International Business Machines Corporation

Mark Scott Kressin

William M Quinn

James S Johnston

Raymond Hornback, Jr

Kevin Solie

Andrew M Ortwein

John Paul Harvey

Bret P Smith

Blaine H Berger

Matthew A Levy

Richard Allen Mills

Amy D Travis

Mark A Johnson

Brian L Pulito

Andrew Stewart Lochbaum

Brian G Cline

Vincent J Meriwether

Michael C Tulkoff

Jeffrey T Delargy

Raymond Homback, Jr

Jeff Durham

The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for flexible image sharing. In a system for flexibly distributing imagery in an image sharing session, an image cache can be disposed between an application sharing host and a plurality of application sharing viewers. Additionally, a multipoint communications server can be disposed between the image cache and the application sharing viewers and can be communicatively linked to the application sharing host. Importantly, a pull-based subscription model can be implemented in an image cache server hosting the image cache. In particular, the model can have a configuration for registering respective ones of the application sharing viewers to receive notifications of available updated imagery.

Pull-configured distribution of imagery

The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for flexible image sharing. In a system for flexibly distributing imagery in an image sharing session, an image cache can be disposed between an image sharing host and a plurality of image sharing viewers. Additionally, a multipoint communications server can be disposed between the image cache and the image sharing viewers and can be communicatively linked to the image sharing host. Importantly, a pull-based subscription model can be implemented in an image cache server hosting the image cache. In particular, the model can have a configuration for registering respective ones of the image sharing viewers to receive notifications of available updated imagery. In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image sharing host can be an application sharing host hosting a shared application among the image sharing viewers.

Described is a method for adapting an application sharing system for a network of computers according to user specific requirements. The method includes dynamically configuring system components and manually implementing user specific preferences to achieve a better user experience than is possible in typical application sharing systems. Users can configure the application sharing system based on their individual needs, and may need to modify their settings based on changing operating environments or usage patterns. The application sharing system can be dynamically configured based on content, current tasks, and changes in network conditions. System administrators can configure the application sharing system according to their general needs without preempting the needs of an individual user.

Adaptive and configurable application sharing system using manual and automatic techniques

The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for componentized application sharing. The system can include a multiplicity of different pluggable image processing modules. Each of the different pluggable image processing modules can conform to a single interface expected by the application sharing module. Additionally, a communicative coupling can be provided between the application sharing module and a selected one of the different image compression modules.

Componentized application sharing

A method, system and apparatus for preserving platform independence of a program while supporting native accelerators for performance critical program objects. In a method for preserving platform independence of a program while supporting native accelerators for performance critical program objects, the method can include identifying a reference to a program object in a platform independent computer program and determining if a platform specific implementation of the program object has been separately stored in addition to a platform independent implementation of the program object. If it can be determined that a platform specific implementation of the program object has been separately stored in addition to a platform independent implementation of the program object, the platform specific implementation of the program object can be loaded in lieu of the platform independent implementation.

Preserving platform independence with native accelerators for performance critical program objects

A conference server enables collaborative communications among a variety of client processes of varying configurations all operatively coupled over a computer network to each other and to the server. The server receives audio streams from participating client processes in a conference, selects which audio streams are active, and broadcasts one or more of the active audio streams to the client processes participating in the conference depending on the clients receiving capabilities and the conference parameters. The client processes receiving multiple active audio streams perform mixing locally at the client node. Without having to perform mixing at the server, resources are saved and the number of simultaneous participating client processes to the conference may be increased accordingly. The server is further capable of simultaneously accommodating multipoint clients and non-multipoint H.323 clients, as well as operating in multiway and 'push to talk' modes.

Method and apparatus for providing full duplex and multipoint IP audio streaming

A system and method for facilitating application sharing in a networked environment is provided. Specifically, the system divides a display area on a host computer into a plurality of regions, with each region comprised of a predetermined number of current pixels. The system then evaluates current pixels within a selected region and compares them to corresponding pixels stored in memory. If the system determines that the value of the current pixel differs from the value of the stored corresponding pixel, all pixels within the region are sent to a receiving computer via a network. The receiving computer inserts the received region into a display such that it matches the display on the host computer from which the region originated.

Systems and methods for sharing application data in a networked computing environment

An apparatus and technique are disclosed for controlling the resource usage of a processor during a video conference by dynamically varying the rate at which video images are compressed so as to maintain a target threshold of processor resource usage. A control program module interfaces with the video encoder of a video conferencing system and first checks that the current processor resource utilization is below a specified target threshold prior to compressing a video image from a stream of captured video data. If the processor resource utilization is below the target threshold, the video image is compressed. Otherwise, the image is skipped to conserve processor resources. The technique allows video conferencing products to dynamically adjust the rate of video frame compression based on available processor resources so as to maximize the user's video conferencing experiencing while minimizing the negative impact on other applications executing on the system.

Method and apparatus for automatically scaling processor resource usage during video conferencing

The system allows for the controlled distribution of video and/or audio broadcasts over a LAN to selected and approved client computers. The video broadcasts are received by at least one server on the LAN. A configuration file is created with identifying information from the various video feeds. The systems administrator can create a list of which client computers can have access to certain video feeds. When a client computer requests a video feed, a menu of video feeds approved for that client is constructed and displayed on the client computer. The display can include a selectable representative image of the available broadcast. When selected, a display window appears with the live video feed.

Automated and selective distribution of video broadcasts

A method and system for &ldquo;selective&rdquo; tunneling of streaming data from a server to a client in a computer network having one or more network segments. The server has a tunneler utility, and the client has a receiver utility. The receiver utility first attempts to detect if a given data stream is available via IP multicast on the network segment supporting the client. If not, then the receiver utility issues a request for a IP unicast stream. This request is serviced by the tunneler utility. The tunneler utility re-broadcasts the IP multicast feed using IP unicast to send the data stream directly to the requesting user and/or to a repeater utility. The receiver utility then receives and processes the data stream for output to the end user. Alternatively, the receiver application, or a network administrator, launches the repeater utility, which then converts the IP unicast stream back to IP multicast format for re-broadcast over the network segment to other clients.

Selective tunneling of streaming data

An audio data compression method improves over existing standards because of its encoding strategy for silence. The method analyzes the audio input to an encoder. If the audio is for an analyzed time frame is silence, a single byte output is generated by the encoder. If the next frame is silence, no output is generated. When a receiver receives the compressed data, and detects a one-byte silence signal, it can capture that signal and repeat it to a decoder. When the compressed signal reaches the decoder, it is decompressed into an analog signal.

Method and apparatus for compressing audio signals

This method improves the user-friendliness of command-line driven programs by having a correspondence set up between possible commands which may be entered on a command line and a series of Graphic User Interface 'buttons'. These buttons are graphical symbols that appear on the screen and are selectable via a mouse. A display screen is divided into work areas, one of which is associated with the screen which a user would have seen while using the application program without the invention and a second of which displays an array of 'buttons,' each of which are associated with commands. When the user selects the specific button with a mouse pointer moving the mouse, the related 'command' is identified. A message is then created, the message comprised of the same data that would have been created by the series of keystrokes to spell out that command. The command is passed to the application program, which receives it in the same manner that it would have received input from the keyboard. Accordingly, the application program recognizes the data as a command and executes the desired function.

Method for adding a graphical user interface to a command line

A method which allows the user to convert several data layers from one GIS into another. The user creates a template map of the area of interest. The template is an 'all points' map which, when graphed, would appear as a black polygon identical in shape to the area of interest. Using the first GIS, the template is converted to a file in bit-mapped format. All zero bits in this file are identified and their position in the file noted. This information is referred to as the transform function. For each data layer to be converted, the first GIS is used to display a map of the proper extent. This display is converted to a file in bit-mapped format and the transform function used to delete non-data bits which correspond to the zero bits identified in the template file. The resulting, modified, bit-map is imported into the second GIS.

Growing community of inventors

Lakeway, TX, United States of America

Mark Scott Kressin