SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAMS FOR MONITORING A CONFERENCE AND COMMUNICATING WITH PARTICIPANTS WITHOUT JOINING AS A PARTICIPANT

• US 20110270936A1
• Filed: 04/01/2011
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services Limited (Premiere Global Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services Limited (Premiere Global Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: GUTHRIE, DAVID MICHAEL, MANICKAM, SRINIMUKESH, OWENS, DANIEL GARY
• Application Number:
  US13/078,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20110270936A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• 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

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for monitoring a conference and communicating with participants without joining the conference. One embodiment is a method for monitoring an audio conference without joining as a participant. One such method comprises: a client device, which is associated with an individual who has not joined an audio conference, sending a request via a communication network to a conferencing system to be notified of a predetermined event associated with the audio conference; the conferencing system determining the occurrence of the predetermined event; the conferencing system sending a notification to the client device indicating the occurrence of the predetermined event; the client device presenting the notification to the individual; without joining the audio conference, the client device sending an out-of-conference message from the individual to the conferencing system; and the conferencing system presenting the out-of-conference message to one or more participants in the audio conference.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring an audio conference without joining as a participant, the method comprising:

a client device, which is associated with an individual who has not joined an audio conference, sending a request via a communication network to a conferencing system to be notified of a predetermined event associated with the audio conference;

the conferencing system determining the occurrence of the predetermined event;

the conferencing system sending a notification to the client device indicating the occurrence of the predetermined event;

the client device presenting the notification to the individual;

without joining the audio conference, the client device sending an out-of-conference message from the individual to the conferencing system; and

the conferencing system presenting the out-of-conference message to one or more participants in the audio conference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined event comprises one or more of the participants joining the audio conference.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the conferencing system determining the occurrence of the predetermined event occurs comprises:

the conferencing system determining a current number of participants in the audio conference.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device sending the request to the conferencing system comprises:

the client device polling the conferencing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device presenting the notification comprises:

the client device prompting a host to join the audio conference.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the individual comprises a host associated with the audio conference.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is presented with a prompt for one or more of the following actions:

join the audio conference; and

compose the out-of-conference message.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the conferencing system receiving a reply to the out-of-conference message from one or more of the participants; and

the conferencing system sending the reply to the individual without joining the audio conference.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device sending the request to the conferencing system comprises:

initiating a conference notification application on the client device; and

accessing an application program interface associated with the conferencing system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the conference notification application comprises a desktop notification application associated with an operating system.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the conferencing system sending the notification to the client device comprises sending one of a text message or an email message.

11. A computer system for monitoring an online conference without joining as a participant, the computer system comprising:

a conference platform for providing an online conference to a plurality of participants via a communication network; and

a client device operated by a nonparticipant of the online conference, the client device comprising;

a processor and a memory; and

a conferencing notification application embodied in the memory and executed by the processor, the conferencing notification application comprising;

logic configured to send a request to the conference platform to be notified of a predetermined event associated with the online conference without joining the online conference;

logic configured to receive a notification from the conference platform when the predetermined event occurs; and

logic configured to enable the nonparticipant to send a message to one or more of the participants without joining the online conference.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined event comprises one or more of the following:

one or more of the participants joining an audio conference;

a predetermined participant joining the audio conference;

a predetermined number of participants joining the audio conference; and

an incoming out-of-conference message from one of the participants.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the logic configured to send the request to the conference platform comprises:

logic configured to poll the conference platform.

14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the conference notification application further comprises:

logic configured to display the notification to the nonparticipant and prompt the nonparticipant to join an audio conference.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the conference notification application comprises a desktop notification application.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the conference notification application further comprises:

logic configured to receive a reply to the message from the conference platform without joining the online conference.

17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the conference notification application communicates with the conference platform via an application program interface.

21. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the conference platform is configured to send the notification to the nonparticipant via one of a text message or an email message when the conferencing notification application is not active on the client device.

18. A desktop notification computer program embodied in a computer readable medium and executed by a processor for monitoring a conference and providing notifications to a graphical user interface associated with a desktop, the desktop notification computer program comprising:

logic configured to send a request to a conference platform to be notified of an occurrence of an event associated with a conference without a user joining as a participant;

logic configured to receive a notification from the conference platform when the predetermined event occurs; and

logic configured to send an out-of-conference message to one or more participants in the audio conference without joining the conference.

19. The desktop notification computer program of claim 18, wherein the logic configured to send the out-of-conference message comprises:

logic configured to receive an identity of at least one of the participants from the conferencing system; and

logic configured to send the out-of-conference message to the at least one of the participants via one of a social networking channel, an instant message, and an email message.

20. The desktop notification computer program of claim 19, wherein the out-of-conference message is delivered via the conferencing system and presented via a conference user interface to the participants.

23. A method for monitoring an audio conference without joining as a participant, the method comprising:

a conferencing system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants accessing the conferencing system via a computing device;

the conferencing system determining that a conference notification application associated with an individual who has not joined the audio conference is not currently active on a computing device;

the conferencing system determining an occurrence of a predetermined event associated with the audio conference; and

if the conference notification application is not currently active and the individual has not joined the audio conference, the conferencing system sending one of a text message or an email message to the individual indicating the occurrence of the predetermined event.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the predetermined event comprises one or more of the following:

one or more of the participants joining the audio conference;

a predetermined participant joining the audio conference;

a predetermined number of participants joining the audio conference; and

an incoming out-of-conference message from one of the participants.