Media-enhanced greetings and/or responses in communication systems

• US 20030193558A1
• Filed: 04/10/2002
• Published: 10/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sundstrom, Robert J., Kovales, Renee M., Hind, John R., Mathewson, James M. II, Doss, J. Smith, Pozefsky, Diane P.
• Granted Patent: US 6,731,323 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

Methods, systems, computer program products, and methods of doing business by using various types of media to enhance greetings and/or responses provided to users of communication systems, for example by providing music or sound for a telephone caller, or video or image for a video phone caller, or any of these types of media or an executable program for a message sender who is using an e-mail system or an instant messaging system. In preferred embodiments, information from an intended message recipient'"'"'s calendar (and/or context) is used when selecting the media to enhance a greeting/response, thereby providing contextual information for the message sender. In alternative embodiments, the selection is based on one or more factors such as information stored in user profiles. The disclosed techniques enable alleviating some of the problems that result from distance communication (as contrasted to face-to-face communication), and may also make distance communication more enjoyable and/or more productive. Adaptations are also disclosed for a calling-party scenario.

Claims

1. A method of enhancing message exchanges by incorporating a selected media file with a greeting for rendering to a message initiator, wherein the selected media file conveys contextual information pertaining to an intended recipient of the message.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

receiving, from the message initiator, an incoming message for the intended message recipient, where the intended message recipient does not answer the incoming message;

programmatically determining the selected media file to be incorporated with the greeting; and

rendering the selected media file and greeting to the message initiator.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of programmatically consulting the intended message recipient'"'"'s electronic calendar to determine his current status, and wherein the step of programmatically determining the selected media file programmatically determines a media file corresponding to the current status.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the rendering step renders the selected media file before rendering the greeting.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the rendering step renders the selected media file after rendering the greeting.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the rendering step renders the selected media file as a replacement for the greeting.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the rendering step renders the selected media file as background for the greeting.

8. The method according to claim 3, wherein the media file corresponding to the current status has been preselected by the intended message recipient.

9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the media file corresponding to the current status belongs to a group of media files which has been preselected by the intended message recipient.

10. The method according to claim 3, wherein the media file corresponding to the current status has been preselected by an enterprise.

11. The method according to claim 3, wherein the media file corresponding to the current status is identified using a unique identifier.

12. The method according to claim 2, wherein the selected media file is identified using a location of the media file, and further comprising the step of retrieving the media file from the identified location.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the media file is a radio broadcast and the location identifies a radio station.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the media file is a stream and the rendering step renders the streaming media identified by the location.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the location is a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

).

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein the media file is computer generated.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein the retrieving step further comprises requesting the media file from a pay-per-use service.

18. The method according to claim 2, wherein the programmatically determining step uses an automated understanding of calendar days to determine the selected media file.

19. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of programmatically consulting the intended message recipient'"'"'s user profile to determine the selected media file.

20. The method according to claim 2, wherein the programmatically determining step further comprises the step of selecting a particular media file if the message initiator belongs to a predetermined category of message initiators, and selecting a different media file otherwise.

21. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of programmatically consulting information about the intended message recipient'"'"'s location or locale to determine the selected media file.

22. The method according to claim 2, wherein the programmatically determining step further comprises the step of consulting contextual information about the intended message recipient to determine the selected media file.

23. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message exchange is an e-mail message exchange and the greeting is a response message generated by an automated function, and further comprising steps of:

receiving, from the message initiator, an incoming e-mail message for the intended message recipient when the automated function is activated for generating the response message for the intended message recipient'"'"'s incoming e-mail messages;

programmatically determining the selected media file to be incorporated with the generated response message; and

returning the selected media file and generated response message to the message initiator.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the response message is an e-mail message.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the response message is an instant mail message.

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein the selected media file is an executable program.

27. A method of enhancing a communication exchange by rendering a selected media file during a temporary suspension of the exchange, further comprising steps of:

beginning the exchange;

temporarily suspending the exchange;

programmatically selecting the media file, responsive to the temporary suspension, based on contextual information pertaining to an exchange participant who initiates the temporary suspension; and

rendering the programmatically selected media file during the temporary suspension.

28. A method of merchandising pre-recorded media files, further comprising steps of:

receiving requests for selected ones of the pre-recorded media files for incorporating with greetings to be rendered for message initiators to convey contextual information pertaining to an intended recipient of the message;

providing the selected ones, in response to the step of receiving requests; and

charging a fee for the provided media files.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the message initiators are callers using telephones.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein the message initiators are callers using video phones.

31. The method according to claim 28, wherein the message initiators are message senders using instant messaging systems.

32. The method according to claim 28, wherein the message initiators are message senders using e-mail systems.

33. An apparatus for enhancing message exchanges by incorporating a selected media file with a greeting for rendering to a message initiator, wherein the selected media file conveys contextual information pertaining to an intended recipient of the message.

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, further comprising:

means for receiving, from the message initiator, an incoming message for the intended message recipient, where the intended message recipient does not answer the incoming message;

means for programmatically determining the selected media file to be incorporated with the greeting; and

means for rendering the selected media file and greeting to the message initiator.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, further comprising means for programmatically consulting the intended message recipient'"'"'s electronic calendar to determine his current status, and wherein the means for programmatically determining the selected media file comprises means for programmatically determining a media file corresponding to the current status.

36. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the means for programmatically determining further comprises means for consulting contextual information about the intended message recipient to determine the selected media file.

37. The apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the media file corresponding to the current status is identified using a location of the media file, and further comprising means for retrieving the media file from the identified location.

38. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the media file is a television broadcast and the location identifies a television station.

39. The apparatus according to claim 37,wherein the media file is a stream and the means for rendering renders the streaming media identified by the location.

40. An apparatus for enhancing a video phone call by playing a selected video file during a temporary suspension of the video phone call, wherein the selected video file conveys contextual information pertaining to an intended recipient of the video phone call, further comprising steps of:

answering the incoming video phone call;

temporarily suspending the answered video phone call;

programmatically selecting the video file, responsive to the temporary suspension, based on the contextual information pertaining to the intended recipient; and

playing the programmatically selected video file during the temporary suspension.

45. The method according to claim 40, wherein the contextual information is obtained from the message initiator'"'"'s electronic calendar.

41. A computer program product for enhancing message exchanges by incorporating a selected media file with a greeting for rendering to a message initiator, wherein the selected media file conveys contextual information pertaining to an intended recipient of the message, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for receiving, from the message initiator, an incoming message for the intended message recipient, where the intended message recipient does not answer the incoming message;

computer-readable program code means for programmatically determining the selected media file to be incorporated with the greeting; and

computer-readable program code means for rendering the selected media file and greeting to the message initiator.

42. The computer program product according to claim 41, further comprising computer-readable program code means for programmatically determining the intended message recipient'"'"'s current status, and wherein the computer-readable program code means for programmatically determining the selected media file comprises computer-readable program code means for programmatically determining a media file corresponding to the current status.

43. A computer program product for enhancing an instant messaging exchange by rendering a selected media file to a first participant during a suspension of the instant messaging exchange, wherein the selected media file conveys contextual information pertaining to a second participant of the instant messaging exchange, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for beginning the instant messaging exchange;

computer-readable program code means for temporarily suspending the instant messaging exchange;

computer-readable program code means for programmatically selecting the media file, responsive to the temporary suspension, based on the contextual information pertaining to the second participant; and

computer-readable program code means for rendering the programmatically selected media file to the first participant during the temporary suspension, thereby conveying the contextual information pertaining to the second participant.

44. A method of enhancing message exchanges by incorporating a selected media file with a message initiator'"'"'s message for rendering to a message recipient, wherein the selected media file conveys contextual information pertaining to the message initiator, the method comprising steps of:

initiating, by the message initiator, an inbound message for the message recipient, where the message recipient does not answer the inbound message;

programmatically selecting the media file to be incorporated with the message initiator'"'"'s message, based on the contextual information pertaining to the message initiator; and

rendering the selected media file along with, or as, the message initiator'"'"'s message for the message recipient.