Conference call facility
First Claim
1. A method of establishing a conference call in a system comprising a conference call service provider, a first communication terminal and a plurality of other communication terminals, the method comprising:
- receiving a request at a conference call service provider from said first communication terminal, in which said request comprises plural identifiers, in which each of said plural identifiers relates to a different one of said plurality of other communication terminals;
in response to receiving said request;
at the conference call service provider, allocating a conference call channel, at the conference call service provider, associating an identifier with said conference call channel, and sending a message from the conference call service provider to said plurality of other communication terminals; and
at said conference call service provider, subsequently connecting each of said other communication terminals to the conference call channel.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A conference call is established in response to receiving a request 4 from a first communication terminal 3a. The request 4 preferably is an SMS or MMS and comprises one or more identifiers 5, 6, 7, e.g. telephone numbers, relating to a plurality of other communication terminals 3b-3d. A conference call server I allocates a conference call channel and an associated identifier, such as a telephone number. Messages 10a-10c alerting the conference participants are then sent to the other communication terminals 3a-3c, each message including the identifier associated with the conference call channel. Access to the conference call may be restricted to authorised users by compating identifiers, such as CLIs, of incoming callers to the identifiers provided in the request 4 and allowing access only if there is a correspondence or match. In the event that an incoming caller has withheld their CLI, or it is otherwise nondeterminable, access is refused and a message may be sent reminding conference participants who have yet to join the conference call not to withhold this information. Alternatively, the server calls the participants at the appropriate time.
133 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method of establishing a conference call in a system comprising a conference call service provider, a first communication terminal and a plurality of other communication terminals, the method comprising:
-
receiving a request at a conference call service provider from said first communication terminal, in which said request comprises plural identifiers, in which each of said plural identifiers relates to a different one of said plurality of other communication terminals;
in response to receiving said request;
at the conference call service provider, allocating a conference call channel, at the conference call service provider, associating an identifier with said conference call channel, and sending a message from the conference call service provider to said plurality of other communication terminals; and
at said conference call service provider, subsequently connecting each of said other communication terminals to the conference call channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. Apparatus for providing a conference call facility, the apparatus comprising:
-
a receiver for receiving a request from a first communication terminal, said request containing plural communication terminal identifiers, each of said plural communication terminal identifiers relating to a different one of a plurality of other communication terminals;
an allocator responsive to the request being received at the receiver for allocating a conference call channel, and for associating conference call channel identifier with the conference call channel;
a message generator for preparing and sending a message to each of said other communication terminals; and
means for subsequently connecting the other communication terminals to the conference call channel. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification