Method and system for application initiated teleconferencing

• US 7,251,319 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2001
• Issued: 07/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Moore, Victor S., Celi, Joseph Jr., Jaiswal, Peeyush
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Quynh H.
• Application Number:
  US10/003,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20030091175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,084 Days
• Field of Search: 379/202.01, 370/260, 709/204, 709/205
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5009 Adding a party to an existing conference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/203 composed of PSTN and data network, e.g. the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• 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

Abstract

A method of call conferencing using a voice browser can include establishing a voice browsing session between a calling party and the voice browser, and conferencing an additional party into the voice browsing session. The conference can provide a voice communications link between the calling party and the additional party.

Claims

1. A method of call conferencing using a voice browser comprising:

establishing a voice browsing session between a calling party and the voice browser provided by a voice server that interfaces with a telephony network via a gateway;

establishing a conference to conference at least one additional party into said voice browsing session using an application level component, said conference providing a voice communications link between said calling party and said at least one additional party established via the telephony network;

providing an identifier associated with said at least one additional party from the voice browser to an additional application level component, wherein the additional application level component marks a voice data stream of the at least one additional party with the identifier for routing;

dynamically coordinating voice data streams between said calling party and said at least one additional party with the additional application level component defining a voice data stream manager using identifiers to thereby generate a single voice data stream by aggregating a voice data stream having a first identifier of said additional party with a voice data stream having a second identifier of said calling party into a single voice data stream; and

sending said single voice data stream with identifiers for processing to the voice browser, wherein the data stream manager aggregates the voice data streams by identifiers to generate the single voice data stream and selectively routes audio from the voice browser to said calling party based on the identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a conference step conferences selected ones of a plurality of additional parties into said voice browsing session and wherein the application level component is a voice markup application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a conference step comprises:

initiating an outbound call from the conferencing component to said additional party.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said establishing a conference step further comprises:

sending audio from the voice browser to said calling party and said additional party.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a conference step occurs within a VoiceXML programming environment.

6. A speech processing system comprising:

a voice browser;

a call processing system configured to establish a telephone call with a calling party, to establish another telephone call with at least one called party, and to route audio between said voice browser and each of said calling party and said at least one called party during a combined conference call and voice browsing session using identifiers that mark voice data streams for selection; and

an application level component defining a voice data stream manager for coordinating voice data streams for each of said calling party and at least one called party during the combined conference call and voice browsing session, the coordinated voice data streams being aggregated into a single voice data stream using identifiers that mark voice data streams for route selection.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said voice data stream manager further comprises a discriminator configured to discriminate between a voice data stream having a first identifier of said calling party and a voice data stream having a second identifier of said additional party from within said single voice data stream, and to selectively route at least one of said voice data streams to at least one voice browser application based on the first identifier and second identifier.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein said voice browser is configured to programmatically execute VoiceXML commands.

9. A computer-readable medium, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a computer for causing the computer to perform the steps of:

establishing a voice browsing session between a calling party and the voice browser provided by a voice server that interfaces with a telephony network via a gateway;

establishing a conference to conference at least one additional party into said voice browsing session using an application level component, said conference providing a voice communications link between said calling party and said at least one additional party established via the telephony network; and

providing an identifier associated with said at least one additional party from the voice browser to an additional application level component, wherein the additional application level component marks a voice data stream of the at least one additional party with the identifier for routing;

dynamically aggregating voice data streams between said calling party and said at least one additional party with an additional application level component defining a voice data stream manager that uses identifiers to generate a single voice data stream, and selectively routes audio from the voice browser to said calling party based on the identifiers.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein said establishing a conference step conferences selected ones of a plurality of additional parties into said voice browsing session, and wherein the application level component is a voice markup application.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein said establishing a conference step comprises:

providing an identifier associated with said additional party from the voice browser to the conferencing component; and

initiating an outbound call from the conferencing component to said additional party.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said establishing a conference step further comprises:

sending said single voice data stream for processing to the voice browser.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said establishing a conference step further comprises:

sending audio from the voice browser to said calling party and said additional party.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein said establishing a conference step occurs within a VoiceXML programming environment.