Using a conversation context to manage conference participants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9843684-B1
Application number	US-201615262512-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 12, 2016
Priority date	Sep 12, 2016
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

Using a conversation context to manage conference participants including receiving a request from an invitee to join a conference in progress; extracting audio from the conference; converting said audio to data describing the conference; matching data to a context, wherein the context comprises a specification of a subject matter of the conference and a list of authorized participants for the conference; comparing the invitee to the list of the authorized participants for the conference; responsive to determining that the invitee matches an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, granting permission to the invitee to join the conference; and responsive to determining that the invitee does not match an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, denying the invitee access to the conference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
by first computing instructions executed by a computing system:
receiving a request from an invitee to join a conference in progress;
extracting audio from the conference in progress, the audio including at least a portion of the conference in progress;
converting said audio to data describing the conference including transcribing the at least a portion of the conference in progress;
matching the data to a context, wherein the context comprises a specification of a subject matter of the conference and a list of authorized participants for the conference;
comparing the invitee to the list of the authorized participants for the conference;
responsive to determining that the invitee matches an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, granting permission to the invitee to join the conference; and
responsive to determining that the invitee does not match an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, denying the invitee access to the conference.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context comprises a calendar event.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a scheduled time of the calendar event does not match a time of the conference in progress.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of authorized participants comprises a restriction level, and wherein determining that the invitee does not match an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference comprises determining that a restriction level of the invitee does not match the restriction level of the list of authorized participants.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein matching said data to a context further comprises matching the context to a file presented during the conference in progress.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein matching said data to a context further comprises matching said data to data stored in a calendar event file for the context.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting said audio to data describing the conference further comprises extracting the audio information from the conference beginning at expiration of a most extended audio lapse.

8. An apparatus comprising a computing device, a computer processor, and a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the apparatus to carry out the steps of:
receiving a request from an invitee to join a conference in progress;
extracting audio from the conference in progress, the audio including at least a portion of the conference in progress;
converting said audio to data describing the conference including transcribing the at least a portion of the conference in progress;
matching the data to a context, wherein the context comprises a specification of a subject matter of the conference and a list of authorized participants for the conference;
comparing the invitee to the list of the authorized participants for the conference;
responsive to determining that the invitee matches an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, granting permission to the invitee to join the conference; and
responsive to determining that the invitee does not match an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, denying the invitee access to the conference.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the context comprises a calendar event.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein a scheduled time of the calendar event does not match a time of the conference in progress.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the list of authorized participants comprises a restriction level, and wherein determining that the invitee does not match an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference comprises determining that a restriction level of the invitee does not match the restriction level of the list of authorized participants.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein matching said data to a context further comprises matching the context to a file presented during the conference in progress.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein matching said data to a context further comprises matching said data to data stored in a calendar event file for the context.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein converting said audio to data describing the conference further comprises extracting the audio information from the conference beginning at expiration of a most extended audio lapse.

15. A computer program product including a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to carry out the steps of:
receiving a request from an invitee to join a conference in progress;
extracting audio from the conference in progress, the audio including at least a portion of the conference in progress;
converting said audio to data describing the conference including transcribing the at least a portion of the conference in progress;
matching the data to a context, wherein the context comprises a specification of a subject matter of the conference and a list of authorized participants for the conference;
comparing the invitee to the list of the authorized participants for the conference;
responsive to determining that the invitee matches an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, granting permission to the invitee to join the conference; and
responsive to determining that the invitee does not match an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference, denying the invitee access to the conference.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the context comprises a calendar event.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein a scheduled time of the calendar event does not match a time of the conference in progress.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the list of authorized participants comprises a restriction level, and wherein determining that the invitee does not match an authorized participant of the list of authorized participants for the conference comprises determining that a restriction level of the invitee does not match the restriction level of the list of authorized participants.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein matching said data to a context further comprises matching the context to a file presented during the conference in progress.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein matching said data to a context further comprises matching said data to data stored in a calendar event file for the context.

Assignees

• Lenovo Entpr Solutions Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Cudak Gary D
• Herman Jr Joseph F
• Alshinnawi Shareef F
• Weber J Mark

Classifications

• G06Q10/1093 Primary

  Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups · CPC title

• H04M3/568 Primary

  audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants (echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30) · CPC title

• H04L12/1818

  Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties · CPC title

• H04M3/42221

  Conversation recording systems (at the subscriber's set H04M1/656) · CPC title

• H04M3/385

  using speech signals · CPC title