System and method of audible caller identification via a multimedia device

• US 20080101588A1
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bruce, Les, Sullivan, Marc A., Brandt, Jeffrey L., Hubscher, Mark B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,009,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/373.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/578 associated with a synthesized vocal announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/39 using speech synthesis
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/14 cable networks
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 where the data service is an information service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A method and system is disclosed that includes receiving an incoming call including caller identification information at an input responsive to a network. An audio alert and display information associated with the incoming call are sent to a multimedia device.

Claims

1. A method of providing an audio alert associated with an incoming call to a multimedia device, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming call including caller identification information at an input responsive to a network; and

inserting an audio alert and display information associated with the incoming call into a multimedia data stream sent to a multimedia device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the caller identification information into audio data, the audio data comprising the audio alert.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving audio data related to the caller identification information from a memory, wherein the audio data comprises the audio alert.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching a personal address book including a plurality of caller entries to identify a particular entry associated with the caller identification information, the particular entry including recorded audio data; and

wherein the recorded audio data comprises the audio alert associated with the incoming call.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the audio alert from the network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a personal address book including a plurality of caller entries, each entry including a caller name and a caller telephone number, at least one caller entry including a recorded audio alert;

wherein the audio alert comprises the recorded audio alert when the caller identification information matches the at least one caller entry.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia device comprises a television.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting an alert volume level of the audio alert to a level that is greater than a volume level associated with the multimedia data stream.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reducing a stream volume level of the multimedia data stream from a first volume level to a reduced volume level; and

adjusting an alert volume level of the audio alert to the first volume level.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network comprises an Internet protocol network, and wherein the incoming call comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call.

11. An electronic device, comprising:

an input responsive to a network to receive an incoming telephone call including caller identification information; and

a processor coupled to the input, the processor to insert an audio announcement and display information associated with the caller identification information into a multimedia data stream for audio playback and display via a multimedia device.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the electronic device comprises a set-top box device, and wherein the multimedia device comprises a television set coupled to the set-top box device.

13. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the electronic device comprises a customer premises equipment (CPE) device.

14. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the electronic device is responsive to the network and to an electronic device associated with the multimedia device.

15. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the network comprises an Internet protocol network, and wherein the incoming telephone call comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol call.

16. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising a text-to-speech converter to generate the audio announcement based on the caller identification information.

17. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor has access to a memory to retrieve audio data related to the caller identification information, wherein the audio data comprises the audio announcement.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, further comprising a personal address book including a plurality of caller entries stored in the memory, each caller entry including a caller name and a caller number, at least one of the plurality of caller entries including recorded audio data.

19. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the audio announcement is received from the network.

20. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising an audio input to receive audio data, the processor to record the audio input as audio data in a memory, the recorded audio data associated with a particular entry of a personal address book in the memory.

21. The electronic device of claim 20, wherein the audio announcement includes the recorded audio data, the processor to identify an entry within the personal address book based on the caller identification information and to provide the recorded audio data as the audio announcement when the identified entry includes the recorded audio data.

22. A processor readable medium embodying processor readable instructions to provide an audio alert related to an incoming telephone call to a multimedia device for audio playback, the processor readable instructions comprising:

instructions to receive the incoming call including caller identification information at an input responsive to a network; and

instructions to insert an audio alert and display information associated with the incoming call into a multimedia data stream for audio playback and display via the multimedia device.

23. The processor readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor readable instructions further comprise instructions to convert the caller identification information associated with the incoming call into the audio alert.

24. The processor readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor readable instructions further comprise instructions to retrieve the audio alert from a memory based on the caller identification information.

25. The processor readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor readable instructions further comprise instructions to control a first volume level of the multimedia data stream and a second volume level of the audio alert, wherein the second volume level is greater than the first volume level.

26. The processor readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor readable instructions further comprise instructions to generate a graphical user interface including user selectable indicators to receive user input to associate a particular telephone number with a particular audio alert.