CN110708490A

CN110708490A - Conference creating method, conference creating device, conference system and readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN110708490A
Application number: CN201810751572.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李波
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2018-07-10
Filing date: 2018-07-10
Publication date: 2020-01-17

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a conference creating method, a conference creating device, a conference system and a readable storage medium, wherein terminal information of a terminal to be added into a conference is acquired, and a cascade line for forming a cascade relation among MCU (microprogrammed control units); determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU; the conference is established according to the distribution condition of the cascade lines and the terminals, and in some implementation processes, the conference can be established quickly, so that the establishment efficiency of the conference can be at least improved, and the user experience is improved.

Description

Conference creating method, conference creating device, conference system and readable storage medium

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to but not limited to a conference creating method, a conference creating device, a conference system and a readable storage medium.

Background

The conference TV system is composed of MCU (multipoint control unit), terminals and service system, and the terminals in two places or more places can transmit image and voice to each other through MCU by communication.

In a large-capacity conference scene, the cascade connection between the MCUs is a common networking mode, and the problems of insufficient capacity of a single MCU and cross-region meeting can be solved. A common implementation manner is that a plurality of conferences are held, and the conferences are connected through a cascade interface, in this case, a conference administrator needs to manually configure the cascade interface in a conference template and manually hold a plurality of groups of conferences, which is cumbersome to operate.

Disclosure of Invention

The conference creating method, the conference creating device, the conference system and the readable storage medium provided by the embodiment of the invention mainly solve the technical problems that the conference system creating process in the related technology is complicated, and the user experience is poor.

To solve the foregoing technical problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides a conference creating method, including:

acquiring terminal information of a terminal to be added into a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relation among the MCU;

determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU;

and establishing a conference according to the cascade connection and the distribution condition of the terminals.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a conference system, which comprises a service system, at least one MCU and a terminal;

the service system acquires terminal information of the terminal to be joined in the conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relation among the Multipoint Control Units (MCU);

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a conference creating apparatus, including:

the information acquisition module is used for acquiring terminal information of a terminal to be joined in the conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relation among the MCU;

the distribution determining module is used for determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU;

and the conference creating module is used for creating a conference according to the cascade line and the distribution condition of the terminal.

Embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer storage medium, which stores one or more programs that are executable by one or more processors to implement the steps of the conference creating method as described above.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

according to the conference creating method, the conference creating device, the conference system and the computer storage medium provided by the embodiment of the invention, the terminal information of the terminal to be added into the conference and the cascade line used for forming the cascade relation among the MCU are obtained; determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU; the conference is established according to the distribution condition of the cascade lines and the terminals, and in some implementation processes, the conference can be established quickly, so that the establishment efficiency of the conference can be at least improved, and the user experience is improved.

Additional features and corresponding advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a conference creation method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conference draft according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the MCU according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a terminal assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a cascade line according to an embodiment of the present invention; .

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a sub-conference composition according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a cascade topology relationship of sub-conferences according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of draft information of a new sub-conference provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a conference cascade relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of configuration information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a topological diagram of a conference cascade relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a conference cascade relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of another configuration information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a topological diagram of a conference cascade relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a conference cascade relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating another configuration information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a topological diagram of a conference cascade relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a conference cascade relationship according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of a conference creation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of a conference system provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

The first embodiment is as follows:

in order to improve the efficiency of creating a conference system, the embodiment provides a conference creating method.

Referring to fig. 1, a process of a conference creation method in this embodiment includes:

s101, acquiring terminal information of a terminal to be joined in a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relation among the Multipoint Control Units (MCU);

s102, determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCUs;

and S103, establishing a conference according to the cascade line and the distribution condition of the terminal.

In order to increase the capacity of the conference system, because the carrying capacity of a single MCU is limited or there is a cross-region situation between terminals in the conference system, a cascading conference manner is usually adopted to increase the capacity of the conference system. The cascade conference is a large conference system formed by establishing a cascade relation with a master-slave relation among sub-conferences and connecting a plurality of sub-conferences through a cascade interface. Under the structure, the same MCU does not need to be accessed into too many terminals, the load of the MCU can be effectively saved, and the system capacity and the stability are improved.

In S101, the terminal information of the terminal to join the conference represents unique information for identifying each terminal, and each terminal in the conference system can be distinguished by the terminal information. The terminal can interact with the MCU for media and signaling. The terminals are often associated with users, and usually one terminal corresponds to one user, or one terminal corresponds to one sub-meeting place. A conference system comprises a plurality of sub-conferences, and each sub-conference is composed of an MCU and a corresponding terminal. The cascade connection line has definite directionality, represents the cascade connection relationship between the MCUs, and is the relationship between the superior conference and the subordinate conference, or the relationship between the master conference and the slave conference. The cascade line identifies the cascade relationship, and in fact, the cascade connection between the master conference and the slave conference is realized through the cascade interface.

When the cascade relation between the sub-conferences is determined, a corresponding IP cascade interface can be generated, and one cascade interface usually involves the cascade connection between two conferences, i.e. a superior conference and an inferior conference. The cascade interface can be regarded as a terminal in nature, and the hardware composition and the terminal can be consistent.

In some embodiments, before obtaining the terminal information of the terminal to join the conference, the method may further include:

determining an established conference draft; the conference draft comprises terminal information of terminals to be joined in the conference; and acquiring the terminal information of the terminal to be added into the conference from the draft of the conference. Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conference draft, which includes a conference name, a conference number, and a conference terminal list to be joined in a conference, and terminal information of a terminal is written in the conference terminal list.

In some embodiments, before the service system obtains terminal information of a terminal to join a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relationship between multipoint control units MCUs, the method may further include:

configuring terminal information of a terminal and identification information of an MCU; and the terminals distributed to the same MCU are provided with identifications corresponding to the MCU. In order to realize the rapid creation of the conference system, the terminal information of the terminal and the identification information of the corresponding MCU need to be configured in advance. Because the terminal is accessed to the MCU to work, and the same MCU can correspond to a plurality of terminals, in order to realize the quick matching between the terminal and the MCU, a corresponding relation is established between the terminal information and the identification information of the terminal and the MCU respectively, and the quick matching between the terminal and the MCU is realized through the corresponding relation.

Optionally, the allocating the terminal to the same MCU with the identifier corresponding to the MCU may include: the terminal information configured for the terminal comprises terminal number information, and the identification information configured for the MCU comprises MCU number information; and a first preset number field of the terminal number information allocated to the same MCU is consistent with a second preset number field of the MCU number information of the MCU. The terminal information comprises terminal number information, and a first preset number field included in the terminal number information is consistent with a second preset number field in the MCU number information of the MCU identification information. The first preset number field and the second preset number field are respectively a part of numbers in the terminal number information of the terminal and a part of numbers in the MCU number information; when matching is performed, the terminals and the MCU which are consistent with the first preset number field and the second preset number field on the MCU are considered to belong to the same sub-conference, and then the terminals should access the corresponding MCU in the conference.

The first preset number field and the second preset number field may be located at the same position in the respective terminal and the MCU, for example, both are located at a prefix portion of the respective data field, or both are located at a suffix portion of the respective data field, which is not limited in this embodiment. If the positions are unified, matching can be more conveniently carried out, and matching efficiency is improved.

Correspondingly, determining the allocation condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the correspondence between the terminal information and the MCUs may include: determining a first preset number field in the terminal number information of each terminal and a second preset number field in the MCU number information of the MCU; and allocating the terminal corresponding to the first preset number field which is the same as the second preset number field of the MCU to the MCU.

In some embodiments, before the service system obtains terminal information of a terminal to join a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relationship between multipoint control units MCUs, the method may further include: configuring a cascade connection line according to the identification information of the MCU; the cascade line at least comprises identification information of the master MCU and identification information of the slave MCU. The cascade line is used for reflecting the master-slave relationship between the MCUs, that is, the cascade line has directivity and can represent the superior-subordinate relationship between the conferences, wherein at least the identification information of the master-slave MCUs is required to be included; besides, information such as a conference name and a conference number may be included. Optionally, the cascade line may include identification information of one master MCU and identification information of at least one slave MCU.

The conference creating method provided by the embodiment of the invention obtains the terminal information of the terminal to be added into the conference and the cascade line for forming the cascade relation among the MCU; determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU; the conference is established according to the distribution condition of the cascade lines and the terminals, and in some implementation processes, the conference can be established quickly, so that the establishment efficiency of the conference can be at least improved, and the user experience is improved.

Example two:

the present embodiment provides a detailed flow of a conference creating method, please refer to fig. 3, where fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a conference system in the present embodiment; the conference creating method specifically comprises the following steps:

s401: and deploying the whole system. As shown in fig. 3, 3 MCUs, 1 set of service system (including main service module and resource management module), and 6 terminals may be deployed. The MCU is connected with the service system through an IP network, MCU related information is stored in the service system, and the MCU information comprises an MCU name and a unique MCU number, as shown in FIG. 4; 6 terminals are connected with the MCU through an IP network, can be connected to any MCU according to the needs, and the terminal information comprises a terminal name and a unique terminal number and is stored in a service system, as shown in FIG. 5; the service system stores data of a cascade line, the cascade line comprises 3 pieces of information of a cascade line name, a master MCU number and a slave MCU number, the cascade line has directivity, the master MCU number represents a superior MCU, and the slave MCU number represents a subordinate MCU, as shown in FIG. 6.

S402: a conference draft is established in the service system, the content of the conference draft is a terminal list consisting of 6 terminals, and each conference has a unique conference number, as shown in fig. 2. And executing the conference opening operation, wherein the main service module receives the content of the conference draft and then sends the content of the conference draft to the resource management module.

S403: the resource management module starts to perform an algorithm for allocating the terminal to the MCU, a prefix matching algorithm can be adopted, and when the MCU number of a certain MCU is completely the same as the first few characters of the terminal number, it indicates that the terminal can be allocated to the MCU, for example, the number 001_ a of the terminal TER1 is the same as the first 3 characters of the number 001 of the MCU1, so that the TER1 is allocated to the MCU 1. The 6 terminal groups can be sequentially allocated to 3 MCUs according to the prefix matching rule. The number of MCUs matched, i.e. the number of sub-conferences, will generate 3 sub-conferences, the result of which is shown in fig. 7.

S404: and the resource management module determines the cascade relation among the 3 sub-conferences according to the cascade line data configured by the service system. And the resource management module inquires the cascade lines related to the 3 MCUs according to the 3 MCUs allocated to the 3 conferences, and the serial numbers of the master MCU and the slave MCU of the cascade lines belong to 1 of the 3 allocated MCUs. Both cascade line 1 and cascade line 2 are satisfactory, and 1 cascade line represents the cascade relationship between 2 sub-conferences. The number of the main MCU of the sub-conference is the same as that of the main MCU of the cascade line, and the sub-conference is a superior conference; the number of the main MCU of the sub-conference is the same as that of the auxiliary MCU of the cascade line, and the sub-conference is a lower-level conference. This determines the cascading topology between the 3 sub-conferences as shown in fig. 8.

S405: generation of a sub-conference cascade interface and allocation of sub-conference resources. When the cascade relation between the sub-conferences is determined, an IP cascade port can be generated for the sub-conferences, and 1 cascade port can be generated in each conference when 1 cascade line relates to 2 conferences (a superior conference and an inferior conference). The cascade port is also a terminal in nature, and the terminal number of the cascade port of the superior conference can be expressed as a conference number + the MCU number of the superior conference + the MCU number of the subordinate conference. The terminal number of the cascade interface of the lower conference may be expressed as conference number + MCU number of the lower conference. The resource management module finally allocates resources for all terminals (including the cascade interface terminals) of the sub-conference in a unified manner, and fig. 9 shows draft information of the new sub-conference.

S406: all the information of the 3 sub-conferences is generated in the resource management module. The sub-conference comprises information of all terminals of the sub-conference, information of the IP cascade interface terminal and the MCU where the sub-conference is located. The resource management module sends the information of the 3 sub-conferences to the main service module, then the main service module schedules each sub-conference and the corresponding terminal to be held in each MCU, and finally, a cascade relation of the IP automatic cascade conference shown in FIG. 10 is formed.

S407: the 3 sub-conferences are in different MCUs, and can receive and transmit audio and video media through the cascade interface.

Referring to fig. 11 to 13, fig. 11 to 13 are schematic diagrams in a process of creating a conference system in this embodiment, a topological diagram of a cascade relationship in fig. 12 is formed according to the configuration information of the MCU, the terminal, and the cascade line in fig. 11, and a detailed cascade relationship is shown in fig. 13. Sub-conference 1 and sub-conference 2 form an upstream-downstream cascade, and sub-conference 2 and sub-conference 3 also form an upstream-downstream cascade. Is a 3-layer cascade relationship.

Referring to fig. 14 to 16, fig. 14 to 16 are schematic diagrams in a process of creating another conference system in this embodiment, a topological diagram of a cascade relationship in fig. 15 is formed according to the MCU, the terminal, and the cascade line configuration information in fig. 14, and a detailed cascade relationship is shown in fig. 16. The sub-conference 1 and the sub-conference 2 form an upper-lower cascade, the sub-conference 1 and the sub-conference 3 also form an upper-lower cascade, and the sub-conference 1 and the sub-conference 4 also form an upper-lower cascade. And is also a cascade relation of 2 layers, namely a cascade conference of 1 master and 3 slaves.

Referring to fig. 17 to 19, fig. 17 to 19 are schematic diagrams in a process of creating another conference system in this embodiment, a topological diagram of the cascade relationship in fig. 18 is formed according to the configuration information of the MCU, the terminal, and the cascade line in fig. 17, and a detailed cascade relationship is shown in fig. 19. Sub-conference 1 and sub-conference 2 form an upstream-downstream cascade, and sub-conference 2 and sub-conference 3 also form an upstream-downstream cascade. Is a 3-layer cascade relationship. Terminal 004_ a has no matching MCU and needs to be scheduled to the top MCU 1.

Example three:

referring to fig. 20, fig. 20 shows a schematic composition diagram of a conference creating apparatus, including:

an information obtaining module 201, configured to obtain terminal information of a terminal to join a conference, and a cascade line for forming a cascade relationship between the multipoint control units MCUs;

the allocation determining module 202 is configured to determine, according to a correspondence between the terminal information and the MCUs, allocation conditions that the terminals are allocated to the MCUs;

and a conference creating module 203, configured to create a conference according to the cascade line and the distribution condition of the terminals.

The terminal information of the terminal to be added into the conference represents unique information for identifying each terminal, and each terminal in the conference system can be distinguished through the terminal information. The terminal can interact with the MCU for media and signaling. The terminals are often associated with users, and usually one terminal corresponds to one user, or one terminal corresponds to one sub-meeting place. A conference system comprises a plurality of sub-conferences, and each sub-conference is composed of an MCU and a corresponding terminal. The cascade connection line has definite directionality, represents the cascade connection relationship between the MCUs, and is the relationship between the superior conference and the subordinate conference, or the relationship between the master conference and the slave conference. The cascade line identifies the cascade relationship, and in fact, the cascade connection between the master conference and the slave conference is realized through the cascade interface.

determining an established conference draft; the conference draft comprises terminal information of terminals to be joined in the conference; and acquiring the terminal information of the terminal to be added into the conference from the draft of the conference.

In some embodiments, before the service system obtains terminal information of a terminal to join a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relationship between multipoint control units MCUs, the method may further include: configuring a cascade connection line according to the identification information of the MCU; the cascade line at least comprises identification information of the master MCU and identification information of the slave MCU. The cascade line is used for reflecting the master-slave relationship among the MCUs, wherein at least identification information of the master MCU and the slave MCU is required to be included; besides, information such as a conference name and a conference number may be included. Optionally, the cascade line may include identification information of one master MCU and identification information of at least one slave MCU.

The conference creating device provided by the embodiment of the invention obtains the terminal information of the terminal to be added into the conference and the cascade line for forming the cascade relation among the MCU; determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU; the conference is established according to the distribution condition of the cascade lines and the terminals, and in some implementation processes, the conference can be established quickly, so that the establishment efficiency of the conference can be at least improved, and the user experience is improved.

Example four:

referring to fig. 21, fig. 21 is a schematic diagram illustrating a composition of a conference system in this embodiment, where the conference system includes a service system 211, at least one MCU212, and a terminal 213;

the service system 211 acquires terminal information of the terminal 213 to be joined in the conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relationship between the multipoint control units MCU 212;

determining the distribution condition of each terminal 213 to each MCU212 according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU;

and establishing the conference according to the distribution condition of the cascade lines and the terminals.

The service system 211 specifically includes a main service module 2111 and a resource management module 2112; the main service module 2111 is configured to receive conference draft information issued by a user, and control a sub-conference to be held in a designated MCU; the resource management module 2112 is used to allocate the terminals among the MCUs, generate a cascade port, generate a cascade relationship between the sub-conferences, and the like.

Specifically, the conference system in this embodiment can be applied to the conference creation methods in the above embodiments, and details are not described here.

Example five:

the present embodiments also provide a computer-readable storage medium including volatile or non-volatile, removable or non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, computer program modules or other data. Computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), flash Memory or other Memory technology, CD-ROM (Compact disk Read-Only Memory), Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer.

The computer-readable storage medium in this embodiment may be used to store one or more computer programs, and the stored one or more computer programs may be executed by a processor to implement at least one step of the conference creation method in the embodiments described above.

The present embodiment also provides a computer program (or computer software), which can be distributed on a computer-readable medium and executed by a computing device to implement at least one step of the conference creation method in the foregoing embodiments; and in some cases at least one of the steps shown or described may be performed in an order different than that described in the embodiments above.

The present embodiments also provide a computer program product comprising a computer readable means on which a computer program as shown above is stored. The computer readable means in this embodiment may include a computer readable storage medium as shown above.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that all or some of the steps of the methods, systems, functional modules/units in the devices disclosed above may be implemented as software (which may be implemented in computer program code executable by a computing device), firmware, hardware, and suitable combinations thereof. In a hardware implementation, the division between functional modules/units mentioned in the above description does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components; for example, one physical component may have multiple functions, or one function or step may be performed by several physical components in cooperation. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, digital signal processor, or microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit.

In addition, communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, computer program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media as known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The foregoing is a more detailed description of embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention is not to be considered limited to such descriptions. For those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, several simple deductions or substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all shall be considered as belonging to the protection scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A conference creation method, comprising:

2. The conference creating method according to claim 1, further comprising, before said acquiring terminal information of a terminal to join a conference:

determining an established conference draft; the conference draft comprises terminal information of terminals to be joined in the conference;

and acquiring the terminal information of the terminal to be added into the conference from the conference draft.

3. The conference creating method according to claim 1, wherein before said obtaining terminal information of terminals to join a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relationship between multipoint control units MCUs, further comprising:

configuring terminal information of the terminal and identification information of the MCU; and the terminals distributed to the same MCU are provided with identifications corresponding to the MCU.

4. The conference creation method of claim 3, wherein said terminals assigned to the same MCU have an identification corresponding to said MCU comprises:

the terminal information configured for the terminal comprises terminal number information, and the identification information configured for the MCU comprises MCU number information; and a first preset number field of the terminal number information allocated to the same MCU is consistent with a second preset number field of the MCU number information of the MCU.

5. The conference creation method according to claim 4, wherein said determining, according to the correspondence between the terminal information and the MCUs, an allocation situation in which each terminal is allocated to each of the MCUs comprises:

determining a first preset number field in the terminal number information of each terminal and a second preset number field in the MCU number information of the MCU;

and allocating the terminal corresponding to the first preset number field which is the same as the second preset number field of the MCU to the MCU.

6. The conference creation method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein before said obtaining terminal information of terminals to join a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relationship between Multipoint Control Units (MCUs), further comprising:

configuring the cascade line according to the identification information of the MCU; the cascade line at least comprises identification information of the master MCU and identification information of the slave MCU.

7. The conference creation method of claim 6, wherein said cascade line includes identification information of one master MCU and identification information of at least one slave MCU.

8. A conferencing system, characterized by comprising a service system (211), at least one MCU (212) and terminals (213);

the service system (211) acquires terminal information of the terminal (213) to be joined in the conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relation between the MCUs (212);

determining the distribution condition of each terminal (213) to each MCU (212) according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCUs;

9. A conference creation apparatus, comprising:

the information acquisition module (201) is used for acquiring terminal information of a terminal to be joined in a conference and a cascade line for forming a cascade relation among the MCU;

the distribution determining module (202) is used for determining the distribution condition of each terminal to each MCU according to the corresponding relation between the terminal information and the MCU;

and a conference creating module (203) for creating a conference according to the distribution condition of the cascade line and the terminal.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, having one or more computer programs stored thereon, the computer programs being executable by one or more processors to perform the steps of the conference creation method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7.