Method and Apparatus for Identifying an Active Participant in a Conferencing Event

• US 20130339455A1
• Filed: 06/19/2012
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: BAJAJ, Aditya, POPA, Raluca Alina, Clemmer, Jeffrey Ronald
• Application Number:
  US13/527,094
• Publication Number:
  US 20130339455A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/41 using speaker recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

Presented are systems and methods for identifying an active participant in a conferencing event. A sound input is received from the active participant in the conferencing event at a microphone associated with an electronic device. The sound input is compared to a pre-defined voice of a particular participant, and when a match is found, the active participant is identified to be that particular participant. A message is then sent to a server indicating that the active participant has been identified. The server then provides the identity information of the active participant in the conferencing event.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a processor of an electronic device for identifying an active participant in a conferencing event, the method comprising:

receiving a sound input from the participant at a microphone associated with the electronic device;

identifying the participant by comparing the sound input to a pre-defined voice; and

sending a message to a server indicating that the participant has been identified.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined voice corresponds to only one known participant in the conferencing event.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the identity information of the participant in the conferencing event is accessible to the electronic device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the message contains information associated with the participant'"'"'s identity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the message contains a first timestamp indicating a start-time of receiving the sound input.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the message contains a second timestamp indicating an end-time of receiving the sound input.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the server manages a conference call.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a connection with the server over a communication link and sending the message in real-time.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

a microphone coupled to the processor;

a communication subsystem coupled to the processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor, the instructions being adapted to;

receive at the microphone a sound input from a participant in a conferencing event;

identify the participant in conferencing event by comparing the sound input to a pre-defined voice stored on the memory; and

send a message, via the communication subsystem, to a server indicating that the participant in the conferencing event has been identified.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the pre-defined voice corresponds to only one known participant in the conferencing event.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the identity information of the participant in the conferencing event is accessible to the electronic device.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the message contains information associated with the known person'"'"'s identity.

13. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the message contains a first timestamp indicating a start-time of receiving the sound input.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the message contains a second timestamp indicating an end-time of receiving the sound input.

15. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the server manages a conference call.

16. A method implemented by a processor of a server, the method comprising:

establishing a connection with a plurality of electronic devices, wherein each electronic device is associated with a participant in a conferencing event;

receiving a message from one of the plurality of electronic devices providing identity information of an active participant in the conferencing event; and

providing an indication of the identity information of the active participant in the conferencing event.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving compilation a plurality of messages.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the message further comprises a timestamp indicating a time when the electronic device received a sound input corresponding to a pre-defined voice associated with the active participant in the conferencing event.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the timestamp indicates a start-time and an end-time.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating a transcript of the conferencing event by converting a sound input of the conferencing event to a textual output having a plurality of sections.