Method and device for managing a conference

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10389768-B2
Application number	US-201514662390-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2015
Priority date	Mar 20, 2014
Publication date	Aug 20, 2019
Grant date	Aug 20, 2019

Abstract

A method and communication system are disclosed for conducting a conference among conference participants connected by a communication system. This system has at least one conference server and at least one image reproduction unit at each conference environment. The method involves collecting context data concerning at least one of the conference participants at multiple timed intervals; calculating a relationship value from the context data at the timed intervals; determining a relationship status, wherein the relationship status is expressed using one of several categories defined by a threshold value, depending on the calculated relationship value; and displaying the relationship status on at least one image reproduction unit during the conference. The method may be performed at the beginning of the conference and/or when a new participant joins the conference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for conducting a conference among conference participants via a communication system, one set of conference participants being at a first conference environment, at least one other set of conference participants being at another conference environment, the conference participants being communicatively connected by the communication system, the communication system comprising at least one conference server having a processor and non-transitory memory and at least one image reproduction unit at each conference environment on which images corresponding to at least some of the conference participants are displayed, wherein the method comprises:
a) the communication system collecting context data concerning at least one of the conference participants at multiple timed intervals from multiple sources of the context data, the multiple sources comprising social network sources and public media sources accessible via at least one network connection the communication system has with these sources;
b) the communication system calculating a relationship values from the collected context data at the timed intervals for different relationship levels;
c) the communication system determining at least one relationship status based on the calculated relationship values for the different relationship levels, wherein the relationship status is expressed using one of several categories that are each defined by a threshold value, depending on the calculated relationship value; and
d) displaying the at least one relationship status on at least one image reproduction unit during the conference;
wherein each relationship value is calculated according to the formula:
B ( T )= V×Z ( T )+(1− V )× B ( T− 1)

wherein T is a current time interval, T−1 is a prior time interval that immediately precedes the current time interval, Z is a counted number of events in a respective time interval, V is a factor that simulates having forgotten about events over time and is expressed by a value between 0 and 1, and B is the relationship value.

2. The method as in claim 1 wherein the context data are collected from data sources selected from the group consisting of social networks, in-house communications, staff network data banks, and connection data banks of communication providers.

3. The method as in claim 2 wherein the communication providers are e-mail service providers, telephone service providers, VoIP service providers or mobile wireless service providers.

4. The method as in claim 1 wherein the context data represent events selected from the group consisting of communication events, friend statuses, messages, likes, comments, blog entries, organizational events, professional collaboration, projects, meetings, joint publications, conference presentations, joint travel, joint events, mutual interests, living in proximity, working in proximity, membership in an association, membership in a society, political party affiliation, membership in a civic organization, and membership in a cultural organization.

5. The method as in claim 4 wherein the communication events are telephone conversations, e-mails, SMS messages or MMS messages.

6. The method as in claim 1 wherein the context data includes a counted number of events assigned to a selected participant and wherein the counted number of events used in calculating the relationship value is weighted according to at least one of how long before the conference the events happened, type of event and circumstances of the event.

7. The method as in claim 1 wherein the time intervals include a current time interval that runs up to a time of the conference, and a prior time interval that immediately precedes the current time interval, wherein each of the time intervals is one month.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein V has a value of 0.4 to 0.8.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein there is only one relationship status that is determined based on all the relationship levels.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the relationship levels comprise: public relationships, private relationships and professional relationships.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the relationship status is displayed by one of audio signals, background color, a border, tags, icons, emoticons, images, graphics, caricatures, film clips, music clips and jingles.

12. The method as in claim 9 wherein the relationship status is selected from the group of categories consisting of strong relationship, medium relationship, weak relationship, and no relationship.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein steps a) through c) are performed at the beginning of the conference.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein steps a) through c) are performed when a new participant joins the conference.

15. A communication system connecting a plurality of conference environments comprised of at least one conference server and at least one image reproduction unit at each conference environment on which images corresponding to at least some conference participants are displayed, the at least one conference server containing a processor and a non-transitory memory containing a program which causes the communication system to:
a) collecting context data concerning at least one of the conference participants at multiple timed intervals from multiple sources of the context data, the multiple sources comprising social network sources and public media sources accessible via at least one network connection the communication system has with these sources;
b) calculating relationship values from the collected context data at the timed intervals for different relationship levels;
c) determining at least one relationship status based on the calculated relationship values for the different relationship levels, wherein the at least one relationship status is expressed using at least one of several categories that are each defined by a threshold value, depending on the calculated relationship value; and
d) displaying the at least one relationship status on at least one image reproduction unit during the conference; and
wherein the communication system also includes a local conferencing unit connected to the at least one conference server and which is assigned to the respective conference environment; and wherein each relationship value is calculated according to the formula:
B ( T )= V×Z ( T )+(1− V )× B ( T− 1);

where T is a current time interval, T−1 is a prior time interval that immediately precedes the current time interval, Z is a counted number of events in a respective time interval, V is a factor that simulates having forgotten about events over time and is expressed by a value between 0 and 1, and B is the relationship value.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium having a program defining a method that is executable by a processor of a conference server in a communication system for conducting a conference among sets of conference participants, one set of conference participants being at a first conference environment, at least one other set of conference participants being at another conference environment, the conference participants being connected by the communication system, the communication system comprised of the conference server and at least one image reproduction unit at each conference environment on which images corresponding to at least some of the conference participants are displayed, wherein the method comprises:
a) collecting context data concerning at least one of the conference participants at multiple timed intervals from multiple sources of the context data, the multiple sourc

Assignees

• Unify Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Kleiner Patrick
• Klug Karl

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06Q10/101 Primary

  Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services · CPC title

• H04L12/1822

  Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission · CPC title

• H04L65/403 Primary

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title