GB2383718A

GB2383718A - Selection of dialling and busy tones in a mobile phone

Info

Publication number: GB2383718A
Application number: GB0131119A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Eskolin
Original assignee: Nokia Oyj; Nokia Inc
Current assignee: Nokia Oyj; Nokia Inc
Priority date: 2001-12-31
Filing date: 2001-12-31
Publication date: 2003-07-02
Also published as: GB0131119D0

Abstract

A user terminal such as a mobile telephone has a memory for storing tone data to be played to the user in place of conventional dialling or busy tones played by exchanges. The tone data may comprise melodies or music and may be stored in MP3 format. When the user calls another party the exchange sends a signal to the calling party that the called party is being alerted or is busy. In response to this signal a selected tone is fetched from memory and played to the calling party. Tone data may be downloaded from a website.

Description

Presentation of tones The present invention relates to user terminals, and in particular to presentation of selected tones by means of a user terminal.

Various telecommunication terminals such as conventional public switched telephone network (PSTN) telephones, portable or otherwise mobile user equipment such as public land mobile network (PLMN) or Digital European Cordless Telephone (DECT) mobile telephones, or other types of mobile stations are known by the skilled person. The terminal equipment can be adapted for voice, text message or data communication. A user can use the telecommunication terminal for communication with one or more other parties of a communication connection, such as a telephone call, a data communication session and so on.

When a user makes a call to another party, the call establishment process typically involves various stages or states. The progress of the call is also typically presented to the user by special and well known tones. For example, if the called party is busy an engaged tone is given. This may consists of a series of rapid beeps or similar. Furthermore, when alerting the other party a ringing tone in the form of another type of successive beeps may be presented to the calling party.

Some users may find the beeps boring and/or irritating. To avoid boring e. g. business clients and/or to provide a more pleasant waiting period telephone exchanges such as company exchanges may be arranged to play e. g. a melody or

announcements to the caller while he/she is waiting the call to be answered. However, the disadvantage of these solution is that the caller then has listen what ever melody is selected by the holder of the exchange. Some caller may find these melodies even more irritating than the standard beeps they would get otherwise. Furthermore, these melodies need to be signalled from the exchange of the called party back to the calling terminal. This may consume in some systems the available communication resources in some communication systems.

The inventor has found that it could be advantageous if the user of the terminal could select what tone (e. g. melody) he or she would get in certain situations instead of the tone provided to the terminal from the telecommunications network.

The users may also find is irritating to listen e. g. music which quality is not especially good. The limitation in the quality is caused by the by the limited frequency spectrum of the line between the user equipment and the exchange or similar entity playing the music.

Embodiments of the present invention aim to address one or several of the above problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of presenting a tone by means of a user terminal for communication via a telecommunication system, the method comprising: storing data associated with at least one tone in storage means of the user terminal; receiving at the user terminal from the telecommunication network a signal that is indicative of the state of a communication connection via the telecommunication system; and presenting a selected

tone based on the received signal and said data stored in the storage means.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a user terminal for communication via a telecommunication system, the user terminal comprising: storage means for storing data that associates with at least one tone that can be presented by the user terminal; antenna means for receiving from the telecommunication a signal that is indicative of the state of a communication connection; and processor entity for controlling presentation of a selected tone, wherein the tone is selected based on the received signal and said data stored in the storage means.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a telecommunication system comprising means for signalling information regarding the state of communication connections of a user terminal, wherein the user terminal is provided with storage means for storing data that associates with at least one tone that can be presented by the user terminal, antenna means for receiving from the telecommunication a signal that is indicative of the state of a communication connection, and processor entity for controlling presentation of a selected tone, the tone being selected based on the received signal and said data stored in the storage means.

In a more specific form the tone is selected based on the received signal among a plurality of possible tones, each of said possible tones being stored as a set of tone data in the storage means. The selected tone may indicate that another party of the communication connection is busy or that another

party of the communication connection is being alerted but has not yet answered.

The selected tone may comprise a melody or another piece of music or another artistic work.

Data that associates with a tone may be downloaded at the user terminal from a remote unit via the telecommunication system.

The user of the user terminal may select a tone that shall be representative of a certain state of a connection. The user may select the tone among tones stored in the user terminal.

The user may also select the tone to be stored in the user terminal.

The embodiments of the invention provide the user with a possibility to have tones that are different to the tones provided by the telecommunication network. The user may also select the tone he/she would like to have in response to a certain event. Some of the embodiments enable the user to change the tones and/or to store new tones in the user terminal. In addition, the users may be provided with improved sound quality due to the removal of the frequency spectrum limitation of the conventional systems. The user may appreciate this especially if they want to listen music while e. g. waiting a call to be answered.

For better understanding of the present invention, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which :

Figure 1 shows a user terminal and a communication system via which the user terminal may communicate; and Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows a user terminal that may be used in the embodiments of the present invention. More particularly, Figure 1 is a partially sectioned view of a mobile user equipment or mobile station 1 that may communicate with a telecommunication system 20 over a wireless interface 11.

If the mobile station 1 subscribes to a cellular mobile communication network the mobile station 1 may be adapted to communicate with a transceiver entity of the mobile communication network. Various possible transceivers entities that may be in communication with the mobile station 1 are known and are thus not illustrated or described in any greater detail. It is sufficient to note that the transceiver entity may comprise a base station (BTS) 10 of the cellular system 20 or any other appropriate element with which the mobile station may communicate with over a wireless interface. Other elements of the cellular system 20 are also known by the skilled person. These are not essential for the operation of he invention, and are thus omitted from Figure 1 for clarity reasons.

The mobile station 1 may be provided with user interface means comprising a display 2 and input means. The skilled person is familiar with different user interfaces of a mobile station and therefore these will not be described in more detail herein. It is sufficient to note that the input means may be formed by control buttons 3 or they may include e. g.

voice activation or touch screen means and so on. The mobile station 1 may also be provided with communication interface means such as antenna means for communication with the transceiver entity 10. The antenna means may comprise an external antenna element 4, or then built-in or integrated antenna means may be used. It should be appreciated that antenna means are not essential for the operation of the present invention.

The mobile station 1 is adapted for enabling communication between the user thereof and another party. For example, the user of the mobile station 1 may establish a telephone call to another part or receive a telephone call from another party. The other party may be e. g. a user of another mobile station or any other telephone terminal. The user may also use the mobile station for other communication services, such as for data communication or for accomplishing electronic transactions, such as pay for various goods and/or services by means of the mobile station 1 or access various banking services by the mobile station 1.

The mobile station 1 is shown to comprise a processor entity 6 and a data storage means 7. The processor 6 is for processing data and/or controlling reception and/or transmission of data from and/or to other parties. The processor 6 may be integrated with at least one other processor function of the mobile station 1 or may be adapted to process data that associates with presentation of tones only. The data storage means 7 may also be either integrated with at least one other function of the mobile station 1 or be assigned solely for storage of data that associates with tones to be presented to the users of the mobile station 1.

Separation of the tone presentation functions from other functions of the mobile station 1 may be preferred e. g. for security or usability reasons.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be explained with a reference also to the flowchart of Figure 2. Data that associates with one or more tones that are to be played to a user of the mobile station 1 instead of the conventional beeping tones or melodies played by exchanges is stored in the storage means 7 of the mobile station. The tone to be played instead of the conventional tones may comprise any audio presentation. For example, the tone may comprise a melody, a song or instrumental music, a natural sound (e. g. flowing water, wind, thunder and so on), mechanical sound, an announcement and so on.

The tone data may be stored in the storage means by the manufacturer or retailer of the mobile station or by any other organisation who is entitled to store such a data.

Alternatively, or in addition, the user may store tone data in the storage means. A possible way of implementing this will be explained in more detail later.

The tone data may be stored in any appropriate format. A possibility is to store the tone data as an MP3 file. Another example of the possible format is the so called is Microsoft wave-format.

When the user of the mobile station 1 initiates a set-up procedure for a call to another party 21, certain information will be signalled from the mobile station 1 to the telecommunication network 20. Based on this the network 20

will then establish a call connection between the calling and called parties 1, 21. At the final stages of the call set-up procedures the called party 21 is alerted by a ringing tone.

Information that the alert state is initiated is signalled back to the calling party 1.

In accordance with the present invention the calling party mobile station 1 will, instead of presenting a sound effect as indicated by the received signal, present a tone that is fetched from the storage means 7 of the mobile station 1. The appropriate tone to be presented e. g. in the case of the called party being busy may be selected by the user of the mobile station. The user may accomplish this selection by selecting a tone among various tones stored in the storage means 7 by the manufacturer, retailer or similar of the mobile stations. The selection may also be done by selectively storing tone data associated with a selected tone to the storage means.

State information regarding the call is signalled from the network 20 to the mobile station 1. Upon receipt of such information, the processor function 6 of the mobile station 1 processes the information to determine the present state.

Based on the determination the processor function may then fetch predetermined tone data from the storage means, and subsequently present the tone based on the fetched tone data.

The presentation of the selected tone may continue until a predefined event occurs. For example, the state of the call may change or the calling party may end the call attempt.

Since the tones are presented based on data stored in the mobile station 1 the sound quality is not limited because of the restrictions in the frequency spectrum, as is the case in the prior art. The mobile station may be provided e. g. with a MP3 player or other stereophonic player, and stereo headphones. By means of these the sound quality can be improved further.

A further embodiment will be described below with reference to Figure 1. Figure 1 shows also an entity 12 that is referred to by the term'service provider'. The service provider shall be understood to be any party from which data may be downloaded or otherwise provided for the mobile station 1. In a practical implementation the service provider 12 may comprise a server that is adapted for provision of commercial or non-commercial services for the user of the mobile station 1.

If the mobile station 1 subscribes to a mobile communication network, the elements of this network may provide a communication media between the service provider 12 and the mobile station 1. Thus the user may access the services provided by the service provider entity 12 via the communication network. Messages may be transmitted between the mobile station 1 and the service provider 12 based on any appropriate transport system. Examples of these include Short Message Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Internet protocol (IP) based emails.

The service provider entity 12 is adapted to provide the user with a possibility to download tone data. The source of the tone data is preferably provided by data storage means 14

such as a database or similar object accessible by the user terminal 1. The service provider may provide the user terminal with information based on which it is possible to locate the data source object and to download information from the source object. The information may be a data network address of the object or similar means for directing the user to the object.

The database or any other appropriate data storage means may be adapted to enable the service provider 12 to create a web site 15. The web site may comprise a collection of web pages.

The skilled person is familiar with the basic concept of a web site and it is thus not explained in any great detail. It is sufficient to note that a web site may be, for example, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) or a World Wide Web (WWW) site. The site may be implemented based on appropriate markup language. Examples of markup languages include, without limiting to these, WML (wireless markup language), HTML (hypertext markup language), and XHTML (extended hypertext markup language).

The mobile station 1 may download tone data from the web site. For example, the user may be enabled to download e. g. a specific melody or other audio effect from the web page. The tone data files may be transported e. g. as the so called MP3 files.

The service provider 12 may also push data towards the mobile station 1 by means of a server function. For example, the service provider entity 12 may send new or replacement tone data to the user by means of email or the short message service (SMS). The user may then decide whether to use the

new tone data e. g. by means of the user interface of the mobile station.

It should be appreciated that whilst embodiments of the present invention have been described in relation to telecommunication terminals such as mobile stations and ordinary telephones, embodiments of the present invention are applicable to any other suitable type of telecommunication terminal apparatus.

It is noted that the above disclosed solution is applicable also in case wherein a number of parties is involved in a connection, e. g. in the case of a conference call.

Furthermore, the other party does not necessarily need to be another telecommunications terminal or even a human, but may be an entity such as an intelligent network (IN) service provision entity, a server, and so on.

It is also noted herein that while the above describes exemplifying embodiments of the invention, there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

Claims 1. A method of presenting a tone by means of a user terminal for communication via a telecommunication system, the method comprising: storing data associated with at least one tone in storage means of the user terminal; receiving at the user terminal from the telecommunication network a signal that is indicative of the state of a communication connection via the telecommunication system; and presenting a selected tone based on the received signal and said data stored in the storage means.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tone is selected based on the received signal among a plurality of possible tones, each of said possible tones being stored as a set of tone data in the storage means.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the selected tone indicates that another party of the communication connection is busy.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the selected tone indicates that another party of the communication connection is being alerted but has not yet answered.
5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the selected tone comprises a melody or another piece of music or another artistic work.

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6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein at least one of the tones is stored in the storage means as a MP3 data file.
7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising downloading at the user terminal data that associates with a tone from a remote unit via the telecommunication system.
8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the user of the user terminal selects a tone that shall be representative of a certain state of a connection.
9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the user selects the tone among tones stored in the user terminal.
10. A method as claimed in claim 8 or 9, wherein the user selects the tone to be stored in the user terminal.
11. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the user terminal comprises a mobile station adapted for communication with the telecommunication system via a wireless interface.
12. A user terminal for communication via a telecommunication system, the user terminal comprising: storage means for storing data that associates with at least one tone that can be presented by the user terminal; antenna means for receiving from the telecommunication a signal that is indicative of the state of a communication connection; and

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processor entity for controlling presentation of a selected tone, wherein the tone is selected based on the received signal and said data stored in the storage means.
13. A telecommunication system comprising means for signalling information regarding the state of communication connections of a user terminal, wherein the user terminal is provided with storage means for storing data that associates with at least one tone that can be presented by the user terminal, antenna means for receiving from the telecommunication a signal that is indicative of the state of a communication connection, and processor entity for controlling presentation of a selected tone, the tone being selected based on the received signal and said data stored in the storage means.
14. A telecommunication system as claimed in claim 13, comprising a service provider entity for provision of tone data for the user terminal.