Patent ID: 8311196

Claim:
A method for managing a mute function muting a connection from a particular customer premises equipment to a conference call through a telecommunications network, the method comprising: receiving a command to mute the connection from the particular customer premises equipment to the conference call; in response to the command, placing the particular customer premises equipment in a muted condition by muting the connection from the particular customer premises equipment to the conference call; receiving a signal representing sound detected by the particular customer premises equipment in the muted condition; processing the signal representing sound to determine characteristics of the sound identifying a human speaker; determining that the human speaker is a primary user of the particular customer premises equipment; and based on the determination that the human speaker is the primary user of the particular customer premises equipment, executing predetermined preferences of the primary user including placing the particular customer premises equipment in an unmuted condition by unmuting the connection from the particular customer premises equipment to the conference call.