Method, device, equipment and medium for managing network conference

Abstract

A method, apparatus, device and medium for managing a network conference are provided. In one method, the role of a participant of the network conference is obtained. A conference link of the network conference is generated based on the role, and the conference link includes invitation information for participating in the network conference, and the invitation information includes a conference identifier of the network conference and role information of the role of the participant. The conference link is sent to the communication address of the participant so that the participant participates in the network conference via the conference link. The role of the participant can be directly considered in the stage of creating the conference link, thereby simplifying the complexity of manual operations during the participation in the network conference, thereby improving the management efficiency of the network conference.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Exemplary implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to network conferences, and more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, devices, and computer-readable storage media for managing network conferences. Background Art

[0002] With the development of network technology, a variety of conference applications have been developed. Participants in online conferences can have different roles, and participants with different roles can have different permissions in online conferences. For example, a speaker can turn on image and sound acquisition equipment, broadcast a live lecture, and share the screen; the audience can listen to the speaker's lecture but cannot speak, etc. Participants can participate in online conferences via the received conference link. At this time, how to distinguish the different roles of participants in a more convenient and quick way has become an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the invention

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for managing a network conference is provided. In the method, roles of participants of the network conference are obtained. A conference link of the network conference is generated based on the roles, the conference link includes invitation information for participating in the network conference, the invitation information includes a conference identifier of the network conference and role information of the role of the participant. The conference link is sent to a communication address of the participant so that the participant participates in the network conference via the conference link.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a device for managing a network conference is provided. The device includes: an acquisition module configured to acquire the role of a participant of the network conference; a generation module configured to generate a conference link of the network conference based on the role, the conference link including invitation information for participating in the network conference, the invitation information including a conference identifier of the network conference and role information of the role of the participant; and a sending module configured to send the conference link to the communication address of the participant, so that the participant participates in the network conference via the conference link.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes: at least one processing unit; and at least one memory, the at least one memory is coupled to the at least one processing unit and stores instructions for execution by the at least one processing unit, and when the instructions are executed by the at least one processing unit, the device executes the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the processor implements the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0007] It should be understood that the contents described in the summary of the present invention are not intended to limit the key features or important features of the implementation of the present disclosure, nor are they intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] In the following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and with reference to the following detailed description, the above and other features, advantages and aspects of various implementations of the present disclosure will become more apparent. In the accompanying drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar elements, wherein:

[0009] Figure 1 A block diagram illustrating an example environment in which implementations of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0010] Figure 2 A block diagram illustrating a process for managing a web conference according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

[0011] Figure 3 A track diagram showing the interaction between a server and a terminal device according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 4 A block diagram of a page for collecting information to create a conference link according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown;

[0013] Figure 5A and Figure 5B Block diagrams respectively showing data structures of conference links according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

[0014] Figure 6 A block diagram illustrating a process for a participant to create and send a meeting request using a conference link according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

[0015] Figure 7 A block diagram illustrating a data structure of a meeting request according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

[0016] Figure 8 A block diagram showing a data structure of a conference database according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

[0017] Fig. 9 A flowchart showing a method for managing a network conference according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Fig.10 A block diagram showing an apparatus for managing a network conference according to some implementations of the present disclosure; and

[0019] Fig.11 A block diagram of a device capable of implementing multiple implementations of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The implementation of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although certain implementations of the present disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be interpreted as being limited to the implementations described herein. On the contrary, these implementations are provided to provide a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and implementations of the present disclosure are only for exemplary purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0021] In the description of the implementation methods of the present disclosure, the term "including" and similar terms should be understood as open inclusion, that is, "including but not limited to". The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on". The term "an implementation" or "the implementation" should be understood as "at least one implementation". The term "some implementations" should be understood as "at least some implementations". The following may also include other explicit and implicit definitions. As used herein, the term "model" can represent the association relationship between various data. For example, the above-mentioned association relationship can be obtained based on a variety of technical solutions currently known and / or to be developed in the future.

[0022] It is understandable that the data involved in this technical solution (including but not limited to the data itself, the acquisition or use of the data) shall comply with the requirements of relevant laws, regulations and relevant provisions.

[0023] It is understandable that before using the technical solutions disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the types, scope of use, usage scenarios, etc. of the personal information involved in the present disclosure should be informed to the user and the user's authorization should be obtained in an appropriate manner in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

[0024] For example, in response to receiving an active request from a user, a prompt message is sent to the user to clearly prompt the user that the operation requested to be performed will require obtaining and using the user's personal information. Thus, the user can autonomously choose whether to provide personal information to software or hardware such as an electronic device, application, server, or storage medium that performs the operation of the technical solution of the present disclosure according to the prompt message.

[0025] As an optional but non-limiting implementation, in response to receiving an active request from the user, the prompt information is sent to the user in a manner such as a pop-up window, in which the prompt information can be presented in text form. In addition, the pop-up window can also carry a selection control for the user to choose "agree" or "disagree" to provide personal information to the electronic device.

[0026] It is understandable that the above notification and the process of obtaining user authorization are merely illustrative and do not constitute a limitation on the implementation of the present disclosure. Other methods that meet relevant laws and regulations may also be applied to the implementation of the present disclosure.

[0027] Example Environment

[0028] A variety of conference applications have been developed, see first Figure 1 Describe the application environment of the conference application. Figure 1 1 shows a block diagram of an example environment 100 in which implementations of the present disclosure can be implemented. Figure 1 As shown, multiple participants can access the server for providing network conference services via their respective terminal devices. Specifically, participants 110, 120, 122, ..., and 124 can access the server 150 in the network 130 via their respective terminal devices 140, 142, 144, ..., and 146, respectively. Here, participants 110, 120, 122, ..., and 124 can have different roles. For example, participant 110 can be a lecturer in the network conference, and participants 120, 122, ..., and 124 can be audiences, and so on.

[0029] Currently, a technical solution for assigning different roles to different participants has been proposed. For example, a conference link can be sent to a participant, and after the participant connects to the server via the conference link, the administrator can assign the corresponding role based on the participant's identification. For another example, different passwords can be set for participants with different roles, and the participants can manually enter their respective passwords to obtain the corresponding roles. Specifically, when a participant enters the host password, the host role can be assigned to the participant; and when a participant enters the guest password, the guest role can be assigned to the participant. However, the above operation involves an additional manual execution process, and it is expected that the above process can be simplified, so that the network conference can be managed in a simpler and more effective way.

[0030] Highlights of the process of managing a web conference

[0031] In order to solve the deficiencies in the above technical solutions, according to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a method for sending different conference links to participants with different roles to manage a network conference is proposed. In this method, the roles of the participants in the network conference can be first obtained. The role here refers to the role played by the participant in the network conference, for example, it can include but is not limited to: lecturer, audience, guest, administrator, assistant, etc. A conference link for the network conference can be generated based on the role of the participant, and the conference link can be sent to the participant. At this time, the participant only needs to use the conference link to participate in the network conference according to the specified role.

[0032] See also Figure 2 An overview of an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure is described. Figure 2 A block diagram 200 of a process for managing a web conference according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 2 As shown, corresponding conference links can be generated based on different roles. For example, based on the role 210 (i.e., speaker) of the participant 110, a conference link 214 can be generated. The conference link 214 can include invitation information for participating in the network conference, and the invitation information can include the conference identifier of the network conference and the role information of the participant's role 210. Further, the conference link 214 can be sent to the communication address 212 of the participant 110, so that the participant 110 can access the server 150 via the conference link 214, and then participate in the network conference.

[0033] For another example, based on the role 220 (i.e., audience) of the participant 120, a conference link 224 may be generated. The conference link 224 may be sent to the communication address 222 of the participant 120, so that the participant 120 may access the server 150 via the conference link 224, and then participate in the network conference. According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the communication address may have a variety of forms, such as but not limited to: a telephone number, an email address, an instant messaging account, a conference application account, and the like.

[0034] Using the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a corresponding conference link can be sent to the communication address of the participant. Since the conference link already includes relevant information about the role of the participant, the participant can directly participate in the meeting according to the predetermined role based on the conference link. For example, participant 110 can use conference link 214 to join the online conference as a speaker, and participant 120 can use conference link 224 to join the online conference as an audience. At this time, when joining the online conference, the participant does not need to manually enter the password specifying his or her role, and the administrator of the online conference does not need to manually assign roles based on the participant identification. In this way, the process of managing online conferences can be simplified and management efficiency can be improved, thereby managing online conferences in a simpler and more effective manner.

[0035] Detailed process of managing a web conference

[0036] Already seen Figure 2 Describes the outlines of managing web conferences, in the following, see Figure 3 More details of an exemplary implementation according to the present disclosure are described. Figure 3 A track diagram 300 is shown of the interaction between the server 150 and the terminal device 140 according to some implementations of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated that Figure 3Only the participant 110 (having the role of a lecturer) is used as a specific example to describe the interaction between the terminal devices of participants having different roles and the server 150 providing the network conference service. The interaction between the terminal devices of other participants and the server 150 is similar.

[0037] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a network conference can be held in a variety of scenarios. For example, in a lecture scenario, the lecturer's lecture can be broadcast live to the audience; in a performance scenario, the actor's performance can be broadcast live to the audience; in a training environment, the trainer's course can be broadcast live to the trainees, etc. Figure 3 As shown, the server 150 may obtain (310) the relevant information of the participants. Figure 4 Go to the page shown to obtain relevant information and create a meeting link. Figure 4 A block diagram 400 is shown for collecting information to create a conference link according to some implementations of the present disclosure. Figure 4 As shown, the information collection page 410 can be used to obtain relevant information of the network conference.

[0038] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the administrator of the network conference may provide Figure 4 In the lecture scenario, the organizer of the lecture can call the function of creating a web conference in the conference application to set various information of the web conference. For example, a participant ID (e.g., Alice) can be provided, a role (e.g., speaker) can be specified for the participant, and a participant's communication address (e.g., mobile phone number "123..." and / or email address "alice@***.com") can be provided. Furthermore, the start time of the web conference can be specified, and the maximum number of times the conference link can be used can be set, etc.

[0039] Using the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, various information associated with the web conference can be obtained via the information collection page 410, and then a corresponding conference link can be created for each participant. It will be understood that the information collection page 410 is only a specific example for obtaining information related to the web conference. Alternatively and / or additionally, the above information can be obtained based on other methods. For example, the public information of the web conference (e.g., the start time and the maximum number of times the link is used) can be obtained first. Then, the role and communication address of each participant can be obtained in a separate page. Alternatively and / or additionally, the relevant information of each participant can be pre-stored in a database, and a conference link including the corresponding role information can be created for each participant by importing the database, and then the corresponding conference link is sent to the communication address of each participant.

[0040] Already seen Figure 4Describes the process of obtaining information about participants. In the following, return Figure 3 Describes the steps to generate and send a meeting link. Figure 3 In the example, a conference link 214 may be generated (312) based on the obtained relevant information of the network conference. For the participant 110, the generated conference link 214 may include invitation information for participating in the network conference, and the invitation information may include the conference identifier of the network conference and role information of the participant's role. Figure 5A and Figure 5B Describes more details about the conference link.

[0041] Figure 5A A block diagram 500A shows a data structure of a conference link according to some implementations of the present disclosure. Figure 5A In the embodiment, the conference link 510 may include a server address 520 of the server 150 for providing the network conference service and invitation information 530. The server address 520 may be used as an identifier of the conference link 510 so as to determine at the terminal device 140 of the participant 110 that the conference link 510 is a special link for participating in the network conference.

[0042] Here, the invitation information 530 may include a meeting identifier 532 and role information 534. It will be appreciated that Figure 5A This is just a schematic diagram of a simple data structure. Figure 5A The corresponding widths are set for each field in , and then the conference link 510 is generated based on the acquired information. Specifically, the server address can be added at a position corresponding to the server address 520, a conference identifier 532 (e.g., "MEET01") can be specified for the network conference, and the conference link 510 can be generated based on the acquired information. Figure 4 The role information 534 is determined by obtaining the role in the information collection interface 410 shown.

[0043] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference link may include more information, see Figure 5B Describes more optional configuration for the invitation information. Figure 5B A block diagram 500B is shown of a data structure of a conference link according to some implementations of the present disclosure. For example, the invitation information may further include a start time 542 of the web conference. In this way, the start time 542 may facilitate determining the time information of the conference when a later participant joins the conference. Further, in order to improve the security of the conference link 510, the invitation information 530 in the conference link 510 may be encrypted to generate encrypted invitation information 540. At this point, the conference identifier 532, the role information 534, and the start time 542 exist in an encrypted form, thereby improving the security of the data transmission process and thereby reducing the risk of data leakage.

[0044] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the encrypted invitation information 540 may be signed, and the signature 550 may be included in the conference link 510. The signature operation may be performed based on a variety of algorithms currently known and / or to be developed in the future, for example, the signature may be performed based on the Base64 algorithm and / or other algorithms. At this time, the signature 550 may be used for verification by the terminal device 140 of the participant 110 to determine whether the received conference link 510 is truly from the server 150 and has not been tampered with by other malicious devices. In this way, the security of the network conference may be further improved.

[0045] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference identifier, the participant identifier of the participant, and the role information may be recorded in a conference database. Here, the conference database may be located at the server 150, or may be located at another location accessible by the server 150. The conference database may store various information about the conference, and may be used to verify whether the conference request is a legitimate conference request when receiving a conference request from the participant 110.

[0046] Already seen Figure 5A and Figure 5B The process of generating the conference link 510 is described below. Figure 3 Describe the subsequent processing. Figure 3 As shown, the server 150 may send (314) the conference link 214 to the terminal device 140 so that the participant 110 can participate in the network conference via the conference link 214. At the terminal device 140, the participant 110 may copy (316) the received conference link. Then, the participant 110 may paste (318) the conference link in the conference application so that the conference application generates (320) a meeting request. It will be understood that the meeting request may include a participant identification and a meeting invitation. Further, the terminal device 140 may send (322) the meeting request to the server 150.

[0047] In the following, see Figure 6 Describes further operation steps at the terminal device 140 of the participant 110. Figure 6 A block diagram 600 is shown of a process for participants to create and send a meeting request using a conference link according to some implementations of the present disclosure. Figure 6As shown, in the case where the terminal device 140 has received the conference link 214, as shown by arrow 610, the participant 110 can perform a copy / paste operation. Specifically, if the conference application 610 is not installed at the terminal device 140, the conference link can guide the participant 110 to the download address for downloading the conference application 610. Alternatively and / or additionally, if the conference application 610 is already installed at the terminal device 140, the conference application 610 can be directly started at the terminal device 140. At this time, the conference application 610 can generate a conference request 620.

[0048] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference request 620 may include a participant identification and an invitation message. Alternatively and / or additionally, in order to enhance security during transmission, the conference request 620 may be generated based on the participant identification and the encrypted invitation message. Figure 7 More details are described regarding generating a meeting request 620. Figure 7 A block diagram 700 is shown of the data structure of a meeting request 620 according to some implementations of the present disclosure. Figure 7 As shown, the conference request 620 may include a participant identifier 710 and encrypted invitation information 540. At this time, the participant identifier 710 may indicate to the server 150 which participant is requesting to participate in the network conference, and the encrypted invitation information 540 may carry various information related to the conference: conference identifier 532, role information 534, and start time 544.

[0049] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, Figure 7 Each of the fields shown defines a predetermined width, and various information can be filled into corresponding positions in the meeting request 620 according to the predetermined width. It will be understood that although Figure 7 The data structure of the meeting request 620 is described by taking the encrypted invitation information 540 as an example of the invitation information. Alternatively and / or additionally, the meeting request 620 may include Figure 5A The unencrypted invitation message 530 is shown in FIG.

[0050] return Figure 3 Describe the subsequent operation of the terminal device 140. Figure 3 , the terminal device 140 may send (322) the generated conference request 620 to the server 150. In other words, the server 150 may receive the conference request 620 from the terminal device 140 of the participant 110 for requesting to participate in the network conference. Then, the server 150 may verify whether the received conference request 620 is a legitimate request for joining the network conference. Specifically, the server 150 may extract (324) the encrypted invitation information 540 from the conference request 620 in order to verify the conference request 620.

[0051] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference request 620 may be verified based on multiple information. A decryption operation may be first performed on the encrypted invitation information 540 in the received conference request 620. If the decryption fails, it means that the conference request 620 is not a legitimate request, and the verification fails at this time, and the server 150 may send an error message to the terminal device 140. For example, the error message may indicate: the conference link is invalid, please confirm and try again.

[0052] Alternatively and / or additionally, if it is determined that the encrypted invitation information 540 is successfully decrypted, the conference identifier, role information, and start time can be extracted from the decrypted information. Further, the meeting request 620 can be verified based on the above information. According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the extracted start time can be verified (326). Specifically, the relationship between the start time and the current time can be compared to see whether they meet a predetermined condition. If the relationship between the two does not meet the predetermined condition, the meeting request 620 is verified as failed; otherwise, the meeting request 620 is verified as successful.

[0053] In this way, by comparing the start time and the current time, a portion of potential invalid meeting requests can be pre-filtered. At this time, only qualified meeting requests 620 will undergo subsequent processing, that is, only qualified meeting requests can initiate the subsequent operation of searching the conference database. In this way, invalid access to the conference database caused by a large number of invalid meeting requests can be avoided, thereby reducing the situation of access overload to the conference database.

[0054] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the predetermined condition may be defined as: the start time is before the current time and the difference is greater than 12 hours (or other values). Assuming that the start time is more than 12 hours earlier than the current time, it can be considered that the network conference has ended, and the conference request 620 can be determined to be an invalid request. At this time, the server 150 can return an error message to the terminal device 140: the network conference specified by the conference link has ended.

[0055] For another example, the predetermined condition may define: the start time is after the current time and the difference is greater than half an hour (or other values). Assuming that the start time is more than half an hour later than the current time, it can be considered that the online conference has not started, and it can be determined that the conference request 620 is an invalid request at the current time. At this time, the server 150 can return a prompt message to the terminal device 140: the online conference specified by the conference link has not started yet, please try again within half an hour of the scheduled start time.

[0056] For another example, the predetermined condition may define: the start time is before the current time, and the difference satisfies a predetermined range (e.g., 0 to 12 hours or other ranges). Assuming that the start time falls within the above range, it can be considered that the network conference is in progress, and the conference request 620 can be determined to be a valid request, that is, the verification of the start time is successful.

[0057] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, if the meeting request 620 has been confirmed to be a valid request based on the start time, the meeting database may be further queried (328) based on the participant identifier 710 and the meeting identifier 532 in the meeting request 620 to further confirm whether the participant 110 is eligible to participate in the network conference. At this time, the extracted meeting identifier and participant identifier may be compared with the meeting database. Figure 8 Describes more information about the conference database. Figure 8 A block diagram 800 is shown of a data structure of a conference database according to some implementations of the present disclosure. Figure 8 As shown, the conference database may include multiple fields. For example, conference identifier 810 may represent an identifier used to uniquely distinguish each network conference. Figure 8 The conference database shown only shows a unique conference identifier "MEET01". In the case where there are multiple network conferences, the conference database may include more conference identifiers.

[0058] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference database may include a participant identifier 820 to record the various participants who are allowed to participate in the network conference "MEET01". The extracted conference identifier and participant identifier may be compared with the information in fields 810 and 820 in the conference database to determine whether the participant 110 is eligible to participate in the network conference. Assuming that the extracted conference identifier and participant identifier are "MEET01" and "ALICE" respectively, the conference database includes the above information (that is, the extracted conference identifier and participant identifier match the conference database), it can be determined that the participant 110 is a legitimate participant of the network conference "MEET01", and it can be determined that the conference request 620 has been successfully verified. Furthermore, a conference connection can be established between the terminal device 140 of the participant 110 and the server 150 to transmit various relevant data of the network conference. For another example, assuming that the extracted conference identifier and participant identifier are "MEET01" and "CHARLIE" respectively, but "CHARLIE" does not exist in the conference database. At this time, it can be determined that the participant 110 is not a legitimate participant.

[0059] Alternatively and / or additionally, the conference database may further include the role 830 of the participant 110. At this time, the three data, the participant identification 710, the conference identification 532, and the role information 534 extracted from the conference request 620 may be compared with the relevant information in the conference database. If any of the three data does not match the record in the conference database, the conference request 620 may be considered to be an invalid illegal request. In this way, the validity of the conference request 620 may be verified with higher reliability, thereby reducing the risk of illegal users stealing the conference link originally sent to other users to participate in the network conference.

[0060] Alternatively and / or additionally, in order to prevent the conference link from being called multiple times by a large number of participants, a corresponding maximum number of uses may be set for each conference link. Figure 8 As shown, the conference database may further include a maximum usage count 840 and a previous usage count 850. Before establishing a conference connection, it may be first compared whether the usage count of the conference link has reached a threshold. Assuming that the conference identifier and the participant identifier extracted from the received conference request 620 are "MEET01" and "ALICE" respectively, it may be determined from the conference database that the previous usage count 850 is "0". This indicates that the current conference request 620 is the first request from the participant 110. Since the maximum usage count 840 is "1", the conference connection may be allowed to be established.

[0061] For another example, if the conference ID and participant ID extracted from the received conference request 620 are "MEET01" and "BOB" respectively, since the previous usage count 850 is "1", this indicates that the current conference request 620 is the second request from the participant 110. At this time, an error message may be sent to the terminal device 140 of the participant 110: the number of times the conference link has been used has exceeded the upper limit, and the participant cannot participate in the online conference. By using the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, by setting an upper limit for the number of uses, it is possible to avoid leakage of conference links and a large number of illegal users attempting to participate in the online conference. In this way, the impact of illegal access on the server 150 can be reduced.

[0062] return Figure 3 , a conference link may be established (330) between the server 150 and the terminal device 140. Further, information in the conference database may be updated (332) based on whether the participant 110 has joined the network conference. For example, the conference database may include status information of the participant (e.g. Figure 8 In the case where the conference connection has been established, the status of the participant in the conference database can be updated to "online". Figure 8As shown, assuming that the login status of the participant 110 is "offline", after successfully verifying the conference request 620, the server 150 can establish a conference connection between the terminal device 150 and the server 150, and update the status 860 of the row where "ALICE" is located from "offline" to "online". In this way, the conference database can provide status information about each participant of the network conference "MEET01", thereby facilitating the management of each participant in a centralized manner.

[0063] The process of establishing a conference connection between the terminal device 140 and the server 150 so that the participant 110 can participate in the meeting "MEET01" has been described above. The conference connection may be different for different roles. In the context of the present disclosure, the role may include at least any one of the following: lecturer, audience, guest, administrator, assistant. At this time, each role has pre-specified participation rights in the online conference, such as but not limited to: live broadcast rights, screen sharing rights, speaking rights, rights to operate objects whose screens are shared, rights to add participants, and rights to delete participants.

[0064] In a lecture scenario, the lecturer's participation rights may be higher than the audience's participation rights. For example, the lecturer may have live broadcast rights, screen sharing rights, and speaking rights. In other words, the lecturer may turn on his or her own image acquisition device and audio acquisition device to broadcast relevant image and audio data to other conference participants. Further, the lecturer may share the screen content of the terminal device 140 to show objects such as presentation documents to other participants. For another example, during a web conference, the image and audio acquisition devices of the audience's terminal devices will be disabled, and the audience will only be allowed to watch and listen to the lecturer's speech. For another example, when inviting guests to participate in a question and answer session, the guests may be allowed to have participation rights such as live broadcast.

[0065] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, an administrator may be allowed to add new participants to a web conference. For example, an administrator may be allowed to generate a new conference link for a new participant and send the conference link. An administrator may be allowed to update a participant's participation rights and / or delete the participant from the web conference. For example, if a guest is found to have inappropriate words or deeds, the guest's participation rights may be temporarily adjusted to the audience's participation rights. Alternatively and / or additionally, the conference connection between the guest's terminal device and the server 150 may be disconnected so as to delete the guest from the web conference. For another example, an assistant may help a speaker operate objects on a shared screen, such as adjusting pages of a presentation document, and so on.

[0066] By using the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, different roles can be allowed to have their own participation permissions. In this way, on the one hand, it can be ensured that each role can have their own access rights, and thus participate in the network conference in a way that is closer to a real meeting. On the other hand, when it is found that some participants have inappropriate words and deeds, the normal order of the network conference can be maintained by modifying the participation permissions.

[0067] It will be understood that although the process of managing a web conference is described above using the participant 110 having the role of a speaker as an example. Similar processing can be performed for participants with other roles. For example, for the participant 120 having the role of an audience, the role information in the invitation information in the generated conference link can indicate "audience". After receiving the conference link, the participant 120 can copy the conference link and paste the conference link in the conference application. At this time, the conference application will automatically generate a conference request corresponding to the participant 120, where the conference request can include the participant identification of the participant 120 and the received invitation information.

[0068] Further, the conference application may send the generated conference request to the server 150 so that the server 150 can verify the conference request. If the conference request is verified as successful, a conference connection may be established between the terminal device 140 of the participant 120 and the server 150, and the participant 120 may be granted participation rights corresponding to "audience". In other words, the image acquisition device and the audio acquisition device in the terminal device 140 may be disabled accordingly, so that the participant 120 can only watch and listen to the lecture of the speaker.

[0069] In the technical solution for managing a network conference described above, the role of the participant can be directly considered during the creation of the conference link, and the role information can be embedded in the conference link. In this way, when the terminal device of the participant connects to the server 150, a conference connection with different participation rights can be directly established based on the embedded role information. As a result, the complexity of manual operations during the network conference can be simplified, thereby improving the management efficiency of the network conference.

[0070] Example Process

[0071] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a method for managing a network conference, which is executed at a server providing a network conference, is provided. Fig. 9A flow chart of a method 900 for managing a web conference according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown. Specifically, at block 910, the roles of the participants of the web conference are obtained. At block 920, a conference link of the web conference is generated based on the roles, the conference link including invitation information for participating in the web conference, the invitation information including the conference identifier of the web conference and role information of the roles of the participants. At block 930, the conference link is sent to the communication address of the participant so that the participant participates in the web conference via the conference link.

[0072] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the invitation information further includes: the start time of the web conference, and generating a conference link includes: generating the invitation information based on the conference identifier, role information, and the start time; performing an encryption operation on the invitation information to generate encrypted invitation information; and generating a conference link based on the encrypted invitation information and the address of a server for providing the web conference.

[0073] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the method 900 further includes: performing a signing operation on the encrypted invitation information to generate a signature for the invitation information; adding a signature to the conference link so that the conference link is verified via the signature; and recording a conference identifier, a participant identifier of a participant, and role information in a conference database.

[0074] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the method 900 further includes: receiving a meeting request from a participant's terminal device for requesting to participate in a network conference, the meeting request including encrypted invitation information; verifying the meeting request based on the encrypted invitation information; and in response to the meeting request being verified as successful, establishing a conference connection between the participant's terminal device and the server.

[0075] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, verifying a meeting request includes: in response to determining that the encrypted invitation information is successfully decrypted, extracting a meeting identifier, role information, and a start time; and in response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time does not satisfy a predetermined condition, determining that the meeting request is verified as a failure.

[0076] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, verifying the meeting request further includes: in response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time satisfies a predetermined condition, comparing the extracted meeting identifier and participant identifier with a conference database; and in response to determining that the extracted meeting identifier and participant identifier match the conference database, determining that the meeting request is verified as successful.

[0077] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, establishing the conference connection further includes: updating the status of the participant in the conference database to “online”.

[0078] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, verifying the conference request further includes: determining a number of times the conference link is used; and in response to determining that the number is not higher than a threshold number, determining that the conference request is verified successfully.

[0079] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, verifying the conference request further includes: in response to determining that the number of times is higher than a threshold number of times, determining that the conference request is verified as failed.

[0080] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the method 900 is executed at a server; the roles include at least any one of the following: lecturer, audience, guest, administrator, assistant; and the roles have pre-specified participation rights in the online conference, and the participation rights include at least any one of the following: live broadcast right, screen sharing right, speaking right, right to operate objects in the shared screen, right to add participants, right to delete participants, and update participant participation rights.

[0081] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a method for managing a network conference is provided, which is executed at a terminal device of a participant. In the method, a conference link is received, the conference link includes invitation information for participating in the network conference, the invitation information includes a conference identifier of the network conference and role information of the role of the participant. The network conference is participated in based on the conference link.

[0082] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference link further includes an address of a server for providing a network conference.

[0083] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, participating in a network conference includes: in response to determining that a conference link includes an address of a server, generating a conference request for requesting participation in the network conference based on the conference link, the conference request including invitation information; sending the conference request to the server of the network conference; and in response to receiving a response from the server to the conference request, establishing a conference connection for participating in the network conference between a participant's terminal device and the server.

[0084] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the method is executed at a terminal device, and generating a conference request includes: generating a conference request based on a participant identification and invitation information of a participant.

[0085] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference link further includes a signature for verifying the conference link, and generating the conference request further includes: in response to successfully verifying the conference link based on the signature, extracting invitation information from the conference link.

[0086] Example devices and equipment

[0087] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a device for managing a network conference, which is deployed at a server providing a network conference, is provided. Fig.10 A block diagram of an apparatus 1000 for managing a web conference according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown. The apparatus 1000 includes: an acquisition module 1010 configured to acquire roles of participants of the web conference; a generation module 1020 configured to generate a conference link of the web conference based on the roles, the conference link including invitation information for participating in the web conference, the invitation information including a conference identifier of the web conference and role information of the roles of the participants; and a sending module 1030 configured to send the conference link to the communication address of the participant, so that the participant participates in the web conference via the conference link.

[0088] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the invitation information further includes: the start time of the web conference, and the generation module 1020 includes: an invitation information generation module, configured to generate the invitation information based on the conference identifier, role information, and start time; an encryption module, configured to perform an encryption operation on the invitation information to generate encrypted invitation information; and a link generation module, configured to generate a conference link based on the encrypted invitation information and the address of the server for providing the web conference.

[0089] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the device 1000 further includes: a signing module, configured to perform a signing operation on the encrypted invitation information so as to generate a signature for the invitation information; and an adding module, configured to add a signature to the conference link so that the conference link is verified via the signature; and a recording module, configured to record a conference identifier, a participant identifier of a participant, and role information in a conference database.

[0090] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the device 1000 further includes: a receiving module, configured to receive a meeting request from a participant's terminal device for requesting to participate in a network conference, the meeting request including encrypted invitation information; a verification module, configured to verify the meeting request based on the encrypted invitation information; and an establishment module, configured to establish a conference connection between the participant's terminal device and the server in response to the meeting request being verified as successful.

[0091] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the verification module includes: an extraction module, configured to extract a meeting identifier, role information and a start time in response to determining that the encrypted invitation information is successfully decrypted; and a first verification module, configured to determine that the meeting request is verified as failed in response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time does not satisfy a predetermined condition.

[0092] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the verification module further includes: a comparison module, configured to compare the extracted meeting identifier and participant identifier with a conference database in response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time satisfies a predetermined condition; and a second verification module, configured to determine that the meeting request is verified as successful in response to determining that the extracted meeting identifier and participant identifier match the conference database.

[0093] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the establishment module further includes: an update module configured to update the status of the participant in the conference database to "online".

[0094] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the second verification module further includes: a number determination module configured to determine the number of times the conference link is used; and a success verification module configured to determine that the conference request is verified as successful in response to determining that the number of times is not higher than a threshold number of times.

[0095] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the second verification module further includes: a failure verification module configured to determine that the conference request is verified as failed in response to the determination number being higher than a threshold number.

[0096] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the device 1000 is deployed at a server; the roles include at least any one of the following: lecturer, audience, guest, administrator, assistant; and the roles have pre-specified participation permissions in the online conference, and the participation permissions include at least any one of the following: live broadcast permission, screen sharing permission, speaking permission, permission to operate objects in the shared screen, permission to add participants, permission to delete participants, and updating participant participation permissions.

[0097] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a device for managing a network conference deployed at a terminal device of a participant is provided. The device includes: a receiving module configured to receive a conference link, the conference link includes invitation information for participating in the network conference, the invitation information includes a conference identifier of the network conference and role information of a participant's role. A participating module configured to participate in the network conference based on the conference link.

[0098] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference link further includes an address of a server for providing a network conference.

[0099] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the participation module includes: a generation module, configured to generate a meeting request for requesting participation in a network conference based on the conference link in response to determining that the conference link includes an address of a server, the meeting request including invitation information; a sending module, configured to send a meeting request to the server of the network conference; and an establishment module, configured to establish a conference connection for participating in the network conference between a participant's terminal device and the server in response to receiving a response from the server to the meeting request.

[0100] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the apparatus is deployed in a terminal device, and the generating module includes: a request generating module configured to generate a conference request based on a participant identification and invitation information of a participant.

[0101] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the conference link further includes a signature for verifying the conference link, and the generation module further includes: an extraction module configured to extract invitation information from the conference link in response to successfully verifying the conference link based on the signature.

[0102] Fig.11 1 shows a block diagram of a device 1100 capable of implementing multiple implementations of the present disclosure. It should be understood that Fig.11 The computing device 1100 shown is merely exemplary and should not constitute any limitation on the functionality and scope of the implementations described herein. Fig.11 The computing device 1100 shown may be used to implement the methods described above.

[0103] like Fig.11 As shown, computing device 1100 is in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Components of computing device 1100 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 1110, memory 1120, storage device 1130, one or more communication units 1140, one or more input devices 1150, and one or more output devices 1160. Processing unit 1110 may be an actual or virtual processor and is capable of performing various processes according to a program stored in memory 1120. In a multi-processor system, multiple processing units execute computer executable instructions in parallel to increase the parallel processing capabilities of computing device 1100.

[0104] The computing device 1100 typically includes a plurality of computer storage media. Such media may be any available media accessible to the computing device 1100, including but not limited to volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. The memory 1120 may be a volatile memory (e.g., registers, caches, random access memory (RAM)), a non-volatile memory (e.g., a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory), or some combination thereof. The storage device 1130 may be a removable or non-removable medium, and may include a machine-readable medium, such as a flash drive, a disk, or any other medium, which may be capable of being used to store information and / or data (e.g., training data for training) and may be accessed within the computing device 1100.

[0105] The computing device 1100 may further include additional removable / non-removable, volatile / non-volatile storage media. Fig.11 As shown in , a disk drive for reading or writing from a removable, non-volatile disk (e.g., a "floppy disk") and an optical drive for reading or writing from a removable, non-volatile optical disk may be provided. In these cases, each drive may be connected to the bus (not shown) by one or more data media interfaces. The memory 1120 may include a computer program product 1125 having one or more program modules that are configured to perform various methods or actions of various implementations of the present disclosure.

[0106] The communication unit 1140 enables communication with other computing devices via a communication medium. Additionally, the functions of the components of the computing device 1100 can be implemented in a single computing cluster or multiple computing machines that can communicate via a communication connection. Therefore, the computing device 1100 can operate in a networked environment using a logical connection with one or more other servers, a network personal computer (PC), or another network node.

[0107] Input device 1150 may be one or more input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, trackball, etc. Output device 1160 may be one or more output devices, such as a display, speaker, printer, etc. Computing device 1100 may also communicate with one or more external devices (not shown) through communication unit 1140 as needed, such as storage devices, display devices, etc., communicate with one or more devices that allow a user to interact with computing device 1100, or communicate with any device that allows computing device 1100 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., a network card, a modem, etc.). Such communication may be performed via an input / output (I / O) interface (not shown).

[0108] According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which computer-executable instructions are stored, wherein the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor to implement the method described above. According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a computer program product is also provided, the computer program product is tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and includes computer-executable instructions, and the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor to implement the method described above. According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided, on which a computer program is stored, and when the program is executed by a processor, the method described above is implemented.

[0109] Various aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices, equipment, and computer program products implemented according to the present disclosure. It should be understood that each box in the flowchart and / or block diagram and the combination of each box in the flowchart and / or block diagram can be implemented by computer-readable program instructions.

[0110] These computer-readable program instructions can be provided to a processing unit of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, thereby producing a machine, so that when these instructions are executed by the processing unit of the computer or other programmable data processing device, a device that implements the functions / actions specified in one or more boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram is generated. These computer-readable program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and these instructions cause the computer, programmable data processing device, and / or other equipment to work in a specific manner, so that the computer-readable medium storing the instructions includes a manufactured product, which includes instructions for implementing various aspects of the functions / actions specified in one or more boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram.

[0111] Computer-readable program instructions can be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device so that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device implement the functions / actions specified in one or more boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram.

[0112] The flow chart and block diagram in the accompanying drawings show the possible architecture, function and operation of the system, method and computer program product according to multiple implementations of the present disclosure. In this regard, each square box in the flow chart or block diagram can represent a part of a module, program segment or instruction, and a part of a module, program segment or instruction includes one or more executable instructions for realizing the logical function of the specification. In some implementations as replacements, the function marked in the square box can also occur in a sequence different from that marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two continuous square boxes can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in reverse order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each square box in the block diagram and / or flow chart, and the combination of the square boxes in the block diagram and / or flow chart can be realized by a special hardware-based system that performs the function or action of the specification, or can be realized by a combination of special hardware and computer instructions.

[0113] The above descriptions of various implementations of the present disclosure are exemplary, non-exhaustive, and not limited to the disclosed implementations. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described implementations. The selection of terms used herein is intended to best explain the principles of the implementations, practical applications, or improvements to the technology in the market, or to enable other persons of ordinary skill in the art to understand the various implementations disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for managing a network conference, comprising: Obtaining roles of participants of the network conference; Generate a conference link of the network conference based on the role, the conference link includes invitation information for participating in the network conference, the invitation information includes a conference identifier of the network conference and role information of the role of the participant; Sending the conference link to the communication address of the participant so that the participant participates in the network conference via the conference link; Receiving a conference request for requesting to participate in the network conference from a terminal device of the participant, wherein the conference request is generated by a conference application installed at the terminal device of the participant and includes a participant identification and the invitation information for verifying the conference request; as well as Validating the meeting request, including: comparing the conference identifier, the role information, and the participant identifier included in the conference request extracted from the invitation information with a conference database; as well as In response to determining that the extracted conference identifier, the role information, and the participant identifier match the conference database, it is determined that the conference request is successfully verified.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the invitation message further comprises: The starting time of the network conference, and generating the conference link includes: Generate the invitation information based on the conference identifier, the role information, and the start time; performing an encryption operation on the invitation information to generate the encrypted invitation information; and The conference link is generated based on the encrypted invitation information and the address of the server for providing the network conference.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: Performing a signing operation on the encrypted invitation information to generate a signature of the invitation information; as well as adding the signature to the conference link so that the conference link is authenticated via the signature; as well as The conference identifier, the participant identifiers of the participants, and the role information are recorded in a conference database.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the meeting request includes the encrypted invitation information, and verifying the meeting request further comprises: verifying the meeting request based on the encrypted invitation information; as well as The method further includes: in response to the conference request being verified as successful, establishing a conference connection between the terminal device of the participant and the server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein verifying the meeting request comprises: In response to determining that the encrypted invitation information is successfully decrypted, extracting the conference identifier, the role information, and the start time; as well as In response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time does not satisfy a predetermined condition, the conference request is determined to be verified as failed.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: In response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time satisfies the predetermined condition, the meeting request is validated.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein establishing the conference connection further comprises: Update the status of the participant in the conference database to "online".

8. The method of claim 6, wherein validating the meeting request further comprises: determining a number of times the conference link is used; as well as In response to determining that the number is not greater than a threshold number, the conference request is determined to be verified as successful.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein validating the meeting request further comprises: In response to determining that the number is greater than the threshold number, the conference request is determined to have been authenticated as a failure.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is executed at a server for providing the online conference; the roles include at least any one of the following: lecturer, audience, guest, administrator, assistant; and the roles have pre-specified participation rights in the online conference, and the participation rights include at least any one of the following: live broadcast right, screen sharing right, speaking right, right to operate objects in the shared screen, right to add participants, right to delete participants, and update participant participation rights.

11. A computer program product, comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements a method for managing a network conference, the method comprising: Obtaining roles of participants of the network conference; Generate a conference link of the network conference based on the role, the conference link includes invitation information for participating in the network conference, the invitation information includes a conference identifier of the network conference and role information of the role of the participant; Sending the conference link to the communication address of the participant so that the participant participates in the network conference via the conference link; Receiving a conference request for requesting to participate in the network conference from a terminal device of the participant, wherein the conference request is generated by a conference application installed at the terminal device of the participant and includes a participant identification and the invitation information for verifying the conference request; as well as Validating the meeting request, including: comparing the conference identifier, the role information, and the participant identifier included in the conference request extracted from the invitation information with a conference database; as well as In response to determining that the extracted conference identifier, the role information, and the participant identifier match the conference database, it is determined that the conference request is successfully verified.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the invitation message further comprises: The starting time of the network conference, and generating the conference link includes: Generate the invitation information based on the conference identifier, the role information, and the start time; performing an encryption operation on the invitation information to generate the encrypted invitation information; and The conference link is generated based on the encrypted invitation information and the address of the server for providing the network conference.

13. The computer program product according to claim 12, further comprising: Performing a signing operation on the encrypted invitation information to generate a signature of the invitation information; as well as adding the signature to the conference link so that the conference link is authenticated via the signature; as well as The conference identifier, the participant identifiers of the participants, and the role information are recorded in a conference database.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the meeting request includes the invitation information encrypted, and authenticating the meeting request further comprises: verifying the meeting request based on the encrypted invitation information; as well as The method further includes: in response to the conference request being verified as successful, establishing a conference connection between the terminal device of the participant and the server.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein validating the meeting request comprises: In response to determining that the encrypted invitation information is successfully decrypted, extracting the conference identifier, the role information, and the start time; as well as In response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time does not satisfy a predetermined condition, the conference request is determined to be verified as failed.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein: In response to determining that the relationship between the start time and the current time satisfies the predetermined condition, the meeting request is validated.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein establishing the conference connection further comprises: Update the status of the participant in the conference database to "online".

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein validating the meeting request further comprises: determining a number of times the conference link is used; as well as In response to determining that the number is not greater than a threshold number, the conference request is determined to be verified as successful.

19. An electronic device comprising: at least one processing unit; as well as At least one memory, the at least one memory being coupled to the at least one processing unit and storing instructions for execution by the at least one processing unit, the instructions causing the electronic device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 when executed by the at least one processing unit.

20. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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