Abstract:
A telephone apparatus capable of playing a specific ring back tone and a method for controlling a telephone apparatus to play a specific ring back tone are disclosed. The method includes: setting a user setting to assign the telephone apparatus to adopt a specific ring back tone; and deciding to allow or to not allow the telephone apparatus to play the specific ring back tone according to the user setting when the telephone apparatus attempts to establish a connection with another telephone apparatus.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus and a related method, and more specifically, to a telephone apparatus capable of playing a specific ring back tone, and the present invention relates to a related method.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     In the modern information society with highly developed communication systems, people popularly utilize convenient, portable, and handy mobile phones in their daily communications. People can exchange information, share experiences, and communicate with each other by convenient mobile phones whenever and wherever. Because mobile phones are increasingly popular, telecommunication service providers and mobile phone manufacturers develop easier and simpler operations for the control of mobile phones. Additionally, the providers and manufacturers provide users with more user-friendly communication services.  
         [0005]     A common telecommunication service is taken for example. The telecommunication service is that a telecommunication service provider provides several ring back tones from which the users can select. Therefore, when a user A activates the above-mentioned service, the person making a phone call to the user A can hear the ring back tone selected by the user A, not a typical ring back tone. The aforementioned selected ring back tone can be various, such as a pop song, a voice message, or even any kind of sounds.  
         [0006]     The operation theory of the above-mentioned service is uncomplicated. Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a public switched telephone network (PSTN)  10  according to a related art. The PSTN  10  comprises: switches  12 ,  14 , and a base station  16 . The switch  14  is a telephone switch, and the switch  12  is a switch provided by the telecommunication service provider. When some person utilizes a telephone  22  to dial a telephone number of a user A&#39;s mobile phone  24 , the telephone  22  must establish a connection with the mobile phone  24  via the switches  14  and  12 . When the connection between the telephone  22  and the mobile phone  24  is being established and before the users A and C begin to talk to each other, the switch  12  provided by the telecommunication service provider will transmit the ring back tone selected by the user A to the telephone  22 . In this way, the telephone  22  will play the ring back tone selected by the user A. If another user B does not utilize the above-mentioned service, when some person utilizes the telephone  22  to dial a telephone number of the user B&#39;s mobile phone  26 , the caller will hear a default ring back tone (i.e., a typical ring back tone).  
         [0007]     The above-mentioned service can choose different ring back tones according to a user&#39;s preference, and hence the personal style of the user can be sufficiently expressed; however, a person who initiates a phone call to the user may not enjoy the ring back tone that has been selected by the user (i.e., the phone&#39;s owner).  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The claimed invention is therefore to provide a telephone apparatus capable of playing a specific ring back tone and a related method, and the specific ring back tone is decided by a person who initiates the phone call.  
         [0009]     According to the claimed invention, a method for controlling a telephone apparatus to play a specific ring back tone is disclosed. The method comprises: setting a user setting to assign the telephone apparatus to adopt a specific ring back tone; and deciding to allow or not to allow the telephone apparatus to play the specific ring back tone according to the user setting when the telephone apparatus attempts to establish a connection with another telephone apparatus.  
         [0010]     In addition, the claimed invention provides a telephone apparatus capable of playing a specific ring back tone. The telephone apparatus comprises: a memory unit for recording a user setting and a specific ring back tone; and a ring back tone control unit for deciding to play the specific ring back tone or not to play the specific ring back tone according to the user setting when the telephone apparatus attempts to establish a connection with another telephone apparatus.  
         [0011]     In the claimed invention, a specific ring back tone is recorded in a telephone apparatus, and therefore when the telephone apparatus attempts to establish a connection with another telephone apparatus, it can play the specific ring back tone. A plurality of ring back tones can be recorded in the telephone apparatus beforehand to allow a user to hear different ring back tones according to the user&#39;s preference.  
         [0012]     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a PSTN according to a related art.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of a telephone apparatus according to the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an embodiment of the method for playing a ring back tone according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0016]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of a telephone apparatus  100  according to the present invention. In the present embodiment, the telephone apparatus  100  is a mobile phone and comprises a memory unit  120  and a ring back tone control unit  160 . In the present embodiment, the memory unit  120  is utilized for recording a plurality of ring back tones  121 ,  122 ,  124  and a user setting  140 . The user setting  140  comprises a phone book  142  and a configuration setting  144 . The configuration setting  144  is utilized for recording information about a user preference for activating the function of playing a specifically selected ring back tone or not playing a specifically selected ring back tone. This means playing the ring back tones  121 ,  122 ,  124  stored in the memory unit  120  or playing the default ring back tone transmitted by the switch. The phone book  142  is utilized for recording a plurality of phone numbers n 1 , n 2  and the ring back tones respectively corresponding to the phone numbers n 1 , n 2 .  
         [0017]     Assume that the phone number n 1  corresponds to the ring back tone  122 , and the phone number n 2  corresponds to the ring back tone  124 . When the telephone apparatus  100  dials the phone number n 1 , the ring back tone control unit  160  determines to activate or not to activate the function of playing a user&#39;s personally selected ring back tone according to the configuration setting  144 . If yes, the ring back tone control unit  160  will further look up the ring back tone  122  corresponding to the phone number n 1  in the phone book  142 . Finally, the ring back tone control unit  160  reads and plays the ring back tone  122  that is stored in the memory unit  120 . Please note that the configuration setting  144  can also be utilized for identifying the basic ring back tone of the telephone apparatus  100 . Assume that in the present embodiment, the basic ring back tone is the ring back tone  121 . When the phone number dialed by the telephone apparatus  100  are different from each one of the phone numbers n 1 , n 2  stored in the phone book  142 , the ring back tone control unit  160  will play the ring back tone  121 .  
         [0018]     It should be noted that the operation of the ring back tone control unit  160  according to the present invention changes according to the design of the PSTNs in many different areas. For example, a PSTN utilized in Taiwan transmits the above-mentioned default ring back tone to a caller&#39;s telephone apparatus when it attempts to establish a connection with another telephone apparatus. In this way, after the ring back tone control unit  160  receives the default ring back tone, the ring back tone control unit  160  starts to play the selected ring back tone. However, some PSTNs utilized in some areas transmit a ring back tone control signal via a data transmission channel to a caller&#39;s telephone apparatus to drive the caller&#39;s telephone apparatus to play a default ring back tone, and not to directly transmit the default ring back tone back. In this way, the ring back tone control unit  160  has to receive the ring back tone control signal first and then start to play the user&#39;s personally selected ring back tone. In addition, the telephone apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment. The present invention works with and is compatible in concept with other telephone apparatuses such as those with memory functions, such as a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone or a digital phone.  
         [0019]     Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an embodiment of the method for playing a ring back tone according to the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the present embodiment comprises the following steps:  
         [0020]     Step  300 : Start.  
         [0021]     Step  302 : Set a user setting of a telephone apparatus.  
         [0022]     Step  304 : Utilize the telephone apparatus to dial a phone number.  
         [0023]     Step  306 : Has a default ring back tone transmitted by a switch been received? If so, proceed to step  308 ; otherwise, repeat step  306 .  
         [0024]     Step  308 : According to the user setting, is the function of playing a user&#39;s personally selected ring back tone determined to be activated? If yes, proceed to the step  312 ; otherwise, proceed to step  310 .  
         [0025]     Step  310 : Play the default ring back tone transmitted by the switch; proceed to step  324 .  
         [0026]     Step  312 : Does the dialed phone number exist in the phone book of the telephone apparatus? If so, proceed to step  316 ; otherwise, proceed to step  314 .  
         [0027]     Step  314 : Read and play the basic ring back tone stored in the memory unit; proceed to step  320 .  
         [0028]     Step  316 : Does a ring back tone corresponding to the phone number exist in the phone book according to the data of the phone book? If so, proceed to step  318 ; otherwise, proceed to step  314 .  
         [0029]     Step  318 : Read and play a ring back tone stored in a memory unit, wherein the ring back tone corresponds to the phone number.  
         [0030]     Step  320 : Does the phone call receiver pick up (i.e., answer) the phone? If so, proceed to step  322 ; otherwise, repeat step  320 .  
         [0031]     Step  322 : Stop playing the ring back tone.  
         [0032]     Step  324 : End.  
         [0033]     The method of playing a ring back tone according to the present invention includes the operation flow of the telephone apparatus  100  shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , the user utilizing the telephone apparatus must set a user setting first (step  302 ), wherein the user setting includes many kinds of information; for example, the information about if the user&#39;s preference is to activate or not activate the function of playing the user&#39;s own selected ring back tone as well as the basic ring back tone of the telephone apparatus. When the user utilizes the telephone apparatus to dial a phone number (step  304 ) and to receive the default ring back tone transmitted by the a switch (step  306 ), the telephone apparatus decides, according to the user setting, to activate or not activate the function of playing the user&#39;s own selected ring back tone. If the function is not activated, the telephone apparatus directly plays the default ring back tone transmitted by the switch (step  310 ); otherwise, the telephone apparatus further determines if the phone number exists in the phone book by looking up the phone number in the phone book (step  312 ), and if the phone number is set to correspond to a specific ring back tone (step  316 ). If the phone number exists in the phone book and corresponds to a specific ring back tone, the telephone apparatus directly plays the specific ring back tone (step  318 ). If not, the telephone apparatus plays the preset basic ring back tone (step  314 ). Finally, when the phone call receiver picks up (i.e., answers) the phone, the telephone apparatus stops playing the specific ring back tone or the basic ring back tone. Please note that the step  306  according to the present invention can be changed to be: “If a ring back tone control signal transmitted by a switch has been received?” according to a different PSTN.  
         [0034]     In contrast to the related art, the telephone apparatus according to the present invention records a specific ring back tone. Therefore, when the telephone apparatus attempts to establish a connection with another telephone apparatus, the telephone apparatus can play the selected specific ring back tone. The telephone apparatus according to the present invention can record a plurality of ring back tones allowing the user, based on preference, to hear various and different ring back tones. The user may divide the plurality of phone numbers into several groups in the phone book, and set the different groups of phone numbers to correspond to different ring back tones, respectively. In this way, when the user incautiously dials the wrong phone number, it can be easily discovered that there has been a dialing mistake according to the played ring back tone. This function will help the user avoid many occurrences of misunderstandings.  
         [0035]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.