System and method for using a portable information device to establish a conference call on a telephony network
Assignee3Com Corporation
InventorsGuido M. Schuster, Sagan S. Sidhu, Ikhlaq S. Sidhu, Ronnen Belkind
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for using a portable information device, such as a personal digital assistant, to establish a conference call on a telephony network. In one embodiment, a user of the portable information device may select communication partners from an address book application located in the portable information device. Communication information related to the communication partners is transmitted across a link from the portable information device to a voice communication device, such as a data network telephone. The data network telephone may then set up the conference call.
Claims39
A system for establishing a conference call on a data network telephony system including a network providing data connectivity for a plurality of data communications channels using data transport protocols, the system comprising in combination:
- a plurality of data network telephones connected to the network, each data network telephone operable to communicate a voice signal as voice-over-data packets on a voice-over-data channel, the voice-over-data channel being one of the plurality of data communications channels on the network, the data network telephones each operable to convert voice-over-data packets communicated on the voice-over-data channel to voice signals;
- and
- a portable information device comprising a user interface and a data network telephone interface, the user interface operable to accept communication partner data from a user, the first data network telephone interface operable to communicate the communication partner data to a first data network telephone to enable the first data network telephone to invite at least one communication partner to a conference call, the at least one communication partner specified in the communication partner data.
A method for enabling a user to initiate a conference call with a portable information device, comprising in combination:
- accepting from the user at the portable information device at least one contact entry selection corresponding to at least one communication partner, wherein each of the at least one contact entry selections includes a user identifier;
- and
- transmitting the at least one user identifier to a data network telephone linked to a data network, wherein the data network telephone establishes the conference call by inviting the at least one communication partner to the conference call, whereby the user may use the data network telephone to communicate voice data with the at least one communication partner via the data network.
A data network telephone for use in establishing a data network telephony conference call, comprising in combination:
- a network interface linking a first data network telephone to a data network, wherein the data network includes a plurality of data network telephones with which the first data network telephone may be used to communicate voice data-in a conference call;
- a PID interface for accepting PID data from a portable information device associated with a_user, wherein the PID data includes at least one user identifier corresponding to at least one communication partner, and wherein the at least one communication partner is selected by the user via an address book application on the portable information device;
- a processor for constructing at least one invite message containing the at least one user identifier, wherein the invite message is used to invite the at least one communication partner to the conference call;
- and
- a user interface including an audio input and an audio output, wherein the user interface enables the user to communicate voice data with at least one communication partner associated with at least one of the plurality of data network telephones.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.