Initiating a conference call via radio frequency beacons

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10033874-B2
Application number	US-201615042204-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2016
Priority date	Oct 12, 2012
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

Systems, methods, and modes are disclosed for initiating a conference call on a conferencing endpoint from a portable electronic device. The system comprises a conferencing endpoint associated with a network address and configured for receiving conferencing information and using said conferencing information to dial a conference call. The system also comprises a portable electronic device comprising a network interface configured for enabling communication between the portable electronic device and the conferencing endpoint. The portable electronic device pairs with the conferencing endpoint using the conferencing endpoint network address. The portable electronic device transmits dialing or conferencing information to the conferencing endpoint by accessing a calendar application, accessing a scheduled meeting event associated with the calendar application, retrieving conferencing information associated with the scheduled meeting event, and transmitting the conferencing information to the conferencing endpoint.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for initiating a conference call on a conferencing endpoint from a portable electronic device comprising:
a conferencing endpoint associated with a network address and configured for receiving conferencing information and using said conferencing information to dial a conference call;
one or more RF beacons each associated with a conferencing endpoint and configured for broadcasting information comprising an application identifier;
a portable electronic device associated with a user ID and comprising at least one network interface configured for enabling communication between the portable electronic device and the conferencing endpoint and between the portable electronic device and the one or more RF beacons, a display, a memory encoding one or more processor-executable instructions, and a processor configured to load the one or more processor-executable instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performed comprising:
receiving from at least one of the one or more RF beacons the broadcasted information including the application identifier,
transmitting the broadcasted information to an application associated with the application identifier,
estimating a distance to the at least one of the one or more RF beacons according to a detected signal strength of the RF beacon broadcast,
determining a location of the portable electronic device based on the distance to the at least one of the one or more RF beacons,
identifying the conferencing endpoint network address based on the determined location,
pairing with the conferencing endpoint using the identified conferencing endpoint network address,
accessing a calendar application,
accessing a scheduled meeting event associated with the calendar application,
retrieving conferencing information associated with the scheduled meeting event, and
transmitting the conferencing information to the conferencing endpoint.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the conference call comprises audio, video, or a combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the conferencing information comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of an audio conference bridge number, a passcode, a phone number, an IP address, a username of a voice over IP system, a meeting URL, a network communication protocol, a SIP URI, an ID for a VMR, or any combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the conferencing information is retrieved from the scheduled meeting event by:
scanning data fields of the scheduled meeting event.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the data fields are scanned using predetermined regular expression (REGEX) search pattern strings.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the data fields comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of a meeting organizer field, a meeting attendees field, a subject field, a title, a description, a location field, a date field, a start time field, an end time field, a meeting body field, a notes field, an attachment field, a contacts field, and a conferencing information field.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the accessed scheduled meeting event is stored on the portable electronic device or on a remote server.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performed comprising:
selecting the scheduled meeting event.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the scheduled meeting event is selected by:
identifying a scheduled meeting event that corresponds to a current date and time of day.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the scheduled meeting event is selected by:
displaying a user interface comprising a list of scheduled meeting events and a meeting event selection configured for receiving a selection of a scheduled meeting event.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performed comprising:
retrieving conferencing information associated with each scheduled meeting event in the list of scheduled meeting events,
identifying connection types for the retrieved conferencing information of the list of scheduled meeting events, and
for each scheduled meeting event in the list of scheduled meeting events, displaying an icon configured for identifying the identified connection type.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performed comprising:
selecting the conferencing information.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the conferencing information is selected by:
identifying a connection type supported by the conferencing endpoint; and
selecting the conferencing information that corresponds to the connection type supported by the conferencing endpoint.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein when a plurality of connection types are identified supported by the conferencing endpoint, and wherein when the conferencing information comprises conferencing information for multiple connection types, the conferencing information is selected with a fastest connection speed.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein when a plurality of connection types are identified supported by the conferencing endpoint, and wherein when the conferencing information comprises conferencing information for multiple connection types, the conferencing information is selected based on a stored ranking table.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performed comprising:
receiving call status information from the conferencing endpoint, and
displaying a user interface on the display of the portable electronic device comprising the call status information.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performed comprising:
transmitting a control command to the conferencing endpoint configured for controlling an operation of the conferencing endpoint.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the control command comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a start conference call command, an end conference call command, a volume command, and a mute command.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the broadcasted information of each of the one or more RF beacons comprises a network address of the conferencing endpoint associated with a respective RF beacon.

20. The system of claim 19 ,
wherein the location of the portable electronic device is determined by identifying a nearest RF beacon by comparing the detected signal strengths of the at least one of the one or more RF beacons and identifying the strongest received signal, and
wherein the conferencing endpoint network address is identified by identifying the conferencing endpoint network address received from the nearest RF beacon.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the broadcasted information of each of the one or more RF beacons comprises a beacon ID, wherein each beacon ID is associated with a conferencing endpoint network address.

22. The system of claim 21 ,
wherein the location of the portable electronic device is determined by identifying a nearest RF beacon by comparing the detected signal strengths of the at least one of the one or more RF beacons and identifying the strongest received signal, and
wherein the conferencing endpoint network address is identified by identifying the conferencing endpoint network address associated

Assignees

• Crestron Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Bargetzi Fred
• Jackson Daniel
• Donlan Brian

Classifications

• G01S5/0295

  Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals · CPC title

• G06V10/751

  Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching · CPC title

• G06F3/1454

  involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay · CPC title

• G09G2370/12

  Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline · CPC title

• H04L12/1827

  Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation · CPC title