Abstract:
A method includes receiving an incoming call at a first device. The method includes determining whether second caller identification information is available at the first device based on first caller identification information received with the incoming call. The method further includes retrieving the second caller identification information in response to determining that the second caller identification information is available at the first device. The method further includes presenting a graphical display at a display device. The graphical display includes a plurality of caller information fields. The plurality of caller information fields are populated based on the first caller identification information and based on the second caller identification information. The graphical display also includes a user selectable edit option to edit the second caller identification information during the incoming call. The method further includes modifying the second caller identification information in response to selection of the user selectable edit option.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     The present application claims priority from and is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/186,622, filed on Jul. 21, 2005 and entitled “ENHANCED CALLER ID WITH RECIPIENT-SELECTED CALLER INFORMATION DISPLAY,” the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates to telecommunications, and in particular to systems, methods and media for enhanced caller ID information. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Some Digital Video Recorders (DVRs, also known as Personal Video Recorders or PVRs), Satellite/Cable Receivers and other types of television Set-Top Boxes (STBs) include Caller ID Display functionality, where the phone number and name associated with an incoming phone call is displayed on the television screen. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of an enhanced caller ID solution of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing of a detail of a caller ID display of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing of an exemplary image database for selecting an image for display in an exemplary embodiment of an enhanced Caller ID system of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of an enhanced caller ID solution of  FIG. 1  showing a call recipient-selected image associated with the caller in a display field of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of a computer system within which a set of instructions, when executed, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present disclosure, through one or more of its various aspects, embodiments and/or specific features or sub-components, is intended to bring out one or more of the advantages that will be evident from the description. The present disclosure is described with frequent reference to television set-top boxes. It is understood, however, that a set-top box is merely an example of a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, which is directed broadly to networked interactive television within the scope of the disclosure. The terminology, examples, drawings and embodiments, therefore, are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. 
     Some DVRs, Satellite/Cable Receivers and other types of STBs include Caller ID Display functionality that allow the phone number and name associated with an incoming phone call to display on the television screen. The next generation of STBs, however, will include storage and access capabilities for media beyond standard television content. Storage and access features may also be available with game consoles connected to the television, particularly those consoles that provide online, multiplayer, capabilities over a network. In fact, the term STB is considered, for the purposes of this disclosure, to include such consoles. 
     The media includes storage of and access to a user&#39;s digital photo collection and address book. The storage may be local, i.e., stored on the STB&#39;s hard drive, or remote, i.e., stored on a network resource such as a server. 
     The present disclosure provides solutions for linking Caller ID Display functionality with Photo and/or Address Book or other database information elements, resulting in a richer STB Caller ID Display experience. An advantage of the present disclosure is that the call recipient selects the information to associate with the caller. This is advantageous because it is the recipient that is in the best position to know which information, including which image or images, is most useful to the recipient in relation to the caller. 
     For instance, were the caller to select an image of him or herself for caller ID display, he or she might select an outdated, unrecognizable, image that does not, in fact, inform the recipient of who is calling. The recipient may not even be able to discern the gender or age of the caller. When, however, the recipient is able to select an image, for example, even household children who cannot read caller ID information in a text display would be able to recognize the caller because the image would be an image that the child is most likely familiar with, since the image was selected by the family rather than by the caller. 
     Additionally, caller selected images may be inappropriate for viewing by all household members of the recipient, yet the recipient is unable to prescreen the image before it is displayed. This may be a particular problem when the caller ID image is displayed on the family television screen during family television viewing. The present disclosure provides a solution to these and other problems of enhanced caller ID, including an easy to use interface that allows the recipient to control what is displayed on their television screen. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of an enhanced caller ID solution of the present disclosure. Television  110  is connected to set-top box or other device  120  which in turn is connected to a telecommunications network (not shown). Person  130  is watching television  110  when an incoming phone call arrives. STB  120  alerts person  130  of the incoming call and displays caller ID information  140  on television screen  115 . Basic caller ID information may be displayed from the standard caller ID service to which person  130  subscribes through his or her telephone service provider. 
     Display  140  includes photo display inset  141 , caller ID text information boxes  142 ,  143 ,  144 , and  145 . Boxes  142  through  145  include, for example, caller first name ( 142 ) caller last name ( 143 ), caller phone number ( 144 ) and additional information ( 145 ) such as caller email address. Edit function buttons  146  and  147  are also displayed and are managed using the set-top box remote (not shown) or manually using manual function control buttons (not shown) provided on the set-top box housing. 
     Any customized caller ID information (beyond basic information provided by the service provider) is obtained from the set-top box, or other device, storage media using the caller ID information from the service provider to map information pre-selected by person  130  and associated with the caller to display in enhanced display  140 . 
     In the event that person  130  has not pre-selected information associated with the caller, person  130  may use edit functions accessed by button  146  to pull up a menu on screen  115  that allows person  130  to navigate through one or more databases accessible by storage media device  120 , such as a set-top box or game console, to add select information about the caller to the various fields  142 - 145  of display  140 . Of course, it is understood that fields  142 - 145  are purely illustrative in content and number, and that embodiments of the present disclosure provide more or fewer information fields, and the amount of information contained in each field, to which person  130  may add as much or as little information about the caller as desired. Certain embodiments provide for person  130  to add or delete fields, or change the amount of information in each field, as desired within the resolution and space constraints of screen  115 . Button  147  provides, for example, a cancel function to clear the caller ID display from the display screen. 
     Additionally, television  110  continues to display the programming being viewed prior to the incoming call by virtue of picture-in-picture capability, or other analogous technology, supported by STB  120  or television  110  for uninterrupted viewing during the phone call. 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing of a detail of a caller ID display of  FIG. 1 . Display  140  provides text information fields that show, for example, the caller&#39;s first name  142 , last name  143 , telephone number  144 , and additional information  145 , such as the name of the caller&#39;s spouse. Optionally selectable Edit button  146  provides edit capability to edit the information, including but not limited to an image, to be displayed. Button  146  opens a menu (not shown) to access additional information to include in display  140 . Save functions (not shown) allow the call recipient to save edited information in storage media device  120  after editing the information and the menu is closed. Optionally selectable Cancel button  147  clears display  140  from the TV screen. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing of an exemplary image database for selecting an image for display in an exemplary embodiment of an enhanced Caller ID system of the present disclosure. Database  130  provides a variety of images  320  that a user can select for display. Images  320  may be provided from a variety of sources, such as an electronic address book, a digital camera, a camera phone, a hard drive, a floppy disk or CD-ROM or other electronic storage medium, a PDA (including BlackBerry™-type devices), an email attachment, a network server, an online source, the world wide web, or any source for an electronic image within the constraints of space and resolution of the disclosure. 
     Database  310  is accessed by activating optionally selectable Edit button  146  from display  140  and navigating through the accessible databases to bring up an image database. An image  330  is selected by a user and added to display  140  in field  141  by activating Add button  340 . Database display  310  is closed by activating Cancel button  350  to exit without editing or without saving any edit. 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of an enhanced caller ID solution of  FIG. 1  showing a call recipient-selected image associated with the caller in a display field of the disclosure. Display field  141  contains image  330 , which was either pre-selected by the call recipient or was selected using the edit function of display  140  when display  140  was presented in connection with an incoming call from the caller. 
     In addition to image or photo display, the present disclosure further provides embodiments that allow the user to display a wide variety of personal information about the caller. Edit function  146  provides access to any data accessible through an electronic database and allows the call recipient to associate such data with the caller&#39;s Caller ID for display on a caller ID display screen. Caller personal information, for the purposes of this disclosure includes, but is not limited to, the name of the caller&#39;s spouse, the genders and names of the caller&#39;s children, the caller&#39;s email address, the caller&#39;s business contact information, the caller&#39;s residential or business address, the species and names of the caller&#39;s pets, the caller&#39;s website URL, the caller&#39;s relationship to the call recipient (such as familial relationship, if any), and the caller&#39;s gender and marital status. 
     In addition to television screen display, the present disclosure contemplates enhanced caller ID display on a display screen of a communications terminal such as a cell phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) including BlackBerry®-type devices, a personal computer, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) terminal, an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and so forth. 
       FIG. 5  is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of a computer system  500  within which a set of instructions, when executed, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. In some embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device. In some embodiments, the machine may be connected (e.g., using a network) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client user machine in server-client user network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a mobile device, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant, a communications device, a wireless telephone, a land-line telephone, a control system, a camera, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a printer, a pager, a personal trusted device, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. It will be understood that a device of the present disclosure includes broadly any electronic device that provides voice, video or data communication. Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. 
     The computer system  500  may include a processor  502  (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or both), a main memory  504  and a static memory  506 , which communicate with each other via a bus  508 . The computer system  500  may further include a video display unit  510  (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a flat panel, a solid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system  500  may include an input device  512  (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device  514  (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit  516 , a signal generation device  518  (e.g., a speaker or remote control) and a network interface device  520 . 
     The disk drive unit  516  may include a machine-readable medium  622  on which is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software  524 ) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein, including those methods illustrated in herein above. The instructions  524  may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory  504 , the static memory  506 , and/or within the processor  502  during execution thereof by the computer system  500 . The main memory  504  and the processor  502  also may constitute machine-readable media. Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to, application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions in two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Thus, the example system is applicable to software, firmware, and hardware implementations. 
     In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein are intended for operation as software programs running on a computer processor. Furthermore, software implementations can include, but not limited to, distributed processing or component/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the methods described herein. 
     The present disclosure contemplates a machine readable medium containing instructions  524  so that a device connected to a network environment  526  can send or receive voice, video or data, and to communicate over the network  526  using the instructions  524 . The instructions  524  may further be transmitted or received over a network  526  via the network interface device  520 . 
     While the machine-readable medium  522  is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile) memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile) memories; and magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk or tape. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more of a machine-readable medium as listed herein and including art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which the software implementations herein are stored. 
     Although the present specification describes components and functions implemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards and protocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switched network transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) represent examples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same functions are considered equivalents. 
     The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments, and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all the elements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use of the structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Figures are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. 
     Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “disclosure” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single disclosure or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. 
     The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. 
     In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein are intended for operation as software programs running on a computer processor. Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to, application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement the methods described herein. Furthermore, alternative software implementations including, but not limited to, distributed processing or component/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the methods described herein. 
     It should also be noted that the software implementations of the present disclosure as described herein are optionally stored on a tangible storage medium, such as: a magnetic medium such as a disk or tape; a magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk; or a solid state medium such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile) memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile) memories. The disclosure is considered to include a tangible storage medium as listed herein and including art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which the software implementations herein are stored. 
     Accordingly, those skilled in the art will recognize that the present disclosure extends to machine-readable media (“MRM”) contain instructions for execution by a programmable machine such as a computer. MRM is broadly defined to include any kind of computer memory such as floppy disks, conventional hard disks, CD-ROMs, Flash ROMS, nonvolatile ROM, RAM, Storage Media, solid state media, and magnetic media, together with processors to execute the instructions. 
     The disclosure has been described with reference to several exemplary embodiments. It is understood, however, that the words that have been used are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. Changes may be made within the purview of the appended claims, as presently stated and as amended, without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure in all its aspects. Although the disclosure has been described with reference to particular means, materials and embodiments, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed; rather, the disclosure extends to all functionally equivalent technologies, structures, methods and uses such as are within the scope of the appended claims.