Systems And Methods For Managing The Status Of Participants Of A Tele-Networking Meeting

• US 20110075820A1
• Filed: 09/28/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lewis, John, Cenciarelli, Fulvio, Mikan, Jeffrey, McNamara, Justin
• Granted Patent: US 8,477,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/18 Comparators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5027 Dropping a party from a conference conducting a computer conference, e.g. admission detection H04L12/1822
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/564 whereby the feature is a sub-conference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/566 relating to a participants right to speak arrangements for multi-party communication with floor control, e.g. for conferences, H04L65/4038, H04L65/4046, H04L65/4053
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing the status of participants of a tele-networking meeting are disclosed. During a tele-networking meeting, a network device may monitor the talk time of each participant of the meeting. If a participant'"'"'s talk time exceeds the target talk time, the network device may prompt the chair, and the chair may take action. Action may include managing a participants status by muting, disconnecting, or spinning the participant off into a subconference. Additionally, during a tele-networking meeting, a chair may also create a subconference on network device. Thus, the chair may be able to spin off participants of a tele-networking meeting into a subconference controlled by a subchair.

Claims

1. A system for managing the status of participants of a tele-networking meeting, comprising:

a conference component configured to connect participants of a tele-networking meeting;

an identification component configured to identify the participants of a tele-networking meeting;

a managing component configured to allow a manager to control a status of the participants of a tele-networking meeting; and

,

a messaging component configured to send or receive telecommunications.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the status of the participants of a tele-networking meeting is one of active, mute, standby, listen only, subconference, and disconnected.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein telecommunications is one of voice, text, SMS, tone, email, and data.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a measuring component configured to measure a talk time of each participant.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the measuring component is configured to compare the measured talk time of each participant with a target talk time for each participant.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a storage medium configured to store information related to the tele-networking meeting;

a display configured to view the status of participants of a tele-networking meeting; and

a qualifying component for authenticating the participants of a tele-networking meeting.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the storage medium is configured to store the target talk time and/or the measured talk time of each participant.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a subconference component configured to connect a subset of the participants of a tele-networking meeting in a second tele-networking meeting.

9. A method for managing the status of participants of tele-networking meetings on a network device, comprising:

connecting participants of a tele-networking meeting;

identifying the participants of a tele-networking meeting; and

,

allowing a manager to use a network device to control a status of the participants of a tele-networking meeting.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the status of the participants of a tele-networking meeting is one of active, mute, standby, listen only, subconference, and disconnected.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

measuring a talk time of each participant of a tele-networking meeting;

storing the measured talk time of each participant;

comparing the measured talk time of each participant with a target talk time; and

,

sending telecommunications to a participant of the tele-networking meeting based on the comparing step.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein telecommunications includes one of voice, text, SMS, tone, email or data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the telecommunications are sent to a participant of the tele-networking meeting if a participant'"'"'s talk time is greater than the target talk time.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the measuring step is cumulative over a plurality of tele-networking meetings and the comparing step compares the cumulative talk time to the target talk time.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a telecommunication during the tele-networking meeting indicating a subconference is desired;

creating a subconference meeting facility, wherein entry by participants from the first tele-networking meeting is enabled;

qualifying participants for a second tele-networking meeting; and

,

admitting participants to the second tele-networking meeting based on the qualifying step.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending a telecommunication to the participants in the second tele-networking meeting to rejoin the first tele-networking meeting.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving a telecommunication indicating the participants in the subconference desire to rejoin the first tele-networking meeting.

18. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

sending a first telecommunication indicating that a participant is not needed for a first portion of the tele-networking meeting; and

,

sending a second telecommunication indicating that the participant is needed for a second portion of the tele-networking meeting; and

,

receiving an acknowledgement telecommunication as a result of sending the first telecommunication.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the acknowledgement signal indicates a preferred method for the sending of the second signal.

20. The method of claim 9, further comprising;

connecting the participant to the tele-networking meeting in a listen only status;

sending a telecommunication indicating that greater participation is desired; and

,

transitioning the participant from a listen-only status to an active status.

21. A system for managing the status of participants of a tele-networking meeting comprising:

a plurality of mobile communication devices for connecting a tele-networking meeting;

a network configured to transmit telecommunications;

a conference component configured to connect participants of a tele-networking meeting;

an identification component configured to identify the participants of a tele-networking meeting;

a managing component configured to allow a manager to control a status of the participants of a tele-networking meeting;

a messaging component configured to send or receive telecommunications; and

,

a storage medium configured to store information related to the tele-networking meeting.

22. The system of claim 22, further comprising a measuring component configured to measure the talk time of a participant of a tele-networking meeting.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein telecommunications is voice, text, SMS, tone, email, or data.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the status of the participants of a tele-networking meeting comprises active, mute, standby, listen only, subconference, or disconnected.