WO2009084941A2

WO2009084941A2 - A method for information conferencing and a system therefor

Info

Publication number: WO2009084941A2
Application number: PCT/MY2008/000196
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sureswaran Ramadass; Salah Noori Saleh
Original assignee: Multimedia Research Lab Sdn Bhd
Priority date: 2007-12-28
Filing date: 2008-12-24
Publication date: 2009-07-09
Also published as: WO2009084941A3; MY162141A

Abstract

The present invention relates to method and a system for information conferencing allowing a real time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application using standard Internet protocol in a distributed computer network system. The computer network system comprising of at least one centralized interface means (11) linking a plurality of information control distributor (12), each being interconnected with a plurality of user terminals (13). The system of the present invention enable users to share all web based and popular productivity.

Description

A METHOD FOR INFORMATION CONFERENCING AND A SYSTEM

THEREFOR

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and network application for a complete multimedia conferencing including all audio, video, chat and document sharing/viewing capabilities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Current applications that allow for collaborative work often face problems in synchronizing and are not real time. Furthermore, they fail to meet the requirements of today's explosive number of Internet users. Due to the nature of the Internet, they are also prone to error and thus not reliable.

Now all internet applications are towards collaboration especially standalone email and integrated collaborative environments (e.g., Microsoft Exchange/Outlook and IBM Lotus Domino/Notes) also conferencing applications (Document Conferencing/ Sharing).

As the Internet goes widespread, information-sharing technology becomes various. Until now, documents are shared by means of the Web and FTP in wide area networks, and Windows file sharing in local area network, these systems could be accessed independently by more than one person for their own purposes but do not allow for iterative or bidirectional information sharing, or other forms of human interaction. So the need for flexible, reliable and scalable document sharing system will become more pressing. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The information conferencing system of the present invention is a real time, synchronized document collaboration and sharing application that enable users to share all web based and popular productivity application information over existing network environment using standard Internet protocol. Real time here implies that participants to the conference will be viewing the same page of the information while synchronized means that the control of the information that are done are reflected in real time but also with means so that all participants will get the same changes without being out of sync. This includes the control of power point slides, updating of documents, which includes word, excel, etc.

There are two approaches to implementing a document conferencing system where real time sharing of documents is needed, Image Based Sharing and File Based Sharing. In image based sharing, the shared document is opened locally in the chairman's (13a) machine and the screen of the chairman (13a) is periodically captured as an image file. This image file is then sent to the participants periodically as changes occur. This will enable the users to see the changes that are being made to the documents in real time. The drawback of image based sharing is the bandwidth overhead of transmitting the images in real time to the participants. Another limitation is that the users will not be able to save the documents viewed as these are in image format, and this also posses limitations on sharing of multimedia content where it is accompanied by audio.

File based sharing works on file transfer mechanism as its backbone. Documents to be shared are first transmitted from the presenter to the participants and then opened locally in their respective machines. There is an initial bandwidth overhead when transmitting the documents but further updates only need the update commands to be transmitted, thus a better bandwidth utilization . As the documents shared are present locally they can be saved for later reference. This architecture also gives the users a file transfer service. We have adopted the file based sharing approach in our system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated from the

following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the following drawings and appendices in which

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustration the overall system design and component with their connection.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram showing the relation among conference members (chairman (13a), presenter, and participants); it shows also the delegation control and passing this type of token.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram illustrating the document sharing (distribution) process during the conference.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

System Architecture and Components

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention as shown in Fig. I₅ there is shown a multiple site information conferencing system (10) of the present invention comprising of at least one centralized interface means (11) linking a plurality of information control distributors (12), each being interconnected with a plurality of user terminals (13). Each of these entities has its particular form of functionality.

One of the user terminals (13), being designated as chairman (13a) of the present conference is used to start and join the conference, where other user terminals (13) will be able to share and view the documents. The information control distributors (12) are used as a platform for user terminals (13) to register and connect as well, information control distributors (12) are mainly used for file and control messaging distribution among conference's users, each information control distributor (12) and its related terminals (13) will be considered as one separate site, in this case the chairman (13a) will be dealing with two types of information control distributors (12), local and remote, local information control distributors (12a) where the chairman (13a) is connected directly, and all other connected user terminals (13) to the same information control distributors (12a) will be considered local also, while the rest of the information control distributors (12) with their user terminal (13) will be considered as remote (in another different sites). The interface means (11) is to provide a platform for centralized data sharing and communications among all the information control distributors entities, for combining and monitoring the sites with better and optimized messaging and file distribution.

Conference Control Mechanism Shown in Fig. 2 is a conferencing session (20) between user terminals (13) of the network (10).The chairman (13a) of the conference begins the conference and invites selected user terminals (13) to this conference. The chairman (13a) of the conference, controls the conference by letting user terminals (13) to join or leave the conference. The chairman (13a) is also responsible for the whole conference (ending and moderating).

The chairman (13a) initiates a conference by inviting user terminals (13) who are registered to the local information control distributor (12a) or to the remote information control distributor (12). While another user terminal (13) will be delegated as presenter (13b) by the chairman (13a) on the start of the conference. The connected user terminals (13) will get an invitation to join the conference. For other user terminals (13) that were not connected to the information control distributor (12), if they are not yet log-on to the network, when the chairman (13 a) initiated the conference, they will get the invitation once they connect to the information control distributor (12) while the conference is still in session. The chairman (13a) will be the default presenter in the beginning of the conference. User terminals (13) that have joined the conference is designated as participants (13c) in the conference.

The presenter (13b) is the user in control of the current presentation, i.e. sharing file, web page, updating file and controlling power point presentation slides. Only the presenter (13b) is able to share files. Participants (13c) are the users who are watching the presentation.

Delegation Control

A delegation mechanism is also implemented for the facilitation of control passing. This allows the chairman (13a) to delegate control from any presenter (13b) to any participant (13c). The current presenter (13b) is also able to pass the delegation to the next presenter or return it back to the chairman (13a). The chairman (13a) also has the ability to withdraw the delegation at any time. As an added convenience the participants (13c) are allowed to request for delegation as presenter (13b) upon invitation of the chairman to join the conference and prior to the chairman (13a) designating the position of presenter after a presentation has ended or upon withdrawal of delegation to the previous presenter (13b), this will result in the chairman getting a prompt for the delegation request and can decide whether to pass the delegation or not, as shown in FIG. 2.

There are a number of problems to be addressed where implementation of delegation is concerned. This includes participants (13c) not accepting the delegation control, resulting in the conference session being in a hanging state as there is no presenter. This of course can be overcome by the chairman (13a) withdrawing delegation. A better solution for this problem would be a timer. When the delegation token is passed and is not accepted within certain duration of time the control is passed back to the last presenter (13b). In cases where the presenter (13b) is disconnected for any reason the delegation is automatically return back to the chairman (13a).

Information Sharing Process

Shown in Fig. 3 is a document sharing process wherein after selecting the information and before uploading it to the information control distributor (12a), a check will be done in the information control distributor (12a) if the file exists with the same modified date otherwise the information control distributor (12a) will begin receiving the file from the presenter (13b). After successfully transferring this file, a copy will be saved in the information control distributor (12a) under that conference ID and will be used later when any participant joins later.

The document distribution process begins by sending the file to all the participants (13c). A participant (13c) will not receive the file in cases where the application that is needed to open the document is not installed (e.g. Microsoft Word for opening word documents) which will result in that participant (13c) getting a Missing Application notification. In cases where a copy of the file is already existent with the same modified date, the file will be opened directly without the need for downloading it. These two checkings have been added to the system (10) for better bandwidth utilization.

To keep a smooth and fast file sharing, the file is transferred continuously from the presenter (13b) to the participants (13c), whether those participants (13c) are located in the same information control distributor (12a) (local participants) or located in different information control distributor (12) (remote participants), this will be through local information control distributor only or through local information control distributor (12a) to interface means (11) then to the remote information control distributor (12) respectivly. Information control distributor (12) and interface means

(11) entities are involved in this information distribution/sharing concurrently to all participants. Each transferred information carries its original modified date in coordinated universal time (UTC) format, this is to overcome the problem faced with different regions; and this will keep all the participants up-to-date with the original file.

Further, sharing an information with the current system (10) would require the presenter (13b) to transfer the information first. Due to the inherent congestion and other variables present on the Internet which makes the nature of the Internet unpredictable, the presenter (13b) requires a method to know the status of the document transferred. Thus, the system provides the user terminals (13) with the status feedback mechanism option. As this requires extra bandwidth to check each participants (13c) status, it is optional Current status includes Waiting, Receiving, Cancelled, Failed, Stopped, and Completed.

In cases where all the participants (13c) already have the information to be shared there is of course no need to transfer the information and thus the presenter (13b) can choose to load the file directly on all the participants (13c) locally with the load option. The location to load the file from the presenter is limited to the specified folders and this can be changed as need be. Thus, the presenter (13b) has the option of transferring the document only to the participants (13c) that don't have it or altogether ignore the participants (13c) without the document and carry on with the session. The presenter (13b) can know the existence of the documents in the participants (13c) by using the check file availability feature.

The presenter (13b) can check the availability of any file/information in the participants (13 c) before sharing or loading it. This checking includes the application needed to open the file, the existence of the file and whether the file is up-to-date or unmodified. The presenter will get a report from all the clients regarding the existence of the document wherein the report format is anyt of the following: Missing Application, Up-To-Date, Unmodified and Not Exist).

When a user terminal (13d) joins late to a conference he can choose to download the current file being presented or any selected files that were presented in the conference. The list of presented information and web links that were shared in the conference is presented to the participants (13d) for downloading. This is possible as the server keeps a copy of the presented documents for each conference. This copy is deleted soon after the conference ends.

An information conferencing system (10) should be able to support a wide variety of document formats and the design should be such to also support future formats. For this requirement and after much research, the present invention provides a document container in a a web browser object. Web browsers already support a wide variety of document formats. Any added support for new documents can be added by implementing or adding the plug-ins required for the particular format to the system. The availability of the required plug-in to view the document is checked before the document is loaded to avoid errors or bandwidth wasting. On the unavailability of the required plug-in the user will get a message that the application required for viewing the document does not exist. These are some of the documents and files supported by document conferencing: MS Power point files, MS Word, MS Excel, Image files, Auto CAD drawings, Adobe PDF files, Audio and Video files, Macromedia Flash, HTML or web pages, and all text based files.

The presenter (13b) can either control the documents that is shared or to modify it. If the presenter is controlling a document for example a power point presentation, only the control command is passed such as slide number, next animation and etc. Sharing a web page is done by passing the URL of the site and thus it is subject to the Internet connection speed of the respective clients. The presenter 13bcan go to any presented document and synchronize to the participants to the current opened document.

When the presenter modifies a document such as a word or an excel document, a copy of the new document is retransmitted to the participants (13c). Synchronization of the latest information is done by depending on the current modified date of the information. The users (chairman (13a), presenter (13b), and participants (13c)) can update themselves with all the presented files/links or with the current information being presented. The user can also surf forward or backward through the presented information list while for synchronizing the user will get a list of all missing documents and web links with the latest presented one.

At the end of the conference, users (chairman (13a), presenter (13b), and participants (13c)) are presented with the save file and links dialog. With this option the users can save the files and links for future references. As the files that were downloaded for the conference are saved to a temporary directory and deleted after the conference ends.

Claims

1. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network comprising: at least one distributor means (12) for information control distribution, and a plurality of user terminals (13) interconnected to said distributor means (12).

2. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 1, further comprising an interface means (11) providing a centralized information sharing and communication among a plurality of said distributor means (12) being interconnected with said user terminals (13).

3. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 1, wherein said distributor means (12) having a registration database for receiving registration from user terminals (13) for inclusion in the conference.

4. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 1, wherein said distributor means (12) being capable for controlling file and messaging distribution among user terminals (13).

5. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim I₅ wherein said distributor means (12) having a filing database for receiving presentation from user terminals (13) for sharing to other terminals in the network.

6. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 2, wherein said interface means (11) having combining and monitoring means for monitoring said distributor means (12) during the conference.

7. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 1 or claim 2, wherein a user terminal (13) having means for initiating a conference.

8. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 7, wherein said user terminal (13) initiating a conference having means to designate a user terminal (13) to control the presentation on the conference.

9. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 8, wherein said user terminal (13) initiating a conference having means to pass the designation of a user terminal (13) to control the presentation on the conference to another user terminal (13).

10. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 8, wherein said user terminal (13) initiating a conference having means to withdraw the designation of a user terminal (13) to control the presentation on the conference.

11. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 8, wherein said user terminal (13) being designated to control the presentation in the conference having means for declining the designation.

12. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 1 or claim 2, wherein a user terminal (13) being connected to the conference having means to control the current presentation in the conference. lS. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 1 or claim 2, wherein at least one user terminal

(13) being connected to the conference having means to receive information being shared in the conference.

14. An information conferencing system (10) having real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application in a computer network in accordance with claim 10 or claim 11, wherein said user terminal (13) controlling the current presentation having means to sent information to user terminals (13) connected to the conference.

15. A method for information conferencing allowing a real-time and synchronized information collaboration and sharing application using standard Internet protocol in a computer network system having at least one centralized interface means (11) linking a plurality of information control distributor (12), each being interconnected with a plurality of user terminals (13), the method comprising the steps of: initiating an information conference by at least one user terminal (13), said user terminal (13) being designated as chairman (13a) of the conference, wherein other user terminals (13) are invited through the information control distributor (12), to join the conference; receiving positive or negative confirmation of joining the conference from invited user terminals (13), designated as participants (13c), connected to the computer network; delegating the control of presentation to a user terminal (13) being designated as presenter (13b); selecting the information to be presented in the said conference, uploading the information to the information control distributor (12); saving the information uploaded in the distributor (12) under the name of the conference; transferring the information to a plurality of participants (13c) which joined the conference; receiving the information by the participants (13 c); and opening the received information by the participants (13c).

16. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of registering to the information control distributor (12) by user terminals (13) prior to joining the conference.

17. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, wherein user terminals (13) not connected with the information control distributor (12) during the initiation of the conference by the chairman (13 a) will get an invitation upon connection to the distributor (12) while the conference is still in session.

18. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of requesting for delegation to be designated as presenter

(13b) by participants (13c) who joined the conference prior to the chairman (13a) designating a presenter (13b) to control the presentation.

19. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of passing the control of the presentation to another presenter (13b) by the current presenter (13b) ending his presentation.

20. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of passing the control of the presentation to the chairman (13a) by the current presenter (13b) ending his presentation.

21. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method ' further comprising the step of delegating the control of the presentation from the current presenter (13b) ending his presentation to another presenter (13b) by the chairman (13a) of the conference.

22. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method of delegating the control of presentation further comprising the steps of: declining the delegation to control the presentation by the designated presenter (13b); and withdrawing the designation of a presenter (13b) to control the presentation by the chairman (13a) of the conference.

23. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method of delegating the control of presentation further comprising the steps of: declining the delegation to control the presentation by the designated presenter (13b); and passing back the control of presentation to the last presenter (13b).

24. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method of delegating the control of presentation further comprising the steps of: declining the delegation to control the presentation by the designated presenter (13b); and passing back the control of presentation to the chairman (13 a) of the conference.

25. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of determining whether the selected information to be presented in the conference is already present in the information control distributor (12) prior to uploading the information.

26. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 25 wherein the selected information to be presented in the conference will no longer be uploaded to the information control distributor (12) upon determining that the information is already existing having the same modified date on said information control distributor (12).

27. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of determining whether the selected information with the same modified date is already present with the participant (13c) prior to transferring said information.

28. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 27, wherein the selected information will no longer be transferred to the participant (13 c) upon determining that the information is already existing with the same modified date on said participant (13c).

29. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of determining if the participant (13 c) has software application needed to open the information prior to transferring said information to the participant (13 c).

30. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15 or claim 29, the method of receiving the information by the participants (13c) further comprising the step of receiving notification from the information control distributor (12) upon determination that said participant (13c) does not have the software application needed to open the transferred information.

31. A method for information conferencing in accordance with anyone of claims 27-30, wherein a report will be received by the presenter (13b) regarding the existence of the selected information with the participants (13c), the report may include either of the following: Missing application, Up-to-Date, Unmodified and Not Exist.

32. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, further comprising the step of determining the current status of the transferred information.

33. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 32, wherein the current status of the transferred information may include either of the following: waiting, receiving, cancelled, failed, stopped, and completed.

34. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, wherein the information is transferred continuously from the presenter (13b) to the participants

(13c) through the information control distributor (12) wherein the presenter (13b) is connected and to the other participants (13 c) connected to different information control distributor, said participants (13c) being connected to the presenter (13b) through the centralized interface means.

35. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, wherein invited participants (13c) can log to the system anytime during the conference.

36. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15 or claim 35, wherein a list of the information presented in the conference can be retrieved by participants (13 c) who logs to the system anytime after the conference has already started.

37. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of saving the presented information after the conference has ended.

38. A method for information conferencing in accordance with claim 15, the method further comprising the step of deleting the presented information after the conference has ended.