Video conference bridge setting, sharing, pushing, and rationalization
A conference system is provided with enhanced settings capabilities. A controller can poll for settings at each endpoint in a conference system and be able via the video stream to selectively display and compare settings among the endpoints. One location can push its settings to one or more locations to overcome failures or degradation in the conference. The settings between different controllers may be rationalized via a common denominator method or tabular method to build a knowledge of how to configure conferences and to automate responses to problems.
1. A computer program product including computer executable instructions stored onto a computer readable medium which, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the computer to perform a method for providing setting information, the instructions comprising:
instructions to receive a request for a conference from a communication endpoint, wherein the communication endpoint has a type;
instructions to determine if the communication endpoint has previously engaged in a previous conference; and
instructions to send default settings to the communication endpoint, wherein the default settings are associated with the type of the communication endpoint.
2. The computer program product as defined in claim 1 , further comprising instructions to create an endpoint configuration for the communication endpoint.
3. The computer program product as defined in claim 2 , further comprising instructions to save the default settings into the endpoint configuration.
4. The computer program product as defined in claim 3 , further comprising:
instructions to create conference settings associated with a conference requirement; and
instructions to send the conference settings to the communication endpoint.
5. The computer program product as defined in claim 4 , further comprising:
detecting a failure during the conference;
recovering from the failure to reconnect with the communication endpoint;
reestablishing the conference settings.
6. The computer program product as defined in claim 5 , wherein the failure is a failure of the communication endpoint, failure of a network, or failure of a system, and wherein the communication endpoint loses the conference settings.
7. The computer program product as defined in claim 6 , wherein reestablishing the conference settings comprises detecting that the communication endpoint has recovered from the failure and resending at least one conference setting to the communication endpoint.
8. The computer program product as defined in claim 4 , further comprising:
detecting a change in the conference;
determining at least one of a degradation or an upgrade in a conference characteristic that caused the change; and
automatically adjusting at least one conference setting to respond to the degradation or the upgrade.
9. The computer program product as defined in claim 8 , wherein the conference characteristic is associated with a network component.
10. The computer program product as defined in claim 9 , wherein the conference setting is associated with at least one of a network setting, a communication endpoint setting, or a conference engine setting.
11. The computer program product as defined in claim 8 , wherein the determined at least one of the degradation or the upgrade in the conference characteristic is the upgrade in the conference characteristic.
12. The computer program product as defined in claim 8 , wherein the determined at least one of the degradation or the upgrade is the degradation and wherein automatically adjusting the at least one conference setting is changing a type of codec used in the communication endpoint.
13. The computer program product as defined in claim 1 , wherein the request for a conference from the communication endpoint comprises a request to send the default settings.
14. The computer program product as defined in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the default settings is a first codec setting based on a physical separation from the communication endpoint.
15. The computer program product as defined in claim 14 , wherein the conference is with a plurality of communication endpoints and wherein the at least another one of the plurality of conference endpoints has a second codec setting that is different from the first codec setting.