Intelligent music on hold
Prior art solutions only implement absolute music-on-hold suppression at the conference bridge. The present disclosure moves the intelligence and control capabilities to the entity implementing music-on-hold functionality and also provides mechanisms for applying the music-on-hold treatment more intelligently. Intelligent and flexible music-on-hold control algorithms are disclosed which make conference participation more convenient and enjoyable.
1. A method, comprising:
while a conference is established between at least a first and second participant utilizing a first and second communication device, respectively, determining that the first participant has put the conference on hold with the first communication device;
at a first time while the first participant has put the conference on hold, analyzing one or more conference parameters of interest to determine conference activity, wherein the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the first time include at least one of voice activity, frequency of voice activity, amplitude of voice activity, number of participants providing voice activity, whether participants are responding to other participants, movement of the second participant, and presence of the second participant;
determining, at the first time, that conference activity has been detected;
in response to determining, at the first time, that conference activity has been detected, providing a first on-hold treatment to at least the second participant, the first on-hold treatment corresponding to at least one of an audible on-hold indicator, a visual on-hold indicator, and an audible notification provided by a whisper page to the second participant;
at a second time while the first participant has put the conference on hold, analyzing one or more conference parameters of interest to determine conference activity, wherein the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the second time include at least one of voice activity, frequency of voice activity, amplitude of voice activity, number of participants providing voice activity, whether participants are responding to other participants, movement of the second participant, and presence of the second participant, and wherein the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the first time are different from the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the second time;
determining, at the second time, that conference activity has not been detected; and
in response to determining, at the second time, that conference activity has not been detected, providing a second on-hold treatment to at least the second participant, the second on-hold treatment corresponding to at least one of a beep, a tone, and music-on-hold.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first on-hold treatment is at least one of an audible and visual on-hold indicator which includes at least one of a beep, a tone, a flashing light, and a text message.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second on-hold treatment is music-on-hold.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein music-on-hold is suppressed between the first time and the second time.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first on-hold treatment comprises an audible notification provided by a whisper page.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
at a third time while the first participant has put the conference on hold, analyzing one or more conference parameters of interest to determine conference activity;
determining, at the third time, that conference activity has been detected; and
in response to determining, at the third time, that conference activity has been detected, discontinuing the second on-hold treatment.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a third participant is engaged in the conference with a third communication device, wherein the media streams of the first, second, and third participants are mixed at a conference mixer, and wherein the conference mixer resides on one of the first, second, and third communication devices.
8. A communication apparatus, comprising:
a conference monitoring module configured to determine that a first participant of a conference has put the conference on hold at a first time and, at the first time, analyze one or more conference parameters of interest to determine conference activity, wherein the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the first time include at least one of voice activity, frequency of voice activity, amplitude of voice activity, number of participants providing voice activity, whether participants are responding to other participants, movement of the second participant, and presence of the second participant, wherein the conference monitoring module is further configured to monitor one or more conference parameters of interest at a second time while the conference is still on hold and analyze one or more conference parameters of interest at the second time, wherein the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the second time include at least one of voice activity, frequency of voice activity, amplitude of voice activity, number of participants providing voice activity, whether participants are responding to other participants, movement of the second participant, and presence of the second participant, and wherein the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the first time are different from the one or more conference parameters of interest analyzed at the second time; and
a response module configured to receive information from the conference monitoring module regarding conference activity at the first and second times and, based on the information received from the conference monitoring module, dynamically adjust on-hold treatment provided to participants of the conference by providing a first on-hold treatment at the first time and a second on-hold treatment at the second time, wherein the first on-hold treatment corresponds to at least one of an audible on-hold indicator, a visual on-hold indicator, and an audible notification provided by a whisper page to the second participant, and wherein the second on-hold treatment corresponds to at least one of a beep, a tone, and music-on-hold.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the first and second on-hold treatment is provided to all participants of the conference other than the first participant.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a second and third participant are involved in the conference, wherein the first on-hold treatment is provided to the second participant based on preferences of the second participant, and wherein the second on-hold treatment is provided to the third participant based on preferences of the third participant.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first participant is utilizing a first communication device, wherein the second participant is utilizing a second communication device, wherein the third participant is utilizing a third communication device, and wherein the conference is hosted on one of the first, second, and third communication devices.
12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the conference monitoring module is configured to continuously monitor the conference for activity during the time in which the conference is put on hold by the first participant.
13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the conference monitoring module is configured to periodically monitor the conference activity during the time in which the conference is put on hold by the first participant and wherein the amount of time allowed to pass between instances where the conference activity is analyzed depends upon whether activity was detected at a previous instance.
14. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a conference mixer configured to mix audio input from participants of the conference.
15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the response module is configured to partially suppress music-on-hold when the conference monitoring module detects voice activity of only one conference participant.