Positional controlled muting
Systems and methods for controlling the privileges of participants in a multiparty interaction are described, wherein participants in the multiparty interaction are distributed among a plurality of areas, each area having different privileges, and further wherein a participant may obtain the privileges of another area by moving to the other area.
1. A method comprising:
establishing a collaboration interaction among a plurality of communication devices, each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of a plurality of participants in the collaboration interaction, the collaboration interaction comprising at least one media channel via which media signals received from any one of the plurality of communication devices can be sent to the remaining ones of the plurality of communication devices;
sending a first instruction to a first communication device of the plurality of communication devices that causes the first communication device to display, via a graphical user interface of the first communication device, an interaction workspace for the collaboration interaction comprising a plurality of icons distributed between a first area for the collaboration interaction having a first muting behavior and a second area for the collaboration interaction having a second muting behavior, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to one of the plurality of participants;
applying the first muting behavior for the collaboration interaction when each one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to the ones of the plurality of icons is displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction and the second muting behavior when each one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to the ones of the plurality of icons is displayed in the second area for the collaboration interaction, and
receiving a second instruction from the first communication device that indicates that an individual participant of the plurality of participants has dragged a texting tool onto an icon representing the individual participant to send a text message to every other participant in the collaboration interaction.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first muting behavior comprises muting the media signals received from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction and the second muting behavior comprises unmuting the media signals received from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the second area for the collaboration interaction.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first muting behavior comprises unmuting the media signals received from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction and the second muting behavior comprises muting the media signals received from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the second area for the collaboration interaction.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first area for the collaboration interaction is an audience area and the second area for the collaboration interaction is a presentation area.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a first request to move one of the plurality of icons from the first area for the collaboration interaction to the second area for the collaboration interaction;
in response to the first request, sending a third instruction to the first communication device that causes the first communication device to display, via the graphical user interface, the one of the plurality of icons in the second area for the collaboration interaction; and
applying the second muting behavior to the one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to the one of the plurality of icons in response to the first request.
6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the muting comprises sending an instruction that causes each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction to stop sending media signals via the at least one media channel.
7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the muting comprises executing an instruction that causes media signals received via the at least one media channel from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction not to be sent to the remaining ones of the plurality of communication devices.
8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the muting comprises sending an instruction that causes media signals received via the at least one media channel from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction and sent via the at least one media channel to each of the remaining ones of the plurality of communication devices to be ignored by each of the remaining ones of the plurality of communication devices.
9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first request comprises an indication that one of the plurality of participants has moved one of the plurality of icons from the first area for the collaboration interaction to the second area for the collaboration interaction.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first muting behavior mutes a video stream of the collaboration interaction and does not mute an audio stream of the collaboration interaction.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interaction workspace further comprises a third area having a third muting behavior, the method further comprising:
sending a second instruction to the first communication device that causes the first communication device to display, via the graphical user interface, at least two of the plurality of icons in the third area; and
applying the third muting behavior when each one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to the ones of the plurality of icons are displayed in the third area,
wherein the third muting behavior comprises muting the media signals received from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to ones of the plurality of icons displayed in the third area with respect to each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to the ones of the plurality of icons displayed in the first and second areas for the collaboration interaction, and unmuting the media signals received from each one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to the ones of the plurality of icons displayed in the third area with respect to every other one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to the ones of the plurality of icons displayed in the third area.
12. A server comprising:
a communication interface for sending signals to, and receiving signals from, a first communication device;
a processor; and
a memory, the memory storing instructions for execution by the processor that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
send a first instruction to the first communication device that causes the first communication device to display, on a graphical user interface of the first communication device, an interaction workspace for a collaboration interaction comprising a plurality of icons distributed between a first area for the collaboration interaction having a first muting behavior and a second area for the collaboration interaction having a second muting behavior, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to one of a plurality of communication devices, wherein the plurality of communication devices includes the first communication device;
apply the first muting behavior for the collaboration interaction when each one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons is displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction, and the second muting behavior when each one of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons is displayed in the second area for the collaboration interaction;
in response to a request to move a first one of the plurality of icons from the first area for the collaboration interaction to the second area for the collaboration interaction, send a second instruction to the first communication device that causes the first communication device to display, on the graphical user interface, the first one of the plurality of icons in the second area for the collaboration interaction;
apply the second muting behavior to the first one of the plurality of icons in response to the request; and
receiving a third instruction from the first communication device that indicates that an individual participant of a plurality of participant has dragged a texting tool onto an icon representing the individual participant to send a text message to every other participant in the collaboration interaction.
13. The server of claim 12 , wherein the first area for the collaboration interaction is an audience area and the second area for the collaboration interaction is a presentation area.
14. The server of claim 12 , wherein the first muting behavior comprises muting media signals from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the first area for the collaboration interaction, and the second muting behavior comprises unmuting media signals from each of the plurality of communication devices corresponding to one of the plurality of icons displayed in the second area for the collaboration interaction.
15. The server of claim 14 , wherein the media signals comprise at least one of audio signals and video signals.
16. The server of claim 12 , wherein the request is received via the communication interface.
17. A collaboration server comprising:
a communication interface;
a processor; and
a memory, the memory storing instructions for execution by the processor that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
establish a collaboration interaction among a plurality of communication devices, the collaboration interaction comprising at least one media channel via which media signals received from any one of the plurality of communication devices can be sent to the remaining ones of the plurality of communication devices;
assign at least one of the plurality of communication devices of the collaboration interaction to a first area for the collaboration interaction and a remainder of the plurality of communication devices to a second area of the collaboration interaction;
apply a first muting behavior when each one of the plurality of communication devices is assigned to the first area of the collaboration interaction and a second muting behavior when each one of the plurality of communication devices is assigned to the second area of the collaboration interaction;
receive a first request from one of the plurality of communication devices assigned to the first area of the collaboration interaction to be reassigned to the second area of the collaboration interaction;
in response to the first request, reassign the one of the plurality of communication devices to the second area of the collaboration interaction and apply the second muting behavior to the one of the plurality of communication devices; and
receiving a second request from the one of the plurality of communication devices that indicates that an individual participant of a plurality of participant has dragged a texting tool onto an icon representing the individual participant to send a text message to every other participant in the collaboration interaction.
18. The collaboration server of claim 17 , wherein the first muting behavior comprises muting the media signals received from each of the plurality of communication devices associated with the first area for the collaboration interaction, and the second muting behavior comprises unmuting the media signals received from each of the plurality of communication devices associated with the second area for the collaboration interaction.
19. The collaboration server of claim 17 , wherein the media signals comprise at least one of audio signals or video signals.
20. The server of claim 12 , wherein the first muting behavior mutes a video stream of the collaboration interaction and does not mute an audio stream of the collaboration interaction.