WikiPatents - Community Patent Review
Create Free Account  |  License or Sell Your Patent  |  WikiPatents Marketplace  |  WikiPatents Blog
Username:  Password:  
    
Advanced Search
Managing bandwidth over a computer network having a management computer that allocates bandwidth to client computers upon request    
United States Patent5673393   
Link to this pagehttp://www.wikipatents.com/5673393.html
Inventor(s)Marshall; Robert Alexander (Portland, OR); Lantz; Philip R. (Cornelius, OR); Johnson; David B. (Portland, OR)
AbstractManagement computers of a packet-switched computer network allocate transmission bandwidth for transmissions such as those for conferences between client computers of the network. Callers and callees request bandwidth from their associated managers for transmissions. Managers monitor and allocate bandwidth taking into account whether the transmissions are between local clients or local and external clients. Managers maintain records of active transmissions, but need not maintain lists of client computers with which the managers are associated.
   














 Title Information Submit all comments and votes
 
Patent Text Patent PDF Print Page Summary File History
Plain text PDF images Print Summary File History
Drawing from US Patent 5673393
Managing bandwidth over a computer network having a management computer

     that allocates bandwidth to client computers upon request - US Patent 5673393 Drawing
Managing bandwidth over a computer network having a management computer that allocates bandwidth to client computers upon request
Inventor     Marshall; Robert Alexander (Portland, OR); Lantz; Philip R. (Cornelius, OR); Johnson; David B. (Portland, OR)
Owner/Assignee     Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, CA)
Patent assignment
All assignments
Publication Date     September 30, 1997
Application Number     08/597,320
PAIR File History     Application Data   Transaction History
Image File Wrapper   Patent Term   Fees
Litigation
Filing Date     February 6, 1996
US Classification     709/226 370/260 370/431 370/468
Int'l Classification     H04Q 011/04
Examiner     Lim; Krisna
Assistant Examiner    
Attorney/Law Firm     Murray; William H. Mendelsohn; Steve ,
Address
Parent Case     This is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/342,076 filed Nov. 16, 1994 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/340,172 filed Nov. 15, 1994 (now abandoned), which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/157,694 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,954 filed Nov. 24, 1993 and issued on Apr. 09, 1996. INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/342,076 filed on Nov. 16, 1994, entitled "Synchronizing Computer System" of Benjamin Vrvilo, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,954, filed Nov. 24, 1993 and issued on Apr. 09, 1996, both of which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference. This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,110, filed Nov. 16, 1994 and issued Jun. 04, 1996, entitled "Conferencing Over Multiple Transports" of Gunner Danneels, et al.
Priority Data    
USPTO Field of Search     395/200 395/200.04 348/7 348/572 348/578 370/73 370/85.4 370/85.5 370/95.1 370/62
Patent Tags     managing bandwidth over computer network management computer allocates bandwidth client computers upon request
   
Enter a comma (,) or semicolon (;) between multiple tag words/phrases.
Describe this patent:
 Amusing   
 Clever   
 Complex   
 Efficient   
 Historic   
 Important   
 Innovative   
 Interesting   
 Practical   
 Simple   
[no votes]
Patent WIKI

Share information and news about this patent, including information and news about the technology, inventors, company, ligation and licensing.

 References Submit all comments and votes
 
*references marked with an asterisk below are user-added references
 U.S. References
 
Add a new US reference:  
ReferenceRelevancyCommentsReferenceRelevancyComments
5422883
Hauris
370/261
Jun,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5392223
Caci
709/218
Feb,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5390182
Zheng
370/236
Feb,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5388097
Baugher
370/455
Feb,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5384598
Rodriguez
348/384.1
Jan,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5384772
Marshall
370/235
Jan,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5374952
Flohr

Dec,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5375068
Palmer

Dec,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5367629
Chu
382/253
Nov,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5335321
Harney

Aug,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5333133
Andrews
370/261
Jul,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5319793
Hancock
345/602
Jun,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5315633
Champa
348/14.11
May,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5295139
Palmer

Mar,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5289461
de Nijs

Feb,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5287103
Kasprzyk
340/825.52
Feb,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5285203
Nakano
370/221
Feb,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5263025
Torii
370/468
Nov,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5249290
Heizer
718/105
Sep,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5247513
Henrion
370/396
Sep,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5231492
Dangi
348/14.12
Jul,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5214646
Yacoby
370/402
May,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5157491
Kassatly
348/14.08
Oct,1992

[0 after 0 votes]
5073926
Suzuki

Dec,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5072442
Todd

Dec,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5056136
Smith
380/211
Oct,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5029164
Goldstein
370/235
Jul,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5014267
Tompkins
370/259
May,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
4998243
Kao
370/264
Mar,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
4953162
Lyons
370/245
Aug,1990

[0 after 0 votes]
4897841
Gang, Jr.
370/401
Jan,1990

[0 after 0 votes]
4888795
Ando
348/14.14
Dec,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4821263
Lundh
370/423
Apr,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4475193
Brown
370/295
Oct,1984

[0 after 0 votes]
4445116
Grow
370/455
Apr,1984

[0 after 0 votes]
4074232
Otomo
714/750
Feb,1978

[0 after 0 votes]
 Foreign References
 Other References
 Market Review Submit all comments and votes
   
Market Size
Estimate the gross annual revenues of the relevant market sector:
> $10B
$5B - $10B
$2B - $5B
$500M - $2B
$100M - $500M
$10M - $100M
$1M - $10M
$500K - $1M
$100K - $500K
< $100K
[No votes]
$0
 
$0   $2.5B   $5B   $7.5B   $10B
Market Share
Estimate the percentage of the relevant market sector this invention will capture:
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%
Reasonable Royalty
What percentage of gross sales should the inventor or assignee be paid?
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%
Public's "Guesstimation" of Royalty Value
Market SizeN/A[No votes]
xMarket ShareN/A[No votes]
xReasonable RoyaltyN/A[No votes]

N/A

License Availablity
If you are NOT the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
License Availablity
If you ARE the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
Competitive Advantage
Does this invention have a significant competitive advantage over similar technologies?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful competitive advantage comment
[No comments]

Commercial Alternatives
Are there viable commercial alternatives for this invention?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful commercial alternative comment
[No comments]

 Technical Review Submit all comments and votes
 Claims Submit all comments and votes
 


What is claimed is:

1. A computer system, comprising:

(a) a management computer; and

(b) two or more client computers, wherein:

the management computer and the client computers are electrically interconnected over a packet-switched computer network;

a first client computer requests an allocation of a specific amount of transmission bandwidth from the management computer for transmissions over the network with a second client computer;

the management computer determines whether to grant permission to the first client computer and if so the management computer allocates transmission bandwidth for the first client computer, wherein the allocated transmission bandwidth is less than the requested transmission bandwidth;

the management computer informs the first client computer of the allocated transmission bandwidth; and

the first client computer initiates transmissions over the network with the second client computer based on the allocated transmission bandwidth.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the management computer is a local management computer of a local computer network;

the client computers are local client computers of the local computer network; and

the system further comprises an external computer network comprising an external management computer and one or more external client computers, wherein:

the local computer network and the external computer network are electrically interconnected;

the local management computer allocates transmission bandwidth for the local computer network; and

the external management computer allocates transmission bandwidth for the external computer network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmissions are for audio/video conferences between the client computers.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the client computers comprise a caller and a callee, wherein:

(a) the caller requests bandwidth from the management computer for a conference with the callee;

(b) the management computer determines an allocation of bandwidth for the conference; and

(c) the caller initiates a conference with the callee in accordance with the allocation of bandwidth, wherein:

(b)(1) the management computer queries the callee regarding the callee's conferencing status;

(b)(2) the management computer determines the allocation of bandwidth for the conference based on the callee's conferencing status; and

(b)(3) the management computer informs the caller of the allocation of bandwidth.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein:

(c)(1) the caller initiates a conference call to the callee in accordance with the allocation of bandwidth;

(c)(2) the callee requests permission from the management computer for the conference;

(c)(3) the management computer determines whether to grant the permission to the callee for the conference; and

(c)(4) the callee proceeds with the conference call with the caller in accordance with the permission from the management computer.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein:

the computer system further comprises an external management computer;

the caller is associated with the management computer; and

the callee is associated with the external management computer, wherein:

(c)(1) the caller initiates a conference call to the callee in accordance with the allocation of bandwidth;

(c)(2) the callee requests permission from the external management computer for the conference;

(c)(3) the external management computer determines whether to grant the permission to the callee for the conference; and

(c)(4) the callee proceeds with the conference call with the caller in accordance with the permission from the external management computer.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein:

(b)(2) the management computer determines the allocation of bandwidth for the conference based on the identity of the management computer associated with the callee.

8. A computer-implemented process for transmissions between a caller and a callee of a packet-switched computer network, comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting a request from the caller to a caller's manager of the computer network for a specific amount of bandwidth for transmissions between the caller and the callee;

(b) granting an allocation of bandwidth for the transmissions by the caller's manager, wherein the allocation of bandwidth is less than the requested amount of bandwidth; and

(c) initiating the transmissions with the callee by the caller in accordance with the allocation of bandwidth.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein:

said step (b) comprises the steps of:

(1) querying the callee by the caller's manager regarding the callee's conferencing status;

(2) determining the allocation of bandwidth for a conference by the caller's manager based on the callee's conferencing status; and

(3) informing the caller by the caller's manager of the allocation of bandwidth; and

said step (c) comprises the steps of:

(1) initiating a conference call to the callee by the caller in accordance with the allocation of bandwidth;

(2) requesting permission for the conference from a callee's manager of the computer system by the callee;

(3) determining whether to grant the permission to the callee for the conference by the callee's manager; and

(4) proceeding with the conference call with the caller by the callee in accordance with the permission from the callee's manager.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the caller's manager is different from the callee's manager.

11. The process of claim 9, wherein:

said step (b)(1) comprises the step of initiating a ManagementQuery protocol by the caller's manager; and

said step (c)(2) comprises the step of initiating a CalleeRequest protocol by the callee.

12. The process of claim 9, wherein said step (b)(2) comprises the step of determining the allocation of bandwidth for the conference based on the identity of the callee's manager.

13. The process of claim 8, wherein said step (a) comprises the step of initiating a CallerRequest protocol by the caller.

14. A computer system, comprising:

(a) a local packet-switched computer network, comprising:

(1) a local management computer; and

(2) one or more local client computers, electrically connected to the local management computer; and

(b) an external packet-switched computer network, electrically connected to the local computer network, comprising:

(1) an external management computer; and

(2) one or more external client computers, electrically connected to the external management computer, wherein:

the local management computer allocates transmission bandwidth for the local computer network;

the external management computer allocates transmission bandwidth for the external computer network;

a local client computer requests an allocation of transmission bandwidth from the local management computer for transmissions with an external client computer;

the local management computer queries the remote client computer to determine how to allocate transmission bandwidth to the local client computer;

the local management computer allocates transmission bandwidth based on the query of the external client computer;

the local management computer informs the local client computer of the allocated transmission bandwidth; and

the local client computer initiates transmissions with the external client computer based on the allocated transmission bandwidth.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the external client computer requests an allocation of transmission bandwidth from the external management computer for transmissions with the local client computer; and

the external management computer allocates transmission bandwidth to the external client computer.

16. A computer-implemented process for transmissions over a packet-switched computer network, comprising the steps of:

(a) requesting an allocation of transmission bandwidth by a local client computer from the local management computer for transmissions with an external client computer;

(b) querying the remote client computer by the local management computer to determine how to allocate transmission bandwidth to the local client computer;

(c) allocating transmission bandwidth by the local management computer based on the query of the external client computer;

(d) informing the local client computer of the allocated transmission bandwidth by the local management computer; and

(e) initiating transmissions by the local client computer with the external client computer based on the allocated transmission bandwidth.

17. The process of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

(f) requesting by the external client computer an allocation of transmission bandwidth from the external management computer for transmissions with the local client computer; and

(g) allocating transmission bandwidth by the external management computer to the external client computer.

18. A computer system, comprising:

(a) a management computer;

(b) two or more client computers, wherein:

the management computer and the client computers are electrically interconnected over a packet-switched computer network;

a first client computer requests an allocation of transmission bandwidth from the management computer for transmissions over the network with a second client computer;

the management computer queries the second client computer to determine how to allocate transmission bandwidth to the first client computer;

the management computer allocates transmission bandwidth for the first client computer based on the query of the second client computer;

the management computer informs the first client computer of the allocated transmission bandwidth; and

the first client computer initiates transmissions over the network with the second client computer based on the allocated transmission bandwidth.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the second client computer requests an allocation of transmission bandwidth from the management computer for transmissions with the first client computer;

the management computer allocates no more transmission bandwidth to the second client computer; and

the second client computer continues transmissions over the network with the first client computer.

20. A computer-implemented process for transmissions over a packet-switched computer network, comprising the steps of:

(a) requesting an allocation of transmission bandwidth by a first client computer from the management computer for transmissions with a second client computer;

(b) querying the second client computer by the management computer to determine how to allocate transmission bandwidth to the first client computer;

(c) allocating transmission bandwidth by the management computer based on the query of the second client computer;

(d) informing the first client computer of the allocated transmission bandwidth by the management computer; and

(e) initiating transmission by the first client computer with the second client computer based on the allocated transmission bandwidth.

21. The process of claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

(f) requesting by the second client computer an allocation of transmission bandwidth from the management computer for transmissions with the first client computer;

(g) allocating transmission bandwidth by the management computer to the second client computer; and

(h) continuing transmissions by the second client computer over the network with the first client computer.
 Description Submit all comments and votes
 


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to computer-based conferencing, and, in particular, to audio/video conferencing between personal computers over a computer network.

2.