Patent Grant
7343179
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for sampling and purchasing ring tones on a mobile device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many current mobile phones provide for the installation of new ring tones. Typically, users must upgrade ring tones by logging in to the Website of the mobile telephone manufacturer and/or service provider and downloading the new ring tones to a personal computer. The ring tones may then be transferred to the mobile telephone via the personal computer. Alternatively, once a ring tone is purchased at the Website, the new ring tone is transmitted to the mobile telephone over the service provider's network (e.g., using the short message service (“SMS”) protocol).
Prior to downloading a ring tone from a Website, the ring tone may be previewed on the personal computer from which the Website is accessed. For example, if the ring tone is in the form of a MIDI file or WAV file, the MIDI file or WAV file (or a portion thereof) may be downloaded and previewed on the user's personal computer.
Several limitations exist with current systems for upgrading ring tones. First, current systems do not allow a user to purchase and download new ring tones directly over the wireless service provider network. Rather, as described above, users must log in to the service provider and/or mobile telephone manufacturer Website from a personal computer. Second, current systems only allow users to preview ring tones on a personal computer. As a result, because the audio subsystems used on personal computers are typically different from the audio subsystems used on mobile devices, the preview of a ring tone may sound noticeably different from the way the ring tone actually sounds when played back on the mobile device.
These and other problems associated with prior ring tone systems are solved by the embodiments of the invention described below.
A method is described comprising: transmitting a ring tone preview directly from a wireless service to a wireless data processing device in response to a ring tone preview request; allowing a user to play back the ring tone preview on the wireless data processing device a specified number of times prior to purchasing the ring tone; receiving a ring tone purchase request at the wireless service transmitted directly from the wireless data processing device; and causing an actual ring tone associated with the ring tone preview to be stored within a ring tone gallery on the data processing device, the ring tones within the ring tone gallery accessible by applications executed on the data processing device.
Also described is a ring tone preview system comprising: a ring tone preview module for transmitting a ring tone preview directly from a wireless service to a wireless data processing device in response to a ring tone preview request; a ring tone catalog application for allowing a user to play back the ring tone preview on the wireless data processing device a specified number of times prior to purchasing the ring tone; and a ring tone purchase/download module to receive a ring tone purchase request at the wireless service transmitted directly from the wireless data processing device; wherein the ring tone purchase/download module and/or the ring tone catalog application causes an actual ring tone associated with the ring tone preview to be stored within a ring tone gallery on the data processing device, the ring tones within the ring tone gallery accessible by applications executed on the data processing device.
A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained from the following detailed description in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:
Described below is a system and method for multi-mode user interface for contacting a user. Throughout the description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the underlying principles of the present invention.
Embodiments of the invention may be implemented on a wireless device 110 which communicates with a data processing service 100 as illustrated generally in
In one embodiment, the service 100 converts standard applications and data into a format which each wireless data processing device 110 can properly interpret. Thus, as illustrated in
For example, the conversion logic 120 may include a hypertext markup language (“HTML”) rendering module (not shown) for interpreting HTML code and downloading any embedded content in the HTML code (e.g., graphics, video, sound, . . . etc) to the service 100. The conversion logic 120 may then combine the HTML code and embedded content and generate a set of bytecodes for accurately reproducing the requested content on the data processing device 110. As described above, in one embodiment, the bytecodes may be Java bytecodes/applets. However, the conversion logic 120 may generate various other types of interpreted and/or non-interpreted code, depending on the particular type of data processing device 110 being used (e.g., one with an interpreter module or one without).
Because one embodiment of the service 100 maintains an intimate knowledge of the capabilities/configuration of each data processing device 110 (e.g., screen size, graphics/audio capabilities, available memory, processing power, user preferences, . . . etc) it can reconstruct the requested Internet content accurately, while at the same time minimizing the bandwidth required to transmit the content to the device 110. For example, the conversion logic 120 may perform pre-scaling and color depth adjustments to the requested content so that it will be rendered properly within the data processing device's 110's display. In making these calculations, the conversion may factor in the memory and processing power available on the data processing device 110. In addition, the conversion logic 120 may compress the requested content using a variety of compression techniques, and thereby preserve network bandwidth.
Unlike prior systems which required users to preview and install new ring tones via a personal computer, one embodiment of the invention allows users to preview and install new ring tones directly from a mobile device. This type of direct interaction is possible due in part to the close relationship between the mobile data processing device 110 and the service 100, as described above with respect to
In one embodiment, the ring tone previews 211 provided by the ring tone preview module 221 are truncated versions of the actual ring tones 212. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the ring tone previews 211 are the same as the actual ring tones 212 but are processed and stored differently than the actual ring tones 212 on the mobile data processing device 110. For example, as illustrated in
As mentioned above, because the ring tone preview 211 is played back on the mobile device as opposed to a personal computer, the playback of the ring tone preview 211 sounds exactly as it will if the user decides to purchase the ring tone. For example, if the ring tone is a musical instrument digital interface (“MIDI”) ring tone, the same MIDI wave tables will be used to generate the ring tone. By contrast, the user's personal computer may be configured with a different set of wave tables (or, at least, a different speaker system).
In one embodiment, after the ring tone preview 211 has been played back a designated number of times, the ring tone catalog application 310 locks the ring tone preview 211 or, alternatively, deletes the ring tone preview 211 from the data processing device 110, thereby making the ring tone preview 211 inaccessible to the end user. When the user purchases the ring tone, a ring tone purchase request 213 is transmitted to the service 100, which registers the purchase (i.e., for billing purposes) and transmits the actual ring tone 212 to the mobile data processing device 110. The mobile data processing device 110 then stores the new ring tone 212 within a ring tone gallery 225 which it is accessible by all applications 315 executed on the mobile data processing device 110 (e.g., voice telephony applications to indicate incoming calls, email applications to indicate new email messages, instant messaging applications to indicate new instant messages, . . . etc).
Alternatively, if the ring tone preview 211 is the same as the actual ring tone 212, as described above, then the ring tone catalog application 310 may simply transfer the ring tone preview 211 directly to the ring tone gallery 225 (as indicated by the dotted arrow in
In one embodiment, the ring tone preview 211 is actually stored within the ring tone gallery 225 from the start (e.g., in response to the ring tone preview request 210), but is designated as a “preview” as opposed to an actual ring tone. As such, due to its designation as a “preview,” the ring tone preview 211 may only be accessed by specified applications (e.g., such as the ring tone catalog applications 310) and/or may be played back by any application, but only a specified number of times.
Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forth above. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions which cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps. Alternatively, these steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.
Elements of the present invention may also be provided as a machine-readable medium for storing the machine-executable instructions. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, propagation media or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. For example, the present invention may be downloaded as a computer program which may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection).
Throughout the foregoing description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details were set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. For example, although the invention was described in the context of specific types of applications (e.g., telephony applications, email, instant messaging, . . . etc), the underlying principles of the invention are not limited to any particular type of application. In addition, while the embodiments described above discuss particular formats for ring tones (e.g., MIDI, WAV), the underlying principles of the invention are not limited to any particular ring tone audio format. For example, in one embodiment, the ring tones are audio files compressed according to the MP3 compression format.
Moreover, the “ring tones” described herein may be used in a variety of different circumstances other than to notify the user of an incoming telephone call. For example, the ring tones may be played back under any set of circumstances while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention (e.g., in response to a manual “playback” request entered by the user).
Accordingly, the scope and spirit of the invention should be judged in terms of the claims which follow.
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