WO2004110042A1

WO2004110042A1 - A method for setting up an audio conference

Info

Publication number: WO2004110042A1
Application number: PCT/SG2004/000154
Authority: WO
Inventors: Neng Wee Andrew Teo
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-06-05
Filing date: 2004-05-28
Publication date: 2004-12-16
Anticipated expiration: 2005-12-05

Abstract

A method of using a mobile phone (302) for setting up an audio conference is disclosed herein. The preferred method includes the steps of receiving a text message from the mobile phone (302) of a user A to schedule or initiate an audio conference; obtaining a list of participants (B, C) for the audio conference based on the text message; and contacting each participant regarding the audio conference.

Description

A Method for Setting up an Audio Conference

Background and Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method for setting up an audio conference more particularly but not exclusively by receiving a text message from a mobile communications device of a user.

Audio conferencing is increasingly being used particularly for businesses to permit people from geographically dispersed locations to come together for a conference meeting. To arrange for such a conference call, typically, a user needs to book a time slot with a provider of such conference services. The user may need to dial into an Interactive Voice Response System provided by the provider and he will be led through a series of key presses to confirm the day, time and number of participants for the conference call. Such a method can be quite tedious for the user since he needs to be on the telephone (phone) and follow the instructions being output through the phone to book the conference call. The result of this process is that the proposed participants of the conference call are informed when the call will take place, so that they can individually dial in at the appropriate time.

An alternative way of setting up a conference call includes using the Internet to arrange such a conference. In this system, an Internet server is arranged to initiate the conference call, upon reception of an email message from a user, by itself initiating telephone calls to the participants. However, this also has an inconvenience since the user needs to have Internet access in order to set up such the conference call. This can be particularly frustrating, if for example, the user needs to set up an instant conference call but he does not have Internet access to allow him to perform the booking.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of setting up an audio conference which alleviates at least one of the disadvantage of the prior art and/or to provide the public with a useful choice.

Summary of the Invention

The invention, in general terms, relates to a method of using a communications device to send a text message such as SMS to set up an audio conference.

In a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a server for setting up an audio conference call, the server having: means for receiving a text message from a mobile communications device of a user; means for using the message and a database of one or more groups of potential participants, to obtain a list of participants; and means for contacting each participant on the list regarding the audio conference.

In a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for setting up an audio conference including the steps of: (i) receiving a text message from a mobile communications device of a user to schedule or initiate an audio conference;

(ii) obtaining a list of participants for the audio conference based on the message and a database of one or more groups of potential participants; and (iii) contacting each participant on the list regarding the audio conference.

An advantage of the described embodiment of the invention is that the described embodiment leverages on the familiarity of users to send a text message such as the short messaging service (SMS) to simplify the task of initiating a conference call.

Contacting the participants on the list may comprise the sending a message (e.g. a text message) to a telephone device associated with each of the users inviting them to participate in the telephone conference, for example immediately. Alternatively, it may be the immediate placing of a telephone call to the participants so as to initiate the audio conference.

In a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of setting up an audio conference including the steps of: (i) receiving a SMS message from a communication device of a user to schedule or initiate an audio conference; (ii) obtaining a list of participants for the audio conference based on the message and a database of one or more groups of potential participants; and (iii) contacting each participant on the list regarding the audio conference. In a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a server for setting up an audio conference call, the server having: means for receiving a SMS message from a communications device of a user; means for using the message and a database of one or more groups of potential participants, to obtain a list of participants; and contact means for contacting each participant on the list regarding the audio conference.

Brief Description of the Drawing

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which,

Figure 1 is a system set up for performing audio conferencing according to the preferred embodiment of the invention; and Figures 2 and 3 each depicts a table of SMS commands for setting up an audio conference according to the preferred embodiment.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Figure 1 illustrates an audio conferencing system 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 comprises an audio conference bridge 102 which is commercially available, for example from vendors such as Voyant/Octave. The bridge 102 is connected to a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) 200 via a digital or analog telephone line 103 and permits a plurality of users and in this embodiment mobile phone users A, B, C to communicate simultaneously in a conference call over a mobile network 300.

The system 100 also comprises a communications gateway in the form of a SMS gateway 104 which interfaces with the bridge 102 via an API 106 (Application Development Interface) provided by the manufacturer of the bridge 102. An SMS modem 108 with a wireless antenna 110 communicatively connects the SMS gateway 104 to the users A,B,C of the system 100.

To use the conferencing system 100, a user A first registers himself with a service provider of the conferencing system 100 who will then create a record of the user and his mobile phone number. The registration can be performed either over the telephone, in person over the counter of the service provider's shop or via the Internet. The mobile phone number will subsequently be used to identify the user A when setting up or initiating an audio conference call. The service provider may assign the user A with a PIN (Personal Identification Number) for verification purposes. When registered, the user A is ready to use the system.

The user A begins by creating a team or participant list using his mobile phone 302 and a list of commands provided by the service provider. Figure 2 depicts a table showing an example of commands in which the user A may use to create his team list. To add a new participant by the name of MaximusTeo with phone number 9XXX8YYY to team A, the user simply sends an SMS message "O.A.+.MaximusTeo,9XXX8YYY" to a number provided by the service provider. The message translates to "O" for "organise", "A" for "team A" with the name of the participant and telephone number following after the "+" sign. The message will be directed to the SMS modem 108 and then to the gateway 104 which deciphers the text message. Upon receiving the "O" command, the gateway 104 would know that the user A wants to organise his team and thus proceeds to create a record with MaximusTeo and his telephone number as a first entry under Team A. To add another participant as a second entry, user A repeats the above steps and the information is recorded chronologically in the order which is created until Team A is complete.

It will be apparent that the newly added participant MaximusTeo need not be a registered user of the service. In addition, the telephone number need not be a mobile phone number. A PSTN phone number 202 can similarly be a contactable number since the bridge 102 supports both networks as shown in Figure 1.

The command list also allows the user A to delete, replace or modify the participant's name or telephone number subsequently using the command code as shown in Figure 2. After creation, the code also permits user A to request for a list of the members either by name or phone number using the messages "O.A.7N" and "O.A.7P" respectively.

Such a pre-recorded team list is particularly useful since the user A does not need to re-key in each participants contact for each conference call. For example, if user A is working on a project and he needs to contact members of the project team on a regular basis or has regular conference calls with the members, he just needs to organise his list of participants only once for his subsequent use.

In use, user A simply uses his mobile phone 302 to send a text message using SMS to a number provided by the service provider. Depending on user A's intention, the text message may be any of those illustrated in the table of Figure 3. If user A wishes to make a "blast dial" (which is a telephone call) to all participants under Team A, he sends the command "M.A". The text message is then received by the modem 108 and decoded by the SMS gateway 104. The SMS gateway 104 then instructs the bridge 102 via the API 106 to contact participants listed under Team A and in this case, a telephone call is made to each participant. If for example, team A includes users B and C, these users will receive a call on their mobile phones 304,306 from the bridge 102. When the call is accepted by these two parties B and C, the bridge 102 then sets up a three-party call instantly between them. If the user A wants to select particular members to participate in the call, he will send the text message "M.A.1 ,3,7" and the gateway 104 will understand this to mean that only the first, third and seventh member entries in the list is required to join in the conference.

Instead of a blast dial, user A may wish to notify members in Team A of the time for a scheduled conference call. In this case, the "N" command is used and not the "M" command. As shown in Figure 3, "N.A" is used if the user A wants all his Team A participants to call a designated telephone number immediately to participate in an audio conference. Upon receipt of the "N.A" command, the bridge 102 sends an SMS to all the participants in Team A notifying them of the scheduled conference call. The command "N.A" may additionally include a telephone number so that the participants know what is the conference call number.

The text message may include other details for example "N.A.040703.1445. Diving Trip to Ko Samui". This would mean that user A wants to notify all members in team A to attend a conference call on 4^th July 2003 at 1445Hrs on the topic "Diving trip to Ko Samui". Again, the message may include the conference call number.

The system 100 also allows user A to select who to notify similar to the blast command. Instead of selecting who to include, the system also allows the user A to designate who is to be excluded with a minus sign preceding the user's serial number in the list. For example "N.A.-4,6" would request that the. bridge 102 notifies all members in Team A to call in for an immediate conference call except members 4 and 6.

The use of text messaging using the SMS thus allows the user the freedom and simplicity to initiate a conference call particularly if the user travels and the only communication tool is his mobile phone. With the roaming function in mobile phones being a common feature nowadays, it is more often than not, the user will have access to his mobile phone rather than his notebook computer or PDA. The described embodiment should not be construed as limitative. For example, the tables in Figures 2 and 3 are provided as examples only and further commands may be created to enable the user to modify or add to his team list. Preferably, the user A is registered with the service provider of the audio conference. However, this may not be necessary so since the SMS which is received by the SMS modem 104 will include the mobile phone number of user A and thus the service provider can identify the user based on this and bill him accordingly.

Instead of a mobile phone, other mobile communication devices capable of sending a text message to the mobile phone network such as a PDA may be used. Alternatively, a fixed line telephone with SMS means may be used to send a text message for setting up an audio conference.

Having now fully described the invention, it should be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications can be made hereto without departing from the scope as claimed.

Claims

1. A method of setting up an audio conference including the steps of:

(i) receiving a text message from a mobile communications, device of a user to schedule or initiate an audio conference;

(ii) obtaining a list of participants for the audio conference based on the

message and a database of one or more groups of potential participants;

and

(iii) contacting each participant on the list regarding the audio

conference.

2. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising prior to step (i) the

additional steps of

receiving each participant's particulars telephonically, and

creating the said groups based on the received particulars.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, in which the step of obtaining the list

includes using the message to extract from the database a

predetermined group of potential participants and to select the

participants on the list from among the extracted group of potential

participants.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, further

comprising the step of receiving a command to amend the list of

participants.

5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, further

comprising the step of sending the list of participants as a text message

telephonically to the user.

6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein

contacting comprises the step of making a telephone call to each

participant.

7. A method according to anyone of claims 1 to 5, wherein contacting

comprising the step of sending a text message to each participant.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the text message is in the form

of an SMS message.

9. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the message is

in the form of a SMS message.

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein. the

communications device is a mobile phone.

11. A server for setting up an audio conference call, the server having:

means for receiving a text message from a mobile communications

* device of a user; means for using the message and a database of one or more groups of

potential participants, to obtain a list of participants; and

contact means for contacting each participant on the list regarding the

audio conference.

12. A server according to claim 11 in which the contact means is operable to

send a text message to each participant on the list.

13. A server according to claim 11 in which the contact means is operable to

place a telephone call to each participant on the list.

14. A method of setting up an audio conference including the steps of:

(i) receiving a SMS message from a communication device of a user to

schedule or initiate an audio conference;

(ii) obtaining a list of participants for the audio conference based on the

message and a database of one or more groups of potential participants;

and

(iii) contacting each participant on the list regarding the audio

conference.

15. A server for setting up an audio conference call, the server having:

means for receiving a SMS message from a communications device of a

user;

means for using the message and a database of one or more groups of

potential participants, to obtain a list of participants; and contact means for contacting each participant on the list regarding the audio conference.