FR2841719A1 - APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ADAPTIVE RINGING OF RINGTONES AND RELATED PRODUCTS - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device (1) and a method for adaptively triggering ringtones (S) from a telecommunications device (10), preferably telephone. The device comprises a module (11) for receiving information from a caller at the time of a call, a module (13) for determining a ring (S2) to be triggered as a function of this information and a module (15) for triggering this ring. The device also includes a module for prior triggering (16) at the time of the call, for a pre-ring (S1) identified in a storage space (20).

Description

The present invention relates to a device and a method for

  adaptive ringing of a telecommunications device,

  preferably by telephone, as well as to corresponding products.

  Several techniques today allow users to

  phones, especially cell phones, to choose their ringtones.

  According to various existing methods, these ringtones can be preprogrammed in the telephone, received from other telephones (the ringtones can then be received even when the user is telephoning), programmed musically via a human interface - phone machine, downloaded via a website or

downloaded from a server.

  An advantage of these methods is that they make it possible to have a personalized ringtone for each telephone, which allows its owner to easily identify it when it rings. However, at

  Listening to this ringtone, the user of the telephone does not know who is calling him.

  An improvement consists in associating a few particular ringtones with predetermined numbers in a directory, by applying the ringtone selection process several times. A drawback is that these associations require binding prior operations, which constitute a brake on dynamic changes in the possibilities of recognition. In addition, the limits on ringtone storage capacity limit the number of possible combinations. What is more, it may be that several users use identical associations, in particular within the framework of a company, where it is conceivable that each employee is associated with a ringtone. Techniques are also known for including the ringtone to be triggered in a message sent by the caller during the call. This message is encoded when the number is dialed, and sent to the recipient telephone, which decodes the received message, and plays the resulting ring. It is in this way possible for the called party to simply identify who is seeking to contact him. Thus, Japanese patent application JP-1 1- 355393 discloses a set for a mobile phone, in which the phone analyzes a message sent by a caller to extract melodic data. Japanese patent application JP-1 1-136393, for its part, describes a telephone system by means of which a call signal is sent or received accompanied by melodic data and strings

characters for decoding.

  The advantage of these methods is that the owner of the telephone knows who is calling him, since he already knows the ringtone sent. On the other hand, he may not realize that it is his telephone that rings, if he is in an environment with several fixed or portable telephones. This risk of confusion is increased by the fact that he may not remember that the received ringtone is associated with one of his acquaintances (especially if the number of rings to remember is high), or even not recognize it. The present invention relates to an adaptive ringing device which can allow a user, by simple listening, to identify the caller, with a considerable reduction in the risks of confusion as regards the telephone (or more generally the telecommunications device) used. , and without requiring binding prior operations of ringtone selection and association with

caller numbers.

  The invention also relates to a telecommunications apparatus comprising such a device, and a method of

  trigger and a computer program corresponding to this device.

  It applies in particular to the field of telephony, but also for example to pocket receiver alert systems

or remote alarm.

  To this end, the invention relates to an adaptive triggering device for ringing a telecommunications device, preferably telephone. This device includes: - a module for receiving information from a caller at the time of a call, - a module for determining a ring tone to be triggered as a function of this information,

  - and a module for triggering the determined bell.

  According to the invention, the triggering device also comprises

  a trigger module prior to the call, of an identified pre-alarm in a storage space.

  By "identified" ring means that the information stored is sufficient to produce this ring, either by access to a complete recording of the ring itself, or to parameters

  to generate the ringtone in a very short period of time.

  The storage space is a global designation targeting all types of storage means, such as for example internal memory, component

  specific electronics, cassette and / or diskette.

  Furthermore, in this definition as in the following (including the figures), the modules designate functional entities, which may or may not have a hardware correspondence. Thus, the modules can in particular be grouped into one or more components, or

  be integrated in software form.

  In contrast to existing devices, based on the most judicious way of specifying a ringtone in relation to the called party and / or the calling party, the device of the invention has the surprising characteristic of pairing ringtones respectively in relation to the 'called and the caller during calls. This solution allows the user, firstly to recognize his telecommunications device during the pre-ringing, then secondly to recognize the caller (if he has in mind the correspondence of the latter with the ringing triggered). The advantages of the two types of methods above are thus cumulated, since this device allows the use of a personalized pre-ring, while making it possible to select or receive very diverse ring tones

specific to callers.

  The prior triggering module is preferably provided to cause the pre-ringing to play for a predetermined playing time, then to interrupt it and send a start-up signal to the ringing-triggering module supplied by the determination module. In an advantageous form, the triggering device comprises means for prior programming by a user of

this pre-ringing time.

  In a first preferred form of adaptation to the caller, the reception module is provided for receiving a caller number and the determination module is provided for determining the ring tone to be triggered

  based on at least part of this calling number.

  Advantageously, the determination module selects a ring corresponding to the calling number in a directory of the storage space, in which this ring is identified. In a variant, only part of the calling number is used and allows a ringtone to be selected according to the geographical area or the company from which the call originates. In another variant, preferably combined with the previous one, the calling number makes it possible to select a family of

  rings in which the ring to be triggered is chosen.

  In a second preferred form of adaptation to the caller, the reception module is provided for receiving specification data of a ring and the determination module is provided for determining the ring to be triggered by means of this specification data. The

  device is advantageously endowed with two possibilities.

  In operation, in a particular preferred configuration, the triggering device proceeds as follows. When a call signal is detected, the device checks whether the caller's number has an associated melody in the directory or whether the caller has sent an encoded message defining a ring tone. If one of these two cases occurs, the phone plays the pre-ringtone stored in memory, for a game time programmed by the user. Once this time has elapsed, the device plays the ringtone stored in memory, associated in the directory with the calling number, or decodes the ringtone sent by the caller and plays it. In an advantageous variant, the search for the number in the directory or the

  decoding are performed during the pre-ringing game.

  Preferably, the adaptive triggering device also comprises a module for selecting by default a ringtone identified in the storage space and a module for exclusively activating one of the two default determination and selection modules. In addition, the exclusive activation module is provided to deactivate the prior trigger module when the default selection module is activated. Thus, the pre-ring is only triggered when it is followed by a ring representative of the caller. In this way, the pre-alarm warns the user that what he will hear next can allow him to

recognize who is calling him.

  The exclusive activation module is then advantageously provided for activating the default selection module in one of the following situations: - the adaptive triggering device comprises means for a user to impose a mode for selecting a ring tone by fault and these means are activated, - the determination module has no information

  sufficient to determine the bell to be triggered.

  Conversely, the triggering device advantageously allows the user to cause the pre-ringing to be triggered beforehand, even during calls for which no ringing determination information reaches the

device.

  Preferably, the adaptive triggering device comprises an automatic ring generator intended to generate the ring determined by the determination module and / or the pre-ring,

immediately after a call.

  This realization makes possible significant gains in storage and / or transmission, since the space required for parameters of musical generation can be considerably less than that of complete musical ringtones. However, it requires a rapid generation technique. In addition, it is necessary to be able to either communicate within a very short time with a music generation server, or to compose the musical ringtones using resources from

  generation (software and music database) of a reasonable size.

  In a preferred embodiment of the ring generator, it comprises: - a means of defining musical moments during which respectively at least four notes can be played, - a means of defining two families of note pitches, for each musical moment, the second family of note pitches having at least one note pitch which is not in the first family of note pitches, - a means of constituting at least one succession of notes having at least two notes, each succession of notes being called a musical phrase, a succession in which two successive notes are necessarily chosen from at least the first two of the following three types, independently of the order of the two notes: - two notes whose pitches belong to the first family, - a note whose pitch belongs to the first family and a note whose height belongs to the second family, - two notes do the pitches belong exclusively to the second family, the height of one of the two notes corresponding to a sixth degree of a diatonic scale and the height of the other note corresponding to a seventh degree of this diatonic scale, and these two notes being in the immediate vicinity exclusively of notes whose heights belong to the first family, and - a means of outputting a signal representative of each pitch

note for each estate.

  This realization is very advantageous because only a few bytes are sufficient to specify a ringtone, whereas the storage of a normal ringtone, usually coded in a compressed MIDI format, generally has a size of the order of a hundred bytes, or even

  much more when the ringtone is polyphonic.

  The ring generator is advantageously in accordance with the disclosure of document WO-00/17850 (or of the corresponding European patent EP-B-1116213 in the course of issue). Thus, preferably, the means of constituting at least one succession of notes is such that for each moment, each note whose pitch belongs exclusively to the second family is surrounded exclusively by notes from the first family. Thanks to these provisions, the succession of pitch pitches has both great richness because the number of successions that can be generated in this way is several billion, and harmonic coherence, because the polyphony generated is governed by constraints. According to particular characteristics, the means for defining two families of note pitches is adapted to define, for each musical moment, the first family as a set of note pitches

  belonging to a chord duplicated from octave to octave.

  According to other particular characteristics, the means for defining two families of note pitches is adapted to define the second family of note pitches so that it comprises at least the note pitches of a range which are not in the range first family of

note pitches.

  Thanks to these provisions, the definition of families is easy and

  the alternation of notes of the two families is harmonious.

  According to other particular characteristics, the means of constituting at least one succession of notes having at least two notes is adapted so that each musical phrase is defined as a set of notes whose start times are not separated between

  them, two by two, more than a predetermined duration.

  Thanks to these arrangements, a musical phrase is, for example, made up of notes whose beginnings are not separated by more than three sixteenth notes. In an interesting embodiment with a ring generator, in which the determination module is able to determine the ring to be triggered from specification data received from the caller, the determination module is designed to impose a predetermined style on the generated ring , by communicating to the ring generator a set of musical generation parameters comprising this style as well as the other parameters received. Preferably, the style imposed is consistent with that of the pre-ring. Similarly, it is possible to constrain some others of the received music generation parameters, in particular so that the constrained parameters

  are identical to those of the pre-ringing or in harmony with them.

  The invention also applies to a telecommunications device.

  According to the invention, it comprises an adaptive ringing trigger device according to any one of the embodiments of

the invention.

  The invention also relates to a method of adaptive triggering of ringtones from a telecommunications device, preferably telephone, in which: - information is received from a caller at the time of a call, - a ringtone to be triggered is determined based on this information,

  - and the determined bell is triggered.

  According to the invention, it is triggered beforehand at the time of

  the call, a pre-ring identified in a storage space.

  The invention also relates to a computer program product comprising program code instructions for executing the steps of the method according to the invention when this program is executed on a computer. By "computer program product" is meant any materialization of a computer program, which can target not only storage media (cassettes, discs ...) but also signals

(electrical, optical ...).

  The invention will be better understood and illustrated by means of the following examples of embodiment and implementation, which are in no way limitative, with reference to the appended figures in which: - Figure 1 is a block diagram of an adaptive trigger device according to the invention; - Figure 2 shows a flowchart of automatic generation of ring tones, implemented for generation of ring tones in the device of Figure 1; - and Figure 3 shows in the form of a block diagram a ring generator usable in the device for triggering the

  Figure 1 and allowing generation of rings in accordance with Figure 2.

  Subsequently, the reference S is used generically to

  designate the bell to be triggered.

  A telephone 10 (FIG. 1) comprises a module 2 for receiving calls as well as an activation module 3 for rings S. It is also provided with an adaptive trigger device 1 for rings, which makes it possible to trigger rings. S distinct according to information received from the caller at the time of a call. This information consists of the calling number, the device 1 then selecting a ringtone S corresponding to this number in a directory, or of ring specification data, the device 1 then generating a

  ringtone S from this data.

  The triggering device 1 comprises a module 11 for receiving information from the caller, a module 13 for determining the ringtone S to be triggered as a function of this information, denoted S2, and a module 15 for triggering this ringtone S2 , intended to trigger the activation module 3 in it

  communicating the bell S2 to play.

  The determination module 13 is capable of carrying out tests to recognize whether: - ringing specification data is received, in particular in the form of parameters for music generation, - and if the calling number, insofar as it is identifiable, is associated with a ringtone (or a ringtone family) in a directory

storage space 20.

  The order of priority of the two tests is set by a user, who can decide what takes precedence in the event that both conditions are met (play the ringtone sent by the caller or the ringtone predicted by the user for this caller ). The first conclusive test takes precedence

  to determine the ring tone.

  When the determination module 13 finds that the specification data, in the form of music generation parameters, are available after the associated test, it requests a ring generator 17 by submitting these parameters to it. The generator 17 then composes a ring and sends it to the determination module 13, which communicates it to the

trigger module 15.

  When the determination module 13 finds that the calling number is associated with a ringtone in the directory, it recovers this ringtone in the storage space 20 and communicates it to the trigger module 15. In a variant, it recovers parameters of musical generation, and transmits them to the ringtone generator 17 for

  composition of the ringtone to be played.

  The trigger device 1 also includes a default selection module 14, capable of accessing a default ringtone SQ in the storage space 20 and communicating it to the trigger module 15 so that it can be played. Alternatively, the selection module 14 is capable of accessing musical generation parameters and submitting them to the ring generator 17, which

  then produces the ringtone SQ and transmits it to the selection module 14.

  An exclusive activation module 12, upstream of the determination 13 and default selection modules 14, makes it possible to arbitrate between the activation of one or the other of the two modules 13 and 14. This activation module exclusive 12 is provided to activate exclusively the default selection module 14: - when the user has forced the telephone 10 into the default ringing mode, - or when the calling number is not identifiable and in

  no ring specification data.

  In other cases, the exclusive activation module 12 activates the ring determination module 13. In the case where the calling number is identifiable in the absence of ring specification data, but the determination module 13 does not not found in the association directory with a ringtone, this module 13 informs the

  exclusive activation module 12, which activates the selection module 14.

  The trigger device 1 also includes a prior trigger module 16, capable of recovering a pre-ringing SI in the storage space 20 and communicating it to the activation module 3 of ringtones. In a variant, the prior trigger module 16 recovers in operation the parameters of musical generation and transmits them to the ring generator 17, which produces the pre-ringing SI and communicates it to the prior trigger module 16. This pre-bell SI is intended for be played before the ringtone S2 representative of the caller and allows the user to recognize his telephone 10 and / or

  to be informed that a specific ring deserving attention will follow.

  This prior trigger module 16 is designed to be activated either directly by a user, or at the request of the determination module 13. It plays the pre-ringing SI for a predetermined duration recorded in the storage space 20, in conjunction with

  a clock 18, the pre-ringing duration being programmed by the user.

  In operation, the determination module 13 requests the prior triggering module 16 which plays the pre-ringing SI, and determines, parallel to the execution of the pre-ringing SI, the ringing tone S2 representative of the caller. The communication of this last ring S2 to the trigger module 15 is then blocked until the prior trigger module 16 interrupts the execution of the pre-alarm SI and sends a signal to trigger the relative ring S2

to the appellant.

  An advantageous embodiment of the music generator 17 will now be explained, with reference to Figures 2 and 3. Detailed procedures are set out in international application WO-00/17850 (or

  in the corresponding European patent EP-B-1 116213).

  Figure 2 shows, schematically, a flowchart of

  automatic music generation used for the generator 17.

  After the start 31, musical moments are defined during an operation 32. For example, a musical piece is then defined comprising measures, each measure comprising beats, each time comprising note locations. In this example, operation 32 consists in assigning a number of measures to the musical piece, a number of beats for each measure and a number of note locations for each beat or a minimum note duration. Each musical moment is defined in such a way that at least four notes are likely

to be played during its duration.

  Then, during an operation 34, two families of note pitches are defined for each musical moment, the second family of note pitches having at least one note pitch which is not in the first family. For example, each half measure of the musical piece is assigned a scale and a chord, the first family comprising the note pitches of this chord, duplicated from octave to octave and the second family comprising at least the note pitches of the range that are not in the first family. We observe that different musical moments or consecutive musical moments

  can have the same families of note pitches.

  Then, during an operation 36, at least one succession of notes having at least two notes is formed with, for each moment, each note whose pitch belongs exclusively to the second family being surrounded exclusively by notes from the first family. For example, a succession of notes is defined as a set of notes whose start times are not separated from each other, two by two, more than a predetermined duration. Thus, in the example explained with operation 34, for each half measure, a succession of notes does not have two consecutive pitch pitches which are

  exclusively in the second family of note pitches.

  During an operation 38, a signal representative of the note pitches of each succession is emitted. The musical generation stops

then to operation 40.

  FIG. 3 represents, in the form of a block diagram, an embodiment of the generator 17. In this embodiment, the generator 17 comprises, connected together by at least one signal line 45, a generator of families of heights note 42, a moment generator

  44, a musical phrase generator 46 and an output port 48.

  The output port 48 is connected to a signal line 49.

  The musical moments generator 44 defines musical moments in such a way that during each musical moment, four notes can be played. For example, the musical moments generator 44 defines a musical piece by a number of measures it contains and, for each measure, a number of beats, and for each beat, a number of possible note start locations or

a minimum note duration.

  The note pitch family generator 42 defines two note pitch families for each musical moment. The generator 42 defines the two families of note pitches such that the second family of note pitches has at least one note pitch which is not in the first family of note pitches. For example, each half measure of the musical piece is assigned a scale and a chord, the first family comprising the pitch of this chord, duplicated from octave to octave, and the second family comprising at least the pitch of note. the range that is not in the first family. We observe that different musical moments or consecutive musical moments can have the same families of

note pitches.

  The musical phrase generator 46 generates at least one succession of notes having at least two notes, each succession being constituted in such a way that, for each moment, each note whose pitch belongs exclusively to the second family is surrounded exclusively by notes of the first family. For example, a succession of notes is defined as a set of notes whose start times are not separated between them, two by two, more than a predetermined duration. Thus, in the example explained with the generator of note pitch families 42, for each half measure, a succession of notes does not have two consecutive note pitches which are

  exclusively in the second family of note pitches.

  The output port 48 transmits, via the signal line 49, a signal representative of the note pitches of each succession.

Claims (10)

  1. Adaptive triggering device (1) for ringing tones (S) of a telecommunications device (10), preferably telephone, comprising: - a module (11) for receiving information from a caller at the time of a call, - a module (13) for determining a ring (S2) to be triggered as a function of said information, - and a module (15) for triggering said ring (S2) determined, characterized in that it also includes a prior triggering module (16) at the time of the call, of a pre-ringing   (SI) identified in a storage space (20).   2. Adaptive triggering device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said reception module (11) is provided for receiving a calling number and said determination module (13) is provided for determining the ringing tone (S2 ) to trigger based on at least   part of said calling number.   3. Adaptive release device (1) according to one of   claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said receiving module (11)   is intended to receive specification data of a ring and said determination module (13) is provided to determine said ring (S2)   to be triggered by means of said specification data.   4. Adaptive release device (1) according to one   any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it   also includes a default selection module (14) for a ringtone (SO) identified in said storage space (20) and an exclusive activation module (12) from one of the two determination modules (13) and default selection module (14), and in that said exclusive activation module (12) is provided for deactivating the prior trigger module (16) when the default selection module (14) is activated. 5. Adaptive trip device (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that the exclusive activation module (12) is provided to activate said default selection module (14) in one of the following situations: - the adaptive triggering device (1) comprises means for a user to impose a default ringtone selection mode (S0) and said means are activated, - the determination module (13) has no information   sufficient to determine the bell (S2) to be triggered.   6. Adaptive release device (1) according to one   any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it   comprises an automatic generator (17) of ring tones intended to generate at least one of the ring tones to be triggered chosen from the ring tone (S2) determined by the determination module (13) and the pre-ring tone (SI) immediately after a call.   7. Adaptive trigger device (1) according to any one of claim 6, characterized in that said automatic generator (17) of ringtones comprises: - a means for defining (44) musical moments during which respectively at least four notes are susceptible to be played, - a means for defining (42) two families of note pitches, for each musical moment, the second family of note pitches having at least one note pitch which is not in the first family of note pitches, - a means of constituting (46) at least one succession of notes having at least two notes, each succession of notes being called a musical phrase, succession in which two successive notes are necessarily chosen from at least the two first of the following three types, independently of the order of the two notes: - two notes whose heights belong to the first family, - one note whose height belongs to the first family and a note whose pitch belongs to the second family, - two notes whose pitches belong exclusively to the second family, the height of one of the two notes corresponding to a sixth degree of a diatonic scale and the pitch of the other note corresponding to a seventh degree of said diatonic scale, and said two notes being in the immediate vicinity exclusively of notes whose pitches belong to the first family, and - a means for output (48) of a signal representative of each   note pitch of each said succession.   8. Telecommunications device (10), characterized in that it comprises an adaptive triggering device (1) for rings (S)   according to any one of claims 1 to 7.   9. Method for adaptive triggering of ringtones (S) of a telecommunications device (10), preferably telephone, in which: information is received from a caller at the time of a call, - a ringtone is determined ( S2) to be triggered as a function of said information, - and said determined bell (S2) is triggered, characterized in that it is triggered beforehand at the time of   the call, a pre-ring (SI) identified in a storage space (20).   10. Computer program product comprising program code instructions for executing the process steps according to the   claim 9 when said program is executed on a computer.