# US 12,015,494 B2 · Sidebars for virtual meetings > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,015,494 B2 - Document ID: US12015494B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/589,499 - Filed: 2022-01-31 - Published: 2023-08-03 - Granted: 2024-06-18 - Earliest claimed: 2022-01-31 - Assignees: Zoom Video Communications, Inc. - Applicants: Zoom Video Communications, Inc. - Inventors: Alex Waibel - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12015494B2 ## CPC - H04L 12/1818: {Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties} - G06F 3/0482: Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus - H04L 12/1822: {Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Systems and methods for providing sidebars during virtual meetings are provided herein. In an aspect, a system including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, a communications interface, and a processor is provided. The processor may be configured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: establish a video conference having a plurality of participants, receive, from a first client device, a first audio stream and a first video stream, and receive, from the first client device, a request for a sidebar meeting with a second client device. The processor may be configured to establish the sidebar meeting, and responsive to establishing the sidebar meeting: terminate transmission of the first audio stream, and transmit to the first client device: a first set of audio and video streams corresponding to a main meeting, and a second set of audio and video streams corresponding to the sidebar meeting. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable medium; a communications interface; and a processor communicatively coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium and the communications interface, the processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: establish a video conference having a plurality of participants, wherein the video conference comprises a plurality of client devices; receive, from a first client device of a participant, a request for a sidebar meeting with a second client device; establish the sidebar meeting for the first client device; responsive to establishing the sidebar meeting: transmit to the first client device: a first set of audio and video streams corresponding to a main meeting, the first set of audio and video streams including a first audio stream and a first video stream; and a second set of audio and video streams corresponding to the sidebar meeting; transmit, to the plurality of client devices, a loop snippet associated with the participant as a representation corresponding to the first client device, the loop snippet being a video loop; and transition from the loop snippet to a video stream of the participant. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: responsive to establishing the sidebar meeting, transmit, to the plurality of client devices, the representation of the participant corresponding to the first client device. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: generate the loop snippet, the loop snippet being a loop of a recording of a segment of a video stream from the first client device. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: receive, from the second client device, an acceptance of the request for the sidebar meeting; and establish the sidebar meeting responsive to the acceptance of the request for the sidebar meeting. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The system of claim 4, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: receive, from the second client device, a second audio stream and a second video stream; join the second client device to the sidebar meeting; terminate transmission, to the plurality of client devices, of the second audio stream from the second client device; and transmit to the second client device: the first set of audio and video streams corresponding to the main meeting; and the second set of audio and video streams corresponding to the sidebar meeting. ### Claim 6 A method comprising: establishing a video conference having a plurality of participants, wherein the video conference comprises a plurality of client devices; receiving, from a first client device, a request for a sidebar meeting with a second client device; establishing the sidebar meeting for the first client device; responsive to establishing the sidebar meeting: transmitting to the first client device: a first set of audio and video streams corresponding to a main meeting, the first set of audio and video streams including a first audio stream and a first video stream; and a second set of audio and video streams corresponding to the sidebar meeting; transmitting, to the plurality of client devices, a loop snippet associated with the participant as a representation corresponding to the first client device, the loop snippet being a video loop; and transitioning from the loop snippet to a video stream of the participant. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein responsive to establishing the sidebar meeting the method further comprises: transmitting, to the plurality of client devices, the representation of the participant corresponding to the first client device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further comprising: receiving, from the first client device, a request to exit the sidebar meeting; and responsive to the request to exit the sidebar meeting, terminating transmission, to the first client device, of the second set of audio and video streams corresponding to the sidebar meeting. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, further comprising: displaying, on the first client device, an indication that the first client device is in the sidebar meeting. ### Claim 10 A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to: establish a video conference having a plurality of participants, wherein the video conference comprises a plurality of client devices; receive, from a first client device of a participant, a request for a sidebar meeting with a second client device; establish the sidebar meeting for the first client device; responsive to establishing the sidebar meeting: transmit to the first client device: a first set of audio and video streams corresponding to a main meeting, the first set of audio and video streams including a first audio stream and a first video stream; and a second set of audio and video streams corresponding to the sidebar meeting; transmit, to the plurality of client devices, a loop snippet associated with the participant as a representation corresponding to the first client device, the loop snippet being a video loop; and transition from the loop snippet to a video stream of the participant. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to: Responsive to establishing the sidebar meeting, transmit, to the plurality of client devices, the representation of the participant corresponding to the first client device. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the loop snippet is a recorded video segment played in a loop. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to: indicate, on a roster of the main meeting, that the first client device is in the sidebar meeting. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to: automatically decrease a volume of the first audio stream in response to the participant joining the sidebar meeting; and automatically increase the volume of the first audio stream in response to the participant exiting the sidebar meeting. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: detect an attention cue by analyzing the first audio stream using a trained machine-learning model. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: detect an attention cue by analyzing the first audio stream for a topic, a geographical location, or a project associated with the participant. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: detect an attention cue by analyzing the first audio stream for contextual information associated with one or more keywords. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to: detect an attention cue based on an emotion exhibited in the first audio stream.