Method and system for elevating a phone call into a video conferencing session

A system, comprising:

• a processor and a memory for implementing a meeting server and a call switch,
• wherein the meeting server is configured to establish a video conference session based on an indication, received from a first user device of a plurality of user devices connected to an audio call, to elevate the audio call to a video conference, and
• wherein the call switch is configured to identify, using a meeting identifier for the video conference session, video capabilities of the first user device and video capabilities of a second user device of the plurality of user devices,
• wherein, based on the video capabilities of the first user device indicating that the first user device is video capable, a connection of the first user device is transitioned from the audio call to the video conference session over a first new call leg established for the first user device to connect to the meeting server based on a first session initiation protocol request,
• wherein, based on the video capabilities of the second user device indicating that the second user device is not video capable, a connection of the second user device is transitioned from the audio call to the video conference session over a second new call leg established by the call switch for the second user device to connect to the meeting server via a telephony gateway based on a second session initiation protocol request,
• wherein the first user device connects to the video conference session using a first attendee identifier and the second user device connects to the video conference session using a second attendee identifier, and
• wherein the second session initiation protocol request includes a command to bypass an interactive voice response menu otherwise used by the telephony gateway to connect user devices to the video conference.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• identifying, by a call switch, video capabilities of a first user device of a plurality of user devices and video capabilities of a second user device of the plurality of user devices using a meeting identifier for a video conference session established by a meeting server based on an indication, received from the first user device, to an audio call to which the plurality of user devices is connected to a video conference;
• transitioning, based on the video capabilities of the first user device indicating that the first user device is video capable, a connection of the first user device from the audio call to the video conference session over a first new call leg established for the first user device to connect to the meeting server based on a first session initiation protocol request, wherein the first user device connects to the video conference session using a first attendee identifier;
• and
• transitioning, based on the video capabilities of the second user device indicating that the second user device is not video capable, a connection of the second user device from the audio call to the video conference session over a second new call leg established by the call switch for the second user device to connect to the meeting server via a telephony gateway based on a second session initiation protocol request, wherein the second user device connects to the video conference session using a second attendee identifier, and wherein the second session initiation protocol request includes a command to bypass an interactive voice response menu otherwise used by the telephony gateway to connect user devices to the video conference.