Abstract: A system and method for identifying the next speaker from multiple meeting participants requesting to speak in a virtual meeting and persistently displaying a visual interruption symbol for the next speaker is disclosed. The system is configured to maintain a display of the visual interruption symbol along with a visual representation of the next speaker at a position of each meeting interface associated with meeting participants while changing displays of other visual representations of other participants at other positions of each meeting interface. The system is also configured to suppress displays of other visual interruption symbols from other participants of the virtual meeting.

Abstract: A system provides dynamically controlled participation allocations for communication sessions. A system can create a queue for participants of a communication session, such as an online meeting. The queue can be generated for a communication session having an intended format that allows participants to individually speak in succession, such as a Question and Answer (Q&A) session. The system manages a user interface (UI) of the communication session displaying a timer that changes dynamically for each participant indicating a total time for his or her questions or comments based on an amount of time left for the meeting to end. The system displays, augments, and associates a timer for each participant indicating a total time for his or her questions or comments, which is based on an amount of time left for the meeting to end, number of users providing a “hand raise” input, and history of participation for each participant.

Abstract: A method and system for securing an anonymous discovery service may include receiving a request from a client device, the request being directed to an anonymous Autodiscover service, identifying a source from which the request originated from within the client device, and responsive to the source being of a first type of sources, transmitting a first response to the client and responsive to the source being of a second type of sources transmitting a second response to the client. The first response does not return a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to a service endpoint, the second response returns a URL to a service endpoint. Furthermore, the anonymous discovery service may be a discovery service that requires no authentication.

Abstract: A system and method for identifying the next speaker from multiple meeting participants requesting to speak in a virtual meeting and persistently displaying a visual interruption symbol for the next speaker is disclosed. The system is configured to maintain a display of the visual interruption symbol along with a visual representation of the next speaker at a position of each meeting interface associated with meeting participants while changing displays of other visual representations of other participants at other positions of each meeting interface. The system is also configured to suppress displays of other visual interruption symbols from other participants of the virtual meeting.

Abstract: Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, and machine-readable mediums that assign a same identifier to a plurality of a user's communication devices. A communication server alerts only one device of the plurality of communication devices at a time in response to a communication establishment request from a calling communication device directed to the identifier. If the user fails to answer the alert, another device is chosen and alerted according to a particular sequence of devices until the user either answers or until all devices (or a determined subset of devices) have been tried. In sonic examples, the communication devices are reachable by the communication service via an alternative address known to the communication server, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Abstract: Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, and machine-readable mediums that assign a same identifier to a plurality of a user's communication devices. A communication server alerts only one device of the plurality of communication devices at a time in response to a communication establishment request from a calling communication device directed to the identifier. If the user fails to answer the alert, another device is chosen and alerted according to a particular sequence of devices until the user either answers or until all devices (or a determined subset of devices) have been tried. In some examples, the communication devices are reachable by the communication service via an alternative address known to the communication server, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Abstract: The customization of a communication pipelines having multiple stages. For each stage, a set of agent(s) is/are identified as available for adding to that stage. Furthermore, any stages that already have an agent assigned are identified. In response to receiving a user selection of an agent to be assigned to a particular stage, that does not already have an agent assigned, the selected agent is assigned to the stage. An enforcement agent enforces that there be only one agent assigned at most to each stage. Assignments of agents are made per stage. This allows the functionality of the agent to be simplified more towards augmenting the functionality of the stage. Accordingly, the logic of the agent is simplified, thereby making it more likely that there will be a healthy quality of agents available to select from for each stage.

Abstract: Signaling from a mobile device is transparently tunneled through a cellular voice network to a Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) core network so that multi-party calls, including conference calls and call waiting, can be managed entirely within the VoIP core network. The tunneled signals enable call control to be implemented in the VoIP core network and also establish a way to communicate requests, instructions, and call state. The signaling is transparent to the cellular network because that network does not receive and interpret the signaling. Instead, the cellular network's existing and unmodified control plane is repurposed by the mobile device by placing new, brief outgoing calls through the cellular network to the VoIP core network where the called party number (i.e., the caller-ID) encodes specific information. The VoIP core network immediately releases the new cellular call once the caller-ID is received and the encoded information is interpreted.

Abstract: The customization of a communication pipelines having multiple stages. For each stage, a set of agent(s) is/are identified as available for adding to that stage. Furthermore, any stages that already have an agent assigned are identified. In response to receiving a user selection of an agent to be assigned to a particular stage, that does not already have an agent assigned, the selected agent is assigned to the stage. An enforcement agent enforces that there be only one agent assigned at most to each stage. Assignments of agents are made per stage. This allows the functionality of the agent to be simplified more towards augmenting the functionality of the stage. Accordingly, the logic of the agent is simplified, thereby making it more likely that there will be a healthy quality of agents available to select from for each stage.

Abstract: A mobile device utilizes a two-stage dialing solution when roaming on a visited mobile operator (MO) network to implement centralized routing so that a home network portion of a hybrid network is inserted into the path of outbound calls. A remote centralized routing (CR) service interoperates with a CR client on the mobile device. When a call is initiated to a remote party, the CR client calls into an arbitrary roaming routing number that is terminated in the home network. Once the call is connected between the mobile device and home network, the CR client sends a dialing string that includes a destination number of the remote party. The CR service calls the destination number and then bridges the calls to the mobile device and remote party to establish an end-to-end call path between the local and far ends of the call that traverses the home network.

Abstract: Voice call continuity is provided for calls that are carried over a hybrid network infrastructure in which access connections are distributed over loosely coupled network portions including a backend network such as a core VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service network, one or more cellular mobile networks, and a public switched telephone network (“PSTN”). The calls are routed through the core VoIP network regardless of their points of origination or termination in other network portions so that signaling and call context are anchored in the core VoIP network. The conditions under which user equipment operate are continuously monitored so that when a connection is determined to have been unacceptably degraded or is likely to be interrupted, and/or a more optimal connection is available, a handover of the call to another connection is initiated so that call continuity is maintained using the lowest cost connection that provides acceptable call quality.

Abstract: A mobile device utilizes a two-stage dialing solution when roaming on a visited mobile operator (MO) network to implement centralized routing so that a home network portion of a hybrid network is inserted into the path of outbound calls. A remote centralized routing (CR) service interoperates with a CR client on the mobile device. When a call is initiated to a remote party, the CR client calls into an arbitrary roaming routing number that is terminated in the home network. Once the call is connected between the mobile device and home network, the CR client sends a dialing string that includes a destination number of the remote party. The CR service calls the destination number and then bridges the calls to the mobile device and remote party to establish an end-to-end call path between the local and far ends of the call that traverses the home network.

Abstract: A visual voicemail (VVM) service uses the MMS (Multimedia Message System) system as a transport mechanism to deliver a voicemail payload to a client VVM application on a mobile device such as a cellular phone or smartphone. The payload is identified as a voicemail using a specific identifier included in a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) Push message that provides a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that the VVM client application follows to download the voicemail as an attachment to an MMS message from the VVM service. Regular MMS messages that are not associated with the specific identifier are handled by a conventional messaging application on the mobile device while VVM messages are handled by the client VVM application for presentation in visual form on a user interface supported by the mobile device.

Abstract: Signaling from a mobile device is transparently tunneled through a cellular voice network to a Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) core network so that multi-party calls, including conference calls and call waiting, can be managed entirely within the VoIP core network. The tunneled signals enable call control to be implemented in the VoIP core network and also establish a way to communicate requests, instructions, and call state. The signaling is transparent to the cellular network because that network does not receive and interpret the signaling. Instead, the cellular network's existing and unmodified control plane is repurposed by the mobile device by placing new, brief outgoing calls through the cellular network to the VoIP core network where the called party number (i.e., the caller-ID) encodes specific information. The VoIP core network immediately releases the new cellular call once the caller-ID is received and the encoded information is interpreted.

Abstract: Various technologies for managing mobile device communications can be offered to implement a virtual personal operator. Incoming calls and texts can be managed intelligently based on a rich network-stored context, allowing the network to make decisions and interact with callers. Because context is stored by the network, the virtual personal operator can function without contacting the called mobile phone, and can even provide helpful information to callers if the mobile phone is offline. Rich do-not-disturb functionality can be provided, and privileged callers can be given additional information or functionality based on their privileged status. Numerous other features that assist with communications management can be supported.

Abstract: Voice call continuity is provided for calls that are carried over a hybrid network infrastructure in which access connections are distributed over loosely coupled network portions including a backend network such as a core VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service network, one or more cellular mobile networks, and a public switched telephone network (“PSTN”). The calls are routed through the core VoIP network regardless of their points of origination or termination in other network portions so that signaling and call context are anchored in the core VoIP network. The conditions under which user equipment operate are continuously monitored so that when a connection is determined to have been unacceptably degraded or is likely to be interrupted, and/or a more optimal connection is available, a handover of the call to another connection is initiated so that call continuity is maintained using the lowest cost connection that provides acceptable call quality.

Abstract: A method for transferring a telephone call from a client computer to a second electronic device includes establishing a connection for a telephone call between the client computer and a first electronic device, and sending a request to a server computer to transfer the telephone call from the client computer to the second electronic device, the client computer and the second electronic device having the same user, the request initiating a consultation call to the second electronic device. The method also includes receiving a response from the server computer that the second electronic device has accepted the telephone call, and replacing the client computer with the second electronic device as a party in the telephone call with the first electronic device, the continuity of the telephone call being maintained at the first electronic device during the time that the client computer is replaced with the second electronic device.

Abstract: A method for transferring a telephone call from a client computer to a second electronic device includes establishing a connection for a telephone call between the client computer and a first electronic device, and sending a request to a server computer to transfer the telephone call from the client computer to the second electronic device, the client computer and the second electronic device having the same user, the request initiating a consultation call to the second electronic device. The method also includes receiving a response from the server computer that the second electronic device has accepted the telephone call, and replacing the client computer with the second electronic device as a party in the telephone call with the first electronic device, the continuity of the telephone call being maintained at the first electronic device during the time that the client computer is replaced with the second electronic device.

Abstract: Directory services schema for telephone call management. The schema facilitates the development of call routing rules as one or more instances of one or more classes. Once created, the rules can be propagated to all other director services servers, and any subsequent updates and system changes are readily propagated to maintain optimum call system management. The rules can be stored in a routing table allowing administrators to define phone routes for various scenarios. System hardware/software changes can be managed using distinguished names and automatically propagated (or replicated) to the other directory services servers on an enterprise network. The architecture includes a schema component for generating a directory services schema, and a call routing component that routes telephone calls according to call routing rules defined by the directory services schema. The rules can be processed in combination with policies of usage attributes and phone number patterns/ranges to manage call routing.

Abstract: Directory services schema for telephone call management. The schema facilitates the development of call routing rules as one or more instances of one or more classes. Once created, the rules can be propagated to all other director services servers, and any subsequent updates and system changes are readily propagated to maintain optimum call system management. The rules can be stored in a routing table allowing administrators to define phone routes for various scenarios. System hardware/software changes can be managed using distinguished names and automatically propagated (or replicated) to the other directory services servers on an enterprise network. The architecture includes a schema component for generating a directory services schema, and a call routing component that routes telephone calls according to call routing rules defined by the directory services schema. The rules can be processed in combination with policies of usage attributes and phone number patterns/ranges to manage call routing.