Method and system for outputting caller information

• US 20070211873A1
• Filed: 01/16/2007
• Published: 09/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wang, Jun
• Application Number:
  US11/653,545
• Publication Number:
  US 20070211873A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/142.10
• 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 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72

Abstract

A method for outputting caller information which is saved in a caller information server, including: upon receiving a call request carrying a calling number from a switching system, the called terminal sends a request for caller information carrying the calling number to the caller information server according to the calling number; the caller information server queries the caller information according to the calling number, and returning the caller information corresponding to the calling number to the called terminal; the called terminal outputs the caller information. A system and a terminal are provided by this invention as well. Implementation of the present invention helps to make full use of the capability of a terminal, simplify the processing in the switching system, lower the complexity of the processing in the switching system, and reduce the consumption of system resources of the switching system.

Claims

1. A method for outputting caller information, comprising:

saving the caller information in a caller information server;

upon receiving a call request carrying a calling number sent from a switching system, sending, by a called terminal, a request for caller information carrying the calling number to the caller information server;

querying, by the caller information server, the caller information according to the calling number;

returning, by the caller information server, the caller information corresponding to the calling number to the called terminal;

outputting, by the called terminal, the caller information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the process of sending the request for caller information to the caller information server comprises:

sending, by the called terminal, the request for caller information to the caller information server according to the address information of the caller information server saved in the called terminal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the address information of the caller information server comprises one of:

IP address of the caller information server, Uniformed Resource Locator (URL) of the caller information server, corresponding phone number of the caller information server and Short Message Service (SMS) number of the caller information server.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the called terminal is connected with the caller information server via one of GPRS, 3G, 4G, NGN and Internet communications.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the caller information server sends the caller information to the called terminal via one of a flash message, short message, WAP, HTTP, SIP and TCP/IP.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the process of saving the caller information in a caller information server comprises:

saving, by a calling user, the caller information in the caller information server via one of Internet, WAP and SMS.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the caller information comprises the calling number and calling user information configured correspondingly by a calling user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the process of saving the caller information further comprises:

configuring different calling user information corresponding to the calling number for different called numbers or/and different time;

the request for caller information further comprises a called number;

the process of querying further comprises;

querying, by the caller information server, the corresponding calling user information according to the called number.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the calling user information comprises at least one kind of text, image, audio and multimedia information.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the calling user information comprises at least one kind of text, image, audio or multimedia information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein when the caller information received by the called terminal comprises audio information, the process of outputting by the called terminal the caller information comprises:

playing, by the called terminal, the audio information as ringing tone.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting, by the called terminal, the calling number on a display screen and prompting that the caller information is being acquired when the called terminal sends the request for caller information to the caller information server.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

terminating information interaction between the called terminal and the caller information server if the called terminal answering.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving, by the called terminal, the caller information together with the calling number correspondingly upon receiving the caller information.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

before sending the request for caller information to the caller information server, searching, by the called terminal, self-stored caller information according to the calling number, if the caller information corresponding to the calling number has been found, not sending the request for caller information to the caller information server.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

recording, by the called terminal, time of saving the caller information;

querying, by the switching system, before sending the call request to a called terminal, time of updating the caller information in the caller information server, sending the call request along with the time of updating the caller information to the called terminal;

upon receiving the call request, checking, by the called terminal, whether the caller information has been saved according to the calling number in the call request, if the caller information has not been found, sending the request for caller information to the caller information server;

if the caller information has been found, comparing the time of updating the caller information with last time of saving the caller information, if the time of updating the caller information is later than the last time of saving the caller information, sending the request for caller information to the caller information server, otherwise, not sending the request for caller information to the caller information server.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the caller information further comprises the time of updating the caller information saved in the caller information server;

the process of recording by the called terminal time of saving the caller information comprises;

recording, by the called terminal, the time of updating the caller information saved in the caller information server carried in the caller information.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

recording, by the called terminal, time of saving the caller information;

when sending the request for caller information in connection with the calling number next time, sending, by the called terminal, last time of saving the caller information along with the request for caller information to the caller information server;

upon receiving the request for caller information, comparing, by the caller information server, the last time of saving the caller information carried in the request for caller information with the time of updating the caller information corresponding to the calling number saved in the caller information server itself, if the time of updating the caller information is later than the last time of saving the caller information, sending the caller information to the called terminal;

otherwise notifying the called terminal that the caller information has not been updated, and outputting, by the called terminal, after receiving the notification, the caller information corresponding to the calling number.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the caller information further comprises the time of updating the caller information saved in the caller information server;

the process of recording by the called terminal time of saving the caller information comprises;

recording, by the called terminal, the time of updating the caller information saved in the caller information server carried in the received caller information.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while saving the caller information, sending, by the caller information server, a request for synchronizing the caller information carrying the caller information to the called terminal;

saving, by the called terminal, the caller information of the calling user upon receiving the request for synchronizing the caller information.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while saving the caller information, sending, by the caller information server, periodically, a request for synchronizing the caller information carrying the caller information to the called terminal;

updating, by the called terminal, the caller information upon receiving the request for synchronizing the caller information.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the called terminal, periodically, a request for synchronizing the caller information to the caller information server, wherein the request for synchronizing the caller information carries the calling number and the last time of saving the caller information corresponding to the calling number;

upon receiving the request for synchronizing the caller information, determining, by the caller information server, whether the last time of saving the caller information by the called terminal is earlier than the time of updating the user information by the calling user in the information server, if the last time is earlier than the time of updating, sending updated user information to the called terminal to update the caller information in the called terminal;

otherwise, terminating synchronizing process.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving, in the switching system, a service flag indicating whether a calling user has subscribed to a caller information service;

when sending the call request to the called terminal, sending, by the switching system, the service flag corresponding to the calling user to the called terminal;

determining, by the called terminal, according to the service flag, whether the calling user has subscribed to the caller information service, if the calling user has subscribed to the caller information service, sending the request for caller information to the caller information server;

otherwise, not sending the request for caller information to the caller information server.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring a service flag indicating whether a calling user has subscribed to a caller information service and a segment of calling number for subscribing to the caller information service;

before sending the call request to the called terminal, determining, by the switching system, whether the calling number is in the segment of calling number, if the calling number is in the segment, setting the service flag as valid, sending the service flag along with the call request to the called terminal;

determining, by the called terminal, according to the service flag, whether the calling user has subscribed to the caller information service, if the calling user has subscribed to the caller information service, sending the request for caller information to the caller information server;

otherwise, not sending the request for caller information to the caller information server.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring a service flag indicating whether a calling user has subscribed to a caller information service and a prefix number for subscribing to the caller information service;

determining, by the switching system, before sending a call request to the called terminal, whether the calling number comprises the prefix number, if the calling number comprises the prefix number, setting the service flag as valid, sending the service flag along with the call request to the called terminal;

determining, by the called terminal, according to the service flag, whether the calling user has subscribed to the caller information service, if the calling user has subscribed to the caller information service, sending the request for caller information to the caller information server;

otherwise, not sending the request for caller information to the caller information server.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the caller information server comprises one of:

Service Control Point (SCP), USSD server, and Personal Information Management (PIM) server.

27. A system for outputting caller information, comprising:

a switching system for sending a call request carrying a calling number;

a called terminal for sending, upon receiving the call request carrying the calling number from the switching system, a request for caller information carrying the calling number according to the calling number, and displaying the caller information;

a caller information server for saving the caller information, and querying the caller information according to the calling number carried in the request for caller information received from the called terminal, and returning the caller information corresponding to the calling number to the called terminal.

28. A terminal comprising means for sending a request for caller information to a caller information server upon receiving a call request, and outputting the caller information upon receiving the caller information from the caller information server.