WO2011016041A1

WO2011016041A1 - Recognition and identication of ringback tones

Info

Publication number: WO2011016041A1
Application number: PCT/IL2010/000636
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shaul Wilenski; Avey Gabrielli; Avraham Kadosh; Eyal Katz
Original assignee: H.E. Catalyst Ltd.
Priority date: 2009-08-05
Filing date: 2010-08-05
Publication date: 2011-02-10
Also published as: WO2011016042A1

Abstract

Apparatus for music matching across telephony networks, comprises: a sampling unit located at a first telephone network for sampling music being played at a second telephone network in response to a call directed to said second telephone network, the sampling unit being adapted for sampling of signals within a telephone network frequency range; an analysis and matching unit for matching the sample with a plurality of tunes held on a tunes database to find a match, and an assignment unit for assigning matched tunes to subscribers.

Description

MUSIC AND CONTENT MATCHING ACROSS TELEPHONE NETWORKS

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to apparatus and a method for music matching across telephone networks and, more particularly, but not exclusively to identification of ring back tones.

It is known for telephone networks to provide ring back tones, or CRBT, to users. The tones play to callers instead of the standard tones before the call is answered. If a caller likes the ring back tone he is listening to, then as long as he and the caller are in the same network, he is often able to order the tone for himself, for example by pressing a particular DTMF key on his phone. The known system uses the network operator's database of users and ring back tones in order to determine what ring back tone is being ordered.

If the caller and callee are on different networks then the network operator's database cannot be used since the callee's CRBT is not known to the caller's operator. In general, in about a quarter of calls only, are the caller and callee on the same network, the exact proportion varying between different countries and different networks. Due to lack of access to the operator's database, there is currently no way to offer to a user a ring back tone that is heard at another network.

International Tatent Publication No. WO2006/117777, Hingi Ltd, published 9^th

November 2006, teaches automatically identifying tunes being played on the radio using music sampling techniques, so that users can send a text message indicating the time and the radio channel and be sent ring tones or the full tracks currently being played.

The music sampling techniques that work with radio broadcasts however were found to fail when applied to the telephone network.

Furthermore, even if the radio music sampling could be made to work, the question arises as to how to provide a telephone service that allows a subscriber to choose a particular ring back tone which can be provided easily and simply by the telephone operator and which can generally always be available. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for identifying ring back tones automatically from a callee at a first telephone network so as to make them available to a caller at a second telephone network.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for music matching across telephony networks, comprising:

a sampling unit located at a first telephone network for sampling music being played at a second telephone network in response to a call directed to said second telephone network, the sampling unit being adapted for sampling of signals within a telephone network frequency range;

an analysis and matching unit for matching the sample with a plurality of tunes held on a tunes database to find a match, and

an assignment unit for assigning matched tunes to subscribers.

An embodiment may comprise a call placement delay unit for delaying placement of a call until an announcement has been made to a caller.

In an embodiment, said call placement delay unit is configured to operate for call destinations on other networks previously recorded as having call ring back tones (CRBT) that match said tunes on said tunes database.

An embodiment may comprise an IVVR (Interactive Voice and Video response) system including, a DTMF detector and Speech recognition resources and capability for detecting a caller response to a CRBT currently being played, said assignment unit being operatively connected to said DTMF detector to assign said matched tune according to said caller response.

An embodiment may comprise a callee database indicating out-of-network callees known- to have an identified CRBT.

In an embodiment sampled tunes are categorized into tunes for which distribution rights are owned, tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned and tunes for which distribution rights are not available, and said callee database is updated with out-of-network callees, corresponding sampled tunes and corresponding categories.

An embodiment may comprise a call placement delay unit for delaying placement of a call to an out-of-network callee until an announcement has been made to a caller, and wherein said call placement delay unit is configured to operate only where said out-of-network callee appears in said callee database and wherein said corresponding category indicates a tune for which distribution rights are owned.

An embodiment may include a silent mode of operation, wherein said callee database is updated but said assignment unit is not operated.

In an embodiment, said tunes database comprises tunes for which distribution rights are owned, tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned and tunes for which distribution rights are not available.

An embodiment may be configured to refer requests relating to tunes not present on said database to an operator, thereby to facilitate manual updating of said tunes database with popular tunes not currently being held.

An embodiment may be configured with a rights acquisition unit for gathering statistics regarding requests relating to said tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned, and, when said requests exceed a predetermined threshold, seeking to obtain said distribution rights.

In an embodiment, said matching unit is configured to obtain a fingerprint of said sample and compare it to fingerprints of said tunes on said tunes database, to find closest candidate matches, and then to carry out detailed searches of said closest candidates to obtain said match.

In an embodiment, said DTMF detector and speech recognition resources and capability are in operation for all calls, irrespective of whether said call was subjected to call placement delay and an announcement.

In an embodiment, the music being sampled is part of a video clip, and whereby said matching is carried on said tune to match with said video clip.

In an embodiment, said sampling unit is configured to sample the- music at a sampling rate of substantially 8KHz.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for music matching across telephony networks to provide a caller at a first network with a music sample heard from a callee at a second network, the method comprising:

at the first telephone network sampling music being played at the second telephone network in response to a call directed to the second telephone network, the sampling being adapted for sampling of signals within a telephone network frequency range;

matching the sample with a plurality of tunes held on a tunes database to find a match, and

when requested, assigning a matched tune to the caller.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The materials, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance or illustration". Any embodiment described as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments and/or to exclude the incorporation of features from other embodiments.

The word "optionally" is used herein to mean "is provided in some embodiments and not provided in other embodiments". Any particular embodiment of the invention may include a plurality of "optional" features unless such features conflict.

Implementation of the method and/or system of embodiments of the invention can involve performing or completing selected tasks manually, automatically, or a combination thereof. This refers in particular to tasks involving the control of telephone server equipment.

Moreover, according to actual instrumentation and equipment of embodiments of the method and/or system of the invention, several selected tasks could be implemented by hardware, by software or by firmware or by a combination thereof using an operating system.

For example, hardware for performing selected tasks according to embodiments of the invention could be implemented as a chip or a circuit. As software, selected tasks according to embodiments of the invention could be implemented as a plurality of software instructions being executed by a computer using any suitable operating system. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, one or more tasks according to exemplary embodiments of method and/or system as described herein are performed by a data processor, such as a computing platform for executing a plurality of instructions. Optionally, the data processor includes a volatile memory for storing instructions and/or data and/or a non-volatile storage, for example, a magnetic hard-disk and/or removable media, for storing instructions and/or data. Optionally, a network connection is provided as well. A display and/or a user input device such as a keyboard or mouse are optionally provided as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in order to provide what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating two networks and a music matching unit for matching out of network CRBTs according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows in greater detail the music matching device and CRBT database of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a simplified flow chart illustrating the operation of the call delay unit of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a simplified flow chart showing how a CRBT is assigned to the caller following sampling according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present embodiments comprise a device and method for music matching across telephone networks and, more particularly, but not exclusively to identification of ring back tones. There is provided a method and apparatus for identifying ring back tones automatically from a callee at a first telephone network so as to make them available to a caller at a second telephone network.

The principles and operation of an apparatus and method according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and accompanying description.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Reference is now made to Fig. 1 which illustrates apparatus for music matching across telephony networks. A caller 10 in network B calls a callee 12 in network A. Network A has a database 14 of call ring back tones CRBT, and Network B has its own database 16 of call ring back tones. As caller 10 calls callee 12 he hears a call ringback tone that callee 12 has selected from his network's CRBT database 14. Caller 10 's network B has no access to CRBT database 14 so caller 10 has no way of selecting the ringback tone that he hears, should he like the tune and wish to use it for himself.

Thus, according to embodiments of the present invention a music matching unit 18 is provided at caller 10's network B. The matching unit samples the ring back tone and attempts to find a match amongst available CRBTs at network B's own CRBT database 16. If a match is found then the matching CRBT is assigned to caller 10 as his operational CRBT. An idea is to encourage impulse purchasing. A potential customer hears the product and is able to react immediately with a purchase.

Reference is now made to Fig. 2, which is a simplified block diagram illustrating the music matching unit 18 of Fig. 1 in greater detail. The music matching unit 18 comprises a sampling unit 20 located in association with the caller's telephone network, which listens to incoming traffic in order to sample music played as a ring-back tone.

Ring back tones are played instead of a standard tone while waiting for the callee to answer. In the present case the callee is at a different network from the caller. The sampling unit 20 preferably signals at the Nyquist rate for the telephone network. Telephone networks operate with a baseband of up to 4KHz so the Nyquist rate is 8KHz. In this sense the sampling unit is adapted for the telephone network frequency range.

It was found that standard music sampling units did not work with the telephone network. The reason is believed to be that in general with music, higher frequencies are important, so that sampling without taking into account the higher frequencies would be seen to be a mistake. However in a telephone network such sampling units provide oversampling and thus fail. The issue of adaptation for the telephone network was considered and eventually, reducing the sampling rate of the music sampling unit was found to yield successful results.

An analysis and matching unit 22 is connected downstream of the sampling unit

20 and matches between the sample and tunes held on CRBT database 24 to find the best match. Typically a fingerprint is extracted of the sample and is compared with preformed fingerprints of the tunes in the database for fast matching to find a subset of good candidates. Then more detailed searching is done to find a closest match from the good candidates. If no match is close then the matching returns a fail.

If a good match is found then an assignment unit 26 may assign the matched tunes as playback tones to the respective subscribers. As will be discussed in greater detail below, such an assignment may not always be possible, since usage rights for the tune may not always be owned. In the latter case the assignment unit may take note of popular requests for which rights are not available so that rights may be purchased.

Call placement delay unit 28 listens to outgoing calls of the network and is able to delay placement of a call until an announcement has been made to a caller. The announcement may briefly tell the caller about the service, and indicate which key to press in order to obtain the ring-back tone he hears for himself. As soon as the announcement is made the call is put through and the callee's ringback tone is heard.

It is noted that call placement delay unit 28 need not interfere with the operation of sampling unit 20. The service provided by the present embodiments is intended to work in the background at all times, whether announced or not. More knowledgeable users who remember the key press, can use the service even when not announced. Typically, since the keypress is always available during the ringing phase of a call it may use a key combination that can be accepted unambiguously as indicating an intention to obtain the CRBT. The double keypress "**" was used in a prototype system.

The call placement delay unit 28 is connected to callee database 30. Callee database 30 contains telephone numbers outside the network that have previously been called, and records whether the numbers have ring back tones at all. If the callee numbers have ring back tones, then the callee database indicates those who have tones that are recognized on the current network, and particularly those who have tones that can be provided by the current network.

The reason for such a database is that the call delay unit necessarily makes its announcement before any call has been put through and hence before any CRBT has been played. An announcement would be superfluous and cause user irritation if made where there is no following ring back tone. However the caller's network has no direct way of knowing whether callees in other networks have tones currently set. The problem is dealt with by storing numbers and call back tone status in the callee database. With the database, the call placement delay unit restricts announcements to those numbers on other networks previously recorded as having call ring ^"back tones

(CRBT) that match tunes on the tunes database and available in the current network.

The tendency of users who have CRBT tones to retain them leads to an inertia on the network which means that most of the time the announcements v/ill not be superfluous.

A DTMF detector 32 detects a caller's response to a CRBT currently being played. The DTMF detector directs the assignment unit 26 to provide the tune to the subscriber or to indicate to the system that distribution rights should be purchased or to carry out any other appropriate response.

The callee database may thus indicate out-of-network callees known at least recently to have an identified CRBT.

Sampled tones, comprising tunes or music in general, are categorized for the purposes of the callee database into tunes for which distribution rights are owned, tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned and tunes for which distribution rights are not available. Non-availability may be due to the fact that the rights owner has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with someone else, or due to the fact that the minimum price available is too high to be justified by the charge made to users on the network, or for a variety of other reasons.

The callee database is updated with out-of-network callees, corresponding sampled tunes and corresponding categories for the tunes so that the announcements can be placed most effectively and cause minimum annoyance to the network subscribers.

As an additional feature, the call placement delay unit may also store and use data of the caller, say for personalization of the service. Thus announcements may be rationed to one or two a month to any given caller, but with more announcements made to users who have shown interest in the service or have CRBTs themselves, and fewer announcements to users who ignore the service over time and evidently have no interest in CRBTs.

The call placement delay unit 28 may thus delay placement of a call to an out- of-network callee until an announcement has been made to a caller. Using the callee database 30, the call placement delay unit 28 may operate specifically in the case that the out-of-network callee appears in the callee database along with a data entry indicating a CRBT for which distribution rights are owned.

It will be appreciated that the data entry may at best reflect the status of the callee at the previous occasion on which that callee was called from the present network. The callee may have changed or cancelled his CRBT by the time the present call is placed. However the general tendency to inertia on a network ensures that the announcement will be effective most of the time.

The system may additionally include a silent mode of operation in which no announcements are made. During this silent mode of operation sampling and matching of tones is carried out in the normal way but the results are merely used to fill in data in the callee database. Using such a silent mode in the initial stage enables a large number of well-directed announcements in a following, active stage.

During the silent mode the assignment unit can either be switched off altogether or can be kept operating in the background, allowing knowledgeable users to select

CRBTs without the benefit of announcements. The silent mode may be used for initial set up of the system, but also may be entered subsequently to allow updating of the database if it is found that unacceptable numbers of inappropriate announcements are being made.

The CRBT database 24 may include not just tunes for which distribution rights are owned, but also tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned and tunes for which distribution rights are not available. Thus the system is able to match tunes which are not available and thus identify demand, for which rights can then be purchased. In this way the system allows for rapid updating say to include newly popular songs.

In the event of failure to match a tune, the analysis and matching unit 22 may include a feature for referring requests relating to tunes not present on the database to an operator. The operator may then attempt to manually recognize the tune and take action as necessary to add the CRBT to the database. Typically the operator concentrates on repeated requests so as to update the database with popular tunes.

The ability to obtain popular tunes and associated rights may be assisted by a rights acquisition unit-34 which monitors unfulfilled requests, and gathers statistics. For example if requests relating to a given CRBT for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned exceed a threshold number or rate, then a trigger is set to seek to obtain the relevant distribution rights.

The present embodiments are not limited to sound. Videophones, which supports video calls, may play video clips in place of CRBTs and the present embodiments allow a music video clip to be identified by extracting the sound track and . processing the sound track in exactly the same way as described above with a CRBT. The corresponding video clip is thus identified through its sound track.

Reference is now made to Fig. 3, which is a simplified flow chart illustrating the procedure when a caller places a call from a network using the embodiments of the present invention.

At a first stage 40 a caller calls a callee. If the callee is listed in the database as being outside the network and having an available CRBT then decision box 42 returns a yes and decision box 44 is entered. Decision box 44 checks that the present caller is due an announcement. This may be because he has never been given an announcement before or because he has not been given an announcement this month. If the caller is due an announcement then the call connection is delayed in stage 46 and an announcement about the service is played. In stage 48 the call is connected, irrespective of whether the yes or no paths were taken from the decision boxes.

Reference is now made to Fig. 4, which shows the procedure when the CRBT is sampled. Sampling takes place in stage 50. If the sample is identified then decision box 54 checks whether rights are owned. If the rights are owned then the identified

CRBT is assigned in box 56 to the caller so that it is played next time someone calls him or her.

If at box 52 the sample is not identified then a manual identification is attempted in box 58. The manually identified tune is then added to the CRBT database in box 60 and flow proceeds to the rights owned decision box 54.

In box 54, if the rights are not owned then flow proceeds to the rights acquisition procedure beginning with decision box 62 which sets a popularity test for the particular tune. There is no point trying to obtain rights for a tune if only one user wants the rights. On the other hand if there have been tens or hundreds of requests in the past hour then it is high time that the current network has this tune on its availability list.

Thus a threshold is set, which may be an absolute number or may be a rate of requests, and if the threshold is reached then the system attempts to purchase rights in box 64. The user request is set to a pending state in box 66 and the tune is assigned to the user in box 56 as soon as the rights are obtained. If the threshold is not met then the request is refused on box 68.

In different jurisdictions CRBT registration and/or content change is ordered using different key combinations. E.g., in Israel it is **, and in India it is *9. In India, the service may not be through the telephone itself but rather only through commercials on other media such as TV, Radio, etc.

Thus in one embodiment there is no explicit CRBT purchase offering made during the waiting part of the call. Rather, CRBT purchase is advertized by the telephone network, but via other media as mentioned. Nevertheless, the CRBTs that are advertised are based on the same network comparisons referred to above so that the given telephone network advertises CRBTs that users will have heard from other networks. The assignment of the CRBTs to the subscribers is thus not immediate, since the user is not reacting to a real time offer to purchase the CRBT that is being played to him, but otherwise the assignment works in the same way.

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims. All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference into the specification, to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in this application shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for music matching across telephony networks, comprising: a sampling unit located at a first telephone network for sampling music being played at a second telephone network in response to a call directed to said second telephone network, the sampling unit being adapted for sampling of signals within a telephone network frequency range;

an assignment unit for assigning matched tunes to subscribers.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a call placement delay unit for delaying placement of a call until an announcement has been made to a caller.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2,/wherein said call placement delay unit is configured to operate for call destinations on other networks previously recorded as having call ring back tones (CRBT) that match said tunes on said tunes database.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an IVVR (Interactive Voice and Video response) system including a DTMF detector and Speech recognition resources and capability for detecting a caller response to a CRBT currently being played, said assignment unit being operatively connected to said DTMF detector to assign said matched tune according to said caller response.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a callee database indicating out-of -network callees known to have an identified CRBT.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein sampled tunes are categorized into tunes for which distribution rights are owned, tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned and tunes for which distribution rights are not available, and said callee database is updated with out-of-network callees, corresponding sampled tunes and corresponding categories.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a call placement delay unit for delaying placement of a call to an out-of-network callee until an announcement has been made to a caller, and wherein said call placement delay unit is configured to operate only where said out-of-network callee appears in said callee database and wherein said corresponding category indicates a tune for which distribution rights are owned.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6, configured with a silent mode of operation, wherein said callee database is updated but said assignment unit is not operated.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said tunes database comprises tunes for which distribution rights are owned, tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned .and tunes for which distribution rights are not available.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, further configured to refer requests relating to tunes not present on said database to an operator, thereby to facilitate manual updating of said tunes database with popular tunes not currently being held.

11. Apparatus- according to claim 9, further configured with a rights acquisition unit for gathering statistics regarding requests relating to said tunes for which distribution rights are available but not currently owned, and, when said requests exceed a predetermined threshold, seeking to obtain said distribution rights.

12. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said matching unit is configured to obtain a fingerprint of said sample and compare it to fingerprints of said tunes on said tunes database, to find closest candidate matches, and then to carry out detailed searches of said closest candidates to obtain said match.

13. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said DTMF detector and speech recognition resources and capability are in operation for all calls, irrespective of whether said call was subjected to call placement delay and an announcement.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the music being sampled is part of a video clip, and whereby said matching is carried on said tune to match with said video clip.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said sampling unit is configured to sample the music at a sampling rate of substantially 8KHz.

16. Method for music matching across telephony networks to provide a caller at a first network with a music sample -heard from a callee at a second network, the method comprising:

when requested, assigning a matched tune to the caller.