Patents Assigned to Raindance Communications, Inc.
  • Publication number: 20040088168
    Abstract: A system and method for voice transmission over high level network protocols. On the Internet and the World Wide Web, such high level protocols are HTTP/TCP. The restrictions imposed by firewalls and proxy servers are avoided by using HTTP level connections to transmit voice data. In addition, packet delivery guarantees are obtained by using TCP instead of UDP. Variable compression based on silence detection takes advantage of the natural silences and pauses in human speech, thus reducing the delays in transmission caused by using HTTP/TCP. The silence detection includes the ability to bookend the voice data sent with small portions of silence to insure that the voice sounds natural. Finally, the voice data is transmitted to each client computer, independently from a common circular list of voice data, thus insuring that all clients will stay current with the most recent voice data. The combination of these features enables simple, seamless, and interactive Internet conferencing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2003
    Publication date: May 6, 2004
    Applicant: Raindance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew W. Scherpbier, Mark Randle Boyns
  • Publication number: 20040054728
    Abstract: A collaborative Web browsing session may take place over a network, allowing the presenter on a first computer to direct the audio and visual components of a browser on one or more second computers. The second computer is instructed to log into a control site that downloads an active control, such as an applet, to the second computer. The present invention allows a collaborative Web browsing session (“session”), as created by the presenter and witnesses by one or more users on second computers, to be recorded and archived by the control site. When a user of a computer is connected to the control site through a communication network such as the World Wide Web, that user may log into the control site and request to view an archived session. The session will then be replayed by the control site on the user's computer, directing the audio and visual components of the browser on the user's computer as if the user was attending the live session.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2003
    Publication date: March 18, 2004
    Applicant: Raindance Communications, Inc.
    Inventor: David Bradley Rust
  • Patent number: 6668273
    Abstract: A collaborative Web browsing session may take place over a network, allowing the Presenter on a first computer to direct the audio and visual components of a browser on one or more second computers. The Attendee on the second computer logs into a control site computer located on the Web and subsequently relinquishes Web browser control to the Presenter on the first computer. The collaborative Web browsing session (“session”), as created by the Presenter and witnessed by the Attendee, is comprised of a predetermined set of Web pages and slides. The present invention allows the Presenter of a collaborative Web browsing session to dynamically integrate a region of the Presenter's display into the session. The Presenter configures the first computer to select a region on its display for integration into the session. Additionally, the Presenter configures keyboard combinations to execute the capture of the selected region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2003
    Assignee: Raindance Communications, Inc.
    Inventor: David Bradley Rust
  • Patent number: 6621834
    Abstract: A system and method for voice transmission over high level network protocols. On the Internet and the World Wide Web, such high level protocols are HTTP/TCP. The restrictions imposed by firewalls and proxy servers are avoided by using HTTP level connections to transmit voice data. In addition, packet delivery guarantees are obtained by using TCP instead of UDP. Variable compression based on silence detection takes advantage of the natural silences and pauses in human speech, thus reducing the delays in transmission caused by using HTTP/TCP. The silence detection includes the ability to bookend the voice data sent with small portions of silence to insure that the voice sounds natural. Finally, the voice data is transmitted to each client computer independently from a common circular list of voice data, thus insuring that all clients will stay current with the most recent voice data. The combination of these features enables simple, seamless, and interactive Internet conferencing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignee: Raindance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew W. Scherpbier, Mark Randle Boyns
  • Patent number: 6263365
    Abstract: A pilot computer can control the Web browser of at least one passenger computer. The user of the passenger computer is instructed to log onto a control site, which downloads an active control, such as an applet, to the passenger computer. An active control is also provided to the pilot computer. If the pilot computer desires to present a particular Web page to both the pilot computer and the passenger computer for, e.g., discussing the page during a conference call, the pilot computer transmits the appropriate URL to the control site, which then retrieves the Web page. Next, the control site sanitizes the page by disabling its hyperlinks, and then the control site causes the passenger computer's active control to download the sanitized page. Also, the control site filters the page such that the hyperlinks are not disabled, but are rather encoded to point back to the control site, and this filtered page is downloaded to the pilot computer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2001
    Assignee: Raindance Communications, Inc.
    Inventor: Andrew W. Scherpbier