Automatic voice conference actions driven by potential conferee presence

• US 20070189487A1
• Filed: 02/01/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Siemens Communications Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Maskell, Jay, Sharland, Michael, Levy, Jacqueline
• Granted Patent: US 8,718,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.10
• 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 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5009 Adding a party to an existing conference conducting a computer conference, e.g. admission detection H04L12/1822
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• 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

A presence trigger system and a service system support automatic actions on a voice conference based on the presence state of potential conferees of the voice conference. The systems may, for example, initiate contacting and joining the potential conferee to the voice conference when the potential conferee presence state indicates that the potential conferee is available. As another example, the systems may automatically notify participating conferees that the potential conferee has become available. Automatic notification allows participating conferees to concentrate on and contribute to the voice conference without the distraction of frequently checking the presence status of expected, but absent, conferees.

Claims

1. A method for initiating an action to take on behalf of a voice conference, the method comprising:

establishing a notification trigger for a potential conferee of a voice conference;

receiving a presence update for the potential conferee;

determining whether the presence update satisfies the notification trigger; and

when the presence update satisfies the notification trigger;

initiating execution of a voice conference action on the voice conference.

2. The method of claim 1, where initiating execution comprises:

initiating communication of a presence notification to a participating conferee of the voice conference.

3. The method of claim 1, where initiating execution comprises:

initiating addition of the potential conferee to the voice conference.

4. The method of claim 3, where initiating addition comprises:

communicating a join request to the potential conferee.

5. The method of claim 1, where initiating execution comprises:

initiating delivery of a prompt to a participating conferee of the voice conference whether to join the potential conferee.

6. The method of claim 5, where initiating prompting comprises:

initiating communication of a join request to a media server to deliver the prompt to the voice conference.

7. The method of claim 1, where initiating execution comprises:

sending a presence trigger notification to a voice conference service system.

8. The method of claim 1, where determining comprises:

determining whether the presence update meets a notification trigger for an availability status of the potential conferee.

9. The method of claim 1, where determining comprises:

determining whether the presence update meets a notification trigger for a media aggregation state of the potential conferee.

10. An action system for voice conferencing, the action system comprising:

a communication interface which receives a presence update for a potential conferee of a voice conference;

a memory comprising;

a notification trigger;

a notification recipient identifier;

a potential conferee identifier of the potential conferee; and

a trigger evaluation program operable to;

determine whether the presence update satisfies the notification trigger; and

initiate execution of a voice conference action on the voice conference, when the presence update satisfies the notification trigger; and

a processor coupled to the memory that executes the trigger evaluation program.

11. The action system of claim 10, where the notification recipient identifier comprises a voice conference service system identifier, and where the trigger evaluation program initiates execution by sending a presence trigger notification to a voice conference service system represented by the notification recipient identifier.

12. The action system of claim 10, where the voice conference action comprises sending a presence notification to a participating conferee of the voice conference.

13. The action system of claim 10, where the voice conference action comprises communicating a join request to the potential conferee.

14. The action system of claim 10, where the voice conference action comprises delivering a prompt to a participating conferee of the voice conference whether to join the potential conferee.

15. The action system of claim 10, where the notification trigger comprises an availability status of the potential conferee.

16. The action system of claim 10, where the notification trigger comprises a media aggregation state of the potential conferee.

17. A product comprising:

a machine readable medium;

instructions encoded on the medium which cause a processor in a processing system to;

establish a notification trigger for a voice conference and a potential conferee of the voice conference;

receive a presence update for the potential conferee;

determine whether the presence update satisfies the notification trigger; and

initiate execution of a voice conference action on the voice conference, when the presence update satisfies the notification trigger;

18. The product of claim 17, where the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive a notification request from a notification requester; and

associate a notification recipient identifier for the notification requester with the notification trigger.

19. The product of claim 18, where the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive the notification trigger from the notification requester.

20. The product of claim 19, where the notification trigger comprises an availability status of the potential conferee.

21. The product of claim 19, where the notification trigger comprises a media aggregation state of the potential conferee.

22. The product of claim 21, where the media aggregation state comprises a ‘

Voice Available’

media aggregation state.

23. The product of claim 21, where the voice conference action comprises sending a presence notification to a participating conferee of the voice conference.

24. The product of claim 21, where the voice conference action comprises communicating a join request to the potential conferee.

25. The product of claim 21, where the voice conference action comprises delivering a prompt to a participating conferee of the voice conference whether to join the potential conferee.