Methods and apparatus to manage conference calls

• US 9,300,810 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2015
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gorti, Sreenivasa, Chang, Hisao
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH TRANG T
• Application Number:
  US14/669,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20150201084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• 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 3/568 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

Methods and apparatus to manage conference calls are described. An example method includes enabling, via a logic circuit, a first one of participants of a conference call to request an adjustment of a volume of a current speaker different than the first participant; and in response to a request from the first participant, adjusting, via the logic circuit, an amplification setting associated with the current speaker in a preference file associated with the first participant.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a current speaker of a conference call;

enabling, via a logic circuit, a participant in the conference call, other than the current speaker, to request an adjustment of a volume of the current speaker, the participant different than the current speaker; and

in response to a request from the participant, adjusting, via the logic circuit, an amplification setting associated with the current speaker in a preference file associated with the participant.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the determining of the identity of the current speaker is done from a record identifying the participants of the conference call.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, further including maintaining the record of the participants of the conference call by tracking identification numbers associated with respective participants as the corresponding participant joins the conference call.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further including conveying an audio signal based on the preference file associated with the participant to a communication device of the participant.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further including integrating the amplification setting into an aggregate audio signal to be conveyed to the participant.

6. A method as defined in claim 5, wherein the integrating of the amplification setting includes performing a multiplication operation with the amplification setting and the incoming audio signal of the current speaker.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the participant is a first participant, and the adjusting of the amplification setting does not affect a second one of the participants of the conference call, the second one of the participants different from the participant.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the request from the participant is received via a web page having an input associated with the amplification setting of the current speaker.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, further including storing the amplification setting associated with the current speaker in the preference file for future conference calls.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further including sensing an inflection in a voice of the current speaker and visually conveying the inflection to the participant of the conference call.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, further including enabling the one other participant to adjust a universal amplification setting associated with the conference call.

12. A tangible computer readable storage device including instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations comprising:

identify a current speaker of a conference call;

enable a participant of the conference call to request an adjustment of a volume of the current speaker, the participant different than the current speaker; and

in response to a request from the other participant, adjusting an amplification setting associated with the current speaker in a preference file associated with the participant.

13. The storage device as defined in claim 12, wherein the identifying of the current speaker is done using a record identifying all participants of the conference call.

14. The storage device as defined in claim 12, wherein the operations further include conveying an audio signal based on the preference file associated with the participant to a communication device of the participant.

15. The storage device as defined in claim 12, wherein the participant is a first participant, and the adjusting of the amplification setting does not affect a second participant of the conference call.

16. The storage device as defined in claim 12, wherein the request from the participant is received via a web page having an input associated with the amplification setting of the current speaker.

17. The storage device as defined in claim 12, wherein the operations further include enabling the participant to adjust a universal amplification setting associated with the conference call.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

memory including machine-readable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations including;

identifying a current speaker of a conference call;

enabling a participant of the conference call to request an adjustment of a volume of the current speaker, the participant different than the current speaker; and

in response to a request from participant, adjusting an amplification setting associated with the current speaker in a preference file associated with the participant.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein the identifying of the identity of the current speaker is done from a record of the participants of the conference call.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 18, wherein the participant is a first participant, and the adjusting of the amplification setting does not affect a second participant of the conference call.