Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 9
Claim 1
Independent Claim
96 words
A telephone conferencing system comprising: means (22) for connecting a number of incoming telephone calls together to provide a conferencing function, connection of a telephone call to the conference being allowed only upon receipt of an acceptable identification function; means (26) for recording the telephone calls making up the conference in such a way that a participant to the conference can be subsequently associated with the corresponding identification function; and means (22) for blocking an attempted call to the conference, based on the identification function of a particular caller, following review of the recorded telephone calls.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
22 words
A system according to claim 1, wherein the identification function is provided automatically by calling line identity when the call is initiated.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
25 words
A system according to claim 1, wherein the identification function is input by a caller in the form of a caller identification number and/or PIN.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
20 words
A system according to claim 3, wherein the identification function is input by DTMF tones or by speaker independent recognition.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
46 words
A system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the recording means (26) is operable to record the conference together with periodic identification of the caller speaking at any time such that, upon review of the recorded conference, a caller may be identified.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
42 words
A system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the recording means (44) is operable to record each telephone call separately with the corresponding identification function so that each caller may be identified upon review of the recorded conference.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
30 words
A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the call connecting means (22) and the call recording means (26) comprise part of a voice services equipment (10).
Claim 8
Independent Claim
42 words
A system according to any one of the preceding claims, including a database (14) holding a list of unacceptable identification functions, the call blocking means (22) being responsive to the database (14) to block any call from a caller on the list.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
20 words
A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system can handle a plurality of simultaneous conferences.