Method and system for establishing a teleconference over a telephony network

• US 20050014490A1
• Filed: 05/24/2004
• Published: 01/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aawaaz Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kirusa Inc.
• Inventors: Kuwadekar, Sanjeev, Desai, Adesh, Sodhi, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 7,277,697 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/416
• 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 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4509 Unified messaging with single point of access to voicemail and other mail or messaging systems unified messaging in packet switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5054 Meet-me conference, i.e. participants dial-in
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42204 Arrangements at the exchange for service or number selection by voice at the terminal H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5322 for recording text messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/537 Arrangements for indicating the presence of a recorded message , whereby the presence information might include a preview or summary of the message
• 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 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects

Abstract

A teleconference system and method in which an initiator of a teleconference sends a request or instructions to the teleconference server. The teleconference server communicates with the intended participants using basic communication tools that are generally compatible regardless of the network that the participant is subscribed to. The teleconference server stores the information, creates and sends a teleconference notification message to the intended participant that she has been invited to a teleconference. The notification message includes a unique access address associated with the teleconference, at which the participant can access to join the teleconference at the prescribed time. Different unique access addresses are associated with different teleconferences.

Claims

1. A method for an initiator to establish a teleconference for a plurality of participants comprising the steps:

said initiator contacting the teleconference server to establish the teleconference with the plurality of participants;

said teleconference server associating said teleconference with a unique access address and associating said unique access address with a notification message;

said teleconference server sending the notification message to the plurality of participants;

said plurality of participants accessing said unique access address to participate in said teleconference;

said teleconference server identifying the unique access address used by each participant; and

said teleconference server routing each participant to the teleconference corresponding to the unique access address identified.

2. The method of claim 1 where said step of said teleconference server sending the notification message comprises of:

determining if a participant is present with a particular participant device; and

sending the notification message to the participant device if said participant is present with said participant device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said unique access address comprises at least one of a phone number and a web address.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said notification message is sent within at least one of a text message, a voice message and an electronic mail.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the participants access the unique access address using a different device used to receive the notification message.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of said initiator contacting said teleconference server comprises the steps of:

speaking a voice message into an initiator device; and

converting said voice message to text using speech-to-text processing.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of said initiator contacting said teleconference server comprises the steps of:

inputting a text message into a sender device; and

converting said text message to a voice message using text-to-speech processing.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the initiator contacts the teleconference server over a communication network subscribed by the initiator, and the teleconference server sends the notification message to the plurality of participants over at least one different network subscribed by at least one of the participants.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein more than one teleconference are established by the teleconference server, and wherein a different unique access address is associated with a different teleconference.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of said teleconference server identifying the unique access address comprises the steps of:

teleconference server determining a dialed access phone number with a dialed number identification service (DNIS); and

teleconference server determining a teleconference associated with said dialed access phone number.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said step of said plurality of participants accessing said unique access address comprises the step of authenticating each participant.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of the initiator designating a device address for each participant to which the notification message, and the step of authenticating each participant includes the step of determining the respective participant'"'"'s device address.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the initiator has an initiator cellular device and at least one of the participants has a participant cellular device, and wherein the initiator contacts said teleconference server using the initiator cellular device, and said at least one of the participants accesses the unique access address to participate in the teleconference using the participant cellular device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the notification message is sent via text messaging to the participant cellular device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the initiator cellular device communicates with a first cellular network to which the initiator subscribes, and the participant cellular device communicates with a second cellular network to which the participant subscribes.

16. A system for establishing a teleconference requested by an initiator with respect to a plurality of participants, comprising the steps of:

providing a teleconference server;

said teleconference server receiving the initiator request, associating said teleconference with a unique access address, and associating said unique access address with a notification message;

said teleconference server sending the notification message to the plurality of participants;

said teleconference server providing access by said plurality of participants using said unique access address to participate in said teleconference;

said teleconference server identifying the unique access address used by each participant; and

said teleconference server routing each participant to the teleconference corresponding to the unique access address identified.

17. A network system for teleconferencing initiated by an initiator with respect to a plurality of participants, comprising the steps of:

one or more nodes to provide access for said initiator;

one or more nodes to provide access for said plurality of participants;

one or more nodes to provide access by a teleconference server as in claim 16.

18. The network system of claim 17 wherein said network comprises at least one of a cellular network, a wide area network, a telephony network, an IP network and a data network.

19. A machine-readable medium for programming a computer to establish a teleconference requested by an initiator with respect to a plurality of participants, comprising the steps of:

a program module receiving the initiator request,

a program module associating said teleconference with a unique access address, and associating said unique access address with a notification message;

a program module sending the notification message to the plurality of participants;

a program module providing access to said plurality of participants using said unique access address to participate in said teleconference;

a program module identifying the unique access address used by each participant; and

a program module routing each participant to the teleconference corresponding to the unique access address identified.