System and Method for Inserting a Control System Into a Conference

• US 20130061153A1
• Filed: 09/07/2011
• Published: 03/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Hillis, Brian, Simoes, Renato P.
• Application Number:
  US13/226,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20130061153A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• 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

Abstract

A conference, such as an audio or video conference, is controlled by inserting a control sequenced application into a communication stream. A command is received at the control sequenced application from a user interface to control an aspect of the conference. For example, the command may be to mute a participant of the conference. The command is sent to a media server, which implements that command. The control sequenced application is typically inserted in between the media server and a conferencing application. In addition, the control sequenced application can be dynamically inserted into the communication stream.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a conference comprising:

inserting a control sequenced application into a communication stream;

receiving at the control sequenced application a command from a user interface to control an aspect of the conference, wherein control of the conference is accomplished by a media server; and

responsive to receiving the command from the user interface, sending a message to the media server to control the aspect of the conference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication stream is between a conferencing application and the media server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the control sequenced application passes on messages between the conferencing application and the media server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the passed on messages are Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the aspect of the conference is at least one of the following:

to mute a participant in the conference, to add a participant to the conference, to drop a participant from the conference, to whisper a prompt to a participant in the conference, and to form a new conference with a subset of existing conference participants.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the received command is an HTTP request from a web server and wherein the web server presents the user interface to an administrator of the conference.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the aspect of the conference in a database.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference is an audio or a video conference.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the control sequenced application is dynamically inserted into the communication stream.

10. A system for controlling a conference comprising:

a control sequenced application configured to insert into a communication stream, receive a command from a user interface to control an aspect of the conference, responsive to receiving the command from the user interface, send a message to a media server to control the aspect of the conference; and

the media server configured to control the conference in response to receiving the message sent from the control sequenced application to control the aspect of the conference.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the communication stream is between a conferencing application and the media server.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control sequenced application passes on messages between the conferencing application and the media server.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the passed on messages are Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the aspect of the conference is at least one of the following:

to mute a participant in the conference, to add a participant to the conference, to drop a participant from the conference, to whisper a prompt to a participant in the conference, and to form a new conference with a subset of existing conference participants.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the received command is an HTTP request from a web server and wherein the web server presents the user interface to an administrator of the conference.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the control sequenced application is further configured to store the aspect of the conference in a database.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the conference is an audio or a video conference.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the control sequenced application is dynamically inserted into the communication stream.

19. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that cause a processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

instructions to insert a control sequenced application into a communication stream;

instructions to receive at the control sequenced application a command from a user interface to control an aspect of the conference, wherein control of the conference is accomplished by a media server; and

responsive to receiving the command from the user interface, instructions to send a message to the media server to control the aspect of the conference.