Enhanced caller ID with recipient-selected caller information display

• US 8,160,222 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2005
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Scott, Canaler, James Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Quoc D
• Application Number:
  US11/186,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20070036313A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,462 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142.01, 379/142.04, 379/142.06, 379/142.07, 379/142.09, 379/142.1, 379/142.17, 379/93.23, 379/207.15, 455/415
• US Class Current: 379/142.17
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card

Abstract

Enhanced caller ID display functionality is linked to Photo or image and/or address book or other database information elements associated with the caller by the call recipient to provide a richer Caller ID Display experience. The enhanced ID caller information is displayed on the call recipient'"'"'s television via, for example, a television set-top box. Advantageously, the call recipient selects the information to associate with the caller. This is advantageous because it is the recipient that is in the best position to know which information, including which image or images, is most useful to the recipient in relation to the caller.

Claims

1. A machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive an incoming call from a caller at a first device, wherein first caller identification information is received at the first device with the incoming call;

determine whether second caller identification information is available at the first device based on the first caller identification information, wherein the second caller identification information is different from the first caller identification information, wherein the second caller identification information is stored at the first device prior to receiving the incoming call, and wherein the second caller identification information includes an image;

in response to determining that the second caller identification information is available at the first device, retrieve the second caller identification information;

present a graphical display at a display device coupled to the first device, the graphical display including;

a plurality of caller information fields, wherein a first set of caller information fields of the plurality of caller information fields is populated based on the first caller identification information, and wherein a second set of caller information fields of the plurality of caller information fields is populated based on the second caller identification information;

a user selectable edit option to edit the second caller identification information during the incoming call; and

a cancel button to remove the graphical display from the display device; and

in response to a selection of the user selectable edit option during the incoming call, modify the second caller identification information, wherein modifying the second caller identification information includes;

selecting a second image from a plurality of images stored at a second device, wherein the plurality of images are stored in a photo book, a database, an address book, or any combination thereof, and wherein the second image is associated with the caller.

2. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first device is a set-top box device and the display device is a television screen, and wherein the graphical display is presented at a first window at the television screen via a picture in picture capability of the set-top box device without interrupting presentation of content displayed at the television screen when the incoming call is received.

3. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first device is a communication device and the display device is a display screen of the communication device.

4. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein modifying the second caller identification information further includes selecting a user-defined set of caller information fields from the plurality of caller information fields, and wherein the instructions further cause the machine to update the graphical display to present the user-defined set of caller information fields.

6. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first device is a communication device, and wherein the second device is one of a set-top box device, a wireless communication device a personal digital assistant a personal computer, a voice over internet protocol terminal, a game console, an electronic address book, a digital camera, a hard drive, a floppy disk, a compact disc, a network server, and an internet protocol television.

7. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first device is a set-top box device, wherein the second device is a personal computing device, and wherein selecting the second image of the plurality of images stored at the second device includes selecting an image stored as an email attachment at the second device.

8. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second caller identification information includes a name of a spouse of the caller, one or more names associated with children of the caller, a birthday of the caller, a birthday of the spouse of the caller, a birthday of the one or more children of the caller, a business address of the caller, an email address of the caller, a residential address of the caller, a name of one or more pets of the caller, a species of the one or more pets of the caller, a website associated with the caller, a relationship between the caller and a recipient of the incoming telephone call, a gender of the caller, a marital status of the caller, an image of the caller, or any combination thereof.

9. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second caller identification information is preselected by a first member of a family associated with the first device and the second device, wherein a recipient of the incoming telephone call is a second member of the family, and wherein the second caller identification information is modified by the second member of the family during the incoming telephone call in response to the selection of the user selectable edit option.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user selectable edit option further enables a recipient of the incoming call to configure the graphical display to display a first portion of information associated with a first caller information field of the plurality of caller information fields and to not display a second portion of the information associated with the first caller information field.

5. The machine-readable medium of clam 4, wherein the second caller identification information includes an image that is selected by a recipient of the incoming telephone call prior to the first device receiving the incoming telephone call.

10. The machine-readable medium of clam 9, wherein determining whether the second caller identification information is available includes mapping first data included in the first caller identification information to second data included in the second caller identification information.

12. A method comprising:

accessing, from a first device, a first plurality of images stored at a second device by a user associated with the first device and the second device;

selecting a first image of the plurality of images;

associating the first image with user-defined caller identification information associated with a caller, wherein the user-defined caller identification information includes a plurality of caller identification items, wherein the first image is associated with a first caller identification item, and wherein one or more additional caller identification items of the plurality of caller identification items are associated with personal information associated with the caller;

storing the user-defined caller identification information at the first device;

receiving an incoming telephone call from the caller at the first device, wherein first caller identification information is received at the first device with the incoming telephone call;

retrieving the user-defined caller identification information stored at the first device based on a mapping of the first caller identification information to at least one of the plurality of caller identification items included in the user-defined caller identification information;

presenting a graphical display overlaying television content displayed at a display device coupled to the first device, the graphical display including;

a plurality of caller information fields, wherein a first set of caller information fields of the plurality of caller information fields is populated based on the first caller identification information, and wherein a second set of caller information fields of the plurality of caller information fields is populated based on the user-defined caller identification information;

a user selectable edit option to edit the user-defined caller identification information during the incoming telephone call;

a cancel button to remove the graphical display; and

in response to a selection of the user selectable edit option during the incoming telephone call, modifying the user-defined caller identification information, wherein modifying the user-defined caller identification information includes;

accessing a second plurality of images stored at a third device in a photo book, a database, an address book, or any combination thereof;

selecting a second image from the second plurality of images stored at the third device, wherein the second image is associated with the caller;

replacing the first image associated with the user-defined caller identification information with the second image to produce modified user-defined caller identification information;

storing the modified user-defined caller identification information at the first device; and

updating the second set of caller information fields displayed at the graphical display based on the modified user-defined caller identification information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein modifying the user-defined caller identification information further includes selecting a subset of caller information fields to be displayed at the graphical display, wherein the subset of caller information fields is selected from the second set of caller information fields, and wherein each field of the second set of caller information fields is associated with a particular caller identification item.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the subset of caller information fields indicates that a first caller information field of the second set of caller information fields is displayed at the graphical display and a second caller information field of the second set of caller information fields is not displayed at the graphical display.

15. A system comprising:

a set-top box device including;

a database of user-defined caller information, wherein the user-defined caller information includes a plurality of images, and wherein at least one of the plurality of images is associated with a caller;

a video display output to send caller information associated with the caller to a television display coupled to the set-top box device in response to receiving an incoming telephone call from the caller; and

instructions executable by the set-top box device to;

send a user interface to the television display via the video display output in response to receiving the incoming telephone call, wherein the user interface is configured to populate a plurality of caller information fields based on caller identification information received with the incoming telephone call and based on the user-defined caller information, wherein the user interface includes a user selectable edit option that enables a recipient of the incoming telephone call to edit the user-defined caller information during the incoming telephone call; and

in response to a selection of the user selectable edit option during the incoming telephone call;

access a second plurality of images;

select an image from among the second plurality of images;

associate the selected image with the caller; and

store the selected image in the database.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the user-defined caller information includes personal information associated with the caller.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the user-defined caller information includes personal information associated with the caller, and wherein the user interface is configured to display a first portion of the personal information and to not display a second portion of the personal information.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first portion of the personal information and the second portion of the personal information are determined based on a configuration of the user-defined caller information in response to the selection of the user selectable edit option.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the second plurality of images are stored in a second device that is one of a wireless communication device, a personal digital assistant, a personal computing device, a game console, a digital camera, and a hard drive.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the second plurality of images are stored in a personal computing device, and wherein the image is selected from an email attachment.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further executable by the set-top box device to display the user interface in a window at the television display via a picture-in-picture capability of the set-top box device.