Patent Application
20090316870
Disclosed are methods and computing devices configured to engage in Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) conference calls, and in particular disclosed are methods and devices configured to participate as a moderator of VOIP N-way conference calls and monitor the mute status of call participants and/or control which participants are muted.
Conference calls are used by business persons daily to meet with remote parties, both internally and outside of their company. Beneficially, travel costs can be cut by conference calls. Moreover, workers may be more productive by not having to attend out-of-office meetings. In the financial marketplace, a conference call is an event in which investors can call into a special telephone number to hear a company management report. While the average investor is muted on the call, analysts may converse with the reporting company. Conference calls are increasingly used in conjunction with web conferences where presentations or documents are shared via the Internet.
Conference calls can also be used for entertainment or social purposes. Conference calls are also beginning to cross over into the world of podcasting and social networking, which in turn fosters new kinds of interaction patterns. Live streaming or broadcasting of conference calls allows large audiences to access a call without a conference bridge.
Large telecommunications providers and other large to medium conferencing service providers maintain a dominate position in the conferencing niche. However, the Internet and improved global (Voice over Internet Protocol) VOIP networks have helped to significantly reduce the barrier of entry into this niche. VOIP uses a broadband or dial up Internet connection to allow users to make peer-to-peer phone calls using a computer or other computing device such as an Internet-enabled mobile communication device. Typically, a VOIP conference call will employ a moderator.
Conference call etiquette includes that each participant should minimize noise and interruptions. A particular participant should know that all of the other participants can hear noise ambient to the particular participant. Etiquette requires that each participant place the telephone on mute if local conversations take place, if there is background noise, or if they have a noisy line. However, it may not occur to a participant to mute their line since they may not realize that their line is noisy or that the ambient noise at their location is carried into the call. Also, conference call etiquette discourages participants who often interrupt other conference participants or who dominate the conversation topic. Other distractions in a conference call may be an activated call waiting, or placing the call on hold with hold music. Mobile communication devices, when used, may introduce static and other noise. Echoes in international calls are also common distractions.
It would be beneficial if a moderator could monitor and/or control which participants are muted in a conference call and which participants are not muted in the conference call. By monitoring the mute status of participants, the moderator can decide to mute a line if necessary, either manually or automatically. It would also be beneficial if moderator could determine which participants in a conference call had muted their own lines. It would be also beneficial for a moderator to utilize the muting capability of the device so that a conference call could adhere to rules of order during particular types of conference calls.
Disclosed are methods and computing devices configured to engage in Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) conference calls and configured to participate as a moderator of VOIP conference calls. In one embodiment, the computing device may be configured to determine the mute status of one or more of the plurality of participant devices. In accordance with a moderator's decision based on one or more criteria, the moderator may mute or unmute conference one or more participant's lines. Alternatively or in addition, muting participant lines may also be automatically activated. In another embodiment the computing device may be configured to delegate moderator authority.
The moderator or moderator's computing device of the VOIP conference call therefore may be able to determine and/or control the muting of a participant device during the conference call. In this way, a participant would not be required to necessarily adhere to conference call muting etiquette. For example, in the event that a participant's line is noisy, which may be unknown to the participant, the moderator could mute the line. Other distractions to the conference call could therefore be controlled as well. The ability to mute determine and/or control the muting of a participant device furthermore enables the moderator to engage rules of conduct that may be desirable in particular types of conference calls.
The instant disclosure is provided to explain in an enabling fashion the best modes of making and using various embodiments in accordance with the present invention. The disclosure is further offered to enhance an understanding and appreciation for the invention principles and advantages thereof, rather than to limit in any manner the invention. While the preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated and described here, it is clear that the invention is not so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions, and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
It is understood that the use of relational terms, if any, such as first and second, up and down, and the like are used solely to distinguish one from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions.
Much of the inventive functionality and many of the inventive principles are best implemented with or in software programs or instructions and integrated circuits (ICs) such as application specific ICs. In the interest of brevity and minimization of any risk of obscuring the principles and concepts according to the present invention, discussion of such software and ICs, if any, is limited to the essentials with respect to the principles and concepts within the preferred embodiments.
The computing device 102 may be any type of computing device, such a mobile communication device, that is VOIP-enabled. One, some, or all of the depicted mobile communication devices of
Mobile communication device 102 depicted as the moderator, for example, includes a display screen 112. Devices 104, 106 and 108 each may include display screens 114, 116 and 118 respectively. Upon or after, in any manner, a VOIP conference call is established between a plurality of participant devices, an interface such as the display screen 112 of the moderator device 102 may be activated or initiated. The interface, in this example, the display screen 112 exhibit indicia that is related to a mute status of one or more of the plurality of participant devices. That is the moderator device 102 may utilize a determining process that may indicate the mute status of the other devices of the N-way call, which is discussed in detail below. Upon determining the mute status of one or more of the plurality of participant devices, via the interface, the mute status of one or more of the plurality of participant devices may be exhibited or otherwise announced, such as by an audio indication. For example, on display 112, it is exhibited that Line 1 is muted, Line 2 is not muted and Line 3 is muted. Line 1, Line 2 and Line 3 are examples of the names of the participant devices. Of course, the participant devices may be indicated by the communication address, such as a telephone number, by the user's name, or company name. Any manner of indicating the participant devices is within the scope of this discussion
On display 114 it is exhibited that Line 1 is muted. On display 116 it is exhibited that Line 2 is not muted. On display 118 it is indicated that Line 3 is muted. Of course each participant device may be similarly equipped as device 102 and the interface also may be of any suitable configuration. For example, the interface may provide audio output. In the example of the display interface, in the event that there are many participants, the exhibited mute status of the participant devices, for example, may be scrolling. Moreover, prompts to a user may be provided to inquire whether exhibition of the mute status of a participant device is desired. It is understand that any type of interface and any manner in which to utilize an interface related to a mute status of one or more of the plurality of participant devices is within the scope of this discussion.
The moderator in this example may be only responsible for the muting determination. Also, other moderating responsibilities may lie with other devices. Moreover, the moderator device 102 may be able to delegate the muting determination to another device, such as devices 104, 106 or 108. In one embodiment, the moderator and delegate duties may be divided. For example, the delegate may monitor the condition of the communication with the participants, and then send a signal to the moderator to mute or unmute a participant's device of the conference. Certain hardware and/or software may be utilized for various moderator capabilities and/or functions as is discussed below.
Also depicted are a controller 222, a transceiver 224, a memory 226, and modules 228. The modules can carry out certain processes of the methods as described herein. Steps of methods may involve modules and modules may be inferred by the methods discussed herein. The modules can be implemented in software, such as in the form of one or more sets of prestored instructions, and/or hardware, which can facilitate the operation of the mobile station or electronic device as discussed below. The modules may be installed at the factory or can be installed after distribution by, for example, a downloading operation. The operations in accordance with the modules will be discussed in more detail below. The modules that are depicted include an N-way call establishing module 237, a moderator delegation module 238, an interface initiating module 239, a mute status exhibiting module 240, a mute status determining module 250, a muting module 257, a timing module 264, a communication quality module 270, a communication rules module 271 and an auto-correction module 278.
A computing device 202 that is configured to engage in Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) conference calls and configured to participate as a moderator of VOIP conference calls may include certain hardware and/or software 230 that may be utilized for various moderator capabilities and/or functions. A computing device may have components such as a speaker and microphone, and a user interface such as discussed above. As will be discussed below, media control, a voice activity detector a SIP user agent and a mixer may be utilized to effect moderator capabilities and/or functions.
As mentioned above, a moderator, such as computing device 102 may chose to delegate the ability to manually mute or unmute lines in a N-way call. A delegate computing device, in this example device 104, may include the some of, similar or the same components of the architecture of
For deliberative assemblies, the moderator device 102 (see
A determination can be made and/or indicated by the moderator's device 102 (see
Furthermore, an inquiry 461 may be made whether a line was manually or auto-muted due to echo, jitter, or noise. If none of the described conditions or other suitable conditions were met, then a line may not be muted 462. In the case of auto-mute, a time may be monitored 464 in accordance with a timing module 264 and a determination 465 may be made as to whether the timer expired may be made. If the time has expired, the line may be unmuted 466. If the timer has not expired, the line may be muted 467 in accordance with muting module 367. Accordingly, there may be many circumstances under which a line may be muted, either by a participant device or by the moderating device. It is understood that the list of examples above is not an exhaustive list. Moreover, it is understood that the steps described above may be determined in any order, and one or more of them may be utilized in such a process.
In any event, with the moderator's ability to mute a line, a participant would not be required to necessarily adhere to conference call muting etiquette. For example, in the event that a participant's line is noisy, which may be unknown to the participant, the moderator could mute the line. Other distractions to the conference call could therefore be controlled as well. The ability to mute determine and/or control the muting of a participant device furthermore enables the moderator to engage rules of conduct that may be desirable in particular types of conference calls.
Initially, an inquiry 572 whether a particular line is already muted may be made. If the line is already muted 573, then the process may end. If the line is not already muted, in accordance with the VAD 344 (see
The disclosed are methods and computing devices configured to engage in Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) conference calls and configured to participate as a moderator of VOIP conference calls allow a moderator or delegate to monitor the mute status of call participants and/or control which participants are muted. In this way, a participant would not be required to necessarily adhere to conference call muting etiquette. For example, in the event that a participant's line is noisy, which may be unknown to the participant, the moderator could mute the line. Other distractions to the conference call as a whole could therefore be controlled as well. The ability to mute determine and/or control the muting of a participant device furthermore enables the moderator to engage rules of conduct and/or adhere to rules of order that may be desirable in particular types of conference calls.
This disclosure is intended to explain how to fashion and use various embodiments in accordance with the technology rather than to limit the true, intended, and fair scope and spirit thereof. The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiment(s) was chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principle of the described technology and its practical application, and to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the technology in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims, as may be amended during the pendency of this application for patent, and all equivalents thereof, when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally and equitably entitled.
