Granted Patent B1

US 8,767,593 · App. 12/816,583 · Granted Jul 1, 2014

Abstract

Claims (269)

1. A method for initiating and managing a video conference among a plurality of participants with disparate system platforms, respectively, said method comprising the steps of:

providing access to an information and data repository of a plurality of runbook processes and a plurality of activities required to initiate and manage the conference;

enabling provisioning of a plurality of resources for said plurality of participants using a first one of said plurality of runbook processes;

enabling a user to schedule the conference using a second one of said plurality of runbook processes;

automatically initiating the conference using said plurality of resources as scheduled;

wherein said plurality of runbook processes comprises a provisioning runbook process that at least one of said plurality of participants can access and use to perform said first enabling step and provision or assign at least one of said plurality of resources for use during said conference;

enabling said plurality of participants with the disparate system platforms, respectively, to participate in the conference, wherein the disparate system platforms comprise a plurality of enterprise systems, respectively;

determining whether and outlet exists for at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems, and if it does not, then provisioning a provisioned outlet to said at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems, adding said provisioned outlet to the information and data repository, and populating said provisioned outlet with at least one of said plurality of activities adapted or defined by capabilities of said at least one enterprise system to facilitate communication between said at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems and said information and data repository; said plurality of enterprise systems having different capabilities;

wherein after said provisioned outlet is added to said information and data repository and populated with said at least one of said plurality of activities, said at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems is ready access and use at least one of said plurality of runbook processes, but limited by said capabilities of that at least one enterprise system.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling each of said plurality of participants to perform said first enabling step using said provisioning runbook process.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said plurality of resources are at least one of a terminal, a desktop or a gatekeeper.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling the user to customize or adapt at least one or a plurality of templates or user interfaces that will be presented to said plurality of participants during the execution of one or more of said plurality of runbook processes.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling the user to customize or adapt at least one or a plurality of templates or user interfaces that will be presented to the user during the execution of one or more of said plurality of runbook processes.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said plurality of resources are at least one of a terminal, a desktop or a gatekeeper.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said second enabling step further comprises the step of:

performing said second enabling step using a scheduling runbook process.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said scheduling runbook process comprises an express scheduler; said method further comprising the step of:

enabling said user to schedule a conference using a single scheduling interface.

9. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

generating a notification during said scheduling runbook process of an alternate one of said plurality of resources in response to a requested one of said plurality of resources is not being available for scheduling by the user.

10. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said second enabling step further comprises the step of:

providing at least one user entry point or node to said user to enable said user to access said second one of said plurality of runbook processes to enable the user to perform said second enabling step.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein said at least one user entry point is at least one of a web portal, a touch screen computer/mobile interface or a calendaring portal.

12. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

automatically allocating a cost associated with said conference to at least one billing entity.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein said user is not the same as the said at least one billing entity.

14. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of participants is associated with an enterprise system, said method comprising the step of:

providing at least one outlet for enabling said enterprise system to enable said user to use or caused to be initiated at least one of said plurality of runbook processes and at least one of said plurality of activities.

15. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of participants is associated with an enterprise system, said method comprising the step of:

providing said outlet for enabling said user to use or caused to be initiated at least one of said plurality of runbook processes and at least one of said plurality of activities.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 wherein said outlet comprises at least one of a ping command, a scheduler, a statistic collector, a third party integrator, an open session command.

17. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of runbook processes defines a runbook process definition for a runbook process to be conducted prior to, during or after said conference.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

composing a composed runbook process using said runbook process definition and at least one of said plurality of activities.

19. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein each of said plurality of resources comprises at least one of a terminal, a desktop or a gatekeeper.

20. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

conducting said composed runbook process.

21. The method as recited in claim 20 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

using a process conductor to perform said conducting step.

22. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein said method further comprises the steps of:

storing video network operations center data or user data in said information and data repository;

using said video network operations center data or user data during said conducting step.

23. The method as recited in claim 20 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

using a workflow engine to perform said composing and conducting steps and to cause any of said plurality of runbook processes that are composed to be conducted in a predetermined order or sequence.

24. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein said composing step further comprises the steps of:

using a process composer to perform said composing step.

25. The method as recited in claim 24 wherein said method further comprises the steps of:

storing video network operations center data or user data in said information and data repository;

using said video network operations center data or user data during said automatically initiating step.

26. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling a user to dynamically modify and or change the at least one of the plurality of activities associated with at least one of the plurality of runbook processes being composed in order to facilitate said automatically initiating step.

27. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

automatically managing and controlling the conference among a plurality of resources specific to the user's environment using at least one of the plurality of runbook processes.

28. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

providing said plurality of runbook processes comprise a plurality of the following:

said provisioning runbook process;

a service runbook process;

a supported terminals, software versions and enterprise systems runbook process;

a scheduling runbook process;

a notification runbook process

a conference management runbook process;

an escalation runbook process;

a remediation runbook process;

a fault management runbook process;

a daily site sweep runbook process;

a conference log runbook process;

a quality control runbook process;

a root cause analysis (RCA) template runbook process; or

a reporting deliverables runbook process.

29. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

executing a plurality of said plurality of runbook processes substantially simultaneously.

30. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling a plurality of users to execute or cause to be executed said first one of said plurality of runbook processes and said second one of said plurality of runbook processes.

31. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling a plurality of users to execute a plurality of said plurality of runbook processes substantially simultaneously.

32. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling said plurality of participants to execute said second one of said plurality of runbook processes substantially simultaneously.

33. The method as recited in claim 1 said method further comprises the step of:

observing and polling said information and data repository in order to launch at least one of said plurality of runbook processes in response to a start command.

34. A method for initiating and managing a conference among a plurality of participants with disparate system platforms, respectively, said method comprising the steps of:

providing access to an information and data repository of a plurality of runbook processes and a plurality of activities required to initiate and manage the conference;

enabling provisioning of a plurality of resources for said plurality of participants using a first one of said plurality of runbook processes;

enabling a user to schedule the conference using a second one of said plurality of runbook processes; and

automatically initiating the conference using said plurality of resources as scheduled;

observing and polling said information and data repository in order to launch at least one of said plurality of runbook processes in response to a start command;

wherein said first one of said plurality of runbook processes comprises a provisioning runbook process, said method further comprising the step of:

provisioning said resources using said provisioning runbook process so that such resources are allocated when said second one of said plurality of runbook processes is initiated;

enabling said plurality of participants with the disparate system platforms to participate in the conference, each of the disparate system platforms comprising at least one enterprise system, respectively;

determining whether at least one outlet exists for said at least one enterprise system and if it does not, then provisioning a provisioned outlet to said at least one enterprise system, adding said provisioned outlet to the information and data repository, and populating said provisioned outlet with at least one of said plurality of activities adapted or defined by capabilities of said at least one enterprise system to facilitate communication between said at least one enterprise system and said information and data repository; said at least one enterprise system having different capabilities;

wherein after said provisioned outlet is added to said information and data repository and populated with said at least one of said plurality of activities, said at least one enterprise system is ready access and use at least one of said plurality of runbook processes, but limited by said capabilities of that at least one enterprise system.

35. The method as recited in claim 34 wherein said provisioning step further comprises the steps of:

creating at least one of a new account;

creating for said at least one of said new account at least one of new contract rights, a new user role, or a new user assigned to said at least one of said new account;

causing said user to be governed by said at least one of new contract rights, new user role or new user assignment during said second enabling step.

36. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling said user to perform said scheduling during said second enabling step using at least one of a web portal, a touch screen computer/mobile interface, or a calendar portal.

37. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

associating at least one enterprise system with said user;

enabling said user to perform said enabling steps within said at least one enterprise system.

38. The method as recited in claim 37 wherein said at least one enterprise system comprises a plurality of enterprise systems.

39. The method as recited in claim 38 wherein said plurality of enterprise systems run on different platforms.

40. The method as recited in claim 38 wherein said method further comprises:

providing a plurality of outlets to at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems to facilitate communication between said plurality of enterprise systems and said information and data repository.

41. The method as recited in claim 34 wherein said at least one outlet comprises a plurality of a ping command, a scheduler, a statistic collector, a third-party integrator or an open session command.

42. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said resources comprise at least one terminal, a desktop or a gatekeeper.

43. The method as recited in claim 42 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

evaluating an availability of at least one of said at least one terminal, desktop or gatekeeper requested to be scheduled generating a notification of such availability to the user in response thereto.

44. The method as recited in claim 43 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

displaying said availability of said at least one of said terminal, desktop or gatekeeper in a current time zone of said user regardless of a time zone associated with a location of said at least one of said terminal, desktops or gatekeeper.

45. The method as recited in claim 42 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

associating at least one picture with said at least one of said terminal, desktop or gatekeeper during said first enabling step;

enabling said user to use said at least one picture during said scheduling.

46. The method as recited in claim 45 wherein said at least one picture is a picture of a person.

47. The method as recited in claim 45 wherein said at least one picture is a picture of a conference room.

48. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method comprises the step of:

managing a plurality of conferences simultaneously.

49. The method as recited in claim 48 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

using a geo-spatial graphical display of said plurality of conferences.

50. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said plurality of resources comprises at least one terminal, desktop or gatekeeper and said plurality of runbook processes comprises a fault management runbook process, said method further comprising the step of:

automatically running said fault management process during the conference and generating a fault notification if a fault associated with said at least one terminal, desktop or gatekeeper occurs either before or during said conference.

51. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method is adapted to enable a plurality of users to schedule a plurality of conferences substantially simultaneously.

52. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said plurality of runbook processes comprises a conference management runbook process, said method further comprising the step of:

running said conference management runbook process to set up or establish the conference among said plurality of resources and to substantially simultaneously monitor said plurality of resources during said conference.

53. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said plurality of resources are associated with a single organization.

54. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said plurality of resources are associated with a plurality of organizations.

55. The method a recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

adapting at least one or a plurality of runbook processes to the user.

56. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

customizing at least one of said plurality of runbook processes for said user to provide at least one user-customized runbook process;

said enabling step further comprising the step of:

initiating or causing to be initiated said at least one user-customized runbook process when called upon during the conference.

57. The method as recited in claim 56 wherein said customizing step further comprises the step of:

provisioning at least one of a contract, a role, or a new user.

58. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of runbook processes defines a runbook process definition that is stored in said information and data repository, said method further comprising the step of:

observing, polling and launching said runbook process definition for an initiated one of said plurality of runbook processes in response to the user scheduling the conference.

59. The method as recited in claim 58 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

composing said runbook process definition with at least one of a plurality of activities to provide at least one composed runbook process.

60. The method as recited in claim 59 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

conducting said at least one composed runbook process in response to said composing step.

61. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of said participants has an enterprise system, said enabling participants step further comprising the step of:

associating at least one outlet with said enterprise system to facilitate interface and use of said information and data repository by said at least one of said participants.

62. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said at least one of said participants and said user are the same.

63. A method for automated scheduling, management and control of a plurality of conferences, said method comprising the steps of:

enabling each of a plurality of users to provision in an automated conference management and control system a plurality of resources that will be accessed and used during at least one of said plurality of conferences, each of said plurality of users having at least one enterprise system;

enabling at least one scheduling entity associated with each of said plurality of users to access said automated conference management and control system in order to schedule such plurality of resources using at least one user entry point;

said at least one scheduling entity using at least one user entry point to schedule at least one of said plurality of conferences and the said plurality of resources for use during said at least one of said plurality of conferences;

wherein a plurality of runbook processes comprises a provisioning runbook process that at least one of said plurality of users can access and use to perform said first enabling step and provision or assign at least one of said plurality of resources for use during said conference;

wherein each of said plurality of users have at least one enterprise system;

determining whether an outlet exists for said at least one enterprise system and if it does not, then provisioning a provisioned outlet to said at least one enterprise system, adding said provisioned outlet to an information and data repository, and populating said provisioned outlet with at least one of a plurality of activities adapted or defined by capabilities of said at least one enterprise system to facilitate communication between said at least one enterprise system and said automated conference management and control system; said at least one enterprise system having different capabilities;

wherein after said provisioned outlet is added to said information and data repository and populated with said at least one of said plurality of activities, said at least one enterprise system is ready access and use at least one of said plurality of runbook processes, but limited by said capabilities of that at least one enterprise system.

64. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

providing an information and data repository in said automated conference management and control system;

said information and data repository comprising a plurality of runbook processes.

65. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

executing said plurality of runbook processes substantially simultaneously.

66. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

providing at least one outlet for each user to enable a user to use or caused to be initiated at least one of said plurality of runbook processes.

67. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein at least one of said plurality of runbook processes is a scheduling runbook process that permits said at least one scheduling entity to schedule at least one of said plurality of conferences using said at least one user entry point.

68. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said plurality of runbook processes comprises a conference management runbook process, said method further comprising the step of:

running said conference management runbook process to set up or establish the conference among said plurality of resources and to substantially simultaneously monitor said plurality of resources during said conference.

69. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

executing a plurality of said plurality of runbook processes substantially simultaneously.

70. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

observing and polling said information and data repository in order to launch at least one of said plurality of runbook processes in response to a start command.

71. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said plurality of resources comprises at least one of the terminal, desktop or gatekeeper and said plurality of runbook processes comprises a fault management runbook process, said method further comprising the step of:

automatically running said fault management process during the conference and generating a fault notification if a fault associated with said at least one terminal, desktop or gatekeeper occurs either before or during said conference.

72. The method a recited in claim 64 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

adapting at least one or a plurality of runbook processes to said at least one scheduling entity.

73. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

providing said outlet for enabling said enterprise system to enable a user to use or cause to be initiated at least one of said plurality of runbook processes and at least one of a plurality of activities associated with said plurality of runbook processes.

74. The method as recited in claim 73 wherein said outlet comprises at least one of a ping command, a scheduler, a statistic collector, a third party integrator, an open session command.

75. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein each of said plurality of runbook processes defines a runbook process definition for a runbook process to be conducted prior to, during or after said conference.

76. The method as recited in claim 73 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling a user to dynamically modify and or change the at least one of the plurality of activities associated with at least one of the plurality of runbook processes being composed in order to facilitate said automatically initiating step.

77. The method as recited in claim 75 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

composing a composed runbook process using said runbook process definition and at least one of a plurality of activities.

78. The method as recited in claim 77 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

conducting said composed runbook process.

79. The method as recited in claim 78 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

using a workflow engine to perform said composing and conducting steps and to cause any of said plurality of runbook processes that are composed to be conducted in a predetermined order or sequence.

80. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

using a plurality of the following to provide said plurality of runbook processes:

said provisioning runbook process;

a service runbook process;

a supported terminals, software versions and enterprise systems runbook process;

a scheduling runbook process;

a notification runbook process

a conference management runbook process;

an escalation runbook process;

a remediation runbook process;

a fault management runbook process;

a daily site sweep runbook process;

a conference log runbook process;

a quality control runbook process;

a root cause analysis (RCA) template runbook process; or

a reporting deliverables runbook process.

81. The method as recited in claim 80 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling a plurality of users to execute or cause to be executed said plurality of runbook processes.

82. The method as recited in claim 81 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

causing a plurality of said plurality of runbook processes to run substantially simultaneously.

83. A method for automated scheduling, management and control of a plurality of conferences, said method comprising the steps of:

enabling each of a plurality of users to provision in an automated conference management and control system a plurality of resources that will be accessed and used during at least one of said plurality of conferences, each of said plurality of users having at least one enterprise system;

enabling at least one scheduling entity associated with each of said plurality of users to access said automated conference management and control system in order to schedule such plurality of resources using at least one user entry point;

said at least one scheduling entity using at least one user entry point to schedule at least one of said plurality of conferences and the said plurality of resources for use during said at least one of said plurality of conferences;

providing a provisioning runbook process that each of said plurality of users can access and use to provision or assign resources for use by said at least one scheduling entity associated with such user;

wherein said plurality of users use a plurality of enterprise systems, respectively;

determining whether an outlet exists for at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems and if it does not, then provisioning a provisioned outlet to said at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems, adding said provisioned outlet to an information and data repository, and populating said provisioned outlet with at least one of a plurality of activities adapted or defined by capabilities of said at least one enterprise system to facilitate communication between said at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems and said automated conference management and control system; said plurality of enterprise systems having different capabilities;

wherein after said provisioned outlet is added to said information and data repository and populated with said at least one of said plurality of activities, said at least one of said plurality of enterprise systems is ready access and use said runbook process, but limited by said capabilities of that at least one enterprise system.

84. The method as recited in claim 83 wherein said each of said plurality of users and said at least one scheduling entity are not the same.

85. The method as recited in claim 83 wherein said method further comprises the following steps that occur during said provisioning runbook process:

creating at least one of a new account;

creating for said at least one of said new account at least one of new contract rights, a new user role, or a new user assigned to said at least one of said new account;

causing said user to be governed by said at least one of new contract rights, new user role or new user assignment when said at least one scheduling entity uses schedules at least one of said plurality of conferences.

86. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling the user to customize or adapt at least one or a plurality of templates or user interfaces that will be presented to the user during use of said at least one user entry point.

87. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said plurality of resources are at least one of a terminal, a desktop or a gatekeeper.

88. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said second enabling step further comprises the step of:

performing said second enabling step using a scheduling runbook process.

89. The method as recited in claim 88 wherein said scheduling runbook process comprises an express scheduler; said method further comprising the step of:

enabling said user to schedule a conference using at least one user entry point having a single scheduling interface.

90. The method as recited in claim 88 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

generating a notification during said scheduling runbook process of an alternate one of said plurality of resources in response to a requested one of said plurality of resources is not being available for scheduling by said at least one scheduling entity.

91. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said at least one user entry point is at least one of a web portal, a touch screen computer/mobile interface or a calendaring portal.

92. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

automatically managing and controlling the conference among said plurality of resources using a plurality of runbook processes.

93. The method as recited in claim 92 wherein each of said plurality of resources comprises at least one of a terminal, a desktop or a gatekeeper.

94. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said at least one enterprise system comprises a plurality of enterprise systems.

95. The method as recited in claim 94 wherein said plurality of enterprise systems run on different platforms.

96. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said outlet comprises a plurality of a ping command, a scheduler, a statistic collector, a third-party integrator or an open session command.

97. The method as recited in claim 96 wherein said plurality of resources comprise at least one terminal, a desktop or a gatekeeper.

98. The method as recited in claim 97 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

evaluating an availability of at least one of said terminal, desktop or gatekeeper requested to be scheduled generating a notification of such availability to said at least one scheduling entity in response thereto.

99. The method as recited in claim 98 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

displaying said availability of said at least one of said terminal, desktop or gatekeeper in said at least one scheduling entity's current time zone regardless of a time zone associated with a location of said at least one of said terminal, desktops or gatekeeper.

100. The method as recited in claim 99 wherein method further comprises the steps of:

associating at least one picture with said at least one said terminal, desktop or gatekeeper during said first enabling step;

enabling said at least one scheduling entity use said at least one picture during said scheduling.

101. The method as recited in claim 100 wherein said at least one picture is a picture of a person.

102. The method as recited in claim 100 wherein said at least one picture is a picture of a conference room.

103. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

automatically allocating a cost associated with each of said plurality of conferences to a plurality of billing entities.

104. The method as recited in claim 103 wherein said at least one scheduling entity is not the same as the billing entity.

105. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said method comprises the step of:

managing said plurality of conferences simultaneously.

106. The method as recited in claim 105 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

using a geo-spatial graphical display of said plurality of conferences.

107. The method as recited in claim 63 , wherein said method is adapted to enable a plurality of users to schedule a plurality of conferences substantially simultaneously.

108. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said plurality of resources are associated with a single organization.

109. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said plurality of resources are associated with a plurality of organizations.

110. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

customizing at least one of said plurality of runbook processes for a user to provide at least one user-customized runbook process;

said enabling step further comprising the step of:

initiating or causing to be initiated said at least one user-customized runbook process when called upon during the conference.

111. The method as recited in claim 110 wherein said customizing step further comprises the step of:

provisioning at least one of a contract, a role, or a new user.

112. The method as recited in claim 64 wherein each of said plurality of runbook processes defines a runbook process definition that is stored in said information and data repository, said method further comprising the step of:

observing, polling and launching said runbook process definition for an initiated one of said plurality of runbook processes in response to the user scheduling the conference.

113. The method as recited in claim 112 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

composing said runbook process definition with at least one of a plurality of activities to provide at least one composed runbook process.

114. The method as recited in claim 113 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

conducting said at least one composed runbook process in response to said composing step.

115. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein said method further comprises the step of:

enabling participants with disparate system platforms to participate in the conference.

116. The method as recited in claim 63 wherein at least one of said participants has an enterprise system, said enabling participants step further comprising the step of:

associating at least one outlet with said enterprise system to facilitate interface and use of said information and data repository by said at least one of said plurality of users.

117. The method as recited in claim 116 wherein said at least one said participants and said plurality of users are the same.

Assignments (20)