Providing an announcement for a multiparty communication session

• US 9,065,664 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2006
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.), Cryovac Incorporated (Sealed Air)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pearce, Christopher E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nawaz, Asad
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARLEY, JASON A
• Application Number:
  US11/342,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20070177528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,434 Days
• Field of Search: 455/519, 370/260
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30

Abstract

Providing an announcement for a multiparty communication session involves establishing a communication session between at least two endpoints. A request to add an added endpoint to the communication session is received. A procedure to provide an announcement to the endpoints of the communication session is initiated. The announcement is played in response to determining a status of a media path of the added endpoint, and is provided from a rendering of a participant identifier associated with the added endpoint.

Claims

1. A method for providing an announcement for a multiparty communication session, comprising:

establishing a communication session between at least two endpoints, the communicating session created by a conference creator endpoint of the at least two endpoints;

receiving a request to add an added endpoint to the communication session;

determining that a media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator; and

initiating a procedure to have the conference creator endpoint to retrieve an audio rendering of the participant identifier and provide an audio announcement announcing the participant identifier of the added endpoint to the endpoints of the communication session in response to determining that the media path of the added endpoint is valid, the announcement provided from the audio rendering of the participant identifier associated with the added endpoint.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a procedure to provide the announcement to the endpoints of the communication session further comprises:

instructing the added endpoint to provide the announcement after sending a stream over the media path.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing an identifier from the request; and

obtaining the rendering of the announcement from a repository in accordance with the identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing an identifier from the request; and

generating the rendering in accordance with the identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing an identifier from the request; and

deriving the participant identifier from the established identifier.

7. A system for providing an announcement for a multiparty communication session, comprising:

an interface operable to communicate with at least two endpoints; and

one or more first processors operable to;

establish a communication session between the at least two endpoints, the communicating session created by a conference creator endpoint of the at least two endpoints;

receive a request to add an added endpoint to the communication session;

determine that a media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator; and

initiate a procedure to have the conference creator endpoint retrieve an audio rendering of the participant identifier and provide an audio announcement announcing the participant identifier of the added endpoint to the endpoints of the communication session in response to determining that the media path of the added endpoint is valid, the announcement provided from the audio rendering of the participant identifier associated with the added endpoint.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising one or more second processors operable to:

determine that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator.

9. The system of claim 7, the one or more first processors further operable to initiate a procedure to provide the announcement to the endpoints of the communication session by:

instructing the added endpoint to provide the announcement after sending a stream over the media path.

10. The system of claim 7, the one or more first processors further operable to initiate a procedure to provide the announcement to the endpoints of the communication session by:

instructing a mixer to provide the announcement after determining that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising one or more second processors operable to:

establish an identifier from the request; and

obtain the rendering of the announcement from a repository in accordance with the identifier.

12. The system of claim 7, further comprising one or more second processors operable to:

establish an identifier from the request; and

generate the rendering in accordance with the identifier.

13. The system of claim 7, further comprising one or more second processors operable to:

establish an identifier from the request; and

derive the participant identifier from the established identifier.

14. The system of claim 7, the one or more first processors further operable to:

initiate a procedure to provide the announcement to the endpoints of the communication session by;

determining that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator;

instructing the added endpoint to provide the announcement after sending a stream over the media path; and

instructing a mixer to provide the announcement after determining that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator; and

further comprising one or more second processors operable to;

establish an identifier from the request; and

obtain the rendering of the announcement from a memory in accordance with the identifier;

generate the rendering in accordance with the identifier; and

derive the participant identifier from the identifier.

15. A system for providing an announcement for a multiparty communication session, comprising:

a conference controller operable to;

establish a communication session between the at least two endpoints, the communicating session created by a conference creator endpoint of the at least two endpoints;

receive a request to add an added endpoint to the communication session;

determine that a media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator; and

initiate a procedure to have the conference creator endpoint retrieve an audio rendering of the participant identifier and provide an audio announcement announcing the participant identifier of the added endpoint to the endpoints of the communication session in response to determining that the media path of the added endpoint is valid, the announcement provided from the audio rendering of the participant identifier associated with the added endpoint.

16. The system of claim 15, the announcer further operable to:

determine that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator.

17. The system of claim 15, the conference controller further operable to initiate a procedure to provide the announcement to the endpoints of the communication session by:

instructing the added endpoint to provide the announcement after sending a stream over the media path.

18. The system of claim 15, the conference controller further operable to initiate a procedure to provide the announcement to the endpoints of the communication session by:

instructing a mixer to provide the announcement after determining that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator.

19. The system of claim 15, the announcer further operable to:

establish an identifier from the request; and

obtain the rendering of the announcement from a repository in accordance with the identifier.

20. The system of claim 15, the announcer further operable to:

establish an identifier from the request; and

generate the rendering in accordance with the identifier.

21. The system of claim 15, the announcer further operable to:

establish an identifier from the request; and

derive the participant identifier from the established identifier.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the conference controller is further operable to initiate a procedure to provide the announcement to the endpoints of the communication session by;

instructing the added endpoint to provide the announcement after sending a stream over the media path; and

instructing a mixer to provide the announcement after determining that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator; and

the announcer is further operable to;

determine that the media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator;

establish an identifier from the request;

obtain the rendering of the announcement from a memory in accordance with the identifier;

generate the rendering in accordance with the identifier; and

derive the participant identifier from the identifier.

23. A system for providing an announcement for a multiparty communication session, comprising:

means for establishing, by one or more first processors, a communication session between at least two endpoints, the communicating session created by a conference creator endpoint of the at least two endpoints;

means for receiving, by the one or more first processors, a request to add an added endpoint to the communication session;

means for determining, by the one or more first processors, that a media path for the added endpoint is valid according to a valid media path indicator; and

means for initiating, by the one or more first processors, a procedure to have the conference creator endpoint retrieve an audio rendering of the participant identifier and provide an audio announcement announcing the participant identifier of the added endpoint to the endpoints of the communication session in response to determining that the media path of the added endpoint is valid, the announcement provided from the audio rendering of the participant identifier associated with the added endpoint.