Patent ID: 8989057
Filing Date: 2015-03-24
Classification: H04L,H04M

Abstract:
1. A method of controlling a conference call comprising: during an unmoderated conference call, receiving by a conference call controller an in-band acknowledgment signal from a speaking conferee terminal indicating acknowledgment of an in-band interrupt request signal, wherein the in-band acknowledgment signal is independent of rejection or acceptance by a currently speaking conferee of the interrupt request signal; transmitting by the conference call controller an in-band acknowledgment signal to a non-speaking conferee terminal without sending the in-band acknowledgment signal to other conferee terminals in the unmoderated conference call, and without changing muting states of the non-speaking conferee terminal and of the speaking conferee terminal; sending by the conference call controller an in-band alert signal to the speaking conferee terminal until detecting that the currently speaking conferee has taken a predetermined action via the speaking conferee terminal, wherein the in-band alert signal indicates a continuing request to speak and is independent of a muting state of the non-speaking conferee terminal; and responsive to detecting by the conference call controller that the currently speaking conferee has taken the predetermined action, discontinuing sending by conference call controller the in-band alert signal; wherein the conference call controller comprises a computer system, or an electronic circuit for performing call conference control, or a combination of the computer system and the electronic circuit.