Automated ringback update system

• US 7,953,211 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2005
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eclips LLC
• Original Assignee: Eclips LLC
• Inventors: Gregorek, Mark R., Radziewicz, Clifford J., Dillow, Jeffrey C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahee; Md S
• Application Number:
  US11/142,891
• Publication Number:
  US 20060285532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,190 Days
• Field of Search: 379/352, 379/88.17, 379/67.1, 379/72, 379/76, 379/167.08, 379/221.08, 379/263, 379/373.02, 379/48, 379/88.23, 370/352, 235/462.15
• US Class Current: 379/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/14 Delay circuits; Timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/554 Data synchronization
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42017 Customized ring-back tones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A method for customizing a communications network, including receiving, at a ringback update system, information regarding a machine recognizable feature associated with a printed matter located on an article, where the information is obtained with a feature recognition unit. The feature recognition unit is associated with or resides in or on a communications station associated with a called party, and further the information regarding a machine recognizable feature is transmitted from the feature recognition unit or from a communications station associated with the feature recognition unit. In addition, the method includes accessing, with the ringback update system, a storage device containing at least one announcement, downloading the announcement in response to receiving the information regarding a recognition of a machine recognizable feature and replacing a call signal with at least a portion of the at least one announcement.

Claims

1. A system for modifying an existing ringback replacement system on a communication network, comprising:

an article having a printed matter containing at least one machine recognizable feature;

a communication station for transmitting first information regarding said at least one machine recognizable feature and for transmitting second information for creating an association with at least one parameter of a calling party;

a feature recognition unit coupled to said communication station for obtaining said first information from the at least one machine recognizable feature;

a network storage device for storing a plurality of announcements; and

a ringback update system communicatively coupled to said network storage device for modifying said plurality of announcements,

wherein the communication station or the feature recognition unit transmits said first information to said ringback update system via the communication network upon receiving said first information, and

wherein the ringback update system automatically without user intervention downloads said at least one announcement associated with said first information to the network storage device and assigns said at least one announcement to said at least one parameter in response to receiving said first information and said second information,

wherein the communication station is associated with a called party, and

wherein at least a portion of a call signal provided to the calling party is replaced by at least a portion of the at least one announcement and delivered to said calling party after said calling party establishes communication with the communication station but before active communication with the communication station.

2. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the ringback update system downloads the at least one announcement if the at least one announcement is not available in the network storage device.

3. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the call signal contains a ringback signal, a busy signal, a network redirect signal, a call progress signal, a network announcement signal, or a dial tone signal.

4. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the at least one announcement contains an audio clip, a video clip, a data file, an interactive game, advertising, or programming material.

5. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the at least one announcement comprises an album of related announcements.

6. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the communication station comprises a telephone, a wireless telephone, a cellular telephone, a video telephone, a mobile computer, a personal digital assistant, or a multimedia handset.

7. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises a circuit-switched network, a packet-based network, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, a virtual private network, a metropolitan area network, a broadcast network, a wireless network, or a cellular network.

8. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the machine recognizable feature comprises a barcode, a universal product code, an invisible barcode, a magnetic code, a printed character, a symbol, an icon, an invisible indicia, a two-dimensional figure, a pictorial icon, a photograph, a quantum dot, a fingerprint, a radio frequency identification device, an invisible icon, a watermark, an invisible watermark, a digital watermark, a series of alphanumeric characters, a binary code, a magnetic strip, a code, an analog pattern, or a hieroglyphic character.

9. The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the printed matter is contained in or on a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a billboard, an advertisement, a ticket of admission, a service directory, a business card, a catalog, a photograph, a graphic display, or printed stationery.

10. A method for modifying a ringback replacement system on a communication network, comprising:

receiving, at a ringback update system, first information regarding a machine recognizable feature associated with a printed matter located on an article and second information regarding at least one user defined parameter, wherein the first information is obtained with a feature recognition unit, wherein the feature recognition unit resides on a communication station associated with a called party, and further wherein the first information is transmitted from the feature recognition unit or from a communication station upon obtaining the first information;

accessing a network storage device containing a plurality of announcements with the ringback update system;

downloading, with the ringback update system, the at least one announcement associated with the first information to the network storage device associated with the ringback update system and assigning the at least one announcement to the at least one user-defined parameter in response to receiving the first information and the second information, wherein the ringback update system automatically without user intervention downloads the at least one announcement to the network storage device,

replacing a call signal with at least a portion of the at least one announcement,

wherein at least a portion of said call signal provided to the calling party is replaced by at least a portion of the at least one announcement after the calling party establishes communication with the communication station but prior to active communication with the communication station.

11. The method as defined in claim 10, further comprising downloading the at least one announcement if the at least one announcement is not available in the network storage device.

12. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the call signal comprises a ringback signal, a busy signal, a network redirect signal, a call progress signal, a network announcement signal, or a dial tone signal.

13. The method as defined in claim 10, further comprising replacing the call signal with at least a portion of the at least one announcement for a caller matching or associated with the at least one user-defined parameter.

14. The method as defined in claim 10, further comprising replacing the call signal for each of all callers with at least a portion of the at least one announcement.

15. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the machine recognizable feature associated with a printed matter located on an article is contained in or on a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a billboard, an advertisement, a ticket of admission, a service directory, a business card, a catalog, a photograph, a graphic display, or printed stationary.

16. The method as defined in claim 14, further comprising downloading the at least one announcement to the communication network.

17. A method for modifying a ringback replacement system on a communication network, comprising:

providing an article having a printed matter containing a machine recognizable feature;

receiving, with the communication network, first information regarding an association between at least one announcement and at least one parameter associated with a calling party;

receiving second information regarding the machine recognizable feature, wherein the second information is obtained with a feature recognition device associated with a communication device, and wherein the second information is transmitted from the communication device or from the feature recognition device to a ringback update system via the communication network upon obtaining the second information;

downloading the at least one announcement to a network storage device associated with the ringback update system in response to receiving the second information;

associating the at least one announcement to the at least one parameter in response to obtaining the second information, wherein the at least one announcement is associated with the second information; and

replacing at least a portion of a call signal provided to the calling party during a call with at least a portion of the at least one announcement, wherein the at least a portion of the call signal is replaced with the at least a portion of the at least one announcement and delivered to said calling party before active communication with the communication device,

wherein the communication station is associated with a called party, and

wherein the ringback update system automatically without user intervention accesses the communication network and downloads the at least one announcement to the network storage device and associates the at least one announcement to the at least one parameter in response to receiving said first information and said second information.

18. The method as defined in claim 17, further comprising downloading the at least one announcement if the at least one announcement is not available in the network storage device.

19. The method as defined in claim 17, wherein the call signal comprises a ringback signal, a busy signal, a network redirect signal, a call progress signal, a network announcement signal, or a dial tone signal.

20. The method as defined in claim 17, wherein the at least one parameter is a telephone number, a network address, a time of day, a day of week, a day of year, an area code, a network address prefix, or a network address suffix.

21. The method as defined in claim 17, further comprising replacing the call signal for at least one calling party matching the at least one parameter.

22. The method as defined in claim 17, further comprising replacing the call signal for each calling party of all calling parties.

23. The method as defined in claim 17, wherein the printed matter is contained in or on a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a billboard, an advertisement, a ticket of admission, a service directory, a business card, a catalog, a photograph, a graphic display, or printed stationary.