METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MANAGE CONFERENCE CALLS

• US 20090220064A1
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Published: 09/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gorti, Sreenivasa, Chang, Hisao
• Granted Patent: US 8,411,835 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to manage conference calls are described. An example method of managing a conference call includes maintaining a record of participants of the conference call; enabling a first one of the participants to request an adjustment of a volume of a current speaker; and in response to a request from the first participant, adjusting an amplification setting associated with the current speaker in a preference file associated with the first participant.

Claims

1. A method of a managing a conference call, comprising:

enabling a first one of participants of the conference call to request an adjustment of a volume of a current speaker; and

in response to a request from the first participant, adjusting an amplification setting associated with the current speaker in a preference file associated with the first participant.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining an identity of the current speaker from a record including the participants of the conference call.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising conveying an audio signal based on the preference file associated with the first participant to a communication device of the first participant.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the amplification setting is integrated into a calculation of an aggregate audio signal to be conveyed to the first participant.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the amplification setting is integrated via a multiplication operation including the amplification setting and the incoming audio signal of the current speaker.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein adjusting the application setting does not affect a second participant of the conference call.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the request from the first participant is received via a web page having one or more inputs associated with the amplification setting of the current speaker.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising storing the amplification setting associated with the current speaker in the preference file for future conference calls.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising maintaining a record of participants of the conference call by tracking an identification number associated with each participant as each participant joins the conference call.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising sensing an inflection in a voice of the current speaker and visually conveying the inflection to the first participant of the conference call.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising enabling the first participant to adjust a universal amplification setting associated with the conference call.

12. A method of managing a conference call, comprising:

classifying participants of the conference call according to a priority value in a hierarchy;

detecting an attempt of a first participant and a second participant to speak at substantially a same time;

detecting which one of the first and second speakers has a lower priority ranking;

blocking an audio signal of the one of the first participant and the second participant having the lower priority ranking; and

placing an identifier associated with the one of the first and second participants in a queue.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, further comprising enabling the audio signal of a second one of the first and second participants when the one of the first and second participants is finished speaking and when the second one of the first and second participant is in a first position of the queue.

14. A method as defined in claim 12, further comprising displaying an indication of blockage to the one of the first and second participants.

15. A method as defined in claim 12, further comprising organizing the queue according to the priority values of blocked participants.

16. A method as defined in claim 12, further comprising organizing the queue according to a time at which attempted interruptions occur.

17. A method as defined in claim 12, further comprising organizing the queue according to a behavior-based policy.

18. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein organizing the queue according to the behavior-based policy comprises comparing an utterances of a current speaker to one or more keywords associated with the conference call to determine a relevancy of the utterance.

19. A method as defined in claim 18, further comprising incrementing a point total associated with the current speaker in response to determining that the utterance is substantially relevant, and decrementing the point total associated with the current speaker in response to determining that the utterance is substantially irrelevant.

20. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein organizing the queue according to the behavior-based policy comprises receiving one or more votes from one or more of the participants regarding a relevancy of an utterance spoken by a current speaker.

21. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising incrementing a point total associated with the current speaker in response to receiving one or more votes indicating that the utterance is substantially relevant, and decrementing the point total associated with the current speaker in response to receiving one or more votes from the one or more participants indicating that the utterance is substantially irrelevant.

22. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein organizing the queue according to the behavior-based policy comprises comparing a duration of speaking of a current speaker to a threshold.

23. A method as defined in claim 22, further comprising incrementing a point total associated with the current speaker in response to determining that the duration exceeds the threshold, and decrementing the point total in response to determining that the duration is equal to or greater than the threshold.

24. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein organizing the queue according to the behavior-based policy comprises incrementing a point total associated with a third participant in response to the third participant attempting to interrupt a current speaker.

25. A conference call manager, comprising;

a participant record storing identification information of a plurality of participants of a conference call and a plurality of preference settings associated with the plurality of participants;

a current speaker identifier;

an interrupt handler in communication with the current speaker identifier to determine which of two participants attempting to speak at substantially a same time is to be blocked;

a queue to receive identifiers of blocked participants; and

a user interface to enable a first participant to request an adjustment of a volume of a current speaker.

26. A conference call manager as defined in claim 25, wherein the adjustment of the volume of the current speaker is made independent of a volume of another participant as received by the first participant.

27. A conference call manager as defined in claim 25, wherein the preference settings comprise amplification settings corresponding to individual participants.

28. A conference call manager as defined in claim 25, further comprising a voice inflection detector to detect and visually convey an expression of a current speaker via the user interface.

29. A conference call manager as defined in claim 25, further comprising a queue manager to manage the queue.

30. A conference call manager as defined in claim 25, wherein the user interface comprises a warning indicator to be displayed in response to a detected attempted interruption of a higher ranked participant.

31. A conference call manager as defined in claim 25, wherein the user interface comprises a queue position indicator to inform a blocked participant of a position in the queue.

32. A conference call manager as defined in claim 25, wherein the user interface is implemented on a website hosted by a server communicatively coupled to the conference call manager.

33-42. -42. (canceled)