Patent Application
20070005696
In a virtual collaboration session, in which participants work “together” in real-time in a virtual space while being physically located perhaps thousands of miles apart from each other, there are occasions where the management and control of the virtual collaboration resources becomes a distraction to the participants. This can reduce the efficiency of some or all of the participants as they struggle to understand and make use of an unfamiliar telecommunications and multimedia system that enables the virtual collaboration. Thus, when the participants meet to collaborate in order to understand and solve particular business, scientific, or technical problems, they must first understand and learn to operate the virtual collaboration resources, such as the monitors, cameras, microphones, and other equipment. This diminishes the appeal of using virtual collaboration resources and can cause the participants to lose their enthusiasm for solving the particular business, scientific, or technical problems that are the subject of the virtual collaboration session.
In other instances, some participants in a virtual collaboration session can be made to feel as though they are not fully engaged with the other participants of the session. Some users may feel as though they are looking through a window watching others solve problems while they themselves remain uninvolved. This can become especially apparent when one participant is in control of a particular resource, such as a camera focused on him or her for an extended period of time. In this event, the other participants may feel as though they are on the receiving end of a monologue being given by a presenter while having little opportunity to actively participate in the collaboration activities. In these instances, ease of transition from one presenter to another can enable all of the participants to feel more engaged and more involved in the virtual collaboration session. This can make these collaboration sessions more efficient and less fatiguing as all of the participants become more included in the collaboration session.
In one embodiment, a method for host transfer in a virtual collaboration session enables the participants of the session to seamlessly take control of various system resources that constitute the virtual collaboration environment. These resources may include cameras focused on various individuals located at remote sites, document cameras focused on printed material being discussed during the session, facsimile machines that transmit and receive paper documents, and so forth. These resources are published so that all of the participants of the session can have equal access to the resources during the session without one participant needing to “grant” access to the resource. Rather, all participants have access to all resources at any given time. This allows each user to more actively participate in the virtual collaboration session. As an example, a participant at a first location may easily select a camera focused on a document at a second location so that the particular document can be discussed during the collaboration session.
It is also contemplated that before, during, and after the host transfer from a first end node to a second end node, the desktop viewed by each of the participants of the virtual collaboration session remains substantially or completely unchanged. Thus, as the host function is transferred from the first end node to the second end node, participants located at other receiving nodes during the session see a desktop image that appears continuous throughout the host transfer process. This can ensure that participants are not distracted by the second end node's desktop awkwardly supplanting the first host's desktop when a host transfer occurs.
In the context of the present invention, a broad definition of a “desktop” is contemplated. As the term is used herein, a desktop may refer to the metaphor used to portray file systems consisting of icons showing files, folders, various types of documents, and so forth. A desktop is contemplated as being a functional element of a system, rather than referring to specific hardware elements. Thus, a desktop may be displayed on a laptop or tablet computer, hand-held computing device, or other display device such as a projector, high-definition monitor, or other device that that temporarily presents information to participants in a visual form during the virtual collaboration session.
To access a resource during a virtual collaboration session, the participant selects the appropriate icon displayed on tool bar 160, which indicates the resources available to all of the participants of the virtual collaboration session. In the example of
In the context of
The area outside of application window 120 is referred to herein as the desktop. In
In
In one example, when a participant located at another end node, for example end node B, wishes to view a document or make use of any other of resources 125 associated with end node A, end node A assumes the role of the host. As the host, end node A broadcasts desktop 110 to end nodes B, C, and D, such as is illustrated in
Thus, embodiments of the present invention provide for a seamless transfer from a first host to a second host, as participants of the collaboration session choose which resources are to be used during the session. As will be explained in greater detail herein, a method of switching from a first to a second host during a virtual collaboration session includes a second end node receiving a request to use a resource coupled to the second end node. The first end node (currently the host) freezes the desktop presented to all end nodes participating in the collaboration session, which, for the example of
While the frozen image of the desktop is being presented to the end nodes, the first end node directs the second end node to assume the role of the host. The first end node then transmits each of the elements of the desktop to the second end node using high-level commands. The second end node, in turn, arranges the elements of the desktop to coincide with the frozen image transmitted by the first end node. When this arrangement is complete, the second end node unfreezes the display, and begins transmitting updated images of the desktop to all other end nodes. Thus, other participants in the virtual collaboration session may notice only a very brief period of a frozen desktop, while the session host is transferred from the first to the second end node. The only noticeable change is the content of application window 120, within which another document, spread sheet, word processing file, graphics file, or any other file is displayed as desired by the participant at the second end node. Host placard 170 also shows the current host as changing from the first to the second end node.
When the resource selected by participant brings about a change in audio being transmitted to the end nodes, one embodiment of the invention may also include blanking or suppressing an audio signal from a first end node during the host transfer from the first end node to a second end node. By blanking or suppressing the audio being conveyed to the receiving end nodes during the host transfer, any distracting audio transients introduced during audio switching can be minimized or eliminated entirely.
Although only four end nodes are shown in
At step 210, end node A freezes the desktop that is being transmitted to end nodes B, C, and D. In some embodiments of the invention, such as that of
However, although fading-out and posting a “busy” indication may be useful under some circumstances, the inventors contemplate that under most circumstances, the communication channels that couple the various end nodes to each other are of such quality that the host transfer occurs almost immediately, such that there is no need for the desktop to fade-out or to post a “busy” indication. Further, the actual length of time during which the frozen desktop is presented to the participants is also contemplated as being insignificant.
Returning to the method of
The method begins at step 300, in which the first end node initiates a host transfer signal from a second end node. In the embodiment of
The method continues at step 330, which includes transmitting (to all of the end nodes of the collaboration session) an indication that a host transfer is in progress. Step 340 is then performed, which includes conveying high-level descriptors (such as metadata or object names) that describe the desktop to the second end node. In the embodiment of
At step 410, the first end node fades-out the desktop. At step 420, the arrangement of the elements located on the desktop is described to a second end node, perhaps using metadata or other high-level descriptors. At step 430 the first end node transfers control of the desktop to the second end node. At step 440 the second end node fades-in the frozen image of the desktop. At step 450, the second end node presents the desktop to the end nodes of the virtual collaboration session, wherein the first frame of the desktop presented is the frozen image.
In conclusion, while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to various embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. This description of the invention should be understood to include the novel and non-obvious combinations of elements described herein, and claims may be presented in this or a later patent application to any novel and non-obvious combination of these elements. The foregoing embodiments are illustrative, and no single feature or element is essential to all possible combinations that may be claimed in this or a later patent application. Where the claims recite “a” or “a first” element or the equivalent thereof, such claims should be understood to include incorporation of one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.
