Method and apparatus for providing bridgeless conferencing services
A system and method for making a VoIP-based and other types of group calls includes a user interface adapted for use by a group call administrator via the Internet, a database manager connected to the user interface, and a database connected to the database manager. In one embodiment of the invention, the group call administrator identifier and one or more group call invitee identifiers is a telephone number. A method includes using call information from the database to initiate conference call connections and an administrator call connection to facilitate a conference call in which the administrators call connections and the participants connections are joined to allow communications between the participants and the administrator.
1. A method of establishing a conference call between an administrator and a group of users selected by the administrator as participants in the conference call, wherein the administrator and users are remote from a central location, comprising:
receiving call information associated with the group of users from the administrator at the central location;
initiating plural conference call connections from the central location to the participants based on call information;
initiating an administrator conference call connection from the central location to the administrator; and,
connecting the plural conference call connections to thereby allowing communications between the participants and connecting the administrators conference call connection at the central location, to thereby allow communications between the participants and the administrator;
wherein the call information comprises connection values and at least two of the plural conference call connections are initiated in a sequence based on the connection values:
wherein the connection values are based on one or more factors selected from the group consisting of age, seniority, position, wage, management level, organization, user preference and administrator preference.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection values are based on one or more factors selected from the group consisting of age, seniority, position, wage, management level, and organization.
3. A method of establishing a conference call between an administrator and a group of users selected by the administrator as participants in the conference call, wherein the administrator and users are remote from a central location, comprising:
receiving call information associated with the group of users from the administrator at the central location;
initiating plural conference call connections from the central location to the participants based at least on call information;
initiating an administrator conference call connection from the central location to the administrator; and,
connecting the plural conference call connections to thereby allowing communications between the participants and connecting the administrators conference call connection at the central location, to thereby allow communications between the participants and the administrator;
wherein the call information consists of the type of connection termination, device type, and device capabilities for at least one of the participants;
determining an estimated cost of the conference call based on the type of connection termination; and,
providing the estimated cost of the conference call to the administrator.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing a database for a plurality of conference call settings associated with at least one of the participants, wherein the settings are selected from the group consisting of connection termination types, media type, voice mail detection, call hunting, disconnection retry, retry period and connection sequence.
5. A method for managing a group call between an administrator and each of a group of invitees comprising:
initiating a first group call connection from a central location and
initiating at least one or more second group call connections from the central location to join a group call administrator and at the least one group call invitee
detecting a disconnection of one of the invitees;
detecting call control messages from the call connection of the disconnected invitee;
determining if the disconnection is inadvertent or intentional based on the call control messages; and,
re-establishing the conference call connection to the disconnected invitee when the disconnection was determined to be inadvertent;
wherein the call control messages are Session Initiated Protocol messages.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of detecting call control messages from the call connection of the disconnected invitee, includes detecting the absence of call control messages from the call connection of the disconnected invitee.