Presenting information in a conference
An improved networked computer communications system handles arbitrary streams of data, and transports at varying speeds those steams where intermediate updates can be dropped if they are obsoleted by later arriving data updates, optimizing the utilization of network and node resources. One conferencing system allows conference participants to share all or a portion of the display seen on their computer screens. The conferees may be at sites removed from each other, or may view a recorded presentation or archived conference at different times. A pointer icon, which can be labeled to identify the conferee, is displayed on the shared image area. Each conferee can modify the position of his pointer, even when not presenting, so that every participant can see what each conferee is pointing to. These and other features apply to other data streams shared in the conference or in meetings where there is no shared-image data stream.
1. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:
receiving a command from an attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;
receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the attendee in a first form;
transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;
matching the form of the information to one or more of the other attendee clients in the conference;
transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the matching; and
transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the other attendee clients in the conference.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information is presented as a bitmap of device-dependent pixels.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein matching the form of the information to the other attendee clients in the conference includes transcoding the information subsequent to receipt and prior to transmission.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein matching the form of the information to the other attendee clients in the conference includes fitting the information to CPU capability of a particular attendee.
5. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:
receiving a command from an attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;
receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the attendee in a first form;
transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;
transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and
transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the other attendee clients in the conference.
6. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:
receiving a command from a first attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;
receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the first attendee in a first form;
transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;
transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and
transmitting the information in the device dependent form to a second attendee client in the conference in accordance with capabilities of the second attendee client.
7. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:
receiving a command from a first attendee in the conference indicating a desire to present information to the conference;
receiving the information to be presented in the conference, the information received from the first attendee in a first form;
transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;
transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and
transmitting the information in the device dependent form to a second attendee client in the conference in accordance with privileges of the second attendee client.
8. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:
receiving the information from a first attendee in the conference;
transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;
matching the form of the information to a second attendee client in the conference; and
transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data;
transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the second attendee client in the conference in accordance with capabilities of the second attendee client.
9. A method for presenting information in a conference, the method comprising:
receiving the information from a first attendee in the conference;
transcoding the information from the first form into a device-independent form;
matching the form of the information to a second attendee client in the conference;
transcoding the information from the device independent form into at least one device dependent form based on the attendee client device data; and
transmitting the information in the device dependent form to the second attendee client in the conference in accordance with privileges of the second attendee client.