System and method for managing conferencing in a distributed communication network

• US 10,757,200 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2016
• Issued: 08/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Fahlgren, Christer, Acosta Amador, Nico
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Harley, Jason A
• Application Number:
  US15/375,397
• Publication Number:
  US 20170093992A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,352 Days
• Field of Search: 370260, 455412
• 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: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/12 Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol]

Abstract

Systems and methods for a conferencing system. Responsive to a new conference request received at a conference orchestration service, participants of the conference and participant regions for each determined participant are determined. A mixer topology is generated that specifies an assignment of each determined participant to at least one input channel of a plurality of mixers. A mixer state manager generates the mixer topology based on the determined participant regions and at least one regional association of a mixer. Media of each determined participant is routed to the assigned at least one input channel according to the generated mixer topology by using the conference orchestration service. The mixer state manager generates the topology responsive to a request provided by the conference state manager. The conference orchestration service receives the generated mixer topology from the mixer state manager via the conference state manager.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a conferencing system, a request to initiate a first conference including at least a first participant and a second participant, wherein the conferencing system manages mixer state information that specifies, for each respective mixer of a plurality of mixers, a geographic region serviced by the respective mixer and a set of available mixer input channels of the respective mixer, each respective mixer of the plurality of mixers bridging media to endpoints located within the geographic region serviced by the respective mixer;

determining a first area code of a phone number assigned to a first endpoint of the first participant of the first conference, the first area code corresponding to a first geographic region in which endpoints are assigned the first area code;

determining whether the plurality of mixers includes at least one mixer that is located within the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code and that has at least one free input channel;

responsive to a determination that the plurality of mixers does not include at least a one mixer that is located within the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code and that has at least one free input channel;

allocating a new mixer in the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code, and

assigning the first endpoint to a first available mixer input channel of the new mixer;

providing a first invite message to the new mixer, wherein the first invite message specifies the first endpoint, a mixer identifier of the new mixer, and a channel identifier of the first available mixer input channel of the new mixer;

establishing the first conference including at least the first participant and the second participant, the first conference utilizing the new mixer allocated in the first geographic region to receive media from the first endpoint via the first available mixer input channel and transmit the media received from the first endpoint to at least a second endpoint of the second participant of the first conference, and receive media from at least the second endpoint and transmit the media received from at least the second endpoint to the first endpoint via the first available mixer input channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first invite message is a SIP INVITE message.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the first area code of the phone number assigned to the first endpoint of the first participant of the first conference.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a second area code of a phone number assigned to a second endpoint of a second participant of the first conference, the second area code corresponding to a second geographic region;

determining that a second mixer of the plurality of mixers is located in the second geographic region;

assigning the second participant to an available mixer input channel of the second mixer; and

providing a second invite message to the second mixer, wherein the second invite message specifies the second participant, a mixer identifier of the second mixer, and a channel identifier of the available mixer input channel of the second mixer.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first geographic region is different from the second geographic region, and the first area code is different from the second area code.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the second geographic region matches the first geographic region, and the first area code matches the second area code.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that a first mixer in the first geographic region is not assigned to any participant, removing the first mixer from the first geographic region.

8. A conferencing system comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

one or more computer-readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the conferencing system to perform operations comprising;

receiving a request to initiate a first conference including at least a first participant and a second participant, wherein the conferencing system manages mixer state information that specifies, for each respective mixer of a plurality of mixers, a geographic region serviced by the respective mixer and a set of available mixer input channels of the respective mixer, each respective mixer of the plurality of mixers bridging media to endpoints located within the geographic region serviced by the respective mixer;

determining a first area code of a phone number assigned to a first endpoint of the first participant of the first conference, the first area code corresponding to a first geographic region in which endpoints are assigned the first area code;

determining whether the plurality of mixers includes at least one mixer that is located within the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code and that has at least one free input channel;

responsive to a determination that the plurality of mixers does not include at least a one mixer that is located within the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code and that has at least one free input channel;

allocating a new mixer in the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code, and

assigning the first endpoint to a first available mixer input channel of the new mixer;

providing a first invite message to the new mixer, wherein the first invite message specifies the first endpoint, a mixer identifier of the new mixer, and a channel identifier of the first available mixer input channel of the new mixer;

establishing the first conference including at least the first participant and the second participant, the first conference utilizing the new mixer allocated in the first geographic region to receive media from the first endpoint via the first available mixer input channel and transmit the media received from the first endpoint to at least a second endpoint of the second participant of the first conference, and receive media from at least the second endpoint and transmit the media received from at least the second endpoint to the first endpoint via the first available mixer input channel.

9. The conferencing system of claim 8, wherein the first invite message is a SIP INVITE message.

10. The conferencing system of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

determining the first area code of the phone number assigned to the first endpoint of the first participant of the first conference.

11. The conferencing system of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

determining a second area code of a phone number assigned to a second endpoint of a second participant of the first conference, the second area code corresponding to a second geographic region;

determining that a second mixer of the plurality of mixers is located in the second geographic region;

assigning the second participant to an available mixer input channel of the second mixer; and

providing a second invite message to the second mixer, wherein the second invite message specifies the second participant, a mixer identifier of the second mixer, and a channel identifier of the available mixer input channel of the second mixer.

12. The conferencing system of claim 11, wherein the first geographic region is different from the second geographic region, and the first area code is different from the second area code.

13. The conferencing system of claim 11, wherein the second geographic region matches the first geographic region, and the first area code matches the second area code.

14. The conferencing system of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

responsive to determining that a first mixer in the first region is not assigned to any participant, removing the first mixer from the first geographic region.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors of a conferencing system, cause the conferencing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request to initiate a first conference including at least a first participant and a second participant, wherein the conferencing system manages mixer state information that specifies, for each respective mixer of a plurality of mixers, a geographic region serviced by the respective mixer and a set of available mixer input channels of the respective mixer, each respective mixer of the plurality of mixers bridging media to endpoints located within the geographic region serviced by the respective mixer;

determining a first area code of a phone number assigned to a first endpoint of the first participant of the first conference, the first area code corresponding to a first geographic region in which endpoints are assigned the first area code;

determining whether the plurality of mixers includes at least one mixer that is located within the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code and that has at least one free input channel;

responsive to a determination that the plurality of mixers does not include at least a one mixer that is located within the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code and that has at least one free input channel;

allocating a new mixer in the first geographic region corresponding to the first area code, and

assigning the first endpoint to a first available mixer input channel of the new mixer;

providing a first invite message to the new mixer, wherein the first invite message specifies the first endpoint, a mixer identifier of the new mixer, and a channel identifier of the first available mixer input channel of the new mixer;

establishing the first conference including at least the first participant and the second participant, the first conference utilizing the new mixer allocated in the first geographic region to receive media from the first endpoint via the first available mixer input channel and transmit the media received from the first endpoint to at least a second endpoint of the second participant of the first conference, and receive media from at least the second endpoint and transmit the media received from at least the second endpoint to the first endpoint via the first available mixer input channel.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first invite message is a SIP INVITE message.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

determining the first area code of the phone number assigned to the first endpoint of the first participant of the first conference.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

determining a second area code of a phone number assigned to a second endpoint of a second participant of the first conference, the second area code corresponding to a second geographic region;

determining that a second mixer of the plurality of mixers is located in the second geographic region;

assigning the second participant to an available mixer input channel of the second mixer; and

providing a second invite message to the second mixer, wherein the second invite message specifies the second participant, a mixer identifier of the second mixer, and a channel identifier of the available mixer input channel of the second mixer.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the first geographic region is different from the second geographic region, and the first area code is different from the second area code.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

responsive to determining that a first mixer in the first region is not assigned to any participant, removing the first mixer from the first geographic region.