The present invention relates in general to notification of incomplete video calls and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to a method and apparatus for supporting notification to a called party regarding video calls made to him which for one reason or another he did not answer. The present invention further relates, for example, to notifying the calling party when the called party becomes available.
Third generation (3G) cellular networks provide subscribers with the ability to place video calls in addition to traditional voice calls. The popularity of video calls is increasing, along with the availability of handsets enabled to communicate by video. Video calls are also available over IP, and are expected to be available over wireline telephony in the near future.
At present there are two main groups of incomplete call notification systems which are applicable to video calls. The first of these, currently applying to mobile telephone systems, is video mail. In the wireless version the called telephone may be in one of three unavailable states, (1) busy, (2) not available on the network and (3) available but not answering. In all three states it is desirable to divert a caller to the mailbox.
However video mail suffers from a significant disadvantage, which is that video mail is not widely available to subscribers, and even where available the number of subscribers is relatively small. An additional disadvantage of the mailbox is that video messages require large amounts of storage. Thus video mail is generally provided as an extra service for which the user pays. Even those subscribers with video mail may miss a large number of calls, since few callers tend to leave a video message when their call is unanswered. It is estimated that only 20% of callers leave voice messages, and that the percentage of callers who leave video messages will be even less. If a video message is not left, the called party is unaware that a call was missed, since video mail systems do not notify the called party if the caller does not leave a message.
A second solution is caller ID. In the wireline environment a caller ID device extracts the caller line identification (CLI) information from an incoming call, possibly together with date and time information and displays the information on a screen. The device may be able to display a certain number of previous callers, and may be incorporated into a telephone or may be included in a stand-alone device. In the wireless environment, if a call reaches a mobile telephone then the caller ID details are generally available to the user, irrespective of whether the call was completed. If however the telephone is unreachable (for example, out of battery) at the time of the call, then the video mail facility is the only way that the user can know about the call.
Caller ID has been extended in the wireless environment to situations in which the mobile telephone is not connected at the time of the call. In such a case a network switch detects details of the incomplete call and sends those details as an SMS message to the mobile telephone. The message is then received the next time the user connects to the network and the user is notified of the missed call. However SMS notification provides only a limited text notification with the call details and is currently supported for voice calls only, not for video calls.
Nevertheless it is desirable to notify a user whenever possible of non-completed calls so that the user has the opportunity to return the call. From the point of view of the service provider, every non-completed call is a source of lost revenue and every opportunity to inform a user of the incomplete call is an opportunity to recover that revenue. Additionally, by identifying a missed call as a video call, the subscriber is encouraged to return a video call to the original caller, rather than a voice call.
There is thus a need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a way of notifying a user of incomplete video calls, and preferably for providing call details and devoid of the above limitations.
According to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention there is provided an incomplete call notification apparatus comprising a determination unit, an interrogation unit and a forwarding unit. The determination unit detects an incomplete video call. The interrogation unit obtains call data of the incomplete video call, the video call being to a given called party and the call data being at least indicative of a calling party. The forwarding unit arranges the called data into a format for forwarding to the called party.
According to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention there is provided an incomplete call notification apparatus comprising: an input, a database, and a data provision unit. The input receives call data of an incomplete video call, the call data comprising at least caller identification information. The database stores at least the caller identification information from the input, and the data provision unit forwards the caller identification information to a called party.
According to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of providing sources of incomplete video calls comprising: setting at least one of a network exchange switch and a video mail system with a protocol for sending caller identification information of video calls made through the switch and not completed, the caller identification information being indicative of the source, receiving the caller identification information at a notification platform on the network, and forwarding the caller identification information to the respective called party.
According to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of providing sources of incomplete video calls comprising: setting at least one of a network exchange switch and a video mail system to provide a notification platform with a signal that a call has been placed through the switch, receiving the signal at a notification platform on the network, identifying the call as an incomplete video call, obtaining call data in response to the identification, the call data being at least indicative of a respective source, and arranging for forwarding of data indicative of the source to the respective called party.
According to a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention there is provided an incomplete call notification method comprising: detecting an incomplete video call, obtaining call data of the incomplete video call, the video call being to a given called party and the call data being at least indicative of a calling party, and arranging the called data into a format for forwarding to the called party.
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. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, suitable exemplary methods and materials are described below. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.
Implementation of the exemplary method and system of the present invention involves performing or completing selected tasks or steps manually, automatically, or a combination thereof. Moreover, according to actual instrumentation and equipment of preferred embodiments of the method and system of the present invention, several selected steps could be implemented by hardware or by software on any operating system of any firmware or a combination thereof. For example, as hardware, selected steps of the invention could be implemented as a chip or a circuit. As software, selected steps of the invention could be implemented as a plurality of software instructions being executed by a computer using any suitable operating system. In any case, selected steps of the method and system of the invention could be described as being performed by a data processor, such as a computing platform for executing a plurality of instructions.
The exemplary embodiments are 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 the cause of providing 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:
a is a simplified block diagram of an incomplete call notification apparatus, according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.
b shows a screen example of an MMS (multimedia messages service) missed call notification which contains a frame of the missed video call;
a and 2b are part block and part flow diagrams illustrating examples of missed video call handling for a called party without and with video mail service respectively;
a is a simplified block diagram of an incomplete call notification apparatus according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;
b and 4c show screen examples of SMS missed call notification messages, in a non-aggregated and aggregated format respectively;
a and 6b are simplified flow diagrams illustrating signal routing around the video mail plus call notification platform, in a mobile telephone environment, for a subscriber without and with video mail respectively;
The present embodiments show a method and apparatus for providing caller identification information following aborting of a video call, the formatting of the information into a missed call notification, and the provision of the missed call notification to a called party.
With the introduction of 3G cellular networks, video calls are becoming more and more common. Video calls are also available over IP, and are expected to be available over wireline telephony in the near future. Notifying video callers of incomplete calls (also denoted herein missed calls) is particularly important since video mail solutions are not prevalent and because it is expected that the rate of slam-downs (i.e. calls in which the caller disconnects without leaving a video message) will be high.
The present embodiments provide useful information, which would otherwise not be available, to the called party about missed calls. In the cellular environment, the present embodiments provide information about missed calls when the handset is turned-off, out of coverage, busy, or out of battery. It also provides information for slam-down situations, which would otherwise be unknown.
The principles and operation of an incomplete call notification apparatus for video calls may be better understood with reference to the drawings and accompanying descriptions.
Before explaining at least one exemplary 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.
The following exemplary embodiments are directed at video calls placed over a cellular telephony system, preferably GSM, but apply to other telephony systems such as PSTN and video calls over IP, without limitation. In the following it is assumed that only subscribers with video-enabled telephones receive video calls, and that otherwise the video call is blocked at the network level.
Reference is now made to
Determination unit 20 performs missed call detection. The missed call may be due to a variety of reasons, including lost calls that result from slam-downs and from periods when a subscriber is unreachable. Unreachable status may include cases when the handset is turned off, out of battery, or out of coverage, and when the line is busy. In a wireless environment this can also include times when the handset is turned off, busy, or out of service range. When the called party subscribes to a video mail service, a call may be missed due to a slam-down or timeout.
Determination unit 20 may perform the detection in any manner known in the art, including, for example:
Thus determination unit 20 is typically in communication with a telephone switch and/or video mail system. As is known to those skilled in the art, the switch typically connects a call to a called party, ensures that the telephone of the called party rings, and obtains information of the call such as the identity of the calling party. Generally the data that is available to the switch/video mail system includes the caller line identification (CLI). The switch tends to be aware of whether a call is completed or not since a non-completed call is not billed and may need to be rerouted to a video mail service if there is one. A time out function at the switch, for example, may disconnect a calling party after a certain time and reconnect the calling party to such a video mail facility.
In a preferred embodiment, when a call is not completed, the telephone switch indicates to determination unit 20 that a missed call occurred, and communicates call data (also denoted herein as missed call data), including the CLI and possibly other data such as the time of the call, to interrogation unit 30, either directly or via determination unit 20. In a first preferred embodiment, the indication that the call was missed and the call data may be bundled together in a single message, such as an ISUP IAM message. The IAM message is first processed by determination unit 20 to determine that the call was not completed. Determination unit 20 then passes the IAM message to interrogation unit 30 for extraction of caller information and any other information of interest. In a second preferred embodiment, determination unit 20 is provided with a signal that the call was missed, which triggers interrogation unit 30 to interrogate the telephone switch in order to obtain the call data.
In the preferred embodiment, when the called party is a video mail subscriber, the switch forwards the missed call to a video mail system. However, when the calling party is successfully transferred to the video mail, he may disconnect without leaving a message (slam-down). In these cases the video mail system identifies a missed call, and provides the information to the telephone switch (to forward to call notification apparatus 10) and/or directly to call notification apparatus 10.
In a further preferred embodiment, missed call detection is performed by monitoring a video mail system. In the preferred embodiment, one or more of the following techniques is used: measuring the amount of time that the diverted call spends in the video mail system, determining whether the caller hangs up before or after the tone for depositing a video mail, and monitoring the “New Voicemail” SMS message that is sent to the subscriber when a new video mail message has been deposited.
Typically the telephone switch automatically retains the information it has gathered about the last call information, such as the number of the calling party and the time at which the call was made. The last call information is generally not used in conventional systems and is later overwritten.
Call notification apparatus 10 obtains call data from the telephone switch and/or video mail system (typically including the CLI) as well as a call type indicator (which indicates if the given call is a video call) by communicating with the switch and/or video mail system according to a shared protocol. In the preferred embodiment, the call is placed over a mobile GSM telephone network, and the call type indicator is obtained from the ISUP IAM. The ISUP IAM preferably also supplies call data, including one or more of: redirection reason (RDR field), Calling Line Identity (CLI), and Originally Called Number (OCN).
The information regarding the missed call, including the call data and preferably the call type indicator, is transferred to forwarding unit 35, which arranges the call data into a format suitable for forwarding to the called party. The call type indicator indicates to forwarding unit 35 that the call notification should be arranged in the format suitable for video call notification. Missed call notification (also denoted herein the Who Called message or WHC) is sent by forwarding unit 35 to the called party. Forwarding unit 35 may transfer the missed call information to a delivery server, which delivers the missed call notification to the called party or makes the information otherwise available for to the called party. Preferably, forwarding unit 35 contains database 36 for storing the missed call information prior to sending it.
In the preferred embodiment, forwarding unit 35 formats the missed call notification for video calls as an MMS message. The MMS can provide the called party with more information than is providable by a SMS text message. Preferably the MMS contains a frame of the missed video call, as illustrated in
In the preferred embodiment, missed call notification is provided by at least one of but not limited to:
In the following preferred embodiment, particularly suitable for wireless telephony, call notification is provided in a custom protocol to a call notification client installed on the subscriber's wireless device. Installing the call notification client also makes it possible to provide the subscriber with a simplified user interface, which is tailored to missed call notification.
Preferably, call notification apparatus 10 further includes availability unit 50 which identifies when the called party becomes available. The WHC message can then be provided to the subscriber. The availability information may also trigger a notification to the caller that the called party is now available (denoted herein a Notify Me message). The Notify Me message can be an SMS or MMS which includes a send button to redial the previously missed party, preferably as a video call In the preferred embodiment, availability unit 50 uses one or both of the following modes to enquire the reachability status of the called party.
1. Silent SMS mode—In GSM networks, the system can use a silent SMS message (referred to as “SMS Type 0” or “SMS0”), in order to receive a subscriber reachability alert. Availability unit 50 sends an SMS0 message to the SMSC. The SMSC sends the message to the subscriber, without the subscriber being aware of it. Once the subscriber becomes reachable, the SMSC notifies availability unit 50 of the SMS0 successful delivery, which serves as the trigger for the change of subscriber's status within call notification apparatus 10. As a result of the reachability status change, the call notification apparatus 10 retrieves the missed calls details from the database, and aggregates, formats and sends the missed call notification (and possibly the Notify Me message).
2. Push and Replace mode—This mode of operation utilizes the inherent retry- and-replace mechanisms of the SMSC and/or MMSC and does not require any reachability trigger. A new notification message is compiled upon every missed call event. The message is then sent to the SMSC and/or MMSC, using the inherent SMSC message replace mechanism. This mode of operation ensures that at any point in time, the most updated notification message is waiting in the SMSC and/or MMSC retry queue to be sent to the subscriber. When availability unit 50 determines that the subscriber is reachable again, the SMSC and/or MMSC sends the message stored in the queue. The successful delivery of the WHC message stored in the SMSC and/or MMSC queue, may serve as a trigger for sending the Notify Me message to the calling party.
Availability detection mechanisms are also discussed in U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2004/0219908 of the present assignee, which is hereby incorporated by reference. These mechanisms can be utilized, for example, in the call notification apparatus 10 shown in
Forwarding unit 35 preferably is preferably configurable by the operator and/or subscriber, to tailor the format of the Who Called message. Possible configuration options include aggregation type, the order in which messages are displayed, message header/body/footer format and content, maximum number of callers stored, length of time database retains missed call information, conditions for sending Notify Me messages, time periods for providing notifications, and so forth. Optionally, forwarding unit 35 may combine voice mail and video mail missed call notifications in a single Who Called message.
Reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
Subscriber A makes a video Call to subscriber B. The telephone switch (MSC) 100 diverts the call to HLR 200. The HLR 200 determines that subscriber B is unreachable, and commands telephone switch 100 to forward the call to subscriber video mail system 300. Telephone switch 100 forwards the call to video mail system 300. In the case of a slam-down (i.e. subscriber A doesn't leave a message), the video mail system 300 sends the call data and call type indicator to call notification apparatus 400. Alternately or additionally, call notification apparatus 400 monitors the video call completion via probes mounted on the cellular operator's network, to determine information regarding slam-down, call type, etc. . . . to call notification apparatus 400. In the current case, the call data may also include a first screen shot of the caller which may be included in the notification provided to the called party, as described below. Call notification apparatus 400 processes the call data information and forwards the missed call notification 600 to subscriber B through delivery server 500.
Reference is now made to
In an alternate preferred embodiment, the incomplete call notification apparatus contains a database apparatus which combines the functionality of the determination unit and the interrogation unit. Reference is now made to
Preferably, database apparatus 40 further includes aggregation unit 43 which has a comparator 44 and an aggregator 45. Comparator 44 preferably compares the number of a current calling party with numbers already stored in the database. If a match is found, aggregator 45 combines the current caller identification information with any already stored caller identification information into a single record, by updating the time of the call and incrementing a field to indicate how many calls have been received from the given calling party. Thus, if three calls have been received from a given number, the database will show one missed call notification entry showing that a call was missed from the given number three times. The data of the current call is not entered into the database as a separate entry because information corresponding to that call is already stored in the database, and it is desired to notify the called party only once for every CLI.
In an alternative embodiment, all call attempts are recorded as separate items in the database. Aggregation is performed only when the missed call notifications are provided to the called party. Aggregator 45 then scans the entries in the database and forms a single notification for each called party number, regardless of how many entries are stored in the database for the given number. Upon request, the user may be informed of the number of times the given number appears, rather than by a separate message for each occurrence of a call. For example, if a calling party calls four times, four separate records will be stored in the database. However, when the missed call notification is provided, aggregator 45 identifies that all four records pertain to a single caller, and generates a single missed call notification.
b shows an example of a non-aggregated SMS missed call notification message, while
a call control server (CCS) 520, which handles the network signaling interaction for all the other components in VM platform 500;
a multimedia unit (MMU) 530 which provides a telephone interface for the messaging system as a whole and provides resources required for user interaction;
a messaging and storage unit (MSU) 540 is the application server for VM platform 500, handling video mail storage and retrieval;
a task and resource management (TRM) module 550 is the platform's management and control unit. It also hosts the Notification Layered Product (NLP), which serves as the VM gateway for outgoing notifications, and forwards slam-down events data to the call notification platform 510;
a management applications unit (MAU) 560 hosts administrative utilities such as remote access to the system; and
a system management unit (SMU) 570 is the primary monitoring point for SNMP-based management systems.
The call notification platform 510 includes the following components:
a notification delivery unit (NDU) 580 serves as a central notification platform and in particular hosts two applications: a notification delivery server (NDS) which handles notification logic and formats, and a smart mobile gateway (SMG), a logical component which interfaces with SMSC servers, MMSC servers, and Signaling servers (CCS); and
a database server unit (DSU) 590 collects details of all the calls made to a given subscriber, aggregates calls from the same calling party as described above and takes responsibility for notifying the called party. The DSU 50 encapsulates database 41 (DB) as well as database logic 42 as described for
The components of both VM 500 and call notification platform 510 are connected as a local area network (LAN) via a data cable denoted the High Speed Backbone Network (HSBN).
a and 6b are simplified diagrams illustrating signal routing around the abovedescribed video mail plus call notification platform, in the GSM mobile telephone environment.
a shows the messaging that take place when the video call is not answered and the called party does not have video mail. Specifically,
The following steps take place when the called party becomes reachable again:
[8] The HLR 100 updates the MMSC/SMSC 600 with the fact that subscriber B became available. The MMSC/SMSC 600 sends the stored message to subscriber B.
The following steps take place in silent SMS mode only:
The following steps take place in Push and Replace mode only:
b shows the messaging operations that take place when the video call is not answered and the call is forwarded to the VM. Each of these messaging operations is described below:
Reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
In an alternate embodiment, upon detection of call non-completion the network switch forwards the call to a video mail system. If the video mail system detects a timeout or slam-down, it is the video mail system which sends the call data to the notification platform.
Reference is now made to
Once the protocol link has been set up, a monitoring process for incomplete calls may begin. In operation 1010, the platform receives a signal to indicate that an incomplete call has been detected. If the signal does not include call data, the switch is queried to obtain the call data. In operation 1020, the platform determines that the missed call is a video call. Preferably the platform checks whether the called party who is the object of the detected call is a subscriber for which it keeps missed call records, and if so the call is stored as a new entry in the database record for that subscriber in operation 1030. The entry is timestamped at operation 1040, and if the entry is a first new record for the given subscriber then in operation 1050 a notification may be set to alert the subscriber to the presence of incomplete call data. Alternately, subscriber availability is monitored, and an MMS or SMS is sent when the subscriber becomes available.
U.S. application Ser. No. 10/670,726 of the present assignee for missed call notification for voice calls is hereby incorporated by reference. In U.S. application Ser. No. 10/670,726, when an uncompleted call is detected, the telephony switch is interrogated to provide the call details. The call data is then stored in a format for forwarding to the called party. The present embodiments provide missed call notification to video calls, by tailoring the methods for determining that a call has been missed and for obtaining the missed call data for storage to video calls.
The above-described missed call notification system and method extend the currently available mechanisms for informing subscribers missed video calls. The power and flexibility of missed call notification extends far beyond the video mailbox. Missed call notification recovers “lost calls” that result from slam-downs and from periods when a subscriber is unreachable. Unreachable status can include cases when the phone is out of coverage, the line is busy, or call waiting status. In a wireless environment this can also include times when the handset is turned off or out of service range. Missed call notification extends the operator's regular Caller ID service by recording and reporting this lost information.
When the subscriber returns to available status, missed call notification provides the subscriber with a message listing all the calls that were missed. The form of the notification varies depending on the type of network and whether or not the user is a video mail subscriber. In any case, subscribers receive information about missed calls of which they were previously unaware.
Missed call notification is also beneficial for network operators. It is estimated that up to 15% of voice calls entering the operator's network are unanswered and lost because they are not diverted to subscribers mailbox and not tracked by a handset, and it is expected that the percentage will be significantly higher for video calls. Missed call notification encourages subscribers to return new video calls on the operator's network, thus increasing operator revenues.
It is expected that during the life of this patent many relevant forms of video calling, video mail systems, messaging protocols, network switch and exchange and protocols for using the same, and wireline and wireless telephones will be developed and the scope of these and other terms in this disclosure is intended to include all such new technologies a priori.
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.
The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/666,165, filed on Mar. 30, 2005, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60666165 | Mar 2005 | US |