Patent ID: 8040825

Claim:
A multiparty calling method comprising: initiating a call process between a first terminal and a second terminal; receiving, at the first terminal, an incoming call from at least a third terminal while the call process is being performed between the first and second terminals; placing the second terminal on hold and transmitting a multiparty call join command to a corresponding network providing a multiparty call service to request a multiparty call between the first, second and third terminals; setting, by the first terminal, a flag in the first terminal to inform a processor of the first terminal to skip a process of closing an existing audio path between the first terminal and the second terminal only when the first terminal receives a disconnection message within a first predetermined time period after receiving a facility OK message from the corresponding network indicating the multiparty call is accepted; receiving, at a call control (CC) entity of the first terminal, the facility OK message from the corresponding network indicating the multiparty call is accepted; receiving, at the CC entity of the first terminal, the disconnection message from the corresponding network indicating the third terminal has disconnected from the first and second terminals, said disconnection message being received at the CC entity within the first predetermined time period after receiving the facility OK message; processing, via first the CC entity, the received facility OK message; decoding, via a supplementary service (SS) entity above the CC entity, the received facility OK message; processing, via an upper entity above the SS entity, the decoded facility OK message, so as to successfully process the multiparty call between the first, second and third terminals, wherein a second predetermined time period corresponds to an amount of time used to successfully process the multiparty call; releasing the connection between the first and third terminals according to the disconnection message; and changing a state between the first and second terminals from a hold state into an active state, and skipping the process of closing the audio path between the first and second terminals based on the set flag when the first terminal receives the disconnection message within the first predetermined time period, wherein the first predetermined time period is less than the second time predetermined time period.