Patent ID: 7702349

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a group call initiation request for a group comprising a target set of communication devices; and in response to detecting at least one predetermined characteristic of the group call, sequentially inviting the target set of communication devices, the sequentially inviting comprising: transmitting a call initiation message to a first subset of the target set of communication devices; subsequently transmitting the call initiation message to a second subset of the target set of communication devices in response to determining that a precondition has been met; and joining targets of the second subset of the target set of communication devices accepting the call initiation message to a communication session involving first targets of the first subset of the target set of communication devices accepting the call initiation message; wherein the at least one predetermined characteristic comprises a combination of: a first detection of at least one of: more than a first threshold number of targets having a battery life below a first predetermined battery life threshold; more than a second threshold number of targets utilizing an automatic answer mode and having the battery life below a second predetermined battery life threshold; more than a third threshold number of required targets; more than a fourth threshold number of required targets having at least one of a predetermined presence state and a manual answer mode setting; and more than a fifth threshold number of targets having a manual answer mode setting; and a second detection of a presence of at least one first target of the first subset and at least one second target of the second subset during the first detection; wherein the at least one of a predetermined presence state is at least one of unavailable and indicative that a target is in a physical location having at least a predetermined probability of not accepting the call initiation message; wherein the physical location is at least one of: a first location having low wireless coverage, and a second location having predetermined call restrictions.