Routing of conference participant based on caller recognition

• US 10,122,771 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2013
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Broadworth, Andrew James, Ellison, Gregory Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Zenati, Amal
• Application Number:
  US13/971,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20130336170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,904 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1409
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1076 Screening of IP real time communications, e.g. spam over Internet telephony [SPIT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5045 Selection of bridge/multipoint control unit
• 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

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for routing one or more requests to join or initiate a collaboration conference based on at least an identifier of a requesting device. In one embodiment, a telecommunications network obtains an identifier, such as the telephone number, of a device requesting to join or initiate a collaboration conference. The identifying information is then compared to a database of user accounts maintained by the network. The network may then prompt the user of the requesting device to join a particular conferencing bridge or provide particular conferencing features based on the one or more preferences associated with the user'"'"'s account. A response to the prompt may be received and then acted upon by the network to connect the requesting device to a collaboration conference and/or provide the one or more conferencing features to the requesting device.

Claims

1. A telecommunications network comprising:

at least one conference bridge; and

at least one routing device configured to;

receive a communication from a user of the telecommunications network, the communication comprising a request to access a collaboration conference;

obtain an identifier of a communication device associated with the telecommunications network and the user;

associate the identifier with an account of the user maintained by the telecommunications network, the account configured to include one or more identifiers of the user and one or more collaboration conference preferences;

identify a specific collaboration conference event based on the account and the one or more collaboration conference preferences associated with the account; and

connect the communication device to the specific collaboration conference event based on the account and the one or more collaboration conference preferences associated with the account.

2. The telecommunications network of claim 1 wherein the identifier is a telephone number associated with the communication device.

3. The telecommunications network of claim 2 wherein the at least one routing device obtains the telephone number through an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) feature of the telecommunications network.

4. The telecommunications network of claim 1 wherein the specific collaboration conference event comprises the user as a chairperson of the collaboration conference event.

5. The telecommunication network of claim 1 wherein the at least one routing device is further configured to:

transmit a first prompt to the communication device to select the specific collaboration conference event;

receive a response to the prompt from the communication device; and

in the event that the response to the prompt received from the communication device is a first type of response, transmit a second prompt to the communication device requesting entry of an access code associated with the user.

6. The telecommunications network of claim 1 wherein the identifier is a text string associated with the communication device, the text string included in a header of the communication from the user.

7. The telecommunications network of claim 1 wherein the specific collaboration conference event is further based on the one or more collaboration conference preferences included in the account of the user.

20. The telecommunications network of claim 1 wherein the at least one conference bridge or the at least one routing device executes an application configured to:

retrieve an access code number from the requester or the identity of a requesting device; and

connect the requester'"'"'s communication device based at least on the access code number or the requesting device identity.

8. A system for initiating a collaboration conference in a telecommunications network, the system comprising:

a network interface unit configured to receive a first communication from a user of a communications network to establish a collaboration conference on the network, the first communication received from a communication device associated with the communications network;

an application server in communication with the network interface unit; and

a computer-readable medium connected to the application server configured to store information and instructions that, when executed by the application server, performs the operations of;

obtaining an identifier of the first communication device associated with the communications network, the identifier comprising a telephone number of the communication device from which the request is received;

associating the identifier with an account of the user, the account configured to associate the identifier and one or more collaboration conference preferences with the user;

establishing a specific collaboration conference event based at least on the account and the one or more collaboration conference preferences associated with the account; and

connecting the communication device to the specific collaboration conference event based at least on the account and the one or more collaboration conference preferences associated with the account.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the application server obtains the telephone number through an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) feature of the communications network.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the one or more preferences includes at least one of high definition audio, high definition video, conference bridge location or a specific quality of service.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the application server further performs the operations of:

transmitting a first prompt to the communication device to select the specific collaboration conference event;

receive a response to the prompt from the communication device; and

in the event that the response to the prompt received from the communication device is a first type of response, transmit a second prompt to the communication device requesting entry of an access code associated with the user.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the application server further performs the operations of:

receiving the telephone number of the communication device from the user through a user interface; and

storing the telephone number in the account of the user as an identifier of the user.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the application server further performs the operations of:

receiving the one or more collaboration conference preferences from the user; and

storing the one or more collaboration conference preferences in the account of the user.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the application server further performs the operations of:

logging a date and time of a second communication received from the communication device, the second communication configured to request to join a particular collaboration conference event; and

storing the date and time of the second communication in the account of the user.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the application server further performs the operations of:

logging one or more collaboration conference selections received from the user through the communication device; and

storing the one or more collaboration conference selections as the one or more collaboration conference preferences in the account of the user.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the receiving the one or more collaboration conference preferences from the user operation comprises accessing a program associated with the user, the program including the one or more collaboration conference preferences.

21. The system of claim 8 wherein the application server further performs the operations of:

retrieving an access code number from the requester or the identity of a requesting device; and

connecting the requester'"'"'s communication device based at least on the access code number or the requesting device identity.

17. A method for initiating a collaboration conference in a telecommunications network comprising:

receiving a request message for access to a collaboration conference from a requester'"'"'s communication device;

obtaining an identifier of the requester'"'"'s communication device, the identifier comprising a telephone number of the requester'"'"'s communication device from which the request is received and obtained through an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) feature of the communications network;

associating the identifier with an account of the requester, the account configured to include one or more identifiers of the requester and one or more collaboration conference preferences and to associate the identifier with the requester;

initiating a specific collaboration conference event based at least on the account and the one or more collaboration conference preferences associated with the account; and

connecting the requester'"'"'s communication device to the specific collaboration conference event based at least on the account and the one or more collaboration conference preferences associated with the account.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

transmitting a first prompt to the requester'"'"'s communication device, the first prompt configured to elicit a selection of the specific collaboration conference event; and

receive a response to the prompt from the requester'"'"'s communication device.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

retrieving one or more collaboration conference preferences associated with the account of the requester; and

applying the one or more collaboration conference preferences to the specific collaboration conference event.

22. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

retrieving an access code number from the requester or the identity of a requesting device; and

connecting the requester'"'"'s communication device based at least on the access code number or the requesting device identity.