The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 25, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 08, 1998
Joseph E. Vance, West St. Paul, MN (US);
Ruth A. Cameron, Golden, CO (US);
Qwest Communications International, Inc., Denver, CO (US);
Abstract
The scheduling system ( ) includes a bridge administrator ( ) that is interfaced with a plurality of nodes ( and ) via a public network such as the Internet ( ). In the illustrated embodiment, each of the nodes ( and ) includes both a phone ( A, A and A) and a computer ( B, B and B). The bridge administrator ( ) includes a scheduler ( ), a controller ( ), a user database ( ), a scheduling database ( ) and a number of bridges ( and ). A user can access the scheduler ( ) via the Internet in order to schedule a conference call using one of the bridges ( and ). The scheduler ( ) authenticates the user based on the user database ( ) and determines bridge availability based on the scheduling database ( ). Scheduling information is then reported to the user and other conference call participants. At the scheduled conference call time, each of the conference call participants can access the selected bridge(s) ( and/or ) in order to be patched into the-conference call. The invention thereby automates bridge scheduling so as to allow for better bridge utilization without requiring manual administration.