Automated Ringback Update System

• US 20110243317A1
• Filed: 05/31/2011
• Published: 10/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eclips LLC
• Original Assignee: Eclips LLC
• Inventors: Gregorek, Mark R., Radziewicz, Clifford J., Dillow, Jeffrey C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,509,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/207.16
• 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

An automated ringback update system for customizing ringback signals is disclosed. Communications devices activate and interact with the automated ringback update system via the recognition of a feature associated with a printed matter to allow for modifications of the network service.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A system for modifying a communication network, the system comprising:

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

a communication station of or associated with a called party and adapted to be connected to the communication network;

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

a storage device for storing a plurality of announcements; and

a ringback update system connected to the storage device for modifying the plurality of announcements,

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

wherein the ringback update system automatically, without user intervention, modifies the storage device to store at least one announcement associated with the first information in response to receiving the first information.

22. The system as defined in claim 21, wherein at least a portion of a call signal provided to a calling party is replaced by at least a portion of the at least one announcement associated with the first information and delivered to the calling party after the calling party establishes communication with the communication station but before the calling party abandons the communication or before the communication station is answered.

23. The system as defined in claim 21, wherein the communication station or the feature recognition unit transmits second information containing at least one parameter associated with a calling party to the ringback update system, via the communication network and further wherein the ringback update system automatically, without user intervention, creates an association between the at least one announcement and the at least one parameter associated with the calling party in response to receiving the first information and the second information.

24. The system as defined in claim 23, 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 the calling party after the calling party establishes communication with the communication station but before the calling party abandons the communication or before the communication station is answered.

25. A system for modifying a communication network, the system comprising:

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

a communication station of or associated with a called party and adapted to be connected to the communication network;

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

a storage device for storing a plurality of announcements; and

a ringback update system connected to the storage device for modifying the plurality of announcements,

wherein the communication station or the feature recognition unit transmits the first information to the ringback update system, via the communication network, upon receiving the first information and transmits second information containing at least one parameter associated with a calling party to the ringback update system, via the communication network, and

wherein the ringback update system automatically, without user intervention, creates an association between at least one announcement associated with the first information, if the at least one announcement was previously stored on the storage device, and the at least one parameter associated with the calling party in response to receiving the first information and the second information, 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 the calling party after the calling party establishes communication with the communication station but before the calling party abandons the communication or before the communication station is answered.

26. A system for modifying a communication network, the system comprising:

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

a communication station of or associated with a called party and adapted to be connected to the communication network;

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

a storage device for storing a plurality of announcements; and

a ringback update system connected to the storage device for modifying the plurality of announcements,

wherein the communication station accesses the ringback update system for the purposes of modifying the communication network in response to the recognition of the machine recognizable feature by the feature recognition unit and if the communication device is authorized.

27. A system for modifying a communication network, the system comprising:

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

a communication station of or associated with a called party and adapted to be connected to the communication network;

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

a storage device for storing a plurality of announcements; and

a ringback update system connected to the storage device for modifying the plurality of announcements,

wherein the communication station or the feature recognition unit transmits the first information to the ringback update system, via the communication network, upon receiving the first information and transmits second information containing at least one parameter associated with a calling party to the ringback update system, via the communication network, and

wherein the ringback update system automatically, without user intervention, modifies the storage device to store at least one announcement associated with the first information and creates an association between the at least one announcement and the at least one parameter associated with the calling party in response to receiving the first information and the second information, 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 the calling party after the calling party establishes communication with the communication station but before the calling party abandons the communication or before the communication station is answered.

28. The system as defined in claim 27, wherein the ringback update system modifies the storage device to store the at least one announcement if the least one announcement is not available in the storage device.

29. The system as defined in claim 27, 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.

30. The system as defined in claim 27, wherein the at least one announcement contains an audio clip, a video clip, a data file, an interactive game, advertising, or programming material.

31. The system as defined in claim 27, wherein the at least one announcement comprises an album of related announcements.

32. The system as defined in claim 27, 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.

33. The system as defined in claim 27, 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.

34. The system as defined in claim 27, 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.

35. The system as defined in claim 27, 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.

36. A method for modifying a communication network, comprising:

receiving, at a ringback update system, first information regarding a machine recognizable feature associated with a printed matter associated with an article and second information regarding at least one parameter associated with a calling party;

modifying, via a ringback update system, a storage device containing a plurality of announcements by storing at least one announcement associated with the first information, wherein the ringback update system automatically, without user intervention, modifies the storage device to store the at least one announcement;

assigning an association between the at least one announcement and the at least one parameter associated with the calling party; and

replacing at least a portion of a call signal with at least a portion of the at least one announcement after initiation of a call to a communication station of or associated with a called party but before the call is abandoned or before the communication station is answered.

37. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising modifying the storage device to store the at least one announcement if the at least one announcement is not available in the storage device.

38. The method as defined in claim 36, 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.

39. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising replacing at least a portion of the call signal with at least a portion of the at least one announcement for a caller that matches or is associated with the at least one parameter.

40. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising replacing the call signal for all callers with at least a portion of the at least one announcement.

41. The method as defined in claim 36, wherein the machine recognizable feature associated with the printed matter associated with the 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.

42. A method for modifying a communication network, comprising:

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 a machine recognizable feature associated with a printed matter associated with an article;

downloading the at least one announcement to a network 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 after initiation of 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 the calling party before the call is abandoned by the calling party or before a communication station of or associated with a called party is answered,

wherein the ringback update system automatically, without user intervention, modifies the storage device to store the at least one announcement and associates the at least one announcement to the at least one parameter in response to receiving the first information and the second information.

43. The method as defined in claim 42, further comprising downloading the at least one announcement if the at least one announcement is not available in the network storage device.

44. The method as defined in claim 42, 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.

45. The method as defined in claim 42, 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.

46. The method as defined in claim 42, further comprising replacing the call signal for at least one calling party that matches the at least one parameter.

47. The method as defined in claim 42, further comprising replacing the call signal for each calling party of all calling parties.

48. The method as defined in claim 42, 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.