System and method for coordinating a conference using a dedicated server

• US 20020103864A1
• Filed: 12/26/2001
• Published: 08/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Polycom Incorporated (Plantronics, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rodman, Jeffrey, Pearson, Gil
• Granted Patent: US 8,126,968 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 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 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/50 Address allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• 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 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1295 Details of dual tone multiple frequency signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13034 A/D conversion, code compression/expansion
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13106 Microprocessor, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1324 Conference call
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 LAN, internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13405 Dual frequency signaling, DTMF

Abstract

A system and method are described for initiating and conducting a data conference between a plurality of conference endpoints linked in communication by a private or public computer network. A first conference endpoint then sends a conference initialization request to a dedicated conference server coupled to the computer network. Upon receipt of the conference initialization request, the conference server responsively generates a conference code uniquely identifying the conference and transmits the code to the first conference endpoint. The first conference endpoint subsequently converts the received conference code to a form (such as a string DTMF tone) which can be transmitted by in-band audio to other conference endpoints. The other participating conferencing endpoints, after receipt of the conference code, are configured to log on to the conference server using the conference code.

Claims

1. A conference endpoint, comprising:

a network interface for couple the conference endpoint to a computer network;

a data conference initiation module coupled to the network interface for transmitting a data conference initiation request to a conference server over the computer network and for receiving a data conference code generated by the conference server over the computer network.

2. The conference endpoint of claim 1 wherein the data conference initiation module is further configured for transmitting a data conference invitation to a remote device over a conference bridge, the data conference invitation including information representative of the data conference code.

3. The conference endpoint of claim 2 wherein the conference invitation comprises a string of Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) tones.

4. The conference endpoint of claim 2 wherein the conference bridge transmits in-band audio signals.

5. The conference endpoint of claim 1 wherein the data conference initiation module transmits the conference initiation request in response to a predetermined user input.

6. The conference endpoint of claim 1 wherein the data conference initiation module is further configured to transmit a conference join request to the conference server over the computer network responsive to a received conference invitation.

7. The conference endpoint of claim 1 wherein the conference code uniquely identifies the conference.

8. A method for initiating and maintaining a data conference, comprising the steps of:

transmitting a data conference initiation requesting to a conference server over a computer network;

receiving at a local conference endpoint an unique data conference code from the conference server over the computer network;

generating an audio signal representative of the conference code; and

transmitting the audio signal to at least one remote conference endpoint over a conference bridge.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of generating the audio signal further comprises generating a string of DTMF tones.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of establishing a connection between the local conference endpoint and the at least one remote conference endpoint.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the at least one remote conference endpoint responsively transmits a conference join request including the conference code to the conference server.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of maintaining a list of data conference participants at the conference server based on received data conference join requests.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of transmitting conference data from the conference server to the data conference participants.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the conference code uniquely identifies the conference.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the conference bridge transmits in-band audio signals.

17. The conferencing system of claim 14 wherein the conference bridge transmits in-band audio signals.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 16, the program being executable by a machine to perform method steps wherein the conference bridge is a telephone line.

16. A conferencing system, comprising:

a conference server coupled to a computer network for managing data conferences;

a first conference endpoint coupled to the computer network; and

a second conference endpoint having a data conference initiation module for transmitting a data conference initiation request to the conference server over the computer network, for receiving a data conference code generated by the conference server over the computer network, and for responsively transmitting a data conference invitation to the first conference endpoint over a conference bridge.

18. A machine readable medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a machine to perform method steps for coordinating a conference, the method steps comprising:

transmitting a conference initiation request to a conference server over a computer network;

receiving a conference code from the conference server in response to the conference initiating request over the computer network;

generating an audio signal representative of the conference code; and

transmitting the audio signal to at least one conference endpoint over a conference bridge.

20. A conference endpoint, comprising:

means for transmitting a conference initiation request to a conference server over a computer network;

means for receiving a conference code from the conference server in response to the conference initiating request over the computer network;

means for generating an audio signal representative of the conference code; and

means for transmitting the audio signal to at least one conference endpoint over a conference bridge.