Managing participation in a teleconference by monitoring for use of an unrelated term used by a participant

• US 8,477,921 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2010
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Feng-Wei, Chen, Ying, Sivakumar, Latha, Lin, Dinah H.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAH, ANTIM G
• Application Number:
  US12/827,826
• Publication Number:
  US 20120002798A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,098 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.21, 379/202.01, 379/203.01, 379/204.01, 455/416, 370/260, 370/261, 370/262, 370/265
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems

Abstract

A computer implemented method manages participation in a teleconference. Teleconference inputs from participants of a teleconference are monitored for use of an unrelated term, which is a term that has been deemed unrelated to a topic of the teleconference. Upon determining that an errant participant is using the unrelated term in at least one of the teleconference inputs, an alert is generated to prompt the errant participant to limit future teleconference inputs to the topic of the teleconference.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method to manage participation in a teleconference, the computer implemented method comprising:

generating a hierarchical graph of terms, wherein the hierarchical graph comprises a main topic and a plurality of subtopics, wherein the main topic is directly related to a topic of a teleconference, and wherein each of the plurality of subtopics are separated from the main topic by one or more degrees of separation on the hierarchical graph;

in response to determining that a particular subtopic is more than a predetermined degree of separation from the main topic, deeming said particular subtopic as being unrelated to the topic of the teleconference;

a processor monitoring teleconference inputs from participants of a teleconference for use of an unrelated term, wherein the unrelated term is a term that has been deemed related to the particular subtopic and thus unrelated to the topic of the teleconference;

determining that an errant participant is using the unrelated term in at least one of the teleconference inputs; and

managing participation in the teleconference by generating an alert to prompt the errant participant to limit future teleconference inputs to the topic of the teleconference.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the alert to a moderator of the teleconference.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the alert to the errant participant.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the teleconference inputs from the participants are on-line text inputs.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the teleconference inputs from the participants are voice inputs.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a threshold limit for use of the unrelated term; and

generating the alert if the threshold limit is exceeded by the errant participant.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a threshold limit for use of the unrelated term; and

generating the alert if the threshold limit is exceeded by a combination of all of the participants of the teleconference.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a physical location of a remote participant to the teleconference;

receiving information about a current event at the location of the remote participant; and

displaying a message describing the current event that occurred at the location of the remote participant.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a participant profile of the errant participant; and

canceling the alert upon determining, based on information from the participant profile, that the unrelated term is related to the topic of the teleconference.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying a vernacular term being used by the errant participant in said at least one of the teleconference inputs, wherein the vernacular term is identified by the participant profile as having a definition that is different for the errant participant and a moderator of the teleconference, and wherein the vernacular term is related to the topic of the teleconference when used by participants that meet the participant profile of the errant participant.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a graph of unrelated terms based on a current event, wherein the current event is occurring during the teleconference; and

identifying the unrelated term by locating the unrelated term on the graph of unrelated terms that are based on the current event.

12. A computer system comprising:

a central processing unit; and

a memory coupled to the central processing unit, wherein the memory comprises software that, when executed, causes the central processing unit to implement;

generating a hierarchical graph of terms, wherein the hierarchical graph comprises a main topic and a plurality of subtopics, wherein the main topic is directly related to a topic of a teleconference, and wherein each of the plurality of subtopics are separated from the main topic by one or more degrees of separation on the hierarchical graph;

in response to determining that a particular subtopic is more than a predetermined degree of separation from the main topic, deeming said particular subtopic as being unrelated to the topic of the teleconference;

monitoring teleconference inputs from participants of a teleconference for use of an unrelated term, wherein the unrelated term is a term that has been deemed related to the particular subtopic and thus unrelated to the topic of the teleconference;

determining that an errant participant is using the unrelated term in at least one of the teleconference inputs; and

managing participation in the teleconference by generating an alert to prompt the errant participant to limit future teleconference inputs to the topic of the teleconference.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the teleconference inputs from the participants are voice inputs.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

presenting the alert to a moderator of the teleconference.

15. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

setting a threshold limit for use of the unrelated term; and

generating the alert if the threshold limit is exceeded by the errant participant.

16. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

setting a threshold limit for use of the unrelated term; and

generating the alert if the threshold limit is exceeded by a combination of all of the participants of the teleconference.

17. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

receiving a physical location of a remote participant to the teleconference;

receiving information about a current event at the location of the remote participant; and

displaying a message describing the current event at the location of the remote participant.

18. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

receiving a participant profile of the errant participant; and

canceling the alert upon determining, based on information from the participant profile, that the unrelated term is related to the topic of the teleconference.

19. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code to generate a hierarchical graph of terms, wherein the hierarchical graph comprises a main topic and a plurality of subtopics, wherein the main topic is directly related to a topic of a teleconference, and wherein each of the plurality of subtopics are separated from the main topic by one or more degrees of separation on the hierarchical graph;

computer readable program code to, in response to determining that a particular subtopic is more than a predetermined degree of separation from the main topic, deem said particular subtopic as being unrelated to the topic of the teleconference;

computer readable program code to monitor teleconference inputs from participants of a teleconference for use of an unrelated term, wherein the unrelated term is a term that has been deemed related to the particular subtopic and thus unrelated to the topic of the teleconference;

computer readable program code to determine that an errant participant is using the unrelated term in at least one of the teleconference inputs; and

computer readable program code to manage participation in the teleconference by generating an alert to prompt the errant participant to limit future teleconference inputs to the topic of the teleconference.