Coordinated Invitations to a Conference Call

• US 20070274492A1
• Filed: 05/09/2006
• Published: 11/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Rose, Eileen, Baker, Albert, Block, Frederick, Schell, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,983,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2016 Call initiation by network rather than by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5054 Meet-me conference, i.e. participants dial-in
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/652 Call initiation triggered by text message
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0042 where the data service is a text-based messaging service H04M7/0054 takes precedence
• 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

Abstract

A technique is disclosed that enables one or more telecommunications endpoints to subscribe to a conferencing system and to be notified of one or more conferencing events. As part of the conferencing system of the illustrative embodiment, a conference invitation server maintains information on all of the conferences that are scheduled to occur on the conferencing system, including (i) the addresses of the identified participants for each call and (ii) the conference identifier that the server generates for each call. When a conference call is going to begin, the server sends out notifications to all endpoints that are subscribed to the conference. If there are participants who are not subscribed to the conference, then alternative mechanisms for notifying participants can be used. Each subscribed endpoint then transmits a request to join the conference—either via user interaction or automatically—providing the conference identifier as part of the join request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting, from a telecommunications endpoint, a first request to be notified of at least one event in a first set of events, wherein said at least one event comprises a first telecommunications session, and wherein said first request is transmitted in accordance with the Session Initiation Protocol;

receiving a first notification of said at least one event, wherein said first notification comprises information about said first telecommunications session; and

displaying at least a portion of said information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said information comprises an identifier of the conferencing server that is handling said first telecommunications session.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said information comprises a displayable text message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said telecommunications endpoint transmits said first request to a global uniform resource identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting, after the receiving of said first notification, a second request to set up said first telecommunications session to involve said telecommunications endpoint.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising receiving a signal from the end user of said telecommunications endpoint, wherein the transmitting of said second request is based on said signal.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said first set of events is of all of the scheduled conference calls for which the end user of said telecommunications endpoint has been identified as a participant.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said first set of events is of all of the scheduled conference calls that are to start within a time interval that has been specified by the end user of said telecommunications endpoint.

9. A method comprising:

transmitting, from a telecommunications endpoint, a first request to be notified of at least one event in a first set of events, wherein said at least one event comprises a first telecommunications session, and wherein said first request is transmitted in accordance with the Session Initiation Protocol;

receiving a first notification of said at least one event, wherein said information comprises an identifier of a conferencing server that is handling said first telecommunications session; and

transmitting, using said identifier, a second request to said conferencing server to set up said first telecommunications session to involve said telecommunications endpoint.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising receiving a signal from the end user of said telecommunications endpoint, wherein the transmitting of said second request is based on said signal.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said signal indicates joining said telecommunications endpoint to said first telecommunications session.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying at least a portion of said information.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said information comprises a displayable text message.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, from a first telecommunications endpoint, information about at least one event, wherein said at least one event comprises a first telecommunications session;

receiving, from a second telecommunications endpoint, a first request to be notified of said at least one event in a first set of events, wherein said first request is received in accordance with the Session Initiation Protocol; and

transmitting a first notification of said at least one event to said second telecommunications endpoint, wherein said first notification comprises information about said first telecommunications session.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the transmitting of said first notification is to a first public address, and wherein said the contact address of said first telecommunications endpoint is associated with said first public address

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said information about said at least one event comprises the identified participants of said first telecommunications session.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising generating an identifier of said first telecommunications session, wherein said identifier is a uniform resource identifier, and wherein said information about said first telecommunications session comprises said identifier.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said information about said at least one event comprises the scheduled start time of said first telecommunications session.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein said first request comprises a reminder interval of when said first notification is to be transmitted relative to the schedule start time of an event.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the transmitting of said first notification is based on said reminder interval.

21. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving, from a third telecommunications endpoint, a second request to be notified of said at least one event in said first set of events, wherein said second request is received in accordance with the Session Initiation Protocol.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising transmitting a second notification of said at least one event to said third telecommunications endpoint, wherein said second notification comprises information about said first telecommunications session.