Automatic conference initiation upon all telephones for the conference being idle
First Claim
1. A method for forming a conference call upon on all station sets party to the conference call being idle, comprising the steps of:
- establishing logical links between designated station sets and a station set that is initiating the conference call by the initiating station set;
receiving first messages by the initiating station set via the logical links from each of the designated station sets where the first message defines when the sending designated station set is idle;
controlling setting up the conference call by the initiating station set upon all of the designated station sets and initiating station set being idle.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Telephone terminals provide an initiate conference feature. In response to actuation of a button, as each telephone terminal is dialed, a logical link is set up between an initiating telephone terminal and the dialed telephone terminal. Once all the terminals of the conference call are communicating with the initiating telephone terminal via logical links, the initiating telephone terminal waits until all of the other terminals are idle and then sets up a conference call that has the appropriate bandwidth for the type of conference call requested. Once a logical link has been set up to a telephone terminal, that telephone terminal lights the indicator associated with the initiate conference feature. A telephone terminal whose initiate conference indicator is lit can remove itself from the proposed conference by its own initiate conference button being actuated. Further, if two telephone terminals are engaged in a telephone call and a third telephone terminal is to be added to the call, the user of a first telephone terminal actuates the initiate conference button and dials the third telephone terminal. Once a logical link has been established to this third party, the user of the first telephone terminal rejoins the user of the second telephone terminal in the original telephone call. When the first telephone terminal detects that the third telephone terminal is idle via the logical link, a conference call is established between the three telephone terminals.
132 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for forming a conference call upon on all station sets party to the conference call being idle, comprising the steps of:
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establishing logical links between designated station sets and a station set that is initiating the conference call by the initiating station set; receiving first messages by the initiating station set via the logical links from each of the designated station sets where the first message defines when the sending designated station set is idle; controlling setting up the conference call by the initiating station set upon all of the designated station sets and initiating station set being idle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for initiating a three-way conference call during a call between an initiating station set and a second station set, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a logical link to a first station set from the initiating station set by the initiating station set upon a three-way conference call to the first station set being unanswered; returning to the call with the second station set; and automatically controlling setting up a three-way conference call with the first station set, second station set and initiating station set by the initiating station set upon receipt of a first message via the logical link from the first station set defining that the first station set is idle. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for forming a conference call upon on all station sets party to the conference call being idle, comprising:
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means for establishing logical links between designated station sets and a station set that is initiating the conference call by the initiating station set; means for receiving first messages by the initiating station set via the logical links by the initiating station set from each of the designated station sets where the first message defines when the sending designated station set is idle; means for controlling setting up the conference call by the initiating station set upon all of the designated station sets and initiating station set being idle. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for forming a three-way conference call during a call between an initiating station set and a second station set, comprising:
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means for establishing a logical link to a first station set by the initiating station set upon a three-way conference call to the first station set being unanswered; means for returning to the call with the second station set; and means in the initiating station set for automatically controlling setting up a three-way conference call with the first station set, second station set and initiating station set upon receipt of a first message via the logical link from the first station set defining that the first station set is idle. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification