System and method for providing particularized audible alerts

• US 10,104,226 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2017
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Somatek, Co.
• Original Assignee: Somatek
• Inventors: Fitchmun, Mark I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US15/402,157
• Publication Number:
  US 20170149964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 645 Days
• Field of Search: 340 751, 379 8804, 37914204, 37920104, 37921102, 379418, 379 671, 379 8818, 455 305, 4555691, 704236, 704240, 704276, 704221, 704223, 704249, 705 268, 370352
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2230/021 Mobile ringtone, i.e. generation, transmission, conversion or downloading of ringing tones or other sounds for mobile telephony; Special musical data formats or protocols herefor mobile telephone transmission specifically adapted for electrophonic musical tools or instruments G10H2240/251
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42051 where the notification is included in the ringing tone
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

A system and method generating at least one distinctive auditory alert upon receiving a transmission or telephone call at a device is described. Data indicative of a first plurality of sounds corresponding to a user of a device configured to receive the transmission or telephone call is accessed, such as from a memory. The first plurality of sounds is played at the device so as to identify a received transmission or telephone call being directed to the user. A telephone number, subscriber name or identifier associated with a transmitting or calling party of the transmission or telephone call is accessed. Data indicative of a second plurality of sounds designating the transmitting or calling party based on the subscriber name, telephone number or identifier is retrieved, such as from a data structure, and the second plurality of sounds is played at the device so as to identify the transmitting or calling party.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executable codes for directing a telephonic device configured to generate at least two distinctive auditory alerts upon receiving a telephone call, the codes comprising computer executable codes for directing the telephonic device to:

access data indicative of a first plurality of sounds related to an attribute of a user of a device, wherein the data corresponds to a sequence of phonemes associated with the attribute of the user, the device configured to receive a telephone call;

play the first plurality of sounds in a sequence so as to identify a received telephone call being directed to the user, wherein the plurality of sounds are based on the sequence of phonemes;

access an identifier associated with a calling party of the telephone call; and

provide data indicative of a second plurality of sounds designating the calling party based on the accessed identifier, and

play the second plurality of sounds in a sequence so as to identify the calling party.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer executable codes to provide data indicative of a second plurality of sounds accesses a data structure indexed by the identifier, wherein the identifier comprises a telephone number or a subscriber name, and the data structure comprises a list, array, table, or database.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the computer executable codes to provide data indicative of a second plurality of sounds comprises a transformation process based on the accessed identifier, and wherein the transformation process comprises rules for arranging and/or parsing the telephone number, or rules assigning phonic symbols based on the subscriber name.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of sounds corresponds to one or more instruments and the second plurality of sounds corresponds to one or more instruments.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein two or more sounds of the second plurality of sounds overlap at one or more predetermined times in the sequence.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein playing the first plurality of sounds is followed by a predetermined period of silence and playing the second plurality of sounds, and wherein the first plurality of sounds, the predetermined period of silence and the second plurality of sounds is repeated, after a time interval, for a predetermined number of times.

7. A method of generating a distinctive auditory alert upon receiving a telephone call at a device, the method comprising:

accessing an identifier associated with a calling party of a telephone call;

automatically assigning a particular plurality of sounds to correspond to the identifier of the calling party; and

playing the plurality of sounds at the device so as to identify the calling party, wherein the plurality of sounds are based on a sequence of phonemes corresponding to the identifier associated with the calling party.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a user of the device does not select the sounds of the plurality of sounds.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein automatically assigning comprises applying transformations based on the identifier, wherein the identifier comprises a telephone number or subscriber name.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the transformations comprise arranging and/or parsing the telephone number, and additionally comprising assigning phonic symbols to the arranged and/or parsed telephone number.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the transformations comprise assigning phonic symbols based on the subscriber name, and wherein the assigned phonic symbols correspond to phonemes of the subscriber name.

12. The method of claim 7, additionally comprising assigning each calling party a unique plurality of sounds to be played in a sequence, wherein two or more sounds overlap at one or more predetermined times in the sequence.

13. The method of claim 7, additionally comprising storing the assigned particular plurality of sounds and the corresponding identifier of the calling party in a data structure associated with the device, wherein the data structure comprises a list, array, table, or database.

14. The method of claim 13, in a subsequent telephone call to the device from a calling party that has previously called the device, additionally comprising:

indexing the data structure based on the identifier of the calling party to retrieve the assigned plurality of sounds designating the calling party; and

playing the plurality of sounds in a sequence at the device so as to identify the calling party.

15. A telephonic device comprising software instruction code performed on the telephonic device, the instruction code configured to:

produce an acoustic representation of a message, the acoustic representation comprising acoustic symbols, the acoustic symbols representing phonemes of a language, wherein the acoustic symbols comprise combinations of sounds, single sounds, and/or silence, and wherein the acoustic symbols are produced in a temporal order consistent with the language; and

assign the combinations of sounds or the single sounds to the acoustic symbols.

16. The telephonic device of claim 15, additionally comprising an audible alert/ringer, wherein the alert/ringer is configured to generate an acoustic representation of a message, wherein the message comprises information regarding an incoming call.

17. The telephonic device of claim 16, wherein the information comprises a caller ID of the incoming call or the message comprises the name of an owner of the telephonic device.

18. The telephonic device of claim 15, wherein the instruction code being configured to assign the combinations of sounds or the single sounds to the acoustic symbols comprises the instruction code being further configured to randomly assign the combinations of sounds or the single sounds to the acoustic symbols.

19. The telephonic device of claim 15, wherein the instruction code being configured to assign the combinations of sounds or the single sounds to the acoustic symbols further comprises the instruction code being configured for a user to assign the combinations of sounds or the single sounds to the acoustic symbols.

20. The telephonic device of claim 15, additionally comprising a transmitter of the acoustic representation of a message and a receiver of the acoustic representation of a message.