Abstract:
A conference participant attempting to log into a conference that has been rescheduled is informed that the conference has been rescheduled to such-and-such date and/or time. If the login attempt is before or during the conference, the participant is offered information pertaining to the conference. If the login attempt is after the conference has ended, the participant is offered the information plus a recording of the conference. An identifier is associated with the conference and used by the host and the participants to uniquely identify the conference.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/098,552, filed on Apr. 7, 2008, and claims the benefit thereof. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to telecommunications conferencing. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Currently, people use the functionality of their electronic calendar applications, such as the “Meeting Request” functionality of the Microsoft Outlook calendar, to schedule audio conferences. The conference host sends an e-mail meeting request to the desired conference participants that includes the date and time of the conference, the conference bridge number, and the host&#39;s and participants&#39; access codes. The calendar of a participant who receives the request is populated with this information. If later the host needs to reschedule the conference to another date or time, the calendaring application informs every participant about the change via an updated e-mail meeting request. The latest meeting information is available in the updated e-mail. But sometimes, a participant who has not checked their e-mail mailbox or calendar for meeting request updates will call into the conference at the originally-scheduled date and time, only to discover (eventually infer) that the conference is not taking place. This wastes the participant&#39;s time. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to an aspect of the invention, when a conference participant attempts to join a scheduled conference—for example, at the originally-scheduled date and/or time for the conference—but the conference has been rescheduled to another date and/or time, the participant is informed that the conference has been rescheduled. Illustratively, a conference bridge is enhanced with an announcement capability that informs the participant of the rescheduling. Illustratively, in addition, if a participant attempts to join the conference before the conference has begun, the participant is offered information pertaining to the conference. This information may include the conference agenda, identification of attendees, and contact information for host and/or attendees or invitees, download location of documents to have handy for the conference, etc. This information may also be offered to the participant if he or she attempts to join the conference while it is in progress. Further illustratively, the conference is recorded, and if the participant attempts to join the conference after it has ended, the participant is offered the abovementioned information pertaining to the conference plus the recording of the conference. Advantageously, a unique identifier is associated with the conference and is used to uniquely identify the conference. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a communications system that includes an illustrative embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIGS. 2 and 3  are a functional-flow and message-flow diagram for the terminals, email server, and conference bridge of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a communications system comprising a plurality of user communications terminals  100 - 104  connected by a communications network  108  to an email server  110  and a conference bridge  120 . Network  108  is any desired communications network, be it circuit-switched like the public service telephone network or packet-switched such as a local area network or the Internet. 
     Correspondingly, terminals  100 - 104  are any desired terminals that are capable of communicating via network  108 , such as wired or wireless telephones, voice over the internet (VoIP) terminals, softphone-enabled computers, personal digital assistants, etc. Each terminal  100 - 104  includes an email client function  106  that enables the terminal to engage in email communications via email server  110 , such as a Microsoft Outlook client, for example. Alternatively, each terminal  100 - 104  comprises a voice-communications terminal, such as a telephone, and a separate data communications terminal, such as a personal computer, that implements email client function  106 . 
     Email server  110  is any desired server that cooperates with email clients  106  to implement an email capability, such as a Microsoft Exchange server, for example. Alternatively, a different data or text messaging capability could be used, such as instant messaging. Email server  110  includes an electronic calendaring application  112 , such as the Microsoft Outlook application, for example. 
     Conference bridge  120  provides communications conferencing services to terminals  100 - 104 , such as voice-call conferencing, data conferencing, video conferencing, and/or multimedia conferencing. For ease of description, conference bridge  120  will be assumed herein to provide an audio-conferencing service. Conference bridge  120  is a stored-program controlled entity that comprises storage  124  for storing data and programs including a conferencing program, and a processor  122  for executing the programs and using and/or generating the data. Conference bridge  120  is illustratively the Avaya Meet-Me reservationless conference bridge. As described so far, the system of  FIG. 1  is conventional. 
     According to an aspect of the invention, conference bridge  120  provides functionality for providing conference-supplementing information to terminals  100 - 104 . For this purpose, conference bridge  120  includes an enhanced conferencing program  130 , a text-to-speech conversion (TTS) program  132 , and an interactive voice response (IVR) program  134 . In support of this functionality of conference bridge  120 , the functionalities of email server  110  and email client  106  are also enhanced. The functionality of conference bridge  120  and email server  110  and their interaction with each other and with terminals  100 - 104  that is relevant to an understanding of this aspect of the invention is shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
     When a user of one of terminals  100 - 104 —let us assume the user of terminal  100 —, referred to as the host, wishes to schedule a conference, he or she invokes the conventional “create conference” function on email client  106 . In response, client  106  of terminal  100  presents the host with a template that includes the conference call-in telephone number and the host&#39;s conference host access code and participant access code, and that enables the host to enter information that is required for scheduling the conference, such as the date and time for the conference and a list of desired attendees (invitees), as is conventional. Additionally, the host can populate the template with optional conference-supplementing information that pertains to the conference, such as a conference agenda, contact information for the host, a download location for documents that are relevant to the conference, identifiers of archived recordings of prior conferences in a series of conferences to which this conference belongs, etc. When the host is done filling out the template, e-mail client  106  of terminal  100  sends a “create conference” request that includes the filled-out template to email server  110 , at step  200  of  FIG. 2 . Upon receiving the request, email server  110  generates a unique conference identifier that uniquely identifies this conference, at step  202 . Illustratively, the conference identifier may comprise the host&#39;s conventional unique conference host access code supplemented with a sequential number of this conference, but any unique identifier will do. Email server then  110  causes calendar application  112  to create in the calendars of the host and of the invitees an entry for the date and time of the conference, at step  204 , in a conventional manner. The invitees&#39; entries are tentative, subject to acceptance or rejection by the invitees. The calendar entries include the conference identifier. Calendar application  112  will notify the host of the conference before or at the scheduled date and time, in a conventional manner. Email server  110  then sends the “create conference” request including the template information and the conference identifier to conference bridge  120 , at step  206 . 
     In response, conference bridge  120  under control of conferencing program  130  stores the template information and conference identifier, at step  208 . Conference bridge  120  then returns an acknowledgment packet containing the conference identifier to email server  110 , at step  214 . 
     Email server  110  forwards the acknowledgment to the host&#39;s terminal  100 , at step  218 . Email server  110  then sends a conference “invite” message to the mailbox of each of the conference invitees, at step  220 . The invite message includes the date and time of the conference and the host and participant access codes, as is conventional, and additionally includes the conference identifier. 
     An invitee accesses and retrieves the “invite” message via their email client  106 . If the invitee signals their acceptance of the invite on their terminal  102 - 104  (thereby choosing to become a participant in the conference), the participant&#39;s email client  106  sends an “accept” message to email server  110 , at step  230 . In response to the “accept” message, email server  110  causes calendar application  112  to update the calendar entry for the conference of the participant from tentative to definitive (accepted) status, at step  232 , in a conventional manner. Calendar application  112  will notify each participant of the conference before or at the scheduled date and time, in a conventional manner. Email server  110  also notifies the conference host of the acceptance, at step  234 , also conventionally. 
     Now assume that the host decides to reschedule the conference to another date or time. The host uses their email client  106  to open the meeting entry in calendar application  112 , changes the date and time for the conference, and selects to have the invitees notified, all in a conventional manner. In response, email client  106  of terminal  100  sends a “change conference” request to email server  110 , at step  240 . The request includes the conference identifier. 
     Upon receiving the email, email server  110  causes calendar application  112  to change the date and/or time for the conference in the host&#39;s and invitees&#39; calendars by substituting a new entry for the conference in the calendars, at step  242 , in a conventional manner. Email server  110  then sends the change conference request, including the conference identifier, to conference bridge  120 , at step  246 . 
     In response, conference bridge  120  under control of conferencing program  130  generates and stores in association with the conference identifier a text of an announcement stating that the conference has been rescheduled and indicating the new date and/or time for the conference, at step  246 . Conference bridge  120  then returns an acknowledgment to email server  110 , at step  248 . 
     In response, email server  110  forwards the acknowledgment to the host, at step  250 , and sends a conference change “invite” message to the mailbox of each of the invitees, at step  252 . If an invitee retrieves and accepts the conference change “invite” message (in the same manner as they accessed and accepted the original conference “invite”), their calendar entry of the conference is changed correspondingly, in a conventional manner. 
     But what if a participant does not open the conference change “invite” message or does not check their calendar? Then the participant operates under the misapprehension that the conference is still scheduled for its originally-scheduled date and time. 
     A participant attempts to join a conference by logging into conference bridge  120  in a conventional manner, at step  300  of  FIG. 3 , such as by calling the conference bridge telephone number via a terminal  102 - 104  and entering the participant access code. In addition, the participant enters the conference identifier of the desired conference to uniquely identify the desired conference to conference bridge  120 . 
     If the participant has attempted to join the conference before the host, then the conference has not started yet. In response to the participant logging in before the start of the conference, conferencing program  130  checks its records to determine if this conference had been rescheduled from its original date or time, at step  302 . If so, conference bridge  120  uses TTS program  132  to play to the participant the announcement informing the participant of the rescheduling and of the new date or time for the conference, at step  304 . Thereafter, or if the conference has not been rescheduled, conference bridge  120  uses IVR program  134  to offer the conference-enhancing information that it has stored at step  210 , at step  306 , and to interact with the participant to enable them to select and obtain any of the offered information, at step  308 . If the conference starts while the participant is logged in, the participant is joined to the conference. Otherwise, the participant eventually drops from the conference bridge  120 , at step  310 . 
     A conference begins when the host logs into the conference on bridge  120 , at step  320 , in a conventional manner. As a part of the login, the host provides conference bridge  120  with the conference identifier of the desired conference to uniquely identify the desired conference. In response to the login, bridge  120  starts the conference, at step  322 , in a conventional manner, and begins to record the conference, at step  324 . If a participant attempts to join the conference by logging into conference bridge  120  and provides the conference identifier of the desired conference while the conference is in progress, at step  326 , conference bridge uses IVR program  134  to offer the conference-enhancing information to the participant, at step  328 . Illustratively, the participant is given the option to toggle at any time between participating in the conference and retrieving the conference-enhancing information. The participant is then joined into the conference, at step  330 . By toggling, the participant can at any time interact with IVR program  134  to obtain the conference-enhancing information, at step  332 . Eventually, the participant drops from the conference, at step  334 , either before or at the end of the conference. 
     A conference ends when the host drops therefrom, at step  340 . In response, conference bridge  120  stops recording the conference, at step  342 , and terminates the conference, at step  344 , in a conventional manner. If a participant attempts to join the conference by logging into conference bridge  120  and provides the conference identifier of the desired conference after the conference has ended, at step  346 , conferencing program  130  checks its records to determine if this conference has been rescheduled from its original date of time, at step  348 . If so, conference bridge  120  uses TTS program  132  to play to the participant the announcement informing the participant of the rescheduling and of the new date or time for the conference, at step  350 . Thereafter, or if the conference had not been rescheduled, conference bridge  120  uses TTS program  132  to play to the participant an announcement informing the participant that the conference is over, at step  352 . Conference bridge  120  then uses IVR program  134  to offer the conference-enhancing information and the conference recording to the participant, at step  354 , and interacts with the participant to enable them to select and obtain any of the offered information, at step  356 . The participant then drops from the conference bridge, at step  358 . 
     Of course, various changes and modifications to the illustrative embodiment described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention and without diminishing its attendant advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the following claims except insofar as limited by the prior art.