Caller ID display system for telephony over a packet switched network

• US 20030190024A1
• Filed: 04/04/2002
• Published: 10/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Innomedia Pte Ltd
• Inventors: Ju, Paul Pay-Lun
• Granted Patent: US 6,831,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/142.16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/56 for VoIP communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/202 VoIP; Packet switched telephony
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing

Abstract

The present invention relates to displaying caller ID information, and more specifically, to displaying caller ID information in an environment with broadband telephony service. The invention provides a method and apparatus for receiving caller ID information from a service provider and providing the caller ID information for display as an overlay over a television programming image provided by the service provider and displayed on a television.

Claims

1. A customer gateway for communicating with a service provider network, the service provider network providing television programming for display on a video device and telephony communications for supporting at least one telephone device, the customer gateway comprising:

a service provider network interface circuit for receiving frames from the service provider network, the frames comprising television programming frames and telephony frames, the telephony frames including caller ID data;

a telephony processing circuit including;

means for translating telephony frames to telephone signals compliant with the at least one telephone device; and

means for providing the caller ID data to a television circuit, the television circuit comprising;

means for receiving the television programming frames and generating a television programming signal compliant with a receiver associated with the video device; and

means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data on a portion of a video image represented by the television programming signal.

2. The customer gateway circuit of claim 1, wherein the means for translating telephony frames to telephone signals comprises a PSTN circuit for generating a PSTN compliant telephone signal to each of a plurality of PSTN ports.

3. The customer gateway circuit of claim 2, wherein:

the means for providing the caller ID data comprises means for providing an identification of the at least one telephone device; and

the means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data on a portion of the video image comprises means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data and the identification of the at least one telephone device on the video image.

4. The customer gateway circuit of claim 1, wherein the means for translating telephony frames to telephone signals comprises a voice-over-IP circuit for maintaining a real-time communication channel with each of the at least one telephone device through a network port.

5. The customer gateway circuit of claim 4, wherein:

the means for providing the caller ID data comprises means for providing an identification of the at least one telephone device; and

the means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data on a portion of the video image comprises means for receiving and overlaying the caller ID data and the identification of the at least one telephone device on the video image.

6. An image overlay circuit for coupling between a video display device and a frame switched network from which a frame of data representing caller ID information and video programming may be received, the image overlay circuit comprising:

a network interface for coupling to the frame switched network and for receiving the frame of data representing caller ID information and a frame of data representing the video programming; and

a video signal generating circuit for generating a video signal for display on the video display device, the video signal comprising an overlay of a pixel graphic representing the Caller ID information on the video programming.

7. The image overlay circuit of claim 6, wherein:

the frame of data representing the caller ID information further includes an identification of with which of a plurality of telephone devices the caller ID information is associated; and

the video signal generating circuit further provides for the video signal comprising an overlay of a pixel graphic representing the identification on the video programming.

8. A method of processing caller ID data, comprising the steps of:

receiving frames from a service provider, the frames comprising television programming frames and telephony frames, the telephony frames including caller ID data;

translating telephony frames to telephone signals compliant with the at least one telephone device; and

translating the caller ID data to an image representing the caller ID data;

translating the television programming frames to a television programming signal representing a television image for display on an associated video device; and

combining the image representing the caller ID data with the television programming signal such that the television image includes the image representing the caller ID data overlaid over a portion of the television image.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of translating telephony frames to telephone signals further comprises translating the telephony frames to telephone PSTN compliant signals and coupling each PSTN compliant signal to one of a plurality of PSTN ports.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of combining the image representing the caller ID data with the television programming signal further comprises combining an image of information representing with which of the plurality of PSTN ports the caller ID is associated.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of translating telephony frames to telephone signals further comprises translating the telephony frames to frames compatible with a real-time communication channel over a frame switched network with each of a plurality of frame-switched telephone devices coupled thereto.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of combining the image representing the caller ID data with the television programming signal further comprises combining an image of information representing with which of the plurality of frame-switched telephone devices caller ID is associated.

13. A method of processing caller ID data comprising:

receiving a frame of data representing video programming from a frame switched network;

receiving a frame of data representing caller ID information from the frame switched network; and

generating a video signal for display on a video display device, the video signal comprising an overlay of a pixel graphic representing the Caller ID information on an image represented by the video programming.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a frame of data representing an identification of with which of a plurality of telephone devices the caller ID information is associated; and

the video signal further comprises an overlay of the identification on the image represented by the video programming.

15. A customer gateway for communicating with a service provider network, the service provider network providing telephony communications for supporting at least one telephone device, the customer gateway comprising:

a service provider network interface circuit for receiving frames from the service provider network, the frames including caller ID information and including real time streaming media;

a telephony processing circuit including;

means for sending a frame representing the real time streaming media to a network telephone device at a first network address; and

means for sending a frame representing the caller ID information to a caller ID device at a second network address.

16. The customer gateway of claim 17, wherein the telephone processing circuit further includes:

means for sending a frame representing the caller ID information to the network telephone device at the first network address.

17. The customer gateway of claim 15, wherein the telephone processing circuit further includes:

means for identifying with which one of a plurality of virtual subscriber loops the caller ID information is associated; and

means for sending an indication of such identification to the second network address.

18. A mixing unit for mixing a caller ID display on a television signal, the mixing unit comprising:

means for receiving a video signal;

means for receiving a frame on a packet switched network, the frame comprising caller ID information;

means for overlaying a text representation of the caller ID information on a portion of an image represented by the video signal and generating a mixed video signal representative thereof; and

means for coupling the mixed video signal to a television.

19. The mixing unit of claim 18, wherein:

the frame further comprises line identification; and

the means for overlaying a text representation of the caller ID information on a portion of an image represented by the video signal further comprises means for overlaying a text representation of the line identification on a portion of the image.

20. The mixing unit of claim 19, wherein the line identification is the destination address of an IP header of the frame.

21. The mixing unit of claim 19, wherein the line identification is data included in a payload portion of the frame.