Automatic rejoining of conferences

• US 8,542,810 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2011
• Issued: 09/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Carr, Timothy, Ruiz Garcia, Oscar
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, QUYNH H
• Application Number:
  US13/052,491
• Publication Number:
  US 20120243673A1
• Time in Patent Office: 918 Days
• Field of Search: 379/202.01, 370/261, 709/204, 709/227
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06

Abstract

Users are enabled to re-join a conference after an intentional or unintentional disconnect based on detecting the user'"'"'s identifier. An identifier associated with a user such as a caller id number is determined or a cookie installed in the user'"'"'s computing device facilitating communications when the user first joins a conference. If the user'"'"'s connection to the conference is severed intentionally or unintentionally, and the user attempts to connect again, the system may prompt the user whether they want to join the same conference or another conference. If the user confirms their desire to join the same conference, the system may connect them without the user having to enter conference identifier, password, or similar information.

Claims

1. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for facilitating a conference with automatic rejoin capability, the method comprising:

receiving a request to join a conference from a user;

identifying the user and the conference requested by the user at a conference server, wherein the conference server is configured to receive contextual information associated with the identified user including calendar and location information;

connecting the user to the requested conference;

while the conference is being facilitated, receiving another request from the user to join a conference;

confirming an identity of the user, wherein the identity depends on an integrated network and includes one or more of a telephone number, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), or a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

determining an elapsed time since the user'"'"'s first request to join the conference; and

re-connecting the user to the conference based on the elapsed time since the user'"'"'s first request to join the conference.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting the user to confirm that they desire to rejoin the conference; and

re-connecting the user to the conference upon receiving a confirmation.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

prompting the user to confirm through an audio prompt; and

evaluating a user response employing speech recognition.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the user and the conference requested by the user through prompted inputs provided by the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the inputs include one of a numeric string and an alphanumeric string.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the user through detecting one of;

a caller identification number and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) number.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the user by installing a cookie in the user'"'"'s communication device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving presence information associated with the user; and

determining availability of at least one other conference for the user prompting the user to select between the conference and the other conference.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the presence information includes calendar data associated with the user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein an analysis of the elapsed time includes a comparison of the elapsed time to an expected duration of the conference.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the user is reconnected to the conference when the analysis provides the elapsed time is less than the expected duration of the conference.

12. A server capable of facilitating a conference with automatic rejoin capability, the server comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory adapted to execute a conference application that is configured to;

receive a request to join a first conference from a user at a participation module associated with the conference application executed on a conference server, wherein the request is received in natural language form and interpreted through speech recognition;

identify the user and the first conference requested by the user at the participation module;

connect the user to the first conference upon authentication at the participation module;

while the first conference is being facilitated, receive another request from the user to join a conference without having to provide a conference identifier or be authenticated again;

confirm an identity of the user at the participation module;

determine an elapsed time since the user'"'"'s first request to join the conference, wherein the elapsed time is compared to an expected duration of the conference and an analysis is provided to the conference server for reconnecting the user to the first conference;

receive presence information associated with the user, wherein the presence information is collected at a data server and provided to the conference server;

upon determining availability of at least a second conference for the user, employ the conference server to prompt the user to select between the first conference and the second conference; and

if the user selects the first conference, re-connect the user to the first conference without requesting conference identification and authentication information from the user and if the user joins the second conference request conference identification and authentication information at a time of joining the second conference.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the conference application is further configured to connect the user to the second conference after receipt of valid authentication information from the user if the user selects the second conference.

14. The server of claim 12, wherein the conference application is further configured to prompt the user to confirm through an audio prompt to confirm whether they desire to rejoin the conference, and re-connect the user to the first conference upon receiving an audio input and determining the audio input to be a confirmation by speech recognition.

15. The server of claim 12, further comprising a display, wherein the conference application is further configured to identify the user through detecting one of:

a caller identification number, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) number, and a cookie installed on the user'"'"'s communication device.

16. The server of claim 12, wherein the first and the second conferences include at least one modality from a set of:

Instant Messaging (IM), white-boarding, application sharing, data sharing, audio communication, and video communication.

17. The server of claim 12, wherein the user is connected to the conference through at least one from a set of:

an enhanced communication network, a data communication network, a cellular communication network, and a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

18. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for facilitating a conference with automatic rejoin capability, the method comprising:

receiving a call to join a conference from a caller at a participation module associated with a communication application executed on a conference server;

identifying the caller through detecting one of;

a caller identification number and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) number, wherein one of the caller identification number and the URI number is recorded by a server managing the conference;

identifying the conference requested by the caller, wherein the identity depends on an integrated network and the identity includes one or more of;

a telephone number, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), or a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

connecting the caller to the requested conference;

detecting a disconnect of the caller participating in the requested conference;

while the conference is being facilitated, receiving another call from the caller to re-join a conference;

confirming the identity of the caller;

determining an elapsed time since the user'"'"'s first request to join the conference; and

reconnecting the user to the conference based on the elapsed time since the user'"'"'s first request to join the conference.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the confirmation is received from a user as audio input and evaluated employing speech recognition, and wherein at least a portion of the speech recognition is performed at a server communicatively coupled to a communication device utilized by the caller to participate in the conference.