WO2004114662A1 - System and method for setup of meetings and conferences - Google Patents

System and method for setup of meetings and conferences Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2004114662A1
WO2004114662A1 PCT/NO2004/000179 NO2004000179W WO2004114662A1 WO 2004114662 A1 WO2004114662 A1 WO 2004114662A1 NO 2004000179 W NO2004000179 W NO 2004000179W WO 2004114662 A1 WO2004114662 A1 WO 2004114662A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
localizations
conference
management system
facilities
meeting
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/NO2004/000179
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Snorre Kjesbu
Thies Schrader
Håkon DAHLE
Vegard Hammer
Original Assignee
Tandberg Telecom As
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Publication date
Application filed by Tandberg Telecom As filed Critical Tandberg Telecom As
Priority to JP2006517000A priority Critical patent/JP2007536764A/en
Priority to CN2004800172996A priority patent/CN1810029B/en
Priority to EP04748755A priority patent/EP1636988A1/en
Publication of WO2004114662A1 publication Critical patent/WO2004114662A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
    • G06Q10/06311—Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0637—Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
    • G06Q10/06375—Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
    • H04L12/02—Details
    • H04L12/16—Arrangements for providing special services to substations
    • H04L12/18—Arrangements for providing special services to substations for broadcast or conference, e.g. multicast
    • H04L12/1813—Arrangements for providing special services to substations for broadcast or conference, e.g. multicast for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms
    • H04L12/1818—Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/14—Session management
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/50—Network services
    • H04L67/60—Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
    • H04L9/40—Network security protocols
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/14—Systems for two-way working
    • H04N7/15—Conference systems
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
    • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
    • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
    • H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to managing, scheduling and initiating videoconferences .
  • Conventional videoconferencing systems comprise a number of end-points communicating real-time video, audio and/or data streams over and between various networks such as WAN, LAN and circuit switched networks.
  • a number of videoconference systems residing at different sites may participate in the same conference, most often, through one or more MCU's (Multipoint Control Unit) performing i.a. switching functions to allow the audiovisual terminals to intercommunicate properly.
  • MCU's Multipoint Control Unit
  • the wording schedule or scheduler shall also be understood as including setting up ad-hoc meetings or calls.
  • a resource scheduler is a module that is used to schedule or book resources at any given point in time.
  • the resource scheduler will allow a user to request resource usage at a given time, and either allow or disallow the usage at that time.
  • Resource schedulers are often used for scheduling the use of meeting rooms, network resources, video systems etc.
  • the resource scheduler must be connected to a database containing updated information regarding all accessible resources like MCU's, gateways, routers, end-points etc.
  • a resource scheduler may e.g. provide system and resource overview, allowing the user to create, edit, and delete reservations, reserve resources for dial-in participants and specify bandwidth and network settings.
  • the resource scheduler may also support automatic call routing and automatic selection of point-to-point connection, including one or more MCU's.
  • the resource scheduler normally operates with an intuitive web interface requiring no additional installation on the user terminal other than a conventional web browser.
  • Ad-hoc scheduling Another problem regarding ad-hoc scheduling is that even if the resource scheduler knows that a certain end-point is available and ready for use, it cannot know whether the participants are present at the different sites, when the videoconference is not pre-scheduled. Ad-hoc booking will then normally also require manuals requests in the form of additional calls to the participants in advance, making it behave like a pre-scheduled call.
  • One aspect of the present invention discloses a system adapted to schedule and/or investigate possibilities for a meeting between two or more individuals and reserve associated localizations and/or facilities based on availability and/or capability, the system including a number of priority lists, one associated with each individual, respectively including a number of localizations arranged in a preferred order, a selection process adapted to select one or more localization (s) and associated facility (ies) each of which respectively included in at least one of said number of priority lists .
  • system is further adapted to determine the availability of the localizations for each individual by means of a presence application, integrated in or connected to the system, monitoring the individuals' presence at one or more of the localizations.
  • the present invention also discloses corresponding methods.
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the different elements involved in an example embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 2 is a flow sheet illustrating the steps of a method according to one aspect of the present invention
  • Figure 3 is an overview of the connection between the resource scheduler, presence application and presence server according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the present invention introduces a novel mechanism for connecting one or more systems to a user for automatic determination of which system the user may use to participate in a call.
  • a predefined list of videoconferencing systems and/or locations for each user being arranged in a prioritized order.
  • the list is either manually defined or generated from the user's most frequently used systems.
  • these predefined user lists are taken into account when selecting end-points and other resources involved in the meeting/conference.
  • the selection process may be controlled by predefined rules where the rules takes into account various systems availability, as well as network resources and the routes required for connecting the other systems in the conference.
  • the invention derives advantage from the fact that users usually have access to more than one end- point and/or meeting room, and that some accessible facilities tend to be more preferable than others. As an example, if a user has a personal video conferencing system, it would probably be the most preferable system as the user can be directly connected to that system. The group system located in the user' s nearest meeting room would likely be the second most preferable system, and so on.
  • Least cost means in this case either a selection employing as few systems as possible and/or employing routes between the systems providing the lowest costs possible. If the object is to employ as few systems as possible, assuming all systems are idle at the given time, the selection will be as follows:
  • the flow sheet of figure 2 shows a more general overview of the steps for selecting the systems to be used in a conference call given the priority lists of the selected participants and the cost values of each system combination.
  • the cost value is dependent on the weighting of different factors associated with a conference call. This is exemplified with routing and/or equipment costs in the flow sheet, but other costs would also be obvious for a man skilled in the art to use.
  • the illustrated process starts by selecting the participants. Then, the availability of the systems included in the selected participants' priority lists is investigated, and the ones being busy are filtered out. All possible permutations of the remaining systems are then generated for each user, and the duplicate permutations are removed.
  • the collection of permutations now includes all possible system constellations for the call being scheduled. Prior to further processing, it has to be checked if the routes required for calls associated with the respective constellations are available, and those of unavailable routes are removed. If no permutations are left, an error message is handed out and the process is terminated. In the opposite case, each available constellation is then assigned one or more cost value. The next step in the process is to determine the permutation with the lowest cost. The systems of this permutation are connected together in a call, and the process is terminated.
  • a first aspect of the present invention reducing the need for human knowledge of user equipment when scheduling conferences and/or meetings has just been discussed. However, the problem of not knowing the availability of the actual participants when scheduling ad-hoc conferences still remains.
  • the present invention includes a second aspect introducing a presence system connected to scheduling and accomplishment of a conference.
  • Presence applications are known as applications indicating whether someone or something is present or not.
  • a so-called “buddy list” on a user terminal shows the presence of the people or systems (buddies) that have been added to the list. The list will indicate if the "buddy” is present or not (logged on the computer, working, available, idle, or another status) .
  • the presence functionality creates a feeling of presence also with people or things that are located in other buildings, towns, or countries.
  • Presence applications are often found in conjunction with Instant Messaging (IM) applications. These applications extend the presence application by adding the possibility of exchanging information between present "buddies".
  • IM Instant Messaging
  • the information exchange may include applications like chat, messaging and conferencing.
  • Presence and IM applications there is a central server keeping track of all the clients in the system, while the client provides the server with information about their own state and location.
  • the server also handles user login and provide information of the "buddies" in respective “buddy list” by using a proprietary protocol. However, information between clients ("buddies") may be transmitted directly as the server provides connection information (IP address and port number) of the client's "buddies".
  • IP address and port number IP address and port number
  • connection between the presence application and the resource scheduler may appear for the users in many ways. The most convenient would probably be to integrate the resource scheduler in the IM/Presence application or vice versa. Hence, allow the user to see the presence of both the user and system. A double click on a "buddy" in a
  • “buddy list” may e.g. execute an immediate initiation of a call set up to the "buddy” using the most preferred idle system associated with the "buddy”.
  • a click on further "buddies” preferably includes them in the call constituting a conference, all provided by the functionalities already available in the resource scheduler.
  • the resource scheduler may be instructed by requests from the presence application using the proprietary protocol. Alternatively, all or some of the conference features available in the resource scheduler may be integrated as IM functions in the presence application. The ordinary scheduler interface will then be replaced by the GUI of the presence application initially downloaded from the server.
  • the presence application, resource scheduler and the prioritizing mechanism may be further integrated in that the above-discussed server is being utilised for supporting the selection procedure of the resource scheduler illustrated in figure 2.
  • the information required for the selection procedure to work has to be distributed. Such information may include system availability, qualified numbers, capabilities, usage cost, location and priority lists.
  • This information needs to be published to a distributed information center.
  • this center may be the presence server, as this server already stores information about the users or "buddies".
  • the selection procedure then utilises the information stored in the distributed server to determine witch systems to use when setting up a conference.
  • the presence application will then be responsible for maintaining system information on the server.
  • the presence application will also request system information from the server when the user issues a conference request.
  • the presence application will retrieve information about other participants from the server, and provide this information for the resource scheduler, and the resource scheduler will initiate the conference with the participants from the presence application.
  • the connection between the resource scheduler, presence application and presence server is shown in figure 3.
  • the present invention provides many advantages in connection with scheduling and set-up of calls and conferences.
  • a user does not need to know which systems other users can access.
  • the prioritizing mechanism By the means of the prioritizing mechanism, there is no need for users to know which systems to book when having a conference with a given person.
  • all the user has to do is to select the person, and the system itself selects the correct system to use for that person by utilizing the associated priority list in addition to other resource availability, system capabilities, location of user, etc.

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system and method for connecting one or more systems to a user for automatic determination of which system the user may use to participate in a call. A predefined list of videoconferencing systems and/or locations for each user is predefined and arranged in a prioritized order. When scheduling a meeting and/or a videoconference, the predefined user lists are taken into account when selecting end-points and other resources involved in the meeting/conference. The selection process may be controlled by predefined rules also taking various system availability, network resources and the routes required for connecting the other systems in the conference into account. The present invention also introduces presence applications to facilitate scheduling and set up of ad hoc meetings/conferences.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SETUP OF MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
Field of the invention
The present invention relates to managing, scheduling and initiating videoconferences .
Background of the invention
Conventional videoconferencing systems comprise a number of end-points communicating real-time video, audio and/or data streams over and between various networks such as WAN, LAN and circuit switched networks.
A number of videoconference systems residing at different sites may participate in the same conference, most often, through one or more MCU's (Multipoint Control Unit) performing i.a. switching functions to allow the audiovisual terminals to intercommunicate properly.
As videoconferencing involves various recourses and equipment simultaneously interoperating at different localizations and capabilities, there is a need for the possibility to manage the resources involved both for scheduled and ad hoc videoconferences . The wording schedule or scheduler shall also be understood as including setting up ad-hoc meetings or calls.
Videoconferencing systems are therefore often provided with a resource scheduler. A resource scheduler is a module that is used to schedule or book resources at any given point in time. The resource scheduler will allow a user to request resource usage at a given time, and either allow or disallow the usage at that time. Resource schedulers are often used for scheduling the use of meeting rooms, network resources, video systems etc. The resource scheduler must be connected to a database containing updated information regarding all accessible resources like MCU's, gateways, routers, end-points etc.
A resource scheduler may e.g. provide system and resource overview, allowing the user to create, edit, and delete reservations, reserve resources for dial-in participants and specify bandwidth and network settings. The resource scheduler may also support automatic call routing and automatic selection of point-to-point connection, including one or more MCU's. The resource scheduler normally operates with an intuitive web interface requiring no additional installation on the user terminal other than a conventional web browser.
Even if users have audio or videoconferencing equipment available, either as personal or group systems, a large problem with scheduling meetings using audio- and videoconferencing equipment is knowledge of which resources are available to a given participant. In many cases, it is necessary for the one that is booking the conference to ask the participants in person about which localizations and systems etc. are accessible to them at the particular moment, and which accessories and services they have available or which is preferable. This manual "round-robin" request is added to the use of a resource scheduler, causing delay in conference booking and reducing the utilitarian value of the resource scheduler. The lack of knowledge regarding the participants' access and preferences is also the main reason that ad-hoc conferences are difficult to set-up - they simply require too much fluctuating knowledge of the far end side from the users.
Another problem regarding ad-hoc scheduling is that even if the resource scheduler knows that a certain end-point is available and ready for use, it cannot know whether the participants are present at the different sites, when the videoconference is not pre-scheduled. Ad-hoc booking will then normally also require manuals requests in the form of additional calls to the participants in advance, making it behave like a pre-scheduled call.
Summary of the invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement and a method avoiding the above described problems .
The features defined in the independent claims enclosed characterise this arrangement and method.
One aspect of the present invention discloses a system adapted to schedule and/or investigate possibilities for a meeting between two or more individuals and reserve associated localizations and/or facilities based on availability and/or capability, the system including a number of priority lists, one associated with each individual, respectively including a number of localizations arranged in a preferred order, a selection process adapted to select one or more localization (s) and associated facility (ies) each of which respectively included in at least one of said number of priority lists .
In another aspect of the present invention the system is further adapted to determine the availability of the localizations for each individual by means of a presence application, integrated in or connected to the system, monitoring the individuals' presence at one or more of the localizations.
The present invention also discloses corresponding methods.
Brief description of the drawings
In order to make the invention more readily understandable, the discussion that follows will refer to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the different elements involved in an example embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 2 is a flow sheet illustrating the steps of a method according to one aspect of the present invention,
Figure 3 is an overview of the connection between the resource scheduler, presence application and presence server according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Best mode of carrying out the invention
In the following, the present invention will be discussed by describing a preferred embodiment, and by referring to the accompanying drawings. However, people skilled in the art will realize other applications and modifications within the scope of the invention as defined in the enclosed independent claims.
The present invention introduces a novel mechanism for connecting one or more systems to a user for automatic determination of which system the user may use to participate in a call. According to the present invention, there is a predefined list of videoconferencing systems and/or locations for each user being arranged in a prioritized order. The list is either manually defined or generated from the user's most frequently used systems. When scheduling a meeting and/or a videoconference, these predefined user lists are taken into account when selecting end-points and other resources involved in the meeting/conference. The selection process may be controlled by predefined rules where the rules takes into account various systems availability, as well as network resources and the routes required for connecting the other systems in the conference. The invention derives advantage from the fact that users usually have access to more than one end- point and/or meeting room, and that some accessible facilities tend to be more preferable than others. As an example, if a user has a personal video conferencing system, it would probably be the most preferable system as the user can be directly connected to that system. The group system located in the user' s nearest meeting room would likely be the second most preferable system, and so on.
The utilisation of the prioritizing lists is further illustrated in the following example. The following users have the given list of prioritized systems for having conferences :
Userl: Personal_system_userl, Meeting_rooml_sitel, Meeting_room2_sitel
User2: Meeting__rooml_sitel, Meeting_room3_sitel
User3: Personal_system_user3, Meeting_rooml_site2
There are many possible methods for how to select the systems used to connect the users together in a conference. One such method is based on least cost. Least cost means in this case either a selection employing as few systems as possible and/or employing routes between the systems providing the lowest costs possible. If the object is to employ as few systems as possible, assuming all systems are idle at the given time, the selection will be as follows:
Participants: Userl, User3. Best system usage: Personal_system_userl and Personal_system_user3.
Participants: Userl, User2, User3. Best system usage: Meeting_rooml_sitel, Personal_system_user3.
Participants: Userl, User2. Best system usage: Meeting_rooml__sitel (no call) . If however the system Meeting_rooml_sitel is not idle, the resource scheduler will not allow a call to be made directly to Meeting_rooml_sitel . The resource scheduler then sets up the conference by using all the respective personal systems.
The flow sheet of figure 2 shows a more general overview of the steps for selecting the systems to be used in a conference call given the priority lists of the selected participants and the cost values of each system combination. The cost value is dependent on the weighting of different factors associated with a conference call. This is exemplified with routing and/or equipment costs in the flow sheet, but other costs would also be obvious for a man skilled in the art to use.
The illustrated process starts by selecting the participants. Then, the availability of the systems included in the selected participants' priority lists is investigated, and the ones being busy are filtered out. All possible permutations of the remaining systems are then generated for each user, and the duplicate permutations are removed.
The collection of permutations now includes all possible system constellations for the call being scheduled. Prior to further processing, it has to be checked if the routes required for calls associated with the respective constellations are available, and those of unavailable routes are removed. If no permutations are left, an error message is handed out and the process is terminated. In the opposite case, each available constellation is then assigned one or more cost value. The next step in the process is to determine the permutation with the lowest cost. The systems of this permutation are connected together in a call, and the process is terminated. A first aspect of the present invention reducing the need for human knowledge of user equipment when scheduling conferences and/or meetings has just been discussed. However, the problem of not knowing the availability of the actual participants when scheduling ad-hoc conferences still remains.
The present invention includes a second aspect introducing a presence system connected to scheduling and accomplishment of a conference. Presence applications are known as applications indicating whether someone or something is present or not. A so-called "buddy list" on a user terminal shows the presence of the people or systems (buddies) that have been added to the list. The list will indicate if the "buddy" is present or not (logged on the computer, working, available, idle, or another status) . The presence functionality creates a feeling of presence also with people or things that are located in other buildings, towns, or countries.
Presence applications are often found in conjunction with Instant Messaging (IM) applications. These applications extend the presence application by adding the possibility of exchanging information between present "buddies". The information exchange may include applications like chat, messaging and conferencing.
In Presence and IM applications, there is a central server keeping track of all the clients in the system, while the client provides the server with information about their own state and location. The server also handles user login and provide information of the "buddies" in respective "buddy list" by using a proprietary protocol. However, information between clients ("buddies") may be transmitted directly as the server provides connection information (IP address and port number) of the client's "buddies". By connecting a presence or IM application to the resource scheduler, a first user will be able to see when a second user is present (not busy with something else) , and at the same time, an idle system may be selected according to the priority list of the second user. This will provide a new ad-hoc possibility to common resources, as unnecessary calls (due to ignorance of presence information) will be avoided and manual negotiations through alternative communication prior to the call will not be required.
The connection between the presence application and the resource scheduler may appear for the users in many ways. The most convenient would probably be to integrate the resource scheduler in the IM/Presence application or vice versa. Hence, allow the user to see the presence of both the user and system. A double click on a "buddy" in a
"buddy list" may e.g. execute an immediate initiation of a call set up to the "buddy" using the most preferred idle system associated with the "buddy". A click on further "buddies" preferably includes them in the call constituting a conference, all provided by the functionalities already available in the resource scheduler. The resource scheduler may be instructed by requests from the presence application using the proprietary protocol. Alternatively, all or some of the conference features available in the resource scheduler may be integrated as IM functions in the presence application. The ordinary scheduler interface will then be replaced by the GUI of the presence application initially downloaded from the server.
The presence application, resource scheduler and the prioritizing mechanism may be further integrated in that the above-discussed server is being utilised for supporting the selection procedure of the resource scheduler illustrated in figure 2. Generally, the information required for the selection procedure to work has to be distributed. Such information may include system availability, qualified numbers, capabilities, usage cost, location and priority lists. This information needs to be published to a distributed information center. According to the present invention, this center may be the presence server, as this server already stores information about the users or "buddies". The selection procedure then utilises the information stored in the distributed server to determine witch systems to use when setting up a conference. The presence application will then be responsible for maintaining system information on the server. The presence application will also request system information from the server when the user issues a conference request. The presence application will retrieve information about other participants from the server, and provide this information for the resource scheduler, and the resource scheduler will initiate the conference with the participants from the presence application. The connection between the resource scheduler, presence application and presence server is shown in figure 3.
The present invention provides many advantages in connection with scheduling and set-up of calls and conferences. As an example, a user does not need to know which systems other users can access. By the means of the prioritizing mechanism, there is no need for users to know which systems to book when having a conference with a given person. With the present invention, all the user has to do is to select the person, and the system itself selects the correct system to use for that person by utilizing the associated priority list in addition to other resource availability, system capabilities, location of user, etc.
In addition, as the use of common resources often occur in an ad-hoc fashion - the connection of presence applications and Instant Messaging with conferencing resource availability according to the present invention will create an environment to easily start ad-hoc conferences. The user no longer has to check multiple systems and persons for availability, but just wait until a user with a compatible system is available, and click "conference".
Also, by the introduction of presence and IM, initiating a call with another user or including a user in an already established conference, will be easy and intuitive by simply double clicking on the link of the wanted and present user included in the "buddy list" of the presence or IM application.

Claims

P a te n t c l a i m s
1. A conference management system adapted to schedule and/or investigate possibilities for a meeting between two or more individuals for the purpose of reserving associated localizations and/or facilities for the meeting based on availability and/or capability, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n
a number of priority lists stored in one or more storage device (s), one associated with each individual, respectively including a number of localizations arranged in a preferred order,
a selection process adapted to select one or more localization (s) and associated facility (ies) each of which respectively included in at least one of said number of priority lists, wherein the facility (ies) includes conference resources adapted to provide communication between the individuals if more than one localization is selected, wherein said resources at least includes conference end-points respectively associated with selected localizations.
2. A conference management system according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the selection process is adapted to minimize a total cost derived from a number of cost values assigned to the localizations and facilities when selecting among said cost values.
3. A conference management system according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that each localization is assigned a cost value according to priority within the respective priority lists.
4. A conference management system according to one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the selection process is adapted to minimize the number of localizations included in the meeting.
5. A conference management system according to one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the selection process is adapted to filter out occupied localizations and facilities .
6. A conference management system according to one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that said conference resources further includes one or more communication route (s) and/or one or more Gateway (s) and/or one or more Multiple Conference Unit(s).
7. A conference management system according to one of the claims 2 - 6, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that said cost values respectively represent bandwidth capabilities, WAN capabilities, LAN capabilities and/or routing costs.
8. A conference management system adapted to schedule and/or investigate possibilities for a meeting between two or more individuals for the purpose of reserving associated localizations and/or facilities for the meeting based on availability and/or capability, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the system further is adapted to determine the availability of the localizations and/or facilities for each individual by means of a presence application, integrated in or connected to the system, monitoring the individuals' presence at one or more of the localizations, and/or the availability of the respective facilities.
9. A conference management system according to claim 8, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n a number of priority lists stored in one or more storage device (s), one associated with each individual, respectively including a number of localizations arranged in a preferred order,
a selection process adapted to select one or more localization (s) and associated facility (ies) each of which respectively included in at least one of the priority lists associated with present individuals, wherein the facilit (ies) includes conference resources adapted to provide communication between the individuals if more than one localization is selected, wherein said resources at least includes conference end-points respectively associated with selected localizations.
10. A conference management system according to claim 9, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that it is adapted to allow selection of individuals to participate in the meeting from a "buddy" list provided by said presence application.
11. A conference management system according to one of the claims 8 - 10, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that said presence application is supported by a central presence server at least providing presence information for each individual.
12. A conference management system according to one of the claims 9 - 11, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the selection process is adapted to minimize a total cost derived from a number of cost values assigned to the localizations and facilities when selecting among said cost values.
13. A conference management system according to one of the claims 8 - 12, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that each localization is assigned a cost value according to priority within the respective priority lists.
14. A conference management system according to one of the claims 9 - 13, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the selection process is adapted to minimize the number of localizations included in the meeting.
15. A conference management system according to one of the claims 9 - 14, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that said conference resources further includes one or more communication route (s) and/or one or more Gatewa (s) and/or one or more Multiple Conference Unit(s).
16. A conference management system according to one of the claims 13 - 15, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that said cost values respectively represent bandwidth capabilities, WAN capabilities, LAN capabilities and/or routing costs.
17. A conference management system according to one of the claims 12 - 16, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that a supporting scheduler server stores said priority lists and said number of cost values in addition to availability and capability of the localizations and facilities.
18. A conference management system according to one of the claims 12 - 16, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that said presence server further stores said priority lists and said number of cost values in addition to availability and capability of the localizations and facilities.
19. A method for scheduling and/or investigating possibilities for a meeting between two or more individuals for the purpose of reserving associated localizations and/or facilities for the meeting based on availability and/or capability, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n
selecting one or more localization (s) and associated facility (ies) each of which respectively included in at least one of a number of priority lists, stored in one or more storage device (s), one associated with each individual, respectively including a number of localizations arranged in a preferred order, wherein the facility (ies) includes conference resources adapted to provide communication between the individuals if more than one localization is selected, wherein said resources at least includes conference end-points respectively associated with selected localizations .
20. A method according to claim 19, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n
minimizing a total cost derived from a number of cost values assigned to the localizations and facilities when selecting among said cost values.
21. A method according to claim 20, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n
assigning a cost value according to priority within the respective priority lists to each localization.
22. A method according to one of the claims 19 - 21, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n
minimizing the number of localizations included in the meeting.
23. A method for scheduling and/or investigating possibilities for a meeting between two or more individuals for the purpose of reserving associated localizations and/or facilities for the meeting based on availability and/or capability, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n
determining the availability of the localizations and/or facilities for each individual by means of a presence application, integrated in or connected to the system, monitoring the individuals' presence at one or more of the localizations and/or the availability of the respective facilities.
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