WO2013062581A1

WO2013062581A1 - Layout for groups of participants

Info

Publication number: WO2013062581A1
Application number: PCT/US2011/058340
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mark E. Gorzynski; Michael D. Derocher
Original assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
Priority date: 2011-10-28
Filing date: 2011-10-28
Publication date: 2013-05-02

Abstract

A plurality of groups of participants in a meeting established over a network are identified according to roles of the corresponding participants in the meeting. A meeting layout defining display portions for corresponding groups is provided, where each of the display portions includes corresponding display regions for displaying media streams of participants in the corresponding group.

Description

LAYOUT FOR GROU PS OF PARTICIPANTS

Background

[0001 ] Remote conferencing systems allow for collaboration between people at different locations. These systems allow participants to interact with one another through the use of audio and/or video equipment that provides audio and/or video communications.

Brief Description Of The Drawings

[0002] Some implementations are described with respect to the following figures:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a physical meeting according to some examples;

Figs. 2 and 4-7B are schematic diagrams of display layouts according to various example implementations;

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of an example process according to some

implementations; and

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of an example arrangement that includes equipment for establishing meetings over a communications network, according to some implementations

Detailed Description

[0003] Remote conferencing allows people at remote locations ("conference sites") to conduct a meeting over a communications network (e.g. the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, etc.). Note that "communications network" or "network" can refer to a single network or multiple networks. People at separate conference sites can communicate in the meeting, where each site includes audio/video equipment for capturing audio/video that is to be transmitted over the communications network to other conference sites involved in the meeting.

"Audio/video data" can refer to audio data (including voice from participants), or video data (including video of participants and/or resources), or both audio and video data. In the ensuing discussion, unless otherwise noted, the term "meeting" can refer to a session established over a communications network for exchanging audio/video data among multiple conference sites.

[0004] Participants gather together in remote conferencing sessions to carry out certain tasks. Examples of tasks include having a discussion, making a

presentation, listening to and viewing a presentation, collaborating on a document or other resource, and so forth. Tasks can often be performed by individual

participants, or by two or more participants (at the same location or at remote locations) in a group. For example, multiple presenters or people editing a document can work together in a respective group. In addition to editing a document, participants of a meeting can also perform tasks with respect to other types of resources. A "resource" can include any type of visual material that can be displayed during a meeting, where the visual material can include a document (e.g. word processing document, presentation slides, spreadsheet document, etc.), an image, a movie, or any other visual material that is not a participant of the meeting.

[0005] When meeting participants gather for a meeting over distance in a remote conference session, various forms of communications (verbal and non-verbal) that can be conveyed in a physical meeting (in-person meeting) may not be properly conveyed in the meeting over distance. Different participants can engage in different forms of communications. For example, a presenter can provide verbal

communications (usually with relatively good audio so that audience members can hear) and non-verbal communications, which can include body language (e.g.

walking around in the presentation area), hand gestures, facial expressions, pointing references, and associations with a resource that the presenter is making a presentation about. An audience member may also engage in verbal

communications (e.g. asking questions) and non-verbal communications (e.g. raising hand to seek permission to ask questions). A physical meeting facility with well- defined spaces allows for easier identification of roles of participants, and more effective communications (both verbal and non-verbal) among the participants. A meeting established over a network may not convey communications as well as in a physical meeting.

[0006] Fig. 1 illustrates an example arrangement of meeting participants

(represented by circles in the figure) in an example physical (in-person) meeting environment. The physical meeting environment has an overall meeting area, such as a meeting room. In addition, the overall meeting area further includes meeting spaces (or stations). A "meeting space" or more simply "space" can include any one or combination of the following: a physical location within the overall meeting area, furnishing (e.g. table, podium, whiteboard, etc.), a tool in the location for carrying out a task, a resource that is the subject of collaboration in the location, or a physical differentiator (e.g. an elevated region such as a raised podium, a region in which participants are standing versus sitting, and so forth).

[0007] The example physical meeting environment of Fig. 1 has multiple meeting spaces, which can include various furnishings, tools, resources, and so forth, such as a presentation wall 1 02, a podium 104, a table 1 06, and an audience seating area 108. Other example physical meeting environments can have other arrangements of meeting spaces. The furnishings (or arrangements of furnishings), tools, and resources are designed to allow meeting participants to carry out respective tasks. For example, tables in a meeting room are designed to foster discussions among participants. Podiums and collaboration areas are provided to allow for presentations and collaborations. Examples of tools that can be used during meetings include whiteboards, projectors, and so forth. The participants associated with the various meeting spaces can form respective groups based on such associations with the meeting spaces.

[0008] Participants in physical meetings can also be grouped by roles. In Fig. 1 , a collaborator group 1 10 includes participants whose roles are to collaborate on a resource on the presentation wall 102. A presenter group 1 12 includes participants who are making a presentation at the podium 104. As further shown in Fig. 1 , a discussion group 1 14 includes participants whose role is to participate in a discussion. Another group is an audience group 1 16, which includes participants listening to presentations made by the collaborative group 1 1 0 and/or the presenter group 1 12.

[0009] Any particular group can include a sub-group. Thus, in the example of Fig. 1 , the audience group 1 16 can include a neighbor sub-group 1 18, which includes participants that have some closer relationship to each other. As an example, the neighbor sub-group 1 1 8 can include members of a particular team from an enterprise who are attending the meeting together. Other types of sub-groups can be defined in other examples. Note that a group can be part of another larger group. In the context of Fig. 1 , the neighbor sub-group 1 1 8 is part of the audience group 1 16. In other examples, the presenter group 1 12 and the collaborator group 1 10 can be considered to be part of another group, such as an "active group," which is a group including active participants who are providing information to other participants.

[0010] As noted above, in a meeting established over a network with participants at remote conference sites, communications (verbal and non-verbal) that are easily conveyed in a physical meeting may not be properly conveyed in the meeting established over the network. A remote conference session involves use of endpoints (located at the respective remote conference sites) that include

audio/video equipment (e.g. display devices, cameras, microphones, etc.), and other equipment, which can make it more difficult to provide natural groupings that can be achieved in a physical meeting. Sometimes, participants at different conference sites can use different types of endpoints (e.g. notebook computers, handheld devices, conference studio equipment, etc.). The remote locations of meeting participants and possible use of different equipment at different conference sites can make it difficult to identify roles of participants, at least partly due to the remote participants being presented as images in a layout that may not convey or may mis- convey roles of participants. Also, in a meeting established over a network, the concept of meeting spaces in an overall meeting area where participants can gather typically does not exist. [001 1 ] In accordance with some implementations, techniques or mechanisms are provided to provide for improved communications (verbal and non-verbal) in meetings established over a network. Such techniques or mechanisms can perform grouping of meeting participants (and possibly resources), and define a meeting layout according to the groupings. The grouping of meeting participants is performed to emulate the groups of a physical meeting, such as those depicted in Fig. 1 . Note that although Fig. 1 depicts the meeting participants being located in a single location, the grouping according to some implementations for a meeting established over a network can define a group including participants from multiple conference sites.

[0012] The grouping of meeting participants can be according to the roles of the participants. As discussed above, when meeting participants carry out tasks in meetings, they take on roles specific to those tasks. For example, presenters and meeting facilitators have specific roles in meetings that are different from a role of an audience member. A role can imply a specific task (e.g. a presenter role implies a presentation task). A role can sometimes imply multiple tasks (e.g. a role such as a meeting facilitator can imply a task of organizing the meeting and a task as an audience member). When multiple participants have the same role (e.g. there are two presenters or there are multiple audience members), such participants can be included within a respective group. The grouping of participants by roles can produce various groups, such as those shown in Fig. 1 (e.g. 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 1 6, 1 1 8).

[0013] It is noted that a meeting space can also define a group. A meeting space can indicate or imply a particular role of participants in the meeting space. As noted above, a "meeting space" can include any or combination of the following: a physical location within the overall meeting area, furnishing (e.g. table, podium, whiteboard, etc.), a tool in the location for carrying out a task, a resource that is the subject of collaboration in the location, or a physical differentiator (e.g. an elevated region such as a raised podium, a region in which participants are standing versus sitting, and so forth). Any of the foregoing aspects of a meeting space can indicate a respective role. Thus, in the example of Fig. 1 , the pin wall 102 or podium 104 can indicate that participants in those locations have the role of presenters. Similarly, the table 106 in Fig. 1 can indicate participants at the table 108 have the role of collaborators, and the audience seating area 108 in Fig. 1 can indicate that participants at the seating area 108 have the role of audience members. Thus, in the context of a meeting established over a network, space-based groups can be defined in addition to role- based groups.

[0014] In a meeting established over a network, a participant can be part of multiple groups. In the context of the example of Fig. 1 , a participant can be part of both the audience group 1 16 and the neighbor sub-group 1 18. If space-based groups are also defined, then a participant can be part of a role-based group and the space-based group. In other examples, memberships of the different groups can be disjoint at a particular point in time— in other words, there is no overlap of members of the different groups (no participant is a member of more than one group) at this particular point in time.

[0015] A meeting layout can include a display layout, which defines display regions for presenting respective media streams of multiple groups, to allow for more effective communications (both verbal and non-verbal) among the participants. A "media stream" can refer to content for depicting respective participant(s) or resource(s), where the media stream can contain audio/video data, an image, and so forth. The meeting layout can also define an audio layout, which specifies whether audio from participants in a first group would be audible to participants in a second group. For example, audio from participants in an audience group can be audible among the participants in the audience group, but may not be audible to a presentation group. On the other hand, audio from the presentation group can be audible to participants of the audience group. In some examples, the audio layout can also specify whether audio from a particular group is to be mono or stereo.

[0016] By defining a meeting layout based on the roles of and/or meeting spaces associated with participants, meeting participants can more easily recognize roles of other participants, and participants can more effectively perform communications with each other and carry out their respective tasks. Due to differences in endpoints (e.g. different video and/or audio capabilities) located at different conference sites for the meeting established over a network, different participants may have different perceptions of the "virtual meeting room," which represents the overall meeting area in the physical meeting depicted in Fig. 1 . The meeting layout that can be defined according to some implementations allows for a shared conceptual representation of the virtual meeting room and of the various groups of participants to be presented, such that more effective communications (verbal and non-verbal) can be achieved.

[0017] During the course of a meeting established over a network, a participant can change groups (just like in an in-person meeting), such as due to the role of the participant changing. For example, a presenter participant in the presenter group 1 12 may have completed his or her presentation, at which point the presenter participant can become part of the audience group 1 1 6.

[0018] In a meeting established over a network, certain features can be made available to some groups that are not made available to other groups. For example, in the context of Fig. 1 , participants in the audience group 1 16 can receive audio and video output from the collaborator group 1 10 and/or presenter group 1 12. However, the participants in the neighbor sub-group 1 18 (who are also members of the collaborator audience group 1 16) can also be provided with the ability to perform back-channel communications (in a private session that is not heard by other participants of the meeting). The ability to selectively provide features to selected groups allows for enhanced flexibility.

[0019] The following describes examples of properties associated with groups. Examples of properties of a group include information identifying members of the group, and permissions associated with the group. The permissions of a group can specify what meeting space the participants of the group can join, whether the group has the ability to adjust a meeting agenda, and so forth.

[0020] The following describes examples of properties associated with meeting spaces. Note that in alternative implementations, some or all of the properties of the meeting spaces discussed below can instead be associated with groups. [0021 ] An example property associated with a meeting space is spatial order, which can refer to an ordering of participants, such as around a table, in a particular meeting space, and so forth. Spatial ordering can preserve non-verbal

communications among participants, such as allowing eye contact or gestures.

Another example of a property associated with a space is audio/video visibility, which indicates whether a first space generates audio/video that is audible/visible to a second space. For example, in the context of Fig. 1 , audio/video data generated at the podium 104 is audible and visible to participants in the audience seating area 108.

[0022] A further property of a meeting space includes scale preservation, which indicates whether or not scale is preserved across positions within a space. If scale is to be preserved, then the images of the participants in the meeting space are maintained to scale (in other words, they are maintained to have the same size). In other examples, especially for a space such as the audience seating area 108 that can include a relatively large number of participants, images of different ones of the participants may be presented with a larger size than other ones of the particpants.

[0023] Another property of a space includes a tool property, which indicates what collaboration tool is available to participants within the space. The collaboration tool can include, as an example, a video projector, a whiteboard, and so forth.

[0024] Another property of a space includes a priority property, which indicates whether the space is given display priority over other spaces. For example, the podium space 104 can be given greater priority in a display space to be displayed in a display device than the audience seating area 108. The greater priority associated with the podium space 104 may mean that the media stream associated with the podium space 104 is larger in size than the media stream for participants in the audience seating area 108.

[0025] Although various example properties are set forth above for groups and spaces, it is noted that in other examples, additional or alternative properties can be specified. [0026] The foregoing properties of groups and/or spaces can be considered to be part of layout rules applicable to the respective groups and/or spaces when producing a meeting layout for a meeting. There can also be other layout rules for defining a meeting layout. Such other layout rules can include rules applicable to a meeting in general (to be applied at the endpoints involved in the meeting)— such layout rules are referred to as general layout rules. Layout rules further include rules that are applicable to a particular endpoint— such layout rules are referred to as local layout rules.

[0027] Local layout rules applicable to a particular endpoint can depend upon the type of the particular endpoint. For example, a handheld device (such as a personal digital assistant or smartphone) or tablet computer can have a display device with a relatively small display area. On the other hand, conference studio equipment can include a display device having a relatively large display area. In a display device with a relatively small display area, the meeting layout can allocate a larger portion of the display area for an active collaborator (e.g., presenter) versus the portion of the display area allocated to non-active participants, as compared to a display device that has a relatively large display area.

[0028] Local layout rules can also be based on preferences of user(s) of a particular endpoint. Different users can thus set different local layout rules applicable to respective endpoints.

[0029] General layout rules applicable to multiple endpoints are applied for defining a meeting layout for the multiple endpoints. For example, a general layout rule can specify that the media stream for an active participant (e.g., presenter) be positioned in the proximity of the media stream for an associated resource (e.g. , a Powerpoint presentation). "Proximity" can be defined in different ways— in some examples, the media stream for an active participant and the media stream for the resource are in "proximity" if the media streams are adjacent to each other, or within some specified distance of each other. As yet further examples, the media streams for the active participant and the resource are in "proximity" if there is some indication of association between the media streams (e.g., a graphic linking the media streams).

[0030] Another example general layout rule can specify that non-active participants, such as participants in an audience group (e.g., 1 16 in Fig. 1 ) be placed in proximity with each other to visually associate such non-active participants. Also, another general layout rule can specify that members of a particular conference site be placed in closer proximity to each other in the meeting layout relative to members at other conference sites.

[0031 ] More generally, the layout rules according to some implementations seek to achieve a balance between providing flexibility to users at endpoints, and providing for more consistent presentation of media streams of meetings.

[0032] Fig. 2 illustrates an example meeting layout (more specifically a display layout) of media streams corresponding to participants and a resource of a meeting in a display device 202 at an endpoint. As noted above, the meeting layout is based on layout rules that include properties of groups and spaces, local layout rules, and general layout rules. In the example of Fig. 2, media streams for two groups are presented in two respective display portions 204 and 206. The display portion 204 corresponds to a first group that includes active collaborators, such as presenters at the podium 104 or presenters at the presentation wall 102 of Fig. 1 . The first display portion 204 includes display regions 208 and 210 for displaying media streams of respective active participants (which are part of the presenter group 1 12 or collaborator group 1 10 in Fig. 1 , for example). Also, a display region 212 is provided for displaying media streams of resources (e.g. graphs as shown in Fig. 2) to be presented by the respective active participants. The arrangement of the display regions 208, 210, and 212 can be according to properties of the first group (and possibly properties of a meeting space that the participants of the first group are located at), local layout rules, and general layout rules.

[0033] The second display portion 206 includes display regions 214 for displaying media streams of participants of the second group, which in some examples can be the discussion group 1 14 or audience group 1 16 of Fig. 1 . [0034] As noted above, a participant can move between different groups. Thus, for example, a first participant of the first group that is presented in the display region 210 can move to the second group, while a second participant of the second group that is presented in one of the display regions 214 can move to the first group. In response to such changes, the display layout of the meeting changes. The changed display layout can present the media stream of the first participant in one of the display regions 214, and can present the media stream of the second participant in the display region 210. Effectively, due to the change in groups, the media streams of the first and second participants are re-positioned in the display layout.

[0035] Assuming that the second group presented in the display portion 206 is a discussion group of participants around a meeting table (e.g. discussion group 1 14 around meeting table 106 in Fig. 1 ), properties associated with the discussion group 1 14 and the meeting space 106 can be used to define the layout of the display regions 214 in the display portion 206. For example, the properties may specify that scale is to be preserved across media streams if possible. Another property can specify that seating order around the meeting table 106 is to be preserved for best reproduction of inter-personal eye contact and gestures. Yet another property can specify that the seating order is according to a serpentine order or other predefined order. Also, another property can specify that the audio output for the different participants be set to be generally equal to each other. Moreover, a further property can specify that video images of participants be grouped together if an end user moves or resizes a window that contains the video images. Moreover, another property can specify that audio and video from participants of the discussion group 1 14 are to be published to other groups in the meeting.

[0036] On the other hand, in the display portion 204 for the first group, which is an active group such as the collaborator group 1 10 or presenter group 1 12 of Fig. 1 , different layout rules having different properties can be used. Seating order may not be preserved for such a group. Also, a participant in the first group is placed in the proximity of the resource that the participant is referencing. Moreover, collaboration tools can be made available for participants of the first group (e.g., users can share a whiteboard, users can share a projector, etc.). Also, audio/video data is published to other groups, and the grouping of the images of the participants and resources is maintained during user changes of the display device.

[0037] Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of a process according to some implementations. The process identifies (at 302) groups of participants in a meeting, where the identifying is according to properties of the participants. Such properties can include roles of the participants. Additionally, groups of participants can also be based on meeting spaces in which the participants are to be located.

[0038] The process then provides (at 304) a meeting layout for the meeting based on various layout rules noted above. The meeting layout includes a display layout that defines display regions for displaying media streams of participants in respective ones of the groups. The meeting layout can also include an audio layout for respective ones of the groups of the meeting.

[0039] Fig. 4 illustrates another example meeting layout at an endpoint that has three display devices 402, 404, and 406. In such a three-display system, the different display devices 402, 404, and 406 can display media streams for three corresponding different groups of the meeting. The display device 402 is for a first group (e.g. an active group) that includes a display region 408 for displaying a media stream of an active participant (e.g., presenter) and a display region 410 for presenting a media stream for a resource (e.g. , a slide presentation). The second display device 404 includes display regions 412 for media streams corresponding to participants in a second group, while the display device 406 includes display regions 414 for media streams of participants in a third group.

[0040] Fig. 5 illustrates a different example meeting layout that shows three groups on a single display device 502. The display device 502 is divided into three portions 504, 506, and 508, where the first display portion 504 contains display regions for an active participant (e.g., presenter) and a resource, the second display portion 506 contains display regions for a second group (e.g. an audience group), and the third display portion 508 contains display regions for participants of a third group (e.g., a discussion group). [0041 ] Fig. 6 shows a different example meeting layout for displaying media streams in a two-display endpoint (an endpoint that has two display devices 602 and 604). The display device 604 can be used for displaying display regions of a first group (e.g., a collaborative group that has active participants making presentations on respective resources). The second display device 602 can be divided into two separate display portions 606 and 608, where the display portion 606 contains display regions for a second group (e.g. , discussion group) and the third display portion 608 contains display regions for media streams of participants in a third group (e.g., audience group).

[0042] Although reference is made above to arranging display portions in the example meeting layouts above based on groups of participants, note that the meeting layouts can also be based on locations of participants at meeting spaces.

[0043] Fig. 7A shows another example meeting layout on a display device 702 that includes display portions 704 and 706 that contain respective media streams for corresponding different groups. The display portion 704 has a display region 708 for displaying a media stream for an active participant, and a display region 710 for displaying the media stream of a resource. The display portion 706 contains display regions 712 for another group (e.g. audience group).

[0044] Fig. 7B shows a modified version of the meeting layout of Fig. 7A. The modified meeting layout in Fig. 7B results from a resizing operation performed by a user, in which the display portion 704' has been enlarged with respect to the display portion 704 in Fig. 7A. In response to the enlargement of the display portion 704', the display portion 706' is made smaller. The changes made to the display portions 704' and 706' can be constrained by layout rules. For example, the display portion 706' can be made smaller, but in a way that preserves seating order of the participants, for example. Moreover, the display regions in the display portion 704' can be made larger, but in a way that preserves adjacency of the display region 708 for the active participant and the display region 710 for the resource.

[0045] By using techniques or mechanisms according to various

implementations, meeting layouts can be provided for meetings established over communications networks that provide for easier recognition of roles of participants and improved non-verbal communications. Also, meeting layouts can be designed for relatively complex meetings with participants having various different roles.

[0046] Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example remote conferencing system that includes N (N > 1 ) conference sites (conference site A, conference site B, conference site N shown in Fig. 8). Each conference site has a respective endpoint 802, 804, and 806. The endpoints at the respective conference sites can communicate with one another directly over a network 808, such as the Internet or other network. Alternatively, the endpoints can communicate with each other using one or multiple intermediate devices, including a meeting controller 810 (sometimes referred to as a multipoint control unit or MCU).

[0047] Each endpoint 802, 804, or 806 is connected to a respective display device(s) 812, 814, or 816, as well as to a respective camera(s) 818, 820, or 822. The display devices are used to display media streams of respective participants of a meeting established using the remote conferencing system of Fig. 8. The cameras are used to capture video streams of the participants. In alternative examples, a particular endpoint can be connected to multiple display devices and/or cameras (such as multiple cameras to capture participants at a site from different angles).

[0048] Although not shown, the endpoints 802, 804, and 806 can also include respective audio capture equipment to capture audio streams, and audio output equipment such as speakers to output audio. Additionally, the endpoints can include respective equipment to allow for collaboration of resources, such as documents and so forth. The endpoints 802, 804, and 806 are able to exchange audio/video streams and resources with each other over the network 808.

[0049] As shown in Fig. 8, the endpoint 802 includes a grouping module 824 and a meeting layout module 826 (for performing tasks as described above, including tasks of Fig. 3) that are executable on one or multiple processors 828. The processor(s) 828 is (are) connected to a storage medium (storage media) 830. The grouping module 824 is able to performing grouping of participants (and where appropriate resources) based on roles of the participants. Also, in some examples the grouping module 824 can perform grouping based on locations of participants at meeting spaces. Group information 832 containing a description of membership of the groups is stored in the storage medium (storage media) 830.

[0050] The meeting layout module 826 is able to generate a meeting layout, given identified groups and layout rules 834 (which are stored in the storage medium or media 830). The layout rules 834 can include properties of groups and spaces, local layout rules, and general layout rules.

[0051 ] The other endpoints 804 and 806 can include similar components as the endpoint 802.

[0052] Instead of including the grouping module 824 and/or meeting layout module 826 in each endpoint, the grouping module and/or meeting layout module can instead be included in another device, such an the meeting controller 81 0. As shown in Fig. 8, the meeting controller 810 includes a grouping module 836 and a meeting layout module 838 executable on processor(s) 840. The grouping module 836 and meeting layout module 838 can perform similar tasks as those of the grouping module 824 and display layout module 826 in the endpoint 802.

[0053] The meeting controller 81 0 includes a storage medium (or storage media) 842 storing group information 844 (describing group memberships in respective groups) and meeting layout rules 846.

[0054] The modules 824, 826, 836, 838 can be implemented as machine- readable instructions for execution on a processor or multiple processors (e.g. 838 or 840). A processor can include a microprocessor, microcontroller, processor module or subsystem, programmable integrated circuit, programmable gate array, or another control or computing device.

[0055] The storage media 830 and 842 can be implemented as one or more computer-readable or machine-readable storage media. The storage media include different forms of memory including semiconductor memory devices such as dynamic or static random access memories (DRAMs or SRAMs), erasable and programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable and programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs) and flash memories; magnetic disks such as fixed, floppy and removable disks; other magnetic media including tape; optical media such as compact disks (CDs) or digital video disks (DVDs); or other types of storage devices. Note that the instructions discussed above can be provided on one computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium, or alternatively, can be provided on multiple computer-readable or machine-readable storage media distributed in a large system having possibly plural nodes. Such computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium or media is (are) considered to be part of an article (or article of manufacture). An article or article of manufacture can refer to any manufactured single component or multiple

components. The storage medium or media can be located either in the machine running the machine-readable instructions, or located at a remote site from which machine-readable instructions can be downloaded over a network for execution.

[0056] In the foregoing description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of the subject disclosed herein. However, implementations may be practiced without some or all of these details. Other implementations may include modifications and variations from the details discussed above. It is intended that the appended claims cover such modifications and variations.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of a system having a processor, comprising:

identifying a plurality of groups of participants in a meeting established over a network, wherein the identifying is according to roles of the corresponding participants in the meeting; and

providing a display layout defining display portions for displaying media streams of the meeting, wherein a first of the display portions contains display regions to display media streams for the participants in a first of the groups, and a second of the display portions is to display media streams for the participants in a second of the groups.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the display layout is based on layout rules, the layout rules including a local rule applicable to a particular endpoint and a general rule applicable to endpoints involved in the meeting.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the display layout is further based on properties of the groups.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the meeting is associated with meeting spaces, and wherein providing the display layout is further based on properties of the meeting spaces.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first group includes an active participant who is making a presentation, and the second group includes audience participants, wherein a third of the groups includes participants having another role, and wherein providing the display layout comprises providing the display layout having third display regions that are to display media streams for the participants of the third group.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the meeting defines meeting spaces at which participants are to be located, and wherein providing the display layout is further based on locations of participants at the meeting spaces.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the meeting spaces include at least two selected from a presenter space, a collaboration space, a meeting table, and an audience seating space.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

changing assignment of a particular one of the participants from the first group to the second group during the meeting; and

moving the media stream for the particular participant from the first display portion to the second display portion.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

associating a particular one of the participants with multiple ones of the plurality of groups.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

maintaining a particular order of the media streams for the participants of the first group, based on a seating order of the participants of the first group.

1 1 . A system comprising:

at least one storage medium to store layout rules; and

at least one processor to:

identify groups of participants of a meeting established over a network, wherein identifying the groups is based on roles of the participants in the meeting;

produce a meeting layout for the meeting, where the meeting layout has a display layout defining respective display portions for corresponding ones of the groups, and where the meeting layout is further based on the layout rules, wherein each of the display portions includes corresponding display regions for displaying media streams of participants in the corresponding group.

12. The system of claim 1 1 , wherein the meeting layout further includes an audio layout to define audio characteristics for the groups.

13. The system of claim 1 1 , wherein the at least one processor is to further:

receive an indication of a change made to at least one of the display portions; and

modify the meeting layout in response to the change, wherein the modifying is constrained by the layout rules.

14. The system of claim 1 1 , wherein the layout rules include a local rule applicable to a particular endpoint and a general rule applicable to endpoints involved in the meeting.

15. An article comprising at least one machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause a system to:

identify a plurality of groups of participants in a meeting established over a network, wherein the identifying is according to properties of the corresponding participants in the meeting, the properties including roles of the participants and meeting spaces associated with the participants; and

provide a display layout defining display portions for displaying media streams of the meeting, wherein a first of the display portions contains display regions to display media streams for the participants in a first of the groups, and a second of the display portions is to display media streams for the participants in a second of the groups.