Patent ID: 9386147
Filing Date: 2016-07-05
CPC Classification: H04M

Claim Text:
1. A method performed by a server device, the method comprising: determining that a user device is participating in a conference call with a plurality of other user devices; providing, by the server device, a plurality of options for muting or un-muting the user device, wherein the plurality of options comprise identifying: a vocal pattern of a user associated with the user device, at least one sound, at least one facial expression associated with the user of the user device, and at least one hand gesture associated with the user of the user device; receiving, from the user device, a first option, of the plurality of options, for identifying the at least one sound, wherein the at least one sound is a generic sound that is not a word; receiving, from the user device, a second option, of the plurality of options, for identifying the vocal pattern of the user associated with the user device; receiving, from the user device, a third option, of the plurality of options, for identifying at least one of the at least one facial expression or the at least one hand gesture associated with the user of the user device; receiving, from the user device, a sound during the conference call; determining whether the received sound matches the at least one sound; determining whether the user device is muted or un-muted; muting the user device in response to determining that received sound matches the at least one sound and determining that the user device is un-muted; receiving, from the user device, words spoken by the user of the user device during the conference call; determining whether the received words match the vocal pattern of the user associated with the user device; un-muting the user device in response to determining that the received words match the vocal pattern of the user and determining that the user device is muted; receiving, from the user device, image information comprising a facial expression or a hand gesture made by the user during the conference call, determining whether the received image information comprising the facial expression or the hand gesture matches the at least one facial expression or the at least one hand gesture associated with the user of the user device; and muting the user device in response to determining that the facial expression or the hand gesture matches the at least one facial expression or the at least one hand gesture and determining that the user device is un-muted.