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A system is provided that coordinates the operation of hardware devices and software applications in support of specific tasks such as holding a meeting. The system includes one or more computers connected by a network, at least one configuration repository component, at least one room control compo

A system is provided that coordinates the operation of hardware devices and software applications in support of specific tasks such as holding a meeting. The system includes one or more computers connected by a network, at least one configuration repository component, at least one room control component, and one or more devices and applications for each room control component. Meeting presenters can configure a meeting, or they may use a default configuration. A meeting includes one or more presenters' configurations of devices and applications to accommodate multiple presenters simultaneously. The meeting configurations are stored by the configuration repository component. Each presenter's configuration comprises a subset of the one or more devices and applications. The operation of devices and applications in the meeting is coordinated by the room control component based on the presenters' configurations for the meeting.

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1. A computer-based method for coordinating operation of hardware devices in a meeting, including: at a room control component residing on any of one or more computers connected by a network, each of the one or more computers including one or more processors, memory storing instructions, and at leas

1. A computer-based method for coordinating operation of hardware devices in a meeting, including: at a room control component residing on any of one or more computers connected by a network, each of the one or more computers including one or more processors, memory storing instructions, and at least one configuration repository component, wherein hardware devices are connected to the room control component: enabling one or more presenters to create a meeting configuration, each meeting configuration comprising one or more presenters' configurations of hardware devices, the meeting configuration being stored by the at least one configuration repository component, and each presenter's configuration comprising a plurality of device states for at least a subset of the hardware devices, each hardware device associated with one or more device states, each device state indicating a respective operation of an associated hardware device, a first device state of a first hardware device pointing to a second device state of a second hardware device; andfollowing creation of the meeting configuration, coordinating the operation of the hardware devices for presentation in the meeting without control by the one or more presenters based on the one or more presenters' configurations for the meeting, wherein: enabling one or more presenters to create a meeting configuration includes authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication device wrappers are configured to enable system independence from the choice of authentication devices in authenticating one of the one or more presenters; andcoordinating the operation of hardware devices includes separately authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers. 2. The computer-based method according to claim 1, further comprising coordinating the operation of software applications in support of the meeting configuration. 3. The computer-based method according to claim 1, wherein the hardware devices include at least one display machine for each room control component. 4. The computer-based method according to claim 1, wherein coordinating the operation of the hardware devices comprises enabling multiple presenters to present simultaneously. 5. The computer-based method according to claim 1, further comprising storing meeting information including meeting, room, presenter, configuration, hardware device, device state, and attribute information in one or more databases. 6. The computer-based method according to claim 5, wherein: the one or more databases comprise one of existing commercial databases, custom databases, and open source software; andthe hardware devices comprise electronic white boards, video switchers, audio switchers, and video conference devices. 7. The computer-based method according to claim 5, wherein the one or more computers include a database abstraction layer to enable system independence from the choice of database in coordinating the operation of the hardware devices based on the one or more presenters' configurations for the meeting. 8. The computer-based method according to claim 1, wherein the meeting configuration comprises location, meeting type, user preferences, and the presence of remote participants. 9. A system for coordinating the operation of hardware devices in a meeting, the system comprising: one or more computers connected by a network;at least one configuration repository component, each configuration repository component residing on any of the one or more computers;at least one room control component, each room control component residing on any of the one or more computers;hardware devices for each room control component; anda memory storing instructions executable by the one or more computers, wherein the instructions include: instructions for creating a meeting configuration by one or more presenters, the meeting configuration comprising one or more presenters' configurations of hardware devices to accommodate multiple presenters, the meeting configuration being stored by the at least one configuration repository component, and each presenter's configuration comprising a plurality of device states for at least a subset of the hardware devices, each hardware device associated with one or more device states, each device state indicating a respective operation of an associated hardware device, a first device state of a first hardware device pointing to a second device state of a second hardware device; andinstructions for, following creation of the meeting configuration, coordinating the operation of the hardware devices for presentation in the meeting without control by the one or more presenters based on the one or more presenters' configurations for the meeting, wherein: the instructions for creating a meeting by one or more presenters include instructions for authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the at least one room control component through authentication device wrappers for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication device wrappers are configured to enable system independence from the choice of authentication devices in authenticating one of the one or more presenters; andthe instructions for coordinating the operation of hardware devices include instructions for separately authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers. 10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the system coordinates the operation of software applications in support of the meeting configuration. 11. The system according to claim 9, further comprising at least one display machine for each room control component. 12. The system according to claim 9, wherein coordinating the operation of the hardware devices comprises enabling multiple presenters to present simultaneously. 13. A system according to claim 9, further comprising databases that store meeting information including meeting, room, presenter, configuration, hardware device, device state, and attribute information. 14. The system according to claim 13, wherein: the databases comprise one of existing commercial databases, custom databases, and open source software; andthe hardware devices comprise electronic white boards, video switchers, audio switchers, and video conference devices. 15. The system according to claim 13, further comprising a database abstraction layer to enable system independence from the choice of databases in coordinating the operation of the hardware devices by the room control component based on the one or more presenters' configurations for the meeting. 16. The system according to claim 9, wherein the meeting configuration comprises location, meeting type, user preferences, and the presence of remote participants. 17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors at one or more computers connected by a network, wherein the one or more computers include at least one room control component and at least one configuration repository component, and hardware devices are connected to the at least one room control component, the one or more programs comprising instructions for: enabling one or more presenters to create a meeting configuration, each meeting configuration comprising one or more presenters' configurations of hardware devices, the meeting configuration being stored by the at least one configuration repository component, and each presenter's configuration comprising a plurality of device states for at least a subset of the hardware devices, each hardware device associated with one or more device states, each device state indicating a respective operation of an associated hardware device, a first device state of a first hardware device pointing to a second device state of a second hardware device; andfollowing creation of the meeting configuration, coordinating the operation of the hardware devices for presentation in the meeting without control by the one or more presenters based on the one or more presenters' configurations for the meeting, wherein: the instructions for enabling one or more presenters to configure a meeting include instructions for authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the at least one room control component through authentication device wrappers for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication device wrappers are configured to enable system independence from the choice of authentication devices in authenticating one of the one or more presenters; andthe instructions for coordinating the operation of hardware devices includes separately authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers. 18. The computer-based method according to claim 1, wherein the enabling and the coordinating both comprise first authenticating one of the one or more presenters with authentication devices for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication devices comprise a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, and a biometric reader. 19. The computer-based method according to claim 1, wherein enabling one or more presenters to create a meeting configuration includes enabling a plurality of users to create the meeting configuration simultaneously. 20. The system according to claim 9, wherein: the instructions for enabling comprise instructions for authenticating one of the one or more presenters with authentication devices for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication devices comprise a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, and a biometric reader. 21. The system according to claim 9, wherein enabling one or more presenters to create a meeting configuration includes enabling a plurality of users to create the meeting configuration simultaneously. 22. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device state of the second hardware device points to a third device state of a third hardware device. 23. A computer-based method for coordinating operation of hardware devices in a meeting, comprising: at a room control component residing on any of one or more computers connected by a network, each of the one or more computers including one or more processors and memory storing instructions, wherein the hardware devices are connected to and coordinated via the network: enabling one or more presenters to create and store a plurality of meeting configurations of the hardware devices, each meeting configuration comprising one or more presenters' configurations of hardware devices, the meeting configurations including a first meeting and a second meeting configuration created by using inheritance from the first meeting configuration; andfollowing creation of the meeting configuration, coordinating the operation of the hardware devices for presentation in the meeting without control by the one or more presenters based on the one or more presenters' meeting configurations, wherein: enabling one or more presenters to create and store a plurality of meeting configurations includes authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication device wrappers are configured to enable system independence from the choice of authentication devices in authenticating one of the one or more presenters; andcoordinating the operation of hardware devices includes separately authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers. 24. The method of claim 23, wherein: each of the hardware devices is associated with a plurality of device states;each of the meeting configurations includes a plurality of the device states for at least a subset of the hardware devices;each of the device states has an associated record in a device state table, the device state table including a first device state object associated with a first device state and a second device state object associated with a second device state pointed to by the first device state object; andthe meeting configurations include a first meeting configuration associated with the first device state and a second meeting configuration associated with the second device state, such that the second meeting configuration is created by using inheritance from the first meeting configuration based on the second device state object pointing to the first device state object. 25. A system for coordinating the operation of hardware devices in a meeting, the system comprising: one or more computers connected by a network;at least one configuration repository component, each configuration repository component residing on any of the one or more computers;at least one room control component, each room control component residing on any of the one or more computers;one or more hardware devices for each room control component; anda memory storing instructions executable by the one or more computers, wherein the instructions include: instructions for creating a meeting configuration by one or more presenters, the meeting configurations including a first meeting and a second meeting configuration created by using inheritance from the first meeting configuration; andinstructions for, following creation of the meeting configuration, coordinating the operation of the hardware devices for presentation in the meeting without control by the one or more presenters based on the one or more presenters' configurations for the meeting, wherein: the instructions for creating a meeting configuration by one or more presenters includes instructions for authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication device wrappers are configured to enable system independence from the choice of authentication devices in authenticating one of the one or more presenters; andthe instructions for coordinating the operation of hardware devices include instructions for separately authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers. 26. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors at one or more computers connected by a network, wherein the one or more computers include at least one room control component and at least one configuration repository component, and one or more hardware devices are connected to the respective room control component, the one or more programs comprising instructions for: enabling one or more presenters to create and store a plurality of meeting configurations of the hardware devices, each meeting configuration comprising one or more presenters' configurations of hardware devices, the meeting configurations including a first meeting and a second meeting configuration created by using inheritance from the first meeting configuration; andfollowing creation of the meeting configuration, coordinating the operation of the hardware devices for presentation in the meeting without control by the one or more presenters based on the one or more presenters' meeting configurations, wherein: enabling one or more presenters to create and store a plurality of meeting configurations includes authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers for identifying the one of the one or more presenters, wherein the authentication device wrappers are configured to enable system independence from the choice of authentication devices in authenticating one of the one or more presenters; andcoordinating the operation of hardware devices includes separately authenticating one of the one or more presenters with a cell phone as an authentication device communicably connected to the room control component through authentication device wrappers.