At&t Bell Laboratories

Laddie E Suk

David F Winchell

Diane E Herr

Reinhard Metz

Paul Ronald Wiley

A dial-up audio/data conference arrangement is disclosed wherein the originator of the conference has certain speaker priorities and control capabilities e.g., adding and deleting conferees, etc. The originator, under the guidance of voice prompts, can transfer this control to another party on the conference.

Conference control transfer arrangement

A communication network including a conference arrangement is disclosed. When a conferee disconnects from a conference, a tone is coupled to the bridge to inform the remaining conferees. The identity of the disconnected conference station is then transmitted to the controller who can cause the connection to be reestablished automatically.

Method and apparatus for controlling a conference

A network services complex having an audio conference bridge, a data conference bridge, a tone receiver and a data store announcement system is disclosed. The complex is connected to a telephone network via a host toll switching center. Customers dialing over the network using a keyset can selectively establish audio-only, data-only and combined audio/data conferences. Announcements from the data store prompt the customer in the use of the arrangement and request the user to reenter information when the customer makes an error. Should the customer make too many errors, an operator is summoned.

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Readington, NJ, United States of America

Laddie E Suk