Patent Abstract:
A method is disclosed which allows an invitee to a conference call, who is not present on at least part of the call, to have the call monitored in his or her absence. The invitee is offered the opportunity to review, ahead of the call, one or more electronic documents that are pertinent to the call. The invitee can specify one or more pointers for the purpose of identifying positions that correspond to portions of the document that are relevant to the invitee. When a relevant portion of an electronic document has been reached or is soon to be reached during the call, a message is transmitted to the absent invitee. Additionally, the invitee can annotate slides or portions of an electronic document with comments that he or she wants addressed during the conference call. A message is subsequently transmitted to the invitee, providing responses to the comments left earlier.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to telecommunications in general, and, more particularly, to teleconferencing. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A teleconference is a meeting between two or more participants who are not at the same place at the same time. Teleconferencing is a low-cost alternative to getting large groups of invitees in a single place at the same time for the purpose of having a meeting. The best known example of a teleconference is a conference call with more than two people participating in the call. These teleconferences can have upwards of several hundred people and can last for several hours. An alternative to having a teleconference would be to get these people to the same place at the same time, which is often prohibitive. 
     Even when participants to a conference call are calling in from the places of their choosing, often only a portion of a teleconference is useful to a participant. Because teleconferences can last for hours at a time, it is wasteful for a participant to wait for the small portion of the teleconference that is useful to her. Furthermore, invitees to teleconferences sometimes cannot attend due to conflicts or other reasons. 
     Therefore, what is needed is a teleconferencing system that enables people to optimize their time with respect to a teleconference to which they have been invited, without some of the disadvantages in the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention allows an invitee to a conference call, who is not present on at least part of the call, to have the call monitored in his or her absence. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention, the invitee is offered the opportunity to review, ahead of or during the call, one or more electronic documents that are pertinent to the call. In reviewing each document, the invitee can specify one or more pointers for the purpose of identifying positions throughout the content of the document. The pointer-identified positions correspond to portions of the document, as well as possibly to events to occur during the call, which are relevant to the invitee. 
     During the call, when a relevant portion of an electronic document, as identified by a pointer, has been reached or is soon to be reached, the system of the illustrative embodiment transmits a message to the invitee who is not on the call. The message might provide: i) information that is presented about the relevant portion such as a response to a question specified by the invitee; ii) a command or contacting information that enables the invitee to join the call; or iii) a time at which the relevant portion is expected to be presented during the call. 
     For example, when a set (or “deck”) of presentation slides has been uploaded for a conference call, invitees to the call can scroll through the set and mark a slide for the purpose of receiving i) an alert during the call or ii) a response to comments marked on the slide. The marking made by the invitee can indicate when the invitee is to be alerted to join the call. The alert can be sent to the invitee via Short-Message Service, Instant Messaging, email, or another means. Alternatively, the annotations can result in the automatic launch of a teleconferencing application for the purpose of joining the endpoint of the invitee to the conference call that is already in progress. 
     In addition, the system of the illustrative embodiment is able to modify the calendars of an invitee or invitees, such that the time that the invitee is advised to join the call, or is joined to the call, is trimmed to the time that a topic of interest is expected to be discussed on the call. The expected time can be based on the meeting agenda, the electronic documents, and/or the number of comments already accumulated. 
     Similarly, the invitee can annotate slides or portions of an electronic document with comments that he or she would like to have addressed during the conference call. The annotations can be in text, voice, or audio/video format, depending on the format or formats that would be appropriate for the medium of the conference call in question. During the call, each response is summarized or recorded when the corresponding comment is presented to the participants, and then the response is sent to the invitee or invitees who posted the comment in the first place. In some embodiments, if several invitees have related questions, a threaded question-and-answer transcript is presented to all of those invitees who have such related questions. 
     By using the disclosed technique of supporting partial conference call attendance, contextual posting of questions, and alerting of other conference call events, an invitee is able to participate in a selected portion or portions of a conference call. Alternatively, if the invitee has a limited number of questions, the invitee is able to receive the responses without having to join the call at all. 
     The illustrative embodiment of the present invention comprises: receiving, at a data-processing system, i) an electronic document, wherein the electronic document comprises a plurality of portions, and ii) a first pointer from a telecommunications endpoint of a first user, wherein the first pointer references a position within one of the portions in the plurality; presenting at least a subset of the portions in the plurality during a conference call, to at least a telecommunications endpoint of a second user; and transmitting a message to the telecommunications endpoint of the first user, based on the presenting of the portion that comprises the position referenced by the first pointer. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  depicts a schematic diagram of teleconference system  100  in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  depicts an overview of the conference call processing performed by teleconference bridge  104 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  depicts the tasks associated with performing the processing that occurs before the conference call begins. 
         FIG. 4  depicts the tasks associated with performing the processing that occurs during the conference call. 
         FIG. 5  depicts conference agenda  500 , a first example of the content of an electronic document. 
         FIG. 6  depicts slide set  600 , a second example of the content of an electronic document. 
         FIG. 7  depicts response set  700 , which corresponds to comments contained in an electronic document related to slide set  600 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  depicts a schematic diagram of teleconference system  100  in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. System  100  comprises telecommunications endpoints  101 - 1  through  101 -J, wherein J is an integer greater than one; telecommunications network  102 ; private branch exchange (PBX)  103 ; and teleconference bridge  104 , interconnected as shown. 
     Telecommunications endpoint  101 -j, where j has a value between 1 and J, inclusive, is a device that is capable of handling a telephone call for its user. Endpoint  101 -j can be a cellular phone, a conference phone (i.e., “speakerphone”), a deskset, a computer with or without a resident softphone, or some other type of telecommunications appliance that is capable of exchanging voice signals. Endpoint  101 -j is able to call, or to be called by, another endpoint or device within teleconference system  100 . For example, in order to participate in a conference call, endpoint  101 -j is able to dial a telephone number that routes to teleconference bridge  104 . 
     Some of endpoints  101 - 1  through  101 -J are endpoints that are tied to a private-branch exchange (PBX), such as desksets in an office enterprise network for which telecommunications service is enabled by private-branch exchange  103 . For example, endpoints  101 - 1 ,  101 - 3 , and  101 - 4  as depicted are PBX endpoints that route through PBX  103  in order to place or receive a call, such as a conference call that involves bridge  104 . In any event, it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use telecommunications endpoint  101 -j. 
     Telecommunications network  102  provides the connectivity among endpoints  101 - 1  through  101 -J, and enables the transport and control of communications signals between two or more endpoints per call. The communications signals convey bitstreams of encoded media, such as audio, video, and so forth. To this end, network  102  comprises one or more interconnected data-processing systems such as switches, servers, routers, and gateways, as are well-known in the art. For example, network  102  comprises private-branch exchange  103  and teleconference bridge  104 . 
     In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, network  102  comprises an Internet Protocol-based (IP-based) network, as is known in art, for the purpose of transporting voice signals. Although network  102  in the illustrative embodiment comprises a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service provider&#39;s network, network  102  could alternatively or additionally comprise another type of network such as the Internet, some other type of IP-based network, or some other type of packet-based network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network, as those who are skilled in the art will appreciate. 
     Teleconference bridge  104  is a data-processing system, such as a server or switch, which enables the users of multiple endpoints to communicate with each other during a conference call, for one or more concurrent calls. Bridge  104  receives audio signals from endpoints that are participating on a conference call, mixes those signals together, and transmits the mixed signals back to the endpoints. 
     Bridge  104  also performs at least some of the tasks of the illustrative embodiment, which are described below and with respect to  FIGS. 2 through 4 . It will be clear, however, to those skilled in the art how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which a data-processing system different than bridge  104  performs the tasks of the illustrative embodiment. For example, in some alternative embodiments, private-branch exchange  103  might perform some or all of the tasks described herein or another data-processing system not shown might perform some or all of the tasks. 
     Furthermore, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use embodiments of system  100  in which the monitoring of a conference call is performed concurrently on behalf of one or more invitees of that call, for each of one or more calls being monitored. 
       FIGS. 2 through 4  depict flowcharts of salient tasks that are related to the performing of conference call processing, by teleconference bridge  104 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. As those who are skilled in the art will appreciate, some of the tasks that appear in the flowcharts can be performed in parallel or in a different order than that depicted. Moreover, those who are skilled in the art will further appreciate that in some alternative embodiments of the present invention, only a subset of the depicted tasks are performed. 
       FIG. 2  depicts an overview of the conference call processing performed by teleconference bridge  104 . 
     At task  201 , bridge  104  performs the processing that occurs before the conference call begins. The subtasks associated with task  201  are described below and with respect to  FIG. 3 . 
     At task  202 , bridge  104  initiates the conference call in well-known fashion. 
     At task  203 , bridge  104  performs the processing that occurs during the conference call. The subtasks associated with task  203  are described below and with respect to  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 3  depicts the tasks associated with performing the processing that occurs before the conference call begins. 
     At task  301 , bridge  104  receives one or more electronic documents in objects such as computer files. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, each electronic document comprises electronic media content. Examples of electronic documents include, but are not limited to:
         i. word processing documents, represented in computer files with extensions such as *.doc, *.txt, etc.;   ii. spreadsheet documents, represented in computer files with extensions such as *.xls, etc.; and   iii. graphics-software documents, represented in computer files with extensions such as *.ppt, *.vsd, etc.
 
The electronic documents are viewable or editable via compatible application software. Each electronic document can be provided from a different user, such as a person giving a presentation, or some or all of the documents can come from a centralized source. Each electronic document comprises a plurality of portions, such as the line items in conference agenda  500  or each slide in slide set  600 , which are described with respect to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , respectively
       

     In some embodiments, each portion of a first electronic document might be associated with its own electronic document. For example, each agenda item listed in conference agenda  500  might have an associated electronic document such as a slide presentation. However, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments in which each portion has more than one associated electronic document, or does not have any associated electronic document. 
     At task  302 , bridge  104  notifies one or more of the conference call invitees of the call that is to take place. Alternatively, a participant of the call, such as the moderator or host, can notify the invitees. 
     At task  303 , bridge  104  notifies one or more of the conference call invitees of the availability of electronic documents that are associated with the conference call. Alternatively, a participant of the call, such as the moderator or host, can notify the invitees. In some embodiments, the invitees are notified of where they can find the one or more electronic documents. 
     At task  304 , bridge  104  receives information from one or more invitees related to the electronic documents made available at task  303 . In particular, bridge  104  receives one or more pointers from each of one or more telecommunications endpoints, or other nodes. Each pointer references a position within one of the portions of an electronic document. In some embodiments, the position might identify a specified event related to the conference call, such as a particular topic on the list of agenda items or a particular part of a presentation. For example, a first invitee might have marked conference agenda  500  with pointer  501 - 1  that references a position within the conference agenda list, where the position corresponds to the phrase “Product Features,” which is a specified event on the list of conference agenda items. In some embodiments the pointers are received separately, while in other embodiments a modified version of the electronic document that contains the pointers is received. 
     In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, bridge  104  is able to use each pointer for more than one purpose, such as i) providing advance notification to an invitee or ii) joining an invitee to a call. In some alternative embodiments, however, bridge  104  can allow an invitee to identify a particular portion of a document by using multiple pointers, and then bridge  104  uses each pointer for a different purpose. For example, in addition to there being a “main” pointer to identify a beginning position within a document, there can be an “advance” pointer which bridge  104  uses to determine when to notify the invitee, and there can be an “end” pointer to indicate the end position of a relevant portion in a document. 
     Bridge  104  is able to receive one or more comments from each of one or more endpoints, or other nodes. Each comment is associated with content within a portion of the electronic document. For example, a second invitee might have marked slide set  600  with pointer  602 - 1  and included comment  603 - 1 , which is a question that the invitee would like answered by the person giving the presentation. In some embodiments the comments are received separately, while in other embodiments a modified version of the electronic document that contains the comments is received. 
     Although the illustrative embodiment features the pointers and/or comments being received prior to the conference call, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading the specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments in which bridge  104  is able to receive pointers and/or comments during the call. 
     Task execution proceeds to task  202 , at which the conference call is initiated. Depending on when bridge  104  receives information from each invitee, task  202  might be performed shortly thereafter (e.g., minutes, hours, etc.) or the task might be performed at a longer time thereafter (e.g., days, weeks, etc.). 
       FIG. 4  depicts the tasks associated with performing the processing that occurs during the conference call. During the time interval that corresponds to the execution of the depicted tasks, bridge  104  carries on the conference call with at least one endpoint of a participating user of teleconference system  100 , aside from the one or more invitee users who are not present for at least part of the call. The conference call itself is made up of a plurality of specified events, such as events that are specified on a list of agenda items as shown in agenda  500 . 
     At task  401 , bridge  104  notifies the invitees that the conference call has started. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, this is accomplished through one or more of various text-oriented means including, while not being limited to, Short-Message Service, Instant Messaging, email, and so forth. Alternatively, bridge  104  can notify the invitees via audio or video media. 
     In some embodiments, bridge  104  also presents the moderator or host of the call with an overview of all invitees who are not part of the call initially, along with the pointers that they have specified. During the call, this overview can be updated as some invitees join to become call “participants,” and as some participants drop from the call and resume their status as non-participating “invitees.” 
     At task  402 , bridge  104  presents one or more portions of the electronic documents to the participants of the conference call, in well-known fashion. For example, based on having received commands from a presenter&#39;s endpoint, bridge  104  advances one or more times to a next, or specified, slide or page in the electronic document. 
     In some alternative embodiments, the portions of content that are presented during a call are not embodied in a collection of discrete documents, but are retrieved from any combination of one or more records, documents, messages, and/or other sources of content in an electronic storage system. 
     At task  403 , bridge  104  determines an expected time of a specified event that has been identified by a pointer received at task  304 . For example, on behalf of an invitee, the bridge might determine when a particular slide is expected to be presented. In some embodiments, the expected time can be based on i) the one or more scheduled times that are indicated by agenda  500 , such as scheduled time  502 - 1 , or ii) the time at which the expected time is determined, such as the current time in the conference call. Alternatively, the expected time can be based on some other aspect of agenda  500 , the electronic documents, and/or the number of comments already accumulated. 
     In some alternative embodiments, the expected time can be determined at the scheduled time of the specified event. For example, referring to agenda  500 , if the “Product Features” presentation is scheduled to start at 9:15 AM, as indicated by element  502 - 1 , bridge  104  can determine the expected time at which the presentation is expected to begin, in the event that the overall conference call is running behind schedule. 
     At task  404 , bridge  104  determines whether the conference call is over or not. If the call is not over, task execution proceeds to task  405 . Otherwise, task execution ends. 
     At task  405 , bridge  104  determines whether a portion that corresponds to a pointer received at task  304  is currently being presented. If not, task execution proceeds to task  406 . Otherwise, task execution proceeds to task  407 . 
     At task  406 , bridge  104  transmits a message to the endpoints of one or more invitees. By transmitting the message, the bridge is alerting the invitee that the part of the conference call that is of interest to him is going to be discussed. In some embodiments, the transmitting of the message, or message itself, is based on the expected time determined at task  403  and/or the amount of advance notification the recipient invitee might have specified. In some other embodiments, the transmitting of the message is based on an advance notice position in the document having been reached, as identified by the “advance” pointer described with respect to task  304 . 
     As those who are skilled in the art will appreciate, the transmitting of the message can serve various purposes. The message itself might comprise the expected time of when the discussion will take place. Instead of the expected time, the message might comprise an estimated difference in time between document positions that correspond to the “advance” and “main” pointers described above and with respect to task  304 . The estimated difference in time can be determined, for example, either manually by the moderator or host, or automatically based on the rate of progress through the previous portions of the document. Alternatively, the message can comprise a command to join the endpoint of the invitee to the conference call at or around the expected time determined. 
     In some embodiments, the moderator or host of the call is able to control the transmission of a notification message to one or more invitees—for example, those invitees who have specified the same portion or similar portions of the electronic document. The moderator or host might track which portions of which documents an invitee is interested in, note the amount of advance notification that the invitee needs, and transmit the message accordingly. 
     After task  406 , execution then proceeds back to task  402 . 
     At task  407 , bridge  104  optionally records a response to a comment provided at task  304 , based at least on a portion being presented that is marked by a pointer received earlier from an invitee. For example, bridge  104  can record a response beginning at a slide that is being presented for which the invitee had left a comment. 
     At task  408 , bridge  104  transmits a message to the endpoints of one or more invitees, based at least on a portion being presented that is marked by a pointer received earlier. In some embodiments, bridge  104  might transmit the message in order to alert the invitee that the current slide (or portion) is being presented, so that the invitee can join the part of the call that is of interest to him. Alternatively, the message might comprise a command to join the endpoint of the invitee to the conference call. 
     In some other embodiments, the transmitting of the message, or the message itself, can be based on the comment for which a response was provided at task  407 . In this case, the bridge can notify the invitee that his comment has been responded to, possibly also providing a network location at which the response can be found. The message can comprise the response itself, so that the invitee can be provided with the response directly. 
     In any event, task execution then proceeds back to task  402 . 
     As those who are skilled in the art will appreciate, the transmission of the message at task  406  or task  408  can be accomplished through one or more of various text-oriented means including, while not being limited to, Short-Message Service, Instant Messaging, email, and so forth. Alternatively, bridge  104  can transmit either type of message via audio or video media. Furthermore, either message can comprise a status of the conference call, while in some other embodiments either message can serve to modify the calendar of an invitee or invitees, such that the time that the invitee is advised to join the call, or is joined to the call, is trimmed to the time that a topic of interest is expected to be discussed on the call. 
     In some alternative embodiments, bridge  104  can notify an invitee that a portion of a document was skipped over on the call. For example, where there are multiple pointers specified for a given portion of the document, bridge  104  can transmit a first type of notification when the document positions corresponding to the “main” and “end” pointers—or the “advance”, “main”, and “end” pointers—are skipped over. Bridge  104  can transmit other types of notifications, depending on which combination of pointers (i.e., “advance”, “main”, “end”) are either skipped or not skipped during the call. 
       FIG. 5  depicts conference agenda  500 , which comprises i) one or more pointers  501 - 1  through  501 -P, and ii) one or more scheduled times  501 - 1  through  501 -S, wherein P and S are positive integers. Although both P and S as depicted are equal to one, the value for each of P and S can be different from that depicted, as well as different from each other. 
     Although the teleconferencing system of the illustrative embodiment features an electronic document comprising a conference agenda (i.e., agenda  500 ), it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments in which a different number of agenda documents are used, or in which none at all are used. 
       FIG. 6  depicts slide set  600 , which comprises one or more presentation portions  601 - 1 - 1  through  601 - 1 -R, wherein R is a positive integer. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, a single portion corresponds to the content associated with one presentation slide. However, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use embodiments in which a single portion corresponds to the content associated with only part of one presentation slide, more than one presentation slide, or a different type of “page” than a slide, such as a page in a text file, a cell or worksheet in a spreadsheet, and so forth. 
     Although the teleconferencing system of the illustrative embodiment features an electronic document comprising a slide presentation (i.e., slide set  600 ), it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments in which a different number of presentation documents are used, or none at all are used. 
     Present as part of presentation portions  601 - 1 - 1  through  601 - 1 -R are pointers  602 - 1  through  602 -C, wherein C is a positive integer, as described above and with respect to task  304 . 
       FIG. 6  further comprises one or more comment portions  601 - 2 - 1  through  601 - 2 -R, which corresponds to the “scratchpad” area of slide set  600 , or in a separate electronic document, which is used by the invitees to provide comments, as described with respect to task  304 . Present as part of comment portions  601 - 2 - 1  through  601 - 2 -R are comments  603 - 1  through  603 -C, wherein C is a positive integer, as described above and with respect to task  304 . In some embodiments, comments  603 - 1  through  603 -C correspond to pointers  602 - 1  through  602 -C. 
       FIG. 7  depicts response set  700 , which comprises one or more response portions  601 - 3 - 1  through  601 - 3 -R, wherein R is a positive integer. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, each response portion corresponds to a presentation portion as described above and with respect to  FIG. 6 . Present as part of response portions  601 - 3 - 1  through  601 - 3 -R are responses  701 - 1  through  701 -C, wherein C is a positive integer, as described above and with respect to task  407 . In some embodiments, responses  701 - 1  through  701 -C correspond to comments  603 - 1  through  603 -C. 
     It is to be understood that the disclosure teaches just one example of the illustrative embodiment and that many variations of the invention can easily be devised by those skilled in the art after reading this disclosure and that the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7