Method and system for establishing a combined local area network (CLAN) in a conference network (CN)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9331859-B2
Application number	US-201213433968-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2012
Priority date	Mar 29, 2012
Publication date	May 3, 2016
Grant date	May 3, 2016

Abstract

A method including: receiving, at a conference unit, a command to establish a conference call between the conference unit and another conference unit, the conference unit being connected to at least one access point and the access point being accessible by a terminal; utilizing, by the conference unit, an internet telephony protocol to setup at least one media line between the conference unit and the other conference unit; establishing at least one data channel that transmits LAN traffic between the conference unit and the other conference unit utilizing the internet telephony protocol; establishing, by the conference unit, a connection with the terminal, the terminal being part of a combined local area network; and receiving, at the conference unit, an input from the terminal via the connection to access the combined local area network.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a conference unit, a command to establish a conference call between the conference unit and another conference unit, the conference unit being connected to at least one access point and the access point being accessible by a terminal;
utilizing, by the conference unit, an internet telephony protocol to setup at least one media line between the conference unit and the other conference unit;
establishing at least one data channel that transmits local area network (LAN) traffic between a first LAN of the conference unit and a second LAN of the other conference unit utilizing the internet telephony protocol;
establishing, by the conference unit, a connection with the terminal to the first LAN;
receiving, at the conference unit, an input from the terminal via the connection to access a combined local area network including the first LAN and the second LAN;
selecting and sending a service set identifier and password from the conference unit to the access point; and
displaying, on a display screen connected to the conference unit, the SSID and the password for the access point, wherein the terminal is provided access to the combined local area network including the first LAN and the second LAN in response to entry of the SSID and the password.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the access point is operating in wireless LAN mode;
sending a message to the access point to start broadcasting the SSID to the terminal; and
receiving a message from the access point that the terminal is connected to the conference unit via the access point.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the access point is operating in Ethernet LAN mode;
determining that the conference unit is configured to automatically accept Ethernet LAN mode; and
receiving a message from the access point that the terminal is connected to the conference unit via the access point.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
forwarding, on the at least one data channel, at least one message from the terminal requesting access to at least one resource of another terminal connected to the other conference unit.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one data channel is an Ethernet over IP (internet protocol) channel.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
sharing at least one resource of the terminal with another terminal connected to the other conference unit.

7. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the SSID and the password are predefined or random.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the internet telephony protocol is SIP (session initiation protocol), H.323 or XMPP (extensible messaging and presence protocol).

9. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the resource is a file, a printer, a scanner, or a robot.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the conference unit is a video conferencing meeting unit or a multipoint conferencing unit.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the terminal is a computer, a laptop, a tablet, or a mobile phone.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the access point is a WLAN access point, an Ethernet LAN access point, or a Mobile Network access point.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the access point is a switch, a router, or a mobile phone.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to implement a method comprising:
receiving, at a conference unit, a command to establish a conference call between the conference unit and another conference unit, the conference unit being connected to at least one access point and the access point being accessible by a terminal;
utilizing, by the conference unit, an internet telephony protocol to setup at least one media line between the conference unit and the other conference unit;
establishing at least one data channel that transmits LAN traffic between the conference unit and the other conference unit utilizing the internet telephony protocol;
displaying, by the conference unit, a password for the access point;
establishing, by the conference unit, a connection with the terminal based on the password, the terminal being part of a combined local area network; and
receiving, at the conference unit, an input from the terminal via the connection to access the combined local area network;
forwarding, on the at least one data channel, at least one message from the terminal requesting access to at least one resource of another terminal connected to the other conference unit,
wherein the SSID and the password are predefined or random.

15. A method comprising:
receiving, at a conference unit, a command to establish a conference call between the conference unit and another conference unit, the conference unit being connected to at least one access point and the access point being accessible by a terminal;
utilizing, by the conference unit, an internet telephony protocol to setup at least one media line between the conference unit and the other conference unit;
establishing at least one data channel that transmits local area network (LAN) traffic between the conference unit and the other conference unit utilizing the internet telephony protocol;
establishing, by the conference unit, a connection with the terminal, the terminal being part of a combined local area network;
receiving, at the conference unit, an input from the terminal via the connection to access the combined local area network
determining that the access point is operating in wireless LAN mode;
selecting and sending SSID (service set identifier) and password to the access point;
displaying, on a display screen connected to the conference unit, the SSID and the password;
sending a message to the access point to start broadcasting the SSID to the terminal;
receiving a message from the access point that the terminal is connected to the conference unit via the access point; and
forwarding, on the at least one data channel, at least one message from the terminal requesting access to at least one resource of another terminal connected to the other conference unit,
wherein the SSID and the password are predefined or random,
wherein the resource is a file, a printer, a scanner, or a robot.

16. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
forwarding, on the at least one data channel, at least one message from the terminal requesting access to at least one resource of another terminal connected to the other conference unit,
wherein the SSID and the password are predefined or random,
wherein the at least one resource is a file, a printer, a scanner, or a robot.

Assignees

• Martinsen Pal-Erik S
• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Martinsen Pal-Erik S

Classifications

• H04L12/1818 Primary

  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

• H04L65/1106

  Call signalling protocols; H.323 and related · 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

• H04L65/1104

  Session initiation protocol [SIP] · CPC title