Granted Patent B2

US 8,073,128 · App. 11/168,201 · Granted Dec 6, 2011

Abstract

Claims (86)

1. A method, comprising the steps of:

receiving an opt-out request from a calling party to avoid employment of a specialized ringback tone on one or more subsequent calls from the calling party to a called party, wherein the specialized ringback tone is preselected by the called party to be played to the calling party on a call from the calling party to the called party;

determining at a ringback tone call controller, based on the opt-out request, to provide a substitute tone to the calling party in place of the specialized ringback tone on the one or more subsequent calls from the calling party to the called party; and

stopping the specialized ringback tone for a remainder of a ringing phase of the call in response to a voice command determined to be a valid opt-out request by the ringback tone call controller or a ringback tone server if the specialized ringback tone is being played to the calling party on the call when the calling party makes the opt-out request.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substitute tone comprises a standard ringback tone.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of:

instructing the ringback tone server to play the standard ringback tone to the calling party on the call in place of the specialized ringback tone.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more subsequent calls comprises a call from the calling party received at a switch, the method further comprising the step of:

instructing the switch to play the standard ringback tone to the calling party on the call in place of the specialized ringback tone.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ringback tone call controller comprises a ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party that stores an indication of the specialized ringback tone preselected by the called party to be played to the calling party on the one or more subsequent calls from the calling party, the method further comprising the step of:

storing an indication of the opt-out request in an entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more subsequent calls comprise a call from the calling party to the called party, and wherein the step of determining comprises the steps of:

accessing the entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile; and

determining that the entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile comprises the Indication of the opt-out request for the call;

the method further comprising the step of:

providing the substitute tone to the calling party on the call.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the opt-out request is effective to avoid employment of the specialized ringback tone until the calling party sends an opt-in request, the method further comprising the step of:

removing, via a post call interface applicable to subsequent calls, the indication of the opt-out request from the entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile upon receipt of the opt-in request from the calling party.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more subsequent calls comprise one or more first subsequent calls, the method further comprising the steps of:

receiving, via a post call interface applicable to subsequent calls, an opt-in request from the calling party to accept the specialized ringback tone on one or more second subsequent calls from the calling party to the called party; and

determining, based on the opt-in request, to provide the specialized ringback tone to the calling party on the one or more second subsequent calls from the calling party to the called party.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more subsequent calls comprises a call from the calling party received at a switch, wherein the step of determining further comprises the steps of:

receiving, from the switch, an indication of the calling party of the call and an indication of the called party of the call;

employing the indication of the called party to locate a ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party;

employing the indication of the calling party to locate an entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile; and

checking the entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile to determine whether the entry indicates that the calling party is in an opt-in state or an opt-out state for the call.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving comprises the step of:

receiving from the calling party the voice command or a Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) tone while playing the specialized ringback tone to the calling party during a ringing phase of a call to the called party, wherein the voice command or DTMF tone comprises the opt out request from the calling party.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the steps of:

stopping the specialized ringback tone for a remainder of the ringing phase of the call; and

saving an indication of the opt-out request in a ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party to avoid employment of the specialized ringback tone for the one or more subsequent calls from the calling party to the called party.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving comprises the step of:

receiving the opt-out request at the ringback tone call controller from a post-call interface employed by the calling party;

the method further comprising the step of:

saving an indication of the opt-out request in a ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party to avoid employment of the specialized ringback tone for the one or more subsequent calls from the calling party to the called party.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party stores a ringback tone service state of the calling party, and wherein the ringback tone service state of the calling party indicates an opt-in state before receipt of the opt-out request, the method further comprising the step of:

modifying the ringback tone service state in the ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party from the opt-in state to an opt-out state upon receipt of the opt-out request.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

connecting the calling party with the ringback tone server that plays the specialized ringback tone to the calling party on a call to the called party;

wherein the step of receiving comprises the steps of:

receiving at the ringback tone server the opt-out request from the calling party;

sending an indication of the opt-out request from the ringback tone server to the ringback tone call controller; and

storing at the ringback tone call controller an indication of the opt-out request in a ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party to prevent employment of the specialized ringback tone on the one or more subsequent calls.

15. A method, comprising the steps of:

accessing a ringback tone subscriber profile of a called party to determine which ringback tone to provide to a calling party on a call to the called party, wherein the called party has pre-provisioned a specialized ringback tone to be played to the calling party on the call;

providing the specialized ringback tone to the calling party on the call if the ringback tone subscriber profile indicates that the calling party is in an opt-in state;

providing a standard or default ringback tone to the calling party on the call if the ringback tone subscriber profile indicates that the calling party is in an opt-out state; and

stopping the specialized ringback tone for a remainder of a ringing phase of the call in response to a voice command determined to be a valid opt-out request by the ringback tone call controller or a ringback tone server if the specialized ringback tone is being played to the calling party on the call when the calling party makes the opt-out request.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of providing the specialized ringback tone comprises the step of:

instructing the ringback tone server to play the specialized ringback tone to the calling party on the call if the ringback tone subscriber profile indicates that the calling party is in the opt-in state;

wherein the step of providing the standard or default ringback tone comprises the step of:

instructing the ringback tone server or a switch on the call to play the standard or default ringback tone to the calling party on the call if the ringback tone subscriber profile indicates that the calling party is in the opt-out state.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of:

receiving an opt-out request from the calling party to avoid employment of the specialized ringback tone on one or more subsequent calls from the calling party to the called party; and

modifying a ringback tone service state associated with the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party from the opt-in state to the opt-out state upon receipt of the opt-out request.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the opt-out request is effective to avoid employment of the specialized ringback tone until the calling party sends an opt-in request, the method further comprising the step of:

modifying the ringback tone service state associated with the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party from the opt-out state to the opt-in state upon receipt of the opt-in request via a post call interface applicable to subsequent calls.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the call from the calling party is received at a switch, the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving, from the switch, an indication of the calling party of the call and an Indication of the called party of the call;

employing the indication of the called party to locate the ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party; and

employing the indication of the calling party to locate an entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile;

wherein the step of accessing comprises the step of:

checking the entry for the calling party in the ringback tone subscriber profile to determine whether the entry indicates that the calling party is In the opt-In state or the opt-out state for the call.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the call comprises a second call from the calling party subsequent to a first call from the calling party, the method further comprising the steps of:

receiving an opt-out request from the calling party while playing the specialized ringback tone to the calling party during a ringing phase of the first call to the called party;

stopping the specialized ringback tone for a remainder of the ringing phase of the first call; and

saving an indication of the opt-out request in the ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party to avoid employment of the specialized ringback tone for the second call from the calling party to the called party.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein the call comprises a second call from the calling party subsequent to a first call from the calling party, the method further comprising the steps of:

receiving, via a post call interface applicable to subsequent calls, an opt-in request from the calling party while playing the standard or default ringback tone to the calling party during a ringing phase of the first call to the called party; and

saving an indication of the opt-in request in the ringback tone subscriber profile of the called party to allow employment of the specialized ringback tone for the second call from the calling party to the called party.

22. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving an opt-out request from a calling party to avoid employment of a specialized ringback tone on one or more subsequent calls from the calling party to a called party, wherein the specialized ringback tone is preselected by the called party to be played to the calling party on a call from the calling party to the called party;

means for determining at a ringback tone call controller, based on the opt-out request, to provide a substitute tone to the calling party in place of the specialized ringback tone on the one or more subsequent calls from the calling party to the called party; and

means for stopping the specialized ringback tone for a remainder of a ringing phase of the call in response to a voice command determined to be a valid oat-out request if the specialized ringback tone is being played to the calling party on the call when the calling party makes the opt-out request.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the called party uses a wire-line communication device.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the called party uses a wireless communication device.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the voice command “opt-out” and a Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) tone “2” correspond to the opt-out request.

26. The method of claim 7 , wherein the voice command “opt-in” and a Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) tone “1” correspond to the opt-in request.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein session Initiation protocol (SIP) signaling is employed in at least a portion of a signaling path to route the call that requires the specialized ringback tone, and wherein the at least a portion of the signaling path where SIP signaling is employed is between the ringback tone server and the ringback tone call controller.

28. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ringback tone call controller receives an indication of the opt-out request In a TCP/IP message.

29. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ringback tone call controller receives an indication of the opt-out request in a LDAP message.

30. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ringback tone call controller receives an indication of the opt-out request in a XML message.

31. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calling party sends the opt-out request via an interactive voice response system.

32. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calling party sends the opt-out request via a wireless application protocol menu.

33. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calling party sends the opt-out request via an Internet.

34. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ringback tone server stops the specialized ringback tone in response to the validated voice command.

Assignments (13)