Patents by Inventor J. Douglas Martin

J. Douglas Martin has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10425239
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are presented. An exemplary embodiment of a method includes a conferencing system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants via a communication network; providing a conference user interface to the plurality of participants; in response to a first participant speaking during the audio conference, a second participant indicating via the conference user interface that the first participant has low-quality audio; the conferencing system polling one or more additional participants to specify via the conference user interface audio quality feedback associated with the first participant; determining from the feedback the first participant has low-quality audio; attempting to correct the audio connection with the first participant, if unable to correct the audio connection, notifying the first participant of the low-quality audio with suggested actions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services, Ltd.
    Inventors: Monica Chitre, J Douglas Martin, Rishi Kaneria, Patrick Harper, Teresa Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20190068389
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for providing crowd-sourced audio quality feedback in a conferencing system. An exemplary embodiment of a method comprises: a conferencing system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants via a communication network; providing a conference user interface to the plurality of participants; in response to a first participant speaking during the audio conference, a second participant indicating via the conference user interface that the first participant has low quality audio; and the conferencing system polling one or more additional participants to specify via the conference user interface audio quality feedback associated with the first participant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Inventors: Monica Chitre, J Douglas Martin, Rishi Kaneria, Patrick Harper, Teresa Hoffman
  • Patent number: 9560206
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for providing real-time resources to participants in an audio conference session. One embodiment is a method for providing real-time resources to participants in an audio conference session via a communication network. One such method comprises: a conferencing system establishing an audio conference session between a plurality of computing devices via a communication network, each computing device generating a corresponding audio stream comprising a speech signal; and in real-time during the audio conference session, a server: receiving and processing the audio streams to determine the speech signals; extracting words from the speech signals; analyzing the extracted words to determine a relevant keyword being discussed in the audio conference session; identifying a resource related to the relevant keyword; and providing the resource to one or more of the computing devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services, Ltd.
    Inventors: Boland T. Jones, David Michael Guthrie, Laurence Schaefer, J Douglas Martin
  • Patent number: 9106794
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for recording and playing back an online conference. One such method comprises: a conferencing system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants accessing the conferencing system via a communication network; the conferencing system presenting the audio conference and a conference interface displaying a participant object identifying each of the participants in the audio conference; synchronously recording the audio conference with content presented in the conference interface; storing the synchronized audio conference and content; and playing back the synchronized audio conference and content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: AMERICAN TELECONFERENCING SERVICES, LTD
    Inventors: Boland T. Jones, David Michael Guthrie, Nicole C. Santoro, Vladmir Mijatovic, Randolph J. Leigh, Robert J. Frohwein, Laurence Schaefer, J Douglas Martin
  • Patent number: 8699384
    Abstract: A VoIP-based conferencing system readily handles different protocols, load balance media resources and deals with fail-over situations. The VOIP conferencing system has a gateway coupled to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). A Voice Server Director (VSD) is coupled to the gateway and performs the control function of the conferencing system. The VSD has a back-to-back user agent. The VSD controls a media server, which mixes the audio (signals), and the media server receives the data portion of a conference call from the gateway. The media server is coupled to a bridge that controls an on-going conference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services, Ltd.
    Inventors: J. Douglas Martin, Randolph J. Leigh, Andrew Dionysius Ghinaudo, Robert G. Fries
  • Patent number: 8121278
    Abstract: A method implemented by a teleconferencing system includes assigning a teleconferencing bridge to a teleconference responsive to at least a current workload of the teleconferencing bridge, and forwarding a first plurality of communication sessions corresponding to the teleconference to the teleconferencing bridge, wherein the teleconferencing bridge is configured to connect each of the first plurality of communication sessions to each other communication session among the first plurality of communication sessions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: American Teleconferencing Services, Ltd.
    Inventors: Randolph J. Leigh, Thomas Ray Miller, J. Douglas Martin
  • Publication number: 20110268418
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for recording and playing back an online conference. One such method comprises: a conferencing system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants accessing the conferencing system via a communication network; the conferencing system presenting the audio conference and a conference interface displaying a participant object identifying each of the participants in the audio conference; synchronously recording the audio conference with content presented in the conference interface; storing the synchronized audio conference and content; and playing back the synchronized audio conference and content.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: AMERICAN TELECONFERNCING SERVICES LTD.
    Inventors: Boland T. Jones, David Michael Guthrie, Robert J. Frohwein, Nicole C. Santoro, Vladimir Mijatovic, Randolph J. Leigh, Laurence Schaefer, J. Douglas Martin
  • Publication number: 20110270609
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for providing real-time resources to participants in an audio conference session. One embodiment is a method for providing real-time resources to participants in an audio conference session via a communication network. One such method comprises: a conferencing system establishing an audio conference session between a plurality of computing devices via a communication network, each computing device generating a corresponding audio stream comprising a speech signal; and in real-time during the audio conference session, a server: receiving and processing the audio streams to determine the speech signals; extracting words from the speech signals; analyzing the extracted words to determine a relevant keyword being discussed in the audio conference session; identifying a resource related to the relevant keyword; and providing the resource to one or more of the computing devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: American Teleconferncing Services Ltd.
    Inventors: Boland T. Jones, David Michael Guthrie, Laurence Schaefer, J. Douglas Martin
  • Publication number: 20110271209
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for providing a conference user interface. One embodiment is a method for providing a conference. One such method comprises: a conferencing system establishing an audio conference between a plurality of participants via a communication network; the conferencing system presenting a conference interface to the participants via a graphical user interface and a corresponding client device in communication with the conferencing system via the communication network; and the conference interface displaying a unique participant object identifying each of the plurality of participants in the audio conference according to a graphical representation specified by the corresponding participant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: AMERICAN TELECONFERNCING SERVICES LTD.
    Inventors: Boland T. Jones, David Michael Guthrie, Nicole C. Santoro, Vladimir Mijatovic, Peter Stewart, Randolph J. Leigh, Erik Petrik, Scott A. Schemmel, Laurence Schaefer, J. Douglas Martin
  • Publication number: 20110271207
    Abstract: Various embodiments of systems, methods, and computer programs are disclosed for providing an online conference. One method comprises: a conferencing system obtaining location information from a plurality of participants; the conferencing system associating the unique location information with a corresponding participant identifier; the conferencing system establishing an audio conference with the plurality of participants; the conferencing system presenting a conference interface to the plurality of participants; and the conference interface selectively displaying a map view of the audio conference which identifies a location of each of the plurality of participants.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: AMERICAN TELECONFERENCING SERVICES LTD.
    Inventors: Boland T. Jones, David Michael Guthrie, Peter Stewart, Laurence Schaefer, J Douglas Martin
  • Publication number: 20090034706
    Abstract: A method implemented by a teleconferencing system includes assigning a teleconferencing bridge to a teleconference responsive to at least a current workload of the teleconferencing bridge, and forwarding a first plurality of communication sessions corresponding to the teleconference to the teleconferencing bridge, wherein the teleconferencing bridge is configured to connect each of the first plurality of communication sessions to each other communication session among the first plurality of communication sessions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2007
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Inventors: Randolph J. Leigh, Thomas Ray Miller, J. Douglas Martin
  • Publication number: 20070217589
    Abstract: A VoIP-based conferencing system readily handles different protocols, load balance media resources and deals with fail-over situations. The VOIP conferencing system has a gateway coupled to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). A Voice Server Director (VSD) is coupled to the gateway and performs the control function of the conferencing system. The VSD has a back-to-back user agent. The VSD controls a media server, which mixes the audio (signals), and the media server receives the data portion of a conference call from the gateway. The media server is coupled to a bridge that controls an on-going conference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2006
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Inventors: J. Douglas Martin, Randolph J. Leigh, Andrew Dionysius Ghinaudo, Robert G. Fries