Abstract:
A method and apparatus for providing a call originator to select a notification a recipient sees or hears accompanying an incoming call.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to telecommunication networks, more specifically, to notification on a telecommunications device. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Communication networks currently support notification features like caller ID and ringtones. Currently, the format of the call notification is determined by the communication network or the recipient&#39;s system. The recipient can select different ringtones and images as a way of identifying individual callers. The recipient can select a default ringtone for all incoming calls, or select different ringtones for individual originating numbers. Caller ID is displayed as either the phone number of the call originator or the name associated with the phone number in the recipient&#39;s phone book. Visual notifications are usually photos taken by the camera feature of the recipient&#39;s device and displayed when the particular individual calls the recipient. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention allows a call originator to select a notification a recipient sees or hears accompanying an incoming call. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary mobile communication network. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a push-id network. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates one embodiment of the mobile communication network. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates one embodiment of the flow between call originator and mobile communication network when uploading notification from call originator device. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates one embodiment of the flow when notification is uploaded via a website. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates one embodiment of the flow once the call originator places a call on the mobile communication network. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the flow of  FIG. 6 , when the transfer rate between mobile communication network and the call recipient is too slow. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates one embodiment of the flow between the recipient and the mobile communication network. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates one embodiment of the recipient device. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates one embodiment of the flow in the recipient device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A method and apparatus for sending call originator selected notifications is described. This notification may include visual notification—such as a photograph, an icon, a video, or a moving image—and audio notification—such as a ring-tone, an announcement, or a spelling of the caller&#39;s name—, or a combination of the above. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of a mobile communication network, consisting of at least one network  120  capable of enabling a connection between a call originator device  100  and a call recipient device  160 . The mobile communication network  120  may consist of different mobile carriers  130  and  140 , capable of communicating. The mobile communication network  120  may work using a central interface between mobile carriers  130 ,  140 , or may rely on direct communications between these carriers  130 ,  140 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of a mobile communication network  210  consisting of Multimedia Messaging Service Centers (MMSCs)  220  and  240 . In one embodiment, the present system works only within a single MMSC. In another embodiment, the system works even if the call originator  200  and call recipient  280  are on different MMSCs  220 ,  240 . Mobile devices  200 ,  280  are coupled to their respective MMSCs  220 ,  240 . The mobile devices  200 ,  280  may be various types of cellular telephones. 
     In one embodiment, a voicemail system  265  may be coupled to the call originator&#39;s MMSC  220 . The voicemail system  265  may include the user&#39;s virtual card (v-card)  270 . The v-card  270 , in one embodiment, includes a recording of the user&#39;s name. For example, in voicemail systems, the user may have an announcement, in which the user&#39;s name is spoken, in the users&#39; own voice. In one embodiment, this portion of the v-card  270  is used, in the present invention. Although the term “v-card” is used, alternative forms of existing recordings of the user&#39;s own announcement of his or her name may be used. For example, the user may have such a recording stored in another format. Thus, the term “v-card” in the present invention does not refer to a particular format, but rather to a preexisting recording of a user announcing his or her own name. 
     In one embodiment, the system further includes a notification database  260 . In one embodiment, the notification database  260  is used to temporarily store call originator generated notifications. In one embodiment, the notification database  260  has entries selected by a caller, using his or her mobile device  200 ,  280 , or a web interface  250 . This is described in more detail below. 
     In one embodiment, notifications stored in the notification database  260  consist of one or more of the following: photos, animation, graphics, audio clips, or multimedia data. For example, an image can be a photo of the call originator. Images are not limited to any particular format. An example of a video can be a short clip of the call originator waving to the camera. Video clips are not limited to any particular format. In one embodiment, the MMSC  240  converts the image, video, audio, or other data of the notification into a format compatible with the recipient&#39;s mobile device  280 , when sending the notification to the recipient&#39;s mobile device  280 . 
     In one embodiment, the system is further linked to a ringtone database  275 , which stores a plurality of ringtones. In one embodiment, the ringtone database  275  includes selectable ringtones. In one embodiment, the ringtones are available for download by any mobile device user. The ringtone database  275  supplies ringtones requested by any mobile device user to his/her mobile device. In one embodiment, the ringtone database  275  further stores the call originator selected ringtone, once it is downloaded to the recipient&#39;s system. In one embodiment, ringtones can be stored in any format compatible with the recipient&#39;s mobile device  280 . For example, most current ringtones are in the MIDI format. 
     The voicemail system  265 , notification database  260 , and ringtone database  275  are illustrated as separate entities from the MMSC  220 ,  240 . In another embodiment, they may be incorporated into the MMSC  220 ,  240 . In another embodiment, the recording system  255 , the voicemail system  265 , the notification database  260 , and the ringtone database  275  may also be incorporated into a single system. In one embodiment, the notification database  260  and ringtone database  275  may be alternative storage formats, and not actual databases. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates one embodiment of a block diagram of a MMSC  300 . As the call originator  310  places a call to a recipient  380 , in one embodiment, the call is routed through the MMSC  300 . The incoming call controller  320  receives the incoming call. In one embodiment, the incoming call controller  320  checks the customer profile database  330  maintained by the mobile communication network. In one embodiment, the customer profile database  330  includes a list of previously associated notifications and telephone numbers. In one embodiment, the customer profile  330  further includes additional information such as the customer&#39;s mobile user name and password, network features available to the customer, etc. 
     In one embodiment, when the incoming call controller  320  receives an incoming call, the controller  320  compares the call recipient&#39;s number to the call originator&#39;s customer profile in profile database  330 . In one embodiment, the customer profile database  330  determines if there is a notification associated with the recipient&#39;s number. In one embodiment, the controller  320  determines only whether the caller has a notification designated for the receiver  380 . In another embodiment, the controller  320  determines whether there are any outstanding notifications to be sent to recipient  380 . In one embodiment, notifications are stored only under the recipient&#39;s telephone number. Since a connection to the recipient is established whenever a telephone call is made, the system automatically selects all outstanding notifications, and sends them to the recipient. 
     In one embodiment, the incoming call controller  320  searches in the database  330  with the recipient&#39;s number for an indication that there is an associated notification or notifications. In one embodiment, only those notifications that are not already resident on the recipient&#39;s system are stored in the database. In one embodiment, each notification has a unique ID. In one embodiment, the IDs are alphanumerical sequences. For example, a photo notification can have the ID of 4642134A.jgp. In one embodiment the notification ID is a concatenation of the recipient&#39;s telephone number and an ID, such that a single notification may have multiple unique IDs. In another embodiment, the IDs are not unique. 
     In one embodiment, if the recipient&#39;s telephone number is found to have a matching notification assigned to it, then this information is forwarded to notification insertion logic  340 . In one embodiment, the information forwarded to the notification insertion logic  340  includes the number of the recipient and the ID of the notification. In another embodiment, the unique ID of the notification is passed to the notification insertion logic  340 , and that unique ID identifies the notification as well as the recipient. 
     In one embodiment, the notification includes one or more of the available types of notification such as a voice, ringtone or image/video. In one embodiment, the notification insertion logic  340  retrieves voice, ringtone and image/video notification data from the internal notification database  345 . In one embodiment, when a call originator initially assigns a notification, it is retrieved from its current location in a voicemail system  362 , ringtone database  350 , notification database  360 , and/or recording system  390  and stored in the internal notification database  345  for rapid access. In one embodiment, each notification is stored as a file. In one embodiment, the internal notification database  345  stores all parts of a notification—whether audio or video—in a single concatenated file. In another embodiment, the notifications are stored separately. In another embodiment, there is no internal notification database  345 , and the notification elements are stored in external systems—the voicemail system  362 , the ringtone database  350 , the notification database  360  and/or the recording system  390 . In that embodiment, the notification insertion logic  340  retrieves the notifications from these external systems. 
     In one embodiment, each file has a unique address. For example &lt;http://att.net/image/4642134A.jpg&gt; is an exemplary address of an image file on the AT&amp;T network. In one embodiment, the file name and address is not limited to any format or length unless dictated by the MMSC  300 . In one embodiment, once the notification or notifications are retrieved, they are forwarded to the call router  370 . In another embodiment, more information is combined with the location of the notification and then forwarded to the call router  370 . Other information can include, but is not limited to, the identification of the call originator. 
     In one embodiment, the voicemail system  326  includes the user&#39;s v-card. The v-card  365 , in one embodiment, includes a recording of the user&#39;s name. In one embodiment, the recording of the user&#39;s name is spoken in the user&#39;s own voice. In another embodiment, the recording of the user&#39;s name is computer generated. 
     The recording system  390  may include other voice recordings. For example, the user can record a notification, in his own voice, asking the recipient to answer the phone because it is urgent. The user can also record personal messages for individual recipients such as: “Hey mom, it&#39;s me Tom”. In one embodiment, voice recordings can include background music similar to home answering machine greetings. Recording system  390  may be used to record or store any audio or video data, in one embodiment. 
     In one embodiment, the voice recording is recorded directly on the call originator&#39;s device. In one embodiment, the device is equipped with a digital recording feature enabling the device to function as a digital recorder. The call originator&#39;s device saves the voice recording and transfers it to the recording system  390 , in one embodiment. In one embodiment, the recording file can be in any audio format supported by the user&#39;s device. 
     In one embodiment, the call originator device  310  can transfer the recording to the network in the form of a Multimedia Message Service message (MMS). In one embodiment, the recording may be transferred to the MMSC by placing a call into the recording system  390 . In one embodiment, a recording can be directly recorded on the mobile communication network&#39;s recording system  390  and stored. In one embodiment, to directly record a voice notification, user calls a designated number and speaks into the phone. In one embodiment, the user can use any phone to access the recording system  390 . In another embodiment, access to the recording system  390  is limited to only authorized devices. Authorized devices can include the call originator&#39;s mobile communication device. In one embodiment, this feature may be an add-on feature, available only to certain users. In one embodiment, use of this feature may require a password. 
     In an alternative embodiment, the voice recordings are first recorded onto another device and then transferred to the recording system  390 . Other devices include, but are not limited to, computers and digital recorders. In one embodiment, the file may be transferred to the recording system  390  through the call originator device. In another embodiment, the file can be transferred to the recording system  390  using a web interface  315 . The web interface  315  is described in more detail below. 
     The call router  370  receives the notification, and the recipient designation from the notification insertion logic  340 , places the call to recipient device  380 . Details of how the call is placed are described below. Alternatively, if recipient number is not associated with a special notification, no notification information is passed to the call router  370 . 
     In an alternate embodiment, the call originator  310  can create a notification at the time he or she places the call, or without first passing the notification to the MMSC or any database. In this embodiment, the notification is not stored on the MMSC. In one embodiment, the notification is transferred to the MMSC  300  when the call is placed. The notification insertion logic  340  receives the information, along with the notification, from incoming call controller  320 , and passes them directly on to the call router  370 . In one embodiment, the incoming call controller  320  also places a copy of the notification in the database. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates one embodiment of the flow between a call originator and a mobile communication network when uploading a notification from the call originator device to the mobile communication network. In one embodiment, the notification is created on the call originator&#39;s mobile device. In another embodiment the notification is created on another device and transferred to the call originator device  400 . Other devices can include, but not limited to, digital voice recorders and digital cameras. In one embodiment, transfer from other devices to the call originator device can be made with using any interfaces supported by the mobile device, such as Bluetooth, WiFi, USB, USBII, or any other connection. In one embodiment, the notification files are stored in the memory of the call originator device. In another embodiment, the notifications can be stored on the communication network. 
     In one embodiment, the call originator can associate one or more recipient&#39;s telephone numbers with a notification  410 . In one embodiment, each phone number can be associated with more than one type of notification such as an image and a voice recording or a video and a ringtone. In one embodiment, once the call originator is done associating telephone numbers with notifications, the information is passed to the mobile communication network  420 . In one embodiment, to send this information the call originator device communicates with the mobile communication network, uploads any new notifications, and updates the telephone number associations in the customer profile maintained by the network  430 . The process then ends. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates one embodiment of the flow when a notification is uploaded via a web interface. The call originator logs into the web interface  510 . In one embodiment, the web interface is accessed via a web browser. In one embodiment, logging in requires a password or other authentication. 
     In one embodiment, once the call originator successfully logs into the web interface, the web interface offers several options. In one embodiment, the web interface offers options including uploading a new notification  520 , changing recipients associated with an existing notification, or deleting a notification. In one embodiment, a new notification can be uploaded from any device capable of accessing the web interface. In one embodiment, once a new notification is uploaded, the user can associate recipients with the notification  530 . In one embodiment, when the user is done associating the notification with recipients, the changes are updated to the customer profile maintained on the mobile communication network  540 . In one embodiment, the updating occurs when the user logs out from the web interface. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates one embodiment of the flow once the call originator places a call on the mobile communication network. The network receives the incoming call from the call originator at block  605 . In one embodiment, the network looks up the recipient and determines whether there is a notification associated with the recipient. If there is no notification, at block  615 , the process continues to block  620 , and the normal notification is used. The process then terminates. 
     If there is a notification with the recipient, at block  615 , the network retrieves the notification at block  630 . At block  640 , in one embodiment, a notice is sent to the call recipient indicating that a customized notification should be downloaded. In one embodiment, the notice is sent as a Short Message Service (SMS) message. The process determines whether an acknowledgement is received. The acknowledgement, shown at block  645 , in one embodiment indicates that the users system can download the notification in time to use the notification as the announcement for the incoming call. 
     If the acknowledgement is not received, the process continues to block  650 . At block  650 , in one embodiment, the system sets up a download of the notification for a later time. In one embodiment, the acknowledgement may not be received because the recipient has set his or her phone to reject such custom notifications. In that case, the download is not set up. The process then continues to block  620 , to use the standard ring tone for this call. 
     If an acknowledgement is received, at block  660 , the receiver is enabled to download the notification. In one embodiment, the original notice provides a Universal Resource Locator, or alternative indicator, from which the recipient can download the notification. At block  662 , the notification is transferred from the network to the recipient device. In another embodiment, if the recipient accepts the call originator selected notification, the recipient will hear or see the call originator selected notification  665 , notifying the recipient of an incoming call. In one embodiment, the notification is then stored on the recipient&#39;s device for later use. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the  FIG. 6  where the transfer rate between mobile communication network and the call recipient might be too slow to transfer the notification for the current call. 
     In one embodiment, a “pick up” message is sent, at block  730 , to a recipient notifying of an incoming call with call originator selected notification. In one embodiment, this pick-up message may be an SMS message. In one embodiment, the custom notification begins to download when recipient acknowledges the “pick up” message, block  750 . In one embodiment, the downloading of the notification does not add to a time gap between the placing of a call and the recipient&#39;s phone ringing. In one embodiment, to avoid a long lag time between placing the call and the time to complete the download of the notification to the recipient&#39;s device, the recipient device keeps track of the time elapsed since downloading began, at block  755 . In one embodiment, if elapsed time exceeds a preset time, the recipient device will play the normal ring, while continuing to download the call originator notification, block  765 . In one embodiment, if the download finishes before the preset time, then the call originator selected notification is displayed and/or played on the recipient device, at block  760 . 
       FIG. 8  illustrates one embodiment of the flow between the recipient and the mobile communication network. In one embodiment, the call originator device  810  sends the call originator selected notification  850  to the mobile communication network  820 . The mobile communication network sends a SMS  830  “pick up” message  860  to the recipient device  840 . In one embodiment, the “pick up” message  860  informs the recipient device  840  of an incoming call with call originator selected notification  850 . One embodiment of a “pick up” message  860  contains the location of the notification on the network. 
     An alternate embodiment of the “pick up” message  860  contains the location of the notification along with other information. In one embodiment, the recipient device  840  either replies with an acknowledgement  870  or replies with a rejection. In one embodiment, an acknowledgment means the recipient device does not have the notification in memory and wish to download it. In one embodiment, a rejection means either that the recipient device already has the notification in memory or the recipient does not want the notification. In one embodiment, the recipient can reject notification individually during each incoming call or preset the recipient device to reject all call originator selected notifications. In one embodiment, the mobile communication network receives the acknowledgment from the recipient and initiates a MMS transfer of the notification  880  to the recipient device  840 . The notification in one embodiment is stored in the memory of the recipient device  840  for future use. The notification in another embodiment can be deleted from the recipient device  840 . 
       FIG. 9  illustrates one embodiment of the recipient device  900 . In one embodiment, the device includes a display  910 , a memory module  920 , phone setting module  925 , input device  930 , a network interface  940  and a notification verification logic  950 . In an alternate embodiment, the memory module  920 , the notification verification logic  950  and phone settings module  925  may be combined. In one embodiment, the memory module  920  stores previously downloaded call originator selected notifications. In another embodiment, the memory module  920  stores various data not limited to call originator selected notifications. For example, in one embodiment, the memory module  920  stores the recipient&#39;s phone book, received text messages and downloaded items such as ringtones and wallpaper. In one embodiment, the memory module is part of to the device. In another embodiment, the memory module is a removable chip, such as a subscriber identity module (SIM) or flash memory card. 
     In one embodiment, the phone settings module  925  stores the phone settings such as the default ringtone and ring volume. In the current embodiment, the phone settings module  925  is separate from the memory module  920 . In another embodiment, the two modules may be combined. In one embodiment, the network interface  940  communicates with the mobile communication network, and enables communication with other handsets via the communication network. 
     In one embodiment, the notification verification logic  950  determines whether the recipient device should download the call originator selected notification. Details of the notification verification logic are described below. 
     In one embodiment, the notification, once it is downloaded, is added to the address book entry associated with the user. In one embodiment, if the notification includes an image, the image may be used as the “photograph” associated with the address book entry. In another embodiment, the notification is stored linked to the address book. In another embodiment, the notification is stored separately. The separately stored notification may be linked to the address book. 
     In one embodiment, the user&#39;s device further includes a notification selector  960  to select a notification to use, when the device receives a call. The notification selector  960  determines whether there is a caller-originated notification in memory  920 , or currently being downloaded by notification verification logic  950 . If there is a caller-originated notification, which is available in a timely manner, the notification selector  960  uses the custom caller originated notification to announce the call. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates one embodiment of the flow in the recipient device when a “pick up” message is received. In one embodiment, the network interface  1020  connects the recipient device  1010  to the mobile communication network  1000 . In one embodiment, when an incoming call with a “pick up” is received by the network interface  1020 , the notification verification logic  1030  checks the setting of the recipient device  1050  and looks up the name of the notification in the recipient device&#39;s memory module  1040 . 
     The recipient device  1010 , in one embodiment, may be set by the user to reject all call originator selected notifications, call originator selected notification by certain callers, or call originator selected notifications of certain types. The notification verification logic  1030  would then tell the network interface  1020  to reject the “pick up” message. In one embodiment, the rejection can be in the form of a SMS message. In another embodiment, the rejection can be in the form of a time out. For example, if the recipient device  1010  does not acknowledge the “pick up” before a preset time, the mobile communication network  1000  will consider the recipient device to have rejected the SMS “pick up” message. 
     In one embodiment, the memory module  1040  contains previously downloaded call originator selected notifications. In one embodiment, when recipient device  1010  is set to accept call originator selected notifications, the notification verification logic  1030  will extract the unique notification ID from the message and determine whether the notification is already in the memory module  1040 . In one embodiment, if the notification ID is located in the memory module  1040 , the notification verification logic  1030  will inform the network interface  1020  to reject the “pick up” message. 
     In one embodiment, if the recipient device  1010  acknowledges the “pick up” message, the mobile communication network  1000  initiates the download of the notification file. The notification verification logic  1020 , in one embodiment, also determines whether the elapsed time since download began is greater than a preset time. In one embodiment, the user may set up a “screening function.” A screening function displays the downloaded notification to the user, prior to playing the notification for a call. If the user approves the notification, it is stored. Otherwise, it is deleted. The user may furthermore set a flag to note that the rejected notification should not be accepted in the future. The call originator selected notification is played or displayed once the notification is downloaded, and approved if appropriate. 
     In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.