Method for transferring control of a conference call

• US 10,003,623 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2016
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Unify GmbH & Co. KG (Atos SE)
• Inventors: Rist, Claus, Glaser, Martin, Willmann, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Maniwang, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US15/005,197
• Publication Number:
  US 20160205155A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• Field of Search: 709204, 709205
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5018 Initiating a conference during a two-party conversation, i.e. three-party-service or three-way-call computer conference organisation arrangements H04L12/1818
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4288 Notifying a called subscriber of an incoming call during an ongoing call, e.g. Call Waiting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0012 Details of application programming interfaces [API] for telephone networks; Arrangements which combine a telephonic communication equipment and a computer, i.e. computer telephony integration [CPI] arrangements

Abstract

A method for transferring control of an existing multi-participant conversation in which at least two communication terminals are connected to each other through a data connection to a conference control application can include the following steps: establishment of a virtual conference room that serves as an anchor point for the application and can be a virtual participant in the conference, switching of the conference room into the existing data connection and assignment of the master role to the conference room. A signal generated by the application can cause the switching of the conference room into the existing data connection and the assignment of the master role to the conference room.

Claims

1. A method for transferring control of an existing multi-participant conversation, in which at least two communication terminals are connected to each other through a data connection, to a conference control application, comprising the following steps:

creating of a virtual conference room that serves as an anchor point for the application and can be a virtual participant in the conversation,

switching the conference room into the data connection, and

assigning a master role to the conference room,

wherein the master role is assigned to the conference room by transferring the master role of the multi-participant conversation from one of the communication terminals to the virtual conference room with the switching of the conference room into the data connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least three communication terminals are connected to each other in the conversation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transferring of the master role of the multi-participant conversation from one of the communication terminals to the virtual conference room occurs simultaneously with the switching of the conference room into the data connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the switching of the conference room into the data connection and the assignment of the master role to the conference room occurs via a signal generated by the application that causes a switching device to perform the switching of the conference room into the data connection and the assignment of the master role to the conference room.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the switching of the conference room into the data connection and the assignment of the master role to the conference room occurs via a signal generated by a switching device running the application or communicatively connected to a device running the application.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising, before switching the conference room into the existing data connection, handing over the conference room to the communication terminal assigned the role of master of the multi-participant conversation using a service operation based on Q Signaling (QSIG) Single Step Call Transfer.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising before the conference room is switched into the existing data connection, sending a call-waiting signal for the conference room to the communication terminal of the multi-participant conversation that was assigned a master role for the multi-participant conversation in under one second.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference room is switched into the existing data connection using a service operation selected from the group consisting of Computer-Supported Telecommunications Applications (CSTA) Service Conference Call and CSTA Service Join Call.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising after assigning the master role to the conference room, adding additional communication terminals into the multi-participant conversation with node overlapping.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-participant conversation is a conference call or a video conference call.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising:

after the master role is assigned to the conference room and after the conference room is switched into the data connection, incorporating, by the conference room, additional participants into the existing multi-participant conference; and

wherein a trunk is assigned as a proxy to the conference room so that an address of the conference room remains hidden from the communication terminals of the multi-participant conference.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching of the conference room into the data connection comprises:

transferring or handing over the conference room to the communication terminal of the existing multi-participant conversation initially assigned the master role;

generating a call-waiting signal for the conference room in the communication terminal of the existing multi-participant conversation initially assigned the master role, the call-waiting signal occurring in less than one second after the transferring or handing over of the conference room; and

switching the conference room into the data connection after the transferring or handling over of the conference room to connect the conference room to all the communication terminals of the multi-participant conversation.

13. A computer-readable non-transitory storage media having executable code stored thereon that defines a method that is performed when the code is executed by a conference system device, the method comprising:

creating of a virtual conference room that serves as an anchor point for an application and can be a virtual participant in an existing multi-participant conversation in which at least two communication terminals are connected to each other through a data connection;

switching the conference room into the data connection; and

assigning a master role to the conference room, and

wherein the master role is assigned to the conference room by transferring the master role of the multi-participant conversation from one of the communication terminals to the virtual conference room with the switching of the conference room into the data connection.

14. The computer-readable non-transitory storage media of claim 13, wherein a signal generated by the application causes the switching of the conference room into the data connection and the assignment of the master role to the conference room.

15. The computer-readable non-transitory storage media of claim 13, wherein the master role is assigned to the conference room by transferring the master role of the multi-participant conversation from one of the communication terminals to the virtual conference room simultaneously with the switching of the conference room into the data connection.

16. The computer-readable non-transitory storage media of claim 15, wherein the transferring of the master role and the switching of the conference room is initiated via a signal generated by the application.

17. The computer-readable non-transitory storage media of claim 13, the method also comprising:

before the conference room is switched into the existing data connection, sending a call-waiting signal for the conference room to the communication terminal of the multi-participant conversation that was assigned a master role for the multi-participant conversation in under one second.

18. The computer-readable non-transitory storage media of claim 13, wherein the conference room is switched into the existing data connection using a service operation selected from the group consisting of CSTA Service Conference Call and CSTA Service Join Call.

19. The computer-readable non-transitory storage media of claim 13, wherein the multi-participant conversation is a conference call or a video conference call.

20. A conference system comprising:

a computer-readable non-transitory storage media and a transceiver;

the conference system configured to create a virtual conference room that serves as an anchor point for a multi-participant conversation in which at least two communication terminals are connectable to each other through a data connection;

the conference system configured to switch the conference room into the data connection; and

the conference system configured to assign a master role to the conference room such that the master role is assigned to the conference room by transferring the master role of the multi-participant conversation from one of the communication terminals to the virtual conference room via a signal generated by the system substantially simultaneously with switching of the conference room into the data connection.