System and method for providing reservationless conferencing

• US 20020159394A1
• Filed: 02/22/2001
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accord Telecommunications, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Accord Telecommunications, Inc.
• Inventors: Decker, Eran, Boneh, Rami
• Granted Patent: US 7,085,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• 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 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1106 Call signalling protocols; H.323 and related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5054 Meet-me conference, i.e. participants dial-in
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42161 via computer interface
• 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 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

A video teleconferencing method for providing reservationless conferencing. The method involves creating a conference profile identifying selected connection parameters; allocating a dial-in number; notifying participants of the dial-in number; detecting a call from a requesting participant; determining if sufficient resources for the participant are available; and connecting the requesting participant into the reservationless conference. Additionally, the video teleconferencing method allows the conference time to be automatically extended. This is done using timers and reallocating available resources when the original end of conference time arrives. The method also enables the conference to automatically terminate after all conference participants leave the conference.

Claims

1. A method for providing reservationless conferences for a plurality of participants, the method comprising the steps of:

creating a conference profile, the conference profile identifying selected connection parameters; and

for each participant of the plurality of participants requesting connection to the reservationless conference;

detecting a call in from the requesting participant;

determining if sufficient resources for the requesting participant are available; and

connecting the requesting participant into the reservationless conference.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

allocating a dial-in number; and

notifying each of the plurality of participants of the dial-in number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference profile includes a field that identifies a type of multi-point control unit to be used in the reservationless conference.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference profile includes maximum bit rate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference profile includes a field that identifies whether transcoding will be used during the reservationless conference.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference profile identifies a preferred video layout.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the dial-in number is assigned from a range of dial-in numbers allocated to a conference controlling entity.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the participants are notified of the dial-in number via a telephone call.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the participants are notified of the dial-in number via email.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the conference profile includes the allocated dial-in number and the call from the requesting participant is detected when a call is received on a dial-in number that matches the number associated with the conference profile.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a conference controlling entity maintains and monitors the resources available for a variety of conferences and the step of determining if sufficient resources for the participant are available further comprises the steps of:

comparing the resources needed for the conference with the resources identified as available by the conferencing entity.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of connecting the requesting participant into the reservationless conference further comprises the step of:

connecting to a terminal using bandwidth on demand interoperability group.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

automatically detecting a connecting terminal associated with a conference participant; and

automatically detecting the parameters of the connecting terminal.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of automatically detecting a connecting terminal associated with a conference participant determines the connection rate for the connecting terminal and the terminal type for the connecting terminal.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of automatically detecting a connecting terminal associated with a conference participant is performed using bandwidth on demand interoperability group.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of automatically detecting a connecting terminal associated with a conference participant is performed using H.221 negotiation mode.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of automatically detecting a connecting terminal associated with a conference participant is performed by detecting a call on a dial-in number associated with the conference participant.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the resources include audio codecs and video codecs.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

stopping the first timer if a participant connects to the conference.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the first and second timers are the same timer.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

resetting the second timer if a participant joins the conference after the second timer is set.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

setting a third timer to a third timer duration when a first participant joins the conference prior to the expiration of the first timer; and

terminating the conference if the third timer expires prior to a second conference participant joining the conference.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:

providing a warning indication prior to terminating the conference.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the warning indication is an audio tone.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the warning indication is a video indication.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the warning indication is an audio indication.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the second timer duration is less than the first timer duration.

19. A method for automatically terminating a conference, comprising the steps of:

setting a first timer to a first timer duration at the beginning of the conference;

if the first timer expires prior to at least two participants joining into the conference, terminating the conference;

after all participants exit the conference, initialize setting a second timer to a second timer duration;

starting the second timer; and

if the second timer expires prior to any participants joining into the conference, terminating the conference.

24. A method for automatically terminating a conference, comprising the steps of:

setting a first timer to a first timer duration at the beginning of the conference;

if the first timer expires prior to any participants joining into the conference, terminating the conference;

after all participants exit the conference, initialize setting a second timer to a second timer duration;

starting the second timer; and

if the second timer expires prior to any participants joining into the conference, terminating the conference.

25. A method for automatically extending the duration of a conference, comprising the steps of:

setting a first timer to a first timer duration at the beginning of the conference;

setting a second timer to a second timer duration at the beginning of the conference;

if the second timer expires and sufficient resources are available to continue the conference, resetting the first timer to a third timer duration and resetting the second timer to a fourth timer duration; and

if the first timer expires, terminating the conference.

31. A system for reservationless conferencing, comprising:

a plurality of multimedia terminals, each terminal being operated by at least one of the plurality of participants; and

a conference control entity in communication with the plurality of multimedia terminals for;

automatically detecting a call from a requesting participant to a conference;

determining if sufficient resources for the participant are available; and

connecting the requesting participant into a reservationless conference.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the conference control entity is a multipoint control unit.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein one or more of the plurality of multimedia terminals conform to the H.320 standard.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein one or more of the plurality of multimedia terminals conform to the H.321 standard.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein one or more of the plurality of multimedia terminals conform to the H.323 standard.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the resources include audio codecs.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the resources include video codecs.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the web server is communicatively coupled to the conference control entity through the Internet.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the web server is communicatively coupled to the conference control entity through an intranet.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein the conference control entity is a multi point control unit.

42. The system of claim 38, wherein one or more of the plurality of multimedia terminals conform to the H.320 standard.

43. The system of claim 31, wherein one or more of the plurality of multimedia terminals conform to the H.321 standard.

44. The system of claim 31, wherein one or more of the plurality of multimedia terminals conform to the H.323 standard.

38. A system for providing reservationless conferencing to a plurality of participants, the system comprising;

a plurality of multimedia terminals, each terminal being operated by at least one of the plurality of participants;

a conference control entity;

a customer administrator including a communication program and being communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of terminals; and

a web server communicatively coupled to the conference control entity through a first connection and communicatively coupled to the customer administrator through a second connection;

the web server being operative to;

receive a request from a participant to initiate the conference;

determine if sufficient resources for the participant are available; and

connect the participant into a reservationless conference.