US20070280464A1 - Call Management Service - Google Patents

Call Management Service Download PDF

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Publication number
US20070280464A1
US20070280464A1 US11/578,512 US57851205A US2007280464A1 US 20070280464 A1 US20070280464 A1 US 20070280464A1 US 57851205 A US57851205 A US 57851205A US 2007280464 A1 US2007280464 A1 US 2007280464A1
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Prior art keywords
call
communications
leg
participant
end point
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Abandoned
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US11/578,512
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English (en)
Inventor
Thomas Hughes
Abdelkareem Siddiq
Sylvain Dufour
Sandeep Mohanty
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Ring2 Communications Ltd
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Ring2 Communications Ltd
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Assigned to RING2 COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED reassignment RING2 COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: DUFOUR, SYLVAIN, MOHANTY, SANDEEP, HUGHES, THOMAS MICHAEL, SIDDIQ, ABDELKAREEM
Publication of US20070280464A1 publication Critical patent/US20070280464A1/en
Priority to US13/215,863 priority Critical patent/US9118981B2/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
    • H04Q3/0016—Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
    • H04M7/0024—Services and arrangements where telephone services are combined with data services
    • H04M7/003—Click to dial services
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
    • H04M7/006—Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/1305—Software aspects
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13091—CLI, identification of calling line
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13106—Microprocessor, CPU
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13175—Graphical user interface [GUI], WWW interface, visual indication
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13176—Common channel signaling, CCS7
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13204—Protocols
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/1326—Consultation call, broker's call, call hold, toggling
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04Q—SELECTING
    • H04Q2213/00—Indexing scheme relating to selecting arrangements in general and for multiplex systems
    • H04Q2213/13389—LAN, internet

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a telecommunications apparatus, system and method; in particular, but not exclusively, to a system for managing telephone call set-up and in-call functions irrespective of the type of underlying network.
  • Telephony systems and services are ubiquitous, and are used for both residential and business purposes.
  • the services and features provided by telephony systems have developed from simple person-to-person calls, to conference calls where many parties are connected together at a time.
  • Telephony terminal devices have developed beyond the simple telephone to incorporate many features such as an address book of telephone numbers and quick dial telephone numbers, typically under microprocessor control.
  • Examples of telephony devices are regular fixed line handsets (an illustrative example of which is the “Duet 60” Corded Phone sold by BT plc), more sophisticated fixed line telephony terminals (an illustrative example of which is the Meridian M3904 Professional Telephone sold by Nortel Networks), mobile/cellular handsets, mobile/cellular enabled personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other mobile/cellular terminals, or Internet Protocol (IP) telephones.
  • regular fixed line handsets an illustrative example of which is the “Duet 60” Corded Phone sold by BT plc
  • more sophisticated fixed line telephony terminals an illustrative example of which is the Meridian M3904 Professional Telephone sold by Nortel Networks
  • mobile/cellular handsets mobile/cellular enabled personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other mobile/cellular terminals
  • PDAs personal digital assistants
  • IP Internet Protocol
  • PABX Private Automatic Branch Exchange
  • PBX Private Branch Exchange
  • PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
  • FIG. 1 An example of a conventional telephony system is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 .
  • the conventional telephone system is based on circuit switched connections which establish an “end-to-end” connection between parties to a call.
  • the core of the telephone system is the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 2 .
  • PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
  • Individual telephone terminals 4 , 6 may be connected to the PSTN 2 by local exchanges (not shown).
  • Cellular telephone systems such as the Global System for Mobile devices (GSM) may also be connected to the PSTN 2 by way of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 8 .
  • GSM Global System for Mobile devices
  • MSC Mobile Switching Center
  • Telephone calls from a cellular telephone (or more generally mobile terminal) 10 to a telephone terminal 4 , 6 connected to the PSTN 2 are routed through a base station 12 to a MSC 8 , and then into the PSTN 2 for example for connection with a telephone terminal 4 , 6 .
  • PABX 16 which provides enhanced telephony features for the telephones 14 of their internal telephony network, and may also provide call conferencing features with external telephones 4 , 6 , 10 .
  • Each PABX 16 has a fixed number of telephone lines 18 providing communication to the PSTN 2 , and if the PABX 16 provides conference call features it also comprises one or more so-called “call bridge modules” 20 .
  • Each call bridge module provides call connections between a fixed number of lines, typically 3 or 5 parties.
  • Telephone calls need not be made over the circuit switched PSTN 2 , but may use packet switched technology and be sent over an Internet 22 using an Internet Protocol communications format provided the PABX 16 has a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) module 24 .
  • VoIP calls are directed over the Internet 22 , for example to an IP endpoint 26 such as an Internet enabled telephone or a computer system having a software client providing telephony functions.
  • Each bridge module 20 represents a cost to the business, and if large conference call facilities are only required occasionally then a number of the bridge modules 20 purchased to provide large call conferencing facilities would remain unused for much of the time. This represents a significant waste of resources.
  • Telephone handsets 14 may also limit the number of parties that can join in a call.
  • Advanced handsets may allow multiple call conferencing, but some are limited to 3-way calling or do not support conference call features at all.
  • multi-way call conferencing has a highly restricted and awkward user interface. For example, in simple 3-way calling it is necessary to first call a party, wait until they have been connected, park that call, call a second party and then connect the calls together. For more than 3-way calling connecting all the parties to the call can be a particularly laborious and time-consuming process.
  • each supplier of handsets and/or PABXs often have multiple, and non-standard, complex function button or key strokes for conferencing in additional parties to an ongoing call. This mitigates against multi-party impromptu call conferencing.
  • Another drawback is that different service providers may be used for setting up scheduled conference calls, where invitees “dial-in” to the conference call at the scheduled time. Thus, different protocols and telephone numbers have to be used to set up the conference calls.
  • the number of telephone numbers stored by a telephone handset is often limited—particularly when compared to the number that can be stored in a cellular telephone 10 .
  • address books are often on Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and in desktop applications such as Contacts in Microsoft® Outlook.
  • PDA Personal Digital Assistants
  • the PDA which sometimes includes a cellular telephone, is generally kept with a user at all times and often has the most up-to-date address/telephone number information. Synchronising a cellular telephone with a PDA or Outlook, then ensures that the cellular telephone is up-to-date.
  • a cellular telephone 10 user will often call direct from their cellular telephone, even when at their desk with a land line telephone to hand, due to the convenience of having their telephone numbers stored in the address book, and being able to dial directly from them.
  • cellular telephone calls are generally more costly than landline calls and this habit of cellular phone users leads to increased telephony expenses either for the business, or for the user in their personal capacity.
  • GB 2320641 has previously proposed to provide an internet-connected PC to send a call-initiation message via the internet to a service provider's web server, which then instructs a PSTN switch to make a call over the PSTN to the user's PSTN handset.
  • the PSTN switch then calls the destination PSTN number and when that is answered, the PSTN switch joins the two call legs together. It has also previously been proposed to add further PSTN legs to the call and bridge them within the PSTN switch.
  • control mechanisms are html web pages (or so-called ‘thin’ clients running within browsers), email messages or SMS messages.
  • Such control mechanisms require the use of an intermediary server to translate requests from these interfaces into a protocol understandable by the PSTN switch.
  • level of control and responsiveness of calls is limited.
  • control mechanisms do not consist of independent software running on the operating system of the user's control device and consequently cannot interface with other programs running on the user's control device to provide enhanced functionality and usability.
  • TAPI Telephony Application Programming Interface
  • TAPI Problems with TAPI are that a TAPI has to be created for each application and therefore requires separate installation or download by the user of a TAPI for each application that the user requires. Their operation can also be different from application to application depending on the creator. Additionally, TAPI based programs only provide the interface between the program running on the PC and some external communication service rather than a complete communication solution.
  • a further previously proposed alternative is that of the so-called “softphone”.
  • the most common type of softphone is a software client residing on a user's PC and which must have both microphone and speaker functionality, or external equivalents connected to the PC. The user then communicates through the PC purely over VoIP. Skype and Vonage each currently offer a VoIP phone, although again we do not know whether these phones were available before the filing date of the present application.
  • 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.
  • a client installed onto a user's PC, PDA or mobile phone allows (a) a much tighter integration of calling into the operation of the user's device (b) communication enhancements with the system's back end by use of a fully implemented SIP (or other equivalent protocol) stack and (c) independent running of internal client threads and timers.
  • a communications client of the type described herein runs as an independent program within the operating system of the device (for example not as a Java application within a browser). This allows the client to interact with the operating system and other programs running on the end user's device. For example, in the case of a communications client of the type described herein running on a Windows based PC, this arrangement allows the client to interact with other applications on the PC for example to allow information to be passed to the client to initiate a phone call, set a project code, pull in data to the client or other interactive service.
  • An example of such an application is the ability of the communications client to recognize certain key press combinations to initiate a call to any highlighted number. Mechanically what happens is that when the key sequence has been entered the communications client tells Windows to copy whatever the currently selected area is and paste the contents to the Windows Clipboard. From there the communications client pastes the contents into the module which strips away everything but the phone number, validates it against the established number verification rules either requests that the communications client places a call to the selected number if it passes the verification check or throws up a dialog requesting further clarification from the user if the selection fails in number validation.
  • Another example of such an application would be the ability of the communications client to pull data from other applications for use within the communications client.
  • the communications client investigates the PC to establish if there are any contact information data sources that could be imported and used into the client.
  • an available contact data source e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express or Exchange
  • the client asks the user for permission to import the contact information from this source and then the data is brought into the client and stored in a phonebook for quick and easy access.
  • a communications client of the type described herein is able to carry a full implementation of a SIP stack within its code base. This allows the client to issue and receive full real time communications with the Application Server or Call Controller/Call Mixer to issues commands, receive updates of in-call events and other general service updates.
  • the presence of a SIP stack within the communications client means that the client can communicate with the Call Controller/Call Mixer directly, without going through an intermediary server for protocol conversion.
  • Such direct communication with the Call Controller/Call Mixer means that during a call, the communications client virtually instantaneously updates the user as to the status of the various call legs involved and can rapidly instigate new legs or access in call features such as ‘record call’, ‘drop leg’, ‘hold leg’, ‘mute leg’, etc., etc.
  • a communications client of the type described herein is able to run and manage its own internal threads and timers allowing the client to request updates from the Application Server and to provide additional call related controls from within the client.
  • the client can establish communication with the Application Server on a regular basis (for example every 2 minutes) to receive updates regarding such pertinent information as: the appropriate datacenter to initiate the next call from; whether a new scheduled conference call has been created and needs to be updated on the Communications Client display; if new account information such as an Administrator created company wide phone book has been updated and needs to be downloaded into the client.
  • the client can detect when internet connectivity has been interrupted and upon re-establishment of the connection, the client can request an update from the Application Server to find out if there are any ongoing calls for which the client should be reporting call state for the user. This allows the client to seamlessly recover state after interruption of internet connectivity.
  • Another advantage of the arrangement proposed herein is that it not only supports termination points on the PSIN, but also supports direct connection via IP to SIP based, VoIP end points.
  • SIP end points include softphone clients (such as MSN Messenger) and hardware based IP Phone solutions.
  • Such architecture allows call legs between the ring2 datacenter and the user's SIP terminal to be carried out over IP rather than going through a translation to PSTN protocols.
  • users can experience significant cost savings as VoIP legs are generally cheaper to provision than PSTN legs and the overall responsiveness of the system in terms of call set up times will be augmented since there will be no protocol translation between the request to initiate a call and the provisioning of the media stream itself.
  • a further embodiment of the present invention pertains to a method of operating data processing apparatus for providing a call management service, comprising: receiving telephone call data identifying a destination end point and identifying a source end point; initiating a call-back telephone call to said source end point to set-up a first call leg responsive to receiving said telephone call data; initiating a telephone call to said destination end point to set-up a second call leg; combining first and second call legs together thereby to provide voice communication between said source and destination end points; and transmitting 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.
  • Yet another embodiment of the invention relates to a method of operating a data processing apparatus to provide a communications client for a communications system, comprising establishing a separate real-time communications connections signalling link to a call management service, said signalling link separate from a voice communications channel, responsive to instantiation of said method and communicating a conference call set-up request comprising conference call schedule information and contact information for two or more conference call participants to said call management service via a communications link.
  • a further embodiment of the invention relates to a communications client for a communications system, said communications client responsive to instantiation thereof to establish a separate real-time communications connections signalling link to a call management service, said signalling link separate from a voice communications channel, and said communications client operative to communicate data messages to said call management service via a communications link, said communications client associated with a conference call participant and configured to display a call status icon for a participant call leg.
  • Another embodiment of the invention relates to a method of operating data processing apparatus for providing a communications client for a communications system, comprising establishing a real-time communications connections signalling link to a call management service responsive to instantiation of said communications client, said signalling link separate from a voice communications channel.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a conventional telephony network
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a data processing apparatus
  • FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a computer program hierarchy suitable for the data processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2 ;
  • FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a telephony network in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 5 is a graphical illustration of a call set-up message exchange and component activity for the telephone system illustrated in FIG. 4 ;
  • FIG. 6 is a graphical illustration of call set-up message exchange and component activity for adding a party to an ongoing call for the telephone system illustrated in FIG. 4 ;
  • FIG. 7 is an example of a communications client user interface for “quick dial” keys in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 8 is an example of a communications client user interface for an address book in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 9 is a flow diagram for an embodiment of a communications client in accordance with the present invention.
  • FIGS. 10 a and 10 b are process flow diagrams of a conference call set-up process
  • FIGS. 11 and 12 are schematic process flow diagrams for various aspects of the conference call set-up process
  • FIGS. 13 a and 13 b are illustrative representations of a conference call set-up form
  • FIG. 14 is a schematic representation of conference call set-up message provided to a designated leader of the conference call
  • FIG. 15 is a schematic representation of a leader's electronic diary entry, in this instance an outlook attachment
  • FIG. 16 is a schematic representation of a confirmation web-page provided to the leader following set-up of a conference call
  • FIG. 17 is a schematic representation of an invitation to a conference call provided to an invitee
  • FIG. 18 is a schematic representation of an invitee's electronic diary entry, in this instance an outlook attachment
  • FIG. 19 is a schematic representation of a conference call reminder
  • FIG. 20 is a schematic representation of a request call-back web page
  • FIG. 21 is a process flow diagram for operation of a communications client
  • FIGS. 22, 23 and 24 are schematic representations of a communications client interface
  • FIG. 25 is a schematic representation of a known mobile terminal
  • FIG. 26 is a schematic representation of key components of a mobile terminal
  • FIG. 27 is a schematic representation of a mobile terminal and software client
  • FIG. 28 is a schematic representation of a flowchart depicting one mode of operation of the software client
  • FIGS. 29 and 30 are illustrative representations of message formats.
  • FIG. 31 is an illustrative representation of client software functional components.
  • Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented on data processing apparatus such as that shown in a schematic and simplified form in FIG. 2 .
  • the data processing apparatus comprises various data processing resources such as a processor (CPU) 30 coupled to a bus structure 38 . Also connected to the bus structure 38 are further data processing resources such as read only memory 32 and random access memory 34 .
  • a display adapter 36 connects a display device, such as a cathode ray tube or LCD flat screen display, to the bus structure 38 .
  • One or more user-input device adaptors 40 connect the user-input devices, including for example a keyboard and mouse, to the bus structure 38 .
  • An adapter 42 for the connection of a printer may also be provided.
  • One or more media drive adaptors 46 can be provided for connecting media drives such as an optical disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a hard disk drive or a high volume storage media such as a RAID array, to the bus structure 38 .
  • One or more telecommunications adaptors 44 can be coupled to the bus structure to provide processing resource interface means for connecting the data processing apparatus to one or more networks or to other computer systems.
  • the communications adaptors 44 could include one or more of a local area adaptor, a modem and/or an ISDN terminal adaptor, or serial or parallel port adaptors, etc. as required.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of one possible implementation of a data processing apparatus which may be suitable for a computer system acting as a server computer system or a client computer system such as desktop or laptop computer system.
  • the data processing apparatus may be implemented within a mobile telephone, a PDA or IP network terminal device—in which case some of the system elements mentioned above may not be provided.
  • a computer program for implementing various functions or conveying various functions (for example from a remote store for local execution) or conveying various information for configuring the data processing apparatus 28 may be supplied on media such as one or more CD-ROMs and/or floppy disks and/or Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) and then stored on a local magnetic media such as a local hard disk, for example.
  • a program implementable by the data processing apparatus may also be supplied over a telecommunications medium, for example embodied as an electronic signal conveyed over a telecommunications network and/or the Internet.
  • the telecommunications medium may be a radio frequency carrier wave carrying suitably encoded signals representing the computer program and/or data or information.
  • the carrier wave may be an optical carrier wave for an optical fibre link or any other suitable carrier medium for a land line link between the data processing apparatus and telecommunications system.
  • FIG. 3 is a simplified and schematic illustration of an example of computer software hierarchy such as may be implemented on a data processing apparatus as illustrated in FIG. 2 .
  • the Basic Input Output System (BIOS) 50 typically resides on a chip forming a part of a processing resource 30 of the data processing apparatus 28 , and comprises computer program routines for handling input and output functions and providing an interface between the data processing apparatus operating system and peripheral hardware such as user input devices over the user-input adaptor 40 , for example.
  • the BIOS 50 supports all the peripheral technologies and internal services such as real time clocks (time and date).
  • the BIOS tests the data processing system and prepares it for operation by querying the various configurations settings and searching for other BIOSs on various processing resources associated with the data processing apparatus, such as plug-in boards and also setting up pointers such as interrupt vectors in its memory resources to access those routines.
  • An operating system 52 is then loaded and control passed to it.
  • the BIOS accepts requests from peripheral device drivers as well as from application programs that are run on the data processing apparatus 28 .
  • the BIOS is stored in ROM memory 32 , although adaptable and updatable BIOSs are often stored on a flash memory chip which may be upgraded by software.
  • the operating system is a Microsoft Windows® 52 operating system available from Microsoft Corporation, and provides the platform for a full-function communications client 54 .
  • the communications client 54 may be either a communications software client residing on user terminal devices such as a desktop 28 or laptop 56 computer ( FIG. 4 ), a PDA, a cellular telephone 58 or a general IP terminal device 59 for providing a user interface for the system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
  • the communications client resides on a data processing apparatus forming a part of a server computer system or systems for providing a telephony system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The basic operation of an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 4 .
  • FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a telephone system 60 incorporating a call management centre (CMC) 62 and the communications client 54 .
  • the CMC 62 may be implemented on one or more data processing apparatus typically configured as one or more servers, as described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 above.
  • the servers may be located at the same physical location, even within the same device, or distributed throughout various physical locations that are in communication with one another (for example by means of an internet, WAN, or LAN).
  • the CMC 62 comprises 4 main components: an application server 68 , a web server 92 , a database 90 and a soft switch 66 .
  • the functions of each of these components will be set out in more detail below. A summary is given here.
  • the soft switch 66 contains software for initiating, controlling and mixing calls made by Call Controller/Media Mixer 67 through the desired transport medium, whether that is PSTN 2 (thereby allowing delivery to PSTN handsets and cellular mobile phones) or the IP Network 22 (allowing delivery to a SIP-endpoint such as a SIP phone on a managed VoIP network or the internet), and reporting on the status of each call (and each leg of each call).
  • the application server 68 receives log-in and log-out commands from the communications client 54 , as well as call scheduling information and SMS call initiation requests (in which case the application server authenticates the requests and then communicates with the Soft Switch in order to carry out the requests) over a first secure messaging protocol channel 71 .
  • the application server contains software for services as required by the desired system, for example a billing & rating module 82 , notification services 84 , analysis usage tool module 80 , and provisioning tools 88 .
  • a suitable Call Controller/Media Mixer is the eDial AudioPresenter available from eDial, Inc., 266 Second Avenue, Waltham, Mass. 02451, USA.
  • the communications client 54 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is a key feature of the system 60 , and is operable to perform several functions and to provide a user interface between the user device 28 , 56 , 58 , 59 , and the CMC 62 for initiating and controlling calls using the managed service.
  • the communications client 54 contains a number of different software modules, the operation of which is not critical to an understanding of the present invention and hence will not be described in detail.
  • the application server 68 includes an analysis usage tool module 80 which collects statistics on the calls that have been made through the CMC 62 , and also a billing and rating module 82 .
  • the analysis and usage tool 80 and billing and rating module 82 do not have a functional bearing on the present invention and so no further description thereof will be made.
  • the Notification Services module 84 is operable to send reminder messages to conference call invitees to remind them of a start time of a conference call scheduled on the application server 68 by a user or users, and a Conference Call Scheduling module 86 manages scheduled conference calls.
  • the Provisioning module 88 contains user data such as user name, password and other information for setting up and implementing a call service and account for a given user.
  • the CMC 62 also has a high volume data storage unit 90 and one or more web servers 92 for communicating between the CMC 62 and web enabled devices.
  • the CMC is also connected to various gateways to allow the exchange of information with various external networks in various formats for example for e-mailing notification messages to conference call participants via an e-mail gateway 91 .
  • the soft switch 66 has two network facing sides; a PSTN side 94 for setting up telephone call legs over the PSTN 2 , and a IP side 96 for setting up VoIP call legs over an Internet 22 or any other underlying transport network.
  • the soft switch 66 further comprises a Call Controller/Media Mixer 67 operable to mix a plurality of media streams.
  • the communications client 54 sends the request via a secure messaging protocol to the application server 68 for execution of the appropriate authentication and processing. If the communication is for call initiation or control, the communications client 54 sends the communication directly to the relevant soft switch 66 via a separate real-time communications channel 72 , preferably a SIP communications channel.
  • the arrangement is such that the communications client 54 is arranged to communicate directly with the soft switches 66 by means of the aforementioned SIP protocol, or any other suitable network protocol, for call related data exchange—for example on initiation or during the course of a call.
  • Non-call related communications on the other hand, between the communications client 54 and application server 68 are accomplished by means of a secure messaging protocol.
  • the communications client 54 opens a secure messaging protocol dialogue with the application server 68 and transmits the user's log-in information to the application server 68 .
  • the application server 68 invokes a verification routine for checking user identification information forwarded to it against the data held by the provisioning module 88 for verifying and authenticating the user to the service
  • the Application Server notifies the communications client 54 , via the aforementioned secure messaging protocol 71 that the user is authorised and logged onto the service, as well as updating the Phonebook and passing on administrative information including which soft switch the user's communications client 54 should communicate with to make calls.
  • further parties may be added to an in progress call on an ad-hoc basis.
  • the addition of a further one or more parties follows on from the basic call set-up procedure described with reference FIG. 5 above.
  • call leg in-call control icons are displayed for each call leg, thereby allowing the initiator of the calls to actuate the appropriate icon in order to put an associated leg on HOLD, MUTE or indeed to DROP that leg.
  • the continuous SIP dialogue enables the user to enact this command in real-time by actuating the communications client 54 as desired. For example, if the user wishes to place a leg of the call on hold, then they actuate the HOLD button next to the identity of the relevant leg in a display screen of the communications client 54 .
  • the communications client 54 sends the HOLD instruction via the SIP dialogue directly to the soft switch, where the soft switch acts on the instruction by placing the relevant party on hold within the Mixer 66 .
  • the soft switch then returns the status of that leg to the communications client 54 through the SIP dialogue.
  • the communications client 54 receives the message and updates the real-time display to show that the relevant party is now on hold.
  • the Soft Switch 66 When a call is terminated, the Soft Switch 66 notifies the Application Server 68 of the call detail records (CDRs) for retention, processing and presentation as part of the user's call records, and for billing purposes.
  • the Application Server then processes the CDRs in the manner required for the desired service, preferably rating and billing the call, and including the call as part of the call history displayed to the user through the Web Server.
  • the described embodiment of the invention implements the communications client 54 as a Windows® application.
  • the communications client 54 may be displayed as a full user interface, or collapsed to run as a background function in the System Tray.
  • the System Tray is an area on the right-had side of the task bar which displays icons that are representative of software programs which have a persistent memory resident component (and hence are running in the background).
  • memory resident programs comprise functions such as the volume control and Instant Messenger, and are invoked on start-up of the computer system.
  • FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings illustrate a user interface 100 for the communications client 54 in accordance with the described embodiment of the present invention.
  • the user interface 100 has three user actuable tabs for displaying number information.
  • a favourites tab 102 which displays 10 quick dial buttons user actuable, for example by point and click, to make a call to the selected telephone number.
  • a personal address book tab (my numbers) 104 which displays a list of names and telephone numbers such as may be found in a conventional address book, and a business address book (company) under tab 106 .
  • Tab 108 (conference) is an interface for setting up and managing scheduled conference calls.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates the communications client display interface having the favourites tab 102 active, displaying the quick dial telephone numbers 110 user actuable by double clicking, or selectable by a single click and activation of the call button 112 .
  • a telephone number may be entered in the country code and number text windows 114 .
  • a call end button 116 is also provided.
  • Text window 118 displays the MY LOCATION telephone number, and is editable to change the MY LOCATION number.
  • a cost or project code can also be entered into text window 120 , which will be communicated to the soft switch and application server 68 for recording the cost of any call or calls against that cost or project code.
  • the communications client user interface also includes a call display status window 121 .
  • the call set-up procedure as described in FIG. 5 is invoked.
  • the MY LOCATION name (in this case My desk) is displayed in the status window 121 together with a tick indicating that the call leg is active and call control icons for MUTE 122 , DROP 124 and HOLD 126 .
  • the display status window 121 displays the called party's name and status indicating that it is connected.
  • FIG. 8 a user interface 100 for the communications client 54 is displayed in which the address book tab 104 (My Numbers) is active.
  • the address book tab 104 may be used to initiate all calls or may be opened following a call initiated using either text window 114 input or quick dial numbers 110 from the favourites tab 102 as described with reference to FIG. 7 .
  • a user has set up a first call as described with reference to FIG. 7 . They now wish to add a further person to the call (ad-hoc conferencing) and do so by selecting the desired called party (name 5 ) from a list of telephone numbers under the address book tab 104 . Optionally, they could have added another party from the quick dial numbers 110 under the favourites tab 102 , or by inputting a telephone number into the text window 114 .
  • the “add to call” button 112 is actuated.
  • the “call” button 112 automatically changes its description 134 from “call” to “add to call” once a first call leg has been established. Once the “add to call” button has been activated then the second called party call set-up procedure is invoked as described with reference to FIG. 6 .
  • the full status is displayed in display window 121 , namely the name of the called party (name 5 ), the call active “tick” and the call control icons MUTE, DROP and HOLD 136 , 138 and 140 respectively.
  • the user who is the call initiator in this scenario, is able to control the third leg of the call to MUTE, DROP and/or HOLD that leg.
  • the communications client 54 resides in a Windows® operating environment, and comprises a persistent memory-resident portion (represented by an icon in the aforementioned system tray) even when the communications client's main user interface window has been closed down.
  • This arrangement is advantageous as it allows the communications client 54 to be invoked as required without having to restart the communications client on each occasion that a user desires to make a call.
  • a further advantage of this arrangement is that the client can be invoked and an end-point called merely by highlighting a data entry containing telephone numbers in any application for example an-email or a Word document.
  • a process flow diagram for this aspect of the communications client 54 is illustrated in FIG. 9 where at step S 10 the communications client 54 scans the keyboard of the data processing apparatus upon which it resides.
  • the communications client 54 reviews keyboard scans at step 20 to determine, in this particular example, if the control key has been depressed twice in quick succession, for example the second press occurring within 2 seconds of the first. If no “control-control” key sequence has been detected then the communications client returns to step S 10 where it continues to scan the keyboard. If a control-control sequence has been detected then process control flows to step S 30 where the communications client 54 determines if a data entry has been highlighted for any running application. If no data entry has been highlighted then process control flows back to step S 10 , otherwise control flows to step S 40 where a copy of the data entry is taken and the telephone number extracted from it.
  • the communications client 54 invokes a call as described above with reference to FIG. 5 or 6 , and displays the communications client interface providing the user with control of a call.
  • Processing control then flows back to Step S 10 where the keyboard scan continues and further telephone numbers may be called and added to the call to achieve ad-hoc conferencing by highlighting data containing the new numbers and pressing the control key twice in quick succession.
  • the communications client provides for the extraction of a telephone number from any textual application (for example Word, or textual acrobat files) to invoke a call to one or more parties.
  • any textual application for example Word, or textual acrobat files
  • a user may set-up a scheduled conference call provisioned and managed by the application server and call management centre 62 .
  • the conference call may be scheduled by way of the communications client 54 .
  • the conference call set-up request message may originate from a communications client 54 , in which case the user name and password for the client are automatically included in the message, or via a web site in which a user has to input their user name and password, for authentication by the application server.
  • the application server 68 invokes authentication of the request message at step S 70 , during which the user name and password are checked using the provisioning module 88 to verify that the user name and password combination are active.
  • step S 80 if the user authentication fails then process control flows to step S 90 in which the application server initiates sending a request fail message to the user. If the user is authenticated then process control flows to step 100 and the application server 68 instructs the web server 92 to provide a conference call set-up form 200 as illustrated in FIG. 13 a and continued on FIG. 13 b.
  • Schedule new conference form 200 may reside on a web server 92 and be completed by a user over the Internet 22 by way of an Internet protocol session, or directly in a Window managed by the communication client 54 and subsequently posted to the application server via the web server.
  • a title 210 for the conference call is required in order that invitees and the user may discriminate between various conference calls that may be set-up and displayed to them via their communications client, or communicated to them via e-mail.
  • the date, 212 , and start time, 214 may be provided, and the time zone 216 set as desired.
  • the call duration 218 may also be input, and in the described embodiment as a default setting of 30 minutes.
  • SMS Simple Message Service
  • a Simple Message Service (SMS) reminder may be requested, 220 , and the telephone number to which the SMS reminder is to be sent input, 222 .
  • SMS Simple Message Service
  • the e-mail addresses of each of the invitees is input in box 224 , and a message 226 may also be included in the e-mail invitation.
  • attachments 228 may be made to the form 200 .
  • the conference call must have the leader present, 230 in order for the conference call to be active.
  • step S 110 the completed form is forwarded by the web server 92 , and the application server 68 posts the completed form details to the conference call scheduler 86 .
  • the web server also displays a web page 270 with the inputted conference call details to the leader for verification purposes.
  • the application server 68 sets the user (new conference call originator) as the call leader, S 120 , and sends a secure message to the communications client 54 to confirm to the user that the conference call has been set up, S 130 .
  • the conference call set-up is confirmed by way of an e-mail 250 (illustrated in FIG. 14 ) which includes the title 210 , date 212 , time 214 and duration 218 .
  • the leader 232 (in this instance “user”) is identified, together with the other proposed conference call participants 234 .
  • the conference call invitation e-mail 250 has attached to it a vCalender file (VCS) which, upon opening, populates the leader's VCS compatible calendar with the conference call details including the date and time as well as the access numbers and codes (not shown).
  • VCS vCalender file
  • An example of a VCS compatible calendar program is Microsoft Outlook.
  • the confirmation e-mail 250 provides the option of e-mailing all participants in order to provide them with further information about the call for example, 236 . Access details for the conference call are also provided, 238 .
  • Form 250 also provides the option for requesting a SMS reminder, 240 , actuation of which invokes a web page via which the telephone number of the telephone, typically a cellular telephone, at which the SMS reminder has been received may be input.
  • step S 135 a call-back request is received from an invitee or the user.
  • step S 140 the call-back request is reconciled with a conference identity, and at step 145 the application server 68 instructs the Call Controller/Media Mixer 67 to call the requesting invitee or user and join them to the conference call.
  • Conference call scheduling is provided by module 86 of the call management services 64 , and receives call set-up details, S 150 , from the application server 68 .
  • Invitees provisioned as users within the system are identified by their e-mail address (S 160 ) and the application server updates the invitees client with details of the conference call, S 170 , and a link from which the call can be joined when the call becomes available.
  • the notification services module 84 receives invitee details, call information and call and invitees' identities, together with the user identity from the conference call scheduler 86 , at step S 300 .
  • invitations to the conference call are then sent out to the invitees and the user at step S 310 .
  • An example of a conference call invitation 275 to an invitee is illustrated in FIG. 17 of the drawings.
  • the e-mail invitation is sent to the invitee and provides the telephone numbers and codes for joining the telephone conference and an option setting an SMS reminder 240 for the call.
  • the conference call invitation e-mail 275 has attached to it a vCalender file (VCS) 280 (depicted in FIG. 18 ) for populating a recipient's VCS compatible calendar (e.g. Microsoft Outlook) with the conference call details including the date and time as well as the access numbers and codes (not shown).
  • VCS vCalender file
  • the application server receives any SMS reminder requests via invitee input on a web page generated by the web server 92 .
  • Process control flows to step S 330 where a reminder schedule is set within the application server for e-mail (all invitees) as well as any SMS reminders (for those invitees who chose this option).
  • An example of a conference call reminder 290 is illustrated in FIG. 19 .
  • the illustrated conference call reminder 290 is the one sent to the user, i.e. initiator of the conference call, however, conference call reminders sent to other invitees will have similar information and format.
  • the reminder includes a request call-back button 300 .
  • Actuation of the request call-back button 300 invokes a web page 310 , an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 20 .
  • Text boxes 312 and 314 are provided for inputting the telephone number country code and telephone number respectively other telephone at which the user wishes to be called back.
  • a similar conference call reminder goes to the invitees also, who may respond by requesting a call-back or use the access numbers or participation codes provided in the conference call reminder 290 to dial in and access the conference.
  • step S 400 the communications client 54 a new conference call has been scheduled by monitoring for actuation of the “schedule new” button 340 . If button 340 has been actuated then process control flows to step S 410 in which a message requesting scheduling of a new conference call causes the web server to post a call scheduling web form to the browser of the user.
  • the web server posts the scheduled call details to the application server.
  • invitees provisioned as users within the system are identified by their email address and the application server updates the invitee's client with details of the conference call and a link from which the call can be joined when the call becomes available.
  • display 121 instructions for joining a call 346 are provided.
  • a call active or available is displayed. If a call is available to join then the words “available” are highlighted with the same colour as the available conference call. Alternatively, if a conference call is active the word “active” is highlighted with the same colour as that highlighting the active conference call, typically the colours for available and active calls being different from each other.
  • the application server sets a flag that the conference call is now available to join, as a result, the next time that the invitee's clients log into the application server, the status of the conference link is updated, indicated to the invitee by shading the call link, and the link is activated such that double-clicking on the link posts a request to the application server to instruct the softswitch to initiate a call to the invitee's ‘my location’ so that the invitee can join the call.
  • This also has the effect of opening a SIP session between the client and the soft switch so that the client can display real time information about the participants on the call and give the user the ability to add or manage different legs.
  • the user who scheduled the call has full control over every leg on the call whereas invitees can see all the legs on the call but can only give instructions for their leg or any additional legs that they have added to the call.
  • the application flags the call as active and upon the next client login to the application server the status is updated to indicate that the call is now in progress. This is indicated to the invitee by a different shading of the conference call in the conference call tab.
  • step S 440 the communications client 54 monitors whether or not a request has been made to join the conference call. If no such request has been made the process flow control moves to step S 450 where the communications client determines whether or not a message has been received notifying that a party has joined the call. If no such message has been received then process flow control returns step S 440 . However, if the communications client 54 has received a message notifying that the party has joined the call then the display is updated at step S 460 with the details of the party having joined the call.
  • An example of user interface 100 illustrating parties having joined the call is illustrated in FIG. 24 where the name of the parties on the call are displayed, together with a call active icon and the call control icons.
  • step S 440 If the communications client 54 determines that a request to join the call has been made at step S 440 then process flow proceeds to step S 470 where a message is sent to the call management centre 62 requesting joining to the call.
  • Process flow control then proceeds to step 480 where the communications client display is updated to show that the user has joined the call.
  • the communications client 54 then continues to monitor to see whether or not any further message has been received notifying that further parties have joined the call at step S 490 and if they have updates the display accordingly.
  • the leader who is the user, may activation call control icons 350 to send call control messages, S 500 , to the call management centre 62 , and at step S 510 updates the display accordingly.
  • step S 520 If the user decides to end the call, then they activate the end call icon 352 in line with their name, step S 520 . This drops the user from the conference call. However, the conference call may continue without the user.
  • the user interface 100 will display the active call participants and also indicate that the user is no longer active on the call. However, the user may rejoin the conference call, step S 530 , by doubling clicking on the conference call in the conference tab section 108 .
  • Activation of the highlighted conference call 348 will result in a message being sent to the call management centre 62 , S 540 , by the communications client 68 requesting the joining to the conference call.
  • a user leg is set up by the soft switch 66 to join the user to the conference call and the communications client 54 updates its display, S 550 , to indicate that the user leg is now active.
  • conference call participants may also drop from a call and re-join at a later stage.
  • a call invitee is running a communications client 54 then that communications client will also display a user interface 100 similar to that described for the user. That is to say, the invitee will join the conference, and be capable of re-joining the conference, in the same way as described for the user and their display will display the same information.
  • Each participant running a communications client 54 may add further parties to the call.
  • the ad-hoc addition of parties to the conference call may be carried out in accordance with the process described with reference to FIG. 6 of the drawings.
  • leader adds a party to the call then the leader has control over the call functions, namely muting, dropping and holding that call leg. However, if a conference participant other than the leader adds a party to the conference then that participant and the leader have control over in call functions mute, drop call or hold for that leg.
  • a further problem facing mobile terminal users in particular is that whilst it is currently possible to participate in a conference call with a mobile terminal it is difficult, if not impossible, to instigate full conference calling from a mobile terminal.
  • this embodiment of the invention relates to a software communications client, embodied for example as a Java applet, which can be locally executed on a mobile terminal, for example a GSM or UMTS telephone or cellular PDA.
  • the client provides three generic functions: (1) it enables a user of the terminal to place a call to one or more called party identifiers (such as one or more other mobile telephones or a landline) via the Ring2 call network, and thereby avoid the relatively large call charges that are typically associated with traditional mobile networks; (2) it enables a user to schedule a conference call from their mobile terminal; and (3) it enables the user to use a mobile terminal as a conference call controller for an ongoing conference call, for example one that the user is participating in.
  • a software communications client embodied for example as a Java applet
  • the client provides three generic functions: (1) it enables a user of the terminal to place a call to one or more called party identifiers (such as one or more other mobile telephones or a landline) via the Ring2
  • FIG. 25 is a schematic representation of one such known mobile terminal, in this particular case a mobile telephone.
  • the terminal 350 comprises a display 352 , an aerial 354 and a plurality of keys 356 arranged in a keypad.
  • the keys can be arranged as so-called hard keys with one predetermined function or alternatively they can be arranged as soft-keys which have a plurality of functions depending on the particular operating mode of the terminal.
  • the terminal 350 is provided with a microphone 358 and a loudspeaker 360 for input of user speech and generation of audio signals for relaying to a user.
  • An infra-red input/output port 362 is also provided to permit infrared optical data signals to be received from and/or transmitted to other mobile terminals which are also equipped with an appropriate port.
  • FIG. 26 is a schematic representation of key components of the terminal shown in FIG. 25 .
  • the terminal 150 includes a central control unit or processor 364 that, at least in general terms, is operable to control operation of the terminal. Coupled to the processor 364 is a radio unit 366 and timing control circuitry 368 that together are operable to control the transmission and reception of telecommunications signals to and from other telecommunications terminals or from telecommunications networks to which the terminal can connect via the aerial 354 .
  • SIM user identity module
  • the data will usually comprise the IMSI (which uniquely identifies the telephone), and other information such as a phonebook of telephone numbers stored on the phone by the user.
  • Software programs may also be stored on the SIM, for example as part of the so-called SIM toolkit (or SIM application toolkit as it is otherwise known).
  • Coupled to the processor 364 is the display 352 , and signals can be sent from the processor to the display in order to convey messages, instructions, and other information to a user of the terminal.
  • the processor is also coupled to the keypad for data input by a user to the terminal.
  • Sound (for example user speech) picked up by the microphone 358 is processed by a speech processor 372 (for example to remove non-transmittable frequencies), and a coder/decoder (CODEC) 374 that is operable to convert analogue signals generated by the microphone 358 into digital data for subsequent processing.
  • the speech processor 372 and CODEC 374 are also operable to process received digital data and convert it into appropriate audio signals for relaying to a user by means of the loudspeaker 360 .
  • a ring generator 376 which is operable to generate one of a variety of different alerts which are used to alert a user of the terminal as to when a call, a message or other information is received at the terminal 350 .
  • the ring generator is operable to generate appropriate signals to drive a vibrating buzzer 378 , to illuminate an LED 380 (or bank of illumination devices) or to generate a ring signal for relay to the user via the loudspeaker 360 .
  • a user of the terminal is able to select which of these alert options are most preferable for their current ambient environment. For example, a user who is at work and does not want to disturb his or her colleagues with an audible ring tone might choose the vibrating buzzer as an alternative means to alert them to an arriving call at the terminal.
  • the mobile terminal (which may for example be embodied as a mobile telephone such as a GSM or UMTS compatible telephone) includes the aforementioned communications client, and this client will hereafter be referred to as the mobile communications client.
  • FIG. 27 the majority of the components of the terminal 30 depicted therein are the same as those illustrated in FIG. 2 , and these components will be referenced with the same numerals as those used above in connection with the description of FIG. 26 , and will not further be described herein.
  • the processor 364 comprises a mobile communications client 382 implemented by software executed by the processor 364 .
  • the mobile communications client can form part of a so-called SIM Toolkit (or SIM Application toolkit as it is sometimes known), part of the software provided in the mobile terminal, or indeed comprise an applet (such as a JavaTM applet for example) downloaded to or pre-stored in the terminal (for example in the SIM).
  • the client is stored in the phone (for example in the SIM or other memory resource) and retrieved as required for execution by the processor.
  • a user In normal use of a telephone such as that depicted in FIG. 26 , a user would either select a number (or more usually a name with which a number is associated in the phonebook) to dial from the phonebook, or enter a number for dialing by means of the keys. Once entered the user would then push a “connect” button on the terminal (typically labelled with a green representation of a landline handset), whereupon the terminal would commencing signalling with a base transceiver station of a mobile communications network to establish a voice channel between the mobile terminal and the base station and beyond.
  • This signalling is standard and well known to those persons of ordinary skill in the art, and as such will not be described in detail herein.
  • step 384 once a user has entered or selected a number to be called (step 384 ) they have the option (step 386 ) to select, for example from a drop-down menu (for menu-driven terminals) or by means of a dedicated key, a “call with Ring2” option to effect a connection to the selected number. If the user chooses not to select the “call with Ring2” option, the call proceeds (Step 388 ) in the normal way via the wireless telecoms network that the terminal is connected to at that time.
  • the mobile terminal On selection of the “call with Ring2” option, the mobile terminal signals the call management centre 62 (see FIG. 4 ), in particular the provisioning component 88 thereof via a part of the web server 92 accessible to mobile terminals (step 390 ), to establish a data communications channel between the call management centre and the mobile terminal 350 (step 392 ). Following establishment of the data channel information pertaining to the identity of the user is transferred to the provisioning component 88 for authorisation of the terminal (step 394 ) by comparison of the transmitted identity information to identity information held in the CMC 62 (step 396 ).
  • the call is terminated (step 398 ) and a message is displayed to the user at the mobile terminal to advise that they are not authorised to use the Ring2 network to place a call.
  • the mobile terminal transmits to the application server (in step 400 ) the “my location” telephone number (i.e. the number of the mobile terminal from whose phonebook the user has selected a telephone number for the party to be called) and the called party telephone number (or other identifier) selected from the phonebook or manually input by means of the keys (such data hereafter being referred to generically as “call data”).
  • the “my location” telephone number i.e. the number of the mobile terminal from whose phonebook the user has selected a telephone number for the party to be called
  • the called party telephone number or other identifier
  • the application server 68 of the CMC 62 terminates (step 402 ) the data communications session with the mobile terminal and then controls the Call Controller/Media Mixer 67 to establish a first voice call leg to the “my location” number specified by the user (step 404 ), typically the telephone number assigned to the mobile terminal but could alternatively be any identifiable communications terminal such as a PSTN telephone, mobile phone or SIP IP phone device.
  • the “my location” mobile terminal rings, and when the user presses a button or otherwise controls the terminal to go “off-hook” (step 406 ), a ringing tone is played to the user and the application server sets up a second call leg to the number specified in the aforementioned call data (step 408 ).
  • a telephony device associated with the number to be called rings and on pick-up by the individual called by the user of the mobile terminal (step 410 ), the first leg voice call and the second leg voice call are connected by the soft switch 66 to establish a voice communications channel between the mobile terminal and the individual with whom the user of the mobile terminal wishes to communicate (step 412 ).
  • the functionality provided by this aspect of the mobile communications client provides the user of the mobile terminal with ready access to the Ring2 network. It can be used, as described, to invoke two-party calling, or in an enhanced aspect it can be used to invoke multi-party calling (e.g. a conference call).
  • FIG. 29 is a schematic representation of an SMS message format 412 for sending to the CMC 62 via an SMS gateway 74 to invoke a multiparty call.
  • the SMS message format 412 comprises a number of individual message components ( 414 to 422 ) separated by a separator 424 , in this instance a semi-colon “,”.
  • the first and second message components 414 comprises a username and a password 416 allocated to the user of the mobile terminal.
  • the third message component 418 comprises the “my location” telephone number mentioned earlier, namely the number at which the mobile terminal user wishes to be called (as the first leg of the call)-typically but not necessarily the number allocated to the user's mobile terminal (in this particular example, the number is a UK mobile telephone number)—and the fourth and fifth components comprise, respectively, a UK landline phone number and a US landline number.
  • the message is sent via the wireless network to the SMS gateway 74 for parsing and conversion to an appropriate format for use by the CMC 62 .
  • the CMC following validation of the user's username and password then proceeds, as described above in connection with FIG. 28 to place calls to each of the parties mentioned in the SMS message 412 .
  • the CMC may include a store (not shown) of user selected aliases for often-used phone numbers for that user.
  • a store may conveniently be implemented as a record which the user can populate and edit by accessing a web page maintained by the web servers 92 .
  • the third message component might be listed in the store under the alias “mobile”
  • the fourth message component might be listed under the alias “Frank”
  • the fifth component might be listed under the alias “Mary”.
  • the application server On receipt of such a message, the application server would interrogate the database for the user identified by the first and second components of the message, and place calls to the numbers associated with any aliases that appear in the message and have a corresponding number stored in the store.
  • the mobile communications client 382 is also operable in an embodiment of function (2) above, to enable the user to schedule a conference call from their mobile terminal.
  • the Ring2 client can either display a form for the user to populate that then gets posted to the application server via the web server or alternatively, the user can access a web based conference call set up form configured for mobile and PDA devices.
  • Such a web page is served to end users by the web server ( FIG. 4 ) (if necessary via a WAP gateway) and allows the user (described above in detail) to book a conference call and indicate the participants for that call.
  • the user can—if desired—set the “my location” indicator to the number allocated to their mobile terminal so that they can then participate in the call by using their mobile terminal.
  • the “my location” indicator For certain mobile terminals, for example some mobile telephones currently offered for sale in the USA, network limitations mean that it is not possible for data and voice channels to be extant between a mobile terminal and a server, and for these terminals the user will have no call-control functionality available as and when the conference call takes place.
  • voice and data channels can be open simultaneously the user may, as described above in connection with the desktop implementation of the client terminal, be provided with functionality to execute call control at least of their leg of the conference call, and additionally any other legs of the call if the user at the mobile terminal is designated as the leader of the call.
  • the mobile communications client 382 is also operable in an embodiment of function (3) above to enable the user to use a mobile terminal as a conference call controller for an ongoing conference call, for example one that the user is participating in.
  • a mobile terminal as a conference call controller for an ongoing conference call, for example one that the user is participating in.
  • the user need only book a conference call using their mobile terminal, as described above in connection with function (2) and designate as their “my location” another telephone handset—for example their desktop telephone handset coupled to the PSTN for example via a PBX.
  • the user will be provided with voice data at the handset they have designated as “my location”, and call status information (via the aforementioned communications channel established between the mobile terminal and the soft-switches of the CMC.
  • the user can then use their mobile terminal to control the legs of the call that are attributable to them (as described above in detail).
  • This is highly advantageous as it allows the user to port with them the embedded functionality of the mobile communications client, such that the user is provided with the full suite of conference call facilities wherever they have access to a telephone.
  • a user who has booked a conference call to a public telephone that accepts incoming calls (for example a conference call to a public telephone in an airport) can use their handheld terminal to view and control the real-time status of each leg of the call whilst simultaneously participating in the conference call from a public telephone that has no inherent call conferencing functionality.
  • FIG. 31 is a schematic representation of the functionality provided by illustrative software components of the aforementioned Ring2 mobile terminal client. It is recognised that the capabilities of mobile terminals vary greatly, and as such some of the software components may not be provided in circumstances where the provision of those features would place too high a load on the processing capabilities of the mobile terminal in question. Those software components which are not strictly necessary have been designated in FIG. 31 with a dashed box outline, but it should be noted that this designation is not necessarily restrictive—that is the components that will actually be essential for any given mobile terminal will in practice vary from terminal to terminal.
  • the user's mobile terminal includes a system bios component 426 , or in other words generic system control software, operable to control the operation of the terminal.
  • the terminal further includes a wireless communications component 428 operable to build up, control and tear down a wireless network protocol communications stack, such as the multi-layer stack commonly used in the GSM network.
  • the mobile communications client 382 includes a core software component 430 which controls the operation of the client, a call initiation component 432 invoked by the core component 430 when a user wishes to use the mobile communications client to place a call, and a SIP stack component 434 operable to establish a SIP communications protocol dialogue channel between the mobile terminal and the CMC as required to provide the terminal with status updates for display to the user by a real-time display component 436 .
  • the mobile communications client may only comprise the core program software component and the call initiation component, and be operable to use the wireless communications stack component of the terminal itself for transferring call data via an extant data channel to the call management centre, whereupon the call management centre drops the data communications channel and opens a voice channel to the mobile terminal (as described above).
  • the communications client has been described above in terms of a client operable by a user to call the various parties to a given conference call one after the other, the user could opt to define a group comprised of a plurality of phone numbers (each belonging to a party to be called) and choose to call all members of the group in one go.
  • a group comprised of a plurality of phone numbers (each belonging to a party to be called) and choose to call all members of the group in one go.
  • Such an arrangement might be advantageous in circumstance where one individual is charged with quickly communicating important information (for example a safety warning) to a plurality of other parties.
  • the computer system may be any suitable apparatus, system or device.
  • the computer system may a programmable data processing apparatus, a general purpose computer, a Digital Signal Processor or a microprocessor.
  • the computer program may be embodied as source code and undergo compilation for implementation on a computer, or may be embodied as object code, for example.
  • the computer program can be stored on a carrier medium in computer usable form, which is also envisaged as an aspect of the present invention.
  • the carrier medium may be solid-state memory, optical or magneto-optical memory such as a readable and/or writable disk for example a compact disk and a digital versatile disk, or magnetic memory such as disc or tape, and the computer system can utilise the program to configure it for operation.
  • the computer program may be supplied from a remote source embodied in a carrier medium such as an electronic signal, including radio frequency carrier wave or optical carrier wave.
  • Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in software, firmware or hardware or any combination of two or more of software, firmware and hardware.
  • the data processing apparatus may run an execution environment other than Windows®, and may be implemented on an Internet connectable PDA or cellular telephony.
  • the PDA is configured such that when a telephone number is selected from a PDA application, for example from an address book, an option such as a menu option is provided for making the call in accordance with the communications client. Selecting this option results in the selected telephone number being sent to the communications client running on the PDA to initiate the call.
  • the process flow, order and functions for implementing aspects need not be exactly as described.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
  • Exchange Systems With Centralized Control (AREA)
  • Sub-Exchange Stations And Push- Button Telephones (AREA)
US11/578,512 2004-04-15 2005-04-15 Call Management Service Abandoned US20070280464A1 (en)

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GB0408457A GB0408457D0 (en) 2004-04-15 2004-04-15 Various improvements relating to telephone and conference calls between telephony devices
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PCT/GB2005/001454 WO2005101857A1 (en) 2004-04-15 2005-04-15 Call management service

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US9118981B2 (en) 2015-08-25
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CA2563536A1 (en) 2005-10-27
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WO2005101857A1 (en) 2005-10-27
US20110305331A1 (en) 2011-12-15
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ATE485681T1 (de) 2010-11-15
EP1738590B1 (en) 2010-10-20

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