The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 23, 2016
Filed:
Apr. 22, 2013
Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc, Redmond, WA (US);
Gina D. Venolia, Bellevue, WA (US);
George R. Robertson, Northeast Harbor, ME (US);
John C. Tang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
David M. Sirkin, Fisher Island, FL (US);
Bongshin Lee, Issaquah, WA (US);
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A communication system is described herein which provides an indicator that helps hub participants of a meeting (or other environmental setting) determine a direction of attention of a satellite participant (who is not physically present at the meeting). The indicator can be implemented as a mechanical pointer, a solid-state display mechanism, a rotating display mechanism, a display mechanism which presents visual information that reflects directionality, and so on. The communication system can assess the directionality of the satellite participant based on any combination of control inputs from explicit input mechanism(s) and/or implicit input mechanism(s). The communication system can also choose between explicit and/or implicit control of the indicator based on at least one selection criterion.