Auto promotion and demotion of conference calls

• US 8,605,881 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Buzdugan, Marian
• Primary Examiner(s): ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN
• Application Number:
  US13/285,247
• Publication Number:
  US 20130108033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 771 Days
• Field of Search: 379/202.01, 379/201.01, 379/203.01, 379/204.01, 379/205.01, 709/204, 455/416
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5009 Adding a party to an existing conference conducting a computer conference, e.g. admission detection H04L12/1822
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/564 whereby the feature is a sub-conference

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for managing conference calls. The method includes establishing a first conference call between a host terminal device and one or more participant terminal devices; receiving a request for adding a non-participant terminal device into the first conference call; selecting a participant terminal device from the one or more participant terminal devices to host a second conference call; establishing the second conference call hosted by the selected participant terminal device; and chaining the first conference call and the second conference call through the selected participant terminal device.

Claims

1. A method for managing conference calls in a communication system including a plurality of terminal devices, comprising:

establishing a first conference call between a host terminal device and one or more participant terminal devices;

receiving a request for adding a non-participant terminal device into the first conference call;

selecting a participant terminal device from the one or more participant terminal devices to host a second conference call;

establishing the second conference call hosted by the selected participant terminal device, wherein the second conference call includes the non-participant terminal device; and

chaining the first conference call and the second conference call through the selected participant terminal device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that a limit of participants of the first conference call has been reached.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining that the limit of participants of the first conference call has been reached further comprising:

determining whether a limit of resources of the host terminal device has been reached.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying at least one of the participant terminal devices for determining that a limit of resources of the selected participant device has not been reached.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for adding the non-participant device to the first conference call is sent by one of the host terminal device, the non-participant terminal device, or any one of the participant terminal devices.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a message to the selected participant terminal device for establishing the second conference call.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the second conference call after the non-participant terminal device has been dialed from one of the host terminal device, a server, or any one of the participant terminal devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the server includes at least a private branch exchange server and a session management platform server, and wherein the determining that the limit of participants of the first conference call has been reached further comprising:

determining whether a limit of resources of at least one of the private branch exchange server or the session management platform server has been reached.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the host terminal device is included in a first network, the non-participant terminal device is included in a second network, and the first network and the second network communicate with each other through one or more connections.

10. A computer readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for managing conference calls, the method comprising:

establishing a first conference call between a host terminal device and one or more participant terminal devices;

receiving a request for adding a non-participant terminal device into the first conference call;

selecting a participant terminal device from the one or more participant terminal devices to host a second conference call;

establishing the second conference call hosted by the selected participant terminal device, the second conference call including the non-participant terminal device; and

chaining the first conference call and the second conference call through the selected participant terminal device.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:

determining that a limit of participants of the first conference call has been reached.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the determining that the limit of participants of the first conference call has been reached further comprising:

determining whether a limit of resources of the host terminal device has been reached.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:

querying at least one of the participant terminal devices for determining that a limit of resources of the selected participant terminal device has not been reached.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the request for adding the non-participant device to the first conference call is sent by one of the host terminal device, the non-participant terminal device, or any one of the participant terminal devices.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:

sending a message to the selected participant terminal device for establishing the second conference call.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:

establishing the second conference call after the non-participant terminal device has been dialed from one of the host terminal device, a server, or any one of the participant terminal devices.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the server includes at least a private branch exchange server and a session management platform server.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the determining that the limit of participants of the first conference call has been reached further comprising:

determining whether a limit of resources of at least one of the private branch exchange server or the session management platform server has been reached.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the host terminal device is included in a first network, the non-participant terminal device is included in a second network, and the first network and the second network communicate with each other through one or more connections.

20. A system for managing conference calls between a plurality of terminal devices including a host terminal device configured to host a first conference call and one or more participant terminal devices configured to participate in the first conference call, the system comprising:

a server configured to receive a request for adding a non-participant terminal device to the first conference call, select a participant terminal device from the one or more participant terminal devices to host a second conference call, establish the second conference call hosted by the selected participant terminal device to include the non-participant terminal device, and chain the first conference call and the second conference call through the selected participant terminal device.