METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONNECTING TO CONFERENCE CALLS

• US 20080167056A1
• Filed: 01/10/2007
• Published: 07/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Morgan, Fabian F., Gilzean, Candice B., Rhodes, Michael Eric, Gregory, Gahlya
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The invention enhances mobile device software such that upon receipt of a specially formatted SMS message, the software can automatically dial a telephone number that was specified in the message after a configurable timed interval. A further enhancement comprises improvements to the integration between collaboration software (such as Lotus Notes) and mobile device software to enable employees to utilize this invention for connecting to conference calls. An additional enhancement comprises interfacing with a travel reservation system to detect when the user may want such an enhanced SMS message.

Claims

1. A method for automatically connecting users to conference calls comprising the steps of:

receiving user travel, meeting and notification information at a storage location;

establishing a connection between a user mobile electronic device and an SMS center;

monitoring user activity based on the received user information;

when a change in user activity is detected, determining whether the change necessitates notifying the user; and

modifying user information in the storage location, based on the detected change in user activity, when the user desires to change notification information and returning to said monitoring step.

2. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising before said connection establishing step, the step of performing a test message connection between a user mobile electronic device and an SMS center.

3. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising after said monitoring step, the step detecting a scheduled conference received for a user and notifying the user via SMS message of the conference.

4. The method as described in claim 3 wherein the user notification could be at a predetermined time interval prior to the scheduled conference.

5. The method as described in claim 2 further comprising after said change detection step, the step of notifying the user via an SMS message to determine whether the user wants to change existing notification information, when there is a determination that the change necessitates notifying the user.

6. The method as described in claim 3 wherein the notification of the user step further comprises the step of automatically connecting the user to a previously scheduled conference.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said monitoring step further comprises monitoring an online travel center for changes in a users activities that could affect the user'"'"'s current meeting schedule.

8. The method as described in claim 3 wherein the notification of the user step further comprises the step of transmitting to the user via a text message a number to call to connect to the conference, the transmitted number bring included as part of the text message.

9. The method as described in claim 3 further comprising following a user notification step, a step at the user device of detecting multiple simultaneously received incoming messages for the user and informing the user of the existence of multiple incoming messages.

10. The method as described in claim 3 further comprising following a user notification step, the steps of:

detecting at the time of the detecting incoming message, whether the user is currently using their receiving device;

informing the user to inform the user that an SMS message for a meeting is waiting; and

prompting the user to decide whether did not want to connect to the call or whether they wanted to connect at a later time.

11. The method as described in claim 3 wherein the user has received a message automatically connecting the user to a previously arranged meeting, the step of canceling an incoming text message call before the call connects to the user.

12. The method as descried in claim 3 further comprising after said notification step, the step of reading a conference telephone number from the SMS text message and connecting to a scheduled conference by calling the read conference telephone number from the text message.

13. A system for automatically connecting to conference call users comprising:

a mobile electronic device capable of receiving SMS messages, said mobile electronic device having an icon to notify user of an incoming message related to a previously scheduled event;

an SMS message system capable of connecting to said mobile electronic device, said SMS system capable of storing information related to a user'"'"'s activities;

a software module in said SMS message system capable of identifying incoming user activities, generating a notification message and transmitting the notification message to the user; and

a travel center system connectable to said SMS message system, said travel center system having information about travel activities of a user, such that said travel center system information can be accessed to determine whether there is a change to any previously identified user activities.

14. The system as described in claim 13 further comprising a software module in the user mobile electronic device capable of identifying a number from the text of a message and connecting to the identified number from the text.

15. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the icon in user'"'"'s mobile electronic comprises a differentiated icon that alerts the user that an incoming message is an enhanced reminder.

16. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the icon in user'"'"'s mobile electronic is a differentiated icon to provide a number next to it in the event the mobile device received multiples enhanced reminders at the same time.

17. A computer program product in a computer readable storage medium for automatically connecting users to conference calls comprising:

instructions for receiving user travel, meeting and notification information at a storage location;

instructions for establishing a connection between a user mobile electronic device and an SMS center;

instructions for monitoring user activity based on the received user information;

when a change in user activity is detected, instructions for determining whether the change necessitates notifying the user; and

instructions for modifying user information in the storage location, based on the detected change in user activity, when the user desires to change notification information and returning to said monitoring activity.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 17 further comprising after said monitoring instructions:

instructions for detecting a scheduled conference received for a user;

instructions for notifying the user via SMS message of the conference; and

instructions for automatically connecting the user to a previously scheduled conference.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 17 further comprising after said monitoring instructions:

instructions for detecting a scheduled conference received for a user;

instructions for notifying the user via SMS message of the conference by transmitting to the user via a text message a number to call to connect to the conference, the transmitted number bring included as part of the text message.

20. The computer program product as described in claim 17 further comprising after said monitoring instructions:

instructions for detecting a scheduled conference received for a user;

instructions for notifying the user via SMS message of the conference; and

instructions at the user device for detecting multiple simultaneously received incoming messages for the user and informing the user of the existence of multiple incoming messages.