Programming of a telephone's ringing tone

• US 6,094,587 A
• Filed: 12/22/1997
• Issued: 07/25/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones UK Limited (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Leppalammi, Jani, Ylitolva, Vesa, Armanto, Taneli
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisenzopf, Reinhard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MEHRPOUR, NAGHMEH
• Application Number:
  US08/995,795
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 455/550, 455/567, 379/372, 379/373, 379/374
• US Class Current: 455/567
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/041 Encoding the ringing signal, i.e. providing distinctive or selective ringing capability

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for programming a ringing tone of a telephone, wherein, in the telephone, the ringing tone is stored in a ringing tone memory and reproduced by means of sound reproduction devices as a response to an incoming call. In the method, the ringing tone is transformed into characters containing specifications of notes and the characters are sent to the telephone, e.g., in a short message. In the telephone, the received characters are modified into such a form that they can be stored in a memory.

Claims

1. A mobile communications system, having a mobile communications network and at least one mobile station for wireless communication, the system comprising:

means for transmitting and receiving speech,

a memory for storing a ringing tone,

means for reproducing the ringing tone as a signal of an incoming call,

means for modifying the ringing tone, stored in the memory, into characters, and

means for transmitting said characters with a ringing tone identifier identifying the transmission as a ringing tone transmission.

2. A mobile communications system, having a mobile communications network and at least one mobile station for wireless communication, the system comprising:

means for transmitting and receiving speech,

a ringing tone memory for storing a ringing tone,

means for reproducing the ringing tone as a signal of an incoming call,

means for receiving messages with characters,

means for detecting a ringing tone identifier in a received message informing the message is a ringing tone,

means for receiving a ringing tone as characters through wireless communication, and

means for modifying said characters into a form for being stored in the ringing tone memory.

3. A mobile station for wireless communication, comprising:

means for transmitting and receiving speech,

a ringing tone memory for storing a ringing tone,

means for reproducing the ringing tone as a signal of an incoming call,

means for modifying the ringing tone, stored in the memory, into characters, and

means for transmitting said characters with a ringing tone identifier identifying the transmission as a ringing tone transmission.

4. A mobile station for wireless communication, comprising:

means for transmitting and receiving speech,

a ringing tone memory for storing a ringing tone,

means for reproducing the ringing tone as a signal of an incoming call,

means for receiving messages with characters,

means for detecting a ringing tone identifier in a received message informing the message is a ringing tone,

means for receiving a ringing tone as characters through wireless communication, and

means for modifying said characters into a form for being stored in the ringing tone memory.

5. A method for programming a ringing tone of a telephone, comprising the steps of:

storing a ringing tone in a memory,

reproducing said ringing tone by means of sound reproduction means as a response to an incoming call to the telephone, and

modifying said ringing tone into characters and transmitting it to the telephone by wireless communication as characters with a ringing tone identifier identifying the transmission as a ringing tone transmission.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein a ringing tone is sent to the telephone as characters containing specifications of notes.

7. A method according to claim 5, wherein, in the telephone, upon receiving a message and detecting a ringing tone identifier in the message received as characters, the characters are modified into such a form that they can be stored in a memory.

8. A method according to claim 5, wherein the characters are sent in a short message.

9. A terminal for data transmission, comprising:

a ringing tone memory (14) for storing a ringing tone,

means for transforming the ringing tone into characters, and

means for transmitting said characters with a ringing tone identifier identifying the transmission as a ringing tone transmission.

10. A terminal according to claim 9, further comprising:

means for establishing a connection to a short message service center of a mobile communications system, and

means for transmitting said characters in a short message through the short message service center.