US 9,118,981 B2Granted

Call management service

AssigneeRing2 Communications Limited

InventorsThomas Michael Hughes, Abdelkareem Siddiq, Sylvain Dufour, Sandeep Mohanty

Life of this patent

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Abstract

The invention pertains to a call management service for a communications system, configured to automatically: receive telephone call data identifying a destination end point and identifying a source end point; initiate a call-back telephone call to said source end point to set-up a first call leg responsive to receiving said telephone call data; initiate a telephone call to said destination end point to set-up a second call leg; combine said first and second call legs together thereby to provide voice communication between said source and destination end points; and transmit call leg status signals for said voice communication over a separate real-time communications connections signalling link to a communications client associated with at least one of said end points.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A method of operating a communications system including a call management server and a communications client at a conference call leader, said communications client providing a user interface, for the establishment of a conference call having a conference call leader call leg and one or more conference call participant call legs, comprising the steps of:

determining that a conference call participant call leg has become active for said conference call;
said call management server notifying said communications client at said conference call leader that a conference call participant call leg has become active;
presenting in response to said notification and without said conference call leader joining the call a message to said conference call leader through said user interface confirming that the conference call has moved from an inactive state, in which there are no participants to the conference call, to an active state, in which there is at least one participant to the conference call;
and
presenting to said conference call leader a mechanism providing the conference call leader both the option to monitor the conference call before the conference call leader joins the call and the option to join the call;
wherein the method is capable of supporting at least one of said call legs over PSTN.

3 more elements

A communications client for a communications system including a call management server and a communications client at a conference call leader, said communications client providing a user interface, for the establishment of a conference call having a conference call leader call leg and one or more conference call participant call legs, said communications client being configured

to receive a notification from the call management server that, for an inactive conference call, a conference call participant call leg has become active;
to present automatically in response to said notification and without said conference call leader joining the call a message to the conference call leader through said user interface confirming that the conference call has moved from an inactive state, in which there are no participants to the conference call, to an active state, in which there is at least one participant to the conference call;
and
to present a mechanism providing the conference call leader both the option to monitor the conference call before the conference call leader joins the call and the option to join the call;
wherein the communication system is capable of supporting at least one of said call legs over PSTN.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/215,863Filed 23 Aug 2011 · continuation
Priority: GB 0408457.015 Apr 2004
Published: US 2011/0305331 A115 Dec 2011
Granted: 25 Aug 2015
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification13 codes

H04Q 3/0016
Selecting arrangements: arrangements providing connection between exchanges
H04M 7/003
Services and arrangements where telephone services are combined with data services: click to dial services
H04M 7/006
Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres: networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet…
H04Q 2213/1305
Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems: software aspects

Family

PCT/GB2005/001454Parent of this continuation · filed 15 Apr 2005
US 2011/0305331 A1Pre-grant publication · published 15 Dec 2011
Application11/578,512Parent of this continuation
US 2007/0280464 A1Published application
US 9,118,981 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.