Conference calls for social streams

• US 8,898,578 B1
• Filed: 09/27/2011
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hecht, Greg, Jawad, Anthony, Ossesia, Michel, Blair, Stu, Hesch, Jacob, Walker, Craig, Foster, Marcus, Paquet, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Nunez, Jordany
• Application Number:
  US13/246,816
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• Field of Search: 715/753, 379/202.01, 709/204, 455/416, 705/319
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5063 Centrally initiated conference, i.e. conference server dials participants
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/655 Combination of telephone service and social networking
• 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 3/567 Multimedia conference systems

Abstract

A system and method for generating a conference call within a social network is disclosed. The participants are all members of an affinity group and they communicate with each other using different social streams. When the stream becomes too complicated, a participant transforms the social stream into a conference call so that the discussion is held in real-time. The participant that requests the conference call is designated as a moderator. The moderator controls the conference, including the members of the affinity group, through a user interface. Once the conference is established a notification can be sent to invitees and other members of the affinity group. The notification can also be published on a social network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of initiating a conference call, the method comprising:

identifying, using one or more computers, a first thread in a first application having an affinity group between at least two participants that are members of the affinity group;

identifying, using the one or more computers, a second thread in a second application having the affinity group between the at least two participants that are members of the affinity group, wherein the first thread and the second thread include one or more discussions between the at least two participants and a first medium of communication for the first thread that is different from a second medium of communication for the second thread;

responsive to identifying the first thread, providing for display of a first button in the first application for initiating the conference call between the at least two participants;

responsive to identifying the second thread, providing for display of a second button in the second application for initiating the conference call between the at least two participants;

receiving, via the first button, a request from one of the participants to join the conference call, wherein the request includes a list of participants to join the conference call that includes the at least two participants;

retrieving, the one or more computers, contact information for the list of participants;

establishing, using the one or more computers, the conference call for later joining by one or more of the list of participants;

determining whether for each participant from the list of participants, an application for the participant supports a conference module;

responsive to the application supporting the conference module, allowing the invitee to automatically join the conference call; and

responsive to the determination that the conference module is unsupported, generating a notification of the conference details to the participant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the participant that requests the conference call is designated as a moderator and wherein establishing the conference call further comprises:

calling the moderator; and

responsive to the moderator accepting the conference call, calling the other participants.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a user interface allows a moderator to perform at least one of the following actions:

control who can join the conference call, define a time for each participant to join, define the affinity group, modify a length of the conference call, view conference call statistics, mute the conference call, record the conference call, evict a participant from the conference call and define a budget for the conference call.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first application is at least one of a social networking application, an email application, a blog, a forum and an instant messaging application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising publishing a notification of the conference call.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the notification includes at least one of a list of participants that joined the conference call, a time that each participant joined the conference call, a list of invitees that the participants want to join the conference call and a duration of the conference call.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference call is conducted as at least one of a telephone conference and a video conference.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the affinity group is established on the fly.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting the contact information about the members of the affinity group; and

storing the contact information in an affinity group database.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the affinity group is defined as a group that shares something in common.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the affinity group is defined from at least one of an action by a participant and from common usage patterns.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting information about relationships and interests of users from a social network; and

generating the affinity group based on the relationships and interests.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a user interface for establishing details of the conference call.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the first application and the second application are a same type of application.

14. A system for initiating a conference call comprising:

a first application stored on a non-transitory memory, the first application having an affinity group and identifying a first thread between at least two participants that are members of the affinity group;

a second application having the affinity group and identifying a second thread between the at least two participants that are members of the affinity group, wherein the first thread and the second thread include one or more discussions between the at least two participants and a first medium of communication for the first thread is different from a second medium of communication for the second thread; and

a conference module comprising;

a conferencing interface module for;

responsive to identifying the first thread, generating a first button that is provided for display in the first application, responsive to identifying the second thread, generating a second button that is provided for display in the second application, the first button transmitting a request for establishing the conference call to a managed calls module, wherein the request includes a list of participants to join the conference call that includes the at least two participants;

retrieving contact information for the list of participants; and

determining whether for each participant from the list of participants application for the participant supports the conference module, responsive to the application supporting the conference module, allowing only the participant whose application supports the conference call to automatically join the conference call and responsive to determining that the conference module is unsupported, generating a notification of conference details to the participant; and

the managed calls module coupled to the conferencing interface module for receiving the contact information for the participants of the conference call, the managed calls module for establishing the conference call for later joining by one or more of the list of participants.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the participant that requests the conference call is designated as a moderator and wherein establishing the conference call further comprises calling the moderator and responsive to the moderator accepting the conference call, calling the other participants.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein a user interface allows a moderator to perform at least one of the following actions:

control who can join the conference call, define a time for each participant to join, define the affinity group, modify a length of the conference call, view conference call statistics, mute the conference call, record the conference call, evict a participant from the conference call and define a budget for the conference call.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first application is at least one of a social networking application, an email application, a blog, a forum and an instant messaging application.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the conferencing interface module publishes a notification of the conference call.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the notification includes at least one of a list of participants that joined the conference call, a time that each participant joined the conference call, a list of invitees that the participants want to join the conference call and a duration of the conference call.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the conference call is conducted as at least one of a telephone conference and a video conference.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the affinity group is established on the fly.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the conferencing interface module extracts the contact information about the members of the affinity group and stores the contact information in an affinity group database.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the affinity group is defined as a group that shares something in common.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the affinity group is defined from at least one of an action by a participant and from common usage patterns.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein the conferencing interface module extracts information about relationships and interests of users from a social network and generates the affinity group based on the relationships and interests.

26. The system of claim 14, wherein the conferencing interface module provides a user interface for establishing details of the conference call.

27. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform steps comprising:

identifying a first thread in a first application having an affinity group between at least two participants that are members of the affinity group;

identifying a second thread in a second application having the affinity group between the at least two participants that are members of the affinity group, wherein the first thread and the second thread include one or more discussions between the at least two participants and a first medium of communication for the first thread is different from a second medium of communication for the second thread;

responsive to identifying the first thread, providing for display of a first button in the first application for initiating a conference call between the at least two participants;

responsive to identifying the second thread, providing for display of a second button in the second application for initiating the conference call between the at least two participants;

receiving, via the first button, a request, from one of the participants, to join the conference call, wherein the request includes a list of participants to join the conference call that includes the at least two participants;

retrieving contact information for the list of participants;

establishing the conference call for later joining by one or more of the list of participants;

determining whether for each participant from the list of participants, an application for the participant supports a conference module;

responsive to the application supporting the conference module, allowing only the participant whose application supports the conference call to automatically join the conference call; and

responsive to the determination that the conference module is unsupported, generating a notification of conference details to the participant.