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EP-4027284-B1 - COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHOD OF PERFORMING A WEBRTC-BASED COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION SESSION AND WEBRTC-BASED COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION PLATFORM

EP4027284B1EP 4027284 B1EP4027284 B1EP 4027284B1EP-4027284-B1

Inventors

  • TSOUTSAIOS, Antonios

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20210107

Claims (15)

  1. Computer-implemented method of performing a webRTC-based communication and collaboration session with a plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴), wherein each participant from the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴) has a status of either being present or being absent or present but muted, wherein the method comprises - a detection step of detecting that a participant from the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴) is addressed by another participant from the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴) for answering a question or for submitting a comment during the communication and collaboration session; - a presence status verification step of verifying whether a presence status of the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment is required to be presented to the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴); and - if it is verified that the presence status of the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment needs to be presented, - a feature activation step of activating a feature for presenting presence information to the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴).
  2. Computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the feature activation step is triggered when a reference to a participant from the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴) is detected.
  3. Computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein after the feature activation step is triggered, the method further comprises a step of monitoring the behavior of the participants from the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴).
  4. Computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the monitoring step comprises adding points to a feature activation trigger counter, wherein the points are assigned to specific types of behavior.
  5. Computer-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein if the feature activation trigger counter exceeds a predetermined threshold value within a predetermined time period, then a decision is made to active the feature for presenting presence information to the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴).
  6. Computer-implemented method according to any one of the preceding claims 3 to 5, wherein the monitoring step comprises at least one of verifying the tone in a phrase during the communication and collaboration session that includes the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment, verifying whether the status of the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment is present or absent or present but muted, verifying whether the participant that addresses the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment is currently sharing his or her desktop, verifying if the name of the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment is repeated with a normal tone or with a question tone, verifying if another participant from the predefined plurality of participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴) checks the list of participants.
  7. Computer-implemented method according to claim 6, wherein each of the verification steps of the monitoring step are considered as a specific behavior that is assigned to a predetermined number of points.
  8. Computer-implemented method according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the points assigned to the specific behaviors are configurable.
  9. Computer-implemented method according to claims 6 to 8, wherein the points modified based on machine learning.
  10. Computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein the machine learning comprises adjusting the rating of each input for increasing or decreasing the points, adjusting the counter value for the feature activation, adjusting the time period for triggering the feature activation, and identifying new behaviors for verifying that the presence status of the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment needs to be presented.
  11. Computer-implemented method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises as step of storing a key phrase for triggering the feature activation step.
  12. Computer-implemented method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises a step of displaying the presence status of the participant to answer a question or to submit a comment for a predetermined time period to at least one participant from the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴), in particular, to a moderator of the communication and collaboration session.
  13. Computer-implemented method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the method further comprises a step of outputting an audio signal that indicates the presence status of the participant to answer a question or to submit a comment for a predetermined time period to at least one participant from the plurality of predefined participants (7, 7', 7", 7‴).
  14. Computer-implemented method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication and collaboration session is a scheduled conference.
  15. WebRTC-based communication and collaboration platform comprising a media server that is adapted to carry out the computer-implemented method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the media server comprises a conference media controller (5), a display controller (6), a user presence and call signaling controller (8), a video to text component (9), and a feature activation component (10).

Description

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method of performing a webRTC-based communication and collaboration session and to a WebRTC-based communication and collaboration platform. Currently, in prior art, there are various solutions known for holding conferences and web collaboration sessions via different devices and interfaces. However, especially when using endpoints with smaller displays, as mobile phones or desktop phones, or when sharing a screen for identifying participants of a conference call, there exists a major common problem. Namely, especially in cases of repeated meetings, some participants do not enter those conferences or leave the conference earlier and, thus, during the session it is not always easy to identify whether those participants currently are in or not. This might not pose a problem for a small group of conference participants that are communicating via Personal Computers, PCs, but it is problematic in the following cases: there are too many participants in a call to be able to track who is in the session;mobile devices or desktop phones are used having a small display, or a user may not be able to constantly access the screen options, for example, when participating in a conference via a mobile device while driving or walking; andwhen a user is sharing his/her screen and so is not viewing the collaboration tool on the Graphical User Interface, GUI, that contains all the relevant info Consequently, the situation might occur that someone poses a question to another participant that is expected to be in the call, but gets no reply since he/she is not in. In such a case it would be necessary to either search for the participant in the active call members of the session, the latter, however, not being convenient especially in the cases mentioned above, or to repeat the question until it is assumed that the participant is not in the conference since no reply is received which neither is convenient during an ongoing discussion. US 2018/146160 A1 discloses a WebRTC-based call interface. It discloses different possibilities for selecting which user should be shown in an interface during a group call, and for presenting said user on the display. For example, the speaker that has been currently selected as dominant or otherwise most relevant is shown. The user appearing in the main window may change as different users become dominant or more relevant. A so-called dominance score is calculated which represents a degree of confidence of the system that the user associated with the video communication is the current active or dominant speaker. It is also possible to display a participant that was addressed by the current dominant speaker as this participant is considered to be more relevant. The document does not, however, address the issue of absent participants. Therefore, the present invention is based on the object to provide a computer-implemented method of performing a webRTC-based communication and collaboration session and a corresponding WebRTC-based communication and collaboration platform which enable presenting status information of a participant that is addressed during the communication and collaboration session without unnecessarily disturbing the conversation. This object is solved according to the present invention by a computer-implemented method of performing a webRTC-based communication and collaboration session having the features according to claim 1, and a corresponding WebRTC-based communication and collaboration platform having the features according to claim 15. Preferred embodiments of the invention are specified in the respective dependent claims. Thus, according to the present invention, a computer-implemented method of performing a webRTC-based communication and collaboration session with a plurality of predefined participants is provided, wherein each participant from the plurality of predefined participants has a status of either being present or being absent or present but muted, wherein the method comprises a detection step of detecting that a participant from the plurality of predefined participants is addressed by another participant from the plurality of predefined participants for answering a question or for submitting a comment during the communication and collaboration session;a presence status verification step of verifying whether a presence status of the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment is required to be presented to the plurality of predefined participants; andif it is verified that the presence status of the participant to answer the question or to submit a comment needs to be presented,a feature activation step of activating a feature for presenting presence information to the plurality of predefined participants. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the feature activation step is triggered when a reference to a participant from the plurality of predefined participants is detected. Accordin