Managing A Virtual Waiting Room For Online Meetings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016234264-A1
Application number	US-201514618015-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 10, 2015
Priority date	Feb 10, 2015
Publication date	Aug 11, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A server or other computing device manages meetings in a virtual meeting room on behalf of a virtual meeting room owner. A request is received from an attendee to join a meeting in the virtual meeting room. A determination is made, based on configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner, whether to connect the attendee to a virtual waiting room. The attendee is connected to the virtual waiting room in accordance with the configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
at a server that manages meetings in a virtual meeting room on behalf of a virtual meeting room owner:
receiving a request from an attendee to join a meeting in the virtual meeting room;
determining, based on configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner, whether to connect the attendee to a virtual waiting room; and
connecting the attendee to the virtual waiting room in accordance with the configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising instantiating the virtual waiting room with a pool of resources.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that the virtual meeting room owner is not available to join the meeting because the virtual meeting room owner has not connected to the virtual meeting room.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that the virtual meeting room owner is not available to join the meeting because the virtual meeting room owner is in a meeting still in-progress in the virtual meeting room.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising, according to the configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner, displaying a graphical user interface control with a prompt to the virtual meeting room owner, while in the meeting still in-progress, to open the virtual waiting room and admit the attendee to the virtual waiting room.

6 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising automatically opening the virtual waiting room a predetermined period of time prior to the start time of the meeting, and wherein connecting comprises automatically connecting the attendee to the virtual meeting room.

7 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising automatically opening the virtual waiting room at a predetermined time, and wherein connecting comprises automatically connecting the attendee to the virtual meeting room.

8 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining an identity of the attendee, and wherein connecting comprises automatically connecting the attendee to the virtual waiting room based on the identity of the attendee.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein when the identity of the attendee indicates that the attendee has a predetermined relationship with the virtual meeting room owner, connecting comprises automatically connecting the attendee to the virtual waiting room and further comprising generating an audio or visual alert to the virtual meeting room owner indicating that the attendee is in the virtual waiting room waiting for the start of the meeting.

10 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising displaying to one or more attendees in the virtual waiting room a message indicating that the virtual meeting room owner is not yet available.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising playing to the one or more attendees in the virtual waiting room a video program.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising displaying to one or more attendees a list of the attendees in the virtual waiting room.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising enabling audio, video and content sharing interactions between multiple attendees in the virtual waiting which are comparable to interactions available in the virtual meeting room.

14 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising displaying to the virtual meeting room owner a message indicating how many people are in the virtual waiting room.

15 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising displaying only to the virtual meeting room owner a notification that the attendee for a next meeting is in the virtual waiting room.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving from the virtual meeting room owner a command to open an audio and/or video connection to the attendee in the virtual waiting room to allow audio and/or video communication between the attendee and virtual meeting room owner.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising receiving from the virtual meeting room owner a command to close the audio and/or video connection to the attendee in the virtual waiting room.

18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising receiving from the virtual meeting room owner a command to add the attendee who is in the virtual waiting room into the virtual meeting MOM.

19 . An apparatus comprising:
a network interface unit configured for network communication with user devices of attendees of a virtual meeting in virtual meeting room that is managed on behalf of a virtual meeting room owner; a processor coupled to the network interface unit, and configured to:
receive a request from an attendee to join a meeting in the virtual meeting room;
determine, based on configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner, whether to connect the attendee to a virtual waiting room; and
connect the attendee to the virtual waiting room in accordance with the configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the virtual meeting room owner is in a meeting still-in progress in the virtual meeting room.

21 . The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the processor is configured to display a user interface control with a prompt to the virtual meeting room owner while the virtual meeting room owner is in the meeting still-in progress, the user interface control to allow the virtual meeting room owner to open the virtual waiting room and admit the attendee to the virtual waiting room.

22 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the processor is configured to automatically open the virtual waiting room a predetermined of time prior to the start time of the meeting, and to automatically connect the attendee to the virtual meeting room.

23 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the processor is configured to determine an identity of the attendee, and to automatically connect the attendee to the virtual waiting room based on the identity of the attendee.

24 . The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein when the identity of the attendee indicates that the attendee has a predetermined relationship with the virtual meeting room owner, the processor is configured to automatically connect the attendee to the virtual waiting room and to generate an audio or visual alert to the virtual meeting room owner indicating that the attendee is in the virtual waiting room waiting for the start of the meeting.

25 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the processor is configured to receive from the virtual meeting room owner a command to open an audio and/or video connection to the attendee in the virtual meeting room to allow audio and/or video communication between the attendee and the virtual meeting room owner.

26 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the processor is configured to receive from the virtual meeting room owner a command to add the attendee who is in the virtual waiting room into the virtual meeting room.

27 . A non-transitory computer readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receive a request from an attendee to join a meeting in a virtual meeting room that is managed on behalf of a virtual meeting room owner; determine, based on configurations set by the virtual meeting room owner, whether to connect the attendee to a virtual waiting room; and connect the attendee to the virtual waiting ro

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Coffman James E
• Rosenberg Jonathan
• Aarseth Jorunn
• Griffin Keith
• Restrick Jr John K

Classifications

• H04L65/4015

  where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference · CPC title

• H04L65/4053

  without floor control · CPC title

• H04L65/1093 Primary

  by adding participants; by removing participants · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• H04L65/403

  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