| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20090122966 | Controlling Voice Mail Systems From Instant Messaging Clients - A method of controlling a voice mail system with an instant messaging client is disclosed. For example, the illustrative embodiment enables a user of a instant messaging client to forward a voice mail message to one or more people listed in the instant messaging client's buddy list. Furthermore, the instant messaging client also enables the user to annotate the voice mail message and to send the voice mail commentary alone with the voice mail message to one or more people listed in the instant messaging client's buddy list. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090125594 | Instant Messaging Intercom System - A method of communication via instant messaging that avoids some of the costs and disadvantages for doing so in the prior art. In particular, the illustrative embodiment enables instant messaging clients to function as an intercom, in which one user can cause audio signals, such as speech, to be output from a second user's instant messaging client without any action on the part of the second user. This is in direct contrast to a traditional telephone call in which the second user must take some action to “answer” the call before the first user's voice is heard. Such an instant messaging intercom capability will be especially useful for secretaries and others who collaborate on work. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090147931 | Instant Messaging and Voice Mail Integration - A method of enabling a user of an instant messaging client to forward an audio recording to another person via his or her instant messaging client is disclosed. The recipient's instant messaging client then inquires whether the recipient would like to hear the audio recording immediately. If the recipient answers yes, then the audio recording is played for the recipient through the instant messaging client. In contrast, if the user answers no, or is “unavailable,” or does not answer at all, the instant messaging client forwards the audio recording a voice mailbox associated with the recipient for later retrieval in well-known fashion via a telephone. This invention is particularly advantageous when the recipient is engaged in a telephone call when the audio recording arrives because it enables the recipient to hear the message immediately and without having to access the voice mail system while engaged in call. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20100082175 | Presence-Based Power Management - The illustrative embodiment describes a system that manages the energy usage of a user's appliance based on: (i) the user's location, and (ii) the user's “presence information.” The “presence information” of a user is defined as a status indicator that includes, but is not limited to: the ability and willingness of a user to communicate and a user's mood. For example, when a user is lonely and at work, the office door should open, but when the user is not lonely and at work, the user's instant messages should be shut off. The illustrative embodiment comprises: an appliance; and an energy-usage controller for de-activating an energy-consuming element of the appliance based on presence information of a user of the appliance. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100208880 | Teleconferencing Monitoring Method - A method that allows a user to have his or her telecommunications terminal automatically monitor one or more teleconferences so that he or she participates in the relevant portions of a teleconference without the disadvantages associated with the prior art is described. The illustrative embodiment teaches a method that can monitor one or more teleconferences and determines when there is a discussion that is relevant to the user. At that point, the user is automatically joined to the teleconference bridge where the teleconference is taking place. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20110038472 | Teleconference Monitoring and Alerting Method - A method is disclosed which allows an invitee to a conference call, who is not present on at least part of the call, to have the call monitored in his or her absence. The invitee is offered the opportunity to review, ahead of the call, one or more electronic documents that are pertinent to the call. The invitee can specify one or more pointers for the purpose of identifying positions that correspond to portions of the document that are relevant to the invitee. When a relevant portion of an electronic document has been reached or is soon to be reached during the call, a message is transmitted to the absent invitee. Additionally, the invitee can annotate slides or portions of an electronic document with comments that he or she wants addressed during the conference call. A message is subsequently transmitted to the invitee, providing responses to the comments left earlier. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110051917 | Conference Waiting Room Method and Apparatus - The present invention comprises a method for hosting: (i) a first conference call on a first teleconferencing bridge from time t | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110072067 | Aggregation of Multiple Information Flows with Index Processing - A method is disclosed that enables the monitoring of a diverse set of both real-time and non-real-time communication streams, as well as the aggregation of information related to those streams into a collective dialog. A server of the illustrative embodiment continually performs an aggregation of events that are related to media streams, applications, and presenter and participant actions, into a particular scope of communication. Index entries, which are indicia to events, are created by things that presenters and participants are doing already, such as posting a meeting agenda inviting participants, posting a presentation or document, transitioning from one slide or page to another, participants speaking alternately during a meeting or presentation, and so forth. The server uses the indicia to then perform processing across information flows associated with the communication streams. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110103568 | Teleconference Scheduling and Activity Reporting Method - A teleconference system is disclosed that monitors the activity levels of one or more attendees of a teleconference and, based on that monitoring, provides information about attendees who are active participants and attendees who are passive listeners. The information includes evaluative feedback or a conference roster that is ordered based on the activity levels of the attendees, or both. Furthermore, the teleconference system takes into account that the potential invitees to a teleconference being scheduled can be different from one another in terms of their importance to a teleconference being scheduled, or in terms of the relevance of the teleconference to those invitees. The system is also able to consider the activity levels that are reported for a teleconference in progress when the system schedules a new teleconference. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110153588 | CREATION OF AD HOC SOCIAL NETWORKS BASED ON ISSUE IDENTIFICATION - An external network is crawled (searched) to identify issues that may exist in the external network. Once an issue is identified, internal networks are crawled to determine one or more experts on the issue. A social network of the one or more experts is created. This way, the experts can quickly address the issue. | 06-23-2011 |
