Videoconferencing Sub-Meeting Notifications via Stored Connection Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In videoconferencing systems, hosts participating in sub-meetings often miss notifications about participants waiting to join the main meeting, as these notifications are typically sent to the main meeting and not routed to hosts in sub-meetings.
Innovation Solution
The system maintains stored connections of hosts to the main meeting, allowing notifications of participants entering the waiting queue to be routed to hosts even when they are in a sub-meeting, enabling hosts to manage the waiting queue and admit participants from the waiting queue into the videoconferencing session.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If notifications are sent only to the main meeting, then the notification system is simple, but hosts in sub-meetings cannot receive waiting participant notifications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a stored connection mechanism as an intermediary that maintains the link between hosts and the main meeting. Even when hosts are in sub-meetings, the stored connection acts as a mediator to route notifications back to them, ensuring they receive waiting participant information without requiring complex real-time presence tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by establishing and storing connections between hosts and the main meeting before the host joins a sub-meeting. This pre-established connection ensures that when notifications need to be delivered, the host can be reached through the stored connection regardless of their current location in the meeting hierarchy.
2Loss of information
If hosts frequently switch between main and sub-meetings to check notifications, then all notifications are received, but host productivity decreases and waiting time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the notification system automatically detects when a host is in a sub-meeting and routes notifications through the stored connection to the host's current location. This eliminates the need for hosts to manually switch meetings to check notifications, as the system proactively delivers information where the host currently is.
3Reliability
If the system tracks host location in real-time, then accurate notification delivery is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a copied connection approach where the main meeting connection is replicated and stored separately. Instead of continuously tracking host location, the system maintains a static copy of the connection information that can be routed to the host's current location (main meeting or sub-meeting), achieving reliable delivery without complex real-time tracking.
Data Source
AI summary
One example system for providing notifications to videoconferencing sub-meetings includes a processor and at least one memory device. The processor establishes a videoconferencing session associated with a host. The videoconferencing session can include a main meeting, a sub-meeting, and a waiting queue. The processor can move the host from the main meeting to the sub-meeting, and subsequently move a new participant into the waiting queue. The processor can generate a notification that the participant has entered the waiting queue and determine that the host has moved to the sub-meeting. The processor can route, to the host in the sub-meeting using a stored connection of the host to the main meeting, a notification of the participant entering the waiting queue, and subsequently allow the host to admit the new participant.