A method and apparatus are disclosed of transmitting live event notification information to a user device. One example method may include retrieving event user preference information from an event user database based on prestored user preferences. The method may also include transmitting an initial event notification message to an end user communication device based on the event user preference information to notify the end user of an upcoming event and receiving a response message from the end user communication device indicating a current availability of the end user. The user device may receive notification information via more than one communication channel and respond in a number of different ways.

Disclosed embodiments provide improved communication between a caller and multiple parties. A caller performs a call spray operation on a group of contacts using an electronic communication device such as a mobile telephone. The call spray operation attempts to contact an electronic device associated with each contact in the group of contacts. If one of the contacts answers and is deemed to be a live user, then the remaining contacts that did not answer each receive a message on their associated electronic device indicating which of the contacts answered the caller with a live user. In this way, a group of people can be conveniently contacted and kept up to date with the status of the communication with the caller.

An initial data center is selected to host an online conference. This data center can be selected based on the geographical locations of the participants. Typically, the data center closest to the centroid of the participants is selected. During (or before) the conference call, an effective centroid is calculated based on effective distances. Effective distances are based on a combination of the physical distance between a participant and a data center, and an effective distance factor (or weighting) that is based on one or more of the participant's device/driver type, the participant's network type, the participant's connection type, and a participant weighting factor.

In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining geographic information from a first party when the first party attempts to join a collaborative session, and identifying a first geographic region, using the geographic information, within which the first party is located. A first multipoint control unit (MCU) located within the first geographic region is identified for use in a dial out to establish a first audio connection for use by at least the first party during the collaborative session. The method also includes establishing a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection configured to shunt video between the first party and a cloud during the collaborative session, and causing the first MCU to dial out to establish the first audio connection to the cloud. The first audio connection is configured to shunt audio between the first party and the cloud while the VoIP connection shunts the video between the first party and the cloud.

Meeting and conferencing systems and methods are implemented in a variety of manners. Consistent with one example embodiment, an audio conference system includes communications circuitry and a caller interface, each associated with setting up or managing the audio conference. Menu options may be provided to validate or authenticate incoming telephony calls. In response to a selection of the menu options, an incoming telephony call may be prompted to select a callback number, and then the system monitors for a trigger event. A participant is contacted in response to detecting the trigger event, and the contacted participant is then placed into the audio conference.

In order to facilitate group communication using characteristics of a pre-arranged group but not involving all members of the pre-arranged group, a parameter indicating that the group communication is not intended to all members of the pre-arranged group is added by an inviting group member sending a request to a group server, and the group server, in response to the parameter, is configured to not to invite all members to the group communication.

Methods and apparatus for accurately determining whether a mobile electronic device associated with a user is at a meeting location comprise: initiating a scan for a first beacon signal emanating from a first beacon located at the meeting location; detecting the first beacon signal; confirming that the mobile electronic device is within a predetermined proximity of the first beacon based on the first beacon signal; and responsive to confirming that the mobile electronic device is within a predetermined proximity of the first beacon activating a trigger system enabling further resolution of the proximity of the mobile electronic device to the meeting location, wherein the trigger system is located at an entry to the meeting location, and activating a confirmation system to confirm that the mobile electronic device is at the meeting location.

Methods for operating a meeting coordinator to initiate a teleconference meeting using an automated teleconferencing system, having corresponding meeting coordinators and computer-readable media, comprise: generating a roster of meeting participants comprising meeting invitees; accessing calendaring information concerning the teleconference meeting, the calendaring information including a time of the meeting; a meeting location; identities of the meeting invitees; and contact information for the meeting invitees; and transmitting at least some of the calendaring information to the teleconferencing system to enable the system to connect remotely-located meeting invitees.

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for linking a plurality of conferences that are occurring on separate conference bridges. In one embodiment, the network is configured to determine when two or more related conferences are occurring on separate conference bridges. Related conferences may be any two conferences that share the same attribute. For example, two conferences may be initiated on separate conference bridges under the same account number for a user of the system. When the related conferences are detected, the network links the two conferences through the network such that participants in both conferences may now interact as if in a single collaboration conference. The linking allows the network to combine related conferences without the need to disconnect anyone conference from a conference bridge.

Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein enable automated and customized insertion of advertisements in real-time and in response to a request for a content file. Purveyors of content, such as audio and video, often use advertisements to ensure profitability. Embodiments enable users to customize the location(s) for advertisement insertion, and further embodiments allow for real-time insertion of ads, the ads can further be customized to the ad recipient. Real-time, automated delivery improves current technology in several ways by, for example, eliminating the need to manually inserting or choosing advertisements, customizing advertisement delivery to the content recipient, improving the speed of delivery of ad-supported content, giving users the ability to customize the location of advertisement insertion, thereby improving the final ad-supported product by inserting ads in logical, non-pre-planned locations of content files.