Transitioning a telephone network phone call to a video call

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10771737-B2
Application number	US-201615371620-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2016
Priority date	Dec 7, 2016
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and devices for transitioning phone calls to video calls. Specifically, one or more embodiments allow users to transition from an active phone call over a telephone network to a video call. One or more embodiments determine a first user identifier for a first user and a second user identifier for a second user. Additionally, the systems and methods identify user client devices actively performing the phone call based on the user identifiers and provide an option to the identified client devices to switch the phone call to the video call. Transitioning the phone call to a video call involves generating a null connection prior to selection of the option to transition to the video call and then streaming media between the client devices using the generated null connection in response to selection of the option.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining, by an electronic communication system, that a first user using a first client device is on a phone call over a telephone network with a second user using a second client device;
determining, by the electronic communication system, a first user identifier associated with the first user and a second user identifier associated with the second user;
identifying, by the electronic communication system, the first client device and the second client device;
generating, during the phone call, a null video call connection between the first user device and the second user device; and
providing, to the first client device after establishing the null video call connection, an option to switch the phone call to a video call.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein identifying the first client device comprises:
sending, based on the first user identifier, a request to the first client device to determine whether the first client device is performing a phone call; and
receiving, from the first client device, a response indicating that the first client device is performing the phone call.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein identifying the first client device comprises:
sending the request to a plurality of client devices associated with a user account corresponding to the first user identifier; and
selecting the first client device from the plurality of client devices in response to receiving the response indicating that the first client device is performing the phone call.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein identifying the second client device comprises:
sending, based on the second user identifier, a request to the second client device to determine whether the second client device is performing the phone call; and
receiving, from the second client device, a response indicating that the second client device is performing the phone call.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein:
determining the second user identifier associated with the second user comprises determining the second user identifier based on a phone number associated with the phone call; and
identifying the second client device comprises identifying the second client device based on a user account corresponding to the second user identifier.

6. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein receiving the response indicating that the first client device is performing a phone call comprises receiving a device identifier for the first client device and an application identifier for a messaging application installed on the first client device, wherein the messaging application is associated with the video call.

7. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein sending the request to the second client device comprises:
sending an identification request to a messaging application installed on the first client device, the messaging application associated with a user account corresponding to the first user identifier; and
receiving, from the messaging application installed on the first client device in response to the identification request, the second identifier corresponding to a user account of the second user.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein generating the null video call connection between the first user device and the second user device comprises generating the null video call connection using a messaging application, wherein the first client device comprises a first operating system and the second client device comprises a second operating system that is different from the first operating system.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the first client device and in response to the option provided to the first client device, a request to switch the phone call to the video call; and
switching the null video call connection to an active video call, the active video call comprising a video stream from the first client device to the second client device.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, to the second client device, an option to switch the phone call to a video call from the second user to the first user;
receiving, from the second client device and in response to the option provided to the second client device, a request to switch the phone call to the video call; and
providing a video stream from the second client device to the first client device based on the null video call connection.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
capturing, in response to generating the null video call connection, a preview of the video call at the first client device; and
providing the preview of the video call to the second client device.

12. A system, comprising:
at least one processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
determine that a first user using a first client device is on a phone call over a telephone network with a second user using a second client device;
determine a first user identifier associated with the first user and a second user identifier associated with the second user;
identify the first client device and the second client device;
generate, during the phone call, a null video call connection between the first user device and the second user device; and
provide, to the first client device after establishing the null video call connection, an option to switch the phone call to a video call.

13. The system as recited in claim 12 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to identify the first client device and the second client device by:
sending a request to the first client device to determine whether the first client device is performing a phone call;
receiving, from the first client device, a response indicating that the first client device is performing the phone call;
sending a request to the second client device to determine whether the second client device is performing a phone call; and
receiving, from the second client device, a response indicating that the second client device is performing the phone call.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to identify the first client device by:
sending the request to a plurality of client devices associated with a user account corresponding to the first user identifier; and
selecting the first client device from the plurality of client devices in response to receiving the response indicating that the first client device is performing the phone call.

15. The system as recited in claim 13 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to identify the second client device by:
determining the second user identifier based on a phone number associated with the phone call; and
sending the request to a plurality of client devices associated with a user account corresponding to the second user identifier; and
selecting the second client device from the plurality of client devices in response to receiving the response indicating that the second client device is performing the phone call.

16. The system as recited in claim 12 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
receive, from the first client device and in response to the option to the first client device, a request to switch t

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Mercredi Dwayne B
• Mravec Pavol

Classifications

• H04L65/1083

  In-session procedures · CPC title

• H04L51/52

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title

• H04N7/147 Primary

  Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals (selecting H04Q) · CPC title

• H04L51/32

  Electricity · mapped topic