Abstract:
A method and apparatus are disclosed for enabling a telecommunications terminal to notify its user of the arrival of a message via an acoustic or visual signal whose properties are based on one or more attributes of the message. The illustrative embodiment sets the values of one or more properties of a ringtone (e.g., tempo, volume, pitch, rhythm, etc.) based on one or more attributes of an incoming message (e.g., who the sender of the message is, a priority associated with the message, a subject associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the location from which the message was sent, etc.). Similarly, properties of text (e.g., font size, font style, color, dynamic behavior such as flashing, etc.) and of images (e.g., brightness, size, contrast, resolution, etc.) for notifying the user of an incoming message are set based on attributes of the message.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to telecommunications in general, and, more particularly, to techniques for intelligently notifying the user of a telecommunications terminal of the arrival of a message.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]      FIG. 1  depicts telecommunications terminal  100  (e.g., a wireless telephone, a wireline telephone, a personal digital assistant [PDA], etc.) in accordance with the prior art. Telecommunications terminal  100  is capable of receiving messages (e.g., voice telephone calls, email messages, Short Message Service [SMS] messages, etc.) from other telecommunications terminals via a network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network [PSTN], a cellular wireless network, a wireless local-area network, etc.  
         [0003]     When telecommunications terminal  100  receives a message, it notifies the user of the terminal of the arrival of the message by playing a “ringtone” (e.g., a tune, a series of beeps, etc.) via speaker  110  and by displaying visual information (e.g., text, an image, etc.) via display  111 . Telecommunications terminal  100  might play a particular ringtone for all incoming messages, or a ringtone that is associated with a category of callers (e.g., a ringtone for business contacts, a ringtone for friends, a ringtone for family members, etc.), or a ringtone that is associated with an individual caller, etc. Similarly, telecommunications terminal  100  might display a text message (e.g., “Incoming Call”, “Incoming Call: Mom”, “Incoming Call: 555-555-5555”, etc.) or an image (e.g., an animated icon of a ringing telephone, a photo of the caller, etc.), or both, to indicate that there is an incoming message.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     The present invention enables a telecommunications terminal to notify its user of the arrival of a message via an acoustic or visual signal whose properties are based on one or more attributes of the message. In particular, the illustrative embodiment sets the values of one or more properties of a ringtone (e.g., tempo, volume, pitch, rhythm, etc.) based on one or more attributes of an incoming message (e.g., who the sender of the message is, a priority associated with the message, a subject associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the location from which the message was sent, etc.). For example, if a telecommunications terminal plays the Beatles song “Hello Goodbye” when a message arrives, the song might be played in a variety of ways, depending on attributes of the message: 
        at a faster tempo when the message has a high priority,     at a louder volume when the subject of an email contains the word “urgent,”    as a piano version when the caller (i.e., the sender of the message) is pianist Murray Perahia,     with minor-mode instead of major-mode harmonies when the text of an email contains a frowning smiley [i.e., a “:(” character combination],     with a female voice singing instead of a male voice when the caller is Gloria Steinem,     with lyrics sung in French when the call originates from France, or     with a Latin rhythm when the caller is Julio Iglesias. 
 
 As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, modifying the values of properties such as volume and tempo does not change the fundamental identity of the song. In other words, the melody of the song is independent of these properties and thus the song remains recognizable. 
       
 
         [0012]     The illustrative embodiment also sets property values of text (e.g., font size, font style, color, dynamic behavior such as flashing, etc.) and images (e.g., brightness, size, contrast, resolution, etc.) that are displayed to notify the user of an incoming message in a similar fashion (i.e., based on one or more attributes of the message). For example, when a message with a high priority is received, a text notification might flash or might be rendered in a bold font; a static image might be displayed at a higher brightness; and an animated image might move at a faster speed.  
         [0013]     The illustrative embodiment comprises: (a) receiving a message at a telecommunications terminal; and (b) determining the value of a property of a musical composition based on an attribute of the message; wherein the musical composition is for notifying the user of the telecommunications terminal of the arrival of the message; and wherein the melody of the musical composition is independent of the property.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  depicts a telecommunications terminal in the prior art.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  depicts a telecommunications terminal in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of telecommunications terminal  200 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  depicts a flowchart of the operation of telecommunications terminal  200 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , upon receiving a message, in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  depicts a detailed flowchart of task  430 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  depicts a detailed flowchart of task  440 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 7  depicts a detailed flowchart of task  450 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0021]     The term appearing below is given the following definition for use in this Description and the appended Claims.  
         [0022]     For the purposes of the specification and claims, the term “musical composition” is defined as either a piece of music or a sound effect (e.g., one or more beeps, etc.).  
         [0023]      FIG. 2  depicts telecommunications terminal  200  in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , telecommunications terminal  200  comprises speaker  210  and display  211 . Speaker  210 , like speaker  110  of telecommunications terminal  100 , is capable of generating acoustic signals (e.g., ringtones, etc.) in well-known fashion. Display  211 , like display  111  of telecommunications terminal  100 , is capable of displaying visual signals (e.g., text, images, etc.) in well-known fashion.  
         [0024]      FIG. 3  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of telecommunications terminal  200 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , telecommunications terminal  200  comprises receiver  301 , processor  302 , memory  303 , transmitter  304 , speaker  210 , and display  211 , interconnected as shown.  
         [0025]     Receiver  301  receives signals sent from other telecommunications terminals (e.g., via the Public Switched Telephone Network [PSTN], via a Code Division Multiple Access [CDMA] base station, etc.) and forwards the information encoded in these signals to processor  302 , in well-known fashion. It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use receiver  301 .  
         [0026]     Processor  302  is a general-purpose processor that is capable of reading data from and writing data into memory  303 , of sending signals to speaker  210  and display  211  in well-known fashion, and of executing the tasks described below and with respect to  FIGS. 4 through 7 . In some alternative embodiments of the present invention, processor  302  might be a special-purpose processor. In either case, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use processor  302 .  
         [0027]     Memory  303  stores data and executable instructions, as is well-known in the art, and might be any combination of random-access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk drive, etc. It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use memory  303 .  
         [0028]     Transmitter  304  receives information from processor  302  and transmits signals that encode this information to other telecommunications terminals (e.g., via the Public Switched Telephone Network [PSTN], via a Code Division Multiple Access [CDMA] base station, etc.) in well-known fashion. It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use transmitter  304 .  
         [0029]      FIG. 4  depicts a flowchart of the operation of telecommunications terminal  200  upon receiving a message, in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. It will be clear to those skilled in the art which tasks depicted in  FIG. 4  can be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that depicted.  
         [0030]     At task  410 , receiver  301  of telecommunications terminal  200  receives an incoming message and forwards the message to processor  302 , in well-known fashion.  
         [0031]     At task  420 , processor  302  determines what musical composition (i.e., ringtone), what image, and what text are output to notify the user of the incoming message, in the same fashion as telecommunications terminal  100  in the prior art. As described above, in some embodiments telecommunications terminal  200  might play a particular musical composition for all incoming messages, or a musical composition that is associated with a category of callers, or a musical composition that is associated with an individual caller, etc. Similarly, in some embodiments telecommunications terminal  200  might determine one or both of a text message and an image to display for signaling the arrival of an incoming message. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in some embodiments telecommunications terminal  200  might not output one or more of a ringtone, image, and text based on preferences set by the user, battery power, capabilities of display  211 , etc.  
         [0032]     At task  430 , processor  302  determines the values of one or more properties for the musical composition that was selected at task  420  based on one or more attributes of the incoming message, as described in detail below and with respect to  FIG. 5 .  
         [0033]     At task  440 , processor  302  determines the values of one or more properties for the image that was selected at task  420  based on one or more attributes of the incoming message, as described in detail below and with respect to  FIG. 6 .  
         [0034]     At task  450 , processor  302  determines the values of one or more properties for the text from task  420  based on one or more attributes of the incoming message, as described in detail below and with respect to  FIG. 7 .  
         [0035]     At task  460 , processor  302  (i) sends a signal to speaker  210  to play the musical composition selected at task  420  in accordance with the property values determined at task  430 , and (ii) sends a signal to display  211  to display the image and text of task  420  in accordance with the property values determined at tasks  440  and  450 , respectively, in well-known fashion. After task  460  the method of  FIG. 4  terminates.  
         [0036]      FIG. 5  depicts a detailed flowchart of task  430  in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. It will be clear to those skilled in the art which tasks depicted in  FIG. 5  can be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that depicted.  
         [0037]     At task  510 , processor  302  determines the volume of the musical composition based on one or more attributes of the incoming message such as the identity of the sender of the message, a priority associated with the message, a subject associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the location from which the message was sent, etc. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, determining volume based on the location from which the message was sent is possible only in telecommunications systems that provide such information to terminals.  
         [0038]     At task  520 , processor  302  determines the tempo of the musical composition based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0039]     At task  530 , processor  302  determines the pitch (i.e., key signature) of the musical composition based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0040]     At task  540 , processor  302  determines the timbre (e.g., the musical instrument playing the composition, etc.) of the musical composition based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0041]     At task  550 , processor  302  determines the values of additional properties of the musical composition (e.g., harmony, rhythm, gender for vocal music, language for vocal music, etc.) based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0042]     At task  560 , processor  302  generates an output signal based on the musical composition and the values of the properties determined at tasks  510 - 550 , in well-known fashion. After task  560 , execution continues at task  440 .  
         [0043]      FIG. 6  depicts a detailed flowchart of task  440  in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. It will be clear to those skilled in the art which tasks depicted in  FIG. 6  can be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that depicted.  
         [0044]     At task  610 , processor  302  determines the size of the image based on one or more attributes of the incoming message such as the identity of the sender of the message, a priority associated with the message, a subject associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the location from which the message was sent, etc. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, determining image size based on the location from which the message was sent is possible only in telecommunications systems that provide such information to terminals.  
         [0045]     At task  620 , processor  302  determines the brightness of the image based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0046]     At task  630 , processor  302  determines the contrast of the image based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0047]     At task  640 , processor  302  determines the resolution of the image based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0048]     At task  650 , processor  302  determines the values of additional properties of the image (e.g., hue, saturation, position on display  211 , speed of animation, etc.) based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0049]     At task  660 , processor  302  generates an output signal based on the image and the property values determined at tasks  610 - 650 , in well-known fashion. After task  660 , execution continues at task  450 .  
         [0050]      FIG. 7  depicts a detailed flowchart of task  450  in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. It will be clear to those skilled in the art which tasks depicted in  FIG. 7  can be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that depicted.  
         [0051]     At task  710 , processor  302  determines the text font based on one or more attributes of the incoming message such as the identity of the sender of the message, a priority associated with the message, a subject associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the location from which the message was sent, etc. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, determining the font based on the location from which the message was sent is possible only in telecommunications systems that provide such information to terminals.  
         [0052]     At task  720 , processor  302  determines the font style (e.g., bold, italics, etc.) based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0053]     At task  730 , processor  302  determines the font size based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0054]     At task  740 , processor  302  determines the text color based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0055]     At task  750 , processor  302  determines the values of additional properties of the text (e.g., background color, position on display  211 , dynamic behavior, speed of dynamic behavior, etc.) based on one or more attributes of the incoming message.  
         [0056]     At task  760 , processor  302  generates an output signal based on the image and the values of the image properties determined at tasks  710 - 750 , in well-known fashion. After task  760 , execution continues at task  460 .  
         [0057]     It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention and that many variations of the above-described embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in this Specification, numerous specific details are provided in order to provide a thorough description and understanding of the illustrative embodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of those details, or with other methods, materials, components, etc.  
         [0058]     Furthermore, in some instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the illustrative embodiments. It is understood that the various embodiments shown in the Figures are illustrative, and are not necessarily drawn to scale. Reference throughout the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” or “some embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment(s) is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention, but not necessarily all embodiments. Consequently, the appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” or “in some embodiments” in various places throughout the Specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It is therefore intended that such variations be included within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.