Polled geofencing and distinguished ring-back

• US 7,873,158 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2006
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Shengqiang, Sharma, Ranjan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pope, Kharye
• Application Number:
  US11/444,105
• Publication Number:
  US 20070280448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,693 Days
• Field of Search: 379/207.12, 379/201.09, 379/67.1, 379/100.06, 379/257, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/456.2
• US Class Current: 379/386
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/307 using ringback
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42017 Customized ring-back tones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13152 Callback
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

The apparatus may have: a telecommunication network having a tracking calling terminal and a tracked called terminal; a polled geofencing system associated with at least one predetermined area having a predetermined boundary, the tracked called terminal having a location relative to the predetermined boundary; and at least first and second predetermined ring-back tones having a functional relationship with the at least one predetermined boundary, the first predetermined ring-back tone being utilized when the tracked called terminal is within the predetermined boundary, and the second predetermined ring-back tone being utilized when the tracked called terminal is outside of the predetermined boundary; wherein the at least first and second predetermined ring-back tones alert the tracking calling terminal to a location, relative to the predetermined boundary as determined by the polled geofencing system, of tracked called terminal during a call setup between the designated tracked called terminal and the tracking calling terminal.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a polled geofencing system associated with at least one caller definable predetermined area having a predetermined boundary; and

at least one predetermined specialized ring-back tone having a functional relationship with the at least one predetermined boundary;

wherein the at least one predetermined specialized ring-back tone alerts a designated calling party to a location, relative to the at least one predetermined boundary as determined by the polled geofencing system, of a called party during a call setup between the designated calling party and the called party; and

wherein the called party location is determined only during the call setup.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the geofencing system comprises a location based application.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the geofencing system comprises a GPS system.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined area is a closed area defining an area inside the boundary and an area outside the boundary.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined area is a route, and wherein the boundary is at least one segment of the route.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

a telecommunication network having a tracking calling terminal and a tracked called terminal;

a polled geofencing system associated with at least one caller definable predetermined area having a predetermined boundary, the tracked called terminal having a location relative to the predetermined boundary; and

at least first and second predetermined ring-back tones having a functional relationship with the at least one predetermined boundary, the first predetermined ring-back tone being utilized when the tracked called terminal is within the predetermined boundary, and the second predetermined ring-back tone being utilized when the tracked called terminal is outside of the predetermined boundary;

wherein the at least first and second predetermined ring-back tones alert the tracking calling terminal to a location, relative to the predetermined boundary as determined by the polled geofencing system, of tracked called terminal during a call setup between the designated tracked called terminal and the tracking calling terminal; and

wherein the called party location is determined only during the call setup.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the geofencing system comprises a location based application.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the geofencing system comprises a GPS system.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the caller definable predetermined area is a closed area defining an area inside the boundary and an area outside the boundary.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the caller definable predetermined area is a route, and wherein the boundary is at least one segment of the route.

11. A method, comprising:

one of defining a geofence for a call, and using a previous caller definable geofence;

determining that a ring-back service is active for a call;

extending the call to a ring-back tone platform and determining applicability of geofencing;

obtaining a fix on a called mobile terminal;

determining a location of the called mobile terminal with respect to a geofence; and

playing a relevant ring-back tone for the call based on the location of the called mobile terminal; and

wherein the called mobile terminal location is determined only during the call setup.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the geofence is determined by a polled geofencing system.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of extending the call to a ring-back tone platform and determining applicability of geofencing, comprises:

for a designated calling party only, if the called party is within a specified boundary, a first predetermined ring-back tone being played, and if the called party is outside of the specified boundary, a second ring-back tone being played; and

a ring-back application making a query, via a TCP/IP link, to the location-based application in order to choose between the first tone and the second tone.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the step of obtaining a fix on a called mobile terminal, comprises:

the location-based application locating the called party device, via making an API call to a Mobile Positioning Center/Gateway Mobile Location Center;

the Mobile Positioning Center/Gateway Mobile Location Center inter-working with Position Determination Equipment, which is fed data from the serving mobile switching center as well as a GPS receiver on the called mobile terminal in order to obtain a fix on the called mobile terminal that is to be located; and

a resultant location in a format of geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude) being sent back to the querying location-based application.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of determining a location of the called mobile terminal with respect to the geofence, comprising:

once the location of the mobile terminal being tracked is available, the location-based application looking at a boundary defined by the calling party;

determining whether the called party is within the defined bound or outside the defined bound;

returning the determination on a TCP/IP interface to the call controller.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of playing a relevant ring-back tone for the call based on the location of the called mobile terminal, comprising:

once the ring-back application obtains the result, the ring-back application determining whether to play the first ring-back tone or the second ring-back tone.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is circular and has a predetermined radius and a predetermined center location point.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is an exact route of travel for the tracked party.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is a closed loop.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

first system module configured for one of defining a geofence for a call, and using a previous caller definable geofence;

second system module configured for determining that a ring-back service is active for a call;

third system module configured for extending the call to a ring-back tone platform and determining applicability of geofencing;

fourth system module configured for obtaining a fix on a called mobile terminal;

fifth system module configured for determining a location of the called mobile terminal with respect to the geofence; and

sixth system module configured for playing a relevant ring-back tone for the call based on the location of the called mobile terminal; and

wherein the called mobile terminal location is determined only during the call setup.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is circular and has a predetermined radius and a predetermined center location point.

22. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is an exact route of travel for the tracked party.

23. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is a closed loop.