System and method for emulating ringback transparently
First Claim
1. A method for providing a ringback tone at a terminal, comprising:
- a) initiating a call over a network;
b) receiving an alerting message comprising information on the characterization of the ringback tone;
c) determining the characterization of the ringback tone based on said information; and
d) prompting said terminal to generate said ringback tone based on said determination.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method is presented for providing a ringback tone at the initiating end of a call while substantially reducing bandwidth usage. The initiating end initiates a call through a network. The receiving end of the call responds by transmitting an alerting message containing information on the characterization of a ringback tone to the initiating end of the call. At the initiating end of the call, the proper ringback tone is determined based on this information, and a ringback tone is generated. When the call is picked up at the receiving end, a transmission to the initiating end alerts the initiating end to cease the ringback tone. Silence suppression may be used at the receiving end to prevent the transmission of an audio stream before the terminal (e.g., a phone) is picked at the receiving end.
29 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for providing a ringback tone at a terminal, comprising:
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a) initiating a call over a network;
b) receiving an alerting message comprising information on the characterization of the ringback tone;
c) determining the characterization of the ringback tone based on said information; and
d) prompting said terminal to generate said ringback tone based on said determination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for conveying ringback information over a network while utilizing substantially less bandwidth than a voice connection, comprising the steps of:
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a) sending an alerting message over a network in response to the receipt of call over said network, wherein said alerting message comprises information on the characterization of the ringback tone;
b) detecting pickup at a terminal; and
c) transmitting an answer signal over said network upon said detection of said pickup. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A protocol converter comprising:
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a connection to a terminal, wherein the terminal accepts input for destination information and is capable of generating a ringback tone; and
a server for receiving said destination information from said terminal through said connection and initiating a call over a network and for determining the characterization of the ringback tone and prompting said terminal to generate said ringback tone upon receiving, in response to said initiation of said call, information on said characterization of said ringback tone, wherein said information on said characterization of said ringback tone comprises information on the frequency and duration of tones and duration of pauses. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A protocol converter comprising:
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a connection to a terminal; and
a server for sending an alerting message comprising information on the characterization of a ringback tone over a network in response to the receipt of a call over said network and for transmitting an answer signal over said network upon detecting pickup at said terminal, wherein said information on said characterization of said ringback tone comprises information on the frequency and duration of tones and duration of pauses. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification