Hold Detection and Handling

• US 20110228914A1
• Filed: 03/19/2010
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Skype S.Ã R.L. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: MacDonald, Derek, Rescorla, Eric, Zourzouvillys, Theo Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,447,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/87
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1096 Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4285 Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold

Abstract

A communication system comprising: a terminal having: an interface to a network, whereby the terminal can be connected to another party on a communication session; an output for outputting a communication stream received from another party on a communication session; and a source of play-out stream independent of a communication session; and a communication controller for managing a communication session terminated at the terminal, the communication controller being configured to: a) when it detects that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session, cause play-out stream from the source of play-out stream to be directed to the output; and b) when it detects that the terminal has been taken off hold in the communication session, cause communication stream from the communication session to be directed to the output.

Claims

1. A communication system comprising:

a terminal having;

an interface to a network, whereby the terminal can be connected to another party on a communication session;

an output for outputting a communication stream received from another party on a communication session; and

a source of play-out stream independent of a communication session; and

a communication controller for managing a communication session terminated at the terminal, the communication controller being configured to;

a) when it detects that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session, cause play-out stream from the source of play-out stream to be directed to the output; and

b) when it detects that the terminal has been taken off hold in the communication session, cause communication stream from the communication session to be directed to the output.

2. A communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the communication terminal comprises memory that stores configuration settings for the source of play-out stream; and

the source of play-out stream is responsive to the configuration settings such that the content of the stream that is directed from the source of play-out stream to the output when the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session is dependent on the configuration settings.

3. A communication system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the communication terminal implements a user interface whereby the configuration settings can be set by a user local to the communication terminal.

4. A communication system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the source of play-out stream is responsive to the configuration settings in such a way as to decode one or more files specified by the configuration settings so as to form the stream that is directed to the output when the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session.

6. A communication system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the source of play-out stream is responsive to the configuration settings in such a way as to retrieve the stream that is directed to the output when the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session from a location specified by the configuration settings.

7. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication controller is configured to detect that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session by virtue of signalling messages associated with that session.

8. A communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication controller is configured to detect that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session by virtue of processing of the communication stream received from the other party on the call.

9. A communication system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the communication controller is configured to detect that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session by virtue of audio processing of the communication stream received from the other party on the call.

10. A communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication controller is configured to detect that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session by virtue of input from a user of the terminal.

11. A communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication controller is configured to detect that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session by virtue of input from a user of the terminal designating the current state of the communication stream as being associated with a hold state.

12. A communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication controller is configured to detect that the terminal has been taken off hold in a communication session by virtue of signalling messages associated with that session.

13. A communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication controller is configured to detect that the terminal has been taken off hold in a communication session by virtue of processing of the communication stream received from the other party on the session.

14. A communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the terminal comprises the communication controller.

5. A communication system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the said file or files are stored in memory of the communication terminal.

15. A data carrier storing software for execution in a communication system having a terminal comprising an interface to a network, whereby the terminal can be connected to another party on a communication session;

an output for outputting a communication stream received from another party on a voice call; and

a source of play-out stream independent of a communication session; and

a communication controller for managing a communication session terminated at the terminal;

the software being configured to cause the communication controller to;

a) when it detects that the terminal has been placed on hold in a communication session, direct play-out stream from the source of play-out stream to the output; and

b) when it detects that the terminal has been taken off hold in the communication session, direct communication stream from the communication session to the output.