ACCESSING A CALENDAR SERVER TO FACILITATE INITIATION OF A SCHEDULED CALL

• US 20110135079A1
• Filed: 02/15/2011
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Prabhune, Satyavrat A., Shah, Krutarth M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,767,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• 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: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/432 Arrangements for calling a subscriber at a specific time, e.g. morning call service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems

Abstract

A conference control server accesses a calendar server in order to identify calls scheduled by an organizer and to facilitate initiation of the calls at the scheduled time. A method for integrating the calendar server and the conference control server includes identifying a plurality of resources, which each have a resource identifier, and registering to receive notifications of updates to those resources. If update notifications are received, the conference control server determines meeting information for a scheduled conference indicated by the update notifications. The conference control server may also provide a portion of the meeting information to a resource identified by the meeting information.

Claims

1. A method for integrating a calendar server and a conference control server comprising:

identifying a plurality of conferencing resources, each of the conferencing resources having an associated resource identifier;

for each of the conferencing resources, registering with a calendar server using the associated resource identifier to request notifications of updates to a calendar associated with the resource identifier;

receiving a first update notification from the calendar server, the first update notification indicating a first one of the resource identifiers;

receiving a second update notification from the calendar server, the second update notification indicating a second one of the resource identifiers;

determining meeting information for a scheduled call indicated by the first update notification and the second update notification, the meeting information comprising a scheduled time and identifying a first one of the conferencing resources associated with the first resource identifier and a second one of the conferencing resources associated with the second resource identifier, the meeting information further comprising a contact identifier for the second conferencing resource; and

providing at least a portion of the meeting information to the first conferencing resource, the portion comprising the scheduled time and the contact identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the meeting information comprises:

sending a first query to the calendar server in response to receiving the first update notification, the query specifying the first resource identifier and a time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the first resource identifier;

sending a second query to the calendar server in response to receiving the second update notification, the query specifying the second resource identifier and a second time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the second resource identifier;

receiving a first response to the first query, the first response including a meeting identifier, the scheduled time, and the first resource identifier; and

receiving a second response to the second query, the second response including the meeting identifier, the scheduled time, and the second resource identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third update notification from the calendar server, the third update notification indicating the first resource identifier;

sending a query to the calendar server in response to receiving the third update notification, the query specifying the first resource identifier and a time period and requesting updates to the calendar associated with the first resource identifier;

receiving a response to the query;

determining whether the response includes a meeting identifier associated with the scheduled call; and

if the response does not include the meeting identifier, deleting meeting information associated with the scheduled call from a meeting database.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the time period is selected to request the updates to the calendar made since a previous query was sent to the calendar server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third update notification from the calendar server, the third update notification indicating the first resource identifier;

sending a query to the calendar server in response to receiving the third update notification, the query specifying the first resource identifier and a time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the first resource identifier;

receiving a response to the query;

determining that the response does not include a meeting identifier associated with any scheduled call;

determining one or more meeting identifiers from a meeting database, the meeting identifiers each identifying a scheduled call; and

for each of the meeting identifiers;

sending a second query specifying the meeting identifier to the calendar server;

receiving a second response to the second query;

determining whether the second response indicates that the calendar server has meeting information corresponding to the scheduled call indicated by the meeting identifier; and

if the calendar server does not have the meeting information, identifying the scheduled call corresponding to the meeting identifier as a deleted meeting.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the meeting information in a meeting database; and

periodically synchronizing with the calendar server in order to verify that the meeting database contains accurate meeting information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the meeting information further comprises an organizer and a subject, the method further comprising:

determining whether the scheduled call can be initiated given the meeting information; and

notifying the organizer of the determination.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact identifier is a fully qualified number.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the calendar server comprises MICROSOFT EXCHANGE.

10. Logic for integrating a calendar server and a conference control server, the logic encoded in media and operable when executed to:

identify a plurality of conferencing resources, each of the conferencing resources having an associated resource identifier;

for each of the conferencing resources, register with a calendar server using the associated resource identifier to request notifications of updates to a calendar associated with the resource identifier;

receive a first update notification from the calendar server, the first update notification indicating a first one of the resource identifiers;

receive a second update notification from the calendar server, the second update notification indicating a second one of the resource identifiers;

determine meeting information for a scheduled call indicated by the first update notification and the second update notification, the meeting information comprising a scheduled time and identifying a first one of the conferencing resources associated with the first resource identifier and a second one of the conferencing resources associated with the second resource identifier, the meeting information further comprising a contact identifier for the second conferencing resource; and

provide at least a portion of the meeting information to the first conferencing resource, the portion comprising the scheduled time and the contact identifier.

11. The logic of claim 10, wherein determining the meeting information comprises:

sending a first query to the calendar server in response to receiving the first update notification, the query specifying the first resource identifier and a time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the first resource identifier;

sending a second query to the calendar server in response to receiving the second update notification, the query specifying the second resource identifier and a second time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the second resource identifier;

receiving a first response to the first query, the first response including a meeting identifier, the scheduled time, and the first resource identifier; and

receiving a second response to the second query, the second response including the meeting identifier, the scheduled time, and the second resource identifier.

12. The logic of claim 10, further operable to:

receive a third update notification from the calendar server, the third update notification indicating the first resource identifier;

send a query to the calendar server in response to receiving the third update notification, the query specifying the first resource identifier and a time period and requesting updates to the calendar associated with the first resource identifier;

receive a response to the query;

determine whether the response includes a meeting identifier associated with the scheduled call; and

if the response does not include the meeting identifier, delete meeting information associated with the scheduled call from a meeting database.

13. The logic of claim 12, wherein the time period is selected to request the updates to the calendar made since a previous query was sent to the calendar server.

14. The logic of claim 10, further operable to:

receive a third update notification from the calendar server, the third update notification indicating the first resource identifier;

send a query to the calendar server in response to receiving the third update notification, the query specifying the first resource identifier and a time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the first resource identifier;

receive a response to the query;

determine that the response does not include a meeting identifier associated with any scheduled call;

determine one or more meeting identifiers from a meeting database, the meeting identifiers each identifying a scheduled call; and

for each of the meeting identifiers;

send a second query specifying the meeting identifier to the calendar server;

receive a second response to the second query;

determine whether the second response indicates that the calendar server has meeting information corresponding to the scheduled call indicated by the meeting identifier; and

if the calendar server does not have the meeting information, identify the scheduled call corresponding to the meeting identifier as a deleted meeting.

15. The logic of claim 10, further operable to:

store the meeting information in a meeting database; and

periodically synchronize with the calendar server in order to verify that the meeting database contains accurate meeting information.

16. The logic of claim 10, wherein the meeting information further comprises an organizer and a subject, the logic further operable to:

determine whether the scheduled call can be initiated given the meeting information; and

notify the organizer of the determination.

17. The logic of claim 10, wherein the contact identifier is a fully qualified number.

18. The logic of claim 10, wherein the calendar server comprises MICROSOFT EXCHANGE.

19. A device for integrating a calendar server and a conference control server comprising:

a calendar adapter operable to;

identify a plurality of conferencing resources, each of the conferencing resources having an associated resource identifier;

for each of the conferencing resources, register with a calendar server using the associated resource identifier to request notifications of updates to a calendar associated with the resource identifier;

receive a first update notification from the calendar server, the first update notification indicating a first one of the resource identifiers; and

receive a second update notification from the calendar server, the second update notification indicating a second one of the resource identifiers;

a conference controller operable to determine meeting information for a scheduled call indicated by the first update notification and the second update notification, the meeting information comprising a scheduled time and identifying a first one of the conferencing resources associated with the first resource identifier and a second one of the conferencing resources associated with the second resource identifier, the meeting information further comprising a contact identifier for the second conferencing resource;

the conference controller further operable to provide at least a portion of the meeting information to the first conferencing resource, the portion comprising the scheduled time and the contact identifier.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein determining the meeting information comprises:

sending a first query to the calendar server in response to receiving the first update notification, the query specifying the first resource identifier and a time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the first resource identifier;

sending a second query to the calendar server in response to receiving the second update notification, the query specifying the second resource identifier and a second time period and requesting the updates to the calendar associated with the second resource identifier;

receiving a first response to the first query, the first response including a meeting identifier, the scheduled time, and the first resource identifier; and

receiving a second response to the second query, the second response including the meeting identifier, the scheduled time, and the second resource identifier.