Method and system for representing the attributes of an incoming call

• US 8,331,539 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2005
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Eckel, Charles, Haddad, Najeeb, Andrews, Alison Paige
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZENATI, AMAL S
• Application Number:
  US11/249,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20070116220A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,616 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142.04, 379/67, 379/201, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 379/67.1
• 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 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/041 Encoding the ringing signal, i.e. providing distinctive or selective ringing capability

Abstract

A method and a system for representing the attributes of an incoming call are disclosed. A determination module is used to determine certain attributes of an incoming call. The attributes can be the caller ID, urgency of call or call location, among others. The determined attributes are then converted into an audio-tone that is representative of the incoming call. Characteristics, such as pitch, volume and cadence of the audio-tone are chosen to represent the attributes of the incoming call.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a network device, an incoming call from a caller;

determining, by the receiving network device and based on information stored in memory and information included in the incoming call, one or more data points associated with the incoming call that include a geographical location of the caller;

determining, by the network device and based on the one or more data points, values for one or more attributes of the incoming call, where the one or more attributes include a call location and a special request;

automatically choosing, by the network device and based on determining the values for the one or more attributes of the incoming call, one or more characteristics of an audio-tone;

modifying, by the network device and based on the values of the one or more attributes of the incoming call, the chosen characteristics of the audio-tone such that the modified characteristics represent the one or more attributes of the incoming call; and

instructing, by the network device, an audio-tone generator to generate at a callee'"'"'s device the audio-tone with the modified characteristics, such that the audio-tone indicates to the callee the one or more attributes of the incoming call, including the call location and an indication of whether the call represents a special request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes of the incoming call comprise a location of the caller.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes of the incoming call comprise at least one of facilities available in a caller device, a calling pattern of the caller, and a caller time zone.

4. A system comprising:

means for receiving, at a network device, an incoming call from a caller;

means for determining, by the receiving network device and based on information stored in memory and information included in the incoming call, one or more data points associated with the incoming call that include a geographical location of the caller;

means for determining, by the network device and based on the one or more data points, values for one or more attributes of the incoming call, where the one or more attributes include a call location and a special request;

means for automatically choosing, by the network device and based on determining the values for the one or more attributes of the incoming call, one or more characteristics of an audio-tone;

means for modifying, by the network device and based on the values of the one or more attributes of the incoming call, the chosen characteristics of the audio-tone such that the modified characteristics represent the one or more attributes of the incoming call; and

means for instructing, by the network device, an audio-tone generator to generate at a callee'"'"'s device the audio-tone with the modified characteristics, such that the audio-tone indicates to the callee the one or more attributes of the incoming call, including the call location and whether the call is a special request.

5. A system comprising:

a processor;

a determination module including instructions embedded in a non-transitory medium for execution by the processor and configured to cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

determining, based on information stored in memory and information included in an incoming call, one or more data points associated with an incoming call that include a geographical location of the caller; and

determining, based on the one or more data points, values for one or more attributes of the incoming call, where the one or more attributes include a call location and a special request; and

a conversion module including instructions embedded in the non-transitory medium for execution by the processor and configured to cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

automatically choosing, based on receiving the values for the one or more attributes of the incoming call from the determination module, one or more characteristics of an audio-tone;

modifying, based on the values of the one or more attributes of the incoming call, the chosen characteristics of the audio-tone such that the modified characteristics represent the one or more attributes of the incoming call; and

instructing an audio-tone generator to generate at the callee'"'"'s device the audio-tone with the modified characteristics, such that the audio-tone indicates to the callee the one or more attributes of the incoming call, including the call location and whether the call is a special request.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the determination module further comprises:

a memory for storing call history; and

wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processor to perform operations for determining the one or more attributes by communicating with the memory.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more attributes of the incoming call comprise at least one of a caller identity, and a location of the caller.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more attributes of the incoming call comprise at least one of facilities available in a caller device, a calling pattern of the caller, and a caller time zone.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions executable by a processor, the instructions configured to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a network device, an incoming call from a caller;

determining, by the receiving network device and based on information stored in memory and information included in the incoming call, one or more data points associated with the incoming call that include a geographical location of the caller;

determining, by the network device and based on the one or more data points, values for one or more attributes of the incoming call, where the one or more attributes include a call location and a special request;

automatically choosing, by the network device and based on determining the values for the one or more attributes of the incoming call, one or more characteristics of an audio-tone;

modifying, by the network device and based on the values of the one or more attributes of the incoming call, the chosen characteristics of the audio-tone such that the modified characteristics represent the one or more attributes of the incoming call; and

instructing, by the network device, an audio-tone generator to generate at a callee'"'"'s device the audio-tone with the modified characteristics, such that the audio-tone indicates to the callee the one or more attributes of the incoming call, including the call location and whether the call is a special request.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a processor for executing instructions; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium including instructions executable by the processor and configured to cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at a network device, an incoming call from a caller;

determining, by the receiving network device and based on information stored in memory and information included in the incoming call, one or more data points associated with the incoming call that include a geographical location of the caller;

determining, by the network device and based on the one or more data points, values for one or more attributes of the incoming call, where the one or more attributes include a call location and a special request;

automatically choosing, by the network device and based on determining the values for the one or more attributes of the incoming call, one or more characteristics of an audio-tone;

modifying, by the network device and based on the values of the one or more attributes of the incoming call, the chosen characteristics of the audio-tone such that the modified characteristics represent the one or more attributes of the incoming call; and

instructing, by the network device, an audio-tone generator to generate at the callee'"'"'s device the audio-tone with the modified characteristics, such that the audio-tone indicates to the callee the one or more attributes of the incoming call, including the call location and whether the call is a special request.