Attribute visualization of attendees to an electronic meeting

Abstract

A server publishes a poll to one or more attendee clients to an electronic conference. The poll permits each attendee to select one of several choices as the vote of the respective attendee. Initially an attendee may have a default choice assigned to him, for example, undecided. The server may show a hypertext page that includes an image or persona icon of the attendee located within a panel that has the current vote that an attendee has chosen or, by default, been assigned.

1 . A computer implemented method for displaying dynamic attributes of electronic conference attendees, the computer implemented method comprising: 
 assigning an icon to each attendee client of a plurality of attendee clients of an electronic conference to form a set of icons;    receiving user inputs from respective computers associated with each of the attendee clients in the plurality of attendee clients;    modifying each icon in the set of icons based on the user inputs for an attendee client associated with the each icon to create a set of modified icons based on user state; and    presenting the set of modified icons in an interface of a display associated with at least one of the respective computers, wherein the interface will display a state of attentiveness of the plurality of attendee clients.    
   
   
       2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1  wherein modifying comprises: 
 determining that a predetermined amount of time has elapsed without receiving a user input from a respective attendee client; and    modifying a respective icon in the set of icons associated with the respective attendee client to create a modified icon in the set of modified icons in which the modified icon depicts an inattentive user state.    
   
   
       3 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 publishing a poll to an associated respective computer of each attendee client.    
   
   
       4 . The computer implemented method of  claim 3  wherein the receiving step further comprises 
 receiving user inputs representative of a vote on the poll; and wherein the modifying step further comprises:    modifying the set of icons to indicate the voting attributes of the plurality of attendee clients.    
   
   
       5 . The computer implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein the set of icons are modified by associating placement instructions with the respective icons to cause an attendee client computer to render the respective icons in a respective panel associated with a voting attribute.  
   
   
       6 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 receiving a login from a first attendee client, the login comprising at least one message having a unique attendee identifier;    locating a set of static attendee attributes associated with the unique attendee identifier; and    modifying a respective icon in the set of icons associated with the unique attendee identifier, wherein the respective icon is modified to depict attendee attributes.    
   
   
       7 . The computer implemented method of  claim 6 , wherein the modified icon has an indicia of group membership.  
   
   
       8 . The computer implemented method of  claim 6 , wherein the modified icon has an indicia of seniority.  
   
   
       9 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1  wherein a session leader may utilize the interface to identify respective attendee clients who are not engaged in interactive portions of the electronic conference and to encourage their participation.  
   
   
       10 . A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for displaying among computers, attributes of electronic conference attendees, wherein each computer has at least one display, and each electronic conference attendee has a group display, said computer program product including; 
 computer usable program code for assigning an icon to each attendee client of a plurality of attendee clients of an electronic conference to form a set of icons;    computer usable program code for receiving user inputs from respective computers associated with each of the attendee clients in the plurality of attendee clients;    computer usable program code for modifying each icon in the set of icons based on the user inputs for an attendee client associated with the each icon to create a set of modified icons based on user state; and    computer usable program code for presenting the set of modified icons in an interface of a display associated with at least one of the respective computers, wherein the interface will display a state of attentiveness of the plurality of attendee clients.    
   
   
       11 . The computer program product of  claim 9  wherein computer usable program code for modifying comprises: 
 computer usable program code for determining that a predetermined amount of time has elapsed without receiving a user input from a respective attendee client; and    computer usable program code for modifying a respective icon in the set of icons associated with the respective attendee client to create a modified icon in the set of modified icons in which the modified icon depicts an inattentive user state.    
   
   
       12 . The computer program product of  claim 9  further comprising: 
 computer usable program code for publishing a poll to an associated respective computer of each attendee client.    
   
   
       13 . The computer program product of  claim 12  wherein the computer program product for receiving further comprises: 
 computer usable program code for receiving user inputs representative of a vote on the poll; and wherein the computer usable program code for modifying further comprises:    computer usable program code for modifying the set of icons to indicate the voting attributes of the plurality of attendee clients.    
   
   
       14 . The computer program product of  claim 13  wherein the set of icons are modified by associating placement instructions with the respective icons to cause an attendee client computer to render the respective icons in a respective panel associated with a voting attribute.  
   
   
       15 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , further comprising: 
 computer usable program code for receiving a login from a first attendee client, the login comprising at least one message having a unique attendee identifier;    computer usable program code for locating a set of static attendee attributes associated with the unique attendee identifier; and    computer usable program code for modifying a respective icon in the set of icons associated with the unique attendee identifier, wherein the respective icon is modified to depict attendee attributes.    
   
   
       16 . A data processing system comprising: 
 a bus;    a storage device connected to the bus, wherein computer usable code is located in the storage device;    a communication unit connected to the bus;    a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to assign an icon to each attendee client of a plurality of attendee clients of an electronic conference to form a set of icons;    receive user inputs from respective computers associated with each of the attendee clients in the plurality of attendee clients;    modify each icon in the set of icons based on the user inputs for an attendee client associated with the each icon to create a set of modified icons based on user state; and    present the set of modified icons in an interface of a display associated with at least one of the respective computers, wherein the interface displays a state of attentiveness of the plurality of attendee clients.    
   
   
       17 . The data processing system of  claim 16  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to publish a poll to an associated respective computer of each attendee client.  
   
   
       18 . The data processing system of  claim 17  wherein executing the computer usable code to receive the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to receive user inputs representative of a vote on the poll; and wherein the computer usable code to modify further comprises: 
 computer usable code to modify the set of icons to indicate the voting attributes of the plurality of attendee clients.    
   
   
       19 . The data processing system of  claim 18  wherein the set of icons are modified by associating placement instructions with the respective icons to cause an attendee client computer to render the respective icons in a respective panel associated with a voting attribute.  
   
   
       20 . The data processing system of  claim 16  wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to receive a login from a first attendee client, the login comprising at least one message having a unique attendee identifier; 
 locate a set of static attendee attributes associated with the unique attendee identifier; and    modify a respective icon in the set of icons associated with the unique attendee identifier, wherein the respective icon is modified to depict static attendee attributes.