Patent Publication Number: US-2004054727-A1

Title: Access system to at least a co-operative work environment

Description:
[0001] The present invention relates to an access system to at least one co-operative work environment accessible by at least one terminal provided with co-operative work software, access being via an information transmission network, and the system including at least one conference server adapted to host the co-operative work environment.  
       [0002] A co-operative work environment is a memory zone reserved on one of the conference servers  10 ,  12  and accessible for reading and writing by a limited number of users.  
       [0003] Such access systems are known. At present, an access system to at least one co-operative work environment comprises a conference server compatible with international standard T120 and accessible via an information transmission network that supports the Internet communications protocol, and referred to below as an IP network.  
       [0004] A user seeking to access a co-operative work environment from a terminal provided with co-operative work software implementing the T120 standard activates said software and must also connect to the conference server hosting the co-operative work environment in question.  
       [0005] Such a system requires the user to know the universal address of the conference server, and possibly also of the co-operative work environment on the IP network. In addition, the complexity of such an access system constitutes a brake to its use by users who are unfamiliar with information technology.  
       [0006] The invention seeks to remedy the drawback of conventional access systems by creating an access system that is simple to use.  
       [0007] The invention thus provides an access system to at least one co-operative work environment accessible by at least one terminal provided with co-operative work software, access being via an information transmission network, and the system including at least one conference server adapted to host the co-operative work environment, the system being characterized in that it comprises firstly means for managing access to the co-operative work environment, said means comprising a first portion forming an information exchange interface with a user of the terminal for accessing the co-operative work environment, and a second portion adapted to operate automatically both to launch the co-operative work software and to manage making the connection to the conference server as a function of information issued by the first portion, and in that it comprises secondly means for following up access to the co-operative work environment.  
       [0008] An access system of the invention thus enables a user to access a co-operative work environment via an interface that is simple, the system acting automatically and without requiring intervention from the user to take charge of launching the co-operative work software, to connect to the conference server, and to follow up access to the co-operative work environment.  
       [0009] An access system of the invention to at least one co-operative work environment may further comprise one or more of the following characteristics:  
       [0010] it comprises an access server connected to the information transmission network including the means for managing access and means for making the second portion of the means for managing access available by downloading to said terminal;  
       [0011] the co-operative work software and the conference server comply with international standard T120;  
       [0012] the information from the first portion includes data identifying the co-operative work environment associated with a password;  
       [0013] the means for managing access to the co-operative work environment include control means for creating the co-operative work environment in the conference server as a function of information coming from the first portion;  
       [0014] the means for following up access comprise means for dynamically dimensioning the co-operative work environment in the conference server as a function of the number of users of said co-operative work environment;  
       [0015] the means for following up access comprise means for automatically deleting the co-operative work environment from the conference server in the event of said environment remaining inactive for longer than a predetermined length of time;  
       [0016] the means for following up access comprise billing means for billing the connections set up between the terminal and the conference server; and  
       [0017] it comprises a plurality of conference servers and the means for following up access comprise means for allocating the co-operative work environment to any one of the conference servers as a function of server availability. 
     
    
    
     [0018] The invention will be better understood from the following description given purely by way of example and made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
     [0019]FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of an access system of the invention; and  
     [0020]FIG. 2 is a flow chart giving details of the operation of the access system shown in FIG. 1. 
    
    
     [0021] An access system as shown in FIG. 1 comprises a plurality of conference servers  10 ,  12  each hosting a plurality of co-operative work environments  14 .  
     [0022] The system also comprises an access server  16  conventionally in the form of a Web server, comprising an information exchange interface  18  conventionally in the form of a set of presentation pages in hypertext mark-up language (HTML) format. The access server  16  also has access software  20  adapted automatically to launch co-operative work software and to manage connecting a terminal to one of the conference servers  10 ,  12  hosting a required co-operative work environment  14 . A hypertext link  22  is established on the access server  16  via the interface  18  to the access software  20  to enable the access software  20  to be downloaded.  
     [0023] A server  26  for following up access to the co-operative work environments  14  is connected in a local network with the conference servers  10  and  12  and the access server  16 , and comprises both means  30  for allocating co-operative work environments  14  in the various conference servers  10 ,  12  as a function of their availability and means  32  for dynamically allocating memory for a co-operative work environment  14  as a function of the way it varies over time.  
     [0024] Similarly, an operator terminal  24  is connected in the same local network as the conference servers  10  and  12 , the access server  16  and the server  26  for following up access, to enable the servers to be consulted. The terminal also includes billing software  28  of conventional type.  
     [0025] The conference servers  10 ,  12  and the access server  16  are connected to an information transmission network  34  of the IP network type, by means of a conventional router  36 .  
     [0026] Remote client terminals are also connected to the information transmission network  34 . These terminals include a first client terminal  38  situated, for example, at a first remote site and connected to the network  34  by means of a router  40 . Two other client terminals  42  and  44  are situated, for example, at a second remote site and are both connected to the network  34  by means of a router  46 . Each of the terminals  38 ,  42 , and  44  is provided with co-operative work software complying with the international T120 standard (not shown), and also software (not shown) for navigating on the network  34 , enabling the terminal to access the information exchange interface  18  of the access server  16 .  
     [0027] For a user of one of the client terminals  38 ,  42 , or  44 , the above-described system operates in the manner shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2.  
     [0028] A first user of the system accessing the network  34  from the terminal  38  might desire, for example, to work together with two other users who access the network  34  from terminals  42  and  44  respectively.  
     [0029] To do this, the user makes a connection to the information exchange interface  18  of the access server  16  by entering the corresponding universal address in the navigation software.  
     [0030] During an initial welcoming step  50 , the information exchange interface  18  gives the user the option to choose between creating a new co-operative work environment  14  and participating in an already-created co-operative work environment.  
     [0031] As organizer of the common work session, the first user opts for creating a new co-operative work environment  14  and moves onto registration step  52 .  
     [0032] During this step  52 , the information exchange interface  18  seeks to register data identifying the new co-operative work environment  14 . The first user selects this identity data so as to identify the co-operative work environment  14  and associate said data with a password. Once the data has been confirmed, the system moves onto a creation step  54 .  
     [0033] During this step  54 , the access server  16  transmits the information previously obtained during step  52  to the means  30  for allocating co-operative work environments  14 . As a function of the availability of the various conference servers  10 ,  12  in the system, the allocation means  30  select the conference server which is to host the new co-operative work environment  14 .  
     [0034] Following this step, the first user can choose to participate in a co-operative work environment  14 , and in particular in the environment which has just been created, during a log-on step  56 .  
     [0035] Similarly, the users of terminals  42  and  44 , seeking merely to participate in the co-operative work environment  14  created by the organizer, pass directly to log-on step  56  after selecting the option to participate in a co-operative work environment  14  during step  50 .  
     [0036] In the description below concerning operation, the term “user” is used to cover any of the users of the terminals  38 ,  42 , and  44 .  
     [0037] During log-on step  56 , the information exchange information  18  informs the user that if this is the first occasion on which that user is going to participate in a co-operative work environment  14  of the system, then it is necessary to install the access software  20  on the client terminal. Thereafter, the system moves onto a downloading step  58  should that be necessary, otherwise it moves onto a selection step  60 .  
     [0038] During the downloading step  58 , the user accesses the access software  20  via the hypertext link  22  and downloads it in conventional manner into the user&#39;s terminal. The system then moves onto selection step  60 .  
     [0039] During step  60 , the information exchange interface  18  gives the user a list of already-created co-operative work environments, including the co-operative work environment  14  previously created by the first user during step  54 .  
     [0040] After selecting the previously created co-operative work environment  14 , the user moves onto a registration step  62  during which the user&#39;s selection is confirmed by inputting a password associated with the name of the co-operative work environment  14 . The organizer of this co-operative work session will naturally already have given the password to the other two users who are authorized to participate in this session.  
     [0041] After the data input by the user has been confirmed, the system moves onto a step  64  of accessing the co-operative work environment  14 . During this step, and without intervention from the user, the access software  20  causes the co-operative work software installed on the terminals  38 ,  42 , or  44  to be launched and also causes a connection to be made to the conference server  10  or  12  hosting the selected co-operative work environment  14 . Simultaneously, the billing software  28  is informed so that the participation time of the user in the co-operative work environment  14  is billed in conventional manner. The memory allocation means  32  are also informed so as to reserve a zone of sufficient memory on the conference server hosting the selected co-operative work environment  14 , as a function of the number of users participating in this co-operative work environment at any instant.  
     [0042] During a final step  66  for ending participation, the server  26  for following up access receives a user end-of-participation signal from the co-operative work environment  14 . This signal is transmitted to the other participants via the co-operative work environment  14  in the form of an end-of-participation sound signal.  
     [0043] When all of the participants have left the co-operative work environment  14 , it becomes inactive after a predetermined time lapse, for example 15 minutes. The allocation means  30  then release the memory zone allocated to said co-operative work environment  14  on the conference server  10  or  12  corresponding thereto and delete the name of the co-operative work environment  14  from the list displayed in step  60  via the information exchange interface  18 .  
     [0044] It can clearly be seen that a system of the invention serves to facilitate access to a co-operative work environment for a user whether organizing or participating in a co-operative work environment  14 , by making an information exchange interface  18  available to the user that is simple and that is associated with access software  20  that can be downloaded on the user&#39;s terminal, said access software  20  operating automatically without intervention by the user to launch the co-operative operative work software installed on the user&#39;s terminal and to make a connection to the conference server  10 ,  12  hosting the co-operative work environment  14  selected by the user.