Call notification system, method, computer program and advertising method

• US 8,315,376 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2009
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Psygnificant Services Limited
• Original Assignee: Psygnificant Services Limited
• Inventors: Weiss, Tom, Karas, Matthew, Ellis, Jonathan, Waterfall, Simon, Constantine, Toby Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahee, MD S
• Application Number:
  US12/606,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20100061546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.2, 455/415, 455/563, 455/567, 379/93.35, 379/373.01, 379/374.03
• US Class Current: 379/373.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42051 where the notification is included in the ringing tone
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/72 Finding out and indicating number of calling subscriber

Abstract

A call notification system method, computer program and advertising method are disclosed. A call notification is generated at a recipient system (2) in response to receipt of initiation data on a call from an originating system (3). At least aspects of the call notification are controllable by the originating system (3).

Claims

1. A call notification system, comprising:

an originating system implemented in at least one of firmware, hardware and software and being arranged to cause initiation data for each of a plurality of calls to be transmitted to a recipient system; and

the recipient system being arranged to generate a call notification in response to receipt of the initiation data from the originating system, and arranged to receive call notification data from the originating system and provide, prior to the establishment of a communication phase for the call, feedback data to the originating system on the status of the call notification for each of the plurality of calls, the feedback data including an indication to the originating system of receipt of the call notification data by the recipient system for a first portion of the calls in which the recipient system received the call notification data, and an indication to the originating system of non-receipt of the call notification data by the recipient system for a second portion of the calls in which the recipient system did not receive the call notification data,

wherein at least aspects of the call notification are controllable by the originating system and are operative to override one or more selected functions of the recipient system with respect to the call notification.

2. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more selected functions is selected from the group consisting of:

functions operable on a call notification;

functions operable on a component of a call notification;

call notification functions; and

call handling functions.

3. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein the call notification is operative to override one or more acceptance functions of the recipient system such that the recipient system prevents acceptance of the call until at least a predetermined portion of the call notification has been output at the recipient system.

4. The call notification system of claim 3, wherein, upon receipt of a rejection from the recipient system during the predetermined portion of the call notification, the call notification stops at the recipient system.

5. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein the call notification is operative to override a silent mode function of the recipient system while the call notification is output.

6. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein the call notification is operative to override storage of at least part of the call notification by the recipient system until payment of a fee.

7. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein the call notification system is further arranged to generate a call notification at the originating system, wherein the call is put through to the communication phase only upon acceptance of the call by both the originating and recipient system.

8. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein the recipient system has a call notification acceptance functionality, and wherein the call notification is operative to override the acceptance functionality of the recipient system to prevent acceptance of a call notification after a predetermined time.

9. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein the recipient system has a call notification acceptance functionality, and wherein the call notification is operative to override the acceptance functionality of the recipient system outside of a time window associated with the call notification.

10. The call notification system of claim 1, wherein the feedback data is selectively provided to the originating system.

11. A method of generating call notifications for each of a plurality of calls, the method comprising for each of the plurality of calls the steps of:

receiving initiation data on the call from an originating system at a recipient system;

generating a call notification at the recipient system;

obtaining the call notification data from the originating system;

overriding one or more selected functions of the recipient system with respect to the call notification,

wherein at least aspects of the call notification are controllable by the originating system, and,

providing, prior to the establishment of a communication phase for the call, feedback data on the status of the call notification to the originating system, wherein for each of the plurality of calls in which the call notification is received by the recipient system the step of providing feedback data includes providing an indication to the originating system of the call of receipt of the call notification data by the recipient system, and for each of the plurality of calls in which the recipient data is not received by the recipient system the step of providing feedback data includes providing an indication to the originating system of the call of non-receipt of the call notification data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of overriding includes monitoring a status of the call notification at the recipient system and overriding one or more acceptance functions of the recipient system to prevent acceptance of the call until at least a predetermined portion of the call notification has been output at the recipient system.

13. The method of claim 12, including the additional step of stopping an output of the call notification at the recipient system during an output of the predetermined portion of the call notification upon receipt of a rejection from the recipient system.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of overriding includes overriding a silent mode function of the recipient system while the call notification is output.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of overriding includes overriding storage of at least part of the call notification by the recipient system until payment of a fee.

16. The method of claim 11, including the additional steps of:

generating a call notification at the originating system; and

monitoring for acceptance of the call at both the originating and recipient systems,

wherein the step of overriding includes overriding a progression of the call to the communication phase until an acceptance of the call by both the originating and recipient systems.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of overriding includes overriding an acceptance functionality of the recipient system to prevent acceptance of a call notification after a predetermined time period.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of overriding includes overriding an acceptance functionality of the recipient system outside of a time window associated with the call notification.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of providing feedback data on the status of the call notification to the originating system is performed selectively.

20. A call notification system comprising:

call notification data for use in generating a call notification;

an originating system at which a call is originated, the originating system being implemented in at least one of firmware, hardware and software and being configured to initiate the call by causing initiation data to be transmitted to a recipient system at which the call is received;

the recipient system being configured to, in response to receipt of the initiation data on the call;

generate the call notification in dependence on the call notification data;

have at least aspects of the call notification at the recipient system controllable by the originating system;

provide, prior to the establishment of a communication phase for the call, feedback data on a status of the call notification to the originating system, the feedback data including at least an indication to the originating system of non-receipt of the call notification data by the recipient system for the call in which the recipient system did not receive the call notification data; and

have one or more selected functions overridden with respect to the call notification.

21. The call notification system of claim 20, wherein the feedback data is selectively provided to the originating system.