Method and system of creating customized ringtones

• US 20070129114A1
• Filed: 12/05/2005
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Small, David, Chandra, Nalesh
• Granted Patent: US 7,546,148 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/567
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

Method and system of customizing ringtones. The method and system including features to facilitate synthesizing a sample recording and converting the synthesized sample recording to a customized ringtone suitable for use with a phone.

Claims

1. A system of customizing ringtones of the type used by a phone to alert a recipient of incoming phone calls, the system comprising:

a kiosk configured to record media signals into a sample recording and to communicate a synthesized version of the sample recording to a server associated with a phone network used to conduct phone calls with the phone; and

the server being configured to convert the synthesized sample recording to a customized ringtone and to transmit the customized ringtone over the phone network to the phone for use by the phone in alerting the recipient of incoming phone calls.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the kiosk further includes a user interface to present user selectable synthesizing options, the selected synthesizing options being used by the kiosk to synthesizing the sample recording.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the server define the synthesizing options available to the kiosk for synthesizing the sample recording.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the kiosk includes a number of predefined synthesizing options for synthesizing the sample recording.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the kiosk includes an input for receiving the sample recording from a recordable medium.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the kiosk includes speakers for playing back the synthesized sample recording prior to transmitting the synthesized sample recording to the server for conversion to the customized ringtone.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the kiosk includes an identification feature to facilitate identifying a user thereof.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the server is configured to convert the synthesized sample recording to the customized ringtone as a function of the user thereof.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the kiosk is configured to limit available synthesizing options as a function of the identified user.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the kiosk includes a phone number feature for identifying one or more phone numbers to receive the customized ringtone, the server transmitting the customized ringtone to the identified phone number(s).

11. A method of customizing ringtones of the type used by a phone to alert a recipient of incoming calls, the method comprising:

configuring a kiosk to facilitate recording media signals into a sample recording and communicating a synthesized version of the sample recording to a server associated with a phone network used to conduct phone calls with the phone.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising converting the synthesized sample recording to a customized ringtone and transmitting the customized ringtone over the phone network to the phone for use by the phone in alerting the recipient of incoming phone calls.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising configuring the kiosk to provide a user interface to facilitate synthesizing the sample recording.

14. A computer-readable medium for generating customized ringtones, the computer-readable having instructions for:

converting a synthesized sample recording to a customized ringtone suitable for use with a phone to alert recipients of incoming calls.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising instructions for receiving the synthesized ringtone from a kiosk and identifying the phone to receive the ringtone as a function thereof.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions for converting the synthesized sample recording as a function of phone capabilities of the phone receiving the customized ringtone.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising instructions for communicating the customized ringtone over a phone network to the phone.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising instructions for providing instructions to a kiosk for instructing the kiosk to facilitate synthesizing the sample recording and communicating the sample recording for conversion to the customized ringtone.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising instructions for providing a user interface on the kiosk, the user interface having features to facilitate synthesizing the sample recording.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 further comprising instructions for limiting available synthesizing options displayed in the user interface as a function of a user associated therewith.

21. A kiosk for use in customizing ringtones of the type used by a phone to alert a recipient of incoming phone calls, the kiosk comprising:

a recorder configured to record media signals into a sample recording;

a synthesizer configured to synthesize the sample recording; and

a communication featured configured to transmit the synthesized recording to a server for conversion to a ringtone suitable for use by the phone in alerting the recipient of incoming phone calls.

22. The kiosk of claim 21 further including a user interface to present user selectable synthesizing options, the selected synthesizing options being used by the kiosk to synthesizing the sample recording.

23. The kiosk of claim 22 wherein the kiosk is configured to define the available synthesizing options as a function of signals received from the server.

24. The kiosk of claim 22 further including a number of predefined synthesizing options for synthesizing the sample recording.

25. The kiosk of claim 21 further including speakers for playing back the synthesized sample recording prior to transmitting the synthesized sample recording to the server for conversion to the ringtone.

26. The kiosk of claim 21 further including an identification feature to facilitate identifying a user thereof.

27. The kiosk of claim 26 further configured to limit available synthesizing options as a function of the identified user.

28. The kiosk of claim 21 further including a phone number feature for identifying one or more phone numbers to receive the ringtone, the server transmitting the ringtone to the identified phone number(s).