Location-Based Proxy Agent for Virtual Meeting Latency Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtual meetings often experience degraded communication performance due to high network latency, particularly when participants are in different geographic locations, leading to poor audio and video quality.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that monitor network latency conditions during virtual meetings and dynamically select a proxy agent based on geographic location to establish improved network connections, reducing latency and enhancing performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If participants connect directly to the virtual meeting server, then the system architecture remains simple, but network latency increases for geographically distant participants
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a proxy agent as an intermediary component between participants and the virtual meeting server. The proxy agent establishes local connections to the server, enabling geographically distant participants to connect through a nearby proxy rather than directly to the remote server, thereby reducing network latency while maintaining connection reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements location-based proxy selection where each geographic region has designated proxy agents. Participants are automatically connected to the proxy agent closest to their location, optimizing network performance by using local infrastructure rather than forcing all connections through a centralized remote server
2Reliability
If a proxy agent is introduced to reduce latency, then audio and video quality improves for distant participants, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The proxy agent is designed to perform multiple functions: it acts as a connection intermediary for reducing latency, provides local presence for meeting participants, and enables automatic connection routing. This multi-functionality justifies the added complexity by delivering comprehensive performance improvements across multiple dimensions
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic proxy selection based on real-time network conditions and participant locations. The connection architecture adapts automatically by selecting the most appropriate proxy agent for each participant, transforming a static centralized architecture into a dynamic distributed system that optimizes performance based on current conditions
3Ease of operation
If the system uses a single virtual meeting server, then server management is simplified, but network latency increases for participants in different geographic locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized server architecture into distributed proxy agents located in different geographic regions. Each proxy agent handles connections for local participants, effectively dividing the monolithic server function into multiple regional nodes that reduce geographic latency while maintaining manageable complexity through modular deployment
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus for improving performance in a virtual meeting session in a distributed workspace system. One example of such a method includes acts of launching the virtual meeting session on a computing device of a first meeting participant, establishing a first connection between the computing device and a virtual meeting server, monitoring network latency conditions in the first network connection, upon determining that the network latency conditions exceed a predetermined threshold, selecting a proxy agent and establishing a second network connection between the computing device and the proxy agent, and establishing a third network connection between the virtual meeting server and the proxy agent to connect the computing device to the virtual meeting server through the proxy agent.