METHOD, TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE, CONFERENCE SERVER AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK FOR PROVIDING A CONFERENCE CALL BASED ON GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND TRAVELLING DIRECTION OF A USER TERMINAL

Technical field

The present invention is directed to a method of providing a telecommunications service through a telecommunications network, said service involving providing a conference session between a plurality of users of said network. The present invention is further directed to a mobile conference service for providing a telecommunications service through a telecommunication network, using the method as described above.

In addition the present invention is directed a telecommunications service and telecommunications network.

Background

Above-mentioned method for setting-up group conferences are well known in telecommunications industry. Different versions have been implemented in the industry. Amongst others, group conferences can be set-up between members of a closed user group. Other developments enable the provisioning of a conference call between users that are present in a certain area.

Summary

It is an object of the present invention to resolve the above- mentioned problems of prior art methods of providing conference calls.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for enabling participation in conference calls between users travelling closely to each other.

The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved in that there is provided a method of providing a telecommunications service in a telecommunications network, said service involving providing a telecommunications conference between a plurality of users of said network, said method comprising the steps of: a mobile conference server receiving a user call from a user terminal; said server determining geographical location information of said user terminal; said server determining a travel direction of said user terminal; said server associating, based on said direction and said geographical location information, one or more available conference calls for said user terminal; and said server enabling participation of said user terminal in at least one of said available conference calls by establishing a communications session between said user terminal and said at least one conference call.

By determining both geographical location information and travel direction for each user terminal, and comparing this geographical location and travel direction information for all user equipment, the mobile conference server is able to select/associate one or more active conference calls between participating user terminals with the user terminal that has made the call. In addition the server is able to enable participation of the user terminal in at least one of the associated available conference calls. The user may simply join the conference call through a user session. Associating conference calls may take place using criteria such as the distance between user terminals being within a certain range, or destination of the user terminals being similar.

Using the method of the present invention it becomes possible for the mobile conference server to bring a number of people in contact with each other that may be stuck in a single traffic jam, or may be travelling closely to each other on a certain road. Since in modern times, people spend more and more time in traffic jams, and people are always curious to know how much time the traffic jam will cost them, and what the cause of the traffic jam may be, a service provided using the method of the present invention provides benefits to users stuck in a traffic jam.

Throughout this document, the term 'user terminal' is to be interpreted as including any suitable type of user equipment that may be used for establishing communications sessions with said telecommunications network, such as to enable participation in (conference) calls. This includes, amongst others, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, portable personal computers (laptops), and other portable equipment enabling communication via said telecommunications network.

According to the method of the present invention, the mobile conference service determines the travel direction of the user terminal. This can be performed in various ways. According to an embodiment, the direction is determined by determining a travel destination of the user, and comparing this travel destination with geographical location information. The destination may easily be determined by prompting the user, or by the user providing the information on its own initiative. It is however also possible, in accordance with a further embodiment, to associate each possible destination within a wide area, or each route or path leading to a possible destination, with a service number. In that case, the mobile conference server may easily determine the destination by analysing the service number called by the user terminal. The control of the conference call is alternatively executed by a human controller, applying the invention.

According to the above-mentioned invention, the mobile conference server performs the step of associating the user terminal with active conference calls, based on the direction and the geographical location information, one or more available conference calls for the user terminal. This may be performed in various ways. The step of associating available conference calls with the user terminal is performed dependent on at least one of a group comprising conference calls associated with a service number received from said user terminal, geographical distance of said user terminal to other terminals participating in the call in relation to a reference distance, such as a maximum distance or optimal distance, or number of participants in the conference calls in relation to a reference value, that reference value being at least one of a minimum, maximum or optimum number of participants. All of the above are various suitable ways of selecting available conference calls from a number of active conference calls. The skilled person will appreciate that one or more of these above-mentioned steps may be performed in combination in order to associate available conference calls with the user terminal.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the step of enabling participation comprises at least one step selected from a group comprising a step of assigning a conference call to the terminal based on a decision taken by the server, and a step of a selection provided by the user terminal, received by the mobile conference server. The skilled person will appreciate that the server may simply select the most suitable conference call for the calling user terminal by comparing the geographical distance between the calling user terminal and user terminals of the users participating in the available conference calls and select the conference call with the smallest average geographical distance between the geographical location of the user terminal and the geographical locations of the user terminals of other participating users. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises a step of said server determining a geographical centre of one or more of said available conference calls. Knowing where the 'geographical centre' of the available conference calls is, as projected on the road or path to the destination, directly enables the server to compare the current user position at any time with this geographical centre. This may for example enable the server when the user participating in the conference call has travelled too far from the geographical centre and may be better of joining a further conference call.

In addition to the above, the mobile conference server may switch the user terminal to participating in a further conference call of the available conference calls. This may either be performed in response to receiving an indication, from the user terminal or as a result of comparing the present user geographical location with the geographical centre of the conference call. In particular, it is noted that if the user decides to join a further conference call, he may simply indicate to switch to a conference call which has its geographical centre a certain direction forward on the same road or path, or backward on the same road or path. The user may simple 'scroll' or 'toggle' backward and forward on the road such as to 'tune in' on further conference calls. In an alternative embodiment, the location of the terminals is represented graphically on e.g. a graphical display of a mobile navigation equipment.

In case the mobile conference server determines that the present position of the user terminal is too far removed from the geographical centre of the conference call, the server may propose to the user terminal to switch to another conference call on the same road. The method, according to one of its embodiments, may be applied for providing a telecommunications service.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a mobile conference server for providing a telecommunications service in a telecommunications network, said service involving providing a telecommunications conference between a plurality of users of said network, wherein said mobile conference server comprises user terminal communications unit for receiving a user call from a user terminal, a user terminal geographical location determination unit for establishing geographical location information of a geographical location of said user terminal, user terminal direction determination unit for establishing a travel direction of said user terminal, and a conference association unit arranged for associating, based on said direction and said geographical location information, one or more available conference calls for said user terminal of a plurality of active conference calls, and a conference participation enabling unit arranged for enabling participation of said user terminal in at least one of said available conference calls by establishing a communications session between said user terminal and said at least one conference call.

The direction determination unit may simply be implemented by a destination determination unit, as mentioned hereinbelow, that establishes the destination for example by analysing the called number - wherein said called number is associated with a certain destination. Another option is that the direction determination units actually calculated a heading or direction vector of the mobile terminal by analysing the geographical location information of subsequent geographical user terminal positions. The mobile conference server may comprise at least one of a group comprising: a destination determination unit for cooperation with said mobile station direction determination unit, for determining a travel destination of said user terminal, and comparing said destination with said geographical location information; a number analysis unit for cooperation with said destination determination unit, for analysing a service number called by said user terminal, and for determining said destination based on said analysis; an identification unit for cooperation with said conference association unit, for identifying active conference calls associated with a service number received from said user terminal, for associating said user terminal with one or more available conference calls of said active conference calls; a distance analysis unit for cooperation with said conference association unit, for determining a geographical distance between said user terminal and other terminals in one or more active conference calls in relation to a reference distance, such as a maximum distance, or optimal distance; a participants analysis unit for cooperation with said conference association unit, for determining a number of participants in each of a plurality of active conference calls in relation to a reference value, that reference value being at least one of a minimum, maximum or optimum number of participants, and for associating said user terminal with one or more available conference calls based on said number of participants; or a distance analysis unit for determining a geographical centre of one or more of said available conference calls.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a telecommunications network comprising a mobile conference server according to the second aspect.

Brief description of the drawings

The present invention will be elucidated by means of some detailed embodiments described hereinbelow, with respect to the enclosed drawings, wherein: figure 1 schematically illustrates the principles of the present invention; figures 2A en 2B schematically illustrate a method of the present invention; figure 3 schematically illustrates a mobile conference server according to the present invention; figure 4 schematically a telecommunications network according to the present invention; figure 5 illustrates an implementation of the invention in an IMS network; figure 6 illustrates schematically a signalling scheme for setting up a new mobile conference for a user requesting this service; figure 7 schematically illustrates a signalling scheme that may be used for a further mobile terminal providing an indication that it wants to participate in a active conference call; figure 8 illustrates a user triggered conference call switch; figure 9 illustrates a conference call switch which is occasioned by the user terminal being too far removed from the geographical centre of the conference call wherein it is participating.

Detailed description Figure 1 schematically illustrates the principles of the present invention. In figure 1 , city A (1 ) is connected with city B (2) by means of road 6. In addition, city B (2) is connected with city C (3) by means of road 5. A plurality of users 10, 11 , 12 and 13, are participating in a conference call 40: call I. A plurality of further users 17, 18 and 19 are participating in conference call Il (41 ). Conference call I and Il both move along with their participants from A towards B, as indicated by arrows 4 and 7. User terminal 14 travelling halfway from destination A to B, calls a special service number which is associated with destination B. A mobile conference server, such as the mobile conference server 107 illustrated in figure 4 and described further below, receives geographical location information of the mobile user terminal from a network entity enabled to provide a location of the mobile user terminal. In combination with service number analysis, providing the destination to the mobile conference server, the mobile conference server is aware of the fact that user terminal 14 is travelling from A to B on road 6 and is somewhere halfway the road. The mobile conference server then determines for user 14, that conference calls I (40) and Il (41 ) are potential candidates for participation. The mobile conference server may either leave the selection of conference call 40 or 41 to the user 14, or may independently determine the most suitable conference call to route user 14 to, and enables participation of user terminal 14 in the selected conference call. In the present case, the mobile conference server 107 receives a request for a conference selection from user terminal 14 the participation in call Il (41 ) is desired. Connecting the call from user terminal 14 with call Il (41 ) is then performed.

In case the choice for user terminal 14 of either call I (40) or call Il (41 ) was left to the mobile conference server 107, this choice may have been made by the mobile conference server 107 on the basis of the distance between participating users in call I (40) and call Il (41 ). In that case, user terminal 14 would have been connected to call I (40) instead of call Il (41 ).

User 17, participating in call Il (41 ) is travelling to city B (2). The speed wherein user 17 is travelling, is much lower than the travelling speed of users 18 and 19 participating in the same conference call. Therefore, after a while, users 18 and 19 are far ahead user 17, and user 17 may be closer to the geographical centre of conference call I (40) than to the geographical centre of call Il (41 ). Note that the geographical centre of the call is to be interpreted as the "average" geographical location of all users participating in the call, as projected on the travelling path or road.

Due to the fact that user 17 is far behind on users 18 and 19, participation of user 17 in call I is, from a geographical point of view, more logical than participation in conference call II. Therefore, the mobile conference server may propose user 17 to switch from conference call Il to conference call I. If the user accepts this proposal the mobile conference server will perform switching of the users call to conference call I.

On road 5, between cities C (3) en B (2), a plurality of users (22, 23, 24, 25, 26,30, 31 , 32, 33, 34, 36, 37,38) , carrying user terminals (user equipment), is travelling from city C to city B. Users 36, 37 and 38 have just left city C, and are participating in conference call V (44). Users 30, 31 , 32 and 33 are stuck in a traffic jam behind obstruction 28. These users 30-33 are participating in conference call IV (43), together with user 26. User 26 has already passed the obstruction 28 on road 5. Users 22, 23, 24 and 25 are participating in conference call III (42). Users 32 and 33 may learn from users 30 and 31 what the cause of the traffic jam is, because users 30 and 31 are in visible range of the obstruction 28. In addition, users 30-33 may learn from user 26, by means of participation in conference call IV, how long it will take them before they may get around obstruction 28.

Users 36-38 are not aware of the traffic jam, but may decide to switch 'channels' and participate in conference call IV (43) instead of conference call V (44). This may be performed by these users making a selection on their user terminal such as to switch to conference call 43. In that case, they will become informed of the traffic situation further on the road and may try to find a suitable detour. User 26 (or any of the other users in call IV) may switch to conference call III in order to doublecheck whether any further traffic jams may be expected on road 5.

In case user 34 calls in on the mobile conference server (not shown), he may select to join any of the calls V, IV or III, dependent on the policy of the mobile conference server.

In an alternative, the mobile conference server determines the geographical centres of each of the conference calls I, II, III, IV and V, and determines whether there are any users that may be out of 'range' of the conference call. In that case, user 26, which is at some distance removed from the other users 30-33, may be offered to switch conference calls, and to join call III.

Figures 2A and 2B illustrate a method of the present invention. In step 54, a mobile conference server (such as mobile conference server 107 of figure 4) receives from user terminal 50 a call 52 to join the conference call service. In step 56, the mobile conference server determines the present geographical location of user terminal 50. In step 58, the destination of user terminal 50 is determined, e.g. by receiving this information from a location determination unit, such as a global positioning system (GPS), in said user terminal 50 (double arrow 59), or alternatively (and not shown in figure 2A and 2B) by receiving this information from location determination equipment, such as a location server, that may determine the location of user terminal through various methods known to the skilled person. In step 60, the mobile conference associates the user terminal 50 with one or more available conference calls, selected from a number of active conference calls known to the mobile conference server. In step 61 , the mobile conference server selects a most suitable conference call for user terminal 50, which in the present case is decided to be conference call 64. In conference call 64, users 65, 66 and 67 are already participating. The method then enables participation of mobile terminal 50 in said conference call. This method may for example be applied to the case described in detail in relation to user 14 illustrated in figure 1 , and the reader is referred to figure 1 and its description for further detail.

In figure 2B, in particular step 70, the mobile conference server estimates or defines on regular intervals the geographical centre of the call, by comparing the present geographical locations on the road of the participating users 65, 66, 67 and 50 of the conference call. The geographical centre is determined to the geographical location 73 indicated by an arrow. This analysis, performed by the mobile conference server, is schematically illustrated in oval 72. The mobile conference server determines that user terminal 50 is too far removed from the geographical centre of the conference call. This may be the case when the geographical distance of user terminal 50 to the geographical centre of the call exceeds a predefined threshold, which threshold may for example (but not limited to) be a fixed distance or a relative parameter that is dependent on geographical distances of other participants. Therefor, in step 75, the mobile conference server proposes to user 50 to switch conference calls, and may provide a plurality of alternatives. In step 78, user 50 switches from conference call 64 to conference call 82. This is schematically indicated in oval 80. Conference call 83 is not selected by user 50. In figure 3, a mobile conference server 87 according to the present invention is schematically illustrated. The conference server 87 comprises mobile station communications unit 90 which receives and sends information from and to the telecommunications network through input/output ports 88 en 89. The mobile station communications unit 90 provides information to the conference association unit 91 for further processing. The conference association unit 91 receives information from mobile station geographical location determination unit 93 for establishing geographical location information of a geographical location of said user terminal, and from a mobile station direction determination unit 95 for establishing a travel direction of said user terminal. This direction determination unit 95 might work for example by comparing a first and a second location measurement, and determining a heading or vector indicating a direction. The conference association unit 91 is arranged for associating, based on said direction and said geographical location information, one or more available conference calls for said user terminal of a plurality of active conference calls. The mobile conference server 87 further comprises a conference participation enabling unit 92 arranged for enabling participation of said user terminal in at least one of said available conference calls. The conference participation enabling unit 92 may be a conference bridge, such as conference bridge 124 of figure 5. The mobile conference server 87 optionally comprises: a destination determination unit 96 for cooperation with said mobile station direction determination unit 95, for determining a travel destination of a user terminal, and comparing said destination with said geographical location information; a number analysis unit 98 for cooperation with said destination determination unit 95 or said conference association unit 91 , for analysing a service number called by a user terminal, and for determining the destination of the terminal based on said analysis; an identification unit 99 for cooperation with said conference association unit 91 , for identifying active conference calls associated with a service number received from said user terminal, for associating the user terminal with one or more available conference calls of said active conference calls; a distance analysis unit 102 for cooperation with said conference association unit 91 , for determining a geographical distance between a user terminal and other terminals in one or more active conference calls in relation to a reference distance, such as a maximum distance, or optimal distance, or for determining a geographical centre of conference calls; a participants analysis unit 100 for cooperation with said conference association unit 91 , for determining a number of participants in active conference calls in relation to a reference value, that reference value being at least one of a minimum, maximum or optimum number of participants, and for associating a user terminal with one or more available conference calls based on the number of participants. It is explicitly stated here that each of the abovementioned units and components may either be implemented as software components or hardware components. Although figure 3 suggests integration of these units and components into a single entity, the mobile conference server 87, the skilled person will appreciate that any of these units or components may be located elsewhere in a different entity or may be implemented as a stand alone entity.

In figure 4 a telecommunications network according to the present invention is schematically illustrated. A telecommunications network 104, comprising nodes 105 and 106, comprises a base station 108 which is connected to node 105. Base station 108 is the access point of user terminal 110. Mobile conference server 107 is connected to network node 106, and receives calls from mobile users, such as user terminal 110.

Figure 5 illustrates an implementation of the present invention in an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network. The mobile conference server is implemented as an application server 122 hosting the mobile conference service 128 cooperating using a conference control interface 123 with a conference bridge 124. The application server 122, hosting the mobile conference service 128, further cooperates with a geographical location server 120 through a dedicated signalling protocol: mobile geographical location protocol (MLP) 121. Integration of the application server 122, and the conference bridge 124 in the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network is commonly implemented using a IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) service control (ISC) interface 129 between the application server 122 and the serving call session control function (S-CSCF) 126, and through a session initiation protocol (SIP) interface 125 between the S-CSCF 126 and the conference bridge 124. The S-CSCF 126 further comprises a session initiation protocol (SIP) interface 127 for receiving incoming SIP messages for setting up calls with user terminals.

Figure 6 illustrates a signalling scheme taking place within the IMS network between the terminal 130, the S-CSCF 126, the application server (AS) 122, the geographical location server 120, and the conference bridge 124. A SIP INVITE message is forwarded from terminal 130 to the application server 122 in order to set up a call. This is generally indicated by the steps summarized by reference number 132. During the call set up procedure the application server requests geographical location information from the geographical location server. Destination information may either be acquired by the application server by analysing the service number called by the user of the user terminal, or by monitoring the geographical location of the terminal through the geographical location server 120. Alternatively, the destination of the user may be requested from the user itself, or by analyzing the dialed number in case conference numbers are associated with destinations. The application server 122 requests to set up a call with the conference bridge 124, and a response is provided by the conference bridge in step 136. In the present case, the caller is put in a conference in which an announcement is played. The application server requests this in step 138. The rest of the call set up procedure, summarized by reference number 140 is standard for setting up calls or service sessions in an IMS network.

In figure 7, a further terminal 139 places a call at the application server 122 in order to make use of the mobile conference service. The first part of the call set up in the IMS network is summarized by steps 132, also described in relation to figure 6. In step 144, conference bridge 124 responds to application server 122, identifying the new incoming call from terminal 139. The application server in step 145 requests the conference bridge to place the call in conference with terminal 130 (which has been hearing an announcement so far, described hereinabove). At the same time, in step 146, the application server requests the conference bridge to disconnect the announcement played before terminal 130. Thereafter, all set up sessions to terminal 139 are finalized according to standard practice. This is generally indicated by step 140 (note that step 140 of figure 7 corresponds to the first of the set of arrows 140 in figure 6 - which set up handling processes are similar).

Figure 8 illustrates a signaling scheme for a user initiated conference switch. In the example provided in figure 8, user terminal 130 indicates that switching to a different conference call is desired by the user. The user may indicate this to the conference bridge 124 by pressing a key on his user terminal, which is forwarded as in-band signalling in the form of a dual tone multifrequency (DTMF) digit to the conference bridge in step 150. The conference bridge 124 indicates in step 151 to the application server 122, hosting the mobile conference service 128, that is has received a DTMF digit indicating the initiation of a conference call switch. The application server 122 identifies a potential candidate conference to switch to, and moves the call to the candidate conference call as indicated in step 152.

Identifying which conference call is the most suitable to switch the user to, may be performed following different alternative implementations. In the present case, the user terminal 130 may indicate for instance by sending DTMF digit '1 ' that the user wants to switch to a conference call having a geographical centre further on, on the path followed. Alternatively, when digit '3' is pressed on terminal 130 the corresponding DTMF provided in step 150 to conference bridge 124 indicates that the user desires to participate in a conference call which has its geographical centre behind the geographical centre of a current conference call wherein the user is participating. Upon receiving the selected digit, application server 122 may request required information from the geographical location server in order to establish the geographical centres of all conference calls, including the conference call wherein the user is participating. Alternatively, the application server may determine the geographical centre of the conference call wherein the user is presently participating and starts searching a conference call for which the geographical centre is closest tot the geographical centre of the present conference call, but in the selected direction. Eventually, before switching conference calls, the user will be provided a message requesting to confirm the switching of calls, this message may include charge information for switching conference calls.

As an alternative to the above, the user may indicate his desire to switch conference calls by sending SMS message to the application server, e.g. via the server and associated with the destination.

In figure 9, the signalling scheme is illustrated for terminal 130 participating in a conference call where the application server 122, hosting the mobile conference service proposes a conference call switch to the user as a result of the geographical location of the user departing too much from the geographical centre of the conference call.

In step 155, the application server 122 requests to the geographical location server the present geographical location of user terminal 130. In step 157, after performing an analysis on the present geographical location of the user and the geographical centre of the conference call wherein the user is participating. The application server requests the conference bridge to propose a switch of conference calls to the user 130. At the same time in step 158 the application server requests the conference bridge to send an in-band announcement to the user terminal 130, which in-band announcement is sent in step 160. At the end of the announcement in step 162, the user may provide in step 165 DTMF digits representing his confirmation of switching to a further conference call. These digits are provided by the conference bridge 124 to the application server 122 in step 167. In step 168, the application server orders the conference bridge to switch the user terminal to the further conference call.

In addition, to the above, an optionally, the user may request the application server to provide all possible options of conference calls to switch to. The user may do so by providing a DTMF digits to the conference bridge. The conference bridge provides these DTMF digits to the application server. A further possible alternative is the user to provide an indication to the application server, e.g. by means of DTMF digits, to receive no further switch proposals in the future.

The embodiments described hereinabove, are intended to be purely illustrative for the invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. The scope of the invention is only limited by the appended claims.

The invention has mainly been described in terms of a user participating in a conference call with others users that are travel to a same destination. Switching conference calls by the user is allowed in order to enable the user to switch to another conference call which is ongoing for the same destination. Note, however, that it is also possible that the user specifically indicates his desire to switch to a conference call taking place amongst users travelling to a different destination. The user may, for example, foresee that his destination will be changing as a result of a schedule change of motor way. Another option is the application server establishing, on the basis of geographical location information, that the user is in fact no longer travelling to the destination of the users of the conference call wherein he is participating. In that case a change of conference calls may be proposed by the applications server, following for example a signalling scheme which is similar to the signalling scheme illustrated in figure 9. As an alternative to the implementation in an IMS network, an implementation in circuit switched networks is also possible. The service is then located in a Service Control Point (SCP) and it has similar access to location servers and conference bridges as shown in figure 5 to 9. Access to the service is accomplished via a Service Switching point (SSP) using network specific protocols towards the SSP and an Intelligent Network (IN) protocol between the SSP and SCP.