Transferring a phone call into a video conferencing session
An apparatus and/or method discloses an automatic call-to-conference elevation (“ACE”) capable of facilitating a transition from a phone call to a video conference. An ACE process, in one embodiment, is able to activate an ACE application to elevate user devices from participating in an audio call to a video conference based on a conference selection selected by a meeting initiator, host, or attendee. After identifying the capabilities, attributes, and/or functionalities associated with the user devices in accordance with activation of ACE, a communication network coupling the user devices as meeting attendees is established for facilitating the video conference based on identified capabilities, attributes, and/or functionalities of the user devices. In one aspect, the process is capable of transitioning connections of the user devices from an audio call to a video conference.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, during a video conference session to which user devices are connected, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) call from a new user device separate from the user devices;
forwarding caller information associated with the PSTN call from a call switch to an automatic call-to-conference elevation (ACE) application via a first session initiation protocol (SIP) request;
transmitting, to at least one of the user devices, data configured to present, on at least one screen of the at least one of the user devices, a prompt associated with the PSTN call;
establishing a new session leg between the call switch and the ACE application based on a selection associated with the prompt;
transitioning, based on video capabilities of the new user device indicating that the new user device is other than video capable, a connection of the new user device from the PSTN call to the video conference session over the new session leg via a second SIP request that includes a command to bypass an interactive voice response menu otherwise used for the video conference session; and
terminating the PSTN call.
2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
sending a request from the ACE application to the call switch to initiate another call leg via a new SIP request to a telephony gateway based on a meeting identifier and an attendee identifier.
3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
transferring the PSTN call to the video conference session by bypassing a telephony gateway.
4. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
disconnecting the PSTN call from an original call session based on a connection of the PSTN call to the video conference session.
5. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
facilitating communication for all participants after media and signaling are established.
6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
identifying a participant using the new user device by username or telephone number to other participants of the video conference session.
7. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
identifying the capabilities of the new user device based on the selection associated with the prompt.
8. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
connecting different user devices from the PSTN call to the video conference session in different ways based on capabilities of the different user devices.
9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, during a video conference session to which user devices are connected, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) call from a new user device separate from the user devices;
forwarding caller information associated with the PSTN call from a call switch to an automatic call-to-conference elevation (ACE) application via a first session initiation protocol (SIP) request;
transmitting, to at least one of the user devices, data configured to present, on at least one screen of the at least one of the user devices, a prompt associated with the PSTN call;
establishing a new session leg between the call switch and the ACE application based on a selection associated with the prompt;
transitioning, based on video capabilities of the new user device indicating that the new user device is other than video capable, a connection of the new user device from the PSTN call to the video conference session over the new session leg via a second SIP request that includes a command to bypass an interactive voice response menu otherwise used for the video conference session; and
terminating the PSTN call.
10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein transitioning the connection of the new user device from the PSTN call to the video conference session over the new session leg comprises:
seamlessly connecting the new user device to the video conference session from the PSTN call via the new session leg based on a selection of a meeting option for transferring the PSTN call to the video conference session.
11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein a rejection of the prompt results in a rejection of the PSTN call.
12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein a user device is connected to the video conference session in an audio-only mode based on capabilities of the user device indicating that the user device is other than video capable.
13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein a user device is connected to the video conference session in a video capable mode based on capabilities of the user device indicating that the user device is video capable.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein participants connected to the video conference session are identified to other participants of the video conference session by username or telephone number.
15. A system, comprising:
one or more memories configured to store instructions; and
one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to:
receive, during a video conference session to which user devices are connected, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) call from a new user device separate from the user devices;
forward caller information associated with the PSTN call from a call switch to an automatic call-to-conference elevation (ACE) application via a first session initiation protocol (SIP) request;
transmit, to at least one of the user devices, data configured to present, on at least one screen of the at least one of the user devices, a prompt associated with the PSTN call;
establish a new session leg between the call switch and the ACE application based on a selection associated with the prompt;
transition, based on video capabilities of the new user device indicating that the new user device is other than video capable, a connection of the new user device from the PSTN call to the video conference session over the new session leg via a second SIP request that includes a command to bypass an interactive voice response menu otherwise used for the video conference session; and
terminate the PSTN call.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein a rejection of the prompt causes a disconnection of the PSTN call.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the new session leg is established based on identified capabilities of the new user device, the identified capabilities including the video capabilities.
18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the instructions to:
identify capabilities of user devices to connect to the video conference session from the PSTN call.
19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the PSTN call is disconnected from an original call session based on a connection of the PSTN call to the video conference session.
20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the PSTN call is transferred to the video conference session by bypassing a telephony gateway.