Call priority based on audio stream analysis

A system comprising:

• a multipoint control unit for receiving a plurality of calls;
• an audio stream capture system for obtaining an audio stream from the calls;
• a software application operational on a computer system adapted for analyzing the audio stream of each call according to one or more selected criteria, determining an urgency priority ranking of each call, placing the calls in a queue based on the urgency priority ranking of each call;
• and analyzing the calls in the queue based on the audio characteristics of the calls, including sound content in the calls, in subsequent time intervals to update and reassign rankings if needed, wherein the subsequent time intervals are independent of when a new call is received;
• a database comprising the queue of calls ordered according to the urgency priority ranking;
• and
• a controller for managing and controlling the calls in the queue.

A method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of calls from participants in a telephone conference for a first selected interval of time, wherein each of the calls comprises an audio stream;
• analyzing each audio stream according to one or more selected criteria;
• assigning a priority rank to each of the audio streams according to the selected criteria;
• selecting from among the plurality of calls a selected number of calls with the highest priority ranks;
• mixing the selected calls to provide a single mixed signal;
• reanalyzing each audio stream based on audio content of the calls in subsequent time intervals to update and reassign priority ranks during the telephone conference, wherein the subsequent time intervals are independent of when a new call is received.

A system comprising:

• a plurality of channel analyzers, each configured to receive a call comprising an audio stream, wherein each channel analyzer is configured to analyze the audio stream during a first time period and assign a priority ranking to the call according to one or more selected criteria and to reanalyze the audio stream based on audio content of the calls during a second time period and re-assign a priority ranking to the call, wherein the second time period is independent of when a new call is received;
• a plurality of output controllers coupled to the channel analyzers and configured to select specific ones of the audio streams based on the priority ranking of the calls;
• a mixer coupled to the output controllers to provide a single mixed output signal from the selected ones of the audio streams;
• and
• a call router coupled to the mixer for outputting the single mixed audio signal to a plurality of users.