Techniques for conference scheduling

• US 8,718,254 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2007
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yasrebi, Mehrad, Ku, Bernard, Jackson, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Intavong, Jirapon
• Application Number:
  US11/768,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20090005038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,506 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 379/202.01, 379/205.01, 455/416, 370/260, 370/352
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/14 Delay circuits; Timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2066 Call type detection of indication, e.g. voice or fax, mobile of fixed, PSTN or IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13176 Common channel signaling, CCS7
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1324 Conference call
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13248 Multimedia
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13348 Channel/line reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 LAN, internet

Abstract

A technique for scheduling conferences includes receiving a conference request, which includes an invitee list, a prioritized list of preferred media types, and one or more times for a conference associated with the conference request. The conference is requested with respective invitees associated with the invitee list (via respective subscriber terminals) and it is determined whether the respective invitees can be scheduled for the conference. The conference is scheduled between a conference requester (associated with the conference request) and available ones of the respective invitees, when mandatory attendees, included within the respective invitees, are available.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling conferences, comprising:

receiving a conference request, the conference request including an invitee list, a prioritized list of preferred media types, and a time for a conference associated with the conference request;

requesting a presence of respective subscriber terminals associated with respective invitees associated with the invitee list from an internet protocol multimedia subsystem presence server;

receiving presence indications of the respective subscriber terminals from the internet protocol multimedia subsystem presence server;

receiving an invitee device list associated with the subscriber terminals, wherein the invitee device list includes a naming authority pointer record that translates addresses of the subscriber terminals into session initiation protocol addresses for reaching the subscriber terminals;

determining a mode of communication for requesting the conference with the respective invitees via the respective subscriber terminals based on the presence indications;

requesting the conference with the respective invitees associated with the invitee list via the respective subscriber terminals as referred to in the invitee device list via the determined mode of communication;

determining whether the respective invitees can be scheduled for the conference based on whether the respective invitees are reachable via the respective subscriber terminals;

determining whether a timer has exceeded a deadline for scheduling the conference;

scheduling the conference between a conference requestor associated with the conference request and available ones of the respective invitees when mandatory attendees, included within the respective invitees, are available and if the timer has exceeded the deadline for scheduling the conference; and

attempting to communicate with unconfirmed invitees using the subscriber terminals devices that are indicated as being available from a presence list when the timer has not exceeded the deadline for scheduling the conference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective invitees include a first invitee and the determining further comprises:

indicating that the first invitee cannot be scheduled for the conference when the first invitee does not respond within a timeout period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective invitees include a first invitee, the respective subscriber terminals include a first subscriber terminal associated with the first invitee, and the determining further comprises:

accessing an electronic calendar associated with the first subscriber terminal to determine whether the first invitee is available for the conference.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting the invitee device list associated with the respective subscriber terminals from an internet protocol multimedia subsystem telephone number mapping server;

receiving the invitee device list from the internet protocol multimedia subsystem telephone number mapping server; and

requesting the conference with the respective invitees associated with the invitee list via the respective subscriber terminals based on the invitee device list.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the conference request also includes conditions that include a list of the mandatory attendees, a first timeout period, and a second timeout period, and wherein the first timeout period is used when a minimum number of the mandatory attendees have not accepted the conference within the first timeout period and the second timeout period is used when the minimum number of the mandatory attendees have accepted conference within the first timeout period, where the second timeout period is longer than the first timeout period.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reserving a conference bridge for the conference based on the prioritized list of preferred media types; and

confirming the conference with the conference requestor and the mandatory attendees.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the respective subscriber terminals is a mobile subscriber station.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting an available conferencing facility based on the prioritized list of preferred media types.

9. A communication system, comprising:

multiple subscriber terminals; and

an application server in communication with the multiple subscriber terminals, wherein the application server executes a conferencing agent that performs operations comprising;

receiving a conference request from a conference requestor subscriber terminal that is included within the multiple subscriber terminals, the conference request including an invitee list, a prioritized list of preferred media types, a time, and conditions for a conference associated with the conference request;

receiving an invitee device list associated with the subscriber terminals, wherein the invitee device list includes a naming authority pointer record that translates addresses of the subscriber terminals into session initiation protocol addresses for reaching the subscriber terminals;

requesting a presence of respective subscriber terminals associated with respective invitees associated with the invitee list from an internet protocol multimedia subsystem presence server;

receiving presence indications of the respective subscriber terminals from the internet protocol multimedia subsystem presence server;

determining a mode of communication for requesting the conference with the respective invitees via the respective subscriber terminals based on the presence indications;

requesting the conference with the respective invitees associated with the invitee list via respective ones of the multiple subscriber terminals via the determined mode of communication;

determining whether the respective invitees can be scheduled for the conference;

determining whether a timer has exceeded a deadline for scheduling the conference;

scheduling the conference between a conference requestor associated with the conference request and available ones of the respective invitees when mandatory attendees, included within the respective invitees, are available and if the timer has exceeded the deadline for scheduling the conference; and

attempting to communicate with unconfirmed invitees using the subscriber terminals that are indicated as being available from a presence list when the timer has not exceeded the deadline for scheduling the conference, wherein the conferencing agent autonomously requests the conference, determines whether the respective invitees can be scheduled, schedules the conference, and attempts to communicate with unconfirmed invitees without additional interaction from a user.

10. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the respective invitees include a first invitee and the operations further comprise:

indicating that the first invitee cannot be scheduled for the conference when the first invitee does not respond within a timeout period.

11. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the respective invitees include a first invitee, the respective subscriber terminals include a first subscriber terminal associated with the first invitee, and the operations further comprise:

accessing an electronic calendar associated with the first subscriber terminal to determine whether the first invitee is available for the conference.

12. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

requesting the invitee device list associated with the respective subscriber terminals from an internet protocol multimedia subsystem telephone number mapping server;

receiving the invitee device list from the internet protocol multimedia subsystem telephone number mapping server; and

requesting the conference with the respective invitees associated with the invitee list via the respective subscriber terminals based on the invitee device list.

13. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the conditions includes a list of the mandatory attendees, a first timeout period, and a second timeout period, and wherein the first timeout period is used when a minimum number of the mandatory attendees have not accepted the conference within the first timeout period and the second timeout period is used when the minimum number of the mandatory attendees have accepted conference within the first timeout period, where the second timeout period is longer than the first timeout period.

14. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

reserving a conference bridge for the conference based on the prioritized list of preferred media types; and

confirming the conference with the conference requestor and the mandatory attendees via the respective subscriber terminals.

15. The communication system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the multiple subscriber terminals is a mobile subscriber station.

16. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting an available conferencing facility based on the prioritized list of preferred media types.

18. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting an available conferencing facility based on a location of one of the multiple subscriber terminals with respect to the available conferencing facility.

17. A method for conference scheduling, comprising:

requesting an invitee device list associated with respective subscriber terminals from an internet protocol multimedia subsystem telephone number mapping server, wherein the invitee device list includes a naming authority pointer record that translates addresses of the subscriber terminals into session initiation protocol addresses for reaching the subscriber terminals;

receiving the invitee device list from the internet protocol multimedia subsystem telephone number mapping server;

requesting a presence of respective subscriber terminals associated with respective invitees associated with the invitee device list from an internet protocol multimedia subsystem presence server;

receiving presence indications of the respective subscriber terminals from the internet protocol multimedia subsystem presence server;

determining a mode of communication for requesting the conference with the respective invitees via the respective subscriber terminals based on the presence indications, wherein the mode of communication is instant message when the respective subscriber terminals are mobile subscriber terminals;

requesting a conference with respective invitees via the respective subscriber terminals based on the invitee device list via the determined mode of communication;

determining whether a timer has exceeded a deadline for scheduling the conference;

scheduling the conference if the timer has exceeded the deadline for scheduling the conference; and

attempting to communicate with unconfirmed invitees using the subscriber terminals that are indicated as being available from a presence list when the timer has not exceeded the deadline for scheduling the conference.