Claims
- 1. A multimedia multipoint telecommunications reservation acceptance system for use with at least one multipoint multimedia server (MMS) having a plurality of resources and for responding to a reservation query which specifies resources required for a telecommunications conference, said system comprising:
- a) means for reading the reservation query;
- b) database means for storing reservation information about the resources of the at least one MMS;
- c) database search means for determining times at which certain of the resources of the at least one MMS have been reserved;
- d) means for building a first resource availability matrix containing information regarding availability of resources of the at least one MMS in chronological order;
- e) means for analyzing the first matrix to determine time periods during which the resources required for the telecommunications conference are available;
- f) means for reporting the time periods in response to the query;
- g) means for accepting a request to reserve one or more of the time periods; and
- h) means for updating said database means with information about the time periods reserved in the request.
- 2. A system according to claim 1, wherein:
- said means for reading the reservation query permits the reservation query to specify flexible resources in addition to the required resources;
- said means for analyzing includes means for determining time periods during which the flexible resources for the telecommunications conference are available; and
- said means for reporting includes means for reporting the time periods during which the resources required for the telecommunications conference are available and time periods during which both the required resources and the flexible resources for the telecommunications conference are available.
- 3. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:
- i) means for comparing the time periods to other criteria specified in the reservation query.
- 4. A system according to claim 3, wherein:
- said other criteria includes one of site availability, participant availability, and conference duration.
- 5. A system according to claim 1, wherein:
- said means for building includes means for listing times at which availability of required resources changes and means for indicating for each listed time the availability of required resources; and
- said means for analyzing includes means for comparing the availability of required resources at one listed time to the availability of required resources at another listed time.
- 6. A system according to claim 5, wherein:
- said means for listing includes means for listing each time the availability of required resources changes as a first dimension of the first matrix; and
- said means for indicating includes means for indicating the availability of each required resource at each listed time as a second dimension of the first matrix.
- 7. A system according to claim 1, wherein:
- said database means includes means for storing reservation information about the resources of a first MMS and a second MMS;
- said database search means includes means for determining times at which certain of the resources of the first MMS have been reserved and means for determining times at which certain of the resources of the second MMS have been reserved;
- said means for building includes means for building a first resource availability matrix containing information regarding the availability of required resources of the first MMS in chronological order and means for building a second resource availability matrix containing information regarding the availability of required resources of the second MMS in chronological order; and
- said means for analyzing includes means for analyzing the first matrix and the second matrix to determine the time periods during which the resources required for the telecommunications conference are available.
- 8. A system according to claim 7, wherein:
- said means for building includes means for listing times at which availability of required resources changes and means for indicating for each listed time the availability of required resources; and
- said means for analyzing includes means for comparing the availability of required resources at one listed time to the availability of required resources at another listed time.
- 9. A system according to claim 8, wherein:
- said means for listing includes means for listing each time the availability of required resources of the first MMS changes as a first dimension of the first matrix and means for listing each time the availability of required resources of the second MMS changes as a first dimension of the second matrix; and
- said means for indicating includes means for indicating the availability of each required resource at each time listed in the first matrix as a second dimension of the first matrix and means for indicating the availability of each required resource at each time listed in the second matrix as a second dimension of the second matrix.
- 10. A system according to claim 9, wherein:
- said means for building includes means for combining the first dimensions of the first and second matrices so that the first and second matrices have the same first dimensions.
- 11. A system according to claim 10, wherein:
- said means for analyzing includes means for determining availability of resources of the first MMS and resources of the second MMS for the first MMS and the second MMS to communicate with each other.
- 12. A multimedia multipoint telecommunications reservation acceptance system for use with at least one multipoint multimedia server (MMS) having a plurality of resources and for responding to a reservation query which specifies resources required for a telecommunications conference and flexible resources which are desirable but not required for the telecommunications conference, said system comprising:
- a) means for reading the reservation query;
- b) database means for storing reservation information about the plurality of resources of the at least one MMS;
- c) database search means for determining times at which certain of the plurality of resources of the at least one MMS have been reserved;
- d) means for determining availability of the resources required and the flexible resources for the telecommunications conference with respect to the at least one MMS;
- e) means for reporting time periods in response to the reservation query indicating times when the resources required are available and times when both the resources required and the flexible resources are available;
- f) means for accepting a request to reserve one or more of the time periods; and
- g) means for updating said database means with information about the time periods reserved in the request.
- 13. A system according to claim 12, further comprising:
- h) means for comparing the time periods to other criteria specified in the reservation query.
- 14. A system according to claim 13, wherein:
- said other criteria includes one of site availability, participant availability, and conference duration.
- 15. A system according to claim 12, wherein:
- said database means includes means for storing reservation information about the resources of a first MMS and a second MMS; and
- said database search means includes means for determining times at which certain of the resources of the first MMS have been reserved and means for determining times at which certain of the resources of the second MMS have been reserved; and
- said means for determining includes means for determining the availability of required resources of the first MMS and means for determining the availability of required resources of the second MMS.
- 16. A system according to claim 15, wherein:
- said means for determining includes means for determining availability of resources of the first MMS and resources of the second MMS for the first MMS and the second MMS to communicate with each other.
Parent Case Info
This application is related to co-owned, allowed application Ser. No. 08/586,259, filed Jan. 16, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,392, for Multimedia Multipoint Telecommunications Reservation Systems, the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
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