Conference call question manager

• US 9,571,660 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2014
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Klemm, Reinhard, Krishnan, Parameshwaran, Singh, Navjot
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US14/512,087
• Publication Number:
  US 20160105566A1
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• Field of Search: 379/202.01, 379/158, 379/265.01
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects

Abstract

Questions are received for a conference call. The questions are submitted electronically, such as by email or Instant Messaging (IM). The questions can be submitted before and/or during the conference call. The questions are clustered into one or more similar categories. The clustered questions are sent to participants of a conference. For example, the questions can be sent to a presenter of the conference call as an agenda to follow for a question and answer section of the conference call. Likewise, the questions may also be sent to the conference participants as an agenda of the question and answer section of the conference call. The presenter can discuss the questions with the conference participants based on the categorization of the submitted questions.

Claims

1. A communication system for managing a multimedia conference call comprising:

a microprocessor; and

a computer readable medium, coupled with the microprocessor and comprising microprocessor readable and executable instructions that cause the microprocessor to execute;

a conference manager that receives a plurality of questions for the multimedia conference call, wherein the plurality of questions are electronically submitted by one or more of a plurality of conference participants, wherein at least one of the plurality of questions is received in real-time during the multimedia conference call, and wherein the multimedia conference call is initially only broadcast, via a network, to the plurality of conference participants at a plurality of communication endpoints;

a clustering module that clusters, in real-time, the plurality of questions into one or more categories for presentation in the multimedia conference call; and

a presentation module that sends, via the network, in a video media of the multimedia conference call, the clustered plurality of questions in the one or more categories to the plurality of communication endpoints of the plurality of conference participants, wherein the video media comprises a visual presentation of a presenter and wherein sending the clustered plurality of questions comprises electronically inserting, in real-time, at least one of the clustered plurality of questions received during the multimedia conference call into the video media of the multimedia conference call.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more categories comprises a plurality of categories, and wherein:

the conference manager receives a selection, from the communication endpoint of the presenter, of one of the plurality of categories and identifies a group of conference participants who submitted questions in the selected one of the plurality of categories; and

a conferencing system that selects one or more communication endpoints of the group of conference participants who submitted questions to communicate in the multimedia conference call.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the selected one or more communications devices are selected based on one of the following:

all conference participants in the group of conference participants;

a categorization of individual conference participants of the group of conference participants;

a random selection of individual conference participants of the group of conference participants;

a first conference participant in the group of conference participants who first submitted a question;

a first number of conference participants in the group who first submitted questions;

a specific question; and

a demographic of the individual conference participants of the group of conference participants.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conference participants in the multimedia conference call can provide input to rank a priority of the one or more categories and wherein the ranked priority is presented to the presenter.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the conference manager determines that one of the plurality of received questions is similar to or the same as a previously submitted question and queries a sender of the similar or same question if the sender of the similar or same questions wants to still submit the similar or same question in response to the one of the plurality of questions being similar to or the same as the previously submitted question.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the conference manager determines that a question in one of the one or more categories was answered and identifies that the question in the one of the one or more categories was answered.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the conference manager receives feedback for the answering of the question in the one of the one or more categories and sends the feedback to the presenter of the multimedia conference call.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the clustered plurality of questions can be moved to a different category in the visual presentation of the presenter by a conference participant who submitted the one of the clustered plurality of questions.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein a history of questions in one or more previous conference calls and the plurality of questions are used to identify a trend and wherein the presentation module sends the trend to the presenter of the multimedia conference call.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the conference manager determines that one of the plurality of questions for the multimedia conference call was answered, determines that a conference participant who submitted the one of the plurality of questions did not attend the multimedia conference call, and notifies the conference participant who submitted the one of the plurality of questions that the that one of the plurality of questions was answered in the multimedia conference call, and provides a summary of how the one of the plurality of questions was answered in the multimedia conference call.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, by a microprocessor, a plurality of questions for a multimedia conference call, wherein the plurality of questions are electronically submitted by one or more of a plurality of conference participants, wherein at least one of the plurality of questions is received in real-time during the multimedia conference call, and wherein the multimedia conference call is initially only broadcast, via a network, to the plurality of conference participants at a plurality of communication endpoints;

clustering, by the microprocessor, in real-time, the plurality of questions into one or more categories for presentation in the multimedia conference call; and

sending, by the microprocessor, via the network, in a video media of the multimedia conference call, the clustered plurality of questions in the one or more categories to the plurality of conference participants, wherein the video media comprises a visual presentation of a presenter and wherein sending the clustered plurality of questions comprises electronically inserting, in real-time, at least one of the clustered plurality of questions received during the multimedia conference call.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more categories comprises a plurality of categories, and further comprising:

receiving, by the microprocessor, a selection, from the communication endpoint of the presenter, of one of the plurality of categories;

identifying, by the microprocessor, a group of conference participants who submitted questions in the selected one of the plurality of categories; and

selecting, by the microprocessor, one or more communication endpoints of the group of conference participants who submitted questions to communicate in the multimedia conference call.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the selected one or more communications devices are selected based on one of the following:

all conference participants in the group of conference participants;

a categorization of individual conference participants of the group of conference participants;

a random selection of individual conference participants of the group of conference participants;

a first conference participant in the group of conference participants who first submitted a question;

a first number of conference participants in the group who first submitted questions;

a specific question; and

a demographic of the individual conference participants of the group of conference participants.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of conference participants in the multimedia conference call can provide input to rank a priority of the one or more categories and wherein the ranked priority is presented to the presenter.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the microprocessor, that one of the plurality of received questions is similar to or the same as a previously submitted question; and

querying, by the microprocessor, a sender of the similar or same question if the sender of the similar or same questions wants to still submit the similar or same question in response to the one of the plurality of questions being similar to or the same as the previously submitted question.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the microprocessor, that a question in one of the one or more categories was answered; and

identifying, by the microprocessor, that the question in the one of the one or more categories was answered.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, by the microprocessor, feedback for the answering of the question in the one of the one or more categories; and

sending, by the microprocessor, the feedback to the presenter of the multimedia conference call.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein one of the clustered plurality of questions can be moved to a different category in the visual presentation of the presenter by a conference participant who submitted the one of the clustered plurality of questions.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying, by the microprocessor, a trend based on a history of questions in one or more previous conference calls and the plurality of questions; and

sending, by the microprocessor, the trend to the presenter of the multimedia conference call.

20. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining, by the microprocessor, that one of the plurality of questions for the multimedia conference call was answered;

determining, by the microprocessor, that a conference participant who submitted the one of the plurality of questions did not attend the multimedia conference call;

notifying, by the microprocessor, the conference participant who submitted the one of the plurality of questions that the that one of the plurality of questions was answered in the multimedia conference call; and

providing, by the microprocessor, a summary of how the one of the plurality of questions was answered in the multimedia conference call.