U.S. patent application number 14/399083 was filed with the patent office on 2015-12-17 for method for controlling data streams of a virtual session with multiple participants, collaboration server, computer program, computer program product, and digital storage medium.
The applicant listed for this patent is Unify GmbH & Co. KG. Invention is credited to Ulrich Schmitz.
Application Number | 20150365244 14/399083 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47790130 |
Filed Date | 2015-12-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150365244 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schmitz; Ulrich |
December 17, 2015 |
METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DATA STREAMS OF A VIRTUAL SESSION WITH
MULTIPLE PARTICIPANTS, COLLABORATION SERVER, COMPUTER PROGRAM,
COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, AND DIGITAL STORAGE MEDIUM
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for controlling data streams
of a virtual session with several participants who access at least
access one application in the virtual session. A selected media
processing and a signaling mode is used in a centralized process
for each participant according to the individual requirements of
the participant. The participants are represented by clients and
the process is controlled by a server. The selection of the media
processing and/or signaling mode is made on the basis of an
evaluation of the terminal of the respective participant and the
network bandwidth available to the respective participant. An
evaluation scheme with a plurality of evaluation criteria is
provided for the evaluation, and possible media processing and/or
signaling modes are ascertained for the respective participant,
said evaluation scheme being applied to each possible media
processing and/or signaling mode. A media processing and/or
signaling mode determined using a comparison of the evaluations for
each possible media processing and/or signaling mode according to
the applied evaluation scheme is selected for the respective
participant. The invention further relates to a collaboration
server, a computer program, a computer program product, and a
digital storage medium with the corresponding functional
features.
Inventors: |
Schmitz; Ulrich; (Wurselen,
DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Unify GmbH & Co. KG |
Munchen |
|
DE |
|
|
Family ID: |
47790130 |
Appl. No.: |
14/399083 |
Filed: |
February 22, 2013 |
PCT Filed: |
February 22, 2013 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2013/000524 |
371 Date: |
September 2, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/753 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/303 20130101;
H04W 4/60 20180201; H04L 65/403 20130101; H04L 12/1822 20130101;
H04L 65/605 20130101; G06F 3/0484 20130101; H04L 67/08 20130101;
H04L 67/36 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 12/18 20060101
H04L012/18; G06F 3/0484 20060101 G06F003/0484 |
Claims
1-14. (canceled)
15. A method for the control of virtual session data streams with
several participants, said participants accessing at least one
application during a virtual session, comprising: for a plurality
of participants in a centralized process, wherein each participant
is represented by a client, and wherein the process is controlled
by a server; evaluating a plurality of evaluation criteria for each
participant for selecting an individual mode, said plurality of
evaluation criteria comprising evaluation of a terminal of each
participant and evaluation of a network bandwidth available to each
participant; comparing the evaluation criteria according to applied
evaluation matrices for possible media processing and signaling
modes; and performing a media processing and signaling mode for
each participant according to the media processing and signaling
evaluation.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one application is
selected from the group consisting of an audio conference, a video
conference, a shared desktop data exchange between participants, a
shared whiteboard data exchange, and a webcast.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the media processing is
selected from the group consisting of adjustment of image formats,
conversion of text into speech, and conversion of speech into
text.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein the signaling mode is selected
from the group consisting of session initiation protocol (SIP),
H.323, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), Web/http, and
WebRTC.
19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: deploying a generic
signaling protocol for the abstraction of at least one signaling
mode; abstracting a data stream from a virtual room into the
generic signaling protocol; and transferring the generic signaling
protocol to the signaling mode for each participant.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: abstracting the
data stream into the generic signaling protocol; and transmitting
the generic signaling protocol into a signaling type required by
the at least one application.
21. The method of claim 15, further comprising: awarding points
during the evaluation step for selected evaluation criteria; adding
points of all evaluation criteria; and obtaining an evaluation of a
potential media upsampling.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the evaluation criteria are
selected from the group consisting of a browser resolution, an
audio quality, a computing power, and a conversion effort.
23. The method of claim 15, wherein the centralized process manages
the virtual session.
24. The method of claim 15, wherein the virtual session is
presented to the participants in a virtual room.
25. A collaboration server to control the data streams of a virtual
session with multiple participants, said collaboration server
executing steps comprising: for a plurality of participants in a
centralized process, wherein each participant is represented by a
client, and wherein the process is controlled by a server;
evaluating a plurality of evaluation criteria for each participant
for selecting an individual mode, said plurality of evaluation
criteria comprising evaluation of a terminal of each participant
and evaluation of a network bandwidth available to each
participant; comparing the evaluation criteria according to applied
evaluation matrices for possible media processing and signaling
modes; and performing a media processing and signaling mode for
each participant according to the media processing and signaling
evaluation.
26. A computer program containing computer program instructions
that, when executed, performs the method of claim 15.
27. A computer-readable storage medium comprising the computer
program of claim 26.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is the United States national phase under
35 U.S.C. .sctn.371 of PCT international patent application no.
PCT/EP2013/000524, filed on Feb. 22, 2013.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] Embodiments relate to methods for controlling data streams
of a virtual session with multiple participants, a collaboration
server, a computer program, a computer program product, and a
digital storage medium.
[0004] 2. Background of the Related Art
[0005] It is common practice to use a collaboration service or
server for the control of conferencing applications, and exchange
of viewable content and files between multiple participants.
Today's collaboration servers are fine tuned to the nature of the
participants, specific media formats, and/or signaling protocols.
For example the collaboration service sets up a connection for VoIP
or ISDN technologies for audio, or audio and video conferencing,
and then only supports audio or audio and video. VoIP-solutions
often only support SIP or H.323 as the signaling protocol. On the
other hand the so-called web collaboration servers, which offer for
example shared desktop and whiteboard features, are known, in their
case the data exchange occurs frequently via the http protocol. As
a further class web cast systems have established themselves, in
which exactly one video recording can be distributed to a large
number of passive participants via web/http protocols. Frequently a
content picture can be transmitted alongside, in which then, for
example a PowerPoint.RTM. presentation takes place in parallel.
[0006] In practice this means, for each type of media and client a
separate collaboration service is provided; they are installed,
maintained and updated in a server environment. If necessary, for a
specific media and/or client type of a requesting participant where
no collaboration service is installed; this must be then first
researched and installed, before a requesting participant can
participate in a virtual meeting.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] It would be helpful to simplify the control of data streams
of a virtual session with multiple participants. It would also be
helpful to reduce the administration costs for installation and
maintenance of services in a server environment.
[0008] According to an aspect of the invention a method for
controlling data streams of a virtual session with several
participants who at least access one application in the virtual
session is proposed whereby in a centralized process for each
participant according to his/her individual requirements uses a
selected media processing and signaling mode, and whereby the
participants are represented by clients and the process is
controlled by a server, whereby the choice of media processing
and/or signaling mode is chosen by an evaluation of a terminal of
each of the participants and the respective network bandwidth
available to the participant, whereby an evaluation scheme with a
plurality of evaluation criteria will be provided for the
evaluation, whereby possible media processing and/or signaling
modes are determined for a participant, said evaluation scheme
being applied to each possible media processing and/or signaling
mode, and whereby a media processing and/or signaling mode
determined using a comparison of the evaluations for each possible
media processing and/or signaling mode according to the applied
evaluation scheme is selected for each individual participant. A
centralized process within the meaning of the present invention is
a process running in an enclosed software and/or hardware instance.
Through the application of the evaluation scheme it is also
possible to select the media processing and/or signaling mode with
a best evaluation for the respective participant and thus select
the optimal media processing and/or signaling mode for each
participant.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0009] In the following the invention will be described based on
preferred embodiments in detail and with the help of figures.
Whereas
[0010] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communication
system with a collaboration service as a fundamental embodiment of
the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a media conversion
instance in the collaboration service of FIG. 1;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a generic signal
processing in the collaboration service of FIG. 1;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a process of a connection
control in the collaboration service of FIG. 1;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a process for data
exchange in the process of FIG. 4;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a process for
establishing protocols and rules in the process of FIG. 4;
[0016] FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a process for
determining device parameters in the process of FIG. 6;
[0017] FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a process for
determining conversion rules in the process of FIG. 6.
[0018] The figures are purely schematic and not necessarily to
scale. The drawing representations and descriptions thereof are
meant as an exemplary illustration of the principle of the
invention and should not limit same in any way.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] According to an aspect of the invention a method for
controlling data streams of a virtual session with several
participants who at least access one application in the virtual
session is proposed whereby in a centralized process for each
participant according to his/her individual requirements uses a
selected media processing and signaling mode, and whereby the
participants are represented by clients and the process is
controlled by a server, whereby the choice of media processing
and/or signaling mode is chosen by an evaluation of a terminal of
each of the participants and the respective network bandwidth
available to the participant, whereby an evaluation scheme with a
plurality of evaluation criteria will be provided for the
evaluation, whereby possible media processing and/or signaling
modes are determined for a participant, said evaluation scheme
being applied to each possible media processing and/or signaling
mode, and whereby a media processing and/or signaling mode
determined using a comparison of the evaluations for each possible
media processing and/or signaling mode according to the applied
evaluation scheme is selected for each individual participant. A
centralized process within the meaning of the present invention is
a process running in an enclosed software and/or hardware instance.
Through the application of the evaluation scheme it is also
possible to select the media processing and/or signaling mode with
a best evaluation for the respective participant and thus select
the optimal media processing and/or signaling mode for each
participant.
[0020] According to a preferred embodiment the applications include
at least some of the following group, which contains: [0021] audio
and/or video conferences, particularly in a VoIP environment;
[0022] data exchange between participants, in particular on the
type of shared desktop or whiteboard; [0023] webcasting with or
without transfer of content pictures.
[0024] According to a further preferred embodiment the media
processing is selected from the group, which at least contains one
adjustment of image formats, one conversion of text into speech and
one conversion of language into text.
[0025] According to a further preferred embodiment the signaling
mode is selected from the group, which contains SIP, H. 323, HTTP,
Web/http and WebRTC.
[0026] According to a further preferred embodiment a generic
signaling protocol is deployed, that is suitable for the
abstraction of any signaling modes, where a data stream will be
abstracted from the virtual space into the generic signaling
protocol and then the generic signaling protocol is transferred to
the selected signaling mode for the participants. The generic
signaling protocol is In particular a signaling protocol that
belongs to the server. In addition, a data stream of the
participant can be abstracted into the generic signaling protocol
and then the generic signaling protocol can be transmitted into a
signaling type required by the application.
[0027] According to a further preferred embodiment the evaluation
system provides to award appropriate points for selected or all
evaluation criteria for the requirements, and add the score of all
evaluation criteria, in order to obtain an evaluation of a
potential media upsampling, where in particular preference is given
to a predetermined weighting of the evaluation criteria.
[0028] According to a further preferred embodiment the evaluation
criteria are selected from the group, which contains a browser
resolution, an audio quality, a computing power on one side of the
user and a conversion effort on one side of a procedure, which is
running the instance.
[0029] According to a further preferred embodiment, the centralized
process manages the virtual session.
[0030] According to a further preferred embodiment, the virtual
meeting is shown to the participants in a virtual room.
[0031] According to a further aspect of the invention a
collaboration server to control data streams of a virtual session
with multiple participants is proposed, which is designed and set
up to execute the above described procedure.
[0032] With the process according to the invention participants can
participate via any kind of protocol, either VoIP/SIP, H323,
web/http, WebRTC, or other. With this realized collaboration
service or server any type of participation and/or exchange of
information can participate in a common virtual session or a
virtual space, regardless of the type of the terminal equipment of
the client, the technology used and the type of media. The protocol
technology is arbitrary, and the collaboration service acts as a
gateway, which offers always the best media and/or protocol
conversions. The collaboration service can replace a large number
of specialist services and is therefore a universal solution, in
which all possible media types can be used in an ongoing session
and thus a more effective and more transparent virtual meeting may
be held. It eliminates the need for many single solutions, and only
a single system is required, which can execute everything all at
once. Furthermore the participants can also use their preferred
client, and the collaboration (server) adjusts the different
technologies accordingly.
[0033] Further aspects of the present invention concern a computer
program, a computer program product, and a digital storage
medium.
[0034] Further features, tasks, advantages and details of the
present invention will be explained in more detail in the following
description of exact implementation examples and their drawings in
the attached figures. It goes without saying that characteristics,
tasks, advantages and details are transferable from individual
design examples to others and are considered as disclosed in the
context of the other embodiments, in so far as this is not
obviously absurd due to technical reasons or natural laws. Design
examples can be combined, and the combination can also be
understood as an embodiment of the invention.
[0035] In the following the invention will be described based on
preferred embodiments in detail and with the help of figures.
Whereas
[0036] The figures are purely schematic and not necessarily to
scale. The drawing representations and descriptions thereof are
meant as an exemplary illustration of the principle of the
invention and should not limit same in any way.
[0037] A basic embodiment of the present invention is demonstrated
for illustrative purposes below in the FIGS. 1 to 3. Accordingly
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the communication system 100
with a collaboration service 130 as an embodiment of the present
invention and FIGS. 2 and 3, are schematic block diagrams, which
illustrates an inner structure of a media conversion instance 135
and a generic signal processing 137 of the collaboration service
130.
[0038] According to the illustration in FIG. 1 in the
communications system 100 several client end devices 112-126 are
connected with a collaboration service 130.
[0039] The collaboration service 130 provides a virtual room 131
("xyz"). The virtual room 131 can support a variety of
applications, such as [0040] audio conferencing [0041] audio and
video conferencing in real time (full duplex) [0042] passive
participation in live sessions (so-called "Webcast" conferences)
[0043] exchange of viewable content (so-called "Shared Desktop")
[0044] exchange of multi-media boards (so-called "Virtual
Whiteboard" or "Interactive Whiteboard") [0045] exchange of files
(so-called "File Sharing").
[0046] Other applications for data and/or media transmission in
real-time and offline are possible. The virtual room 131 can
support a mix of these applications.
[0047] In addition, the collaboration service 130 includes a
decision-making unit 133, a generic media conversion instance 135,
a generic signal processing 137, and network connections service or
HTML/web service 139, which will be described later in more
detail.
[0048] The client end devices 112-126 associated with the
collaboration service 130 include active and passive participants,
which participate or intend to participate together in a conference
or the like within the virtual room 131. The active participants
include an IP phone 112, an IP videophone 114, an HTTP client 116
and an active network client 118. Passive participants include a
passive viewer 122, a tablet PC 124 and a smartphone 126. While the
active participants can send and receive data, the passive
participants are only recipients of the data reception modus--the
users of the passive participants are therefore observers. Each
type of communication system, which enables a two-way transmission
of data to another communication system outside of the
communication facility and allows further output devices for the
transferred data to a user of the communication facility, can be
used as an active participant. Each type of communication system,
which enables a one-way transmission of data in the direction to
another communication system outside of the communication facility
and allows further output devices for the transferred data to a
user of the communication facility, can be used as a passive
participant. Therefore each active participant can be used as a
passive participant.
[0049] The IP Phone 112 is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
enabled standard telephone, which only supports voice and playback,
and transmits signals via SIP/RTP protocol.
[0050] The IP videophone terminal 114 is, for example, a video
roaming system, which transmits via the SIP/RTP signals.
[0051] The http client 116 is an example of a remote computer,
which supports the shared desktop, whiteboard, audio, and video
conferencing, and signals via http.
[0052] The active network client 118 is, for example, a remote
computer, which supports the shared desktop, whiteboard, audio and
video conferencing, and/or via http and WebRTC signals. In
principle each type of computer, such as a workstation, a
laptop/notebook, tablet/tablet PC, smartphone etc. can be used as
an active network client 118, which allows the identification of at
least one of the protocols VoIP, SIP, RTP, HTTP, or supports
another protocol for data transfer or any of the services WebRTC,
HLS, shared desktop, whiteboard or some other service for data
transmission and display. In this respect the passive participants,
who encompass the passive viewer 122, the tablet PC 124 and the
smartphone 126, can act as active participants.
[0053] The passive viewer 122 is, for example, a remote computer,
the shared desktop, whiteboard, audio, and video conferencing,
supported and signaled via http, but currently only participates in
observer mode (so-called "web cast") in the conference in the
virtual room 131 and is ready to receive data via HLS (http live
streaming).
[0054] The tablet computer 124 and the smartphone 126 are equipped
with a web browser and capable for data transfer or reception via
http/HLS; if necessary, WebRTC support is also intended.
[0055] The relatively well-known protocols and technical terms
VoIP, SIP, RTP, HTTP, WebRTC, HLS, shared desktop, and whiteboard
referred to the German Wikipedia entries for Session Initiation
Protocol, Real-Time Transport Protocol, Web RTC, HTTP Live
Streaming Desktop Sharing, VOIP, and Whiteboarding, as called up on
Nov. 18, 2012 whose full disclosure is included as a reference to
this application.
[0056] It is understood that each of the participants 112-126 can
represent a wide variety of participants each identical or similar.
It also understood, that other type of participants may be present.
It goes without saying that the participants support several
services and signaling protocols and can use and/or request these
depending on the application. In terms of the supported services
and the supported signaling protocols the invention is not
specifically limited to the specified selection.
[0057] As can be seen from the above description, participants
112-126 support different services and different signaling
protocols.
[0058] The collaboration service 130 is designed such that it
provides for each of the participants 112-126 media processing and
signaling of the individual requirements for data exchanged via the
virtual room 13. To this end the collaboration service 130 features
a decision-making body 133, which is also referred to as "Best
Media Mapping Machine" (BMME) is a "Media Converter Instance" 135
(MCI), a Generic Signaling processing 137 (GSH) and a HTML/web
service 139. The decision-making authority 133 makes a decision,
how to process a respective media stream as much as possible with
the media converter instance 135, so that the participants can
participate as closely as possible in a meeting in the virtual room
131. I.e., the decision-making authority 133 tries, depending on
participant access or chosen participant terminal, to negotiate the
best possible conversion of the various media types and provides
available conversions. The generic signaling processing 137
provides different protocol stacks to allow any clients, and
HTML/web service 139, execute web applications for the
communication between the virtual room 131 and the
participants.
[0059] An inner structure of the media converter instance 135 is
shown in FIG. 2. Consequently, the media converter instance 135
demonstrates a wide variety of converting devices 201-299. For
example, a converter device 201 to transform a shared desktop
JPG-image in a YUV-image stream, a converter device 202 to convert
a motion JPG-image sequence in a YUV-image stream, a converter
device 211 for conversion of a YUV-video stream in VP8, a converter
device 212 to transform a YUV-video stream in VP8 in H. 264/AVC, a
TTS-converter device 298 to transform text stream into an audio
stream, an ASR-converter device 299 to transform an audio stream
into a text stream. It is understood that the above described and
depicted instances in the figure are only an exemplary excerpt of
converter devices from which media conversions are possible. The
number of possible conversion machines is also not limited to on a
specific value such as 99. It is further to be noted that the media
conversion device 135 allows not only a transcoding of a media type
(e.g. pictures), but also a media type conversion (e.g. text to
speech and vice versa).
[0060] For explanations of the relatively well known protocols and
technical terms JPG, Motion-JPG, YUV, VP8, H. 264/AVC, TTS, and
ASR, the German Wikipedia pages for JPEG, JPEG File Inter-change
Format, Motion JPEG, YUV-Farbmodell, VP8, H.264, Speech Synthesis,
and Speech Recognition, as opened on Nov. 8, 2012 and their full
disclosure is included in this application by reference.
[0061] Which conversion machine(s) is/are used, decides the
decision-making body 133. The decision-making body 133 will assess
the terminal and the network bandwidth of the participant and
decides which media streams and will be converted how, and with
what properties. The properties can also change: for example, the
resolution of a video picture can decrease or a shared desktop
screen size of 2540*1440 pixels can be reduced to VGA-H.264,
etc.
[0062] The conversion rules are defined by configuration within the
decision-making body 133. Here, the rules each receive "points".
Indeed, multiple conversion rules can be possible and the system
must decide which one to use. For example, a browser supports high
or less high resolutions; the same applies to high or worse audio
quality. Then on the basis of the rules and the point allocation
the best matching rule ("Matching Rule") is used, i.e., the one
rule which provides most of the points. This best rule also
considers variables such as the of the performance capabilities of
the terminal device (for example, iOS has fewer capabilities than a
Window7 workstation) and the bandwidth, which has been monitored in
passing (e.g., via RTCP), and also the conversion efforts on the
server side (for example a conversion of H.264 in VP8 and vice
versa would be "expensive" and would receive less points). For
explanations of the relatively well-known protocol RTCP, reference
is made the German Wikipedia page for RTCP, as called up on Nov.
18, 2012, whose disclosure is included in this application by
reference.
[0063] Construction of a generic signal processing 137 is
illustrated in more detail in FIG. 3. Consequently, the generic
signal processing protocol stack 137 includes a streaming protocol
stack 301 a signal protocol stack 302.
[0064] The streaming protocol stack 301 assigns the protocols
WebRTC, RTP/SRTP, HTTP, and HLS.
[0065] The signal protocol stack 302 assigns the protocols SIP/SDP,
http, and WebRTP/ROAP. ROAP (RTCWeb Offer/Answer Protocol) is a
protocol for the negotiation of media between browsers and other
compatible devices.
[0066] The generic signal processing 137 also provides a generic
signaling protocol as an internal signaling protocol of the
collaboration service 130. For this the generic signal processing
137 converts a data stream from the virtual room or from a data
stream originating from a participant into the generic signaling
protocol. Then the generic signal processing 137 converts the
generic signaling protocol into the signaling mode selected for the
participant to a signaling type required for this application.
Based on the streaming protocol stack and the signaling protocol
stack almost any adjustments to the signaling mode are possible in
an efficient manner.
[0067] It is understood that the above described protocol stacks
shown in the figure are only an exemplary excerpt from the possible
protocol stacks. The number is also not limited to the two shown.
On the contrary, a protocol stack should be made available for as
many terminal devices as possible at the starting point of the
collaboration service 130.
[0068] The HTML/web service 139 now hosts web applications in the
event that a participant with an active or passive (webcast)
session will enter the room through a web browser. It takes into
consideration, what resolutions the terminal supports, and the
decision-making body 133 is supplied with the relevant information.
The interpretation of the application as well as the media density
adapts to the device capabilities. If the browser is actively
involved in a meeting it sends and receives data in real-time (for
example, through WebRTC). However, if the browser is a passive
participant in a meeting, it only receives real-time data, but does
not send any. This can be achieved with the HLS-protocol for
example. This ability also flows as a factor in the decision of the
decision-making body 133.
[0069] According to the above description participants can
participate with the collaboration service 130 via any kind of
protocol, be it VoIP/SIP, H.323, web/http, WebRTC or other. With
this the collaboration service 130 allows any type of participation
and/or exchange of information in a common virtual session (virtual
room 131), regardless of the type of the terminal equipment of the
clients, the technology used and the type of media. The protocol
technology is arbitrary, and the collaboration service 130 acts as
a gateway, which offers always the best media and/or protocol
conversions. The collaboration service 130 can replace a large
number of specialist services and is therefore a universal
solution, in which all possible media types can be used in an
ongoing session and thus a more effective and more transparent
virtual meeting may be held. It eliminates the need for many single
solutions, and only a single system is required, which can execute
everything all at once. Furthermore the participants can also use
their preferred client, and the collaboration service 130 (server)
adjusts the different technologies.
[0070] A practical approach to control data streams within the
meaning of the present invention is now described by way of an
exemplary embodiment, which is illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 8 in the
form of schematic flow charts. FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart of
a connection control process 400 in the collaboration service of
FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of the process 500 for the
data exchange in the virtual room, which is executed instead of a
step 440 in the connection control process 400. FIG. 6 is a
schematic flow chart of a process 600 for the determination of
protocols and rules, which is executed instead of a step 420 in the
connection control process 400. FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of
a subroutine 700 for the determination of the device parameters,
which is executed instead of a step 610 in the determination
process 600; and FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a subroutine
800, which is executed in the determination process 600 instead of
a step 630 or 670.
[0071] First, a connection control process 400 is described based
on a flow chart shown in FIG. 4, which is performed by the
collaboration service 130 of FIG. 1. The connection control process
400 is a process or procedure for control of data streams within
the meaning of the present invention.
[0072] According to the illustration in FIG. 4 the connection
control process is initiated after its start or call with a step
410 in which a collaboration request is received from an external
client. The requesting client can be, for example, but is not
limited to, each of the participants 112-126 in FIG. 1. The step
410 is assigned to the HTML/web service 139 in FIG. 1.
[0073] Via a junction point 415, which is basically a function of a
return address in the process 400, the process 400 continues to a
step 420, in which transmission protocols and conversion rules for
data exchange are being used. Step 420 is illustrated in FIG. 5 as
a process in greater detail, as commented in FIG. 4 by the Roman
numeral "V".
[0074] Then, in a step 430 based on the specified transmission
protocols established in step 420 a unidirectional or bidirectional
data channel is established. The step 410 is again assigned to the
HTML/web service 139 in FIG. 1.
[0075] A junction point 435, which is basically a return address
function in the process 400, the process 400 continues to a step
440 in which the data exchange in the virtual room 131 in FIG. 1 is
controlled.
[0076] More specifically, data streams are controlled from the
virtual room 131 to the appropriate clients and (in the case of a
bi-directional connection) from this to the virtual room 131. Step
440 is illustrated in FIG. 6 as a process in greater detail as
commented in FIG. 4 by the Roman numeral "VI".
[0077] The process 400 then continues to a step 450, in which will
be assessed whether the communication in step 430 via the
established data channel is finished or not.
[0078] In the case of a positive evaluation in Step 450, i.e., if a
termination of the connection has been observed, in the next step
460 the data channel is closed down orderly, and the process 400
ends or refers back to the calling process.
[0079] In the case of a negative evaluation in Step 450, i.e., no
termination of the connection has been observed, the next step 470
assesses whether or not a change in parameters has occurred or not.
A change in parameters is understood to be, for example, but not
limited to a modification of the device parameters of the clients,
a change in device parameters for other clients, which concerns a
modification of transmission protocols and/or conversion rules with
respect to those clients, a modification in application parameters
of an application running in a virtual room 131, or other
parameters, which concern a change of transmission protocols and/or
is using transformation rules concern, a change in a user
application running in the virtual room 131, or other parameters,
which could concern the communication with and processing at the
client or the virtual room 131.
[0080] In the event of a positive assessment in Step 470, i.e., if
a change in parameters has been observed, the process 400 jumps
back to the branch point 415 in order to determine in Step 420
transmission protocols and conversion rules for this client and
then continue further processing according to the above
description.
[0081] In the event of a negative assessment in step 470, i.e., if
no change in parameters has been observed, the process 400 jumps
back to the branch point 435 in order to continue in Step 440 the
control of the data exchange and then continues the further
processing according to the above description.
[0082] The steps 450 to 470 are again assigned to the HTML/web
service 139 in FIG. 1.
[0083] It is understood that the process 400 can run parallel or
serial or sequentially for a wide variety of clients.
[0084] A data exchange control process 500 is now described with
the help of a flowchart diagram shown in FIG. 5, which corresponds
to the step 440 in the connection control process 400 of FIG. 4 and
is labeled there with "V".
[0085] According to the illustration in FIG. 5, the process 500
leads after its beginning or its first call to a branch point 505.
From here to the end of the left branch with steps 510 and 530, to
receive data from a client, or to a right branch with Steps 540 and
550, to transmit data to the client. The right-hand branch
(transmission branch) is always processed; the left-hand branch
(reception branch) is only processed in the case of a
bi-directional (i.e., full-duplex-) connection. The decision as to
whether the left or the right branch is processed can be made using
call parameters or left and right branch are alternately processed
at each call of the process 500.
[0086] In the left-hand branch of the process 500 in Step 510 the
client receives a data stream. The step 510 is assigned to the
HTML/web service 139 in FIG. 1.
[0087] Then in Step 520 the data stream received in Step 510 is
converted according to a conversion rule as defined in step 420
(FIG. 4). The step 520 is assigned to the media conversion instance
135 in FIG. 1.
[0088] Then, in Step 530 the data stream converted in Step 520 is
shown in the virtual room 131, so that it is visible to other
participants. The step 530 is assigned to the virtual room 131 in
FIG. 1.
[0089] In the right-hand branch of the process 500 initially in
Step 540 a data stream from the virtual room 131, which is to be
sent to the client will be converted with a conversion rule
according to Step 420 (FIG. 4). The step 520 is again assigned to
the media conversion instance 135 in FIG. 1.
[0090] Secondly, in Step 550 the data stream converted in Step 540
is sent to the client. The step 530 is again assigned to the
HTML/web service 139 in FIG. 1.
[0091] The left and right branch of the process 500 rejoins in a
junction 555 back together. Then the process 500 ends or refers
back to the calling process.
[0092] Although branch point 505 is symbolized as an OR-branch, the
left and the right-hand branch also can be processed in parallel or
in sequence. A query in order to assess if there is a
bi-directional connection, can be upstream from the left-hand
branch, and will only be executed in the event of a positive
assessment, while in the case of a negative assessment a direct
jump to the junction point 555 occurs.
[0093] The steps 510 and 540 can also include a query, which, if no
data stream is received from the client or transferred to the
client directly jumps to the junction point 555.
[0094] Based on a flow chart shown in FIG. 6 a protocol and rules
determination process 600 (short determination process 600) is
described in step 420 of FIG. 4, which corresponds to the
connection control process 400 and is marked there as "VI".
[0095] According to the illustration in FIG. 6 the process 600 is
initiated after its start or the call of step 610, in which first
the device parameters for clients are determined. The Roman numeral
"VII" illustrates step 610 later on in FIG. 7 as a process in
greater detail than depicted in FIG. 6.
[0096] Then, in step 620 a source media type for transmissions to
the client, i.e. a media type, which is requested by a queried
application by the client, is determined within the virtual room
131 in FIG. 1. The virtual room 131 supplies this media type.
[0097] Then, in a step 630 a conversion rule for transmissions to
client, i.e., a rule for converting a data type to a data type
usable or requested by the client for use within the virtual room
131 in FIG. 1. The Roman numeral "VIII" illustrates step 630 later
on in FIG. 8 as a process in greater detail as depicted in FIG.
6.
[0098] Subsequently, in a step 640 a protocol stack for
transmissions to the client is selected.
[0099] In a step 650 it is then assessed whether or not the client
is a passive client.
[0100] In the event of a positive assessment in step 650, i.e., if
the client is a passive client, process 600 jumps to a junction
point 655, and then process 600 ends or refers back to the calling
process.
[0101] In the event of a negative assessment in step 650, i.e., if
the client is an active client, which requires a two-way data
transmission, process 600 continues to a step 660, in which a
initially a source media type provided by one of the client data
stream is determined. This media type is delivered by the HTML/web
service 139 in FIG. 1.
[0102] Then, in a step 670 a conversion rule for a reception of
data streams from the client is determined, i.e., a rule for
converting a data type supplied by the client into a data type
required by the application within the virtual room 131 in FIG. 1.
The step 670 corresponds to the step 630 with reverse initial
parameters and will be illustrated later on in further detail as a
process in FIG. 8.
[0103] Next, the process 600 leads to the junction point 655, in
order to end there.
[0104] A parameter determination process 700 is now described with
the help of a flowchart diagram shown in FIG. 7, which corresponds
to the step 610 in the determination process 600 of FIG. 6 and is
labeled there with "VII".
[0105] According to the illustration in FIG. 7 the process 700 is
initiated after its start or call of step 710, in which first a
received transmission protocol for the client is determined. This
transmission protocol is supplied by the HTML/web service 139 in
FIG. 1.
[0106] Then in a step 720 an application type and/or a layout of a
starting application on the client is determined. In a step 730 a
screen resolution for the client is determined. In a step 740 a
media density, which the client can process is determined. In a
step 750, the audio sampling rate of the application is determined,
and in Step 760 a device performance of the clients is determined.
Device performance can encompass, for example, but is not limited
to, performance data of the processor, the memory, a graphic card,
a sound card, attached peripherals, etc.
[0107] Then the process 700 ends or refers back to the calling
process.
[0108] It goes without saying that the above-described steps and
parameters determined therein are an exemplary, non-exhaustive
list. It is also not necessary in every case to determine all of
the parameters. In fact, the list of parameters can be constrained
to the practically most relevant cases depending on the type of
application deployed and on the technology used.
[0109] A rules determination process 800 is now described with the
help of a flowchart diagram shown in FIG. 8, which corresponds to
the step 630 or 670 in the determination process 600 of FIG. 6 and
is labeled there with "VIII". As already mentioned, the process 800
can be used for a rules determination for a media conversion for
transmission or reception, in which case only the call parameters
are reversed.
[0110] According to the illustration in FIG. 8, the process 800 is
initiated after its beginning or call by a step 810, which
determines potential conversion rules for the conversion of the
source media type to the target media type.
[0111] Then, in a step 820 a designated number of possible
evaluation criteria is used and evaluated for each possible
conversion rule as determined by step 810. For example, for each
evaluation criterion an evaluation score of 0 up to a specified
maximum points is assessed. Possible evaluation criteria were
already described above. It should be noted that the device
parameters of the client, which were determined in step 610 in FIG.
6 (i.e., in the process 700 of FIG. 7) would be considered in the
evaluation criteria. Equally the internal criteria of the
collaboration service 130 in FIG. 1 such as transformation cost can
be considered in the evaluation criteria.
[0112] Then in a step 830 the assessment for each possible
conversion rule is summarized.
[0113] Finally, in a step 840 the conversion rule, which provides
the best assessment, is selected from the determined potential
conversion rules as determined by step 810. In other words, the
conversion rule with the highest score of all their evaluation
criteria in total will be selected.
[0114] Then the process 800 ends or refers back to the calling
process.
[0115] In summary, the invention provides for the control of data
streams of a virtual session with multiple participants via a
centralized process while using for each participant a selected
media processing and signaling mode according to his/her individual
requirements. A centralized process is a process, which runs on an
enclosed software and/or hardware instance. The centralized process
can be in particular a collaboration service or server. The
invention can also be embodied by a computer program, a computer
program product or a digital storage medium.
[0116] The present invention has been described above through the
use of preferred embodiment and represented graphically. It should
be noted, however, that the present invention is defined solely by
the independent patent claims and the above description of
embodiments, modifications and further developments serve only as
an exemplary illustration. Not all elements described above are
necessarily required for the application and implementation of the
invention, as long as they are not integrated in at least one
independent claim as a mandatory feature.
* * * * *