Electronic conferencing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12289350-B2
Application number	US-202117485273-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2021
Priority date	Jan 29, 2021
Publication date	Apr 29, 2025
Grant date	Apr 29, 2025

Abstract

Aspects of the subject technology provide for secure, privacy-preserving access to electronic conferencing. In one or more implementations, a server may receive a request to contact an account via a service, the request including a service-specific alias for the account. The service-specific alias may be configured for contact with one or more devices associated with the account via a set of services. The server may allow or deny contact with the one or more devices associated with the account via the service, based on whether the service is included in the set of services for the service-specific alias. In one or more implementations, the service is an electronic conferencing service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
by one or more servers:
receiving a request from a device to contact an account via a service, wherein the request includes a service-specific alias for the account, wherein the service-specific alias is configured for contact with one or more devices associated with the account via a set of services, and the service comprises a communications service that facilitates communications between user devices;
obtaining a stored set of services for the service-specific alias, wherein the stored set of services are defined by a device associated with the account and the stored set of services comprises a set of multiple different communications services, obtained for the service-specific alias, that each facilitate communications between user devices;
in response to determining that the service is included in the stored set of services, allowing contact with the one or more devices associated with the account; and
in response to determining that the service is not included in the stored set of services, denying the request.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more servers store an account and an account alias of the account, the service-specific alias different from the account alias, and wherein allowing the contact includes, by the one or more servers:
obtaining the account alias for the account; and
providing information associated with the request to a device registered to the account using the account alias.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, by the one or more servers, determining whether to allow the contact with the account via the service by determining whether the service-specific alias is expired.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising, by the one or more servers:
setting an expiration time at which the service-specific alias will expire, responsive to a request from the device associated with the account to provision the service-specific alias.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising, by the one or more servers, extending the expiration time for the service-specific alias based on a further request from a device associated with the account.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is a request to contact the account via a subset of the service, the method further comprising, by the one or more servers:
determining whether to allow the contact with the account via the subset of the service, in part, by determining whether the service-specific alias has a scope that includes the subset of the service.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the service comprises an electronic conferencing service, and wherein the subset of the service comprises a specific conferencing session generated by the device associated with the account and using the electronic conferencing service.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, by the one or more servers and prior to receiving the request, storing time information in association with the service-specific alias.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, by the one or more servers:
identifying one or more other devices associated with the account; and
providing a notification to the one or more other devices with respect to creation of the service-specific alias.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device associated with the account comprises a first device, wherein the account comprises a first account associated, at the one or more servers, with the first device, and wherein receiving the request from the device comprises receiving the request from a second device that is not associated with the account.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service-specific alias has been previously provisioned by one of the one or more devices associated with the account prior to the request.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, comprising:
receiving a request from a device to contact an account via a service, wherein the request includes a service-specific alias for the account, wherein the service-specific alias is configured for contact with one or more devices associated with the account via a set of services, and the service comprises a communications service that facilitates communications between user devices;
obtaining a stored set of services for the service-specific alias, wherein the stored set of services are defined by a device associated with the account and the stored set of services comprises a set of multiple different communications services, obtained for the service-specific alias, that each facilitate communications between user devices;
in response to determining that the service is included in the stored set of services, allowing contact with the one or more devices associated with the account; and
in response to determining that the service is not included in the stored set of services, denying the request.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
storing an account and an account alias of the account, the service-specific alias different from the account alias, and wherein allowing the contact includes:
obtaining the account alias for the account; and
providing information associated with the request to a device registered to the account using the account alias.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
determining whether to allow the contact with the account via the service by determining whether the service-specific alias is expired.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:
setting an expiration time at which the service-specific alias will expire, responsive to a request from the device associated with the account to provision the service-specific alias.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
extending the expiration time for the service-specific alias based on a further request from a device associated with the account.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the request is a request to contact the account via a subset of the service, the operations further comprising:
determining whether to allow the contact with the account via the subset of the service, in part, by determining whether the service-specific alias has a scope that includes the subset of the service.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , the operations further comprising, prior to receiving the request, storing time information in association with the service-specific alias.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
identifying one or more other devices associated with the account; and
providing a notification to the one or more other devices with respect to creation of the service-specific alias.

20. A system, comprising: one or more servers configured to:
receive a request from a device to contact an account via a service, wherein the request includes a service-specific alias for the account, wherein the service-specific alias is configured for contact with one or more devices associated with the account via a set of services, and the service comprises a communications service that facilitates communications between user devices;
obtain a stored set of services for the service-specific alias, wherein the store

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Liu Xudong
• He Huan
• Leduc Nelson M
• Circosta Nicholas J
• Pollack Daniel B

Classifications

• 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

• H04L12/1818

  Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties · CPC title

• G06F16/9566

  URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links · CPC title

• H04L63/108

  when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time · CPC title

• H04L63/102

  Entity profiles · CPC title