts.

   An exemplary XML request for a ClearConferenceWatch () call may be set up as follows:

  An exemplary XML response for a ClearConferenceWatch () call may be set up as follows:

  The conference voting service 5506 may invoke a PollForMessages () call that is used to request an event from a monitored conference. In response to the request, conference notification application 5502 will receive an event associated with the monitored conference.

   An exemplary XML request for a PollForMessages () call may be set up as follows:

  An exemplary XML response to a PollForMessages () call may be set up as follows:

  The authentication service 5508, conference schedule service 5510, and conference participation service 5512 may allow the conference notification application 5002 to interface with a registration system. The authentication service 5508 may call the Security ValidateLogOn () call to confirm the user logon authentication information. The call may return a security token that can be used to generate a login header. The login header may be sent with one or more other service calls. An exemplary XML request for a Security ValidateLogOn () call may be set up as follows:

   An exemplary XML response to a SecurityValidateLogOn () call may be set as follows:

  Conference schedule 5510 may invoke a FindReservation () call that returns a list of conferences. The FindReservation () call may be initiated when the user selects the conference schedule button 5416 as illustrated in FIG. The result includes detailed information of all meetings associated with the user. The conference notification application 5002 may present the result to the user. FIG. 61 illustrates an exemplary display 6100 for presenting results. Display 6100 includes a list of conference entries 6102. Further details regarding each conference (eg, dial-in number, passcode, date, time, agenda, participants, etc.) may be accessed by selecting the participant entry 6102. As illustrated in FIG. 61, if the user wishes to monitor a meeting to receive alerts regarding that meeting, the user may select entry 6102 and select monitor button 6104.

   An exemplary XML request for a FindReservation () call may be set up as follows:

  An exemplary XML response to a FindReservation () call may be set up as follows:

  The conference participation service 5512 may be invoked, for example, when the user selects the join button 5606 (FIG. 56) or selects a conference from the conference schedule (FIG. 61). A WebHostLogin () call may return a location for the virtual conference room. In one embodiment, the call may return a given client and host redirectUrl that logs the client into the host. The conference notification application 5002 may open a web browser that sends the user directly to the conference without having to log in again after sending a WebHostLogin () request containing the user's authentication information.

   An exemplary XML response to a WebHostLogin () call may be set as follows:

  An exemplary XML response to a WebHostLogin () call may be set as follows:

  FIG. 59 illustrates an embodiment of a method that allows a user to monitor a conference via a notification application without having to attend an audio conference 114 or access the conference interface. At block 5902, the conference notification application 5002 is started. The user may start up the conference notification application 5002 manually. Alternatively, the operating system 5004 may be configured to automatically launch an application at startup or at a predetermined event. At block 5904, the conference notification application 5002 may authenticate the user by the conference system 106. At block 5906, the conference notification application 5002 sends a request to the conference system 106 to view the virtual conference. The request may include information identifying the meeting. At decision block 5908, the conference and / or audio conference 114 is monitored for a particular behavior or event. When an event occurs during the audio conference 114, the conference notification application 5002 may receive an associated message or alert and present it to the user. At block 5912, the conference notification application 5002 may prompt the user to select to join the conference via the conference interface. In one embodiment, the join request may be presented in association with a message or alert. If the user chooses to participate in the virtual conference (decision block 5914), the conference notification application 5002 may further authenticate the user as a conference participant in block 5916. This authentication may replace the authentication in block 5904 or provide further or separate authentication. At block 5918, the conference notification application 5002 allows the user to access the conference via the conference user interface 4400, for example.

   FIG. 60 illustrates another embodiment of a method for implementing certain aspects of the conference notification application 5002. At block 6002, the conference notification application 5002 is started. At block 6004, the conference notification application 5002 may authenticate the user by the conference system 106. At block 6006, the conference notification application 5002 sends a request to the conference system 106 for an available conference associated with the user. At decision block 6008, the meeting notification application 5002 may receive a meeting schedule associated with the user and present it to the user (block 6010). At block 6012, the conference notification application 5002 may prompt the user to select one of the conferences (block 6012). If the user requests to participate in the selected conference (decision block 6014), the user may be allowed to participate in the audio conference 114 and / or virtual conference after being authenticated (block 6016). Good. As illustrated in decision block 5914, the user may request to view the conference without necessarily attending the conference.

   With reference to FIGS. 65-75, various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs for managing users participating in an audio conference 114 via a conference interface are described. In this regard, FIG. 65 illustrates an embodiment of a computing device 102 that includes one or more modules (participant management module 6502) that are stored in the memory 404 and executable by the processor 402. As described in more detail below, in general, the participant management module 6502 allows the user of the computing device 102 to add and join conference participants via, for example, a drag and drop function associated with the conference interface. Including logic and / or functionality that allows it to be removed. Participant management module 6502 may control the operation of drag and drop functions associated with related functions provided by graphical user interface 132 and / or the conference interface provided by conferencing system 106. A user of computing device 102 (eg, participant, host, etc.) may interface with a drag and drop function via any desired input mechanism. In one embodiment, the drag and drop function allows the user to perform the drag and drop function by touching the touch screen display 5004 with another input device such as a finger or stylus (described above). (Or other) touch screen display 5004 is supported. In other embodiments, the drag-and-drop function controls the movement of the displayed cursor associated with the graphical user interface 132, and the input for selecting the displayed object and selecting a user input command. May be implemented with a mouse or other input device 6501 that provides In a further embodiment, the drag and drop function may be a voice command, a keyboard shortcut, or any other to provide a command that identifies the object to be moved and / or the aspect to be moved within the conference interface. Any desired input means may be executed.

   FIG. 66 illustrates an embodiment of a conference user interface 6602 for managing participants in an online conference. Conference user interface 6602 generally includes a screen portion 4002 and a contact list 6604. Screen portion 4002 provides an aspect of the user experience associated with an online conference that includes displaying an object 4004 for each participant 104 of the audio conference 114. The object 4004 (and many more common conference interfaces) may be arranged and configured in any manner previously described herein.

   Contact list 6604 displays a list of contact objects 6606 (or other desired visual arrangement). Contact object 6606 may display information identifying a particular contact or group of contacts. The identifying information may include any suitable information that allows the user of the contact list 6604 to uniquely identify the contact. For example, in one embodiment, the contact object 6606 displays one or more contact identifiers or descriptions, names, nicknames, images, avatars, icons, email addresses, phone numbers, social network profiles, identifiers or names, etc. May be. It should be understood that regardless of the information displayed by the contact object 6606, each contact object 6606 is logically associated with the corresponding contact information. Contact information may include any data that identifies a contact that may be used by client device 102 and / or conferencing system 106 to initiate and / or establish a connection between the contact and conferencing system 106. . Contact list 6606 and any associated data, including contact information, is stored in memory 404 of client device 102 by conferencing system 106, social network system 3102 or stored remotely by conferencing system 106, or otherwise It may be accessible by the client device 102.

   Referring to FIGS. 67-69, it should be understood that each contact object 6606 is configured to support drag and drop functionality via the graphical user interface 132. In general, the drag-and-drop function allows the user of the computing device 102 to select a contact object 6606 in the contact list 6604 (FIG. 67) and enter the conference interface (eg, screen portion 4002) as a participant object 4004. Allows an input gesture (FIG. 68) to be performed such that a contact list 6606 is added (FIG. 69). The contact object 6606 may be selected in various ways, for example, depending on the graphical user interface 132 and input mechanism settings. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 67, drag and drop functionality is provided via a touch screen display 5004. The drag and drop function may be configured to determine a location on the touch screen display 5004 for human contact or stylus contact. Contact object 6606 may be selected by touching the display area of the object. FIG. 67 illustrates a contact object 6606g that is selected by the user touching the appropriate display area. In other embodiments, the user selection of the contact object 6606 is performed by moving the location of the cursor displayed on the display area to initiate a selection command (eg, clicking on a mouse, touchpad, or other input mechanism). May be executed).

   After the contact object 6606 is selected, the user may make any desired gesture that moves the selected contact object 6606 to a conference user interface (eg, screen portion 4002). As illustrated in FIG. 68, in one embodiment, the selected contact object 6606g may be moved with a drag operation. The drag operation may be configured to further monitor the location of the input mechanism (eg, human or stylus contact, cursor, etc.) while the contact object 6606 is selected. In the embodiment of FIG. 68, contact object 6606g is moved at least partially within screen portion 4002. The user may deselect the contact object 6606g in the screen portion 4002, which invites the contact to join the audio conference 114 or uses the corresponding contact information to connect with the contact. Trigger an automatically add participant command. As illustrated in FIG. 69, after a contact is added to a conference (or possibly before or during the establishment process), a new participant object 4004 where the conference interface identifies a particular contact. May be configured to be added.

   It should be understood that the selected contact object 6606 need not be moved within the screen portion 4002 to initiate the add participant command. The conference interface may include another screen portion (eg, a drop target) to drop or capture the contact object 6606. Another screen portion may be included within screen portion 4002 or any other location within the conference interface. It should further be appreciated that the graphical user interface 132 may support other input gestures or mouse drive commands to implement drag and drop or similar functionality. For example, in one embodiment, the selected contact object 6606 is “flicked” toward the screen portion 4002 (or other capture area or drop target) using monitored locations and / or acceleration parameters. Also good. In other embodiments, the selected contact object 6606 may be added to the online meeting via hotkeys or other keyboard inputs or selectable menus. For example, when the contact object 6606 is selected, the menu may be displayed automatically or selectively with an add participant prompt. The menu allows the user to specify how contacts are added to the meeting (eg, send an email invitation, initiate an outgoing call, or establish a contact via contact information) You may include an option to Depending on the selection from the user, the add participant command may be configured to invite participants or establish a connection with the conferencing system 106 with appropriate parameters.

   FIG. 70 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of a participant management module 6502 for implementing the participant management functions described above. In blocks 7002 and 7004, the client device 102 displays the conference interface and contact list 6604. At block 7006, participant management module 6502 determines that one of the contact objects 6606 has been selected via graphical user interface 132. Depending on the particular input devices and graphical user interface commands supported by the client device 102, the selected contact object 6606 may be moved to the conference interface or other capture area (block 7008) as described above. At block 7010, participant management module 6502 may be configured to monitor the location of the selected contact object 6606. At block 7010, the participant management module 6502 may, for example, by releasing the selected contact object 6606 in a predetermined area of the conference interface, or in other embodiments, any desired input command (eg, gesture, hot Receive an add participant command that may be triggered via a key, key shortcut, etc. At block 7012, participant management module 6502 may determine contact information associated with the selected contact object 6606. As described above, contact information may be accessed from a local application or remote service, such as conferencing system 106 or social network system 3102. In block 7012, the add participant command initiates the process of adding a contact to the online conference.

   Participant management module 6502 may be configured to send the request directly to the contact using the contact information or forward the request to conferencing system 106 for processing. The request may initiate, for example, an email message, social network message, or other message that includes a URL that directs the contact to a web page hosted by the conferencing system 106. As described above, the user then enters the audio conference 114 (eg, via an outgoing call, incoming call, etc. to the audio conference 114) and further sets a user profile associated with the participant object 4004. May be. In other embodiments, the request may automatically initiate an outgoing call to the contact information to add the contact to the audio conference 114. From the perspective of the participant management module 6502, it should be understood that contacts may be added to either the audio conference 114 or the online conference in any suitable manner. At block 7016, regardless of the manner in which the contact joins the online conference, the participant management module 6502 may add a participant object 4004 to the conference interface to indicate that the contact has joined the conference.

   71-75, in another embodiment, the participant management module 6502 allows a user of the computing device 102 to remove an existing participant in the audio conference 114 via the graphical user interface 132. It may be further configured to do so. Participant removal functionality may be implemented using the drag and drop functionality and other user interface mechanisms described above in connection with FIGS. 65-70. As illustrated in FIG. 71, the participant object 4004 displayed on the conference interface may be similarly set as a selectable object. During an existing conference, the user of computing device 102 (FIG. 65) selects participant object 4004 (FIG. 71) and selects participant object 4004 selected from its original location in the conference interface (FIG. 72). To move, an input gesture or other command may be performed as described above. The selected participant object 4004 is released from the conference interface (eg, screen portion 4002) and deselected (FIG. 73), thereby triggering a remove participant command. The remove participant command may be initiated in other ways via the graphical user interface, as described above in connection with the add participant command. The remove participant command may initiate removal of the participant object 4004 from the conference interface (FIG. 73) and disconnect the participant from the audio conference 114. As illustrated in FIG. 74, the user may be prompted by display menu 7402 to confirm the removal of the participant.

   FIG. 75 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of another embodiment of a participant management module 6502 for implementing participant removal functionality. At block 7002, the client device 102 presents a participant object 4004 on the conference interface indicating who is currently participating in the conference. At block 7004, participant management module 6502 determines that one of the participant objects 4004 has been selected via graphical user interface 132. Depending on the particular input devices and graphical user interface commands supported by the client device 102, the selected participant object 4004 may be moved away from the initial location (block 7506). At block 7508, the participant management module 6502 may be configured to monitor the location of the selected participant object 4004. In block 7508, the participant management module 6502 may, for example, at a predetermined distance from the original location, at any predetermined location or capture area, or any desired input command (eg, gesture, hot key, key shortcut, etc.). An add participant command is received that can be triggered by the release of the participant object 4004 selected via. At block 7510, the participant management module 6502 may be configured to determine the identity of the selected participant object 4004. Participant object 4004 may be identified by a system identifier (eg, participant identifier 3802, FIG. 38) assigned by conferencing system 106 to monitor participants within the conference. At block 7512, the participant management module 6502 initiates removal of the participant object 4004 from the conference interface to disconnect the connection associated with the system identifier.

   Referring to FIGS. 76-95, various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs (eg, information distribution module 6504, FIG. 65) distribute information between participants in an online conference via graphical user interface 132. Will be described. As will be described in more detail below, in general, the information distribution module 6504 may select an online conference object by selecting and moving the source information object to a drop target associated with one or more participants via the conference interface. It includes logic and / or functionality that allows a user of computing device 102 to distribute information between participants. Selection and movement of information objects may be implemented via the drag and drop functionality described above or otherwise and any suitable input mechanism.

   Information distribution module 6504 may be configured to control the selection and distribution of various types of information objects to participants in online conferences. An information object refers to any user interface element that can be dragged and dropped or that has an associated source information object. The information object may include a data file or programming code or a URL (Universal Resource Locator) associated with the data file or programming code. It should be understood that the information source may be in the form of text, audio, video, graphics, etc., or any combination thereof. Further, the information source may be stored on the computer device 102, the conferencing system 106, or any other system accessible by the computer device 102 or the conferencing system 106.

   Various information objects and methods of operation are described below with respect to another embodiment of the conference interface. FIGS. 76-80 include profile information whose information source is associated with the participant object 4004 displayed by the conferencing system 106. The profile information is also added as a new contact to the participant's contact list. 81-88 illustrate an embodiment in which the information source includes one of the participant's information resources and the information source is distributed to one or more participants in the online conference. FIGS. 89-95 illustrate embodiments in which the information source includes an information object that is guided to an online meeting via a collaborative application.

   As illustrated in FIG. 76, the conference interface may be configured with a My Contacts list that includes a plurality of contact objects 6606 and a screen portion 4002 in which each participant of the online conference is identified with a participant object 4002. . Contact list 6606 may be provided and / or managed by conferencing system 106, an application operated by computing device 102, social network computer system 3102, or other contact management application. As described above, participant object 4002 may be associated with stored profile information that identifies the participant. The profile information may include any desired parameters including those described above and the example of FIG.

   Profile information may be stored by the conferencing system 106 and obtained in any of the above ways. In one embodiment, profile information may be provided by a participant when accessing the conferencing system 106. In other embodiments, the profile information is identified by the participant during the audio conference 114 via the conference interface, obtained from a local or remote call identification database, or other online such as a search engine, social network profile, etc. It may be imported from the service.

  In operation, the drag-and-drop function can be used to input gestures or other input commands that allow the user of computing device 102 to select participant object 4002 (FIG. 76) and move participant object 4002 to contact list 6604 (see FIG. 77) can be executed. Participant object 4002 may be selected in various ways depending on, for example, graphical user interface 132 and input mechanism settings. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 76, drag and drop functionality is provided via a touch screen display 5004.

   After participant object 4002 is selected, the user may make any desired gesture that moves selected contact object 4002 to my contact list 6604. As illustrated in FIG. 77, in one embodiment, the selected participant object 4002 may be moved with a drag operation. The drag operation may be configured to further monitor the location of the input mechanism (eg, human or stylus contact, cursor, etc.) while the participant object 4002 is selected. In the embodiment of FIG. 77, participant object 4002 is moved at least partially within the display area of contact list 6604. The user triggers an add contact command that directs the contact management application to deselect the participant object 4002 in the display area, thereby creating a new contact that includes one or more participant parameters. May be. As illustrated in FIG. 78, a contact object 6606h may be displayed in the contact list 6604 after a new contact is added to the contact list 6604.

   It should be understood that the selected participant object 4002 need not be moved in the contact list 6604 to initiate the add participant command. The conference interface may include another screen portion to drop or capture the participant object 4002 as a new contact. Another screen portion may be included within screen portion 4002 or any other location within the conference interface. It should further be appreciated that the graphical user interface 132 may support other input gestures or mouse drive commands to implement drag and drop or similar functionality. For example, in one embodiment, participant object 4002 may be “flicked” toward a capture area or drop target using monitored locations and / or acceleration parameters. In other embodiments, the participant object 4002 may be added as a new contact via a hot key or other keyboard input or selectable menu. For example, when the participant object 4002 is selected, the menu may be displayed automatically or selectively with an add contact prompt (FIG. 79). Menu 7902 may include an option that allows the user to specify the location of the contact list. For example, the contacts may be added to a local contact list, a social network list, or a list maintained by the conferencing system 106. In response to a selection from the user, the add contact command includes a participant contact specified by the user, including, for example, automatically or selectively inviting the contact to join the user's social network list. It may be set with appropriate parameters to communicate with the destination management application.

   FIG. 80 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of the information distribution module 6504 for implementing the contact addition function described above. At block 8002, the client device 102 presents a conference interface that displays a plurality of participant objects 4002 that identify participants in the conference. Further, the client apparatus 102 may present a contact list 6604. At block 8004, the information distribution module 6504 determines that one of the participant objects 4002 has been selected via the graphical user interface 132. Depending on the particular input devices and graphical user interface commands supported by the client device 102, the selected participant object 4002 may be moved to the contact list 6604 or other capture area (block 8006). At block 8008, the information distribution module 6504 may be configured to monitor the location of the selected participant object 4002 and determine that the object has been released at the drop target. In response to the release of the object, a menu 7902 (FIG. 79) may be presented to prompt the user for the contacts application. At block 8012, the information distribution module 6504 receives the user selection and initiates an add contact command. At block 8014, the information distribution module 6504 may determine profile information associated with the selected participant object 4002. Profile parameters may be obtained from a local application or remote service such as conferencing system 106 or social network system 3102. In block 8016, the add contact command starts the process of adding the contact to the online meeting and sending the profile information to the selected contact application.

   In another embodiment illustrated in FIG. 81, the conference interface 8100a may be configured with a my resource list 8102 that displays user interface objects associated with one or more information sources. The information object includes, for example, a document object 8106 corresponding to a document, a video object 8108 corresponding to video, an audio object 8110 corresponding to an audio clip, and a contact object 8114 corresponding to a contact (for example, a plurality of contact objects 6606). , A message object 8116 corresponding to an email, text message, blog post, social network update, etc., or any other information object 8118. In one embodiment, my resource list 8102 includes a file browser window for viewing files stored in memory 404. In this regard, the information object 8118 may include an icon that identifies one or more files or folders. My resource list 8102 may interface with web services such as video, audio, or image hosting sites, for example. Information object 8118 may include a selectable object that identifies the basic embed code or location of the hosting file. In further embodiments, the my resource list 8102 may be displayed in an interface with messages, videos, documents, files, etc. shared via the social network system 3102.

   The conference interface 8100a may include a screen portion 4002 that displays a participant object 4002 that identifies each participant in the online conference. The conference interface 8100a corresponds to the version of the conference interface 8100 presented to the first participant 104a. Conference interface 8100b (FIGS. 86 and 87) corresponds to the version of conference interface 8100 presented to second participant 104b. Although each participant 104 may be set to display their own unique information object 8118, the screen portion 4002 is similar for versions 8100a and 8100b.

   In this embodiment, the drag-and-drop function allows the user (eg, first participant 104a) to select one of the information objects 8118 and change the associated information source to one or more other in the conference. Allows distribution to participants. In FIG. 82, the first participant 104a has selected the document object 8106. As described above, the first participant 104a may perform an input gesture or other input command that moves the selected document 8106 to the conference interface. The document object 8106 may be moved to the participant object 4004 (FIG. 83) to distribute the document to the corresponding participant (ie, the second participant 104b). In other embodiments (FIG. 84), the document object 8106 may be moved to a default location or drop target within the screen portion 4002 to distribute the document to all participants in the online meeting.

   The document object 8106 may be selected in various ways, for example, depending on the settings of the graphical user interface 132 and the input mechanism. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 82, drag and drop functionality is provided via a touch screen display 5004. After the document 8106 is selected, the user may make any desired gesture that moves the selected document object 8106 to the drop target. The first participant 104a may deselect the document object 8106 to trigger an object distribution command that initiates delivery of the information source to the selected participant. Menu 8502 (FIG. 85) may be displayed to allow first participant 104a to select one or more delivery parameters. An email button 8504 may be selected to deliver the document to an email address stored in the participant profile associated with the participant object 4002. A conference profile button 8506 may be selected to store the information source by the conference system 106. The conferencing system 106 may store the information source in a designated participant profile, or allow the participant to access the information source (eg, download, select a link). Online profile button 8508 may be selected to send the information source (or link to the information source) to the participant's social network profile.

   FIG. 86 illustrates the conference interface of the second participant 104b before the document object 8116 is distributed by the first participant 104a. The second version 8100b of the conference interface 8100 may include a “conference inbox” that is managed by the conference system 106 and that allows participants to conveniently share information resources within the conference. Assuming that the first participant 104a chooses to distribute the selected document object 8106b to the second participant 104b via the conference system 106, FIG. 87 shows that the selected document object 8106b is the first 2 is displayed in the “conference inbox” of the participant. The second participant 104b may access the document by selecting the document object 8106a.

   FIG. 88 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of an information distribution module 6504 for implementing the information distribution function described above. At block 8802, the client device 102 presents a conference interface that displays a plurality of participant objects 4002 that identify conference participants. At block 8804, the client device 102 presents a user interface element (eg, my resource list 8102) that displays a plurality of information objects 8118. At block 8806, the information distribution module 6504 determines that one of the participant objects 8118 has been selected via the graphical user interface 132. At block 8008, the information distribution module 6504 may be configured to monitor the location of the selected participant object 4002 and determine that the object has been moved to a drop target in the conference interface. In response to releasing the object, a menu (FIG. 85) may be presented (block 8812) to prompt the user to specify how to deliver the information source to the participant. At block 8814, the information distribution module 6504 receives the user selection and initiates an object distribution command. At block 8816, the information distribution module 6504 may determine profile information and delivery methods associated with the selected participant object 4002. For example, the first participant 104a may choose to deliver the document to the second participant via email. The information distribution module 6504 may select a stored profile associated with the second participant 104, identify the email address, and then initiate delivery of the document to the email address (block). 8818).

   FIGS. 89-95 illustrate another embodiment of a method for distributing information via the conference interface 8900. FIG. In this embodiment, the conference interface includes a collaborative application 8104. In general, collaborative application 8104 includes a shared space within the conference interface that allows participants to share information (eg, text, audio, video, images, etc.). In one embodiment, collaborative application 8104 may support a simple note or chat type application that allows each participant to insert text into the shared user interface. In other embodiments, the collaborative application 8104 may include a whiteboard type function that supports a drawing function. It should be understood that the collaborative application 8104 may support any desired functionality that allows participants to share information regardless of the media. Shared information includes, for example, text, images, video, audio, graphics, etc., or any combination thereof. The collaborative application 8104 may include logic that allows participants to identify the type of information to be shared. Or, in some embodiments, collaborative application 8104 may automatically determine the type of information source. In this regard, the joint application 8104 may present shared information as a plurality of information objects 8118. The conference interface 8900 may include a screen portion 4002 that displays a participant object 4002 that identifies each participant in the online conference, along with a my resource list 8102 (or similar function).

   In this embodiment, the drag and drop function allows the user to select one of the information objects 8118 displayed in the collaborative application 8104 and pass the associated information source to one or more other participants in the conference. Allows distribution. In FIG. 90, participant 104 has selected video object 8106 that is shared by one of the conference participants. As described above, participant 104a may perform an input gesture or other input command that moves the selected video 8108 to a conference interface, my resource list, or other drop target. Video object 8108 may be moved to participant object 4004 (FIG. 92) to distribute the video to the corresponding participant. In other embodiments (FIG. 93), the video object 8108 may be moved to a default location or drop target within the screen portion 4002 to distribute the video to all participants in the online meeting. Further, the video object 8108 may be dragged and dropped on the my resource list 8102. As shown in FIGS. 94a and 94b, a user can remove an information object 8118 from a collaborative application 8104 from a non-participant, for example, by dropping the selected object on a contact object 6606 displayed in the contact list 6604. You may distribute to.

   The information object 8118 may be selected in various ways, for example, depending on the graphical user interface 132, the input mechanism, and the specific feature settings supported by the collaborative application 8104. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 90, drag and drop functionality is provided via a touch screen display 5004. After video object 8108 is selected, the user may make any desired gesture that moves selected document object 8106 to the drop target. The first participant 104a may deselect the video object 8108 to trigger an object distribution command that initiates delivery of the information source to the selected participant, contact, etc. As described above, the user may specify how to deliver the selected information object via a prompt in the menu (FIG. 85).

   FIG. 95 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of an information distribution module 6504 for implementing the information distribution function described above. At block 9502, the client device 102 presents a conference interface that displays a plurality of participant objects 4002 that identify participants in the conference. At block 9504, the client device 102 presents a collaborative application 8104 that enables participants to share information resources. At block 9506, the information distribution module 6504 determines that one of the information objects 8118 displayed in the collaborative application 8104 has been selected via the graphical user interface 132. The user may select one or more (or all) information objects 8118. At block 9508, the information distribution module 6504 monitors the location of the selected information object 8118 and the object is a drop target (eg, a conference interface, one or more participant objects 4004, a contact object, a my resource list 6604). Etc.) may be determined. In response to releasing the object, a menu (FIG. 85) may be presented (block 9512) to prompt the user to specify how to deliver the information source to the participant. At block 9514, the information distribution module 6504 receives the user selection and initiates an object distribution command. At block 9516, the information distribution module 6504 may determine profile information and delivery method (if applicable) associated with the selected participant object 4002 (or drop target). At block 9518, the information distribution module 6504 distributes the information source according to the identified delivery method and / or profile information.

   The conferencing system 106 may also support additional additional mechanisms for transferring information to and distributing information from the conferencing system 106. For example, in one embodiment, the conferencing system 106 may provide a customized email address associated with the participant's account. When the participant 104 creates an account with the conferencing system 106, the customized email address is automatically established and associated with the participant's account and made available. Participant 104 may send and receive emails using an email account, via a separate client application, a web-based interface, or via a conference interface. Since the customized email address is linked to the participant's account, when an email to this address is received, the conferencing system 106 may automatically determine the corresponding account. Any attachment, link, or other document or information is automatically or manually parsed from the email and presented to the conference or distributed to other participants as described above. It may be made available to the participant 104 via the interface. In another embodiment, participant 104 may associate an existing email address with the account instead of using a separate customized email address.

   With reference to FIGS. 96-107, various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs for managing a conference session in an online conference via the graphical user interface 132 are described. An embodiment of the conference session management function may be implemented via module 6506 stored in memory 404 (FIG. 65). As described in more detail below, in general, the conference session management module 6506 provides logic and / or allows a user of the computing device 102 to generate a breakout session for the conference session via the graphical user interface 132. Or include functionality. A breakout session may be generated by selecting one or more participant objects and moving them to a default drop target. Selection and movement of participant object 4004 may be implemented via the drag and drop functionality described above or otherwise and any suitable input mechanism.

   FIG. 96 illustrates an embodiment of a conference user interface 9600 for generating a breakout session. The conference user interface 9600 generally includes a screen portion 4002 that displays a participant object 4004 for each participant 104 in a conference session provided by the conference system 106. A conference session may include an audio conference 114 with an associated online conference. A conference session may be established by the conference system 106 in any of the ways described above. The conference user interface 9600 may further include a user interface element (eg, breakout session element 9602) to allow a user of the client device 102 to selectively initiate a breakout session generation process.

   During a conference session, the user of the client device 102 may select a breakout session element 9602 that may trigger the display of the breakout session window in the screen portion 9702 (FIG. 97). Referring to FIGS. 98-101, it should be understood that each participant object 4002 may be configured to support drag and drop functionality via the graphical user interface 132. The drag and drop function (or other input gesture described herein) allows the user to select a participant object from the main conference window in screen portion 4002 to the breakout session window in screen portion 9702. Makes it possible to move. The drag and drop operation may initiate an appropriate command to instruct the conferencing system 106 to add the corresponding participant to the breakout session.

   Participant object 4004 may be selected in various ways, for example, depending on the settings of graphical user interface 132 and input mechanism. In one embodiment, drag and drop functionality is provided via the touch screen display 5004. The drag and drop function may be configured to determine a location on the touch screen display 5004 for human contact or stylus contact. Participant object 4004 may be selected by touching the display area of the object. FIG. 98 illustrates a participant object 4004e that is selected by the user touching the appropriate display area. In other embodiments, user selection of participant object 4004 is performed by moving the location of the cursor displayed on the display area to initiate a selection command (eg, clicking on a mouse, touchpad, or other input mechanism). May be executed).

   After participant object 4004 is selected, the user may make any desired gesture that moves selected participant object 4004 to screen portion 9702. As illustrated in FIG. 99, in one embodiment, the selected participant object 4004e may be moved by a drag operation. The drag operation may be configured to further monitor the location of the input mechanism (eg, human or stylus contact, cursor, etc.) while the participant object 4004 is selected. In the embodiment of FIG. 99, participant object 4004e may be moved within a breakout session window. The user may deselect participant object 4004e to trigger a command to add the corresponding participant to the breakout session. FIGS. 100 and 101 illustrate a second participant object 4004f added to the breakout session.

   In one embodiment, the breakout session may be generated by processing the audio stream 122 of the audio conference 114. Consider the example shown in FIG. 102 where participant objects 4004e and 4004f are moved to a breakout session window. Prior to moving participant objects 4004e and 4004f, conferencing system 106 has established an audio conference 114 that includes six participants identified by participant identifiers 120a-f. Each participant has a corresponding audio stream 122a-f and is identified in the conference interface along with a corresponding participant object 4004a-f. When participant objects 4004e and 4004f are moved to the breakout session window, conference session management module 6506 may refer to participant identifiers 120e and 120f to identify corresponding audio streams 122e and 122f. Conference session management module 6506 may configure and initiate an appropriate command to conference system 106. In one embodiment, the command to add a participant to a breakout session may specify participant identifiers 120e and 120f. The conferencing system 106 may receive the commands and receive corresponding audio streams 122e and 122f.

   As illustrated in FIG. 105, the conferencing system 106 may establish a breakout session 12002 including audio streams 122e and 122f. The conferencing system 106 removes or disables or silences the audio streams 122e and 122f of the audio conference 114 associated with the original conference, generating a separate mix of the two streams for the breakout session 12002. May be. In this way, participants in the conference session do not listen to the audio streams 122e and 122f, and participants in the breakout session do not listen to the audio streams 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, and 112g. It should be understood that the processing of the audio stream 122 may be implemented in a variety of alternative ways by the mechanism of the conferencing system 106.

   As shown in FIGS. 106 and 107, the breakout session 10502 may be selectively recombined or rejoined to the audio conference 114 by similarly processing the audio streams 122a-f. In the embodiment of FIG. 106, the user may recombine breakout session 10502 with audio conference 114 by selecting a user interface element (eg, session coupling element 10602). In another embodiment, the breakout session window may be configured as a draggable object that the user can select and move to the main conference window (FIG. 107). Individual participants may be added back to the conference session by selecting the participant object 4004 and moving it from the breakout session window to the main conference window, as described above.

   FIG. 103 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of an embodiment of a conference session management module 6506 for implementing the session management functionality described above. At block 10302, the client device 102 presents a conference interface that displays a plurality of participant objects 4004 on the first screen portion that identify participants in a conference session established by the conference system 106. At block 10304, the conference session management module 6506 determines that one of the participant objects 4004 has been selected via the graphical user interface 132. Depending on the particular input devices and graphical user interface commands supported by the client device 102, the selected participant object 4004 may be moved to a drop target associated with the breakout session (block 10306). At block 10308, the conference session management module 6506 may determine a participant identifier 120 associated with the participant object 104. Conference session management module 6506 may instruct conference system 106 to remove the participant from the conference session (block 10310) and add the participant to the breakout session (10312).

   Referring to FIGS. 108-114, various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs for authenticating participants in an online meeting via graphical user interface 132 are described. The functionality for implementing participant authentication may be embodied, for example, in participant authentication module 6508 (FIG. 85). As described in more detail below, participant authentication module 6508 includes logic and / or functions for authenticating a participant via a signature capture mechanism displayed on the conference interface. The signature capture mechanism may include an area in the conference interface that is presented via the graphical user interface 132. The signature capture area is configured to electronically recognize and / or capture the location of the input device via the graphical user interface 132 as the input device is moved relative to the screen portion. In one embodiment, touch screen display 5004 may be used to allow a user to write or trace on a screen portion with other input devices such as, for example, a finger or stylus. In other embodiments, a mouse or other input device 6501 (FIG. 65) may be used to control the movement of the displayed cursor within the screen portion.

   FIG. 108 illustrates the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of one embodiment of a participant authentication module 6508 for authenticating conference participants. The conference may be established by the conference system 106 in any manner described above. The conference may include an audio conference 114 and / or a video conference with an associated conference interface presented to the client device 102 by the conference system 106 via a communication network. Whenever it is desirable to authenticate a participant for any event related to the preparation and / or management of a conference (ie, a conference event), the conferencing system 106 may request or invoke a participant authentication process. At block 10802, participant authentication module 6508 determines or is notified of a conference event associated with the conference in which the participant is authenticated. The conference event may be associated with a login event (FIG. 109) or, in other embodiments, used to authenticate participants prior to distributing a document or other information source. FIG. 110 illustrates an embodiment in which the participant 104a selects a document object 8106 to be distributed to the participant 104b. In particular, it may be desirable to authenticate participant 104b before distributing the document if the document is confidential or if it is desirable to verify the identity of the recipient. In this way, a secure distribution event may be triggered after the selected document object 8106 is dropped on the participant object 104b. The secure distribution event may start displaying the screen 11102 (FIG. 111) including the signature capture area.

   Another conference event may relate to confirming a participant vote or confirming an issue being discussed at the audio conference 114. FIG. 113 shows a “Approve minutes” screen 11304 that prompts the participant to approve the minutes (which may be displayed on the conference interface by the collaborative application 8104, for example). Screen 11304 may include a “yes” button 11308 and a “no” button 11310 or other input mechanism, along with a description 11306 of the issues to be voted on. After making the selection, a signature capture area 10906 may be displayed to authenticate the participant (FIG. 114).

   Regardless of the conference event that requires authentication, at block 10804, participant authentication module 6508 presents the signature capture area of the conference interface to the authenticated participant. The signature capture area may include windows, menus, displays, areas, areas, etc., or any other user interface element that is displayed on the conference interface via the graphical user interface 132. The user interface element may display the border of the signature capture area to highlight the defined area. At block 10806, the signature capture area is configured to electronically capture the coordinates of the location of the input device (eg, human or stylus contact or cursor to the touch screen display) when the input device is moved within the defined area. Composed. The signature capture area may capture a continuous movement or a series of movements. Signature capture area 10906 (FIGS. 109 and 114) is configured to capture a handwritten signature. However, it is to be understood that a signature may include some consecutive one or more movements determined by a particular user.

   In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 111, the signature capture area may display a reference grid that includes a plurality of nodes 11104. Participants may be asked to trace a predefined pattern via two or more nodes 11104. The signature capture area may detect the traced pattern 11106 as a node-to-node sequence. For example, in the illustration of FIG. 111, the participant is tracing the order from the upper left node to the upper right node, to the lower right node, and from node to node ending at the center node. This trace pattern 11106 may define the order from node to node according to the numbered nodes. It should be understood that other reference grids, patterns, arrangements, etc. may be implemented.

   At block 10808, the location coordinates of the electronic signature (eg, handwritten signature, trace pattern, gesture, etc.) are converted to a participant electronic signature. The participant electronic signature may be compared to the stored electronic signature (block 10810). The stored electronic signature may be stored in local memory 404, conferencing system 106, or at another remote location. The stored electronic signature may have been previously stored as a reference signature for authenticating the participant. The stored electronic signature may be logically related to the participant identifier. In this regard, the participant electronic signature and participant identifier may be provided to the application that performs the comparison. The application may refer to the stored electronic signature corresponding to the participant identifier to determine whether a match exists (decision block 10814). The comparison of two signatures may be implemented via any suitable algorithm, taking into account human errors and / or some technical limitations associated with the input mechanism. If there is a match, the participant may be authenticated (block 10812). If no match exists, the process may be repeated one or more times, or the participant may be denied access to the conference event.

   FIG. 115 illustrates an implementation of a conference recording / playback system 11500 that allows the participant 104 to selectively record, play back, and distribute various components of the conference provided by the conference system 106. The form is illustrated. The conference recording / playback system 11500 includes a conference system 106 and a plurality of client devices 102 connected via one or more communication networks 110 (FIG. 1). The conference system 106 and the client device 102 may be configured as described above. In general, the conferencing system 106 establishes an audio conference 114 between a plurality of participants 104. The one or more servers 108 are configured to present the audio conference 114 and conference interface to the client device via the client 11502 (eg, browser, one or more browser plug-ins, and / or special purpose clients). Also good. The conference interface may be presented and displayed via the graphical user interface 132 and associated display (eg, touch screen display device 5004 or other display device).

   In order to record and play back the audio conference 114 and content displayed or presented on the conference interface, the client device 102 includes a recording module 11504, a playback module 11506, a control module 11510, and one or more buffers and / or storage devices 11508. Is further included. Recording module 11504, playback module 11506, and control module 11510 may be embodied in memory (eg, memory 404) and executed by one or more processors 402. In one embodiment, modules 11504, 11506, and 11510 may be integrated with client 13002, but the modules may be combined with client 11502, graphical user interface 132, conference interface, or other related software and / or hardware programs. It should be understood that separate modules that interface may be included. Further, it should be understood that one or more such modules may reside on a server or other component of the conferencing system 106.

   Recording module 11504 includes a conference interface that includes the audio stream in audio conference 114 and any other audio, video, graphics, images, documents, text, data, or other multimedia presented via conference interface 3110. Configured to capture content and / or functionality displayed or presented on A user of the client device 102 may selectively control the recording module 11504 via the control module 11510 and associated user interface. The recording module 11504 may store content captured in one or more buffers or recording devices 13008. In one embodiment, the captured content is buffered in real time during the meeting for playback immediately or later by playback module 11506, as described in more detail below. The recording module 11504 includes a screen capture function to capture a portion (or the entire display area) of the conference interface. The recording module 11504 may capture embedded audio and / or video content separately. During or at the end of the meeting, the captured content may be processed and recorded in a playable format for recording, distribution, etc.

  As illustrated in FIG. 115, the captured content may include data associated with any of a plurality of conference channels 11512 associated with the conference. Conference channel 11512 may include, for example, audio stream 122 in audio conference 114, presentation content associated with the conference interface, and any inserted media 11602 from participant 104. The example shown in FIG. 116 includes an audio conference 114 that includes three participants 104a-104c. Each participant has an associated audio stream 122a-122c. The inserted media 13102 may include audio, video, documents, notes, images, graphics, data, etc. that participants can share, post, or present or display via the conference interface.

   In operation, each client device 102 of the conference recording / playback system 11500 may selectively capture one or more conference channels 11512 for immediate or subsequent playback. The captured content may be stored on each client device 102 or on the conferencing system 106. In this regard, the conferencing system 106 may include a recording module 11506 and a buffer or storage device 11508.

   FIG. 117 illustrates an embodiment of a recorded conference data structure recorded and stored via conference recording / playback system 11500. Recorded conference 11700 may be stored on any storage device in any computer readable format. In one embodiment, the recorded conference 11700 is configured as a playable media file or code. Recorded conference 11700 may be transferred or distributed between participants 104 or to other recipients using any desired transfer or distribution method. In one embodiment, the participant 104 who recorded the conference may transfer the recorded conference 11700 to a participant profile or archive hosted by the conference system 106. The archive may store a number of recorded conferences 11700 for later access and / or distribution by the participant 104 or any other user. The user may download the recorded conference 11700 for playback on the client device 102. In other embodiments, the recorded conference 11700 may be streamed as an integrated video. In further embodiments, the recorded conference 11700 may be referenced with a uniform resource locator (URL) or other embedded code that may be distributed to the user. Participant 104 also forwards recorded conference 11700 directly to other users or via any of the above or other methods, including by email or via social network computer systems or third party video distribution systems. You may distribute it.

   As illustrated in FIG. 117, the recorded conference channel 11512 may be synchronized according to a master timeline (eg, conference timeline 11702) associated with the conference. As part of the recording process, the recording module 11504 may generate a time stamp 11704 for the recorded content. In one embodiment, the timestamp 11704 may include a time reference 11706, an event type 11708, and an event identifier 11710. Time reference 11706 defines a temporary location along the master timeline. Event type 13208 and event identifier 13210 may be used to catalog specific types of events that occur within a conference. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 117, participant 102 a may insert video object 11712 into conference interface 3110. Video object 11712 may be shared with other participants 102b and 102c via conference interface 3110. An appropriate event type 11712 and event identifier 11710 may also be generated to identify the start and end of the inserted video. After the meeting, participant 102b may insert audio object 11714 and participant 102c may display document object 11716. The recording module 11504 may generate a time stamp 11704 to identify the inserted audio and the start and end of the document.

   It should be appreciated that the recording module 11504 may be configured to generate a time stamp 11704 for any conference event associated with the conference interface 3110. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 118, a timestamp 11704 may be generated for a participant-specified comment, note, or marker 11802. Marker 11802 may be used to identify relevant points in the meeting for later review or to annotate the meeting. Further, a time stamp 11704 may be generated to identify incoming and / or outgoing posts associated with a data feed such as communication channel 3202 (FIGS. 31 and 32) associated with social network system 3102. The time stamp 11704 for the marker 11802 and feed 11804 may be classified as private or public, is it only available to the user whose channel element 11512 is shared with or defined by other participants 104? May be defined.

   While describing the general structure and operation of the conference recording / playback system 11500, various additional features and functions will be described with reference to an exemplary embodiment of the conference interface 11900 (FIG. 119). . Conference interface 11900 displays an interactable participant object 11904 that identifies each participant 104 in the conference. The interactable participant object 11904 may display similar information described in connection with the participant object 4004 (eg, graphical representation 4102, profile information 4104, voice indicator 4106, business card element 4108, etc.). As mentioned in connection with FIG. 42 b, the business card element 4108 may “flip” the participant object 4004 to display additional parameters 4202. The interactable participant object 11902 may include additional interaction features and visual effects. For example, the participant object 11902 may include a cube having a plurality of display surfaces. When participant 104 selects a user interface element, the cube may be expanded to display one or more faces of the object.

   FIG. 119 illustrates participant object 11902d after being selected by one of the participants. The user's selection may trigger the display of cube faces 12002d, 12004d, and 12006d. Each face may display additional information about the participant. In one embodiment, the cube face may be configurable by the participant, for example displaying a social network profile, updates to the social network communication channel 3202, video, graphics, images, or any other content. May be. The face of the cube may be further selected to return to the original folded cube. In another embodiment, participant object 11902 may be rotated (automatically or by user selection) to display each face 12002d, 12004d, and 12006d of the cube. FIG. 121 shows participant object 11902 after it has been rotated to display cube face 12004d. It should be understood that the participant object 11902 may be configured with additional or alternative visual effects and / or interactable features.

   Conference interface 11900 may include one or more selectable elements for accessing various functions. My connection element 11906 may activate a display to allow participant 104 to set up an existing connection between client device 102 and conferencing system 106. Participant 104 may disconnect from audio conference 114, establish a new connection with audio conference 114 (eg, by dialing out), or reestablish an existing connection with audio conference 114. . In addition to setting up an audio connection, the participant 104 may set up a connection to an online conference via the conference interface 3110. In one embodiment, the connection with the online conference may be forwarded to another client device 102 or another client 11502 in an existing client device 102. This may allow participants to maintain their presence in the online conference seamlessly during transfer.

   Invite element 11908 may activate menu 12202 (FIG. 122) to allow participant 104 to invite additional participants 104 to the online conference. As illustrated in FIG. 122, for example, dialing out to a telephone number (telephone element 13704) and sending an email containing information for accessing the conferencing system 106 (email element 12206) or socializing the message Additional participants may be invited by sending to a web service (web presence element 12208), such as network system 3102.

   The sharing element 11910 may launch a menu 12302 (FIG. 123) to allow the participant 104 to insert media and share it with other participants in the online conference. Menu 12302 may prompt participant 104 to specify a viewing location for selecting media. A conference room element 12304 may display media stored by the conference system 106. The local device element 12306 may display a file browser to allow the participant 104 to select a file located on the client device 102. Web element 12308 may display available media hosted by a web service such as, for example, a third party video, audio, or document hosting service. FIG. 124 illustrates the conference interface 11900 after the participant 104 has identified the web-based video 13902. Client device 102 launches web-based video 12402 and conferencing system 106 shares it with all participants 104 via conferencing interface 3110.

   In one embodiment, when a participant launches a web-based video 12402 (or other user interface element, presentation display, etc.), the element may be “fly-in” to provide a more visually appealing experience. -In) "element may be guided to the conference interface 11900. For example, the element may appear to be lifted from the bottom of the conference interface 11900 and the participant object 11902 automatically re-enters the remaining available (or hidden) screen space to accommodate the element. It may be arranged. The movement of the element may begin from any part of the screen and may implement any desired animation or effect. In one implementation, the “fly-in” element is configured to simulate the behavior of the physical screen being lifted from the “floor” of the screen, and the participant object 11902 is “pushed” or repositioned by the screen. Or hidden. In another embodiment, the participant object 11902 may be displayed in the background with the “fly-in” element raised to the foreground.

   When the web-based video 12402 (or other presentation display) is completed or manually or automatically stopped, the animation or effect is reversed and the participant object 11902 returns to its original or other arrangement, “fly-in” Element may be moved to its original or other state. It should be understood that “fly-in” element animations and / or effects may be used with any desired presentation content and / or functionality (eg, display, pane, window, etc.).

   The My Room element 11912 may launch a display to allow the participant 104 to set the appearance of the conference interface 3110. Participant 104 may set the placement of participant object 11902, identify location view 124, or set any other presentation parameters.

   Application element 11914 may launch menu 12502 (FIG. 125) to allow participant 104 to launch a conference application. As described above, the conferencing system 106 may host a conferencing application store to purchase various conferencing applications. The application store element 12504 may launch an application store from which the participant 104 can purchase a conference application. The My Application element 12506 may launch a display that allows the participant 104 to select from applications that have already been purchased or are otherwise available to the participant 104. The host application element 12508 may display a conferencing application made available by the host of the online conference.

   FIG. 126 illustrates the conference interface 11900 after the participant 104 has launched the conference note application 12602. The note application 12602 displays a text insertion element 12604 to allow the participant 104 to insert a note in the note portion. Participant 104 may insert a note and select note posting element 14106, which is added as group note 12610 with participant 104 instruction 12608.

   Recording element 11916 launches display 12702 (FIG. 127) to allow participant 104 to launch conference recorder (element 12704) or set recording options (element 12706) or alert options (12708). May be. Record option element 12706 may launch display 12802 to allow participant 104 to select which element 12804 is recorded (eg, by checkbox 12806). In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 128, participant 104 chooses to record according to one or more of the following parameters: audio, conference interface, shared media, conference application, my feed, or all conference elements. May be. When activated, the recording module 11504 will record and store the selected element.

   As illustrated in FIG. 129, the alert options element 12702 may launch an alert manager 12902 to allow the participant 104 to set up a conference interface for various in-meeting alerts. For example, the conference interface 3110 may be configured to alert participants when a predetermined event occurs in the conference (element 12906), such as when a video is shared or a conference application is launched. . Other types of participant-based alerts may be generated (element 12904). Participant 104 may wish to be alerted via conference interface 3110 when a particular participant 104 is speaking or when a participant takes a predetermined action within the conference.

   When the conference recorder is launched and the recording module 11504 is recording a conference, the conference interface 3110 presents a record / playback navigation controller 13002 (FIG. 130) to facilitate various recording and playback functions. Also good. Recording / navigation controller 13002 includes a user interface associated with control module 11510. The controller 13002 includes a navigation controller 13102 that includes a pause / play input 13106, a rewind input 13104, and a fast forward input 13108 to initiate each play function. The pause / playback input 13106 toggles between a conference pause and a conference playback function. Rewind input 13106 and fast forward input 13104 allow participant 104 to move forward and backward along the master timeline of the conference being played. During the playback function, participant 104 may select live input 14612 to automatically return the live conference. A mute input 13114 mutes the audio conference 114.

   The record / playback navigation controller 13002 may further include an insertion marker portion 13114 to allow the participant 104 to insert comments, tags, etc. (markers 11802, FIG. 118) into the master timeline 11702. Comments may be added to the text insertion element 13118 and identified as private or public comments. When insert element 13120 is selected, a time stamp 11704 containing a comment is generated.

   FIG. 132 is a flow diagram illustrating the mechanism, operation, and / or functionality of the embodiment of the conference recording / playback system of FIG. At block 13202, the conferencing system 106 establishes an audio conference 114 between the plurality of participants 104. At block 13204, the conference interface 3110 and audio conference 114 are presented to each client device 102. At block 13206, one or more client devices 102 record the audio conference 114 and conference interface 3110 synchronously. As described above, one or more conference channels 11512 may be recorded. At block 13208, synchronized audio and video are stored and played (block 13210).

   FIG. 133 illustrates an embodiment of a computer system 13300 that enables an online conference participant 104 to transfer a conference session seamlessly from a first participant's client device 102a to a second participant's client device 102b. Is illustrated. An uninterrupted transfer is provided during the conference so that other participants 104 of the conference are unaware of the transfer. The computer system 14800 generally includes a conferencing system 106 and a plurality of client devices 102 connected via one or more communication networks 110 (FIG. 1). Conference system 106 is configured to establish an audio conference 114 between a plurality of participants 104. One or more servers 108 associated with the conferencing system 106 are clients via a client (eg, client 13002, browser, one or more browser plug-ins, and / or any other general or special purpose client). The device 102 is configured to present an audio conference 114 and a conference interface 3110. The conference interface 3110 may be presented and displayed via the graphical user interface 132 and associated display (eg, touch screen display device 5004 or other display device). Each client device 102 may access the conference interface 3110 via a session with the conference system 106 (ie, a conference session).

   As illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 133, to facilitate transfer of a conference session from one client device to another, the client device 102 may include an inter-participant conference transfer module 13302. Good. Module 13302 generally includes logic or functionality for initiating, controlling, or implementing one or more aspects of a transfer process. Module 13302 may be embodied in memory (eg, memory 404) and executed by one or more processors 402. One or more portions of the module 13302 may include a first client device 102a (ie, the first or primary client device), a second client device 102b (ie, a later or secondary client device), the server 108, or a conference. It may reside in other elements of system 106.

   In this regard, the first participant's client device 102a is understood to mean the client device 102 that establishes an initial or previous conference session (ie, the first conference session) with the conferencing system 106. Should. The second participant's client device 102b refers to the target client device 102 that the participant 104 desires to transfer the first conference session. The first and second participant client devices 102 may include any computer device (described above) capable of communicating with the conferencing system 106 via the communication network 110. The transfer process may be implemented in any situation where it is desirable for a participant 104 to transfer a session with the conference system 106 from one device to another.

   For example, consider the situation in which participant 104 first participates in a meeting via a desktop computer or a personal computer such as a laptop or notebook computer at the participant's workplace. During the meeting, participant 104 may be required to leave the workplace. Although many participants 104 may have a mobile computing device that can access the conference, traditional conferencing solutions disconnect the participant from the personal computer and establish a new connection through the mobile computing device. May require. During this period, it may be clear that the participant 104 is absent from the meeting. One solution to this problem is to establish a new session with the mobile computing device before the participant 104 connects the personal computer. However, in this scenario, participant 104 may appear in the conference as two separate participants until the second session is established and the first session is terminated. While this may be preferred to appear absent, it further confuses other participants 104 or unnecessarily that the participant is no longer at work or accessing the conference via a mobile computing device. Can be stressed.

   Once the first conference session is established via the mobile computing device, participant 104 may experience similar problems. For various reasons, participant 104 may wish to access the conference from a device other than the original mobile computing device. For example, a mobile computing device can lose battery power or a connection with a carrier network, or other wireless networks can cause problems. Another reason may be that the participant 104 wishes to experience a meeting on a computer device with a larger display or other desirable performance characteristics. As described above, during a conference, one of the participants 104 may share a video or guide audio clips or other content or functionality via the conference interface 3110. The mobile computing device (or other computing device) may not have compatible software for viewing video, or in some cases display size, processing power, other hardware and / or software specifications, Or other performance characteristics make it difficult to view the content or functionality presented in the conference interface 3110. Participant 104 may wish to experience the conference from a more appropriate computing device or platform. In this situation, participant 104 will have the same problem as above.

   The computer system 13300 addresses one or more of these or other issues by allowing the participant 104 to change the device seamlessly so that it is not noticeable during the conference without interrupting the presence of the participant in the conference. Can bring about a solution. FIG. 134 illustrates an embodiment of a method for transferring a conference session from a first client device 102a to a second client device 102b while maintaining the presence of corresponding participants in the conference interface 3110. It should be understood that the method illustrates the functions, steps, or logic that may be performed or resident in the first client device 102a, the second client device 102b, or the conferencing system 106.

   At block 13402, the participant 104 joins the online conference via the first client device 102a. The first client device 102 a establishes a first conference session with the conference system 106. The online conference may include an audio conference 114. At block 13404, the conferencing system 106 presents a conference interface, such as the conference interface 3100, to the client device 102a and other client devices 102 of the conference, for example. As described above, the conference interface 3110 may display participant objects (eg, objects 4004, 11902) that identify each participant in the conference, including the participant 104 operating the first client device 102a. . The conferencing system 106 may reference each participant object by a unique participant identifier 3802 (FIG. 38) corresponding to the participant.

   At block 13406, the participant 104 initiates a transfer of the conference session to the second client device 102b. In one embodiment, participant 104 may initiate a transfer via conference interface 3100, for example, by my connection element 13406 (FIG. 119) or other user interface element or input device. At block 13408, the first client device 102a generates a transfer request 13502 (FIG. 135) that may include a participant identifier 3802 corresponding to the participant 104. The transfer request 13502 is transmitted to the second client device 102b. It should be appreciated that the transfer request 13502 may be set up and delivered at the second client device 102b in a variety of ways. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 135, the transfer request 13502 is transmitted to the second client device 102b via a local communication network such as, for example, a short-range wireless network using any desired protocol. This delivery method may be desirable in situations where client devices 102a and 102b are located close to each other.

   As illustrated in FIG. 136, the transfer request 13502 may be transmitted to the second client device 102b via one or more communication networks 110. The first client device 102a may send a message (eg, email, social network message, short message service (SMS) message, etc.) that may be received or retrieved by the second client device 102b. The message may include a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) as a link or the like that directs the participant to the conference system 106. The message may further include a participant identifier 3802. In further embodiments, transfer request 13502 may be sent to conferencing system 106 with or without participant identifier 3802. The conferencing system 106 may also set a new request or forward the original request to the second client device 102b.

   Regardless of the delivery method, at block 13410, the second client device 102b makes a request by sending a response or message 13702 to the first client device 102a (FIG. 137) and / or the conferencing system 106 (FIG. 138). Check. As illustrated in FIG. 139, at block 13412, the second client device 102b establishes a second conference session 13902 with the conference system 106 by any of the methods described above. The first conference session may be terminated. Knowing the participant identifier 3802, the conferencing system 106 may continuously display the participant object corresponding to the participant 104 on the conference interface 3110 during and after the transfer process. The conferencing system 106 may logically associate the second conference session (second client device 102b) with the first conference session (first client device 102b) based on the participant identifier 3802. In this way, the conferencing system 106 maintains the identity of the participant 104 in the conference interface 3110 during both sessions, thereby not being aware that the participant has been disconnected from the conference or changed device or connection. It may be possible for 104 to change the device so that it is not noticeable.

   The description of one or more processes or methods associated with the flowcharts or block diagrams above is for a module, part, logic, or code that includes one or more executable instructions for implementing a logical function or process step. It should be understood that some may be represented. It should further be understood that the logical functions may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the logical functions are stored in memory or non-volatile memory and any other processor or appropriate instruction execution associated with hardware (eg, a microprocessor) or multi-platform virtual conference room system. It may be implemented in software or firmware executed by the system. Furthermore, the logical function is a multi-platform virtual conference room that can fetch instructions from an instruction execution system, equipment, or computer-based system, processor-owned system, or instruction execution system, equipment, or device and execute the instructions. It may be embodied in any computer readable medium used by or in connection with other systems such as systems associated with the system.

   It should be noted that this disclosure has been presented with reference to one or more illustrative or illustrative embodiments to illustrate the principles and concepts of the invention. The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, many modifications may be made to the embodiments described herein in light of the description provided herein, and all such modifications may be Within the scope of the invention.

Claims (43)

A method of providing a meeting,
A conference system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants via a communication network;
The conference system presenting a conference interface to the participant via a graphical user interface and a corresponding client device communicating with the conference system via the communication network;
The conference interface displaying a unique participant object that identifies each of the plurality of participants in the audio conference according to a graphical representation specified by the corresponding participant.    The method of claim 1, further comprising the contact interface presenting contact information associated with a corresponding participant via the unique participant object.    The method of claim 2, wherein the unique participant object is selectable by the participant to display corresponding contact information.    The method of claim 2, wherein the contact information is determined from one of an account profile associated with the conferencing system and a social network profile associated with a social network system.    The method of claim 1, wherein the conference interface further comprises presenting a presentation display.    5. The method of claim 4, wherein the conference interface presenting a presentation display includes presenting the presentation display to the conference interface using fly-in animation. The fly-in animation
Guiding the presentation display from a first portion of the conference interface;
6. The method of claim 5, comprising moving the presentation display to a second portion of the conference interface.    The method of claim 4, wherein the unique participant object is automatically repositioned in response to the fly-in animation.    The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation comprises one or more two-dimensional graphics, three-dimensional graphics, avatars, icons, or videos.    The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation is selected from a predetermined list of default images.    The method of claim 1, wherein the unique participant object comprises an interactable object having a plurality of selectable display surfaces. Displaying the graphical representation on a first selectable display surface;
Displaying the participant profile on a second selectable display surface;
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: displaying a social network feed corresponding to the participant on a third selectable display surface. A method of providing a meeting,
The conferencing system establishing a voice conference among a plurality of participants via a communication network, each participant having a corresponding participant identifier associated with a corresponding audio stream;
The conference system presenting a conference interface to the participant via a graphical user interface and a corresponding client device communicating with the conference system via the communication network;
The conference interface displaying a unique participant object that identifies each participant, the unique participant object being associated with a corresponding participant identifier and a corresponding audio stream. . The conference interface displaying a unique participant object comprises:
Receiving a participant selection of a visual representation for identifying the participant;
Presenting the visual representation of the unique participant object. A conference system for establishing an audio conference session between a plurality of computer devices connected via a communication network;
A virtual conference room configured to communicate with the conferencing system and the plurality of computer devices via the communication network, stored in and executed by one or more processors and computer-readable media A computer system comprising a server including an application,
The virtual meeting room application is
Logic configured to receive from the conference system audio stream data identifying the audio stream of the audio conference associated with each computer device and corresponding participants;
Logic configured to generate a virtual conference room for the audio conference session based on a predetermined simulated location view;
Logic configured to synchronously present the virtual conference room and the audio conference session to the computer device over the communication network;
The virtual conference room
A computer system comprising a first graphical representation of a conference room according to the predetermined simulated location view, and a second graphical representation of each of the plurality of participants having corresponding contact information displayed at the conference room .    The computer system of claim 14, wherein the second graphical representation is specified by a corresponding participant.    The computer system of claim 14, wherein the second graphical representation includes one of a two-dimensional graphic, a three-dimensional graphic, an avatar, and an icon.    The computer system of claim 14, wherein the second graphical representation is selected from a predetermined list of default images.    The computer system of claim 14, wherein the logic configured to receive the audio stream data includes logic configured to communicate with an application program interface associated with a conference platform.    The computer system of claim 18, wherein the conference platform comprises a VoIP platform.    The logic configured to generate the virtual conference room includes logic configured to receive a selection for the predetermined simulated location view from one of the participants. The computer system described.    The logic configured to generate the virtual meeting room includes logic configured to select the predetermined simulated location view based on information associated with one of the participants. Item 15. The computer system according to Item 14. The virtual meeting room application is
Logic configured to receive a first selection for the predetermined simulated location view from a first participant, and a first for the predetermined simulated location view different from the first selection. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising logic configured to receive a selection of two from the second participant. The logic configured to generate the virtual meeting room includes:
Logic configured to generate the virtual meeting room for the first participant based on the first selection for the predetermined simulated location view; and the predetermined simulated location view 23. The computer system of claim 22, comprising logic configured to generate the virtual meeting room for the second participant based on the second selection for.    The logic configured to generate the virtual meeting room includes logic configured to select the predetermined simulated location view based on information related to one or more of the participants. The computer system according to claim 14.    The computer system of claim 14, wherein the virtual meeting room application is further configured to automatically change the predetermined simulated location view based on the number of participants.    The computer system of claim 14, wherein the virtual meeting room application further comprises logic configured to obtain contact information associated with at least one of the participants prior to the virtual meeting room.    The virtual meeting room application further includes logic configured to obtain the contact information associated with one of the participants from another of the participants during the audio conference session. The computer system according to claim 14.    The computer system of claim 14, wherein the virtual meeting room application further includes logic configured to obtain the contact information associated with at least one of the participants from a social network site. A method for integrating a virtual conference room audio conference session comprising:
A server establishes an audio conference session between a plurality of computer devices via a conference system;
The server sets up a computer simulated meeting room for the audio conference session;
Obtaining a graphical representation of the participant and contact information for the participant associated with each computer device of the audio conference session;
The server adding the graphical representation and contact information for each participant to the computer simulated meeting room;
The server providing the computer device via a communication network with the computer-simulated conference room in the audio conference session.    30. The method of claim 29, wherein obtaining the graphical representation includes the server receiving a participant selection of the graphical representation. The step of setting a conference room where the server is simulated by the computer comprises:
The server receives a selection for a location view from one of the participants;
30. The method of claim 29, comprising: the server providing a computer simulated conference room according to the location view. The step of setting a conference room where the server is simulated by the computer comprises:
The server determines a location view based on information about at least one of the participants;
30. The method of claim 29, comprising: the server providing a computer simulated conference room according to the location view. The server setting a computer-simulated conference room for the audio conference session;
The server receives a first selection for a location view from a first participant;
The server receiving a second selection from the second participant for the location view that is different from the first selection;
The server providing the first participant with a computer-simulated conference room according to the first selection;
30. The method of claim 29, comprising: the server providing the second participant with a computer-simulated conference room according to the second selection.    30. The method of claim 29, wherein the computer simulated conference room is set according to a location view.    35. The method of claim 34, further comprising the server changing the location view during the audio conference session based on a number of participants.    35. The method of claim 34, further comprising the server selecting the location view based on information associated with the audio conference session. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium and executable by a processor to provide an online meeting,
Logic configured to receive a request to join an audio conference from a computing device;
Logic configured to receive a selection of a graphical object for visually representing the participant in a virtual conference room from a participant via the computing device;
Logic configured to graphically represent the participants of the virtual meeting room with selected graphical objects;
A computer program comprising: logic configured to provide the computer device with the virtual conference room having the audio conference. A computer program executable by a processor to provide a conference interface embodied in a computer-readable medium and associated with an audio conference,
Establish an audio conference between multiple participants over a communications network,
Presenting the conference interface to the participant via a graphical user interface and a corresponding client device communicating with the conference system via the communication network, and the audio conference according to a graphical representation specified by the corresponding participant A computer program configured to display a unique participant object in the conference interface that identifies each of a plurality of participants.    40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the graphical representation includes one or more two-dimensional graphics, three-dimensional graphics, avatars, icons, or videos.    40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the graphical representation is selected from a predetermined list of default images.    40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the unique participant object comprises an interactable object having a plurality of selectable display surfaces. Displaying the graphical representation on a first selectable display surface;
And further comprising logic configured to display a participant profile on a second selectable display surface and to display a social network feed corresponding to the participant on a third selectable display surface. 41. The computer program according to 41.

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