Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Computers and networks have ushered in new opportunities of social networking and collaboration. One form of such network is referred to as an “online conference”. Early online conferencing took the form of video conferencing that required dedicated equipment, cameras, and so forth. More recently, online conferencing may be performed on almost any computing system. Applications are now offered by a variety of venders whereby a user can participate in an online conference by viewing video and audio of other participants, sharing collaborative work areas, chatting, and so forth, via a web site. 
         [0002]    A typical online conferencing application provides a user interface that includes an online conferencing area, which includes a visualized representation of each participant. A contacts area of the user interface illustrates visualized representations of various individuals that might join into an online conference. Once in an online conference, individuals may communicate using video, audio, and other multi-media mechanisms. The communications that support the conferencing can take the form of Internet Protocol (IP) packets, and thus may be freely communicated over the Internet. 
         [0003]    The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0004]    At least some embodiments described herein relate to a system that efficiently performs actions (such as recording and/or broadcasting) of an online conference that involves video and audio and potentially other forms of media as well. In some cases, this performing of actions is performed by taking advantage of the mechanisms a user may already be familiar with, such as joining an individual into an online conference. 
         [0005]    The system includes a user interface presentation component that causes, at least under one circumstance, a user interface to be presented on a display of the system. The user interface includes an online conversation portion that shows each of at least some participants in an online conversation that involves at least audio and video. The user interface further includes a contacts portion that shows multiple contacts that each represent entities that may be joined into the online conversation. Traditionally, the entities represent individuals that may be joined into the online conversation. However, in accordance with the principles described herein, the entities may also be executable components. For instance, the entities may include one or more recording components and/or one or more broadcasting components. 
         [0006]    A joining instruction detection component detects instructions to join one or more entities associated with one or more of the plurality of contacts to the online conversation. For instance, such instructions may be caused by the user interacting in particular ways with the user interface. In some embodiments, the user interaction may be quite similar regardless of whether the entity being joined is an individual or an executable component. Accordingly, a participate may perform actions to record and/or broadcast the online conversation using mechanism already familiar to the participant, allowing for efficient performance of the action. 
         [0007]    A joining component responds to such instructions by joining an entity within the online conversation. If the entity is an executable component that performs an action, the executable component responds to the joining by performing the associated action (such as recording and/or broadcasting). In some embodiments, after joining an executable component, a visualization of the executable component may appear in the online conversation portion of the user interface, thereby giving everyone notice that the action is being taken. 
         [0008]    This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example computing system in which the principles described herein may be employed; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  illustrates an online conferencing environment in which the principles described herein may be employed, which includes multiple participants using corresponding participant computing systems to engage in the online conference using an online conferencing infrastructure; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  schematically illustrates an online conferencing system that may operate within the online conferencing environment of  FIG. 2 , and which includes various executable components including a user interface presentation component, a joining instruction detection component, a joining component, as well as a library of executable components that may be joined into an online conference; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example of the user interface displayed on the display using the user interface presentation component of  FIG. 3 , and which includes an online conference portion, a contacts portion, and an optional other portion; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flowchart of a method for preparing for performing an online conversation in accordance with the principles described herein; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  illustrates a flowchart of a method for joining entities into an online conversation in accordance with the principles described herein. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    At least some embodiments described herein relate to a system that efficiently performs actions (such as recording and/or broadcasting) of an online conference that involves video and audio and potentially other forms of media as well. In some cases, this performing of actions is performed by taking advantage of the mechanisms a user may already be familiar with, such as joining an individual into an online conference. 
         [0017]    The system includes a user interface presentation component that causes, at least under one circumstance, a user interface to be presented on a display of the system. The user interface includes an online conversation portion that shows each of at least some participants in an online conversation that involves at least audio and video. The user interface further includes a contacts portion that shows multiple contacts that each represent entities that may be joined into the online conversation. Traditionally, the entities represent individuals that may be joined into the online conversation. However, in accordance with the principles described herein, the entities may also be executable components. For instance, the entities may include one or more recording components and/or one or more broadcasting components. 
         [0018]    A joining instruction detection component detects instructions to join one or more entities associated with one or more of the plurality of contacts to the online conversation. For instance, such instructions may be caused by the user interacting in particular ways with the user interface. In some embodiments, the user interaction may be quite similar regardless of whether the entity being joined is an individual or an executable component. Accordingly, a participate may perform actions to record and/or broadcast the online conversation using mechanism already familiar to the participant, allowing for efficient performance of the action. 
         [0019]    A joining component responds to such instructions by joining an entity within the online conversation. If the entity is an executable component that performs an action, the executable component responds to the joining by performing the associated action (such as recording and/or broadcasting). In some embodiments, after joining an executable component, a visualization of the executable component may appear in the online conversation portion of the user interface, thereby giving everyone notice that the action is being taken. 
         [0020]    Some introductory discussion of a computing system will be described with respect to  FIG. 1 . Then, the system for efficiently triggering actions with respect to an online conversation will be described with respect to  FIGS. 2 through 6 . 
         [0021]    Computing systems are now increasingly taking a wide variety of forms. Computing systems may, for example, be handheld devices, appliances, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes, distributed computing systems, datacenters, or even devices that have not conventionally been considered a computing system, such as wearables (e.g., glasses). In this description and in the claims, the term “computing system” is defined broadly as including any device or system (or combination thereof) that includes at least one physical and tangible processor, and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer-executable instructions that may be executed by a processor. The memory may take any form and may depend on the nature and form of the computing system. A computing system may be distributed over a network environment and may include multiple constituent computing systems. 
         [0022]    As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , in its most basic configuration, a computing system  100  typically includes at least one hardware processing unit  102  and memory  104 . The memory  104  may be physical system memory, which may be volatile, non-volatile, or some combination of the two. The term “memory” may also be used herein to refer to non-volatile mass storage such as physical storage media. If the computing system is distributed, the processing, memory and/or storage capability may be distributed as well. 
         [0023]    The computing system  100  also has thereon multiple structures often referred to as an “executable component”. For instance, the memory  104  of the computing system  100  is illustrated as including executable component  106 . The term “executable component” is the name for a structure that is well understood to one of ordinary skill in the art in the field of computing as being a structure that can be software, hardware, or a combination thereof. For instance, when implemented in software, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the structure of an executable component may include software objects, routines, methods, and so forth, that may be executed on the computing system, whether such an executable component exists in the heap of a computing system, or whether the executable component exists on computer-readable storage media. 
         [0024]    In such a case, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the structure of the executable component exists on a computer-readable medium such that, when interpreted by one or more processors of a computing system (e.g., by a processor thread), the computing system is caused to perform a function. Such structure may be computer-readable directly by the processors (as is the case if the executable component were binary). Alternatively, the structure may be structured to be interpretable and/or compiled (whether in a single stage or in multiple stages) so as to generate such binary that is directly interpretable by the processors. Such an understanding of example structures of an executable component is well within the understanding of one of ordinary skill in the art of computing when using the term “executable component”. 
         [0025]    The term “executable component” is also well understood by one of ordinary skill as including structures that are implemented exclusively or near-exclusively in hardware, such as within a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other specialized circuit. Accordingly, the term “executable component” is a term for a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing, whether implemented in software, hardware, or a combination. In this description, the terms “component”, “agent”, “manager”, “service”, “engine”, “module”, “virtual machine” or the like may also be used. As used in this description and in the case, these terms (whether expressed with or without a modifying clause) are also intended to be synonymous with the term “executable component”, and thus also have a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing. 
         [0026]    In the description that follows, embodiments are described with reference to acts that are performed by one or more computing systems. If such acts are implemented in software, one or more processors (of the associated computing system that performs the act) direct the operation of the computing system in response to having executed computer-executable instructions that constitute an executable component. For example, such computer-executable instructions may be embodied on one or more computer-readable media that form a computer program product. An example of such an operation involves the manipulation of data. 
         [0027]    The computer-executable instructions (and the manipulated data) may be stored in the memory  104  of the computing system  100 . Computing system  100  may also contain communication channels  108  that allow the computing system  100  to communicate with other computing systems over, for example, network  110 . 
         [0028]    While not all computing systems require a user interface, in some embodiments, the computing system  100  includes a user interface system  112  for use in interfacing with a user. The user interface system  112  may include output mechanisms  112 A as well as input mechanisms  112 B. The principles described herein are not limited to the precise output mechanisms  112 A or input mechanisms  112 B as such will depend on the nature of the device. However, output mechanisms  112 A might include, for instance, speakers, displays, tactile output, holograms and so forth. Examples of input mechanisms  112 B might include, for instance, microphones, touchscreens, holograms, cameras, keyboards, mouse of other pointer input, sensors of any type, and so forth. 
         [0029]    Embodiments described herein may comprise or utilize a special purpose or general-purpose computing system including computer hardware, such as, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussed in greater detail below. Embodiments described herein also include physical and other computer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or data structures. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system. Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions are physical storage media. Computer-readable media that carry computer-executable instructions are transmission media. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, embodiments of the invention can comprise at least two distinctly different kinds of computer-readable media: storage media and transmission media. 
         [0030]    Computer-readable storage media includes RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other physical and tangible storage medium which can be used to store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system. 
         [0031]    A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable the transport of electronic data between computing systems and/or modules and/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computing system, the computing system properly views the connection as a transmission medium. Transmissions media can include a network and/or data links which can be used to carry desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. 
         [0032]    Further, upon reaching various computing system components, program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures can be transferred automatically from transmission media to storage media (or vice versa). For example, computer-executable instructions or data structures received over a network or data link can be buffered in RAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and then eventually transferred to computing system RAM and/or to less volatile storage media at a computing system. Thus, it should be understood that storage media can be included in computing system components that also (or even primarily) utilize transmission media. 
         [0033]    Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which, when executed at a processor, cause a general purpose computing system, special purpose computing system, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Alternatively or in addition, the computer-executable instructions may configure the computing system to perform a certain function or group of functions. The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries or even instructions that undergo some translation (such as compilation) before direct execution by the processors, such as intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or even source code. 
         [0034]    Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the described features or acts described above. Rather, the described features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims. 
         [0035]    Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computing system configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones, PDAs, pagers, routers, switches, datacenters, wearables (such as glasses) and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed system environments where local and remote computing systems, which are linked (either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by a combination of hardwired and wireless data links) through a network, both perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
         [0036]    Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention may be practiced in a cloud computing environment. Cloud computing environments may be distributed, although this is not required. When distributed, cloud computing environments may be distributed internationally within an organization and/or have components possessed across multiple organizations. In this description and the following claims, “cloud computing” is defined as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). The definition of “cloud computing” is not limited to any of the other numerous advantages that can be obtained from such a model when properly deployed. 
         [0037]      FIG. 2  illustrates an online conferencing environment  200  in which the principles described herein may be employed. The online conferencing environment  200  includes multiple participant computing systems that participants use to engage in the online conference. The online conference environment  200  also potentially also include an online conferencing infrastructure  210 . The online conferencing environment  200  may include dedicated computing systems that facilitate the online conference. For instance, the online conferencing environment  200  may be an online conferencing service that is implemented in a cloud computing environment or is some other remote network. This embodiment will be referred to herein as the “service embodiment”. 
         [0038]    That said, the principles described herein may also be applied in an environment in which the participant computing systems communicate directly one with another in accordance with a protocol so as to allow the online conferencing to occur. In that case, the online conferencing infrastructure  210  may be thought of as a protocol for each participant computing system communicating with each other, and the underlying hardware (e.g., a network such as the Internet, or a local network) that facilitates communication using that protocol. This embodiment will be referred to herein as the “ad hoc embodiment”. 
         [0039]    In the example of  FIG. 2 , there are five participant computing systems  201  through  205  involved in an online conference. However, the ellipses  206  represent that there may be any multiple number of participant computing systems engaged in any given online conference via the online conferencing infrastructure  210 . In fact, one of the benefits of online conferencing is that any number of participants may participate, and participants may drop off and join at any time. The participant computing systems  201  through  205  may each be structured as described above for the computing system  100  of  FIG. 1 , and include user interface systems as described above for the user interface system  112  of  FIG. 1 . Each of the participant computing systems  201  through  205  have an associated participant user  211  through  215  respectively. The ellipses  216  again represents that there may be further participant users associated with yet other computing systems represented by the ellipses  206 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 3  schematically illustrates an online conferencing system  300  that may operate within the online conferencing environment  200  of  FIG. 2 . The online conferencing system  300  includes various executable components including a user interface presentation component  310 , a joining instruction detection component  320 , and a joining component  330 . The system  300  also includes a library  340  of executable components that, when executed, perform some operation (such as recording or broadcasting) of the online conference. Each of the components  310 ,  320  and  330  may be structured as described above for the executable component  106  of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0041]    The library  340  is illustrated as including executable components first type  341  (represented as circles), and of a second type  342  (represented as triangles). However, the ellipses  343  represents that there may be executable components of a single type, or of a variety of types more than two. In one example, the executable components  341  of the first type are recording executable component that, when joined into the online conference, cause at least a portion of the online conference to be recorded. In one example, the executable components of the second type are broadcast components that, when joined into the online conference, broadcast at least a portion of the online conference. Three executable components  341 A through  341 C of the first type are illustrated, though the ellipses  341 D represents that there may be any number (even zero) of the executable components  341  of the first type within the library. Four executable components  342 A through  342 D of the second type are illustrated, though the ellipses  342 E represent that there may be any number (even zero) of the executable components  342  of the second type within the library. Each of the executable components within the library  340  may be structured as described above for the executable component  106  of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0042]    The user interface presentation component  310  causes, at least under one circumstance, a user interface to be presented on a display of the system. For instance, the user interface presentation component  310  may be present on the online conferencing infrastructure  210  or on a participating computing system (e.g., participating computing system  201 ), or may be distributed between the online conferencing infrastructure  210  and a participating computing system. In the case of the participating computing system being structured as described for the computing system  100  of  FIG. 1 , the display may be included within, for instance, the user interface system  112  of  FIG. 1 . The user interface presentation component  310  may be, for instance, a web site. 
         [0043]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example of the user interface  400  displayed on the display. The user interface  400  includes an online conference portion  410 , a contacts portion  420 , and an other portion  430 . The precise appearance and locational relationship between these user interface portions is not important to the broader principles described herein. Accordingly, the user interface  400  should be seen as a very specific example only. Furthermore, the other portion  430  is an optional portion that simply represents that the principles described herein are not limited to user interface that only include an online conference portion and a contacts portion. As an example, the other portion  430  might include a chat window, whereby text may be dispatched from a participant to one or more or all of the other participants in the online conference. The other portion  430  might also include controls, such as mute, volume, pause, fast forward, and so forth. 
         [0044]    The user interface  400  includes an online conference portion  410  that shows each of at least some of the participants in the online conference. For instance, the online conference illustrates visualizations  411  through  415  that correspond to the participants  211  through  215  (see  FIG. 2 ) of the online conference. In some embodiments, a picture of the participant may be displayed as the visualization. Alternatively or in addition, a live video feed may be displayed as the visualization. In yet other embodiments, perhaps just a generic image is displayed to represent the participant accompanied by perhaps a text identification of the participant. 
         [0045]    The user interface  400  also includes a contacts portion  420  that shows multiple contacts that represents entities that may be joined into the online conversation. In the illustrated embodiment, eight contacts  421  through  428  are illustrated, though the ellipses  429  represents that the contacts potion  420  may include any number of contacts. Some of the contacts represent individuals, while some represent executable components. For instance, suppose in this example, that contacts  421  through  426  represents individuals that can actually participate in the online conference. However, the contacts  427  and  428  represent executable components that are not human at all, but perform some action (such as recording or broadcasting) when joined into the online conference. 
         [0046]    Referring back to  FIG. 3 , the online conferencing system  300  includes a joining instruction detection component  320 . The joining instruction detection component  320  detects instructions to join one or more entities represented by the contacts to the online conference. This instruction may be caused by, for instance, user interaction with the user interface (e.g., user interface  400 ) presented by the user interface presentation component  310 . In some embodiments, the user interaction that would cause an individual to join the online conference is similar or the same as the user interaction that would cause an executable component to join the online conference and perform its automated action on the online conference. This allows the action to be performed efficiently with respect to the online conference. 
         [0047]    A joining component  330  joins an entity within the online conversation when the joining instruction component  320  detects an instruction to join the entity to the online conversation. In some embodiments, when the entity is joined into the online conference, the online conference portion  410  of the user interface  400  is updated to show a visualization of the added entity. For instance, if the added entity were a participant, a visualization of the new participant would be shown in the online conference portion  410  of the user interface  400 . If an executable component is added to the online conference, then some visualization would appear providing notice to the participants that the action performed by the executable component (e.g., recording and/or broadcasting) is occurring on the online conference. For instance, if the recording component  427  was dropped into the online conference portion  410 , icon  417  might be highlighted. Similarly, if the broadcast component  428  was dropped into the online conference portion  410 , icon  418  might be highlighted. 
         [0048]    In some embodiments, the user interaction that triggers joining of an executable component to the online conference is a gesture. The gesture includes a selection gesture as well as a joining gesture. The selection gesture selects a contact corresponding to the executable component in the contacts portion  420  of the user interface. A joining gesture represents that the entity associated with the selected contact is to be joined into the online conference. As an example, the selection gesture may comprise selecting the contact in preparation for movement, and the joining gesture would be dragging at least a copy of the selected contact into the online conference portion  410  of the user interface. 
         [0049]    This same drag and drop gesture may be the same that the user might perform if selecting and dragging a contact for an individual in order to add that individual as a participant in the online conference. Thus, the consistency of the selection and/or joining gestures allows for more efficient and intuitive performance of an action (such as recording or broadcasting) with respect to an online conference. The net result is that there is more refined control over performing technical actions on the online conference. 
         [0050]    As previously mentioned, there may be multiple executable entities of a particular type that may perform an action on an online conference. Each of the executable entities of that particular type may perform the action in a distinct way. For instance, if there are a variety of recording components available, one might record the online conference in a default way. Another recording component might apply augmented reality to the recorded audio and/or video of the online conference. For instance, by quantizing the video, exaggerating features, and/or smoothing edges, the recorded video may be made more like a cartoon. Another recording component may mask out the faces of the participants in the video and/or scramble the frequencies of the audio for anonymity. Yet another recording component may annotate the video with for instance, chat content (with perhaps animation showing the flow of the chat from the participants involved with the chat, text identifying each user, and so forth). Other recording components may add objects into the recording that were not in the original record, or may emphasize objects that are in the recording (e.g., the speaker&#39;s head may be made bigger to emphasize that the speaker is presently talking). Levels of customization of the record may also differ by recording component. 
         [0051]    Similarly, multiple broadcast components may be made available, each performing broadcast in a different way. For instance, the channel for broadcasting (via a cloud service, web page publication, link distribution and the like) may be different by each broadcast component. The audience may be different by each broadcast component. Types of augmented reality imposed on the multimedia stream may be different by each broadcast component. Levels of customization of the broadcast may also differ by broadcast component. 
         [0052]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flowchart of a method for preparing for performing an online conversation in accordance with the principles described herein. Much of the method  500  has already been described implicitly from the above. However, the method  500  will now be expressly described. 
         [0053]    First, a user interface presentation component causes a user interface to be displayed on a display of a system (act  510 ). For instance, in the above description, the user interface presentation component  310  of  FIG. 3  caused a user interface  400  of  FIG. 4  to be displayed. Recall the user interface had 1) an online conversation portion that shows each of at least some participants in an online conversation that involves at least audio and video, and 2) a contacts portion that shows a plurality of contacts that represents entities that may be joined into the online conversation. Recall also that the entities include individuals as well as at least one executable component. 
         [0054]      FIG. 6  illustrates a flowchart of a method  600  for joining entities into an online conversation in accordance with the principles described herein. Much of the method  600  has already been described implicitly from the above. However, the method  600  will now be expressly described. The method  600  uses the preparation performed in the method  500  of  FIG. 5 , and is triggered by an event in the form of detection of a joining instruction to join an executable component into the online conference (act  610 ). Recall that the executable component is associated with a contact in the contacts portion of the user interface, and that the instruction has been caused by user interaction with the user interface. As described above, the joining instruction detection component  320  performs this instruction detection. 
         [0055]    In response to the instruction, a joining component joins the selected executable component within the online conversation (act  620 ). This likewise causes the executable component to respond to the joining by causing an action to occur with respect to the online conversation (act  630 ). As described above, this action could be recording the online conversation in a particular way, broadcasting the online conference in a particular way, or performing some other action with respect to the online conference. 
         [0056]    Accordingly, the principles described herein provide an efficient mechanism to perform automated actions on an online conference. Such actions could include, for instance, recording the online conference, broadcasting the online conference, or performing any other actions with respect to the online conference. Furthermore, the performing of such actions may be performed using gestures similar to or identical to those gestures that would normally be performed in order to add a participant to the online conference. 
         [0057]    The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Technology Category: 3