Visualizing conversations across conference calls

• US 10,177,926 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2012
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Barsoba, Fernando, Britt, David T., Simmering, Andrew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Simon
• Application Number:
  US13/361,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20130195259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,535 Days
• Field of Search: 37920201, 370260, 348 1408
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• 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

Abstract

A method can include conducting a plurality of related conference calls and generating a visualization for each conference call. The visualizations can be sent to computing devices of participants of the plurality of conference calls concurrently with the plurality of conference calls.

Claims

1. A teleconference computer hardware system, comprising:

a hardware processor configured to initiate the following executable operations;

conducting a first conference call between a plurality of hardware devices connected to the teleconference computer hardware system using a network;

receiving, from a user associated with a first hardware device of the plurality of hardware devices, a request to join a second conference call that is related to the first conference call;

joining, based upon the request, the first hardware device to the second conference call;

disconnecting, in association with the joining, the first hardware device from the first conference call while still conducting the first conference call between other users of the plurality of hardware devices;

generating computer data that represents visualizations, respectively, of the first and second conference calls; and

sending, over the network and to the plurality of hardware devices, the computer data, wherein

the plurality of hardware devices are configured to generate, using the computer data, concurrent visualizations of both the first and second conference calls.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein

the request identifies the second conference call as an existing related conference call.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein

the request identifies the second conference as a breakout call to be generated.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein

a determination is made as to at least one additional participant of the breakout call, and

the breakout call is generated, after the request is received, between the first hardware device and the at least one additional participant.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein

the respective visualizations of the first and second conference calls represent conversations taking place in the first and second conference calls.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein

the respective visualizations of the first and second conference calls includes text representations of the first and second conference calls.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein

an attribute of the first user is determined;

a recommendation is made, to the first user and based upon the attribute, as to a related conference call to join.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein

the recommendation is based upon a comparison of the attribute to visualizations for related conference calls.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein

the first user is automatically joined to the related conference call based upon the recommendation.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein

the teleconference computer hardware system provides, to the first user, the computer data that represents visualizations of the first and second conference calls without the first user joining audio portions of either the first and second conference calls.

11. A computer program product, comprising:

a hardware storage device having computer readable program code stored therein,

the computer readable program code, which when executed by a teleconference computer hardware system, causes the teleconference computer hardware system to perform;

conducting a first conference call between a plurality of hardware devices connected to the teleconference computer hardware system using a network;

receiving, from a user associated with a first hardware device of the plurality of hardware devices, a request to join a second conference call that is related to the first conference call;

joining, based upon the request, the first hardware device to the second conference call;

disconnecting, in association with the joining, the first hardware device from the first conference call while still conducting the first conference call between other users of the plurality of hardware devices;

generating computer data that represents visualizations, respectively, of the first and second conference calls; and

sending, over the network and to the plurality of hardware devices, the computer data, wherein

the plurality of hardware devices are configured to generate, using the computer data, concurrent visualizations of both the first and second conference calls.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein

the request identifies the second conference call as an existing related conference call.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein

the request identifies the second conference as a breakout call to be generated.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein

a determination is made as to at least one additional participant of the breakout call, and

the breakout call is generated, after the request is received, between the first hardware device and the at least one additional participant.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein

the respective visualizations of the first and second conference calls represent conversations taking place in the first and second conference calls.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein

the respective visualizations of the first and second conference calls includes text representations of the first and second conference calls.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein

an attribute of the first user is determined;

a recommendation is made, to the first user and based upon the attribute, as to a related conference call to join.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein

the recommendation is based upon a comparison of the attribute to visualizations for related conference calls.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein

the first user is automatically joined to the related conference call based upon the recommendation.

20. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein

the teleconference computer hardware system provides, to the first user, the computer data that represents visualizations of the first and second conference calls without the first user joining audio portions of either the first and second conference calls.