PARTICIPANT PROFILING IN A CONFERENCING SYSTEM

• US 20110270921A1
• Filed: 04/30/2010
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services Limited (Premiere Global Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services Limited (Premiere Global Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Jones, Boland T., Stewart, Peter, Guthrie, David Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,268,360 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1045 Proxies, e.g. for session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2038 Call context notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/655 Combination of telephone service and social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/562 where the conference facilities are distributed
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 : Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for profiling participants in a virtual conference. One embodiment is a method for profiling participants in a virtual conference. One such method comprises: a server establishing an audio conference between a first participant and a second participant via a communication network; the server presenting a conference user interface to a first computing device associated with the first participant and a second computing device associated with the second participant, the conference user interface displaying a first object identifying the first participant in association with a first audio indicator and a second object identifying the second participant in association with a second audio indicator; the server presenting, in the conference user interface, a participant profile control associated with the first participant for specifying one or more profile parameters associated with the first participant; the second participant, via the second computing device and during the audio conference: selecting the participant profile control associated with the first participant; and specifying the one or more or more profile parameters associated with the first participant; and the server storing the specified parameters from the second participant in association with a participant identifier associated with the first participant.

Claims

1. A method for profiling participants in an online conference, the method comprising:

a server establishing an audio conference between a first participant and a second participant via a communication network;

the server presenting a conference user interface to a first computing device associated with the first participant and a second computing device associated with the second participant, the conference user interface displaying a first object identifying the first participant in association with a first audio indicator and a second object identifying the second participant in association with a second audio indicator;

the server presenting, in the conference user interface, a participant profile control associated with the first participant for specifying one or more profile parameters associated with the first participant;

the second participant, via the second computing device and during the audio conference;

selecting the participant profile control associated with the first participant; and

specifying the one or more or more profile parameters associated with the first participant; and

the server storing the specified parameters from the second participant in association with a participant identifier associated with the first participant.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the server displaying the specified parameters in the first object during the audio conference.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference user interface further comprises a virtual conference location based on a simulated location view.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the specifying the one or more profile parameters associated with the first participant comprises:

specifying at least one of a name, a title, an organization, a phone number, and an email address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the specifying the one or more profile parameters associated with the first participant comprises:

specifying a social networking profile.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the specifying the one or more profile parameters associated with the first participant comprises:

initiating a search query; and

receiving the one or more profile parameters in a response to the search query.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first participant comprises an unidentified participant.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the audio conference comprises:

the first participant joining the audio conference via an incoming voice call;

the server automatically determining an originating telephone number associated with the first computing device; and

the server displaying the originating telephone number in the first object.

9. A computer system for providing an audio conference, the computer system comprising:

a conference system for establishing, via a communication network, an audio conference between a first participant operating a first computing device and a second participant operating a second computing device; and

a server configured to communicate, via the communication network, with the conference system, the first computing device, and the second computing device, the server comprising;

a processor and a memory; and

a participant profile module embodied in the memory and executed by the processor, the participant profile module comprising;

logic configured to presenting a conference user interface to the first and second computing devices, the conference user interface displaying a first object identifying the first participant in association with a first audio indicator and a second object identifying the second participant in association with a second audio indicator;

logic configured to present, in the conference user interface, a participant profile control associated with the first participant for specifying one or more profile parameters associated with the first participant; and

logic configured to receive, from the second participant via the second computing device and during the audio conference, a selection of the one or more or more profile parameters associated with the first participant.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the participant profile module further comprises:

logic configured to store the selected profile parameters from the second participant in association with a participant identifier associated with the first participant.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the participant profile module further comprises:

logic configured to display the selected profile parameters in the first object during the audio conference.

12. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the conference user interface further comprises a virtual conference location based on a simulated location view.

13. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the selected profile parameters comprise at least one of a name, a title, an organization, a phone number, and an email address.

14. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the logic configured to receive the profile parameters comprises:

logic configured to access data stored on a social networking system.

15. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the logic configured to receive the profile parameters comprises:

logic configured to initiate a search query.

16. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the first participant comprises an unidentified participant.

17. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the conference system and the server communicate via an API.

18. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the server is integrated with the conference system.