Automatic mute detection

• US 20100067680A1
• Filed: 09/15/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheung, Eric, Hanson, Karrie
• Granted Patent: US 8,311,196 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4285 Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold
• 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 system and methodology for managing a mute function muting a connection to a conference call or other communication is disclosed. The system is implemented when the mute function is activated on a line connected to a conference call through a telecommunications network. The method includes receiving a sound, determining whether the sound meets predetermined criteria and if the sound meets predetermined criteria then performing a mute status operation.

Claims

1. A method for managing a mute function muting a connection through a telecommunications network, a current status of the mute function being “

activated,”

the method comprising the steps of;

receiving a sound;

determining whether the sound meets predetermined criteria; and

if the sound meets the predetermined criteria, then performing a mute status operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the sound meets predetermined criteria comprises determining whether the sound is speech.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining whether the sound meets predetermined criteria further comprises determining whether the speech is spoken by a predetermined speaker.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the sound meets predetermined criteria comprises determining whether the sound exceeds a predetermined volume level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing a mute status operation comprises changing a status of the mute function from “

activated”

to “

deactivated.”

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing a mute status operation comprises generating a mute status notification for notifying a user that the mute has an “

activated”

status.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the mute status notification is an audio signal delivered by a CPE.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the audio signal increases in volume so long as the received sound is detected by the CPE.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the mute status notification is a message sent to a device other than the CPE.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least the determining step is performed in the telecommunications network outside a CPE.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least the determining step is performed by a CPE.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

altering the predetermined criteria based at least in part on sounds previously received by a CPE.

13. Customer premises equipment (CPE) apparatus for use in conducting communications in a network, the apparatus comprising:

a microphone for converting received sound to an electrical signal representing the received sound;

a user-activated mute function having an “

activated”

status to prevent the electrical signal from being transmitted to other users in a conference call, and a “

deactivated”

status to permit the electrical signal to be transmitted;

a processor;

a data storage unit connected to the processor and containing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine whether the user-activated mute function is “

activated;

” and

, if so, then to determine whether the electrical signal representing the received sound meets predetermined criteria; and

, if so, then to perform a mute status operation.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria include whether the sound is speech.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the mute status operation comprises changing a status of the mute function from “

activated”

to “

deactivated.”

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the mute status notification is an audio signal delivered by the CPE, the audio signal increasing in volume so long as the electrical signal representing the received sound is determined to meet the predetermined criteria.

17. A telecommunications network, comprising:

a telecommunications bridge connected through the network to a plurality of users;

a mute function associated with the telecommunications bridge, the mute function having an “

activated”

status wherein, upon receiving a mute command, the mute function prevents signals from a first user from being transmitted to other users in a conference call, the mute function further having a “

deactivated”

status to permit the signals to be transmitted;

a detector connected for receiving signals from the first user through the network when the mute function is “

activated”

for the first user, and configured for determining whether the received signals meet predetermined criteria; and

a prompter for performing a mute status operation contingent upon the received signals meeting the predetermined criteria.

18. The network of claim 17, wherein the predetermined criteria include whether the sound is speech.

19. The network of claim 17, wherein the mute status operation comprises changing a status of the mute function from “

activated”

to “

deactivated.”

20. The network of claim 17, wherein the mute status operation comprises an audio notification delivered by a CPE, the audio notification increasing in volume so long as the received signals meet predetermined criteria.