Patent ID: 8532278

Claim:
A method of automatically establishing a conference comprising: receiving conference logistics from a subscriber of the conference, wherein the conference logistics comprise a conference participant address, a start date and a connect time; wherein receiving the conference logistics comprises receiving a formatted file comprising labeled conference provisioning information; receiving participant profile data comprising a current participant address; wherein the participant profile data comprises at least two of a home address, an office address, and a wireless address; allocating a conference bridge port in accordance with the conference logistics; determining if the conference participant address matches the current participant address by utilizing the conference participant address as a search key; receiving the current participant address within an acknowledgement message if the conference participant address matches the current participant address; receiving the conference participant address within a negative acknowledgement message if the conference participant address does not match the current participant address; updating the conference participant address with the current participant address if the conference current participant address does not match the search key; wherein the conference participant address and the current participant address each comprise a telephone number; connecting a communications switch port to the conference bridge port by utilizing the current participant address; further comprising connecting the communications switch port to the conference bridge port using the conference participant address if the current participant address does not exist; wherein connecting the communications switch port to the conference bridge port occurs in accordance with the start date and the connect time reflected in the conference logistics; and informing a bridge port allocator of a number of ports that may be released to an unallocated pool of conference bridge ports for each participant that does not join the conference.