Patent Application
20110179272
The present invention relates to a method for managing an electronic group comprising several, i.e. two or more, group members. In particular, the invention relates to a method of managing an electronic group comprising two or more group members, wherein all members are conceived to use mobile terminals for setting such a group, wherein such terminals are capable of mutual exchange, for example, via short-range communication links, data relating to a relevant terminal, user and/or group codes.
Electronic communities may be defined as groups of people (or in general “entities”) that use “electronic” means, i.e. nowadays Information and Communications Technology (ICT) means, to collaborate within a group. Typical applications of electronic communities are
The term “electronic” is used to indicate that the group, e.g. to be established for a longer period of time, is independent of the location of the participants. Here are some examples of such communities, which also may be called “electronic groups”, “collaboration groups” etc. (however, the concept of “electronic group” will be used as a rule hereinafter):
It is a disadvantage of present group managing methods that the formation of a new electronic group is rather cumbersome. When a group of people gathers in a meeting, for example, for establishing a new project team, then the real group is already physically in place. However, many steps are needed to turn the ad-hoc real group into an electronic one. Such steps may include:
All of these activities often require the invocation of experts of the IT helpdesk.
Also joining (or registering to) an existing electronic group is rather cumbersome. When a potential new member meets the group leader in person, the group leader can decide to accept the new member. However, also then many steps are needed, such as:
Again, these activities often require the invocation of the IT helpdesk.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method which enables registering a plurality of group members to an electronic group during a physical meeting, e.g. to enable (electronic) follow up of (inter)actions of the group members. It is a further object of the invention to provide a method enabling a more efficient creation and management of an electronic group/group.
According to the present invention the method for managing an electronic group comprising two or more group members (2), all members, using, at least for setting up such a new group, mobile terminals (1) which are capable to mutually exchange, via short-range communication links (3), relevant terminal, user and/or group codes, comprises the following steps:
It will be appreciated that a group may be constituted by collecting, e.g. via smart phones and e.g. Bluetooth, Infrared (IR) etc., identifiers of the members when they are (still) in each other's vicinity, e.g. during a (“live”) meeting. One group member may act as an (ad hoc or as a more or less permanent) group representative, who provides a group identifier (A) and the required member identifiers (M1, M2, M3, etc.) and who transmits them after the “live” meeting, e.g. via a (mobile) Internet path, from his/her smart phone to a group facilitating server, to be registered as group token (T), thus enabling an electronic group, the members of which can communicate and/or exchange information via their smart phones (e.g. via the Internet) and/or other terminals, like laptops, desktops, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) etc. It is presumed that the same identifiers should be used for access to the server as the codes collected in the group constitution phase, which codes of course could be changed afterwards in any conventional way.
New members can be added to the group either via any conventional process (e.g. via a wired or mobile network e.g. the Internet) or in a way which is similar to the new group forming process according to the invention as outlined above.
An embodiment of a method for establishing a data exchange session between devices in a mobile ad hoc network is known from EP 1 901 528. In the known method a host may initiate a communicative environment, i.e. a chat session, wherein other potential group members, dwelling in a neighborhood, should request to join the session when made aware of such possibility.
It will be appreciated that in the known method exchange of data is only possible while users stay in direct vicinity to each other. In addition, no well-specified group is formed, i.e. the communicative environment is initially empty and is constantly being filled by new members, while active members may exit the environment. Accordingly, the group is not defined and is unstable.
In the invention, however, a stable and well-defined group is formed automatically by the group representative due to using a group identifier (A) and member identifiers (M1, . . . , Mn) for defining group tokens T1, . . . Tn. The group tokens are stored in a group facilitating server for forming and electronic group irrespective of a further location of the group members, provided they are still within the communication range.
A further embodiment of a method for forming a data exchange environment is known from EP 1 937 025. In the known method the group constitution is managed on a peer-to-peer basis and not on a host-to-server basis. This feature is envisaged for preventing the group from collapsing when the host leaves the session. The group is created and is maintained for a number of users located within a general range restriction of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Also in this method the group constitution is neither constant nor persistent. In particular, a session initiator is conceived to continuously generate and transmit invitations for enabling further members to join the group. This embodiment has a disadvantage of increased complexity and elevated power consumption.
In an alternative embodiment of the method known from EP 1 937 025 no master is assigned to the group so that a mobile device of each invitee when joining the group is automatically switched into transmitting mode for inviting further group members. This embodiment has a disadvantage that a non-controlled avalanche-like group expansion may be triggered, which is undesirable, for example, for managing professional meetings.
The method according to the invention has the following advantages over using conventional network-based communications:
The invention includes the method outlined above, wherein further advantageous embodiments thereof are described in the appended claims. The invention further relates to a computer program product and a system for carrying out the steps of the method as is set forth in the foregoing. It will be appreciated that the computer program product may comprise a suitable number of individual software packages. The invention still further relates to a mobile terminal provided with components for carrying out the steps of the method as is set forth in the foregoing. It will be appreciated that the mobile terminal may be distributed over several isolated components.
Such exemplary architecture arranged for performing the method according to the invention preferably comprises the following elements:
After the group constituting session all group members may go their own way, thus becoming located outside the reach of the short-range (Bluetooth) “ad hoc network” which was set up when the members were in each other's vicinity, e.g. within the same room or location, in order to exchange the identifiers for setting up the intended (e.g. collaboration) group. So, after everyone has gone his/her own way, the group representative (2*)—who is at least temporarily responsible for forming the (new) group—contacts, via any communication link (4)—e.g. a wireless or wired, short-range or long-range, public or non-public network (5)—a group facilitating server (6) and stores there the group token (T), including the group identifier (A) and all collected member identifiers (M1, M2, M3, etc.).
After the group (A) has been registered in the server (the group defined by its token T, comprising a group identifier A and its member identifiers M1, M2, M3, etc.), each member may use the group facilities to keep in touch with one another via any network, e.g. via a LAN, Intranet, Internet etc., e.g. for sharing work space on a file server, e-mail accounts, electronic agendas, address books, documents, application etc., all this under control of the group data, i.e. the group token, registered in the group server. Further, each group member may activate in his/her mobile device an application which “sniffs”—e.g. via Bluetooth—whether there are other group members in the neighbourhood. The mobile device may either continuously or periodically broadcast e.g. the relevant group identifier (A), which can be picked up by the mobile devices of other group members, and/or the device may “listen”—e.g. via Bluetooth—whether other mobile devices broadcast such group identifier. In that way group members will be able to be notified when another group member is in the vicinity. This mechanism may be performed for several groups (A, B, C, etc.) to which a user has been registered as a member.
When a new member 2′ is permitted to join the (existing) group next steps may performed when the new group member is physically in the vicinity, i.e. within the reach of the short-range link, of any group representative, who may be—but doesn't have to be—the same person as the group representative acting in the group forming stage as outlined above. This group representative collects, again via a short-range link (3), from the new members, his/her user or terminal identifier, acting as his/her member identifier (M5), after which the group representative transmits the relevant group identifier (A), via the short-range link, to the new member. Finally, the group representative contacts, via any communication link (4), the group facilitating server (6) and adds the collected member identifier (M5) of the new member to the group token (T) of the relevant group, after which the new member has become a member of the group. The group token (T) will thus be extended with the member identifier (M5) of the new group member.
It will be appreciated that while the invention is explained with reference to a preferred embodiment, various changes and further modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08159761.9 | Jul 2008 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/NL2009/050399 | 7/3/2009 | WO | 00 | 3/23/2011 |
