Call optimization in meet-me conference calls

• US 6,694,351 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2000
• Issued: 02/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bedard, Charles J., Shaffer, Shmuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, David Y.
• Application Number:
  US09/607,383
• Time in Patent Office: 1,327 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/208, 709/223, 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control

Abstract

A method for joining a meet-me conference call includes establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel between a Multipoint Controller-Call Optimization Application (MC-COA) and a Call Optimization Application co-resident with the terminal (Terminal-COA) following an address resolution, in response to an application program co-resident with a terminal receiving a request to join an ongoing meet-me conference call; receiving, over the COA channel, a first message from the MC-COA as to whether the meet-me conference call is still ongoing; and in response to the first message indicating that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing, giving notification that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing.

Claims

1. A method for joining a meet-me conference call, said method comprising:

establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel between a Multipoint Controller-Call Optimization Application (MC-COA) and a Call Optimization Application co-resident with a terminal (Terminal-COA) following an address resolution, in response to an application program co-resident with a terminal receiving a request to join an ongoing meet-me conference call;

receiving, over the COA channel, a first message from the MC-COA as to whether the meet me conference call is still ongoing; and

in response to the first message indicating that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing, giving notification that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel further comprises:

determining that the COA channel cannot be established;

providing notification that Call Optimization is unavailable; and

terminating the call optimization operations and resuming normal operations,

whereby substantially backwards compatibility with existing communications systems is achieved.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving a request to join an ongoing meet-me conference call further includes:

receiving a telephone number of a conferencing service and a password for a conference call.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the first message indicating that the meet me conference call is still ongoing;

exchanging cost information data between the Terminal-COA and the MC-COA; and

in response to user input and the exchanged cost information data, establishing a media transport channel.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said exchanging cost information data between the Terminal-COA and the MC-COA further includes:

gathering, with the Terminal-COA, cost information related to the first terminal originating the media transport channel.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said establishing a media transport channel further includes:

in response to the user input indicating that the user desires to join the meet-me conference call in a substantially cost-optimal fashion;

originating a media transport channel from the user'"'"'s terminal in response to the first message indicating user terminal origination is substantially cost optimal;

or

sending a second message, over the COA channel, to the MC-COA indicating that the multipoint controller is to originate the media transport channel, in response to the first message indicating multipoint controller origination is substantially cost optimal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel further includes:

obtaining a connection address of the terminal to be added; and

associating the obtained connection address with a non-media-transport-channel-supporting connection address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel further includes:

establishing an Internet Protocol channel.

9. A system for joining a meet-me conference call, said system comprising:

means for establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel between a Multipoint Controller-Call Optimization Application (MC-COA) and a Call Optimization Application co-resident with a terminal (Terminal-COA) following an address resolution, in response to an application program co-resident with a terminal receiving a request to join an ongoing meet-me conference call;

means for receiving, over the COA channel, a first message from the MC-COA as to whether the meet me conference call is still ongoing; and

means, responsive to the first message indicating that the meet me conference call is no longer ongoing, for giving notification that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said means for establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel further comprises:

means for determining that the COA channel cannot be established;

means for providing notification that Call Optimization is unavailable; and

means for terminating the call optimization operations and resuming normal operations,

whereby substantially backwards compatibility with existing communications systems is achieved.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiving a request to join an ongoing meet-me conference call further includes:

receiving a telephone number of a conferencing service and a password for a conference call.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

means, responsive to the first message indicating that the meet-me conference call is still ongoing, for exchanging cost information data between the Terminal-COA and the MC-COA; and

means, responsive to user input and the exchanged cost information data, for establishing a media transport channel.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said means for exchanging cost information data between the Terminal-COA and the MC-COA further includes:

means for gathering, with the Terminal-COA, cost information related to the first terminal originating the media transport channel.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said means for establishing a media transport channel further includes:

means, responsive to the user input indicating that the user desires to join the meet-me conference call in a substantially cost-optimal fashion for;

originating a media transport channel from the user'"'"'s terminal in response to the first message indicating user terminal origination is substantially cost optimal;

or

sending a second message, over the COA channel, to the MC-COA indicating that the multipoint controller is to originate the media transport channel, in response to the first message indicating multipoint controller origination is substantially cost optimal.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein said means for establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel further includes:

means for obtaining a connection address of the terminal to be added; and

means for associating the obtained connection address with a non-media-transport-channel-supporting connection address.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein said means for establishing a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel further includes:

means for establishing an Internet Protocol channel.

17. A program product comprising:

computer readable media storing programming adapted to establish a Call Optimization Application (COA) channel between a Multipoint Controller-Call Optimization Application (MC-COA) and a Call Optimization Application co-resident with a terminal (Terminal-COA) following an address resolution, in response to an application program co-resident with a terminal receiving a request to join an ongoing meet-me conference call;

programming adapted to receive, over the COA channel, a first message from the MC-COA as to whether the meet-me conference call is still ongoing; and

programming, responsive to the first message indicating that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing, adapted to give notification that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing.

18. The program product of claim 17, wherein said computer readable media comprises recordable media.

19. A method for adding a participant to a conference call, said method comprising:

querying a multipoint controller as to whether the meet-me conference call is still ongoing, in response to receiving a first message, over a Call Optimization Channel (COA), from a Call Optimization Application co-resident with a terminal (Terminal-COA), that a user desires to join a meet-me conference call; and

sending a message, containing results of said querying, over the COA channel.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

in response to said querying showing that the meet-me conference call is viable and receipt of a second message indicating that the user desires to take advantage of a substantial cost optimization option;

gathering cost information related to origination of a media transport channel;

determining whether it is more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller; and

in response to a determination that the cost information indicates that it is more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller, sending a message to the COA-terminal, over the COA channel, containing instruction that it is substantially cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate the media transport channel;

in response to a determination that the cost information indicates that it is not more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller, sending a message to the multipoint controller containing instruction that it is more cost optimal for the multipoint controller to originate a media transport channel with a Call Optimization Application co-resident with the user'"'"'s terminal (Terminal-COA).

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said gathering cost information related to origination of a media transport channel further includes:

receiving, from the Terminal-COA, cost information related to the user'"'"'s terminal originating the media transport channel.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein said gathering cost information related to origination of a media transport channel further includes:

gathering, with a multipoint controller-Cost Optimization Application (MC-COA), cost information related to the multipoint controller originating the media transport channel.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein said determining whether it is more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller further includes:

comparing, by a multipoint controller-Cost Optimization Application (MC-COA), cost information.

24. A system for adding a participant to a conference call, said system comprising:

means for querying a multipoint controller as to whether the meet-me conference call is still ongoing, in response to receiving a first message, over a Call Optimization Channel (COA), from a Call Optimization Application co-resident with a terminal (Terminal-COA), that a user desires to join a meet-me conference call; and

means for sending results obtained by said means for querying over the COA channel.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

means, responsive to querying showing that the meet-me conference call is viable and receipt of a second message indicating that the user desires to take advantage of a substantial cost optimization option, for;

gathering cost information related to origination of a media transport channel;

determining whether it is more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller; and

in response to a determination that the cost information indicates that it is more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller, sending a message to the COA-terminal, over the COA channel, containing instruction that it is substantially cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate the media transport channel;

in response to a determination that the cost information indicates that it is not more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller, sending a message to the multipoint controller containing instruction that it is more cost optimal for the multipoint controller to originate a media transport channel with a Call Optimization Application co-resident with the user'"'"'s terminal (Terminal-COA).

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said means for gathering cost information related to origination of a media transport channel further includes:

means for receiving, from the Terminal-COA, cost information related to the user'"'"'s terminal originating the media transport channel.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein said means for gathering cost information related to origination of a media transport channel further includes:

means for gathering, with the MC-COA, cost information related to the multipoint controller originating the media transport channel.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein said means for determining whether it is more cost optimal for the user'"'"'s terminal to originate a media transport channel to the multipoint controller further includes:

means for a multipoint controller-cost optimization application to compare cost information.

29. A program product comprising:

computer readable media storing programming adapted to query a multipoint controller as to whether the meet-me conference call is still ongoing, in response to receiving a first message, over a Call Optimization Channel (COA), from a Call Optimization Application co-resident with a terminal (Terminal-COA), that a user desires to join a meet-me conference call; and

programming adapted to send results obtained by said programming adapted to query over the COA channel.

30. The program product of claim 29, wherein said computer readable media comprises recordable media.

31. A system, comprising:

an application program co-resident with a terminal; and

a call optimization application, wherein

the call optimization application is configured to establish a call optimization application channel in response to the application program co-resident with the terminal receiving a request to join a meet-me conference call;

the call optimization application is configured to provide an indication that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing if information received via the call optimization application channel indicates that the meet-me conference call is no longer ongoing.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein

the call optimization application is configured to provide an indication that call optimization is unavailable if the call optimization application is unable to open the call optimization application channel.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein

the call optimization application is configured to receive a conference call telephone number and a password for the meet-me conference call from the application program.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein

the call optimization application is configured to send the conference call telephone number and the password to a multipoint controller-call optimization application via the call optimization application channel.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein

if the information received via the call optimization application channel indicates that the meet-me conference call is still ongoing, the call optimization application is configured to exchange cost information data with a multipoint controller-call optimization application via the call optimization application channel;

and

in response to user input and the cost information data, the terminal is configured to establish a media transport channel.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein

the call optimization application is configured to gather cost information related to the terminal originating the media transport channel as part of exchanging cost information with the multipoint controller-call optimization application.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein

in response to a user indicating that the user desires to join the meet-me conference call in a substantially cost-optimal fashion, the terminal is configured to:

originate a media transport channel if the cost information, exchanged via the call optimization application channel, indicates that user terminal connection origination is substantially cost optimal;

send information, over the call optimization application channel, indicating that the multipoint controller-call optimization application is to originate the media transport channel if the cost information, exchanged via the call optimization application channel, indicates that multipoint controller origination is substantially cost optimal.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein

the call optimization application is configured to obtain a connection address of the terminal and associate the connection address with the call optimization application channel as part of establishing the call optimization application channel.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein

the call optimization application is configured to establish an Internet Protocol channel as part of establishing the call optimization application channel.

40. A system, comprising:

a multipoint controller; and

a multipoint controller call optimization application, wherein

the multipoint controller call optimization application is configured to receive, via a call optimization application channel, information indicating that a user terminal is requesting to join a meet-me conference call;

the multipoint controller call optimization application is configured to provide information to a user application co-resident with the user terminal, via the call optimization application channel, indicating whether the meet-me conference call is still ongoing.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein

in response to the meet-me conference call being still ongoing and information, received via the call optimization application channel, indicating that a user desires to take advantage of a substantial cost optimization option, the multipoint controller call optimization application is configured to:

gather cost information related to origination of a media transport channel, wherein the cost information indicates whether it is more cost optimal for the user terminal to originate the media transport channel than for the multipoint controller to originate the media transport channel; and

in response to the cost information indicating that it is more cost optimal for the user terminal to originate the media transport channel to the multipoint controller, send information to the user terminal, via the call optimization application channel, indicating that it is substantially cost optimal for the user terminal to originate the media transport channel;

in response to the cost information indicating that it is not more cost optimal for the user terminal to originate the media transport channel to the multipoint controller, sending information to the multipoint controller indicating that it is more cost optimal for the multipoint controller to originate the media transport channel.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein

as part of gathering the cost information, the multipoint controller call optimization application is configured to receive, via the call optimization application channel, cost information related to the user terminal originating the media transport channel.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein

as part of gathering the cost information, the multipoint controller call optimization application is configured to gather cost information related to the multipoint controller originating the media transport channel.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein

the multipoint controller cost optimization application is configured to compare cost information related to the multipoint controller originating a media transport channel to cost information related to the user terminal originating the media transport channel to determine whether it is more cost optimal for the user terminal to originate the media transport channel.