Telecommunication method and system for simplifying communication such as conference calls
Patent No. US10681218 (titled "Telecommunication method and system for simplifying communication such as conference calls") on Nov 22, 2018. The application was issued on Jun 9, 2020.
What is this patent about?
’218 is related to the field of telecommunications and electronic meeting management. It specifically addresses the logistical friction and technical fragmentation inherent in coordinating conference calls across disparate communication services. The background context involves the inefficiency of manual call-in procedures, where participants must track down access codes and dial into bridges, often leading to staggered start times, security risks, and wasted professional time.
The underlying idea behind ’218 is the shift from a pull-based communication model to a passive push-based architecture. Instead of requiring participants to actively join a session, the system assumes control of the connection process by simultaneously dialing out to all users at a scheduled time. This insight removes the burden of user action, ensuring that meetings begin with all parties present immediately, while abstracting the underlying connection technology so that users can be reached via any unique electronic identifier they choose.
The claims of ’218 focus on a multi-platform bridging mechanism that unifies users across different conferencing and scheduling environments. The independent claims describe a method where a first and second platform—often operating on dissimilar protocols—are linked via a bridge connector. This allows the system to identify pre-existing users on one service and amalgamate them with users on another, creating a single unified communication session that is initiated automatically without requiring any input or activity from the participants at the time of the call.
In practice, the invention functions by parsing meeting invitations to extract data elements like participant identifiers and scheduled times. At the designated moment, a stateful application triggers a bridge connector that interfaces between different telephony or data systems, such as PSTN, SIP, or proprietary social media platforms. By managing the signal paths between these isolated bridges, the system can route audio and data between users who are technically on different networks, effectively making the disparate platforms interoperable.
This approach differs from prior solutions by prioritizing identifier anonymity and user passivity. Unlike traditional systems that require a moderator or a static call-in number, this invention allows users to change their preferred contact method right up to the start of the meeting without notifying other participants. By automating the dial-out and bridging process across mixed media, the invention eliminates the common 'tardy participant' syndrome and ensures that technical sophistication is no longer a barrier to effective group communication.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical Landscape
In the mid-2010s when ’218 was filed, teleconferencing systems were typically implemented using centralized bridges where systems commonly relied on manual participant dial-in procedures rather than automated outbound session establishment. At a time when scheduling was managed through asynchronous email exchanges and static calendar invitations, hardware and software constraints made the real-time synchronization of diverse communication modalities non-trivial. Standard practices required participants to manually input access codes and authentication credentials, while system architectures often struggled to bridge disparate platforms such as traditional telephony networks and emerging internet-based communication protocols without significant user intervention.
Prosecution Position
The disclosed invention represents a meaningful technical advancement through an architectural shift in session establishment that eliminates the requirement for manual participant action at the scheduled time. By integrating a system that simultaneously implements access to user-changeable private identifiers across mixed telecommunication platforms, the invention overcomes the technical constraint of rigid, single-modality connection methods. This capability enables a unified communication environment where the system manages respondent users and bridges disparate conferencing platforms automatically, achieving a technical effect of increased session security and temporal efficiency by removing the reliance on vulnerable shared access codes and manual dial-in protocols.
Claims
This patent contains a total of 14 claims, with claims 1, 9, 10, and 12 serving as the independent claims. The independent claims focus on methods for simplifying electronic communications by bridging users across multiple conferencing and scheduling platforms, often involving dissimilar protocols, to enable simultaneous and automated contact at scheduled times without requiring user intervention. The dependent claims serve to further define the system by specifying the types of electronic identifiers used, detailing the parsing and amalgamation processes for adding users, maintaining user anonymity, and facilitating access for independent users to the established communication bridge.
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US10681218
- Application Number
- US16198821A
- Filing Date
- Nov 22, 2018
- Publication Date
- Jun 9, 2020
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO , Google Patents