Apparatus and method for pre-call notification

1. Telephony provider apparatus comprising:

a pre-call information receiver, for receiving pre-call information transmitted through a first path and associated with a phone call transmitted through a second path; and

a network component, associated with said pre-call information receiver, for provisioning said pre-call information to a callee, said provisioning providing unconditional playing of said pre-call information at said callee prior to connection of said call, and co-ordinating, with said pre-call information, connection of said associated phone call to said callee in accordance with fulfillment of a predetermined condition, said connection following said unconditional playing of said pre-call information, wherein said predetermined condition is one member of the group consisting of the passage of a preset duration and the receipt of a call acceptance response from said callee.

2. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said paths include an international telephony link.

3. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said paths include a cellular link.

4. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said paths include a link between two cellular networks.

5. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said paths are one member of the group comprising national and international.

6. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said first path is a data path terminating at a callee telephone and said second path is a voice path terminating at said callee telephone.

7. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said network component is further configured to determine said duration of time according to size of said pre-call information.

8. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said network component is further configured to remotely trigger automatic presenting of said pre-call information to said callee.

9. Telephony provider apparatus comprising:

a pre-call information receiver, for receiving pre-call information transmitted through a first path and associated with a phone call transmitted through a second path; and

a network component, associated with said pre-call information receiver, for provisioning said pre-call information to a callee, said provisioning providing unconditional playing of said pre-call information at said callee prior to connection of said call, and co-ordinating, with said pre-call information, connection of said associated phone call to said callee in accordance with fulfillment of a predetermined condition, said connection following said unconditional playing of said pre-call information wherein said network component is further configured to provision said pre-call information to said callee as a plurality of separate fragments.

10. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said network component is further configured to provision said pre-call information to said callee using an internet link.

11. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said pre-call information receiver is further configured to embed said pre-call information into a ringtone.

12. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said first path and said second path are first and second channels respectively along a single pathway.

13. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said first and second channels respectively are configurations of said pathway for respectively different media.

14. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a ringtone generator for embedding said pre-call information into a ringtone.

15. The telephony provider apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said pre-call information is provisioned to said callee as a ringtone and said network component is further configured to remotely set said ringtone as an active ringtone for a device used by said callee.

16. Telephone apparatus adapted for use by a callee to receive pre-call information, comprising:

a pre-call information receiver, for receiving pre-call information comprising media data and an associated incoming phone call; and

a presenter, associated with said pre-call information receiver, for presenting said pre-call information to the callee, said presenting comprising playing said media data unconditionally in co-ordination with subsequent connection of said incoming phone call following fulfillment of a condition, wherein said pre-call information comprises a plurality of separate fragments and said receiver is further configured to concatenate said plurality of separate fragments, for re-assembling said pre-call information prior to said presenting.

17. The telephone apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said pre-call information receiver is remotely controllable by a telephony provider.

18. The telephone apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said pre-call information is vocal.

19. The telephone apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said pre-call information is textual.

20. The telephone apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said pre-call information is an SMS.

21. Telephone apparatus of adapted for use by a callee to receive pre-call information, comprising:

a pre-call information receiver, for receiving pre-call information comprising media data and an associated incoming phone call; and

a presenter, associated with said pre-call information receiver, for presenting said pre-call information to the callee, said presenting comprising playing said media data unconditionally in co-ordination with subsequent connection of said incoming phone call following fulfillment of a condition, wherein said pre-call information is a flash SMS.

22. The telephone apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said pre-call information is an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) information.