Identifying and authenticating users in a conference room

1 . A video bar, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured with stored program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the video bar to:

enumerate a plurality of connected devices that comprise a client Information Handling System (IHS);

prevent the client IHS from use of a feature available in a conference room, based, at least in part, upon blocked access to the feature configured for any enumerated connected device, based at least in part upon execution, by default, of an upper-level filter driver that sits above a primary driver in a driver stack to place at least a subset of functionality and/or features of the enumerated connected devices that comprise the feature in a blocked mode;

send, to a peripheral management service, a device detail list configured to identify the enumerated connected devices;

receive, from the peripheral management service, trust details that indicate whether the client IHS is trusted and, when trusted, a trust time;

allow the client IHS, for an amount of time that comprises the trust time, to use the feature, based, at least in part, upon unblocked access to the feature configured for the client IHS in response to a determination that: (i) a token provided by the client IHS is valid, (ii) a user of the client IHS is a participant of an active or future conference session, and (iii) the trust details indicate that the client IHS is trusted, wherein allow the client IHS to use the feature comprises command the upper-level filter driver to place the feature in an unblocked mode for the trust time; and

upon expiration of the amount of time, re-block at least a subset of the client IHS's access to the feature based, at least in part, upon a command to the upper-level filter driver to place the feature in the blocked mode.

2 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution, cause the video bar to prevent the client IHS from use of the feature in response to receipt of a message, from the client IHS, comprising an identification of the client IHS.

3 . The video bar of claim 2 , wherein the identification comprises at least one of: a serial number, or a service tag.

4 . The video bar of claim 2 , wherein to determine that the user of the client IHS is a participant of an active or future conference session, the program instructions, upon execution by the video bar, cause the video bar to:

retrieve an identification of the user based, at least in part, upon the token; and

compare the identification of the user against a list of attendees of the active or future conference session.

5 . The video bar of claim 4 , wherein the token is provided by the client IHS as part of a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) registration request, and wherein the token is contained in an HTTP header of the HTTP registration request.

6 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution, cause the video bar to allow the client IHS to use the feature at least in part upon a determination that the user has a presenter, host, or organizer role in the active or future conference session.

7 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution, cause the video bar to allow the client IHS to use the feature at least in part upon a determination that the user has a non-presenter participant role in the active or future conference session.

8 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution, cause the video bar to allow the client IHS to use the feature at least in part upon a determination that the user belongs to a selected group or category of users in the active or future conference session.

9 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein to prevent the client IHS from use of the feature, the program instructions, upon execution by the processor, further cause the video bar to execute an upper-level filter driver that sits above a primary driver in a driver stack and is configured to execute a command from the video bar to place, by default, at least a subset of functionality and/or features of the enumerated connected devices in a blocked mode.

10 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein the feature comprises a feature of a peripheral device disposed in the conference room.

11 . The video bar of claim 10 , wherein the peripheral device comprises at least one of: a shared display, a shared microphone, a shared speaker, or a shared camera.

12 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein the feature comprises a remote conference application feature.

13 . The video bar of claim 12 , wherein the remote conference application feature enables the client IHS to join a remote conference session.

14 . The video bar of claim 12 , wherein the remote conference application feature is configured to enable the client IHS to participate in one or more aspects of a remote conference session.

15 . The video bar of claim 14 , wherein the one or more aspects comprise: receive video, transmit video, receive audio, transmit audio, or share an electronic file.

16 . The video bar of claim 14 , wherein the remote conference application feature is configured to allow a participant to record one or more aspects of the remote conference session.

17 . The video bar of claim 1 , wherein to allow the client IHS to use the feature, the program instructions, upon execution, cause the video bar to allow the user to use the feature for a selected amount of time that comprises the trust time.

18 . The video bar of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions, upon execution by the processor, cause the video bar to select the amount of time based, at least in part upon a role of the user in the active or future conference session.

19 . A hardware memory device configured with stored program instructions that, upon execution by a processor of a client Information Handling System (IHS), cause the client IHS to:

transmit a token from the client IHS to a video bar disposed in a conference room, wherein the video bar is configured to prevent the client IHS from access to one or more features of the conference room based, at least in part, upon blocked access to the one or more features configured by the video bar for any enumerated connected device, wherein the token is configured to identify a user of the client IHS, wherein the blocked access implemented by the video bar is based, at least in part, upon video bar execution, by default, of an upper-level filter driver that sits above a primary driver in a driver stack to place at least a subset of functionality and/or features of any enumerated connected device that comprises the one or more features in a blocked mode, wherein the video bar is configured to:

(i) send, to a peripheral management service, a device detail list configured to identify all enumerated connected devices;

(ii) receive, from the peripheral management service, trust details that indicate whether the client IHS is trusted and, when trusted, a trust time; and

(iii) allow the client IHS, for an amount of time that comprises the trust time, to use the one or more features, based, at least in part, upon unblocked access to the one or more features configured for the client IHS in response to a determination by the video bar that:

(a) the token provided by the client IHS is valid;

(b) a user of the client IHS is a participant of an active or future conference session; and

(c) the trust details indicate that the client IHS is trusted, and wherein allow the client IHS to use the one or more features comprise command the upper-level filter driver to place the one or more features in an unblocked mode for the trust time;

in response to authentication or authorization of the token by the video bar, access the one or more features for an amount of time based, at least in part, upon a role of the user in an active or future conference session; and

upon expiration of the amount of time, lose access to at least a subset of the one or more features, based, at least in part, upon re-block configured by the video bar based at least in part on a command to the upper-level filter driver, of access to at least the subset of the one or more features.

20 . A method, comprising:

blocking a client Information Handling System (IHS) from using one or more conferencing features during an ongoing or upcoming conference session, based, at least in part, upon blocking access from any enumerated connected device to the one or more conferencing features, using a video bar, wherein the blocking comprises enumerating a plurality of connected devices including the client IHS and, by default, executing an upper-level filter driver that sits above a primary driver in a driver stack to place at least a subset of functionality and/or features of the enumerated connected devices in a blocked mode;

sending, by the video bar, a device detail list identifying the enumerated connected devices to a peripheral management service;

receiving, by the video bar, trust details indicating whether the client IHS is trusted and, when trusted, a trust time;

validating, at least in part by the video bar, a token received by the video bar, wherein the token is associated with a user of the client IHS;

in response to the validation, identifying a role of the user in the ongoing or upcoming conference session, using the video bar;

in response to identifying the role of the user, allowing, by the video bar, the client IHS to access the one or more conferencing features for an amount of time that comprises the trust time based, at least in part, upon the role of the user; and

upon expiration of the amount of time, re-blocking the client IHS access to the one or more conferencing features based at least in part upon commanding the upper-level filter driver to place the one or more conferencing features in the blocked mode.