AUTOMATIC ROTATION THROUGH PLAY OUT OF AUDIO-CLIPS IN REPSONSE TO DETECTED ALERT EVENTS

• US 20100069105A1
• Filed: 11/23/2009
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Gailoux, Michael A., Biere, Devon L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,119 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/14 Delay circuits; Timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/02 Calling substations, e.g. by ringing selective calling H04Q

Abstract

A method and device for detecting alert events and responsively playing out audio-clips. The audio-clips may comprise data representing a sound recording. Playing out the audio-clips occurs in an order defined by a sequence. The audio-clips and the sequence are maintained in data storage. A processor executes program logic to detect a first alert event and responsively play out at least a first audio-clip of the sequence, and to detect a next alert event and responsively play out at least a next alert event of the sequence. After playing out all audio-clips in the sequence, play out of the audio-clips may then continue with the first audio-clip of the sequence.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining in data storage a set of audio-clip data defining a plurality of distinct audio-clips and a particular sequence in which the audio-clips should be played out;

detecting a first alert event and responsively playing out at least a first audio-clip of the sequence; and

detecting a next alert event and responsively playing out at least a next audio-clip of the sequence.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein each alert event comprises an incoming call, and

wherein each audio-clip comprises a ringtone.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each alert event comprises:

(i) an incoming e-mail message, (ii) an incoming Short-Message-Service (SMS) message, (iii) an incoming Instant Message (IM), (iv) an incoming voice mail message, (v) an incoming wireless pager message, (vi) an incoming phone call page, or (vii) an incoming session initiation protocol (SIP) message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is carried out in a wireless communication device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the audio-clip data via a communication interface, and

executing program instructions to store the received audio-clip data in the data storage.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

prompting a user for approval to receive the audio-clip data; and

receiving the approval from the user.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein playing out at least the first audio-clip of the sequence comprises a function selected from the group consisting of:

(i) playing out a portion of the first audio-clip, (ii) playing out the first audio-clip in its entirety, and (iii) playing out the first audio-clip in its entirety and repeating playout of at least a portion of the first audio-clip, and

wherein playing out at least the next audio-clip of the sequence comprises a function selected from the group consisting of;

(i) playing out a portion of the next audio-clip, (ii) playing out the next audio-clip in its entirety, and (iii) playing out the next audio-clip in its entirety and repeating playout of at least a portion of the next audio-clip.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting the first audio-clip from digital form to analog form and providing the analog form of the first audio-clip to an audio output device for playing out the first audio-clip; and

converting the second audio-clip from digital form to analog form and providing the analog fowl of the second audio-clip to the audio output device for playing out the second audio-clip.

9. The method of claim 1,

wherein the set of audio-clip data includes a plurality of audio-clip pointers that each define an audio-clip starting-point for a respective one of the audio-clips or an audio-clip ending-point for a respective one of the audio-clips,

wherein each of the plurality of audio-clips is associated with one of the audio-clip starting-points and one of the audio-clip ending-points, and

wherein playing out a given audio-clip includes playing the given audio-clip from the audio-clip starting-point associated with the given audio-clip to the audio-clip ending-point associated with the given audio-clip.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the audio-clip starting-points defines a unique starting-time, and each of the audio-clip ending-points defines a unique ending-time.

11. A device comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface;

data storage;

a set of audio-clip data stored in the data storage and defining a plurality of distinct audio-clips and a particular sequence in which the audio-clips should be played out; and

program logic stored in the data storage and executable by the processor to (i) detect a first alert event and responsively play out at least a first audio-clip of the sequence, and (ii) detect a next alert event and responsively play out at least a next audio-clip of the sequence.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein each alert event comprises the communication interface receiving a respective data communication comprising (i) data that indicates a phone call is available for connection to the device, (ii) a message-alert, or (iii) a message.

13. The device of claim 11,

wherein the communication interface comprises an interface to a wireless network, and

wherein the communication interface receives the set of audio-clip data from a remote server via the wireless network.

14. The device of claim 13,

wherein the set of audio-clip data received at the communication interface includes the plurality of audio-clips and meta data that defines at least one pointer for each of the plurality of audio-clips, and

wherein each pointer defines a boundary of at least one of the audio-clips.

15. The device of claim 13, further comprising:

a user interface for receiving user approval,

wherein receiving the set of audio-clip data is conditioned on receiving the user approval.

16. The device of claim 11, further comprising:

a user interface comprising at least one audio output interface for playing out each audio-clip.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the set of audio-clip data comprises data selected from the group consisting of:

(i) a number indicating a quantity of audio-clips in the sequence, (ii) a plurality of pointers, wherein each pointer identifies a particular position of a particular audio-clip in the sequence, (iii) a plurality of audio-clip starting-times, wherein each audio-clip starting-time is associated with a particular audio-clip, and (iv) a plurality of audio-clip ending-times, wherein each audio-clip ending-time is associated with a particular audio-clip.

18. The device of claim 11, wherein the program logic is further executable to receive user input that redefines the sequence in which the audio-clips should be played out.

19. A device comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface;

data storage;

a first set of audio-clip data stored in the data storage and defining a first set of audio-clips of a plurality of distinct audio-clips and a first sequence in which the audio-clips of the first set should be played out;

a second set of audio-clip data stored in the data storage and defining a second set of audio-clips of the plurality of distinct audio-clips and a second sequence in which the audio-clips of the second set should be played out; and

program logic stored in the data storage and executable by the processor to (i) detect a first alert event of a first type and responsively play out at least a first audio-clip of the first sequence, and (ii) detect a next alert event of the first type and responsively play out at least a next audio-clip of the first sequence,

wherein the program logic is further executable to (i) detect a first alert event of a second type and responsively play out at least a first audio-clip of the second sequence, and (ii) detect a next alert event of the second type and responsively play out at least a next audio-clip of the second sequence.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the first set of audio-clips and the second set of audio-clips each include all audio-clips of the plurality of distinct audio-clips.