Multimedia telecommunications network and service

A method of creating a multimedia call between at least two subscribers, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a telephone call from a calling party placed to a virtual meeting services complex in a multimedia telecommunications network;
• creating a virtual meeting room in the multimedia telecommunications network in response to the telephone call and connecting the calling party to the virtual meeting room, wherein the virtual meeting room persists in the multimedia telecommunications network;
• establishing a connection between at least two subscribers in the virtual meeting room;
• and
• providing an interface to allow subscribers with different telecommunications capabilities to effectuate the multimedia call.

A method of creating a multimedia call between at least two subscribers, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a directory number of at least one called party from a calling party to initiate the multimedia call;
• determining whether the calling party and at least one of the at least one called party are subscribers to a virtual meeting services complex offered by the multimedia telecommunications network;
• determining a telecommunications capability of the subscribers;
• providing an interface to allow subscribers with different telecommunications capabilities to effectuate the multimedia call;
• and
• connecting the subscribers to a node in the multimedia telecommunications network.

A method of effectuating a multimedia call between a calling party and at least one called party in a multimedia telecommunications network, the calling party and the at least one called party being subscribers to the virtual meeting services complex, comprising the steps of:

• automatically identifying a telecommunications capability of a calling party and at least one of the at least one called party to communicate in one or more of a plurality of media in response to a call placed by the calling party to the at least one called party, the plurality of media including audio, video and data;
• providing an interface to allow subscribers with different telecommunications capabilities to effectuate the multimedia call;
• and
• connecting the subscribers in one or more of the identified media.

A method of creating a multimedia call between at least two subscribers, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a call from a calling party placed to a multimedia services node in a telecommunications network;
• automatically identifying capabilities of communications equipment of the calling party and communications equipment of each of a plurality of called parties;
• automatically identifying incompatibilities between communications equipment of the calling party and communications equipment of each of the plurality of called parties;
• and
• automatically establishing predetermined multimedia connections involving audio, video and data communications between the calling party and at least one called party in response to receipt of the call from the calling party.

A method of creating a multimedia call in a multimedia telecommunications network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a call from a calling party placed to a multimedia services node in the multimedia telecommunications network;
• automatically identifying capabilities of communications equipment of the calling party and communications equipment of each of a plurality of called parties;
• automatically identifying incompatibilities between communications equipment of the calling party and communications equipment of each of the plurality of called parties;
• and
• automatically completing the call to the node by establishing predetermined multimedia connections involving audio, video and data communications between the calling party and the node.

A multimedia telecommunications network, comprising:

• a switched telecommunications network;
• a packet telecommunications network;
• a multimedia telecommunication services node connected to the switched telecommunications network and the packet telecommunications network for completing multimedia calls between subscribers to the multimedia telecommunications network, wherein the multimedia call includes audio, video and data;
• and
• a virtual meeting services complex that is accessible to the subscribers, the virtual meeting services complex being associated with the node for providing a multimedia telecommunications service for the subscribers, wherein the virtual meeting services complex includes a controllably persistent virtual meeting room for supporting multimedia telecommunications including any two of audio, video and data communications, the meeting room being controllably persistent in that the audio, video and data communications from an initial multimedia conference call are stored in a memory of the multimedia telecommunications network such that any two of the audio, video and data communications from the initial multimedia conference call are available to one or more subscribers at a time subsequent to when all subscribers are off the initial multimedia conference call.