Granted Patent B2

US 7,873,158 · App. 11/444,105 · Granted Jan 18, 2011

Abstract

Claims (55)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a polled geofencing system associated with at least one caller definable predetermined area having a predetermined boundary; and

at least one predetermined specialized ring-back tone having a functional relationship with the at least one predetermined boundary;

wherein the at least one predetermined specialized ring-back tone alerts a designated calling party to a location, relative to the at least one predetermined boundary as determined by the polled geofencing system, of a called party during a call setup between the designated calling party and the called party; and

wherein the called party location is determined only during the call setup.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the geofencing system comprises a location based application.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the geofencing system comprises a GPS system.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined area is a closed area defining an area inside the boundary and an area outside the boundary.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined area is a route, and wherein the boundary is at least one segment of the route.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

a telecommunication network having a tracking calling terminal and a tracked called terminal;

a polled geofencing system associated with at least one caller definable predetermined area having a predetermined boundary, the tracked called terminal having a location relative to the predetermined boundary; and

at least first and second predetermined ring-back tones having a functional relationship with the at least one predetermined boundary, the first predetermined ring-back tone being utilized when the tracked called terminal is within the predetermined boundary, and the second predetermined ring-back tone being utilized when the tracked called terminal is outside of the predetermined boundary;

wherein the at least first and second predetermined ring-back tones alert the tracking calling terminal to a location, relative to the predetermined boundary as determined by the polled geofencing system, of tracked called terminal during a call setup between the designated tracked called terminal and the tracking calling terminal; and

wherein the called party location is determined only during the call setup.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the geofencing system comprises a location based application.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the geofencing system comprises a GPS system.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the caller definable predetermined area is a closed area defining an area inside the boundary and an area outside the boundary.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the caller definable predetermined area is a route, and wherein the boundary is at least one segment of the route.

11. A method, comprising:

one of defining a geofence for a call, and using a previous caller definable geofence;

determining that a ring-back service is active for a call;

extending the call to a ring-back tone platform and determining applicability of geofencing;

obtaining a fix on a called mobile terminal;

determining a location of the called mobile terminal with respect to a geofence; and

playing a relevant ring-back tone for the call based on the location of the called mobile terminal; and

wherein the called mobile terminal location is determined only during the call setup.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the geofence is determined by a polled geofencing system.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the step of extending the call to a ring-back tone platform and determining applicability of geofencing, comprises:

for a designated calling party only, if the called party is within a specified boundary, a first predetermined ring-back tone being played, and if the called party is outside of the specified boundary, a second ring-back tone being played; and

a ring-back application making a query, via a TCP/IP link, to the location-based application in order to choose between the first tone and the second tone.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the step of obtaining a fix on a called mobile terminal, comprises:

the location-based application locating the called party device, via making an API call to a Mobile Positioning Center/Gateway Mobile Location Center;

the Mobile Positioning Center/Gateway Mobile Location Center inter-working with Position Determination Equipment, which is fed data from the serving mobile switching center as well as a GPS receiver on the called mobile terminal in order to obtain a fix on the called mobile terminal that is to be located; and

a resultant location in a format of geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude) being sent back to the querying location-based application.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the step of determining a location of the called mobile terminal with respect to the geofence, comprising:

once the location of the mobile terminal being tracked is available, the location-based application looking at a boundary defined by the calling party;

determining whether the called party is within the defined bound or outside the defined bound;

returning the determination on a TCP/IP interface to the call controller.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the step of playing a relevant ring-back tone for the call based on the location of the called mobile terminal, comprising:

once the ring-back application obtains the result, the ring-back application determining whether to play the first ring-back tone or the second ring-back tone.

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is circular and has a predetermined radius and a predetermined center location point.

18. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is an exact route of travel for the tracked party.

19. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is a closed loop.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

first system module configured for one of defining a geofence for a call, and using a previous caller definable geofence;

second system module configured for determining that a ring-back service is active for a call;

third system module configured for extending the call to a ring-back tone platform and determining applicability of geofencing;

fourth system module configured for obtaining a fix on a called mobile terminal;

fifth system module configured for determining a location of the called mobile terminal with respect to the geofence; and

sixth system module configured for playing a relevant ring-back tone for the call based on the location of the called mobile terminal; and

wherein the called mobile terminal location is determined only during the call setup.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is circular and has a predetermined radius and a predetermined center location point.

22. The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is an exact route of travel for the tracked party.

23. The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the geofence is a defined boundary that is a closed loop.

Assignments (10)