Media-enhanced greetings and/or responses in communication systems

• US 6,731,323 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2002
• Issued: 05/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sundstrom, Robert J., Kovales, Renee M., Hind, John R., Mathewson, James M. II, Doss, J. Smith, Pozefsky, Diane P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US10/119,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20030193558A1
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.24, 379/93.23, 379/90.01, 379/88.13, 379/88.17, 709/206, 348/14-1-, 348/14.1, 348/14.11, 348/14.13
• US Class Current: 348/14.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

Methods, systems, computer program products, and methods of doing business by using various types of media to enhance greetings and/or responses provided to users of communication systems, for example by providing music or sound for a telephone caller, or video or image for a video phone caller, or any of these types of media or an executable program for a message sender who is using an e-mail system or an instant messaging system. In preferred embodiments, information from an intended message recipient'"'"'s calendar (and/or context) is used when selecting the media to enhance a greeting/response, thereby providing contextual information for the message sender. In alternative embodiments, the selection is based on one or more factors such as information stored in user profiles. The disclosed techniques enable alleviating some of the problems that result from distance communication (as contrasted to face-to-face communication), and may also make distance communication more enjoyable and/or more productive. Adaptations are also disclosed for a calling-party scenario.

Claims

1. A method of enhancing message exchanges, further comprising steps of:

receiving, from a message initiator, an incoming message for an intended message recipient, where the intended message recipient does not answer the incoming message;

programmatically determining a current context of the intended message recipient;

programmatically determining a greeting to be automatically returned to the message initiator in response to the incoming message based on the programmatically-determined context;

programmatically selecting a media file, based on the programmatically-determined context;

blending the programmatically-selected media file with the programmatically determined greeting; and

returning the blended media file and greeting to the message initiator.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of programmatically determining the current context further comprising comprises the step of programmatically consulting the intended message recipients electronic calendar to determine his current status.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

a correspondence between the media file and the programmatically-determined context has been specified by the intended message recipient; and

the programmatically selecting step further comprises using the specified media file.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

a correspondence between a group of media files and the programmatically-determined context has been specified by the intended message recipient; and

the programmatically selecting step further comprises choosing the selected media file from the specified group.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

a correspondence between the media file and the programmatically-determined context has been specified by an enterprise; and

the programmatically selecting step further comprises using the specified media file.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the media file corresponding to the programmatically determined context is identified using a unique identifier.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the programmatically selected media file is identified using a location of the media file, and further comprising the step of retrieving the programmatically-selected media file from the identified location.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the programmatically-selected media file is a radio broadcast and the location identifies a radio station.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the location is a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

).

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the retrieving step further comprises requesting the programmatically-selected media file from a pay-per-use service.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the programmatically selected media file is a stream and the blending step blends the stream with the programmatically determined greeting.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the programmatically-selected media file is computer generated.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein;

the current context of the intended message recipient is indicated by a calender event scheduled on an electronic calendar of the intended message recipient and

the programmatically selecting step uses an automated understanding of calendar events to determine the media file to be selected.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the programmatically selecting step further comprising the step of programmatically consulting the intended message recipient'"'"'s user profile to determine the selected media file to be selected.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the programmatically selecting step further comprises the step of selecting a particular media file if the message initiator belongs to a predetermined category of message initiators and selecting a different media file otherwise.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of programmatically determining the current context further comprises the step of programmatically consulting information about the intended message recipient'"'"'s location or locale.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the incoming message is an e-mail message.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the returning step further comprises returning the blended media file and greeting to message initiator in a second e-mail message.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the returning step further comprises returning the blended media file and greeting to the message initiator in an instant mail message.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the programmatically-selected media file is an executable program.

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

requesting, from a media file merchandising system, the programmatically selected media file;

providing the requested media file, by the media file merchandising system, responsive to the requesting step and prior to the blending step; and

charging a fee for the provided media file.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message initiator is a caller using a telephone.

23. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message initiator is a caller using a video phones phone.

24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message initiator is a message sender using an instant messaging system.

25. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message initiator is a message sender using an e-mail system.

26. An apparatus for enhancing message exchanges by blending a selected media file with a greeting for rendering to a message initiator in response to a message from the message initiator to an intended message recipient who does not answer the message, wherein the greeting conveys recipient-specific contextual information pertaining to the intended message recipient and wherein the selected media file is selected based on the recipient-specific contextual information.

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the intended message recipient'"'"'s electronic calendar is consulted to determine the recipient-specific contextual information pertaining to the intended message recipient.

28. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the selected media file is identified using a location thereof, and wherein the selected media file is retrieved from the identified location.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the selected media file is a television broadcast and the location identifies a television station.

30. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the selected media file is a stream.

31. A computer program product for enhancing message exchanges the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for receiving, from a message initiator, an incoming message for an intended message recipient, where the intended message recipient does not answer the incoming message;

computer-readable program code means for consulting an electronic calendar of the intended message recipient to determine the intended message recipient'"'"'s current context;

computer-readable program code means for determining a greeting to be automatically returned to the message initiator as a response to the incoming message;

computer-readable program code means for programmatically selecting a media file corresponding to the current context;

computer-readable program code means for blending the programmatically-selected media file with the greeting; and

computer-readable program code means for returning the blended media file and greeting to the message initiator.

32. A method of enhancing message exchanges the method comprising steps of:

initiating, by a message initiator, an inbound message for a message recipient, where the message recipient does not answer the inbound message;

deciding, by the message initiator, to record a message from the message recipient, responsive to the message recipient not answering the inbound message;

programmatically obtaining current contextual information pertaining to the message initiator, responsive to the message recipient not answering the inbound message;

programmatically selecting a media file based on the programmatically-obtained contextual information; and

blending the selected media file with the message initiator'"'"'s recorded message.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein the step of programmatically obtaining the contextual information anther comprises the step of consulting is the message initiator'"'"'s electronic calendar.