Barge and Privacy

Using the Barge feature, users can add themselves to an existing call on a shared line. Two types of Barge are available in Cisco CallManager Release 4.0:

• Barge using built-in conference; Barge softkey Barge uses the built-in conference capability of the target IP phone. Barge also uses the Standard User or Standard Feature softkey template (both contain the Barge softkey). When a Barge is being set up, no media interruption occurs and the only display change to the original call is a spinning circle that is displayed at the right side of the prompt status message window at the target device.
• Barge using shared conference; cBarge softkey Conference Barge (cBarge) uses a shared conference bridge. No standard softkey template includes the cBarge softkey. To allow users to access the cBarge softkey, the administrator must add it to a nonstandard softkey template and then assign the softkey template to a device.

When you press the cBarge softkey, a Barge call is set up by means of the shared conference bridge, if it is available. The original call is split and then joined at the conference bridge, which causes a brief media interruption. The call information for all parties changes to Barge. The barged call becomes a conference call with the Barge target device as the conference controller. The conference controller can add more parties to the conference or can drop any party. When only two parties are left in the conference, they experience a brief interruption and then are reconnected as a point-to-point call, which releases the shared conference resources.

When the initiator uses Barge to join the call, it becomes a three-way call. If the initiator hangs up, the original call remains active. If the target hangs up, the caller who used Barge and the other party connect in a point-to-point call. If the other party hangs up, the original call and the barged call are released.

The Privacy feature was introduced in Cisco CallManager Release 4.0. With Privacy, administrators can enable or disable the ability of users with telephones that share the same line (DN) to view call status and to barge the call. Administrators enable or disable Privacy for each telephone.

The Barge and Privacy features have some restrictions, including the following:

• Built-in Barge supports a three-way Barge maximum, G.711 voice, and the Cisco IP Phone 7940, 7960, and 7970 models.
• Barge and Privacy require Cisco CallManager Release 4.0.

Barge requires a shared line appearance. Cisco CallManager considers a DN on more than one device in the same partition to be a shared line appearance. One example of a shared line appearance is when a DN appears on line 1 of a manager telephone and also on line 2 of an assistant telephone. Another example of a shared line is a single incoming 800 number that is set up to appear as line 2 on every help desk telephone in an office.

These guidelines are helpful when using shared line appearances with Cisco CallManager:

• You can create a shared line appearance by assigning the same DN and partition to different lines on different devices.
• If other devices share a line, the words "Shared Line" are displayed in red next to the DN in the Directory Number Configuration window in Cisco CallManager Administration.
• If you change the calling search space, call waiting, or call forward and pickup settings on any device that uses the shared line, the changes are applied to all of the devices that use that shared line.
• To stop sharing a line appearance on a device, you can change the DN or partition number for the line and update the device. (Deletion removes the DN on the current device only. The deletion does not affect the other devices.)
• Do not use shared line appearances on any Cisco IP Phone that will be used with the Attendant Console.
• Do not use shared line appearances on any Cisco IP Phone 7960 that requires the Auto Answer capability.

Configuring Barge

To configure Barge with a built-in conference bridge, follow these steps:

Step 1.	Assign the Standard User or Standard Feature softkey template (both contain the Barge softkey) to each device that accesses Barge by using the built-in conference bridge.
Step 2.	To enable Barge clusterwide for all users, choose Service > Service Parameters for the Cisco CallManager service and set the Built-In Bridge Enable clusterwide service parameter to On. Alternatively, configure Barge for each telephone by setting the Built-In Bridge field in the Phone Configuration window on the device itself.
Step 3.	Set the Party Entrance Tone to True if you desire tones when a Barge occurs.

Note

To configure Barge using a shared conference resource (rather than the built-in IP phone conference resources), just add the Conference Barge (cBarge) softkey to the Remote In Use call state of the device's softkey template.

 

Configuring Privacy

Recall that when Privacy is enabled, users on a shared line can enable or disable the ability of other users on the shared line to view call status and to barge the call.

To configure Privacy, follow these steps:

Step 1.

Set the optional Privacy Setting clusterwide service parameter for Cisco CallManager to True.
 

Note

Do not set this parameter if only a few users need access to Privacy (see Step 3).

Step 2.	For each phone button template for which you want to enable Privacy, add Privacy to one of the feature buttons, as shown in Figure 16-16.   Figure 16-16. Call Privacy Phone Button Template Configuration
Step 3.	For each telephone user who wants to enable Privacy, choose On in the Privacy drop-down menu in the Phone Configuration window. If you have configured Privacy clusterwide, you can leave the Privacy setting at Default or set it to Off to selectively disable privacy.
Step 4.	For each telephone user who wants to enable Privacy, choose the phone button template that contains the Privacy feature button that you created in Step 2.

Figure 16-17 shows the phone display when the Privacy feature is assigned to a feature button. When Privacy is enabled, the Privacy button changes displaya black circle appears inside the Privacy field. Now, when the other user on the shared line goes off hook on the shared line, the Barge softkey does not appear.

Figure 16-17. Call Privacy Phone Display

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