Methods, apparatus, and systems for on-line seminars

#The present invention relates to electronic learning and, more particularly, it relates to presentations or seminars provided over a network.

#Delivering information, such as technical information, quickly and cost-effectively to a worldwide audience is a challenge faced by many organizations. Typically, an organization provides on-site seminars and field training programs to deliver information. For example, an organization may send a group of instructors around various sites to conduct training.

#Unfortunately, training with on-site seminars and field programs is costly and inefficient. On-site seminars and field programs require extensive planning. Training materials for these programs often become obsolete in a short period of time. In addition, these seminars and programs may occur at inconvenient times for both the instructors and persons attending the training session.

#The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

#In the Figures:

#FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system, in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

#Methods, apparatus, and systems are provided for on-line seminars or presentations over a network, such as the Internet. One or more presenters provide the content for the presentation. A moderator controls flow or progress of the presentation based on the content provided by the one or more presenters. Users may listen and/or watch the presentation content over the network either live with the presenters or on-demand based on an archived version of the presentation.

#For example, one or more presenters may give a presentation using a browser to provide audio and visual content. The content for the presentation is created and gathered using known input devices, such as a video camera and microphone, or known applications for creating content, such as PowerPoint by the Microsoft Corporation. In addition, during the presentation, a presenter may perform or request various operations, such as change slides, move a pointer, conduct polls, and review questions.

#A moderator receives the content from the presenters and controls various aspects of the presentation. For example, the moderator may determine when portions of the presentation's content are available for retrieval by the users. When a plurality of presenters is participating in the presentation, the moderator may select which of the presenters that will provide the content for the presentation at a particular time. The moderator may also select various formats and protocols for providing the presentation content. The moderator then encodes the audio and/or visual content for the presentation, determines control information, such as events indicating the various operations requested by the presenters, and provides the encoded content and control information to one or more servers.