Method and device for mnemonic contact image association

1. A method in a communication device having a contacts function for storing and administration of contact records, the method being operative for associating a contact record pertaining to a remote speaker with a mnemonic image based on attributes of the speaker, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, in a communication session with a source device, voice data of the speaker;

registering a source determination representing the speaker in said communication session;

analyzing the received voice data to extract voice data characteristics of the speaker;

selecting a mnemonic image configured to create cognitive links with the speaker based on the voice data characteristics of the speaker; and

associating the mnemonic image with the contact record pertaining to the remote speaker and in which the source determination is stored such that, upon receiving a subsequent request for an incoming communication session from the speaker as identified by the source determination, the mnemonic image is displayed by the device for a user of the device to visually identify the speaker as associated with the subsequent request for the incoming communication session based on the voice data characteristics of the speaker; and

wherein the contact record includes contact details associated with the speaker, wherein a pointer that points to the mnemonic image selected based on the voice data characteristics is stored in the contact record which includes at least one of a phone number and an e-mail address of the speaker to associate the mnemonic image with the contact record.

2. The method according to claim 1 , the registering step comprising the further steps of:

reading the source determination; and

determining whether the read source determination is previously stored in an existing contact record in said communication device.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein if the read source determination is not stored in an existing contact record, the associating step comprises the further preluding steps of:

creating a new contact record; and

storing the source determination in the created record.

4. The method according to claim 1 , the analyzing voice data step comprising the further step of:

extracting a set of voice characteristics from the voice data.

5. The method according to claim 1 , the analyzing voice data step comprising the further step of:

extracting a set of language characteristics from the voice data.

6. The method according to claim 4 , comprising the further steps of:

deducing at least one speaker descriptor based on the extracted characteristics, wherein the at least one speaker descriptor is a description that describes the speaker but does not directly indicates identity of the speaker; and

casting at least one speaker descriptor for a search key.

7. The method according to claim 6 , the casting step comprising the further step of: casting multiple speaker descriptors for the search key according to a predetermined ranking policy.

8. The method according to claim 6 the selecting image step comprising the further steps

comparing the search key against descriptive metadata of candidate images stored in said communication device;

electing from said candidate images a first image that has the highest match rating according to a predefined rating system; and

deriving a mnemonic image from the first image.

9. The method according to claim 8 , where the deriving step further comprises:

linking a first descriptor of the search key to a second descriptor of the search key by editing a first elected image comprising the first descriptor such that a second descriptor is being introduced into a mnemonic image.

10. A mnemonic image rendering communication device having a contacts function for storing and administration of contact records and adapted and configured for associating a contact record pertaining to a remote speaker with a mnemonic image based on attributes of the speaker, said device comprising a processing unit adapted and configured to

receive, in a communication session with a source device, voice data of the speaker;

register a source determination representing the speaker in said communication session;

analyze the received voice data to extract voice data characteristics of the speaker;

select a mnemonic image configured to create cognitive links with the speaker based on the voice data characteristics of the speaker; and

associate the mnemonic image with the contact record pertaining to the remote speaker and in which the source determination is stored such that, upon receiving a subsequent request for an incoming communication session from the speaker as identified by the source determination, the mnemonic image is displayed by the device for a user of the device to visually identify the speaker as associated with the subsequent request for the incoming communication session based on the voice data characteristics of the speaker; and

wherein the contact record includes contact details associated with the speaker, wherein a pointer that points to the mnemonic image selected based on the voice data characteristics is stored in the contact record which includes at least one of a phone number and an e-mail address of the speaker to associate the mnemonic image with the contact record.

11. The mnemonic image rendering communication device according to claim 10 , further comprising a memory unit, the processing unit further configured to

read the source determination;

determine whether the read source determination is stored in an existing contact record in the memory unit; and

associate the mnemonic image with an existing contact record in which the source determination is stored.

12. The mnemonic image rendering communication device according to claim 10 , the processing unit further configured to

extract a set of characteristics pertaining to language and/or voice from the voice data;

deduce at least one speaker descriptor based on the extracted set of characteristics deducing at least one speaker descriptor based on the extracted characteristics, wherein the at least one speaker descriptor corresponds to a description that describes the speaker but does not directly indicates identity of the speaker; and

cast a search key comprising at least one speaker descriptor.

13. The mnemonic image rendering communication device according to claim 12 , the processing unit further configured to cast speaker descriptors to be comprised in the search key according to a predetermined descriptor ranking policy.

14. The mnemonic image rendering communication device according to claim 12 , the processing unit further configured to compare the search key against descriptive metadata of candidate images stored in said memory unit;

elect from said candidate images a first image that has the highest match rating according to a predefined rating system; and

derive a mnemonic image from the first image.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program code with instructions arranged to be executed by a processor of a communication device, wherein the instructions cause the communication device to perform the method according to claim 1 .