Method and apparatus for managing an online meeting

A method, implemented by a server executing program instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device for controlling an online meeting, the method comprising:

• interconnecting to a plurality of user devices including a first device to facilitate communication between the server and each of the user devices through a first network link and facilitate communication between or among each of the user devices through a second network link;
• facilitating a first user associated with a first device to create a group for the online meeting, and assigning all users including the first user into the group;
• provisioning each of the user devices, including obtaining internet protocol (IP) address provided thereof;
• facilitating a user interface (“UI”) on each of the user devices to share or stop sharing during the online meeting;
• processing a request from one of the user devices, wherein said processing a request from one of the user devices comprises:
• storing information, but not content, of a first video from the first device into a group workspace;
• displaying, through the first network link, the stored information of the first video in the group workspace in the UI on each of the user devices;
• and
• facilitating each of the users through the stored information to access streaming content of the first video from the first device through the second network link.

A control server comprising:

• at least one hardware processor and one computer-readable storage device including program instructions, the program instructions when executed by the hardware processor cause the control server to:
• register, for a first group meeting, at least a first user from a first device and a second user from a second device, including provisioning information of internet protocol (IP) address and resources associated with each of the first and second devices;
• facilitate a user interface (“UI”) including a plurality of sections for an online meeting, wherein the sections include a first section for accessing a streaming video, and a second section further including a subsection for inputting and posting a message and another subsection for displaying posted messages;
• cause to display the UI on the first device and receive a first request for sharing a video from the first device;
• identify accessibility of the first request and store information, but not content, of the video into a workspace according to the accessibility identified;
• and
• cause to display, via a first network link, the stored information of the video onto the UI on the second device to facilitate the second user thereof to directly access content of the video from the first device through a second network link, wherein the control server communicates with each of user devices through the first network link and facilitates communication between or among all user devices in the first group meeting through the second network link,
• wherein the control server assigns each registered user in the group meeting a private workspace and a group workspace, the private workspace includes at least a message area and a file area and the group workspace includes a user area;
• wherein the control server stores information related to each of all users in the first group meeting into the user area in the group workspace, and stores data associated with each of the user devices in the group workspace;
• wherein the first section in the UI is encoded with a link being used as an entry point for accessing a video from the first device;
• wherein the control server identifies the accessibility via parsing the first request to determine the first user, control operation of sharing or stop sharing the video with the second user, and permitting or denying access to other users;
• and
• wherein the control server stores video information-into the file area of the group workspace without storing content of the video when receiving the first request for sharing the video, and deletes the video information of the video from the file area of the group workspace when receiving a second request from the first device for stop sharing the video;
• wherein the control server further registers a second group online meeting with at least a third user from a third device and a fourth user from a fourth device and facilitates the second group online meeting while the first group online meeting is going on.