WO2005055576A2

WO2005055576A2 - Personalised information during call setup

Info

Publication number: WO2005055576A2
Application number: PCT/EP2004/013299
Authority: WO
Inventors: Frank PRÖSL; Georg Sänger
Original assignee: T-Mobile Deutschland Gmbh
Priority date: 2003-11-24
Filing date: 2004-11-24
Publication date: 2005-06-16
Also published as: WO2005055576A3

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a system for implentation of a personalised comfort background noise (PCBN) in dialled telecommunication systems characterised by using standard switching procedures for call routing and inserting separate personalised signals representing acoustical or optical information or all other kind of information into the telecommunication connection. There is provided at least a PCBN server and a PCBN data base additionally to the standard equipment of a telecommunication switching system.

Description

Personalised Comfort Background Noise (PCBN)

The invention relates to the provision of Personalised Comfort Background Noise (PCBN) , and particularly to a method and system for generating and distributing of personalised background information signals to users of a telecommunication system during (the set up of) a dialled telecommunication connection.

In telecommunication systems the current status and progress of a dialled connection is signalled to the user/subscriber by standardised tones from the exchange unit. For example when the user lifts up the handset or presses the connect button on his communication device, he/she can hear a "dial tone" indicating that he/she may dial the telephone number of the desired user to be called. During call setup in mobile communication networks or fixed networks the calling party, also referred to as A-party, experiences periods of silence. Finally or intermediately, the calling party is informed about the call progress, typically via tones and/or voice announcements . If the called party is a subscribed to a mobile network, time is spent considerably for paging and ciphering/authentication on the called party side. During the period between the last dialled digit has been sent and the first information about call progress has been received there usually is silence, i.e. the called party doesn't get any information about the call progress or the called party. It is an object of this invention to provide a method and a system to substitute fully or partly the time of silence during the set up of a dialled connection in a telecommunication network.

This object is achieved by a method and a system comprising the technical measures described in the independent patent claims .

Preferred embodiments and advantageous features of the invention are described in the dependent method and apparatus claims

An advantage of the invention is that the calling party receives an early information about the called party, preferably a tone signal, in addition to the normal signalling situation. This information signal may include information about the called party itself, the progress of the call set up procedure, the type of call, i.e. local call, distant call, roaming call, etc.

A description of the invention related procedure of establishing telecommunication connection is given below:

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, if the telecommunication network of the called party detects that it has received sufficient information received from calling party to determine the identity of the called party, the network provides a sound/tune to the calling party. Preferably, the sound/tune starts as soon as the validity of the destination number dialled is approved. If the called party's communication network or another subsequent network, i.e. a transit network in case of called party is roaming, provides an audible information about the call progress, i.e. some tone or/and an announcement, both information, the sound/tune provided according to the present invention and the tone/announcement conventionally provided by the network (s) are mixed appropriately and transmitted to the terminal equipment of the calling party.

If the called party accepts the call, the sound/tune is stopped and the regular communication between calling party and called party can be started.

The called party determines if that service is to be provided to him/her or not. The working name for this service is: Personalised Comfort Background Noise (PCBN) .

The called party also determines the kind of sound/tune to be played, i.e. just sound/tone signals or voice announcements. For this, the user may enter a special menu to select his/her preferred sound/tone or announcement . A network defined default sound/tune may be applied in case that the user has not chosen any specific sound/tune. Further, the called party may determine the kind of sound/tune to be actually played dependent on the identity or the location of the calling party and on further parameters of the call event, i.e. dependent on date/time, dependent on supplementary service invoked by the actual call event, or dependent on the type of terminal device used by the called party. The user or called party shall pay a fee for using the PCBN service provisioning on a monthly and/or an administrative action basis. ,

Means shall be provided to enable self-administration of the PCBN service by the user/customer subscribed to the PCBN service. These administration events include the subscription to the PCBN service and/or the choice of the sound/tune to be applied in different call contexts related to the customer and/or the called party. Self-administration is enabled via Short Message Service (SMS) , Interactive Voice Response

Systems (IVR) , Internet access and/or WAP access (Wireless Application Protocol) .

The benefits of the invention are among others:

The avoidance of silence periods during a call setup experienced by the calling party.

The calling party is immediately informed that the digits he/she has dialled describe and identify a valid destination call number. This requires that also the called party has subscribed to the PCBN service so that the digits dialled by the calling party can be matched to the telephone number of the called party .

The calling party is immediately informed that he/she has most likely dialled the correct number in case of the called party to which the dialled digits match has chosen a sound/tune sufficiently significant for the called party. The called party is enabled to personalise his network terminating access, e.g. different sounds/tunes can be assigned to different subscribers.

The waiting time experience is less boring for the calling party.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is now described with reference to the drawing.

Fig. 1 shows an example of the technical realization of the implementation of the invention in a mobile telecommunication system.

A calling party 10, also referred to a A-side, starts a call to a mobile subscriber 12, also referred to as called party. The call request is directed from the terminal device of the calling party to an exchange 14 able to reveal the actual servicing exchange 16 the called party is served by. The exchange 14 is presumed to be able to control the PCBN service and is also referred to PCBN controlling exchange. In case that a GSM-type mobile radio network is used, this exchange 14 is the originating Mobile Switching Center (MSC) if the call is a HPLMN-HPLMN call or the incoming gateway MSC of the called party's HPLMN (Home Public Land Mobile Network) .

It is further presumed that a subscriber database 18, e.g. the Home Location Register (HLR) of the GSM network, contains the identity of the actual servicing exchange 16 serving the called party 12 and also an information whether the called party 12 has subscribed to PCBN service or not. The method operated as follows:

Step (1) : The information of the called party's specific service data is transferred from the subscriber database 18 to the exchange 14 to control the further call progress.

In case of a GSM network, the HLR is the subscriber database 18 and may contain the required data mentioned, i.e. the identity of the actual servicing exchange 16 of the called party 12 and corresponding PCBN service data. Moreover, more PCBN service data may be provided by performing an IN request (Intelligent Network) which will require an IN dialogue between the exchange 14 and an IN network node (e.g. an Service Control Point : SCP) , if appropriate .

Step (2) : On receipt of relevant data for the actual call request , the PCBN controlling exchange 14 prepares physically a network initiated three-party-conference-bridge and sets up a connection to a PCBN server 20 using adequate transmission capabilities. Hence , the three-party- conference-bridge is connected to the calling party 10 and the PCBN server 20 at that time. The PCBN service information retrieved from the subscriber database 18 is signalled from the PCBN controlling exchange 14 to the PCBN server 20. Depending on the actual function-split between the PCBN controlling exchange 14 and the subscriber database 18 on one hand and the PCBN server 20 on the other hand, this information may consist of an information to apply the PCBN service for the actual call context with parameters: "called party and, maybe, calling party" only, or additional service control parameters may be attached, like type of sound/tune to be applied. No indication to the calling party is given with respect to the ongoing conference connection.

The standard call processing continues in direction to the destination, i.e. the called party 12.

Step (3) : The PCBN server 20 does contain a PCBN database 22 where all the sounds/tunes to be available for PCBN service are stored. Both, the PCBN controlling exchange 14 and the subscriber database 18 on one hand and the PCBN server 20 on the other hand do control the PCBN service, i.e., for each actual call context including the identity of the calling and the called party, the adequate PCBN service action is determined. For that reason, a matching table is provided, e.g. in the subscriber database 18, assigning a specific sound/tune to a called party (cdpty) , a calling party (cgpty) , a date, a time, and supplementary-service call context. According to the function-split , see above, the parameters necessary and/or results of the assignment using the matching table are transferred from PCBN controlling exchange 14 to PCBN server 20. According to that assignment, the correct sound/tune is played by the PCBN server 20 to the three-party-conference- bridge. From that time, sound/tune will become audible by calling party 10. In case of a failure, a fall-back action is foreseen to release the three-party-conference-bridge and to proceed with the standard call processing.

Step (4) : If - during call processing -, the PCBN controlling exchange 14 or a subsequent exchange 16 in direction of call termination provides some tone and/or announcements to inform the calling party about the call progress, e.g. alerting indication, busy indication, ... , this tone/announcement is transmitted via the third line entrance of the three-party- conference-bridge .

The three-party-conference-bridge shall mix up both information, the tone/announcement and the PCBN sound/tune, and transfer both signals to the calling party 10 in an adequate way.

If the tone/announcement ceases and the call setup is still in progress, the PCBN sound/tune shall still be played. The PCBN sound/tune shall also be played, if the call is diverted to another destination.

Step (5) : If the call is accepted by the called party 12 or by another destination to which the call has been diverted to, the three-party-conference-bridge shall be abandoned, and the call shall be through connected between calling party 10 and called party 12 as a standard call.

An information is given to the PCBN player situated in the

PCBN server 20 to stop all PCBN activities for that call. The transmission resource between PCBN controlling exchange 14 and PCBN server 20 is released.

The current invention is not restricted to the above described application nor is it restricted to mobile communication networks. It is also applicable to any other kinds of telecommunication systems.

Claims

Patent Claims

1. Method for implentation of a personalised comfort background noise (PCBN) in dialled telecommunication systems characterised by using standard switching procedures for call routing and inserting separate personalised signals representing acoustical or optical information or all other kind of information into the telecommunication connection.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the information signal includes information about the called party itself, the progress of the call set up procedure, the type of call, i.e. local call, distant call, roaming call.

3. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the called party determines the kind of sound/tune to be actually played dependent on the identity or the location of the calling party and on further parameters of the call event, i.e. dependent on date/time, dependent on supplementary service invoked by the actual call event, or dependent on the type of terminal device used by the called party.

4. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that when the telecommunication network of the called party has detected the identity of the called party, the network provides a sound/tune to the calling party.

5. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the sound/tune starts as soon as the validity of the destination number dialled is approved.

6. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that if the communication network of the called party provides an audible information about the call progress both information, the sound/tune provided according to the present invention and the tone/announcement conventionally provided by the network, are mixed appropriately and transmitted to the terminal equipment of the calling party.

7. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the sound/tune provided according to the present invention and the tone/announcement provided by the network are mixed by using a conventional three-party-conference- bridge connection.

8. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that if the tone/announcement ceases and the call setup is still in progress, the PCBN sound/tune continues to play.

9. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the sound/tune is also played, if the call is diverted to another destination.

10. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that means are provided to enable self-administration of the

PCBN service by the user/customer subscribed to the PCBN service .

11. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that the self-administration includes the subscription to the

PCBN service and/or the choice of the sound/tune to be applied in different call contexts related to the customer and/or the called party.

12. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that self-administration of the service is enabled via Short Message Service (SMS) , Interactive Voice Response Systems (IVR) , Internet access and/or WAP access (Wireless Application Protocol) .

13. Method according to any preceding claim, characterised in that if the called party accepts the call, the sound/tune is stopped and the regular communication between calling party and called party can be started.

14. Systemfor application of personalised comfort background noise (PCBN) in telecommunication for dialled telecommunication connections, using a method according to the preceding claims, the system consisting of at least a PCBN server and a PCBN data base additionally to the standard equipment of a telecommunication switching system.

15. System according to claim 14, characterised in that in the PCBN data base different sounds/tunes to be used by the service are stored.

16. System according to any of claims 14 or 15, characterised in that by the PCBN server the sounds/tunes stored in the PCBN data base are selected, played back and transmitted to the calling party.

17. System according to any of claims 14-16, characterised in that a conventional three-party-conference-bridge connection is used to connect the calling party, the called party and the PCBN server to each other during a call setup.

18. System according to any of claims 14-17, characterised in That the sound/tunes consist of tone signals.