Interrupting a conference call for an emergency situation

• US 8,537,981 B1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Cyriac, Shaiju, D'Angelo, Diana M., Das, Sreerupa, Hill, Bruce W., Leck, William C.
• Primary Examiner(s): ZENATI, AMAL S
• Application Number:
  US11/514,571
• Time in Patent Office: 2,574 Days
• Field of Search: 379 37- 45, 379/88.12
• US Class Current: 379/88.12
• 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: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• 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

The present invention provides a system and method for providing an announcement to a plurality of communication devices when a subset of those communication devices are currently engaged in a call. More specifically, an announcement may be provided to different communication devices depending upon the location of the communication device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

a processor executing a notification agent;

the notification agent receiving event information associated with an event, wherein the event justifies an alert;

the notification agent automatically determining event specifics from the received event information, wherein the step of determining the event specifics comprises;

the notification agent identifying a location of the event;

the notification agent determining an event type associated with the event;

the notification agent determining a risk level and urgency associated with the event based on the event type and the location of the event;

the notification agent identifying at least a first and a second recipient for an event notification based upon a location of the first and second recipients and the location of the event;

the notification agent determining that the first and second recipients are participating in a common call;

the notification agent preparing a first voice event notification for the first recipient and a second voice event notification for the second recipient;

the notification agent interrupting a voice connection between the first and second recipients and their call; and

the notification agent providing the first voice event notification to the first recipient and the second voice event notification to the second recipient, wherein the manner in which the event notifications are provided to the recipients depends, at least in part, upon the risk level and urgency associated with the event, wherein the first voice event notification provided to the first recipient is different than the second voice event notification provided to the second recipient, and wherein the first voice event notification and the second voice event notification are provided using the same communication medium as the voice connection between the first and second recipients.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second participants are participating in the common call using the same communication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first recipient is located within proximity of the event location and the second recipient has a location disassociated with the event location.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first voice event notification comprises an alert related to the event and wherein the second event notification comprises a message informing the second recipient that the first recipient is being alerted about the event.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first and second recipients have a similar location within proximity of the event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first and second event notification are substantially the same.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein third and fourth participants are participating in the common call with the first and second recipients, and wherein interrupting comprises breaking the voice connection, the method further comprising:

maintaining the connection between the third and fourth participants while the first and second recipients have their connections interrupted; and

after the first and second recipients have received the first and second event notifications respectively, automatically reconnecting the first and second recipients to the common call.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second participants are participating in the common call with different communication devices.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting from a set of prerecorded messages a message that relates to the event type and reflects the determined at least one of a risk level and urgency associated with the event; and

including the message in at least one of the first and second event notifications.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second event notifications comprise at least one of a canned message, a text-to-speech message, and a live message.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a message related to an event from an external event alert system; and

including the message related to the event in at least one of the first and second event notifications.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 1.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the notification agent determining whether the common call should be resumed based on the risk level and urgency associated with the event; and

in response to determining that the common call should be resumed, reconnecting the first and second recipients.

13. A telephony exchange system, comprising:

a switch connecting at least a first and a second communication device; and

a server comprising;

a memory;

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor operable to execute an event notification agent, the event notification agent operable to;

receive, from a user, one or more voice event notifications to associate with an event type, wherein each voice event notification is associated with a risk level and urgency;

receive an event with associated event information, wherein the event information includes the event type and the risk level and urgency;

based on the event information, determine at least one voice event notification received from the user to provide to at least one recipient;

identify the first and second communication devices as recipients for an event voice notification based upon a location of the first and second communication devices relative to a location of an event;

prepare the identified event voice notification for the first and second communication devices;

interrupt the connection between the first and second communication devices and the switch, wherein the connection is a voice connection; and

provide the identified event voice notification to the first and second communication devices at substantially the same time, wherein a manner in which the event voice notifications are provided to the recipients depends, at least in part, upon a risk level and urgency associated with the event, wherein the first and second communication devices are associated with different locations and wherein the event voice notifications comprise first and second voice messages that are different because a risk level associated with the event is different for the first recipient as compared to the second recipient, and wherein the first and second voice messages are delivered using the first and second communication devices.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising receiving a signal from the agent to disconnect out of the coupled calls once the calling party and the called party are speaking by way of the coupled calls.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the switch further connects a third and a fourth communication device to the first and second communication devices prior to the interruption, and wherein during the interruption the third and fourth communication devices are still connected.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the switch, first communication device, and second communication device are associated with a common enterprise.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the switch and the first communication device are associated with a first enterprise and wherein the second communication device is associated with a second different enterprise.

19. The system of claim 13, further comprising an external event alert system, wherein the event notification agent is operable to receive a message related to an event from the external event alert system, determine that a type of the event meets a predetermined type of event that justifies the voice event notification, and include the message related to the event in the voice event notification.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the event notification agent is operable to select a message from a set of prerecorded messages and prepare the voice event notification such that the voice event notification comprises the selected message.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the voice event notification comprises at least one of an emergency event notification and a public announcement.