Participant authentication and authorization for joining a private conference event

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9407621-B2
Application number	US-201414497366-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2014
Priority date	Mar 27, 2012
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are described herein for a mechanism by which participants who have been invited to attend a conference event can provide authentication credentials to join the conference event via a console application. When an individual attempts to join a conference event via a console application, the individual is prompted to provide his or her authentication credentials to join the conference event. The console application may inherit the individual's permissions during the conference event.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method for authenticating and authorizing users to join a conference event, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:
receiving, at a console application, a request from a user to join the conference event;
validating authentication credentials for the user in response to the request;
in response to validating authentication credentials for the user, determining that the user has permissions to admit the console application into the conference event;
in response to determining that the user has permissions to admit the console application into the conference event, joining the console application to the conference event on behalf of the user; and
in response to determining that the user does not have permissions to admit the console application into the conference event,
waiting for a second user that has permissions to admit the console application into the conference event to admit the console application into the conference event, and
joining the console application to the conference event on behalf of the user in response to the second user admitting the console application into the conference event,

wherein the console application inherits the permissions of the user in response to the console application joining the conference event on behalf of the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the console application, a request from a group of users to join the conference event;
validating authentication credentials for the group of users; and
joining the console application to the conference event in response to the validating.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving conference event scheduling information from a scheduling application, the conference event scheduling information identifying one or more conference events that have been scheduled and that are available to be joined via the console application.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising presenting, using the console application, the conference event scheduling information to the user, and wherein receiving the request from the user to join the conference event comprises receiving a user input of a selection of conference event scheduling information associated with the conference event.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the conference event scheduling information associated with the conference event comprises a date, a start time, an end time, and a list of participants.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the conference event scheduling information is represented in a calendar format, a single selection to join the conference event, or a list format.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein validating authentication credentials for the user comprises:
prompting the user to provide authentication credentials to join the conference event via the console application;
receiving a user input of authentication credentials;
determining if the authentication credentials are valid; and
in response to determining that the authentication credentials are valid, determining that the user is a participant of the conference event and joining the console application into the conference event on behalf of the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a conference event roster identifying the user as having joined the conference event via the console application, and
presenting the conference event roster on a display.

9. A computer-implemented method for authenticating and authorizing users to join a conference event, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:
joining a console application executing on a computer into a conference event lobby;
receiving a request from a user endpoint via the console application, the user endpoint being associated with the user;
determining if the user endpoint is able to bypass the conference event lobby and join the conference event based upon permissions established for the user for the conference event;
in response to determining that the user endpoint is able to bypass the conference event lobby,
joining the console application into the conference event,
changing a display name of the console application in the conference event to reflect that the user has joined the conference event via the console application, and
causing the console application to inherit the permissions established for the user for the conference event; and

in response to determining that the user endpoint is not able to bypass the conference event lobby,
joining the user endpoint to the conference event lobby,
joining the console application into the conference event in response to being admitted by a second user that has permissions to admit the console application into the conference event, and
causing the console application to inherit the permissions established for the user for the conference event.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the permissions comprise conference event attendee permissions.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the permissions comprise conference event presenter permissions or conference event organizer permissions.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising providing a conference event roster to the console application, the conference event roster identifying, using a display name of the console application, the user as having joined the conference event via the console application.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the computer is located within a first environment, and further comprising providing the conference event roster to a remote computer located within a second environment.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising, prior to joining the console application into the conference event lobby, joining a participant device associated with the user into the conference event.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein, in response to determining that the user endpoint is able to bypass the conference event lobby, joining the console application into the conference event comprises, in response to determining that the user endpoint is able to bypass the conference event lobby, joining the console application into the conference event via the participant device.

16. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a memory in operative communication with the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions to direct the processor to:
execute a console application;
receive, at the console application, a request from a user to join a conference event;
validate authentication credentials for the user in response to the request;
in response to validating authentication credentials for the user, determining that the user has permissions to admit the console application into the conference event;
in response to determining that the user has permissions to admit the console application into the conference event, joining the console application to the conference event on behalf of the user; and
in response to determining that the user does not have permissions to admit the console application into the conference event,
waiting for a second user that has permissions to admit the console application into the conference event to admit the console application into the conference event, and
joining the console application to the conference event on behalf of the user in response to the second user admitting the console application into the conference event,

wherein the console application inherits the permissions of the user in response to the console applicatio

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Vakil Mohammad Nasir
• Krantz Anton
• Sekaran Dhigha
• Hampapur Parthasarathy Vijay Kishen

Classifications

• H04N7/15

  Conference systems · CPC title

• H04L12/18

  for broadcast or conference {, e.g. multicast} · 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

• H04N7/147

  Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals (selecting H04Q) · 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