text:
The FBI today released images of two men who are suspects in the bombings at the finish line area of the Boston Marathon.
The agency, leading the investigation of the bombings that killed three people and injured more than 170, made public both photographs and video of the men, who were seen in the vicinity of the attack.
The images are the first to be released by investigators, who again asked for the public's help in their search for suspects. Officials have asked for photographs and surveillance video taken along the Boylston Street finish line area of Monday's race.
Investigators have also gathered physical evidence, including scraps of black nylon and metal shards that were packed into a pressure cooker, believed to have been transported in a backpack.
The FBI has also found what they believe to be the detonation system for the bombs -- a circuit board and parts from a toy remote-control vehicle, a counterterrorism official told the Los Angeles Times.
The new images were released on the same day President Barack Obama traveled to Boston to console the city in the wake of the terrorist attack.
The FBI is likely running views of the suspects through its facial recognition system, which includes some 13 million images of arrest mug shots, according to federal documents.
It may also be running the pictures through other state, local and foreign databases, some of which contain more than 200 million images, said Jim Albers, senior vice president at MorphoTrust USA. MorphoTrustsupplies facial recognition software to the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and various intelligence agencies.
"I believe facial recognition will play a major role in finding these people," he said.
Facial recognition works best with a frontal image, but images taken from other angles can be manipulated with software so that they can be run through databases. The software takes a series of measurements of facial structure, such as distance between the eyes, to compile a unique profile which can then be compared, like a fingerprint, to a database.
* * *
The FBI is asking anyone who has visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston Marathon route and elsewhere to submit them on https://bostonmarathontips.fbi.gov/.
No piece of information or detail is too small.
You can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, with information.
By By Ken Dilanian, Shashank Bengali and Michael Muskal - Tribune Washington Bureau (MCT) (Dilanian of the Tribune Washington Bureau reported from Washington, Bengali of the Tribune Washington Bureau from Boston and the Los Angeles Times' Muskal from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Bostoncontributed to this report. The Norwalk Reflector also contributed to this story.)
(c)2013 Tribune Co.
Visit Tribune Co. at www.latimes.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services


text:
will discover, much to your chagrin, that a 1970's retro disco has been named
after you - it's opening downtown this month. Offer to guest open it in flared
trousers and big hair for not less than $1000 appearance money or free drinks
for life.
a typical Virgonionian you will fail in your New Year's resolution by 17th of
the month, which is actually a record for you. Resolutions involving sex or pets
are particularly badly starred, however resolutions involving sex and fruit and
in particular sex and pears are well starred.
argumentative/spitty animal with a mane has committed itself to a plan of attack
around the 29th which is set to inconvenience you and your local community already
on a heightened terror alert.
New Years resolutions involving hippopotami and plankton.
feature is brought to you by theVoiceofReason.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Vacuum Attachments
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2 For Kenmore Vacuum Cleaner Pet Grooming Groomer Attachments; Perfect for Dogs & Cats$20.47Unwanted Pet Hair Goes Into Your Vacuum Cleaner Before it Has a Chance to Settle Around your Home! With this pet grooming vacuum brush kit, you get 2 pet grooming vacuum attachments for the price of just 1! You receive a stiff-bristled vacuum pet attachment for getting tough tangles out, and you also get a softer vacuum pet brush we know your pet will love! Do you want to keep your dog and cat hairs off of your furniture, couch, carpets, bed sheet, and clothes, then this is YOUR vacuum pet grooming tool.These pet grooming brushes fit on most standard vacuum cleaner hoses. More specifically, the main pet grooming vacuum brush attachment fits 1 1/4 inch wands and hoses.This is a standard attachment connection that will hook up to just about any central vacuum system as well as most standard 1 1/4" hoses or wand connectors with an outside measurement of 1 1/4". Some of the compatible brands of vacuums cleaner this will fit are KIRBY, EUREKA, ELECTROLUX, HOOVER, Uprights, including the Progressive, Intuition, and Whispertone models, as well as Canister vacuum Cleaners all models. Learn More
Filter Queen Princess Vacuum Hose Attachment End FQ-4885-2$49.77Works with: Filter Queen 31X, Filter Queen D31X, Filter Queen D33, Filter Queen AN95-X, Filter Queen RN92, Filter Queen PNG92, Filter Queen FQ-4885-2 Learn More
Filter QueenPrincess Vacuum Cleaner 11'' Rug/Floor Tool Attachment$94.33Works with: Filter Queen 31X, Filter Queen D31X, Filter Queen D33, Filter Queen RN92, Filter Queen ONG92, Filter Queen AN95-X, Filter Queen 99, Filter Queen 99A Learn More
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text:
Perani Arena to Get New Owner, and Possibly a New Hockey Team
Just when we were getting used to calling it "Perani."
Just when we were getting used to calling it "Perani."
For the second year in a row Michigan Food, Beer, and Wine Fest was an amaxing event. With brewers, wineries and vendors from all over Michigan, Perani Arena was a one stop shop for all Adults.
On Saturday night, Perani Arena in Flint was the site of the inaugural Food, Beer & Wine Fest.
The event, co-sponsored by Townsquare Media and Country Smokehouse, featured over 60 vendors with 145 beers and 65 wines on hand to sample, and also included fares from local, area restaurants.
A very well known Mid-Michigan venue will soon be in the spotlight. It will be featured in a new reality television show.
Sooner or later, the weather is going to get nice and it will be time to get the classic cars and bikes out of storage to show them off!
The World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions will be performing at Flint's Perani Arena Saturday night at 7.
Here's your chance to get into the holiday spirit: Holiday Dreams on Ice at the Perani Arena and Event Center with Cars 108.


text:
While the industry is up in arms over the development, Lords views it as a necessary evil.
Like the soap operas of yore, Marvel has replaced major and minor characters in their films as necessary.
The body armor would indicate an intention to do battle with the police if necessary and escape the scene if possible.
late 14c. "needed, required, essential, indispensable," from Old French necessaire "necessary, urgent, compelling" (13c.), and directly from Latin necessarius "unavoidable, indispensable, necessary," from necesse "unavoidable, indispensable," originally "no backing away," from ne- "not" + cedere "to withdraw, go away, yield" (see cede). The root sense is of that from which there is no evasion, that which is inevitable. Necessary house "privy" is from c.1600. Necessary evil is from 1540s (the original reference was to "woman").
mid-14c., "needed, required, or useful things; the necessities of life; actions determined by right or law," perhaps from Old French necessaire (n.) "private parts, genitalia; lavatory," and directly from Latin necessarius (n.), in classical Latin "a relation, relative, kinsman; friend, client, patron;" see necessary (adj.).


text:
The Obama presidency is nearly out of gas. So are the Democratic majorities in the Senate and House. Yet the White House and congressional Democrats aren't surrendering. They're still intoxicated with their "historic majorities" and bent on enacting more landmark liberal legislation this year, including cap and trade, a value-added tax (VAT), and who knows what else.
Are they fantasizing? Not entirely. The odds—and the political climate—are against them. But their ideological ambitions are undiminished and they have a sense of urgency. They know their majorities will be crippled (if not eliminated) in the midterm elections on November 2, which means they must enact the remaining parts of the agenda in 2010 or put them back in the cupboard of liberal dreams, maybe for decades. So it's now or never.
There are two time slots for passing these bills, both difficult. The first is between now and whenever Congress recesses in the fall. Prospects look bleak in this time frame for approving anything except the final version of the financial reform bill. The second is when a lame duck Congress, filled with defeated and retired senators and House members, convenes in December.
Lame duck sessions don't ordinarily enact major policy changes, but this one could be an exception. It is likely to meet after the president's commission on reducing the deficit announces its recommendations, which may include a VAT. Democrats insist they're not scheming to pass what is in effect a national sales tax. But a Republican official in the Senate told me a White House aide, in a recent chat, had raised the possibility of enacting one in the December session. A VAT has obviously crossed the president's mind.
One can imagine the pressure that might be exerted to pass a VAT in a fiscal "emergency" in December: the deficit and the national debt exploding, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner reporting purchasers of government debt are suddenly backing off because of America's fiscal mess, the president and his commission vowing to match the tax hike with spending cuts. The result: a VAT becomes law, most of the cuts don't. President Reagan experienced a similar squeeze in the 1980s when he agreed to a tax increase in exchange for two times that amount of spending cuts. Taxes went up, the spending cuts went away.
What encourages Obama and Democrats is Obamacare. After the victory of Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race in January, the health care bill was regarded as dead. His election was interpreted as a mandate to discard it. But the corpse of Obamacare rose from the grave.
It didn't matter that the legislation was unpopular and that the president had been breathtakingly unsuccessful in selling it to the American public. With their big majorities in the Senate and House, Democrats could pass Obamacare. And they did.
"Cap and trade" climate-change legislation is even more unpopular than Obamacare. But that's hardly an impediment to pushing for its passage—especially if you're thrilled with the idea of being a martyr for liberalism. Besides, it passed the House a year ago. So there's only the Senate to go and probably no more than ten Democrats who must be cajoled into voting for it (the others are already on board).
Obama, however, didn't help with his dreary Oval Office speech last week, a third of which was devoted to promoting cap and trade. He invoked a string of clichés about "the consequences of our inaction" and the "new future that will benefit all of us . . . only if we seize the moment." And he told us he "will not settle for . . . the idea that this challenge is somehow too big and too difficult to meet." That's an empty pledge if there ever was one. And who said the challenge was too big anyway?
Once again, Obama declined to deal with the discredited science on global warming which was the impetus for the bill. Cap and trade would set an arbitrary ceiling on carbon emissions in America, imposing higher energy costs on consumers and businesses while having little or no effect on reducing temperatures. The president dismissed cost concerns in a couple of sentences.
The speech bombed on Capitol Hill, where the Democrats' majorities are fraying. Senate Democrats did defeat a bid to bar the Environmental Protection Agency, run by global warmists, from imposing a carbon cap on its own. "The White House spun it as a victory," a Republican aide said. "The problem is they didn't get to 60." To pass cap and trade, Democrats would need 60 votes to overcome an expected Republican filibuster.
Read more...
"We are all balloons dancing in a world of pins," noted Sir Anthony Montague Browne, one of Winston Churchill's private secretaries. That seems to describe our economic condition.
Yesterday the Senate voted 85-13 for John McCain's anti-VAT resolution. The lack of any substantial support for a VAT in the Senate would suggest that, even if the president's fiscal commission recommends such a tax when it reports in December, Ross Douthat is right and the chances a VAT will be imposed prior to the fiscal crisis are small. Whew.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin visited Morning Joe:
Paul Volcker and Ronald Reagan tamed inflation and laid the groundwork for 25 years of global economic expansion. The growth was interrupted by just two of the shortest and shallowest recessions on record. The long boom ended in December 2007, when the financial crisis metastasized and the economy went into the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Reagan is gone, but the octogenarian Volcker advises President Obama on economic policy. Volcker's ideas on busting the banks and banning proprietary trading, when banks trade for themselves and not their customers, seem sensible. Now he's talking up the Value Added Tax (VAT) as a way to bring America's finances into balance. No thanks.
White House advisor Paul Volcker made news this week by calling a value-added tax (VAT) "not as toxic an idea" as it's been in the past for tackling the nation's deficit problem. Today, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf confirmed he's been getting "a lot of questions" about the VAT tax from Congress.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future has sparked intense debate ever since President Obama singled Ryan out during the January 29 House GOP retreat in Baltimore, Maryland. Predictably, support for Ryan's good-faith proposal to solve America's long-term fiscal crisis by transforming the welfare state for Americans under 55 years old has been divided along ideological lines. Michael Gerson, George F. Will, David Brooks, Ross Douthat, and The Economist all have kind things to say about the proposal. Liberal commentators and Democratic politicians, from administrational officials to the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, do not.
Liberals have seized on the Roadmap in order to say that Republicans want to leave seniors in the cold. Today, the Wisconsin Democratic party organized a conference call, featuring Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra of California and left-wing economist Dean Baker, devoted entirely to attacking Ryan and his plan. (Ryan participated in a conference call of his own to respond.) Meanwhile, the liberal Talking Points Memo website reports that House Democrats are planning to hold a vote on a resolution condemning the Roadmap and other attempts to introduce personal accounts into Social Security. This week's blizzard interfered with the Democrats' plans, however. Now the vote is up in the air.
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The same-sex marriage bait-and-switch
Inside an elite Israeli military law unit
So much for ecstatic modes of living.
Looking back at the Iraq war
GOP candidates court the evangelical vote.
...and gets away with it
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text:
The operation and status of a video/audio conferencing system is monitored through the use of a web-based system. The system includes multiple client computer devices that interconnect with a web server. A server script is set up to operate in a looped configuration. The system is queried on each run of the loop to determine if a status change has occurred. If no change has occurred, a server script delays and then restarts the loop. If a change in status has occurred, the client script is updated to reflect the status change and the client script is downloaded to the client computer device's web browser. The client script runs within an invisible pane and updates a visible pane to reflect the status change. Thus, the visible pane on the client computer system can be updated without requiring a user to perform any functions, such as actuating a refresh button.
1. A system for providing a semi real-time, automatically-updateable web page, the system comprising:
a web server;
a client computer device having a display and a web browser;
a server script running on the web server, the server script being operative to request, and receive in response to the request, data information from a data information source and generate a client script based, at least in part, on the data information, and download the client script to the client computer device; and
the web browser running on the client computer device being operative to enable the client computer device to interface with the web server through a network, the web browser receiving the client script from the web server and running the client script, whereby the display of the client computer device is updated to display the data information,
wherein the server script runs in a loop, and wherein for each run of the loop, the server script sends requests for data information to the data information source.
2. The system of
3. The system of
4. The system of
5. The system of
6. The system of
7. The system of
8. The system of
9. The system of
10. The system of
11. The system of
12. The system of
13. The system of
14. The system of
15. A client computer device supporting an updateable web page, the client computer device comprising:
a web server interface;
a display;
a control interface;
a memory storage device containing a web browser; and a processing unit;
the processing unit, in conjunction with the web browser, being operative to:
receive a monitoring web page Universal Resource Locator via the control interface;
receive the monitoring web page corresponding with the monitoring web page URL via the web server interface, the monitoring web page including an invisible pane and a visible pane, the invisible pane being operative to periodically receive a client script via the web server interface and to execute the client script whereby the information in the visible pane of the monitoring web page is automatically updated, the visible pane being displayed on the display device by the web browser.
16. A method for providing an updateable web page that provides updates of rapidly changing data to a client computer device, the method comprising:
retrieving a monitoring web page from a web server, the monitoring web page defining a visible pane and an invisible pane, the web server including an Active Server Page (ASP) page, the ASP page including a server script and a client, the server script being operative to obtain status information, modify the client script in accordance with the status information, and load the client script into the invisible pane of the monitoring web page; and
executing the client script, the client script being operative to modify the visible pane of the monitoring web page to display the data information.
17. The method of
18. A web server for providing automatic updates to a web page displayed on a remote device, the web server comprising:
a network interface;
a memory storage device containing a program module and a Component Object Model (COM) application; and
a processing unit;
the processing unit, in response to executing the program module, being operative to:
receive a request via the network interface to download a monitoring web page to the remote device;
execute a looped server script, the looped server script being operative to interface with the COM application to obtain updated status information;
generate a client script based, at least in part, on the updated status information; and
download the client script to the remote device via the network interface.
19. The web server of
20. The web server of
21. A system for providing a semi real-time, on-line monitoring of a process via a global network, the system comprising:
a web server;
a client computer device having a display;
a Component Object Model (COM) application and a server script running on the web server, the COM application providing an interface to an external device, the server script being operative to receive status information pertaining to the external device by placing a call to the COM application, generate a client script based, at least in part, on the status information, and download the client script to the client computer device; and
a web browser running on the client computer device and enabling the client computer device to interface with the web server through a network, the web browser receiving the client script from the web server and running the client script, whereby the display of the client computer device is updated to display the data information,
wherein the web browser running on the client computer device, in response to receiving a particular Universal Resource Locator, downloads a monitoring web page from the web server, the monitoring web page defining a visible pane and an invisible pane.
22. The system of
23. The system of
24. The system of
This application is a divisional application of Ser. No. 09/675,798, and claims priority to, U.S. Pat. No. 6,760,750, filed Sep. 28, 2000, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Applications Ser. No. 60/186,417, filed Mar. 2, 2000, and No. 60/186,002, filed Mar. 1, 2000.
This invention relates to the field of Internet technologies and, more particularly, to the controlling and monitoring of video and/or audio conferencing through the Internet.
In the last several years, the World Wide Web, or the Internet, has been blended with a variety of other technologies to create new, innovative, and globally accessible applications. Such blended technologies include on-line airline reservation systems, weather monitoring systems, catalog purchasing, stock trading, as well as many others. An example of such a blended technology developed by Accord Telecommunications Ltd., now Polycom Israel, Ltd., the assignee of the present invention, monitors and controls a video conference through the use of a website interface.
Utilizing existing technology to establish a video conference, a service provider is enlisted to reserve, set up, monitor and control the video conference. In this configuration, an operator must either attend the conference, monitor the conference, or at least be in contact via telephone, or some other means, with one of the participants of the video conference. The role of the operator is to monitor the video conference and resolve any problems that may arise. In addition, the operator can control various aspects of the video conference, such as, muting, video configurations, entrance and exits to the video conference, or the like. For example, if one of the participants in a video conference wants to mute another participant in the video conference, the initiating participant must notify the operator. The operator then mutes the other participant and provides an indicator to the other participants of such. Simple control over a video conference such as this requires the presence and attention of the operator.
The use of an operator within a video conference results in increasing the cost for video conferencing services. For each active video conference, sufficient operator support must be available. If a single operator is required to control multiple video conferences, the quality of service may suffer during busy or peak operational times. If a separate operator is assigned to each video conference to ensure a high-quality of performance, the cost of the video conferencing service may escalate.
In addition, in state of the art video conferencing technologies, the participants in a video conference may not be automatically made aware of the status of the video conference. For example, a participant may not know if another participant is joining into the conference or if a participant has muted himself via his or her terminal. In the current art video conferencing technologies, only the operator has access to such information. Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method to allow individual participants in a video conference to obtain status information pertaining to the video conference and the other participants in the video conference. It is desirable to provide a solution which allows the individual participants in a video conference to control and/or obtain status information without requiring the intervention of an operator. The solution presented in the present invention is to utilize an Internet based monitoring and control system to replace some or all of the functions of the operator. Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and a method to blend video conferencing technology with Internet or network technology.
Often times, when blending existing technologies, short comings or incompatibilities arise that require innovative engineering to overcome. The use of a networked based monitoring and control system for video conferences encounters such incompatibilities. The most apparent incompatibility in the video conferencing example arises based on the need for continuously providing updated information to the participants of a video conference. The status information pertaining to a video conference can change rapidly and often. Obtaining and tracking this status information in real-time can be processor intensive. Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method that can receive and rapidly process the status information available during a video conference.
Internet technologies were not developed for the purpose of providing and rapidly updating information. Rather, the Internet was designed to extract vast amounts of generally static information. Nonetheless, several attempts have been made to utilize the Internet in a manner to support monitoring or receiving information that is periodically updated, or more succinctly stated, to provide updateable web pages.
The most rudimentary technique to provide updateable web pages is the refresh function. Typically, state of the art web browsers are equipped with a function or button which, when invoked, will cause the browser to reload updated information from a displayed website. This process involves reloading the data from a web server without having any prior knowledge as to whether the data has changed or not. This technique is inadequate for many applications because it requires the viewer of the website to continuously invoke the refresh function to obtain updated information. If no new information is available, time and bandwidth are needlessly expended.
Another technique to provide updateable web pages is to automatically invoke the refresh function. This technique eliminates the requirement for the viewer to manually and continuously invoke the refresh button; however similar to the previous technique, this automated technique is inadequate in that it wastes a significant amount of time and bandwidth. The refresh function must be invoked in order to obtain updated information. However, the refresh function is invoked blindly, because the viewer does not know if updated information is available or not. Thus, the refresh function may be invoked multiple times without providing any updated information. Therefore there is a need in the art for a system and a method to provide updated information in an Internet environment that minimizes the waste of time and bandwidth by only providing information when it has actually been updated or modified.
Another advanced technique for providing updateable web pages is to include a Java applet on the viewer's page. An applet invokes processing on the viewer's computer system. In operation, the applet opens a TCP/IP socket to the server in order to send and receive data from the server. Upon receiving the information from the server, the applet updates the web page with the new information. This technique for providing updateable web pages has several disadvantages. One such disadvantage is that this technique requires the opening of an additional TCP port on the firewall of the service provider. This opens the server to additional security risks. Another disadvantage is that large applets that include a significant amount of code take a substantial amount of time to load on the viewer's computer system. In addition, in some sites the browser does not support Java applets. Yet another disadvantage of this technique is that when transferring data using TCP/IP, the serialization and the de-serialization of the data has to be programmed (unless the server was written in Java). For instance, if the data received is a long string with delimiters, to parse the data and extract necessary information, code must be written to perform the task. However, the structure of the data would be known to a Java script.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method to provide updateable web pages that are not limited to the use of Java applets. There is also a need in the art for such a system to be compatible with a variety of web page types and to quickly update.
Therefore, it is clear that there is a need in the art for a system and method to provide updateable web pages that reduce or eliminate above-described problems. There is also a need in the art for such a system and method that can be used for monitoring and controlling a video conference without the need for operator intervention.
Therefore, it is clear that there is a need in the art for a system and a method of monitoring video and/or audio conferencing through a rapid-update website.
The present invention includes a system and a method for updating a web page with rapidly changing information. Utilizing embodiments of the present invention, information can be updated with a delay of less than 500 ms. Although the present invention will be described within the context of monitoring and controlling a video conference through a website, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be utilized within a variety of environments and is most beneficial in monitoring and controlling applications having fast changing data.
In general, the present invention satisfies the aforementioned needs in the art by providing a system and method to monitor and control a multi-participant video/audio conference using the web, and to rapidly update information on a web page to provide current status information to the participants of the conference. Conference scheduling and reservation via an Internet based web server instead of using an operator has been described in a separate provisional patent application titled "A System and Method for Providing Reservationless Conferencing" filed in the United States Patent Office on Mar. 1, 2000 by Accord Networks Ltd., and being assigned Ser. No. 60/186,002. Using the present invention, a participant can view the status of a video-conference on-line and control the operation of the video conference in semi-real time without contacting an operator.
One embodiment of the present invention includes a system for providing a semi real-time, automatically-updateable web page. The system includes a web server and a client computer device having a display. A server script runs in a continuous loop on the web server, receives data or status information from a data information source and generates a client script based, at least in part, on the data information. In one embodiment, the data is received from the information source by placing a call to a Microsoft Component Object Model ("COM") application running within the web server. The COM application interfaces to an external device and obtains the data or status information. If new data information is obtained from the COM application, the web server will create or modify the client script. The web server then downloads the client script to the client computer device.
The client computer device includes a web browser. The web browser enables the client computer device to interface with the web server through a network, such as the Internet, an intranet or any of a variety of networks. The web browser receives a Universal Resource Locator ("URL") that corresponds to a split web page to be downloaded from the web server. The split web page includes an invisible pane and a visible pane. The web browser receives the client script from the web server, into the invisible pane and executes the client script. One function of the client script is to update the visible pane, which is viewable on the display of the client computer device, with the data information received.
Another embodiment of the present invention includes a system for controlling the operation of a conference via a network. The conference is typically provisioned through a conference system controller or a Multipoint Control Unit ("MCU"). The system includes a web server and a client computer device. The web server includes a conference system controller interface to provide control information to the conference system controller and a network interface, typically to the Internet. The client computer device, which can be any computing device that includes a display, is communicatively coupled to the web server through the network interface. A web browser runs on the client computer device and is operative to receive a monitoring web page from the web server. The monitoring web page defines at least one control element which can be selected and/or actuated. When the control element is actuated, the web browser requests the web server to send a related control action to the conference system controller over the conference system controller interface.
In another embodiment, the web server includes a COM application and the web browser requests the web server to send a control action to the conference system controller by requesting the download of a command Microsoft's Active Server Pages ("ASP") page from the web server. The command ASP page includes a server script with a call to the COM application. Once the call to the COM application is placed, the COM application interfaces to the conference system controller over the conference system controller interface and performs the control action. The control action can include actions such as muting a participant, changing the display layout of a video conference, changing the zoom or pan of a participants camera, dropping a participant from the conference, or the like.
Thus, it will be seen by examining the figures, the detailed description associated with each figure, and the claims, that the present invention provides a useful, novel and non-obvious method for updating a web page with rapidly changing data and providing an Internet based solution for monitoring and controlling a video/audio conference.
Turning now to the figures in which like numeral represent like elements throughout the several views, exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described.
The MCU 205 provides the central controlling functions, switching and routing for the video conferencing system. The MCU 205 manages the allocation of conferencing channels, processes the video, audio, control and data signals exchanged during a video conference and receives several channels from access ports. The MCU 205 is typically located in a node of a network, or in a terminal connected to the operator console via a network. However, the MCU 205 may also be co-located with the operator console 210 or the MCU 205 and the operator console 210 may even be integrated onto a single platform. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the operations of the MCU 205 could be performed in a variety of configurations including hardware, software, or a hybrid of both hardware and software. According to certain criteria, the MCU processes audiovisual and data signals and distributes them to connected channels. An example of an MCU is the MGC-100 available from Polycom Israel Ltd., the assignee of the present invention. Additional information about the MGC-100 MCU can be obtained by accessing the Internet address of www.polycom.com.
In an exemplary embodiment, the MCU/operator-console interface 215 is implemented over a TCP/IP Internet connection; however, it should be understood that this interface can take on a variety of forms including any of a variety of wired, wireless, optical or networked connections.
An operator 220 controls and operates each MCU 205 through the use of the operator-console 210. The MCU 205 interfaces with multiple client terminals 235 through a network 240 which may include the Internet, an intranet, an ATM network, ISDN or any of a variety of interconnection means that provide sufficient bandwidth for bidirectional transmission of audio and/or video information. The MCU 205 and each client terminal 235 connects to the network 240 over a network access 245.
In a typical system, the MCU manager application 230 may be a Win32 application connected via a TCP/IP connection to the MCU 205. The Win32 application is an application that runs on a computer running one of the available Windows operating systems. A terminal 235 in this setting is an endpoint on a network, capable of providing real-time, two-way audio, visual and/or data communication with other terminals or an MCU 205. This communication consists of control signals, indicators, audio, and moving color video pictures and/or data between the two terminals. A terminal 235 may provide speech only, speech and data, speech and video, or speech, data and video. A more detailed definition of a terminal can be found in the ITU standards H.320, H.321 and H.323. In current state of the art systems, the MCU manager application 230 is used to enable the monitoring and control a video conference.
In an exemplary embodiment, a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol ("HTTP"), used to send and receive data between web browsers and a web server, provides a connection between the web server 310 and the web browsers running on each participant's computer device 320. Typically, to provide some level of security, a firewall 330 will be used to control access to the Service Provider 200 LAN. A firewall is a system that protects a local area network that is connected to the Internet from unauthorized access. One embodiment of the present invention uses the HTTP port only which is usually open in most of the firewall Installation.
The system illustrated in
One aspect of the present invention is providing a web page that can update rapidly without the need for a user to actuate a refresh button on the page or reload the page to obtain current status information. In an exemplary embodiment, the web server 310 is installed on an NT server running Microsoft's Internet Information Server ("IIS") version 4 or greater or Windows 2000 Server with IIS ver. 5.or greater. The web server 310 includes Microsoft's Active Server Pages ("ASP") written by Accord, HTML pages and an application with Microsoft's Component Object Model ("COM") interface. The application with the COM interface will be hereinafter referred to as the COM application.
Those skilled in the art will be aware that Microsoft's COM technology is a binary protocol used to communicate between software components. This technology enables an application (including a script file) to call functions within another application, even if the applications were written in different programming languages.
A basic Internet or intranet based website includes a server with an HTTP application and one or more web pages. A web page is a file that includes Hyper Text Markup Language ("HTML") formatted text content and/or graphic images. HTML is the basic system used for presenting information over the Internet. When a user enters the Internet address for a website, or a Universal Resource Locator ("URL") address, into a web browser, the Internet network locates the web server associated with the particular URL. A URL specifies the location and name of an Internet resource such as a website or an HTML web page. A web page at the entered URL is downloaded to the user's browser using the HTTP protocol. The browser interprets the HTML information and transforms and displays the downloaded data as a visual web page. The HTML based web page may include formatted text, pictures, graphics, push buttons and other simple Graphical User Interface ("GUI") components. The web page may also provide the ability for the user to enter and transmit data to the server hosting the web page. Those skilled in the art are familiar with HTML programming techniques, as well as web page and website construction techniques.
Along with the HTML information, a web page can include one or more client scripts. A client script is a program module that can be executed under the control of a browser in response to occurrence of particular events. For example, a web page can define an HTML push button to be displayed on the monitor of the client computer device 320 and that is associated with a client script. When the user actuates the push button (i.e., by moving the mouse cursor over the push button and pressing the left mouse button) the browser triggers the client script to run. The client script can, for example, change the push button color to indicate that the push button has been actuated or invoke a variety of events. There are a variety of coding languages that may be used to write a client script. One of the most popular languages is the Java script language which is supported by most browsers. Those skilled in the art will be very familiar with programming in Java script as well as other applicable programming languages.
Another common element in web page design is Microsoft Active Server Pages ("ASP"). Microsoft active server pages are web pages that may include, instead of or along with the above mentioned elements (HTML information and client scripts), a server script. A server script is a script running on the web server machine before a web page is downloaded to the client computer device 320. The server script dynamically builds the downloaded web page by acquiring necessary information or data and creating any necessary HTML information or client scripts. The server script can also obtain information by placing function calls to other applications running on the server, which have a Component Object Module ("COM") interface. The web page downloaded after the server script has executed includes only client elements (HTML, client script) that the client browser knows how to process. The use of ASP files is supported in Internet Information Servers ("IIS") of version 4 Microsoft HTTP servers. Those skilled in the art are familiar with ASP programming techniques.
The ASP files in the web server 310 call functions via the COM application located in the web server 310. The COM application may utilize a TCP/IP connection, or other connection, to communicate with the MCU 205 or any other external components. The monitoring application of the present invention may include a monitoring web page to display status information and control functions. The monitoring web page down loads to the client computer device 320 and is an HTML file split into two panes. One pane of the monitoring web page is hidden, having a zero size, while the other pane is visible. In the visible pane, there is an HTML file containing objects that can be changed, modified or updated with client scripts. These changeable objects include, but are not limited to, Graphics Interchange Formatted objects ("GIFs"), HTML edit boxes, or any other of a variety of updateable or changeable objects. Those skilled in the art will be aware that a GIF is a common format to send pictures over the Internet. The visible pane reflects the updated data or current information on the monitor of the client computer device 320.
The URL for the hidden pane is set to access an ASP file on the web server 310. The ASP file includes a server script with an embedded client script. Both scripts are embedded within an pseudo endless loop. The hidden pane is referred to as a Smart Page. The script in the Smart Page uses a COM interface to call functions in the COM application, especially a function to get the conference status data. If the status data for the conference changes between successive retrievals, the COM application returns the updated data. If the data of the conference has not change, then the COM application returns an indicator that the data has not changed. For instance, a zero, null or some other known data type may be used to indicate that the conference data has not changed.
In the event that there is new data, the client script is built in the Smart Page to reflect the updated data. The client script is downloaded to the participant's computer device 320 and is executed by the client browser operating on the participant's computer device 320. The client script updates the visible page with the new information. For example, a client script such as "ShowMutedIcon(false)" is downloaded to the participant computer device 320 if the party has been unmuted or the ShowMutedIcon(true) is downloaded if the party has been muted. At the end of the pseudo endless loop the server script goes inactive (i.e., sleeps) for about 0.5 seconds, and then the loop is repeated.
A benefit of this method is that within the same loop on the Smart Page, the server script runs on the web server 310 and the client script runs on the client computer device 320. The loop keeps an open connection between the web server 310 and the client computer device 320. When a change occurs, the web server downloads only the Updating Script and not the full page. Monitoring the conference without keeping the open connection, involves reloading (or refreshing) the hidden-client's page every so often (i.e., approximately every 0.5 sec in an exemplary embodiment but not limited to this time frame). This would have created a load on the HTTP connection, and degradation in performance of the web browser is very noticeable to a user when a page is downloaded so frequently.
The web browser running on the client computer device 320 includes a split web page 450 made up of an invisible pane 440 and a visible pane 435. The split web page 450 is downloaded to the web browser running on the client computer device 320 in response to a user entering the appropriate URL of the Smart Page 410. The client script 430, used to update the visible pane 435, is downloaded to the invisible pane 440. In an exemplary embodiment, a second invisible pane 441 may be used as the control section for entering commands and configuration information.
In order to implement the updateable website of the present invention, several technical tasks must be accomplished. One such task is making the invisible page run in an endless loop. To create a loop running both on the web server 310 and on the client computer device 320, Java script tags should be placed inside the server script loop. One example of how to write such an ASP page follows. The server script is written in Visual Basic script and the client script in Java script.
This script operates to enter a loop that will execute LoopLength times. For each pass through the loop, the COM application 415 is called to determine if the conference data has been updated and to obtain the updated conference data (515). The update conference data will be returned the variable ConfData (or ConfData may be a pointer to the conference data). If no new conference data is available, the server script will invoke a delay prior to returning to the beginning of the loop (540). However, if the conference data has been updated (520), then the client script (shown above in italics) is built within the Smart Page 410 in accordance with the new conference data (525). The client script is then loaded into the client computer device 320 (530). When the client script is fully loaded into the invisible pane 440 of the client computer device 325, the browser running on the client computer device 325 executes the client script. As a result of executing the client script, the visible pane 425 of the monitoring page 450 is updated with the new conference data (535). Finally, prior to ending this pass of the loop, the delay is performed (540). Thus, all the processing of the server script is performed within the web server 310 unless and until new conference data is available. At this time, the client computer device 325 will operate to update the visible pane 435 to reflect the new conference data.
If instead, the server script were constructed as follows:
then the client script would have been downloaded only after finishing the loop.
Therefore, the monitoring web page 450 would be updated only once a minute (depending on the "LoopLength" value) rather than once every 0.5 seconds.
Although the loop is referred to as an endless loop, in reality, the loop is not endless as shown in the above example. Instead, the loop should be structured to run for a certain period of time. In application, the certain period of time should, for all practical purposes, appear to be endless in comparison to the execution time of the loop. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the endless loop takes approximately one minute; however, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention could be implemented using a variety of loop lengths. Limiting the loop to a finite number of cycles, 120, prevents a situation in which the website locks up.
To renew the loop for continued monitoring of the conference, the Smart Page has to be reloaded (or refreshed). For example, the following Java Script can be added at the end of the Smart Page:
The visible pane 435 of the monitoring web page 450 is displayed on the client computer device 230 of participant A. In an exemplary embodiment, the visible pane 435 may include one or more action buttons (i.e., a mute button). When participant A activates an action button (605), the browser operating on the client computer device 320 requests the web server 310 to download another ASP page into another invisible pane 440 of the client computer device 320 (610). Before downloading the ASP page, the server script in the page running on the web server 310 uses the COM interface to request the COM application 415 to mute the client terminal 235 of participant A (615). The COM application 415 sends the request to the MCU 205 (620). The success of the request is returned to the ASP file (625). If the operation fails (630), the ASP file downloads a client script to the client computer device 235 to alert of the failure (635). Otherwise, an empty page is downloaded to the client computer device 230 (640).
When the user wants to stop monitoring the conference (for example by clicking a link to another page), an alternate page has to be loaded instead of the Smart Page. This process will stop the endless reloading of the Smart Page.
The website should be separated into two sites in the IIS. The dual paned monitoring web page 450, the viewed pane 435 and other pages on the website should reside on one logical site, and the Smart Page on another logical site. This ensures the responsiveness of the website and enables the termination of the reloading loop. From the users point of view, this looks like one website with one URL but, in actuality, it is two web pages that are accessed using a single URL. The logical site with the Smart Page 410 should be configured in the IIS without buffering (usually this is the default).
By default the IIS server is configured in such a way that only 10 loops can run in parallel, so that when the eleventh participant enters the monitoring website, the participant will not be updated until one of the other ten finishes the loop in the Smart Page. To alleviate this problem, a parameter has to be added in the server registry. The parameter "ProcessorThreadMax" should be added to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\ASP\Parametes.
The value should be set to the number of users that will enter the conference control page simultaneously. In Windows 2000 Server this limitation is a lot higher.
Throughout this specification, the following terms are attributed with the following definitions:
The present invention provides the ability to monitor and control a video conference, or other event, through a website. Rapidly changing data is provided to a client computer device by utilizing a looped server script having an embedded client script. The server script operates to identify and obtain updated information. The server script then modifies the client script based on the updated information. The modified client script is then downloaded to the client computer system to be executed. Upon execution, the client script updates the display of the client computer device. Thus, updated information is received and displayed by the client computer device without requiring the client computer device to directly monitor the event, or load extraneous information. As a result, a rapidly updated website is obtained that efficiently utilizes time and bandwidth. The present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present invention may be applied to, and embodied in, various program modules for execution on differing types of computers and/or equipment, operating in differing types of networks, regardless of the application.
Alternate embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is described by the appended claims and supported by the foregoing description.
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