Method and Arrangement for Establishing a Conference Call

• US 20080139188A1
• Filed: 11/18/2005
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Pesonen, Harri, Purontaus, Jouni, Keskiniva, Arto
• Granted Patent: US 7,920,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/416
• 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 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5063 Centrally initiated conference, i.e. Conference server dials participants computer conference organisation arrangements H04L12/1818
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/20 hybrid systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0012 Details of application programming interfaces [API] for telephone networks; Arrangements which combine a telephonic communication equipment and a computer, i.e. computer telephony integration [CPI] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A method and arrangement for establishing a conference call from a mobile station in a call centre environment. A user may choose conference call participants from his mobile phone, and a client application in the mobile phone will communicate relevant parameters to the call centre server, which will then call the conference initiator and other participants via the gateway server. The calls are handed over to the gateway server, which will digitize each call to an audio and/or video stream, typically an RTP stream. The streams are relayed to a computer where the streams are combined to form a successful conference call. The conference call is then recorded to a data file on the computer, and may be sent to participants or stored to a database with relevant metadata. The network infrastructure of the telecommunications network operator need not be consulted, nor is there any need for additional hardware.

Claims

1-41. -41. (canceled)

42. A conference call method, comprising at least one mobile station (402, 442, 452, 600), at least one call centre server (410, 600), at least one computer (430, 800) and at least one gateway server (650, 700), characterised in that,

a conference call is initiated (100, 200) from at least one mobile station (402, 442, 600) by transmitting data wirelessly to at least one call centre server (410, 600),

the data that requests the conference call contains desired conference participants, and their contact information unless the call centre (410, 600) already has access to the said contact information,

the said call centre server (410, 600) calls (110, 220) at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460) via at least one gateway server (650, 700),

at least one call is established (120, 230) between at least one gateway server (650, 700) and at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460),

the said at least one call is digitised (130, 240, 300) at the said gateway server (650, 700), and at least one audio/video stream is relayed (140, 270, 310) to at least one computer (430, 800),

the said calls and/or said streams are connected at the gateway server (650, 700) and/or the computer (430, 800), thus establishing a live teleconference (150, 280) between the participants (400, 440, 460).

43. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterized in that, the said calls and/or audio and/or video streams are merged at the gateway server (650, 700), and one audio and/or video stream containing all phone calls is relayed to the computer (430, 800).

44. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterised in that, each phone call is digitised at the gateway server (650, 700) to an audio and/or video stream, and each audio/video stream is transmitted to the computer (430, 800), and audio/video streams are merged at the computer (430, 800) to form a teleconference between at least one participant (400, 440, 460).

45. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterised in that, the call centre server (410, 600) recognizes (210) the conference initiator (400), his mobile station (402) and/or client application (401).

46. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterised in that, the said computer (430, 800) is the personal computer of the said conference initiator (400).

47. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterized in that, the said call centre server (410, 600) initialises (250) the said computer (430, 800) for the gateway server (650, 700).

48. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterized in that, the call centre server (410, 600) and/or the said computer (430, 800) comprise parameters for defining the teleconference.

49. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterised in that, the said audio and/or video stream is a real time protocol (RTP) stream.

50. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterized in that, the said audio and/or video stream is recorded to a data file (320) at the computer (430, 800).

51. A method as claimed in claim 50, characterised in that, the recorded data file forms the audio and/or video minutes of the conference, and/or metadata is added to the file (330).

52. A method as claimed in claim 50, characterised in that, the recorded data file is archived (340) to a database (630, 810) and/or emailed to at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460).

53. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterized in that, the mobile station is a GSM-, GSM-data, IP-RAN-, UMTS-, WAP-, Teldesic-, Inmarsat-, Iridium-, GPRS-, CDMA-data-, WCDMA-data-, HTTP-, H.323-, SIP-, SMS-, MMS-, email-, LAN-, TCP/IP-, imode-, Globalstar- and/or WLAN-compliant mobile phone, PDA and/or a portable computer (430, 800).

54. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterized in that, the call centre server (410, 600) comprises any of the following:

database server (630), disk array (640), gateway server (650), application server (620), external phone centre (612), virtual phone (611) and/or a SIP and/or H.323 phone (610).

55. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterised in that, the gateway server (650, 700) comprises any of the following:

at least one dial in line (720), at least one dial out (720) line, at least one digital signal processor (730), gateway server software (740, 920), media recording software (750, 830).

56. A method as claimed in claim 42, characterised in that, the computer (430, 800) is a personal computer (PC), a Unix computer or an Apple Macintosh™

computer.

57. A conference call arrangement, comprising at least one mobile station (402, 442600), at least one call centre server (410, 600), at least one computer (430, 800) and at least one gateway server (650, 700), characterised in that,

a conference call is arranged to be initiated (100, 200) from at least one mobile station (402, 442, 600) by transmitting data wirelessly to at least one call centre server (410, 600),

the data that is arranged to request the conference call in arranged to contain desired conference participants, and their contact information unless the call centre (410, 600) already has access to the said contact information,

the said call centre server (410, 600) is arranged to call (110, 220) at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460) via at least one gateway server (650, 700),

at least one call is arranged to be established (120, 230) between at least one gateway server (650, 700) and at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460),

the said at least one call is arranged to be digitised (130, 240, 300) at the said gateway server (650, 700), and at least one audio and/or video stream is arranged to be relayed (140, 270, 310) to at least one computer (430, 800),

the said calls and/or said streams are arranged to be connected at the gateway server (650, 700) and/or computer (430, 800), thus being arranged to establish a live teleconference (150, 280) between at least one participants (400, 440, 460).

58. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the said calls and/or audio and/or video streams are arranged to be merged at the gateway server (650, 700), and one audio and/or video stream containing all phone calls is arranged to be relayed to the computer (430, 800).

59. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, each phone call is arranged to be digitised at the gateway server (650, 700) to an audio and/or video stream, and each audio and/or video stream is arranged to be transmitted to the computer (430, 800), and audio and/or video streams are arranged to be merged at the computer to form a teleconference between at least one participant (400, 440, 460).

60. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the call centre server (410, 600) is arranged to recognize (210) the conference initiator (400), his mobile station (402) and/or client application (401).

61. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the said computer (430, 800) is arranged as the personal computer of the said conference initiator (400).

62. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the said call centre server (410, 600) is arranged to initialise (250) the said computer (430, 800) for the gateway server (650, 700).

63. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the call centre server (410, 600) and/or the said computer (430, 800) is arranged to comprise parameters for defining the teleconference.

64. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the said audio and/or video stream is arranged as a real time protocol (RTP) stream.

65. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the said audio and/or video stream is arranged to be recorded (320) to a data file at the computer (430, 800).

66. An arrangement as claimed in claim 63, characterized in that, the recorded data file is arranged to form the audio and/or video minutes of the conference, and/or metadata is arranged to be added (330) to the file.

67. An arrangement as claimed in claim 63, characterized in that, the recorded data file is arranged to be archived (340) to a database (630, 810) and/or emailed to at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460).

68. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterized in that, the mobile station is a GSM-, GSM-data, IP-RAN-, UMTS-, WAP-, Teldesic-, Inmarsat-, Iridium-, GPRS-, CDMA-data-, WCDMA-data-, HTTP-, H.323-, SIP-, SMS-, MMS-, email-, LAN-, TCP/IP-, imode-, Globalstar- and/or WLAN-compliant mobile phone, PDA and/or a portable computer.

69. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterized in that, the call centre server (410, 600) comprises any of the following:

database server (630), disk array (640), gateway server (650), application server (620), external phone centre (612), virtual phone (611) and/or a SIP and/or H.323 phone (610).

70. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the gateway server (650, 700) comprises any of the following:

at least one dial in line (710), at least one dial out (720), at least one digital signal processor (730), gateway server software (740, 920), media recording software (750, 830).

71. An arrangement as claimed in claim 57, characterised in that, the computer (430, 800) is a personal computer (PC), a Unix computer or an Apple Macintosh™

computer.

72. A software program product comprising a software program stored on a computer readable memory unit for arranging conference calls from a mobile station (402, 442, 600) further comprising call centre server software (910), media recording software (750, 830) and gateway server software (740, 920), characterised in that,

a conference call is arranged to be initiated from at least one mobile station (402, 442, 600) by transmitting data wirelessly to at least one call centre server (410, 600),

the data that is arranged to request the conference call in arranged to contain desired conference participants, and their contact information unless the call centre (410, 600) already has access to the said contact information,

the said call centre server software (910) is arranged to receive at least one conference request from at least one mobile station (402, 442, 600),

at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460) is arranged to be called via at least one gateway server (650, 700) by the call centre server software (910) and/or the gateway server software (740, 920),

at least one call is arranged to be established between at least one gateway server (650, 700) and at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460),

the said at least one call is arranged to be digitised by the said gateway server software (740, 920), and at least one audio and/or video stream is arranged to be relayed to at least one media recording software (750, 830),

the said calls and/or said streams are arranged to be connected by the gateway server software (740, 920) and/or media recording software (750, 830), thus being arranged to establish a live teleconference (150, 280) between at least one participants (400, 440, 460).

73. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, the said calls and/or audio and/or video streams are arranged to be merged at the gateway server software (740, 920), and one audio and/or video stream containing all phone calls is arranged to be relayed to the media recording software (750, 830).

74. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, each phone call is arranged to be digitised at the gateway server software (740, 920) to an audio and/or video stream, and each audio and/or video stream is arranged to be transmitted to the media recording software (750, 830), and audio and/or video streams are arranged to be merged at the media recording software (750, 830) to form a teleconference between participants (400, 440, 460).

75. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, the call centre server software (910) is arranged to recognize the conference initiator (400), his mobile station (402) and/or client application (401).

76. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, the said media recording software (750, 830) is arranged to be installed in the personal computer (430, 800) of the said conference initiator (400).

77. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, the said call centre server software (910) is arranged to initialise the said media recording software (750, 830) for the gateway server software (740, 920).

78. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, the call centre server software (910), gateway server software (740, 920) and/or the media recording software (750, 830) are arranged to comprise parameters for defining the teleconference.

79. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, the said audio and/or video stream is arranged as a real time protocol (RTP) stream.

80. A software program product as claimed in claim 72, characterised in that, the said audio and/or video stream is arranged to be recorded to a data file by the media recording software (750, 830).

81. A software program product as claimed in claim 80, characterised in that, the recorded data file is arranged to form the audio and/or video minutes of the conference, and metadata is arranged to be added to the file.

82. A software program product as claimed in claim 80, characterized in that, the recorded data file is arranged to be archived to a database (630, 810) and/or emailed to at least one conference participant (400, 440, 460).