Smartphone conferencing system and method of operating same

摘要

This invention relates to a smartphone conferencing system (1), a dial-out and permissions rating engine (DPRE) (17) for use in the system, and a method of handling a smartphone conference call between a smartphone user and a plurality of conference call participants (5). The system and method both incorporate a DPRE (17) which analyzes the conference call establishment requests and determines if a request is valid or if a request is invalid based on call dial-out history. The system and method will obviate many of the delays in establishing a smartphone conference call and will prevent fraud should the users lose their smartphone (3).

主权项

1. A smartphone conferencing system for handling a conference call between a smartphone and a plurality of conference call participants over a communications network, the smartphone conferencing system comprising:
a smartphone server for receiving a conference call establishment request from a smartphone containing contact details relating to a plurality of conference call participants and establishing a communication link through the communication network between the smartphone and each of the conference call participants; an audio server for splicing the audio feed from each of the smartphone and the conference call participants into a conference call feed and delivering that conference call feed to each of the smartphone and the conference call participants; a database server for storage of data relating to the smartphone users account and data relating to one or more of the smartphone, the call participants, a plurality of call tariffs, and the conference call feed thereon; and a dial-out and permissions rating engine (DPRE) in communication with both the database server and the smartphone server, the DPRE comprising:
means to receive the conference call establishment request forwarded from the smartphone server;means to analyse the conference call establishment request to detect valid conference call establishment requests and invalid conference call establishment requests including means to compare a conference call dial-out history of the smartphone user with the conference call establishment request; andmeans to instruct the smartphone server to accept and process or reject the conference call establishment request based on the analysis of the conference call establishment request.