Patent Publication Number: US-2015066935-A1

Title: Crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken in a virtual meeting

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Arrangements described herein relate to note taking within a virtual meeting. 
     Advances in communications and information technology have allowed for greater collaboration and streamlined processes within an organization. As a result, the need for an individual&#39;s physical presence has been reduced in at least some situations. For instance, meetings between two or more individuals are a regular part of any organizational environment. When meeting participants are located in different locations, an in-person meeting may not be practical. Instead, a meeting can be conducted virtually such that the two or more participants interact with one another remotely. 
     During a virtual meeting, users may manually take notes to reflect their understanding of the discussion and important concepts. Each user&#39;s note-taking is done independently of other note takers and the notes are not shared. Thus, if there are five meeting attendees who take notes, then there are five separate sets of notes at the end of the meeting and the notes are not shared. Consequently, the value of the notes is confined to the original note taker. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     One or more embodiments disclosed within this specification relate to note taking in a virtual meetings and, more particularly, to crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken in a virtual meeting. 
     An embodiment can include a method of crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken within a virtual meeting. The method can include receiving user notes from one or more virtual meeting attendees. The method can further include, via a processor, analyzing the received user notes to identify a key element in the user notes. Such analyzing can be performed using natural language processing. The method can also include generating consolidated system notes that includes the key element. 
     Another embodiment can include a system for crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken within a virtual meeting. The system can have a processor. The processor can be configured to initiate executable operations. The executable operations can include receiving user notes from one or more meeting attendees. Further, the executable operations can include analyzing the received user notes to identify a key element therein. Such analyzing can include using natural language processing. The executable operations can further include generating consolidated system notes that includes the key element. 
     Another embodiment can include a computer program product for crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken within a virtual meeting. The computer program product can include a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program code that, when executed, configures a processor to perform a method. The method can include, by the processor, receiving user notes from one or more meeting attendees. The method can further include, by the processor, analyzing the received user notes to identify a key element therein. The analyzing can include using natural language processing. The method can also include, by the processor, cross-referencing the analysis of each meeting attendee&#39;s notes to identify common key elements. Further, the method can include generating, by the processor, consolidated system notes that includes the key element 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a system for crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken in a virtual meeting in accordance with one embodiment disclosed within this specification. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating a method crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken in a virtual meeting in accordance with one embodiment disclosed within this specification. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a system for crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken in a virtual meeting in accordance with one embodiment disclosed within this specification. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable medium(s) having computer-readable program code embodied, e.g., stored, thereon. 
     Any combination of one or more computer-readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. The phrase “computer-readable storage medium” means a non-transitory storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer-readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium that is not a computer-readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     Program code embodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber, cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java™, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
     Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     For purposes of simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numbers are repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding, analogous, or like features. 
       FIG. 1  depicts a block diagram illustrating a system  100  for crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken in a virtual meeting in accordance with one embodiment disclosed within this specification. A virtual meeting can be a virtual environment in which two or more virtually represented attendees (e.g. persons) can communicate using a communication network. Examples of ways in which virtual meetings can occur include teleconferences, web-conferencing, online collaboration, instant messaging, video conferencing, voice conferencing, desktop/computer sharing. A virtual meeting can include a plurality of meeting attendees, which can include the meeting chair(s), meeting presenter(s), and meeting participant(s). In the virtual meeting, two or more virtually represented attendees can communicate audio, video, graphics, images, data, file documents, texts, etc. A virtual meeting can be implemented for a meeting in which at least some of the attendees are physically located within the same location, room, or meeting place. In some instances, a virtual meeting can be implemented for a meeting in which at least at least some of the meeting attendees are located remotely from each other, thereby allowing the meeting attendees to interact with one another remotely. In the present application, crowdsourcing is the collection, development and/or creation of notes, data, items or content using inputs received from a plurality of attendees of a virtual meeting. 
     The system  100  can include one or more clients  105  and one or more servers  110 . The system  100  further can include a virtual meeting module  120 , an analysis engine  125  and a meeting database  130 . While the virtual meeting module  120 , the analysis engine  125  and the meeting database  130  are shown in  FIG. 1  as being components of the sever  110 , it will be understood that one or more of these items can be executed on and/or distributed among other processing systems to which the server  110  is communicatively linked. 
     The various components of system  100  can be communicatively linked through one or more communication networks  115 . As used herein, the term “communicatively linked” can include direct or indirect connections through a communication channel or pathway or another component or system. A “communication network” means one or more components designed to facilitate the delivery of information from one source to another. 
     The one or more communication networks  115  can be implemented as, or include, without limitation, a wide area network (WAN), wireless wide area network (WWAN), a local area network (LAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), the Internet, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a wireless network, a mobile network, a Virtual Private Network (VPN), the Internet, and/or one or more intranets. The communication network(s)  115  can include any combination of the above networks and/or other types of networks. The communication network(s)  115  can include one or more routers, switches, access points, wireless access points, and/or the like. 
     The system  100  can include one or more meeting clients  105  used by one or more users. The meeting client(s)  105  can be implemented as any of a variety of communication devices executing suitable communication software. The meeting client(s) can be any suitable device that can allow a user to access a virtual meeting. Each meeting client  105  can be implemented as a computer system or other information processing system. One or more of the meeting clients  105  may also be implemented as a portable or mobile computing device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a wireless-enabled personal digital assistant, a portable computer, e.g., laptop, tablet or the like. 
     Each client  105  can include and/or execute suitable communication software, which enables the client  105  to communicate with the server  110  and/or other clients  105  through the communication network  115  and perform the functions disclosed herein. For instance, the meeting client(s)  105  can be an IM client, an electronic mail client, an SMS client, a system client, a telecommunication system client, a telephone client (e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system), videoconference client, etc. In some instances, the one or more meeting client(s)  105  can be configured to communicate via a wireless and/or wired medium. 
     The system  100  can include one or more servers  110 , which can be communicatively linked to the one or more meeting clients  105  via one or more communication networks  115 . The one or more servers  110  can be implemented as, for example, a virtual meeting system. In this regard, the one or more servers  110  can be implemented as a virtual meeting server or other communication hub or server capable of executing a virtual meeting within or as part of the communication network  115 . In any case, the one or more servers  110  can include suitable operational software for performing the various functions described herein. 
     The system  100  can include a virtual meeting module  120  and a meeting database  130 . The virtual meeting module  120  and/or the meeting database  130  can be stored and/or executed on the server  110 . Alternatively, the virtual meeting module  120  and/or the meeting database  130  can be stored and/or executed on another system to which the server  110  is communicatively linked. As an example, the virtual meeting module  120  and/or the meeting database can be stored and/or executed on one or more of the meeting clients  105 . 
     The virtual meeting module  120  can be implemented as computer readable program code that, when executed by a processor, implement the various processes described herein. The virtual meeting module  120  can facilitate the conducting of a virtual meeting in various ways. For instance, the virtual meeting module  120  can start, conduct, and/or terminate the virtual meeting session. The virtual meeting module  120  can process data to identify attendees, data related to a presentation within the virtual meeting, data related to a meeting topic within the virtual meeting, a need for a virtual meeting, provide agenda tracking, identify the meeting clients used by attendees to communicate with the virtual meeting. The virtual meeting module  120  can provide automated data archiving, capture during the virtual meeting that can track virtual meeting minutes. 
     The virtual meeting module  120  can allow users to participate in the virtual meeting via any suitable means. For instance, meeting attendees can submit meeting content  140  to and receive meeting content  140  from the virtual meeting. The meeting content  140  can include, for example, messaging (e.g. chat, instant messaging), video and/or audio data. The meeting content  140  can be transmitted across one or more channels or streams. The virtual meeting module  120  can record data transmitted across these meeting content channels or streams. 
     The virtual meeting module  120  can be configured to allow meeting attendees to input user notes  135  during the course of the virtual meeting. For instance, one or more user interface elements can be presented to the virtual meeting attendees to enable a user to input the user notes  135 . As used herein, a “user interface element” is defined as a component or a group of components that enables a user to interact with a machine. The user notes  135  can be input in any suitable form. In one implementation, the user notes  135  can be input as text. Alternatively or in addition, the user notes can be input as video and/or audio data. 
     In one implementation, the user notes  135  can be designated as being confidential. That is, the user notes  135  received from one meeting attendee are not shared or otherwise made available to other meeting attendees. In one arrangement, the virtual meeting module  120  can be configured to allow meeting attendees to select whether or not their user notes  135  will be shared with one or more of the other meeting attendees. In another arrangement, the user notes  135  can be shared with one or more of the other meeting attendees unless the attendee who creates the user notes  135  opts out of such sharing. 
     The virtual meeting module  120  can be configured to convert the user notes  135  from one form of data to another. For instance, user notes  115  received in audio and/or video data formats can be converted to text. To that end, the virtual meeting module  120  can include any known voice recognition, transcription, dictation, speech-to-text or other conversion software. 
     The virtual meeting module  120  can collect data relevant to the virtual meeting. The data can be collected in any suitable manner by the virtual meeting module  120 . For instance, the virtual meeting module  120  can be configured to record at least a portion of the virtual meeting, including the meeting content  140  (e.g., one or more of the audio, video and/or messaging streams). Alternatively or in addition, the virtual meeting module  120  can be configured to collect or receive the user notes  135 . The collected data can be stored in the virtual meeting database  130 . 
     The virtual meeting module  120  can be configured to link the user notes  135  to a recording of the virtual meeting. Such linking can be performed in any suitable manner. For instance, the linking can include tagging the user notes  135  as they are made with a timestamp to indicate when each portion of a user note  135  was made. Meeting content  140  within the virtual meeting associated with the timestamp (e.g. recording the audio, video and messaging/chat streams associated with that time stamp) can be recorded. The user notes  135  can be linked or otherwise associated with virtual meeting content  140  having the same timestamp. Such linking can allow quick recall of meeting content  140  occurring during that timestamp. 
     The system  100  can include an analysis engine  125 . The analysis engine  125  can be stored and/or executed on the server  110  and/or the virtual meeting module  120 . Alternatively, the analysis engine  125  can be stored and/or executed on another system to which the server  110  and/or the virtual meeting module  120  is communicatively linked. The analysis engine  125  can be implemented as computer readable program code that, when executed by a processor, implement the various processes described herein. 
     The analysis engine  125  can analyze data collected during a virtual meeting in various ways. For instance, analysis engine  125  can analyze the user notes  135  made by one or more of the meeting attendees. Such analysis can occur in any suitable form. For instance, the analysis engine  125  can analyze the user notes  135  using any known natural language processing system or technique. Natural language processing can includes analyzing each user&#39;s notes for topics of discussion, deep semantic relationships and keywords. Natural language processing can also include semantics detection and analysis and any other analysis of data including textual data and unstructured data. Semantic analysis can include deep and/or shallow semantic analysis. Natural language processing can also include discourse analysis, machine translation, morphological segmentation, named entity recognition, natural language understanding, optical character recognition, part-of-speech tagging, parsing, relationship extraction, sentence breaking, sentiment analysis, speech recognition, speech segmentation, topic segmentation, word segmentation, stemming and/or word sense disambiguation. Natural language processing can use stochastic, probabilistic and statistical methods 
     The analysis engine  125  can perform sophisticated indexing of the user notes  135 . The analysis engine  125  can cross-reference the user notes  135  to extract key elements therefrom. A “key element” is a concept, topic, keyword, key phrase or noteworthy point that meets a predetermined threshold of significance. In one implementation, the analysis engine  125  can be configured to identify key elements by detecting commonalities within a single user note  135  or across a plurality of user notes  135 . The analysis engine  125  can use the key elements to generate consolidated system notes  145  for later consumption by other meeting attendees or others who wish to have an overview of the meetings core concepts. 
     At any point during a virtual meeting, one or more meeting attendees can initiate a note taking session. One or more user interface elements can be presented to the virtual meeting attendees to enable a user to initiate note taking For instance, the user interface element can be a graphical user interface element, such as a button. The user can input a user note in any suitable manner, such as in text, voice and/or video format. The system can automatically collect user notes from the meeting attendees. When a note taking session is initiated, one or more user interface elements can be presented to allow a user to select whether the user notes will be shared with one or more meeting attendees and/or whether the user notes will be designated as confidential. 
     The user notes  135  and the meeting content  140  (e.g., video stream, audio stream and/or messaging stream) can be monitored. The user notes  135  and/or the meeting content  140  can be saved or recorded in any suitable manner. A timestamp of when the user notes  135  and/or the meeting content  140  was input can be captured. The user notes  135  can be converted, if necessary, to text or a textual representation. The virtual meeting module  120  can consolidate all user notes  135  taken by one or more of the meeting attendees during the virtual meeting. Such consolidation can occur at any suitable point of time, such as after the virtual meeting is finished or as the user notes are made. 
     The analysis engine  125  can be configured to analyze the user notes  135  input by the meeting attendees. The analysis engine  125  can be configured to perform natural language processing on the user notes  135 . For instance, the analysis engine  125  can analyze each user&#39;s noted for topics of discussion, deep semantic relationships and keywords that are common across a plurality of notes. Based on such analysis, the analysis engine  125  can index and/or cross-reference the user notes  135  to extract key elements therefrom. For instance, key elements can be extracted using significance scoring based on time spent on the point, the appearance of the point in multiple meeting content streams, commonalities of the notes, etc. One or more key elements may be extracted from the user notes  135  of one meeting attendee in isolation, or one or more key elements may be inferred based on common occurrences of the key element(s) across a plurality of user notes  135 . Further, the virtual meeting module  120  can be configured to analyze the semantics of the user notes  135  to detect key elements. 
     The analysis engine  125  and/or the virtual meeting module  120  can organize the detected key elements in any suitable manner, such as by logical similarity and/or topic. The analysis engine  125  and/or the virtual meeting module  120  can consolidate at least a subset of the detected key elements into consolidated system notes  145 . The consolidated system notes  145  can have any suitable form. In one implementation, the consolidated system notes  145  can be grouped under main topics by conceptual similarity using any suitable natural language analysis. 
     The consolidated system notes  145  can include links back to the associated user notes  135 . For example, the consolidated system notes  145  can present key elements that provide links back to the underlying user notes  135  from which the notes were extracted. The linking of the consolidated system notes  145  to the original user notes  135  can include linking the notes to surrounding user notes  135  to provide context. Thus, the linking can include the presentation of sub-notes to a relevant portion of the source material from which the key element was extracted. As an example, a first note from one of the user notes can be related to a second note from a different one of the user notes. The system may consolidate these notes under a single summary note in the consolidated system notes  145 . However, the first and second notes can be presented as sub-notes under the summary note. 
     Each key element may link to individual user notes  135  that relate to that key element. The virtual meeting module  120  may link the user notes  135  and/or key elements to recordings of meeting content  140  that occurred at or near the same time. As an example, the virtual meeting module  120  can tag each of the user notes  135  with a timestamp indicating when each input of the user note  135  was made by the user. The virtual meeting module  120  can record meeting content  140  within the virtual meeting associated with that timestamp, including audio, video, and chat streams. The virtual meeting module  120  can link the user notes  135  with the meeting content  140 , allowing quick recall of audio, video, chat and/or other data streams during that time. 
     The user notes  135  and/or consolidated system notes  145  can be stored in a database, such as meeting database  130 . Alternatively or in addition, the user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  can be published. “Published” means that the information is made available or accessible for users to consume. The user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  can be published to the meeting attendees, or they can be published to one or more non-attendees as well. As an example, the user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  can be published by distributing them to a predefined list of recipients, such as by a message (e.g. electronic mail). In one embodiment, the user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  can be published to the meeting participants and/or to other interested parties. In such case, the user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  can be embedded in the message itself, included as an attachment to the message or the message can provide directions to access the user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  (such as a hyperlink or URL). As another example, the user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  can be published to an external computing system  150 . “External computing system” is any computing system that is external to and/or independent of the virtual meeting. Examples of external computing systems  150  include a social collaboration system or website. Publication of the user notes  135  and/or the consolidated system notes  145  can facilitate convenient review. 
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating a method  200  of crowdsourcing and consolidating user notes taken within a virtual meeting in accordance with one embodiment disclosed within this specification. At step  205 , user notes from one or more virtual meeting attendees can be received. At step  210 , the received user notes can be analyzed to identify a key element therein. Such analyzing can by performed by a processor. At step  215 , consolidated system notes can be generated. The consolidated system notes can include the key element. 
     Examples of implementations of the system  100  will now be presented. In one example, the system  100  can be used in an organization in which a virtual meeting is conducted. For instance, a virtual meeting can be held to present a company&#39;s first quarter financial results. The meeting content may include slides which present information, data and content to this topic. The meeting attendees can take user notes during the virtual meeting. The user notes taken by one meeting attendee can be independent of the user notes taken by other meeting attendees. 
     When particular meeting content (e.g., a particular slide) is shown, one or more meeting attendees may input user notes regarding the slide. For instance, a first meeting attendee may input the following user note: “sales are trending up.” A second meeting attendee may input the following note: ‘sales for the software division are up 8% over last quarter.” A third meeting attendee may input the following note: ‘steady rise in international sales.” 
     The system can analyze the individual user notes. The system can detect key elements by identifying the commonalities of the user notes. In this instance, the system can automatically identify that the commonality of these separate user notes is that “sales are up.” The system can consolidate these three notes into one consolidated system note that includes all three key elements. The system can continue to do such consolidation for all user notes made in the virtual meeting. 
     The consolidated system notes can be generated automatically. In some instances, the consolidated system notes may exclude one or more of the individual notes taken during the virtual meeting. For instance, if only one meeting attendee made a user note on a particular point or topic, that user note may be disregarded in the consolidated system notes due to a lack of commonality with any of the other notes on that point or topic taken by the other meeting attendees. Alternatively or in addition, one or more user notes may be disregarded in the consolidated system notes due to a lack of a sufficient level of commonality with other notes on that point or topic input. 
     The consolidated system notes can be published for others to consume, regardless of whether they attended the virtual meeting. Thus, members of the company who were not able to attend the virtual meeting can review the consolidated system notes to get at least a sense of the key points gleaned by the individuals who did actually attend the virtual meeting. Further, a meeting attendee who may have missed a portion of the virtual meeting (e.g., due to not being able to take notes fast enough, distraction or being been temporarily called away from the virtual meeting) can review the consolidated system notes to obtain key points that they may have missed. 
     In another example, the system  100  can be used in an educational environment in which a plurality of people digitally or electronically record notes. For instance, the system can be used by a plurality of students attending in a college classroom or lecture. While the note taking of an individual attendee is independent from the other attendees, the system can collect, analyze, and/or consolidate the notes into a single consolidated system note. The consolidated notes can be published for consumption by the attending students for review or for those students who may have missed at least a portion of the lecture. 
     As noted above, meeting attendees can have the option to decide whether or not to make their user notes available to others. If a meeting attendee designates its notes as being confidential, then the user notes of that meeting attendee can be excluded from inclusion in the consolidated system notes. Further, the user notes of that meeting attendee can also be excluded from analysis to identify a key element. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data processing system  300 . System  300  can include at least one processor (e.g., a central processing unit)  305  coupled to memory elements  310  through a system bus  315  or other suitable circuitry. As such, system  300  can store program code within memory elements  310 . Processor  305  executes the program code accessed from memory elements  310  via system bus  315  or the other suitable circuitry. 
     In one aspect, system  300  is implemented as a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus that is suitable for storing and/or executing program code. It should be appreciated, however, that system  300  can be implemented in the form of any system including a processor and memory that is capable of performing and/or initiating the functions and/or operations described within this specification. Further, system  300  can be implemented in any of a variety of different form factors including, but not limited to, a portable device such as a mobile communication device, a tablet computing and/or communication device, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device, a server, or the like. 
     Memory elements  310  include one or more physical memory devices such as, for example, local memory  320  and one or more bulk storage devices  325 . Local memory  320  refers to RAM or other non-persistent memory device(s) generally used during actual execution of the program code. Bulk storage device(s)  325  can be implemented as a hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), or other persistent data storage device. System  300  also can include one or more cache memories (not shown) that provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times program code must be retrieved from bulk storage device  325  during execution. 
     Input/output (I/O) devices such as a keyboard  330 , a display  335 , and a pointing device  340  optionally can be coupled to system  300 . The I/O devices can be coupled to system  300  either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. One or more network adapters  345  also can be coupled to system  300  to enable system  300  to become coupled to other systems, computer systems, remote printers, and/or remote storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modems, wireless transceivers, and Ethernet cards are examples of different types of network adapters  345  that can be used with system  300 . 
     As pictured in  FIG. 3 , memory elements  310  can store the virtual meeting module  120  and/or the analysis engine  125 . The virtual meeting module  120 , being implemented in the form of executable program code, is executed by system  300  and, as such, is considered an integrated part of system  300 . Moreover, the virtual meeting module  120 , including any parameters and/or attributes utilized by module  120 , are functional data structures that impart functionality when employed as part of system  300 . The analysis engine  125 , being implemented in the form of executable program code, is executed by system  300  and, as such, is considered an integrated part of system  300 . Moreover, the analysis engine  125 , including any parameters and/or attributes utilized by engine  125 , are functional data structures that impart functionality when employed as part of system  300 . 
     The consolidated notes  145  can be output to, and stored within, memory elements  310 . As used herein, “outputting” and/or “output” can mean storing in memory elements  310 , for example, writing to a file stored in memory elements  310 , writing to display  335  or other peripheral output device, playing audible notifications, sending or transmitting to another system, exporting, or the like. 
     The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
     The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof 
     Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment disclosed within this specification. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment. 
     The term “plurality,” as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term “another,” as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The term “coupled,” as used herein, is defined as connected, whether directly without any intervening elements or indirectly with one or more intervening elements, unless otherwise indicated. Two elements also can be coupled mechanically, electrically, or communicatively linked through a communication channel, pathway, network, or system. The term “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms, as these terms are only used to distinguish one element from another unless stated otherwise or the context indicates otherwise. 
     The term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon” or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” depending on the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [a stated condition or event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upon determining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [the stated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the stated condition or event],” depending on the context. 
     The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the embodiments disclosed within this specification have been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the embodiments of the invention. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the inventive arrangements for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.