H04L65/403

Methods and apparatus for receiving meeting controls for network conferences

Methods and apparatus for receiving user meeting control for network conferences. In an embodiment, a method for receiving user meeting controls includes transmitting a request to participate in a network conference. The request includes an identifier. The method also includes receiving meeting controls for use during the network conference. The meeting controls are determined from a policy database based on the identifier.

VIDEO CONFERENCE BRIDGE SETTING SHARING, PUSHING, AND RATIONALIZATION
20180006772 · 2018-01-04 ·

A conference system is provided with enhanced settings capabilities. A controller can poll for settings at each endpoint in a conference system and be able via the video stream to selectively display and compare settings among the endpoints. One location can push its settings to one or more locations to overcome failures or degradation in the conference. The settings between different controllers may be rationalized via a common denominator method or tabular method to build a knowledge of how to configure conferences and to automate responses to problems.

System and Method for Automatically Selecting Images to Accompany Text

A system for selecting an image to accompany text from a user in connection with a social media post. The system is capable of receiving text from the user, identifying one or more search terms based on the text, identifying candidate images from images in one or more image databases using the search terms, presenting one or more candidate images to the user, receiving from the user a selected image from the one or more candidate images, generating the social media post comprising the selected image and the user-submitted text, and transmitting the social media post for display.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING THE DISPLAY OF MESSAGES OF A GROUP CHAT
20180006986 · 2018-01-04 ·

A method includes: upon opening a target communication window, displaying a first subset of communication items target communication window, without concurrently displaying a second and a third subset of communication items in the target communication window, wherein: the first, second, and third subsets of communication items have been received after last closure of the target communication window, and the first subset is received after the second subset, and the second subset is received after the third subset; in response to receiving a second user request to display earlier received communication items and in accordance with a determination that the second user request meets predefined list rollback criteria: ceasing to display the first subset of communication items in the target communication window; and displaying the third subset of communication items in the target communication window, without first displaying the second subset of communication items in the target communication window.

POST-CONFERENCE PLAYBACK SYSTEM HAVING HIGHER PERCEIVED QUALITY THAN ORIGINALLY HEARD IN THE CONFERENCE

Some aspects of the present disclosure involve the recording, processing and playback of audio data corresponding to conferences, such as teleconferences. In some teleconference implementations, the audio experience heard when a recording of the conference is played back may be substantially different from the audio experience of an individual conference participant during the original teleconference. In some implementations, the recorded audio data may include at least some audio data that was not available during the teleconference. In some examples, the spatial characteristics of the played-back audio data may be different from that of the audio heard by participants of the teleconference.

COMMUNICATION CONTROL DEVICE, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD
20180007095 · 2018-01-04 ·

A communication control device is configured to control data communication between terminals using a communication network. The communication control device include: a status-information acquiring unit configured to acquire respective pieces of status information which represent operating states of the terminals; a reception-information acquiring unit configured to acquire respective pieces of reception information which represent states of the communication network when the terminals have received data; a communication determining unit configured to determine a type of communication on the basis of a combination of pieces of status information of multiple terminals that participate in the same communication; and a quality control unit configured to control quality of data that each terminal transmits or receives on the basis of the determined type of communication and the acquired reception information.

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING CALLS
20180007190 · 2018-01-04 ·

A computer-implemented method for managing calls in a collaboration environment is provided. The method includes receiving, by a processor, a call into a collaboration session of the collaboration environment. The method also includes identifying, by the processor, a user from a plurality of users associated with the collaboration session, based on at least one of contextual information regarding the call and information regarding the plurality of users. The method further includes providing, by the processor, an interface on a device associated with the identified user, wherein the interface enables the identified user to instruct the device to handle the call within the collaboration session.

DATA CENTER RESELECTION

An initial data center is selected to host the online conference. This data center can be selected based on the locations of the participants, a weighting (or ‘priority’) of the participants, or a combination of the two (e.g., locations that are weighted by the participant's priority.) Typically, the data center closest to the centroid (i.e., geometric center, or ‘center of mass’) of the participants is selected. In anticipation that participants will join and/or leaver the conference, a list is calculated that each possible change to a respective data center that will be selected if that change occurs. This list may be distributed to the data centers that, if selected, would host the online conference.

FOG ENABLED TELEMETRY EMBEDDED IN REAL TIME MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS

Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for fog enabled telemetry in real time multimedia applications. An edge computing device can receive first sensor data from at least a first sensor and a collaboration data stream from a first client device. The collaboration data stream can including at least one of chat, audio or video data. The edge computing device can convert the first sensor data into a collaboration data stream format, yielding a first converted sensor data, and then embed the first converted sensor data into the collaboration data stream, yielding an embedded collaboration data stream. The edge computing device can then transmit the embedded collaboration data stream to an intended recipient.

WEIGHTED DATA CENTER RESELECTION

An initial data center is selected to host the online conference. This data center can be selected based on the locations of the participants, a weighting (or ‘priority’) of the participants, or a combination of the two (e.g., locations that are weighted by the participant's priority.) Typically, the data center closest to the centroid (i.e., geometric center, or ‘center of mass’) of the participants is selected. In anticipation that participants will join and/or leaver the conference, a list is calculated that each possible change to a respective data center that will be selected if that change occurs. This list may be distributed to the data centers that, if selected, would host the online conference.