United States Patent (19)
`Blinken et al.
`
`11
`45
`
`Patent Number:
`Date of Patent:
`
`4,796,293
`Jan. 3, 1989
`
`(54) E.EstEM
`
`75) Inventors: Robert J. Blinken, Bedford Hills;
`ts Yi Elains,
`d
`s
`Chatham, N.J.; William J. Koenig,
`Warrington, Pa.; Billy B. Oliver,
`Chatham, N.J.
`B
`(73) Assignee: Communications Network
`Enhancement Inc., New Providence,
`N.J.
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`Alliance Dedicated Teleconferencing Service Attendant
`Manual, Nov. 1986, AT&T.
`Primary Examiner-James L. Dwyer
`Attorney,
`t, or Firm-Peter C. Mi
`orney, Agent, or Firm-Peter C. Michalos
`57
`ABSTRACT
`A method and apparatus for enhancing the operation of
`a teleconferencing system, utilizes a programmed ser
`vice computer to drive a bridge which has a plurality of
`ports for establishing communication with a plurality of
`conferees. The bridge includes a microprocessor which
`responds to a plurality of commands, each requiring
`information in the form of plural constant information
`(21) Appl. No.: 135,096
`responses and plural variable information responses.
`The constant information responses involve the status
`22 Filed:
`Dec. 18, 1987
`and identification for a conference and conferees of that
`conference. The variable response information is spe
`511 Int. C. .............................................. H04M 3/56
`: U.S. Cl. ...................................... 379/202; M. : cific to each conferee. This may include first and last
`379720,379736
`name for the conferee, as well as the conferee's tele
`58 Field of Search ............... 379/202,203.204.20s,
`phone number. The programming of the service com
`379/206, 130, 112; 370/60, 62
`puter supplies the information responses to the micro
`9
`a. wws .
`. 49
`processor in the appropriate order for achieving func
`tions, such as the addition, removal and changing of
`status for conferees. The service computer can also
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`communicate with terminals of the conferees so that
`data can be passed from one conferee to another.
`4,599,493 7/1986 Cave.................................... 379/247
`4,600,814 7/1986 Cunniff et al. ......
`... 379/356 X
`4,716,585 12/1987 Tompkins et al. ................ 370/62 X
`
`56)
`
`37 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets
`
`
`
`N/ SERVICE
`
`COMPUTER
`
`42
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 001
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent Jan. 3, 1989
`
`Sheet 1 of 2
`
`4,796,293
`
`FIG. I.
`(PRIOR ART)
`
`ATI
`OFFICE
`--
`
`4
`
`SWITCH
`
`I
`
`4- WIRE
`BRIDGE
`
`l
`
`8
`
`8
`
`P
`
`8 J.'
`
`7
`
`MODEM
`
`
`
`9 MODEM
`P
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 002
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent Jan. 3, 1989
`
`Sheet 2 of 2
`
`4,796,293
`
`FIG 2
`
`23
`22
`
`
`
`2
`EEEEEEEEEEE
`
`AT8T
`NETWORK
`
`2.
`
`2O 12 2.
`
`
`
`8
`
`sa
`
`
`
`
`
`4ESS
`
`4W BRIDGE
`
`EE
`32
`
`34
`Es
`
`3O
`33
`
`2
`
`NV. A 7/7
`N A
`/
`
`SERVICE
`COMPUTER
`
`42
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 003
`
`

`

`1.
`
`ENHANCED DEDICATED TELECONFERENCNG
`SYSTEM
`
`4,796,293
`2
`private data line. The bridge can be controlled by up to
`three attendant terminals.
`The bridge also has a provision which allows up to
`three attendants to place themselves on the audio por
`tion of any active conference. There are two methods
`by which audio communication between the attendant
`and the bridge can be established. A dedicated private
`voice line 9 may be attached to one of the bridge's three
`dedicated attendant audio ports P. The second method
`allows the attendant to specify that he be dialed back on
`a public voice line L, which requires the use of an avail
`able bridge port 2.
`Some of the most important characteristics of the
`ALLIANCE system configuraton vis-a-vis the present
`invention is that it is a dedicated system. That is:
`(a) The means of control (attendant terminals) are
`dedicated to a single bridge;
`(b) Any single bridge may only communicate with a
`maximum of three attendant terminals; and
`(c) The attendant terminals' location is fixed by the
`need to use private data lines for his communica
`tion with a bridge.
`The ALLIANCE System Commands and Displays
`Once a communication link between an attendant
`terminal and the bridge's microprocessor is established,
`the bridge can be controlled using specific commands
`sent by the terminal. The bridge microprocessor sends
`to the terminal three types of data:
`1. Prompts requesting particular types of data to be
`entered by the attendant depending on the situa
`tion;
`2. Display characters and control characters (Control
`characters are recognized by the terminal, but not
`displayed. They control the format of the display
`characters and other non-displayed functions of the
`terminal, such as emitting "beep' tones); and
`3. Status messages which appear briefly on the
`twenty-fourth line of the terminal display. Status
`messages are generated by the bridge every time a
`change in a conference's or conferee's status
`changes. For example, the start and end of a con
`ference, conferee on conference, with port number
`indicated or dropped from a conference, etc.
`In practice, the attendant first enters a carriage return
`which causes the bridge to return the prompt "COM
`MAND:' in order to request a command. At this
`prompt, the attendant must type in the first command.
`If, at this time, or any other time, the "COMMAND:'
`prompt appears, the attendant enters the letter "H" for
`HELP, a summary of the ALLIANCE commands is
`displayed (see Table 1).
`TABLE 1.
`ADMINISTRATIVE COMMANDS
`line need MAINTENANCE
`ATTENDANT dial back/dedicated
`DATE and TIME
`line is available
`
`5
`
`10
`
`FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE
`INVENTION
`The present invention relates in general to telephone
`conferencing techniques, and in particular, to a new and
`useful method and apparatus of operating a dedicated
`teleconferencing system to conduct a telephone confer
`ence among a plurality of conferees. A teleconferencing
`service known as the ALLIANCE Dedicated Telecon
`ferencing Service is available from AT&T. ALLI
`ANCE is a trademark of AT&T.
`15
`The present invention is best understood by having a
`knowledge of the characteristics and limitations of the
`ALLIANCE system.
`The words “his” and “him' should be interpreted to
`include both male and female genders throughout this
`20
`application.
`The ALLIANCE System Configuration
`The ALLIANCE system, which is shown at FIG. 1,
`utilizes a microprocessor controlled device called a
`25
`bridge 1, which has up to fifty-six ports 2, which can
`simultaneously connect up to fifty-six telephone lines 3,
`into a single teleconference, twenty-eight two-party
`teleconferences, or any number of teleconferences be
`tween one and twenty-eight which do not exceed the
`30
`bridge's fifty-six-port capacity. In order to access lines,
`the bridge ports are directly connected to a so-called
`4ESS toll switch 4, which is a part of the AT&T tele
`phone network. The fifty-six ports are divided into
`seven groups of eight ports each, shown at 5. A differ
`35
`ent type of telephone service may be subscribed to by
`each group. For example, one group may have so-called
`band 4 WATS service, three groups band 2 WATS
`service, and all remaining groups regular MTS service.
`Groups of ports which have the same type of telephone
`service are known as segments. In the example above,
`there would be three segments called “1”, “2', and '3”.
`A teleconference can be reserved, initiated ("set
`up”), monitored and controlled by an attendant using a
`terminal or personal computer (PC) using software
`45
`which allows the PC to emulate a terminal 6. Communi
`cation between the attendant terminal and the micro
`processor of the bridge is established over a dedicated
`private data line 7. Modems 8 are used to convert the
`digital signals of the bridge and attendant terminals to
`analog signals so that these signals may traverse the SO
`
`ACTIVE conference
`MONTOR conference
`
`STATUS COMMANDS
`attendant requested QUEUE
`STATUS reports
`
`ADLIB conference
`DIRECTORY
`daily LOG
`
`RESERVATION COMMANDS
`MEETME conference
`PRESET conference
`SCHEDULE
`
`BLASTUP a conference
`CALL a number
`
`CONFERENCE COMMANDS
`LISTEN to ports on a conference
`change MODE of a conf/conferee
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 004
`
`

`

`4,796,293
`
`3
`TABLE 1-continued
`OFF conference
`ON a port/conference
`SETUP conference
`change-SUB-conf assignment
`
`COMBINE two conferences
`DVDE into sub-conferences
`DROP a port/conference
`JOIN sub-conference
`
`COMMAND:
`The commands are divided into four categories (as
`shown in Table 1):
`10
`Administrative Commands; Status Commands; Res
`ervation Commands and Conferencing Commands. It is
`noted that each command can be abbreviated by a
`unique one, two or three letter string of characters, such
`as “AT for ATTENDANT, or “MA” for MAINTE
`15
`NANCE. “MON” is necessary for MONITOR since
`“MO' is also the first two letters of the MODE com
`mand.
`The first category is Administrative Commands such
`as “ATTENDANT or AT, which gives the attendant
`20
`his voice/path status. This indicates to the attendant
`whether the attendant is on a dedicated or dial-back
`voice path. Another administrative command is MAIN
`TENANCE of MA, which marks a port or group of
`ports for maintenance. This may be required if one or
`25
`more ports must be taken out of service, for mainte
`nance. "AVAILABLE' is used to make a port(s) avail
`able for use, once maintenance has been completed.
`“DATE' and "TIME' are used for setting the date
`and time of the bridge's microprocessor clock/calendar
`function.
`The second group of commands known as Status
`Commands, return information to the attendant's termi
`nal concerning a conference in progress or the condi
`tion of the bridge at any particular time. The most rele
`35
`vant status command to the present invention is the
`"MONITOR' command. This command allows the
`attendant to monitor the status of a single specified
`active conference. The MONITOR command is dis
`cussed in detail later on in this section.
`Another status command is "ACTIVE' or "AC',
`which, when typed by the attendant, allows the atten
`dant to see what conferences are currently in progress
`on the bridge. The information returned to the atten
`dant in response to the 'AC' command, includes the
`45
`type of conference (which will be explained later), the
`name of the conference, the date therefore, starting and
`finishing times for the conference, the number of ports
`
`30
`
`tus of each port as either in-use, available, or out-of-ser
`vice for maintenance.
`The third group of commands are the Reservation
`Commands. The Reservation Commands are used to
`create and maintain a conferee directory, to establish
`different types of conferences, and to add, change, de
`lete and list conference and directory entries. The
`"LOG” and "SCHEDULE” commands are for print
`ing lists of which ports and conferences respectively,
`are reserved for a specified time period.
`The "INIT' command erases all conference reserva
`tions and conferee directory entries from the micro
`processor of the bridge. "INIT" is not displayed on the
`Help display (Table 1).
`As described earlier, the microprocessor of the
`bridge provides for a single conferee directory with a
`capacity of up to fifteen hundred unique conferee
`entries. Using the "DIRECTORY” or “DIR” com
`mand, an attendant can add, delete, list and erase direc
`tory entries. Each directory entry contains the first
`name, last name, primary phone number, secondary
`phone number and segment type for each of the primary
`and secondary phone numbers.
`If the directory is to be manipulated, the attendant
`types "DI" after the "COMMAND:" prompt. This
`generates a menu of options (add, change, etc.):
`The menu is reproduced below as “MENU 1':
`
`MENU
`
`ADD an entry
`CHANGE an entry
`DELETE an entry
`
`ERASE the entire file
`LIST entries in the directory
`QUIT the directory
`
`OPTION:
`
`At the prompt "OPTION', the attendant types a
`single letter to request a sub command. The letter "A"
`for "ADD", for example.
`This causes the ALLIANCE bridge micoprocessor
`to return a second menu labeled "MENU 2' below:
`
`MENU 2
`
`# - cancel entry
`
`G - quit adding entries
`
`NUMBER
`
`LASTNAME
`
`FIRSTNAME
`
`PHONE NUMBER SEG
`
`Each time the operator presses the RETURN or
`being used by the conference (i.e. the maximum number 60 ENTER key on the keyboard of his terminal, the cur
`sor, beginning at "Last Name', advances to the next
`of conferees involved), a code used for one type of
`column corresponding to one of the six fields. At each
`conference (the Meetme conference) and whether the
`field, the attendant must enter the appropriate informa
`Meetime conference is of the assisted or un-assisted type.
`Other status commands are "QUEUE' or "Q" which
`tion which is here referred to as variable information
`displays the ports that have requested attendant assist
`reponses.
`65
`It should be noted that the next available directory
`ance, "STATUS" or "ST", which displays the last one
`number is assigned by the bridge microprocessor to
`hundred status messages that the attendant has received,
`each newly added conferee. Ths storage of conferee
`and "PORT" or "PO", which displays the current sta
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 005
`
`

`

`4,796,293
`6
`5
`code when prompted by a synthesized voice recording
`data is common for all conferences and is not subdi
`which the bridge generates. The touch tone code is used
`vided in any way. Multiple directory entries for the
`to instruct the bridge as to which conference this here
`same conferee name are not permitted. The only way
`tofore unidentified caller is to be connected. Since all
`then to have more than one phone number for a con
`conferees use the same code to dial into a given confer
`feree is to specify a secondary phone number in row
`ence, there is no way to identify which individual con
`"S:'. However, in order to use this secondary number,
`ferees were routed into which ports. This is why, in a
`it must be manually chosen for each conferee during
`Meetme conference, no conferees are pre-selected from
`conference set-up, using a more labor-intensive series of
`the directory. Furthermore, no conferee names appear
`commands than normal. Because the secondary number
`when monitoring the Meetime conference's status
`cannot be chosen for use prior to the conference being
`10
`set-up, using a secondary number requires the ALLI
`(“MONITOR” command discussed later).
`An Adlib conference is essentially the same as a Pre
`ANCE conference set-up procedure to take a longer
`set, except the conferees are not chosen until the confer
`amount of time.
`ence is set up:
`Four types of conferences can be conducted using the
`(a) The conference size (number of ports) must be
`ALLIANCE bridge: Preset; Meetme; Adlib; and De
`15
`manually specified when the conference is re
`mand. Preset, Meetme and Adlib conferences require a
`served; and
`conference reservation to be made in advance of the
`(b) The conferees are selected when the conference is
`conference. The “PRESET, "MEETME, or AD
`set-up, either from the directory or by the atten
`LIB” reservation commands respectively, are used for
`dant manually entering the conferee data for con
`this purpose.
`20
`ferees who are not in the directory.
`To operate a Reservation Command, the attendant
`A Demand conference is a conference that does not
`first types the appropriate command such as "PRE' for
`have a pre-existing reservation. Demand conferences
`a Preset conference entry. The attendant must then, by
`are reserved and started while performing the SETUP
`using another group of sub-commands, such as "ADD',
`conferencing command. A Demand conference is an
`"CHANGE', or "DELETE' indicate to the bridge
`25
`Adlib conference which uses the current date and time
`what will be done with regard to a Preset conference
`(supplied by the bridge's microprocessor) for its date
`entry. The selected sub-command then returns a prompt
`to the attendant to begin entry of the specific informa
`and start-time.
`If the blast-up method of starting a Preset, Adlib or
`tion for that Preset conference, such as conference
`Demand conference is chosen, the MONITOR com
`name, date, start time, finish time, and number of ports.
`30
`mand for that conference is automatically executed by
`This information is all constant for a specific conference
`the bridge.
`and thus can be thought of as a plurality of constant
`A conference is said to start (become active) the first
`information responses. The conference type is also a
`time any one of its conferees' status becomes "ON
`constant for a specific conference. The conference type
`CONF" (ON CONFERENCE). In the case of a blast
`is automatically entered ("ADD” sub-command) or
`35
`up type conference, the first conferee to answer his
`looked up ("CHANGE, "DELETE') by the micro
`phone causes his status to change from "RINGING' to
`processor based on the reservation command chosen.
`"ON CONF". For a meetime type conference, the first
`The differences between the four types of confer
`conferee to enter his touchtone code becomes "ON
`ences are as follows:
`CONF'. A conference ends when all of the conferees'
`A Preset conference requires that the attendant pre
`status becomes "DROPPED'. It should be noted that a
`select the conferees who are to be members of the con
`meetne conference reservation remains valid for the
`ference from the directory. The conference size (num
`duration of its reserved time period since meetme con
`ber of ports) is automatically calculated by the bridge's
`ferees may dial in and hang up repeatedly during the
`microprocessor based on how many conferees were
`course of the conference. Therefore, a meetime confer
`selected from the directory. When a Preset conference
`45
`ence may alternate between being active and inactive.
`is set-up (initiated), the attendant has the option of start
`On the other hand, a blastup type conference reserva
`ing the conference right away or of changing any con
`tion ends the first time the preset, adlib or demand,
`ference or conferee data. The Preset conference can be
`conference becomes inactive.
`started in one of two ways:
`An actual conference is conducted by an attendant
`(a) All conferees can be simultaneously dialed out to
`using the Conferencing Commands. Conferencing
`by the bridge ("BLASTUP' sub-command); or
`Commands allow the attendant to “SETUP" (initiate) a
`(b) Conferees can be dialed one-at-a-time by the
`conference; "LISTEN' to the ports on a conference;
`bridge and connected to the attendant's voice path
`talk and listen “ON” a port or a conference; remove
`when they answer. After establishing contact with
`themself from being on a port or conference ("OFF");
`the conferee, the attendant can add this conferee to
`55
`change the transmission "MODE' of a conferee/con
`the others in the conference (“ATTENDANT"
`ference between talk and listen, and listen-only modes;
`sub-command). The Attendant assisted method
`change the "SUB'-conference designation for confer
`only allows conferees to be added in the order in
`ees on a conference; "DIVIDE' a conference into its
`which they are pre-selected. A conferee can be
`designated sub-conferences; "JOIN' the sub-confer
`dialed again if busy or if they do not answer using
`ences back into one conference or "DROP' (hangup) a
`the "REDIAL” option. However, the REDIAl
`option cannot be performed once the attendant
`port or conference.
`A useful conferencing command besides those men
`leaves the ASSISTED-SET UP mode.
`tioned above is called 'COMBINE'. The COMBINE
`A Meetme conference reservation requires the atten
`command is used to combine two or more active con
`dant to specify the size of the conference and a four
`65
`ferences into one conference. For purposes of discus
`digit code number. In this type of conference, the con
`sion, a "combinee' conference is said to be combined
`ferees dial into (i.e., "MEETME”) the conference
`bridge and enter the specified four-digit touch tone
`into a "combinor' conference. The COMBINE com
`
`50
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 006
`
`

`

`4,796,293
`8
`7
`To operate the BLASTUP command, the operator
`mand's most useful function is to combine a meetme
`type conference(s) with a blastup-type conference(s).
`first types "BL'. With each carriage return (RETURN
`or ENTER key), the cursor on the attendant's terminal
`This allows the user to have a conference where some
`of the conferees dial into the bridge (meetme) while
`is advanced to the next field. The attendant must, in
`others are dialed-out to by the bridge (blastup). In prac- 5 sequence, enter the constant information responses of
`tice, however, the COMBINE command has four short-
`conference name and conference type. Then the atten
`comings:
`dant enters the variable information responses of con
`1. The combinor and combinee conferences must be
`feree last name, first name, phone number, segment and
`active before the COMBINE command can be
`transmission mode. If the conference has any conferees
`performed;
`10 with sub-conference designations, the attendant must
`2. The COMBINE command must be performed
`also enter the sub-conference designations for the
`manually by the attendant;
`BLASTUP conferee.
`3. In the case of a meetme-type combinee conference,
`The number of variable information responses and
`meetime conferees who dial into the bridge after the
`constant information responses are considerable. Note
`COMBINE has been executed are not added to the 15 that the conferee and conference related information
`combinor conference. Instead, they become mem-
`responses must be repeated for each conferee even if the
`bers of a separate conference under the old com-
`conferee has been a prior member of the conference and
`binee conference reservation. And, should this
`even if the next command is a BLASTUP for the same
`reservation expire before these "latecomers' dial
`conference. A similar volume of information must be
`into the bridge, conferees will not be able to gain 20 input by the attendant to call a party directly through
`access to any conference; and
`the bridge (using a "CALL' or "CA' command) for
`4. In the case of a blastup-type combinee conference,
`the purpose of assisting the party and manually adding
`blastup conferees who have not been blasted up or
`the party to the conference. The REDIAL option is
`who have not been put on conference (i.e., sta-
`also available to the attendant while executing the
`tus=RINGING, BUSY, No ANSW), before the 25 CALL command.
`COMBINE has been executed cannot be blasted up
`Since many of the commands used to control the
`or called later by the combinee conference. The ALLIANCE bridge must be used in conjunction with a
`reason for this is that once a blastup-type combinee
`relatively large number of constant information re
`conference is combined into a combinor confer-
`sponses and variable information responses, much de
`ence, the combinee conference and its associated 30 mand is placed on the attendant. This is particularly true
`list of conferees cease to exist in the ALLIANCE for the Conferencing Commands where the attendant
`microprocessor's reservation system.
`must operate during an ongoing conference.
`These shortcomings cause a catch-22 situation in the
`It is noted that each of the responses must be exact, or
`case of a COMBINE involving meetme and blastup-
`an error signal will be generated by the ALLIANCE
`type conferees: If the blastup conferees are in the come 35 bridge.
`binor conference, then "late-comer' meetme conferees
`A comprehensive listing of the commands to which
`cannot be automatically added to the combinor confer-
`the ALLIANCE bridge can respond, as well as the
`ence. If the meetime conferees are in the combinor con-
`error messages which the bridge generates in the event
`ference, then all blastup conferees must be present be-
`of an error, are listed in a glossary and list of error
`fore the combine can be executed. Otherwise, those 40 messages appearing on pages 130 through 136 of a man
`blastup conferees who were not on conference prior to
`ual of operation for the ALLIANCE bridge, dated
`the combine must be manually added one-at-a-time by
`November, 1986, entitled: ALLIANCE Dedicated Tele
`the attendant to the combinor conference, using the
`conferencing Service Attendant MANUAL. This manual
`CALL or BLASTUP command. Therefore, to add
`is incorporated here by reference.
`"latecomer' conferees in either case requires continued 45 At any time during an active conference, the atten
`attendant monitoring and command executions.
`dant may view the status of all conferees on the confer
`Another useful conferencing command is called
`ence. To do this, the attendant selects the "MONI
`'BLASTUP'. The BLASTUP command is used to
`TOR' or "MON” command. This prompts a request
`automatically add a new conferee to an active confer-
`for the conference name which the attendant must type
`ence or to dial an reconnect a conferee who has been 50 in. A request is then made for the conference type (ad
`dropped from the conference either by accident or on
`lib, preset or meetme) and the first letter of the confer
`purpose. When the party answers, the conferee is added
`ence type must be entered. At this point, a display is
`to the specified active conference without operator
`produced on the attendant's terminal as shown below at
`assistance. If the party does not answer within a certain MENU 3, which indicates the port number under
`time period (30-40 seconds), the attempted call is 55 which each conferee is operating, the status of that
`stopped.
`conferee, the name of the conferee, the phone number
`of the conferee, the mode of operation (listen-only or
`two-way), and the sub-conference (if any).
`
`NEXT page
`
`MENU 3
`QUIT monitor command
`CONFERENCE preset 1
`PORT STAUS NAME
`PHONE NUMBER MODE SUB
`1.
`ON CONF johnsmith
`4085559275
`T
`1
`2
`ON CONF bob williams
`4155555839
`T
`2
`3
`ON CONF jimjones
`2125559203
`T
`1
`DROPPED dick robinson
`362,646.08
`L
`1
`RINGING ruth thompson
`30352.47619
`L
`2
`
`5
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 007
`
`

`

`4,796,293
`
`9
`-continued
`MENU 3
`QUIT monitor command
`NEXT page
`CONFERENCE preset 1
`PHONE NUMBER MODE SUB
`PORT STATUS NAME
`6
`ON CONF alice abrams
`9146834291
`T
`l
`4.
`RINGING henry patterson
`7184628804
`T
`2
`7
`RINGING loyd simon
`2038S83204
`T
`1
`8
`RINGENG dick robinson
`3162764600
`T
`1.
`OPTION:
`
`10
`
`15
`
`20
`
`It is noted that in the ALLIANCE service, the port
`number of each conferee is indicated on the monitor
`menu. This port number may change, however, for a
`certain conferee if, for some reason, the conferee is
`disconnected and then is called again. When called
`back, the conferee is placed on the next available portin
`the specified segment and a new status line is generated
`at the bottom of the list. For example, on MENU 3
`"dick robinson' was originally called on port 4, but
`dropped before "henry patterson' was called. Hence,
`"henry patterson' was called on port 4 and "dick robin
`son' was assigned to port 8, since ports 1-7 were in use
`prior to "dick robinson' being called back. Each page
`of the monitor menu can display only thirteen (13) sta
`25
`tus lines. The order of listing of conferees thus may
`change over the course of the conference. This makes it
`very difficult for the attendant to follow attendance of
`the conference, particularly when the status lines fill
`more than one menu page.
`30
`It can be appreciated from the foregoing that substan
`tial effort and care is needed for an attendant to reserve,
`set up and control conferences and directory entries.
`The time required by even a skilled attendant to exer
`cise such effort and care often make the use of the AL
`35
`LIANCE system impractical, despite its theoretical
`capabilities.
`Some of the most important characteritics of the
`ALLIANCE system microprocessor and commands
`vis-a-vis the present invention are as follows:
`40
`(1)The ALLIANCE microprocessor does not associ
`ate attendant terminals in a one-to-one relationship
`with active conferences. Since any attendant termi
`nal may invoke any of the conferencing commands
`at any time on any active conference, a portion of
`45
`all conferencing commands information responses
`must always identify the conference name and type
`of conference that the desired action is to apply to.
`This portion of the conferencing command has
`been referred to as a "constant information re
`50
`sponse' earlier.
`(2) The single conferee directory has a limit of fifteen
`hundred names. Duplicate conferee names, even
`though they may have different phone numbers,
`are not permitted. All users also have access to all
`conferee data entries.
`(3) The status of a conference cannot be monitored at
`the same time as any conferencing command is
`executed. The attendant must (a) write down any
`relative conference information from the monitor
`screen (i.e., conference name, type, conferee port
`number, name and phone number); (b) exit the
`monitor command and enter the conference com
`mand(s) menu; (c) exit the conference command
`and re-perform the monitor command to view the
`65
`results of the conference command(s).
`(4) In order for the attendant to add people to the
`conference in a sequential and controlled manner,
`
`55
`
`60
`
`the attendant must enter each conferee's name and
`phone number or directory number while the con
`ference is taking place. To do this, the attendant
`must maintain a separate list with connferee names,
`telephone numbers, and/or directory numbers on it
`because this information is not available for display
`on the attendant terminal while executing the
`BLASTUP or CALL command.
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`A main object of the present invention is to enhance
`the operation of dedicated teleconferencing services in
`general, and the AT&T ALLIANCE service, in partic
`ular.
`According to the present invention, a service com
`puter is interposed between the user (known as the
`coordinator of a conference) and the dedicated telecon
`ferencing bridge. The service computer maintains di
`rectory lists which are specific to named conferences
`and may include either within a single conference or
`across multiple conferences, multiple entries of a con
`feree name with one or more different telephone num
`bers for that name.
`The service computer also stores all constant infor
`mation responses that are necessary for a specific named
`conference and conferee of that conference as they are
`selected from a directory or called independently from
`outside the directory. In this way, only a minimum
`amount of information is needed from the coordinator
`or user. The coordinator need only provide the variable
`information responses which are specific to a desired
`function. For example, if a coordinator wishes to add a
`new conferee, the coordinator need type in only a single
`letter command, in this case, A for ADD, followed by
`the first name, last name, and telephone number of the
`conferee desired. These three fields of information are
`then stored in the service computer and used in con
`junction with the BLASTUP command, conference
`type, mode, sub-conference (if any), last name, first
`name, segment and port number, which are all needed
`in a specific sequence by the ALLIANCE microproces
`sor. The service computer thus combines the variable
`information response from the coordinator (identifying
`the conferee desired) with the constant information
`responses concerning the conference in progress, to
`drive the ALLIANCE microprocessor. A typical
`prompt/response dialogue and terminal screen display
`for adding a conferee for the ALLIANCE system, and
`for the present invention are compared at the end of this
`disclosure in Appendix I.
`The same type of economy is utilized for each of the
`commands needed by the ALLIANCE system. In each
`case, the response required is divided into constant
`information responses and variable information re
`sponses. Programming in the service computer requests
`only the variable information responses from the coor
`dinator. The programming combines the constant and
`
`Zoho Corp. and Zoho Corp. Pvt., Ltd.
`Exhibit 1015 – 008
`
`

`

`15
`
`4,796,293
`11
`12
`variable information responses in the appropriate se
`nected through a 4ESS toll switching apparatus 12 to
`quence to drive the ALLIANCE microprocessor.
`fifty-six ports 14 which can be connected to fifty-six
`Another object of the present invention is to utilize
`different telephone lines through the existing AT&T
`the service computer to permit the transfer of notes or
`tele