Systems and methods for videoconference and/or data collaboration initiation

• US 20040239754A1
• Filed: 03/16/2004
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ClearOne Communications Hong Kong, Ltd. (Clearone Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Emblaze-VCON Ltd. (Clearone Incorporated)
• Inventors: Winter, Isac, Shachar, Yair, Menczel, Yaron
• Granted Patent: US 7,283,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.08
• 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 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4046 with distributed floor control
• 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: H04N 7/148 Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

Systems and methods to accept information regarding audio communication sessions (e.g, telephone calls) and, in response, initiate a videoconference and/or data collaboration session via for example data collaboration terminals associated with the audio terminals used for the audio communication sessions. The videoconferences and/or data collaboration sessions may be initiated using for example a voice call or session, for example, by using DTMF, SMS, SVD etc. The information required for the initiation of a videoconference or data collaboration session may for example be transmitted between user terminals, a centralized database may be used, or other methods may be used.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accepting information regarding an audio communication session among a set of audio communication terminals, wherein each of a subset of the audio communication terminals is associated with a data collaboration terminal; and

initiating a data collaboration session for an associated data collaboration terminal, using an audio communication terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of initiating a data collaboration session includes at least the step of sending a data collaboration request to the relevant data collaboration terminal.

3. The method of claim 2 comprising embedding said data collaboration request within a PSTN call.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said data collaboration request is implemented using DTMF.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising at least partially silencing said DTMF data collaboration request.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein said data collaboration request is implemented using SMS.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of accepting information regarding an audio communication session includes at least accepting from a telephony network the addresses of the set of audio communication terminals.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising determining which of the set of audio communication terminals is registered in a database, wherein a data collaboration session is initiated if at least one of the audio communication terminals is registered in the database.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising, for each of the audio communication terminals, cross referencing the address of the audio communication terminal with the address of a data collaboration terminal.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising, after a data collaboration session is established, inserting a delay in the associated audio communication session.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the information regarding an audio communication session includes permission information.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the telephony network includes a PBX.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the data collaboration terminals communicate via an IP network.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the audio information for the data collaboration is transmitted by the audio communication session.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of initiating a data collaboration includes at least the step of altering the autoanswer mode of the relevant data collaboration terminal.

16. The method of claim 1 comprising accepting a user request for a data collaboration session.

17. The method of claim 2 wherein audio data sent from the audio communication terminals is compressed within wide band audio.

18. The method of claim 1, comprising determining whether at least two of the set of audio communication terminals are registered in a database.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the set of audio communication terminals is connected by a private branch exchange.

20. The method of claim 1, comprising inserting a delay in the audio communication session.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is sent from an audio communication terminal using Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency is silent.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is sent from an audio communication terminal using SMS.

24. A device practicing the method of claim 1.

25. A method comprising:

receiving information regarding an audio session among a plurality of audio communication devices;

for each audio communication device, determining which, if any, of a set of data collaboration terminals are associated with the audio communication device; and

initiating a data collaboration session among the data collaboration terminals associated with the audio communication devices, using an audio communication terminal.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of initiating data collaboration session includes at least transmitting a data collaboration request to a data collaboration terminal.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein information regarding an audio communication session includes at least the address of an audio communication device.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein the information regarding an audio communication session includes a telephone address.

29. The method of claim 25, comprising:

determining if an audio communication device is registered in a database; and

determining an address of an associated data collaboration terminal.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein said information is received via DTMF.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein said information is received via SMS.

32. A system comprising:

an SMS server;

a server; and

an Internet location server in communication with the SMS server and the server;

wherein when the Internet location server receives signals from the SMS server indicating that an audio session is taking place among a plurality of endpoints, the Internet location server transmits a signal to the server, and the server, upon receipt of the signal, initiates a data collaboration session between the plurality of endpoints.

33. The system of claim 32 comprising a database including data collaboration session enabled endpoints.

34. The system of claim 32 wherein the server transmits a data collaboration request to a data collaboration terminal.

35. The system of claim 32 wherein the signals indicating that an audio session is taking place include at least the address of an audio communication terminal.

36. The system of claim 32 wherein the signals indicating that an audio session is taking place include at least a telephone number.

37. The system of claim 32 wherein the server is a videoconference server.

38. The system of claim 32 wherein the endpoints include audio communication terminals which communicate via a PBX.

39. The system of claim 32 wherein the endpoints include data collaboration terminals which communicate via an IP network.

40. The system of claim 32 wherein the audio information for the data collaboration session is transmitted by the audio session.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein the audio information is transmitted by DTMF.

42. The system of claim 40 wherein the audio information is transmitted by SMS.

43. The system of claim 32 wherein the step of initiating a data collaboration session includes at least the step of altering an answer mode of the relevant endpoints.

44. The system of claim 32 wherein the audio communication detection accepts a user request for a data collaboration session.

45. A method comprising:

during an audio session between a plurality of users, receiving unique ID data from an audio communication terminal;

initiating a data collaboration session by a user, using SMS;

sending said SMS to an Internet location server;

sending an indication to an audio communication terminal to initiate a data collaboration session; and

remotely activating a data collaboration session.

46. The method of claim 45, comprising initiating a registration application, thereby associating the user'"'"'s data collaboration terminal and audio communication terminal.

47. The method of claim 45, comprising putting the audio session on hold to initiate a communication session with an SMS server.

48. The method of claim 47, comprising terminating the communication session and liberating the audio session.

49. The method of claim 45, comprising determining if there is a correlation between said ID data contained in the SMS message and the data collaboration terminal associated with the ID data.

50. The method of claim 45, comprising checking whether the data collaboration terminals are on line and ready for data communication.

51. A method comprising:

directing a voice call to a voice gateway, and to a PSTN switch;

directing the voice call to an audio conference bridge, using DTMF signals; and

initiating a video/data session between two or more users, by a multipoint conference unit.

52. The method of claim 51, comprising:

silencing said DTMF signals.

53. A device comprising:

a controller to accept information regarding an audio communication session among a set of audio communication terminals, wherein each of a subset of the audio communication terminals is associated with a data collaboration terminal; and

to initiate a data collaboration session for an associated data collaboration terminal, using an audio communication terminal.

54. The device of claim 53 wherein initiating a data collaboration session includes at least sending a data collaboration request to a relevant data collaboration terminal.

55. The device of claim 53 wherein the controller is to embed said data collaboration request within a PSTN call.

56. The device of claim 55 wherein said data collaboration request is implemented using SMS.

57. The device of claim 53 wherein the controller is to accept from a telephony network the addresses of the set of audio communication terminals.

58. The device of claim 53 wherein the controller is to determine which of the set of audio communication terminals is registered in a database, wherein a data collaboration session is initiated if at least one of the audio communication terminals is registered in the database.

59. The device of claim 53 wherein the controller is to, for each of the audio communication terminals, cross reference the address of the audio communication terminal with the address of a data collaboration terminal.

60. The device of claim 53 wherein the audio information for the data collaboration is transmitted by the audio communication session.

61. A system comprising:

a plurality of data collaboration terminals, each data collaboration terminal including videoconferencing application software and a network interface;

a voice gateway;

a PSTN switch;

and audio conference bridge; and

a multipoint conference unit to enable initiation of a data collaboration session between at least two data collaboration terminals, based on information relating to the audio sessions.