TELEPHONE CONFERENCING SYSTEMS

摘要

A telephone conferencing system includes a voice services equipment (VSE) (10) allowing a number of telephone calls to be connected together to form a conferencing function. The initiator of the telephone conference calls in on an incoming line (12) and is asked by the VSE (10) to give the telephone numbers of the desired other participants to the conference. These numbers are then stored in a store (20) and the system dials out to these telephone numbers on outgoing lines (14) with an invitation to join the conference on a reverse charge basis. Each participant can accept the reverse charge call by pressing a key such as "one" on the telephone keypad whereupon the participant is connected to the conference. After termination of the conference, the reverse charge billing information is sent to the charging authority.