Conference Call Roster Transmission for Participant Screening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current telephony systems fail to provide a comprehensive list of participants in a call, especially during conference calls, limiting the called party's ability to screen incoming calls effectively.
Innovation Solution
A communication manager establishes a call between participants and sends a roster of all participants to an additional communication device, along with relevant information, allowing the user to decide whether to join the call, which includes identifying participants through caller IDs, voice or facial recognition, and grouping by company or other affiliations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional caller ID is used for conference calls, then the called party receives only a single caller ID (e.g., Sally's), but the called party cannot identify all participants in the conference call
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the conference call information into multiple components: individual participant caller IDs, conference call metadata, and organized participant lists. Each component is transmitted separately to the called party's device, allowing comprehensive information display without overwhelming system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a new dimension to caller ID by transitioning from a single identifier to a multi-dimensional information structure that includes multiple participant IDs, their affiliations, and organizational groupings. This dimensional expansion enables full conference visibility while maintaining manageable complexity through structured data organization
2Ease of operation
If a comprehensive list of all participants is provided to the called party, then the called party can make informed screening decisions, but the system complexity and information transmission load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary organization of participant information before transmission to the called party. The communication manager pre-processes the participant list, organizes members by affiliation, and structures the data in advance, reducing the information management burden on the receiving device and simplifying the user's screening task
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary communication manager that handles the complex task of information aggregation, organization, and transmission. This intermediary component shields the called party's device from complexity by managing all information processing operations centrally, allowing easy user interaction despite sophisticated backend operations
3Loss of information
If detailed information about each participant and the conference is transmitted, then the called party gains comprehensive screening capability, but the amount of data transmitted and processed increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the most relevant information elements from the complete conference data set for transmission to the called party. Instead of transmitting all possible conference metadata, the system selectively extracts key participant identifiers, essential affiliations, and critical call description elements, reducing data volume while preserving screening effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by providing different levels of information detail for different types of participants and information elements. Critical screening information such as participant affiliations and call purpose receive detailed treatment, while less relevant data is summarized or omitted, optimizing the balance between information completeness and transmission efficiency
Data Source
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AI summary
A communication manager establishes a call between two or more participants on two or more communication devices. The call can be an audio or video call. A call request is sent from one of the communication devices to conference an additional communication device to the call. For example, a participant in the call decides to conference an additional person further discuss an idea. An information manager gets a roster of the participants. In addition to the call request, the roster of the participants is sent to the additional communication device. The additional communication device receives the call request and the roster. The roster its displayed to the user of the additional communication device. The user can then indicate to answer the call request. If answered, the additional communication device sends an indication that the call was answered and the additional communication device is conferenced into the call.