US 9,866,503 B2 · Group communications multiplexing system

Abstract

A computerized human communication arbitrating and distributing system, including a controller digital computer and a plurality of participator digital computers, each of the participator computers including an input device for receiving human-input information from a human user and an output device for presenting information to the user. A connection, such as Internet, links the controller computer with each of the participator computers. Controller software runs on the controller computer to arbitrate in accordance with predefined rules, which ones of the participator computers can interact in one of a plurality of groups through the controller computer and to distribute real time data to the respective ones of the groups. Participator software runs on each of the participator computers to handle a user interface permitting one said user to send a multimedia information message to the controller computer, which arbitrates which of the participator computers receive the multimedia information message and conveys the multimedia information message to the selected participator computers to present the information to the respective user.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An apparatus comprising:

a computer system, the computer system including a controller computer and a database which serves as a repository of tokens for other programs to access, thereby affording information to each of a plurality of participator computers via the Internet network,
the controller computer communicating with the participator computers, according to permissions retrieved from the repository of tokens of the database, the controller computer running controller software, in accordance with predefined rules, directing arbitration of which ones of the participator computers connect within a group of the participator computers interactively connected after recognizing a user identity, providing on the controller computer an API, the API multiplexing and demultiplexing API messages by type, creating a virtual connection and providing the virtual connection between channels, private messages, and multimedia objects in the controller computer and the participator computers, and providing communication of at least some real-time communications within the group of the interactively connected said participator computers.

A method of communicating content among users using of a computer system including a controller computer and a database which serves as a repository of tokens for other programs to access, thereby affording information to each of a plurality of participator computers which are otherwise independent of each other, the method comprising:

affording some of the information to a first of the participator computers via the Internet network;
affording some of the information to a second of the participator computers via the Internet network;
running controller software on the controller computer, in accordance with predefined rules, to direct arbitration of which ones of the participator computers connect within a group of the participator computers interactively connected after recognizing a user identity, providing an API on the controller computer, the API multiplexing and demultiplexing API messages by type, creating a virtual connection and providing the virtual connection between channels, private messages, and multimedia objects in the controller computer and the participator computers;
and
communicating at least some real-time messages within the group of the interactively connected said participator computers.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Group communications multiplexing system

Life of this patent

Group communications multiplexing system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19