Methods and systems for ringtone definition sharing

• US 7,610,044 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2007
• Issued: 10/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DJ Nitrogen, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DJ Nitrogen, Inc.
• Inventors: Sindoni, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): MITCHELL, NATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US11/669,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20070201685A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: 455/567, 455/414.1, 455/418, 455/466, 709/201, 707/101
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/64 file transfer between terminals

Abstract

A system comprises a ringtone originator, a ringtone sharing device, and a ringtone receiver. The ringtone originator (e.g., one or more of a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a PDA, or other computing device) allows a user to generate ringtone content using audio content stored locally. A ringtone definition, describing characteristics of the audio content and manipulations used to transform the audio content to the ringtone content, is generated and is sent to the ringtone sharing device. The ringtone sharing device (e.g., a server operated by a commercial service provider or a mobile telephone service provider) stores a plurality of ringtone definitions that can be accessed by the ringtone receiver. The ringtone receiver (e.g., one or more of a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a PDA, or other computing device) can download the ringtone definition and recreate the ringtone content.

Claims

1. A method for sharing ringtone content independent of audio content used to generate the ringtone content, comprising:

receiving a ringtone definition wherein the ringtone definition describes characteristics of and manipulations used to transform a first instance of audio content on a first device into a ringtone content, wherein the manipulations define one or more effects to be applied to an audio recording of the first instance of audio content;

sending the ringtone definition to a second device; and

generating the ringtone content from a second instance of the audio content on the second device using the ringtone definition, wherein the second instance of the audio content is separate from the first instance of audio content and the second instance of the audio content is received separately from the ringtone definition;

determining that a licensed version of a second instance of the audio content is not locally available; and

automatically obtaining the second instance for the audio content with a license.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the first instance of the audio content and the characteristics of the second instance of the audio content are substantially similar.

3. A method for sharing ringtone content independent of audio content used to generate the ringtone content, comprising:

receiving a ringtone definition wherein the ringtone definition describes characteristics of and manipulations used to transform a first instance of audio content on a first device into a ringtone content, wherein the manipulations define one or more effects to be applied to an audio recording of the first instance of audio content;

sending the ringtone definition to a second device; and

generating the ringtone content from a second instance of the audio content on the second device using the ringtone definition, wherein the second instance of the audio content is separate from the first instance of audio content and the second instance of the audio content is received separately from the ringtone definition,

wherein the one or more devices comprises a mobile telephone.

4. A method for sharing ringtone content independent of audio content used to generate the ringtone content, comprising:

receiving a ringtone definition wherein the ringtone definition describes characteristics of and manipulations used to transform a first instance of audio content on a first device into a ringtone content, wherein the manipulations define one or more effects to be applied to an audio recording of the first instance of audio content;

sending the ringtone definition to a second device; and

generating the ringtone content from a second instance of the audio content on the second device using the ringtone definition, wherein the second instance of the audio content is separate from the first instance of audio content and the second instance of the audio content is received separately from the ringtone definition,

wherein the ringtone definition is received by a ringtone sharing device operated by a ringtone service provider.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the ringtone service provider sends the ringtone definition to a subscriber of the ringtone service provider.

6. A system for sharing ringtone definitions independent of audio content used to generate the ringtone definitions, comprising:

a ringtone originator that generates ringtone definitions wherein the ringtone definitions describe characteristics of, and manipulations to instances of audio content, wherein the manipulations define one or more effects to be applied to an audio recording of the first instance of audio content;

a ringtone sharing device coupled to the ringtone originator wherein the ringtone sharing device receives the ringtone definitions from the ringtone originator and shares the ringtone definition with a ringtone receiver running on a separate device; and

said ringtone receiver that receives the ringtone definitions from the ringtone sharing device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the ringtone sharing device is associated with a ringtone service provider.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the ringtone receiver is associated with a user who subscribes to the ringtone service provider.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the ringtone sharing device further comprises a monetization module for monetizing the ringtone sharing services that the device provides.

10. The system of claim 6, further comprising a network coupled to the ringtone originator, the ringtone sharing device, and the ringtone receiver.

11. The system of claim 6 wherein the ringtone originator is a user device, and the audio content resides on the user device.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the ringtone originator is a user workstation, the ringtone sharing device is a server in communications with a wireless network, and the ringtone receiver is a mobile telephone in communications with the server over the wireless network.

12. A user device comprising:

a ringtone definition stored on a computer-readable storage medium describing characteristics of and manipulations used to transform an audio file into a ringtone, wherein the manipulations define one or more effects to be applied to an audio recording of the first instance of audio content;

said audio file; and

a ringtone generator software executing on the user device operable to use the ringtone definition and the audio file to create the ringtone suitable for use on a mobile telephone, wherein the audio file is received separately from the ringtone definition,

wherein the user device is the mobile telephone.

13. A user device comprising:

a ringtone definition stored on a computer-readable storage medium describing characteristics of and manipulations used to transform an audio file into a ringtone, wherein the manipulations define one or more effects to be applied to an audio recording of the first instance of audio content;

said audio file; and

a ringtone generator software executing on the user device operable to use the ringtone definition and the audio file to create the ringtone suitable for use on a mobile telephone, wherein the audio file is received separately from the ringtone definition,

wherein the user device is a personal computer capable of sharing the ringtone definition with the mobile telephone.