Methods and systems for configuring and providing conference calls
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for providing a conference call, comprising:
- creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application;
automatically configuring a conference call based on the conference call event;
identifying, without user intervention, participant users associated with the conference call event;
notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured;
contacting the participant users at the time and date of the conference call event;
providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires;
receiving responses from the participant users accepting or declining the conference call;
establishing the conference call among the accepting participant users and the subscriber user based on the received responses;
receiving, from the declining participant users, selections of one or more of the options for declining the conference call;
recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call;
converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and
recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for automatically providing conference calls are disclosed. In one aspect of the invention, methods and systems detect a conference call event that was previously configured by a subscriber user and identify participant users associated with the conference call event. Once identified, each participant user is contacted and a response is received from each of the users. Based on the received responses, a conference call is established between the participant users and the subscriber user. In one aspect of the invention, at least one of the detecting and identifying steps are performed without user intervention.
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Citations
77 Claims
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1. A method for providing a conference call, comprising:
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creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; automatically configuring a conference call based on the conference call event; identifying, without user intervention, participant users associated with the conference call event; notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured; contacting the participant users at the time and date of the conference call event; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving responses from the participant users accepting or declining the conference call; establishing the conference call among the accepting participant users and the subscriber user based on the received responses; receiving, from the declining participant users, selections of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for providing a conference call performed by a server, the method comprising:
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creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; automatically configuring the conference call based on the conference call event; identifying, without user intervention, the participant users associated with the conference call event; collecting contact information for the participant users; providing a message including the contact information to a conference server that is configured to instruct a bridge to establish the conference call by calling the participant users using the contact information included in the message; notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured; contacting each of the participant users;
providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires;receiving, from a participant user that declines the conference call, a selection of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; receiving a response message from the conference server including information associated with the conference call and at least one of the participant users; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method for participating in a conference call automatically established by at least one or more communication entity, the method comprising:
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creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; automatically scheduling a conference call at a predetermined time using the calendar application, wherein scheduling includes identifying, without user intervention, participant users that are to participate in the conference call; receiving, prior to the predetermined time, an indication that a conference call has been configured in accordance with the scheduled conference call; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving, after the predetermined time, an indication that at least one participant user has declined to join the conference call, and at least one selection of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; during the conference call, receiving an indication that another participant user has ended communications with the conference call when that participant user terminates a connection with a bridge that establishes the conference call in accordance with instructions provided by a server that executes the calendar application; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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36. A method for providing a conference call, comprising:
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receiving a message from a first server including instructions for establishing a conference call between participant users and a subscriber user that previously created a conference call event in a calendar application on a second server, wherein the second server automatically initiates configuration of the conference call by providing to the first server contact information for the participant users and the message includes the contact information; calling the participant users using the contact information included in the message; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving responses from the participant users, wherein the responses reflect whether the participant users have answered, accepted, not answered, or declined to accept the conference call, at least one of the responses including a selection of one of the options for declining the conference call; establishing a conference call between the participant users based on the response received from the participant users; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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37. A system for providing a conference call, comprising:
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a processor; means for creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; means for automatically configuring a conference call based on the conference call event; means for identifying, without user intervention, participant users associated with the conference call event; means for notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured; means for contacting the participant users at the time and date of the conference call event; means for providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; means for receiving responses from the participant users accepting or declining the conference call; means for establishing the conference call among the accepting participant users and the subscriber user based on the received responses; means for receiving, from the declining participant users, selections of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; means for recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; means for converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and means for recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call, wherein at least one of the means runs on the processor. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A server for providing a conference call, comprising:
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a processor; means for creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; means for automatically configuring a conference call based on the conference call event; means for identifying, without user intervention, the participant users associated with the conference call event; means for collecting contact information for the participant users; means for providing a message including the contact information to a conference server that is configured to instruct a bridge to establish the conference call by calling the participant users using the contact information included in the message; means for notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured; means for contacting each of the participant users; means for providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; means receiving, from a participant user that declines the conference call, a selection of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; means for receiving a response message from the conference server including information associated with the conference call and at least one of the participant users; means for recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; means for converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and means for recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call, wherein at least one of the means runs on the processor. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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71. A system for participating in a conference call automatically established by at least one communication entity, the system comprising:
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a processor for executing a program; means for creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; means for automatically scheduling a conference call for a predetermined date and time using a calendar application, wherein the means for scheduling identifies, without user intervention, participant users that are to participate in the conference call; means for receiving, on the predetermined date and prior to the predetermined time, an indication that a conference call has been configured in accordance with the scheduled conference call; means for providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; means for receiving a indication that at least one participant user has declined to join the conference call, and at least one selection of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; means for receiving, during the conference call, an indication that another participant user has ended communications with the conference call when that participant user terminates a connection with a bridge that establishes the conference call in accordance with instructions provided by a server that executes the calendar application; means for recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; means for converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and means for recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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72. A conference bridge for providing a conference call, comprising:
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a processor; means for receiving a message from a first server including instructions for establishing a conference call between participant users and a subscriber user that previously created in a calendar application on a second server, wherein the second server automatically initiates configuration of the conference call by providing to the first server contact information for the participant users and the message includes the contact information; means for calling the participant users using the contact information included in the message; means for providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; means for receiving responses from the participant users, wherein the responses reflect whether the participant users have answered, accepted, not answered, or declined to accept the conference call, at least one of the responses including a selection of one of the options for declining the conference call; means for establishing a conference call between the participant users based on the received responses; means for recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; means for converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and means for recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call, wherein at least one of the means runs on the processor.
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73. A secondary storage device or a memory including instructions for performing, when executed by a processor, a method for providing a conference call, comprising:
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creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; automatically configuring a conference call based on the conference call event; identifying, without user intervention, participant users associated with the conference call event; notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured; contacting the participant users at the time and date of the conference call event; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving responses from the participant users accepting or declining the conference call; establishing the conference call among the participant users and the subscriber user based on the received responses; receiving, from the declining participant users, selections of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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74. A secondary storage device or a memory including instructions for performing, when executed by a processor, a method for providing a conference call comprising:
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creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; automatically configuring a conference call based on the conference call event; identifying, without user intervention, the participant users associated with the conference call event; collecting contact information for the participant users; providing a message including the contact information to a conference server that is configured to instruct a bridge to establish the conference call by calling the participant users using the contact information included in the message; notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured; contacting the participant users; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving, from a participant user that declines the conference call, a selection of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; receiving a response message from the conference server including information associated with the conference call and at least one of the participant users; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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75. A secondary storage device or a memory including instructions for performing, when executed by a processor, a method for participating in a conference call automatically established by at least one communication entity, the method comprising:
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creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; automatically scheduling a conference call at a predetermined time using the calendar application, wherein scheduling includes identifying, without user intervention, participant users that are to participate in the conference call; receiving, prior to the predetermined time, an indication that a conference call has been configured in accordance with the scheduled conference call; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving, after the predetermined time, an indication that at least one participant user has declined to join the conference call, and at least one selection of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; during the conference call, receiving an indication that another participant user has ended communications with the conference call when that participant user terminates a connection with a bridge that establishes the conference call in accordance with instructions provided by a server that executes the calendar application; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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76. A secondary storage device or a memory including instructions for performing, when executed by a processor, a method for providing a conference call, including:
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receiving a message from a first server including instructions for establishing a conference call between participant users and a subscriber user that previously created a conference call event in a calendar application on a second server, wherein the second server automatically initiates configuration of the conference call by providing to the first server contact information for the participant users and the message includes the contact information; calling the participant users using the contact information included in the message; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving responses from the participant users, wherein the responses reflect whether the participant users have answered, accepted, not answered, or declined to accept the conference call, at least one of the responses including a selection of one of the options for declining the conference call; establishing a conference call between the participant users based on the response received from the participant users; and recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call.
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77. A method for providing a conference call, comprising:
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creating, by a subscriber user on a user terminal, a conference call event in a calendar application; automatically configuring the conference call based on the conference call event; identifying participant users identified in the request; notifying the subscriber user that the conference call has been configured; contacting the participant users; providing the participant users with one or more options for declining the conference call, the one or more options including an option for declining participant users to specify a period of time to delay the conference call, wherein the declining participant users are contacted again for the conference call after the specified period of time expires; receiving responses from the participant users accepting or declining the call; establishing a conference call among the accepting participant users and the subscriber user based on the received responses; receiving, from the declining participant users, selections of one or more of the options for declining the conference call; recording audio information associated with the subscriber user and the participant users'"'"' participation during the conference call; converting at least some of the audio information to text information; and recording the text information in a transcript reflecting a textual temporal based representation of communications that have taken place between the users during the conference call, wherein at least one of the contacting, receiving, and establishing steps is performed without user intervention.
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Specification