Conference presence based music-on-hold suppression system and method

Abstract

A private branch exchange (PBX) (or network hosted device) is described herein that is capable of obtaining information (e.g., in-a-conference presence state) that indicates a user is participating in a multi-party conference call which is being hosted by an external conference/collaboration bridge and is further capable of disabling a music-on-hold feature on an extension associated with a device belonging to the user such that if the user places the device on-hold then no sound (e.g., music, radio) will be injected into the multi-party conference call.

1 . A method for enabling a device to automatically disable a music-on-hold feature, said method comprising the steps of: 
 obtaining information indicating that a person is likely using a communication unit connected to the device to participate in a multi-party conference/collaboration session that is being hosted by an external conference/collaboration bridge; and    disabling the music-on-hold feature on a device's extension associated with the communication unit such that if the person places the communication unit on-hold then no sound will be injected into the multi-party conference/collaboration session.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of re-enabling the music-on-hold feature on the device's extension after determining that the person is no longer participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said obtaining step further includes a step of inferring at the device that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session by analyzing a phone number called by the person or a phone number used to call the person and then determining that the phone number is associated with the external conference/collaboration bridge.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said obtaining step further includes a step of receiving the information that indicates the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session from the external conference/collaboration bridge which analyzes a phone number of a called party or a calling party and then maps that phone number to the communication unit used by the person.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said obtaining step further includes a step of subscribing with a presence system to obtain an in-a-conference presence state that indicates the person is likely using the communication unit to participate in the multi-party conference/collaboration session.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presence system includes: 
 a presence server that interfaces with an conference/collaboration connector to obtain presence information which indicates a phone number of a party that called or was called by the external conference/collaboration bridge to participate in the multi-party conference/collaboration session; and    a rules engine that determines that the phone number of the party is associated with the communication unit used by the person and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presence system includes: 
 a presence server that interfaces with a telephony connector to obtain presence information indicating that the person used the communication unit to call or receive a call from a particular phone number; and    a rules engine that determines that the particular phone number is associated with the external conference/collaboration bridge and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presence system includes: 
 a presence server that interfaces with a calendar connector to obtain presence information which indicates the person is scheduled at a particular time to participate in the multi-party conference/collaboration session; and    a rules engine that determines this is the particular time in which the multi-party conference/collaboration session is scheduled to take place and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presence system includes: 
 a presence server that interfaces with an Instant Message connector to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has manually set the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presence system includes: 
 a presence server that interfaces with an personal computer connector to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has used a graphical user interface to call a particular phone number; and    a rules engine that determines the particular phone number is associated with the external conference/collaboration bridge and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presence system includes: 
 a presence server that interfaces with an email connector to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has received and/or sent an email indicating that they are scheduled at a particular time to participate in the multi-party conference/collaboration session; and    a rules engine that determines this is the particular time in which the multi-party conference/collaboration session is scheduled to take place and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said presence system includes: 
 a presence server that interfaces with a connector associated with a PC, PDA or mobile phone to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has used a graphical user interface, a keyboard, a keypad, a pointer or a mouse to manually set the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said device is a private branch exchange (PBX) or a network hosted device that offers the music-on-hold feature.  
     
     
         14 . A device, comprising: 
 a processor for obtaining information which indicates a user is participating in a multi-party conference/collaboration session that is being hosted by an external conference/collaboration bridge; and    said processor for disabling a music-on-hold feature on an extension associated with a communication unit used by the user such that if the user places the communication unit on-hold then no music or other sound will be injected into the multi-party conference/collaboration session.    
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein said processor subscribes with a presence system to obtain an in-a-conference presence state which indicates that the user is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session.  
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein said processor infers that the user is participating in the multi-party conference by analyzing a phone number called by the user or a phone number used to call the user and then determining that the phone number is associated with the external conference/collaboration bridge.  
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein said processor obtains the information which indicates the user is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session from the external conference/collaboration bridge which analyzed a phone number of a called party or a calling party and then mapped that phone number to a communication unit associated with the user.  
     
     
         18 . A presence system comprising: 
 a presence server for collecting presence information about a person;    a rules engine for aggregating the presence information and analyzing the aggregated presence information to determine if an in-a-conference presence state should be set which indicates that the person is likely using a communication unit connected to a device to participate in a multi-party conference/collaboration session which is being hosted by an external conference/collaboration bridge; and    said presence server for publishing the in-a-conference presence state to the device which then disables a music-on-hold feature on an extension attached to the communication unit associated with the user such that if the user places the communication unit on-hold then no music or other sound will be injected into the multi-party conference/collaboration session.    
     
     
         19 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein: 
 said presence server interfaces with an conference/collaboration connector to obtain presence information which indicates a phone number of a party that called or was called by the external conference/collaboration bridge to participate in the multi-party conference; and    said rules engine determines that the phone number of the party is associated with the communication unit used by the person and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         20 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein: 
 said presence server interfaces with a telephony connector to obtain presence information indicating that the person used the phone to call or receive a call from a particular phone number; and    said rules engine determines that the particular phone number is associated with the external conference/collaboration bridge and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         21 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein: 
 said presence server interfaces with a calendar connector to obtain presence information which indicates the person is scheduled at a particular time to participate in the multi-party conference/collaboration session; and    said rules engine determines that this is the particular time in which the multi-party conference/collaboration session is scheduled to take place and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         22 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein: 
 said presence server interfaces with an Instant Message connector to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has manually set the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         23 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein: 
 said presence server interfaces with an personal computer connector to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has used a graphical user interface to call a particular phone number; and    said rules engine determines that the particular phone number is associated with the external conference/collaboration bridge and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference/collaboration session and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         24 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein: 
 said presence server interfaces with an email connector to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has received and/or sent an email indicating that they are scheduled at a particular time to participate in the multi-party conference; and    said rules engine determines that this is the particular time in which the multi-party conference is scheduled to take place and then infers that the person is participating in the multi-party conference and sets the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         25 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein: 
 said presence server interfaces with a connector associated with a PC, PDA or mobile phone to obtain presence information which indicates that the person has used a graphical user interface, a keyboard, a keypad, a pointer or a mouse to manually set the in-a-conference presence state.    
     
     
         26 . The presence system of  claim 18 , wherein said device is a private branch exchange (PBX) or a network hosted device that offers the music-on-hold feature.