Compound ring tunes
First Claim
1. A method for providing a ring-tune alert in a communication device operable to receive communications via a communication network, said method comprising:
- detecting an incoming communication;
determining at least one communication characteristic of the incoming communication;
associating a first ring-tune enhancement with the at least one communication characteristic; and
generating a composite ring-tune alert by appending the first ring tune enhancement to a base ring tune,wherein the at least one communication characteristic comprises a plurality of communication characteristics and associating a predetermined ring-tune enhancement with each of a plurality of the plurality of communication characteristics,wherein the first ring-tune enhancement comprises appending a secondary ring-tune to the base ring tune.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A manner of providing ring-tune alerts to announce the arrival of incoming communications at a communication device such as a mobile station operable in a wireless communication network. When notification an incoming communication arrives at the mobile station, the mobile station detects the type and origin of the communication and then composes a ring tune enhanced to provide incoming call information to the subscriber. The enhancement may include temporarily compounding the ring tune, tonal or stylistic enhancement, applying compound accompaniment, or applying tempo variation. The ring-tune components may be installed by the manufacturer or distributor of the instrument, or may be downloaded by the subscriber. The communication device may also be a personal computer operable to communicate through a communication network such as the Internet.
185 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method for providing a ring-tune alert in a communication device operable to receive communications via a communication network, said method comprising:
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detecting an incoming communication; determining at least one communication characteristic of the incoming communication; associating a first ring-tune enhancement with the at least one communication characteristic; and generating a composite ring-tune alert by appending the first ring tune enhancement to a base ring tune, wherein the at least one communication characteristic comprises a plurality of communication characteristics and associating a predetermined ring-tune enhancement with each of a plurality of the plurality of communication characteristics, wherein the first ring-tune enhancement comprises appending a secondary ring-tune to the base ring tune. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for providing a ring-tune alert in a communication device operable to receive communications via a communication network, said method comprising:
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detecting an incoming communication; determining at least one communication characteristic of the incoming communication; associating a first ring-tune enhancement with the at least one communication characteristic; generating a composite ring-tune alert by appending the first ring tune enhancement to a base ring tune; and generating a designated ring-tune alert for indicating the arrival of an incoming communication for which no communication characteristic could be associated with a ring-tune enhancement.
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20. For use in a mobile station operable in a wireless communication network, an improvement of apparatus for alerting a user to the arrival of an incoming call notification, said apparatus comprising:
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a ring-tune database for storing at least one ring-tune enhancement; a detector for detecting communication characteristics, if any, associated with an incoming call; a ring-tune controller for associating a detected communication characteristic with the at least one ring tune enhancement stored in the ring-tune database; and a ring-tune generator for generating an enhanced composite ring tune by appending the at least one ring-tune enhancement to a base ring tune, wherein the detected communication characteristic comprises a plurality of communication characteristics and wherein the ring-tune generator associates a predetermined ring-tune enhancement with each of a plurality of the plurality of communication characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 40)
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26. A system for use in a wireless communication network having network infrastructure, for alerting a network subscriber to the arrival of an incoming call notification, said system comprising:
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at least one mobile station for use by the subscriber; a base station for handling wireless communications between the at least one mobile station and the network infrastructure; a ring-tune database assessable to the base station for storing at least one ring-tune enhancement; a detector for detecting communication characteristics, if any, associated with a network communication directed at the at least one mobile station; a ring-tune controller for associating a detected communication characteristic with the at least one ring tune enhancement stored in the ring-tune database; and a ring-tune generator for generating an enhanced composite ring tune including the at least one ring-tune enhancement appended to a base ring tune, wherein the detected communication characteristic comprises a plurality of communication characteristics and wherein the ring-tune generator associates a predetermined ring-tune enhancement with each of a plurality of communication characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A computer program product for providing a ring-tune alert in a communication device operable to receive communications via a communication network, said computer program product comprising a computer-usable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:
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a first executable code portion for detecting an incoming communication; a second executable code portion for determining at least one communication characteristic of the incoming communication; a third executable code portion for associating a first ring-tune enhancement with the at least one communication characteristic; and a fourth executable code portion for generating a composite ring-tune alert by appending the first ring tune enhancement to a base ring tune, wherein the at least one communication characteristic comprises a plurality of communication characteristics, and further comprising a fifth executable code portion for associating a predetermined ring-tune enhancement with each of a plurality of the plurality of communication characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42)
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43. A method for providing a ring-tune alert in a communication device operable to receive communications via a communication network, said method comprising:
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detecting an incoming communication; determining at least one communication characteristic of the incoming communication; associating a first ring-tune enhancement with the at least one communication characteristic; and generating a composite ring-tune alert by appending the first ring tune enhancement to a base ring tune, and wherein the base ring tune comprises a plurality of ring tunes, and wherein the first ring tune is appended periodically to the plurality of base ring tunes after a predetermined number of rings.
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44. For use in a mobile station operable in a wireless communication network, an improvement of apparatus for alerting a user to the arrival of an incoming call notification, said apparatus comprising:
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a ring-tune database for storing at least one ring-tune enhancement; a detector for detecting communication characteristics, if any, associated with an incoming call; a ring-tune controller for associating a detected communication characteristic with the at least one ring tune enhancement stored in the ring-tune database; and a ring-tune generator for generating an enhanced composite ring tune by appending the at least one ring-tune enhancement to a base ring tune, and wherein the base ring tune comprises a plurality of ring tunes, and wherein the at least one ring-tune is appended periodically to the plurality of base ring tunes after a predetermined number of rings.
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Specification