Display control to implement a control bar

A display control method to implement a control bar on a display device for a communication session, the display control method comprising:

• providing a user interface for the communication session for display on the display device, the user interface including a control bar and a session display area providing a view of the communication session;
• detecting an increase in a number of users connected to the communication session;
• and
• in response to the number of users connected to the communication session increasing beyond a predefined criterion:
• updating the displayed user interface by applying a modification to the control bar by moving the control bar from a current location to one of several pre-defined locations on the display device or reducing a size of the control bar;
• and
• expanding the session display area to occupy a space on the display device that was previously occupied by the control bar before the modification was applied to the control bar, wherein before the expanding of the session display area, the session display area includes a plurality of graphical representations that each represent different users connected to the communication session.

A display control system to implement a control bar on a display device for a communication session, the display control system comprising:

• means for providing a user interface for the communication session for display on the display device, the user interface including a control bar and a session display area providing a view of the communication session;
• means for detecting an increase in a number of users connected to the communication session;
• means for determining that the number of user connected to the communication session increased beyond a predefined criterion;
• means for updating the displayed user interface, in response to the number of users increasing beyond the predefined criterion, by applying a modification to the control bar by moving the control bar from a current location to one of several pre-defined locations on the display device or reducing a size of the control bar;
• and
• means for expanding the session display area to occupy a space on the display device that was previously occupied by the control bar before the modification was applied to the control bar, wherein before the expanding of the session display area, the session display area includes a plurality of graphical representations that each represent different users connected to the communication session.