Method and apparatus for downloading tones to mobile terminals

The invention relates to personal communication systems and, more particularly, to the downloading of audio data to a mobile terminal to enable the audio to be played in connection with a particular telephone number.

The ever expanding list of services available through Personal Communication Services (PCS) has allowed PCS users to select a number of services for their cellular phones in addition to standard telephone transmission services. A number of these services require the user to view some type of graphical or alphanumeric display on the cellular phone. Having to look at the display can be inconvenient in some cases, for example, when the user is driving, with the phone in the user's pocket or wallet, or when the user is engaged in an activity involving the use of their hands Therefore it would be advantageous if the user could be enabled to know who is calling without having to check the caller number display.

In other instances of using existing PCS technologies, the user may have more than one telephone number associated with a particular cellular telephone unit, such as a private telephone number and a business telephone number. The user can benefit from knowing whether either the home or business phone number has been called by using an indicator that does not require the user to look at the phone. This will enable the user to pick up the cellular phone unit differently depending on whether the business number or the home number has been called. A cellular phone unit which enables the user to select and download new tones to be used for different call scenarios would therefore allow ease of use and flexibility which would be of great benefit to the user.

US-PS-5 481 599 describes an automatic audio output device for a telephone set. An audio signal can be recorded via the telephone, which has a microprocessor and a memory, and can be played back when a call signal is detected by the telephone, so that a standard telephone ring is replaced by a previously recorded audio signal.

EP-A-0 562 890 describes a mobile communication network with remote-controlled updating of subscriber identity modules (SIM) in mobile telephone terminals. This invention enables the communication network to download the data into the SIM, such as the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) data, the authentication key (Ki) data and the pin unblocking key (PUK) data.

WO-A-93/26132 describes a user selectable response to an alarm call message transmitted by the cellular phone base station. An alarm call message received by a mobile radio station causes the mobile radio station to receive and reproduce additional information such as caller identity and caller location. In addition, this document describes an incoming alarm message call by generating a distinguishable ringing signal. The present invention solves a technical problem by enabling the user of the mobile phone unit to select tones from a database that are contained in a server located in the public cellular network, and to store the tones via a connectionless communication link in the cell phone memory location to download. The mobile phone user can then assign the downloaded tones to selected calling numbers. These downloaded tones provide the cell phone user with the ability to know who is calling based on the distinguishable tone played through the cell phone unit.

US-A-5 371 781 describes a system and method for identifying the incoming address book number when multiple address book numbers are assigned to a wireless number. The system notifies a large number of cellular phone stations to indicate the number called. The system can also report a name or a code and transmit an alarm signal so that the mobile telephone stations produce a whistle ringing tone.

The present invention avoids the aforementioned and other problems with a method and apparatus for downloading audio data between a public

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Cellular Network (PLMN) and a mobile unit. A mobile unit includes a user application for requesting the download of audio data from a PLMN over a connectionless communication link. Requests from the user application are received by an application program that is located within the public cellular network. The application program is usually assigned to the mobile switching center (MSC). The application program provides access to a sound database in which a user can select a sound for download through the user interface of the mobile unit.

As soon as a tone is selected, the tone data assigned to the tone is downloaded to the mobile unit via the connectionless user interface. The user interface preferably includes either Short Message Service (SMS) messages or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) messages, which are very useful for downloading unstructured custom data. The downloaded sound data are then uniquely assigned to a selected called or calling subscriber number or group of numbers, so that when a call to the mobile telephone unit relates to the selected telephone number, an audio reproduction of the sound data is started.

A better understanding of the method and apparatus of the subject invention can be obtained by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating short message service (SMS) notification communication between an SMS operator and a cellular telephone unit;

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the communication of an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) notification between a USSD external node user and a cellular phone unit;

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the components required for downloading the tones between a PLMN and a cellular phone unit;

Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating the manner in which a user downloads sounds interactively onto a subscriber identity module (SIM) card.

Telecommunications services are usually carried out in a structured manner. For example, specific predetermined data, formats and signal names are used to set up a voice connection, perform handovers and authenticate radiotelephone subscriber information when providing telecommunications services to a cellphone subscriber. With the introduction of the worldwide system for cellular telephony (GSM) and private communications systems (PCS), a number of new and advanced additional services are being provided to cellular telephone subscribers. Since these additional services use user-specific data, there are no structured ways to transmit this data between the public mobile radio network (PLMN) and a mobile phone station. As a result, a number of unstructured business protocols have been developed for the GSM or PCS environments. Since the transmission of audio data between a PLMN and a cellular phone unit falls under the category of unstructured user data transmission, the transmission would be controlled by one of these protocols.

One such protocol is Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), which was introduced to enable user interaction between PLMN applications and a mobile station in a transparent manner over a cellular network. The communication is transparent because no review or manipulation of the content of the message is carried out during the transmission period.

One type of user-specific information that can be transmitted between a PLMN and a mobile telephone unit is audio data, which can then be assigned to the called or calling numbers in a manner determined by the user. Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a block diagram of short message service (SMS) notification communication between an SMS operator 10 and a cellular phone station 20 in a general manner. The SMS operator 10 sends data to the short message service center (SMS-C) 30 so that they can be transmitted to the mobile phone station 20. The SMS-C 30 packs the entered data in a packet message, such as signaling system number 7 (SS 7) signals or X.25 protocol packets, and forwards the message

AT 409 694 B of a short message service access mobile switching center (SMS-GMSC) 40 within a PLMN 50 serving the cellular phone station 20. The SMS-GSMC 40 queries a home location register for subscriber data (HLR) 60, which is assigned to the mobile telephone station 20, in order to retrieve information (e.g. an identification of where the mobile phone station 20 is currently located) and subsequently forwards the message to a mobile switching center (MSC) 70, which provides the current location of the mobile phone station. The cell phone station 20 is notified and a connection between the cell phone station and the PLMN 50 is established.

If the cell phone station is already busy, the connection will not be established because the network is already aware that the cell phone station 20 can be reached. If the connection has been successful and the mobile phone station is thereby authenticated, the MSC 70 packs the audio data into an SMS message 80 and delivers the SMS message to the mobile phone unit 20 via one of the control data channels. The control data channel, such as an SDCCH (stand alone dedicated control channel), is used instead of a traffic channel (TCH) in order to enable connectionless data communication. After receiving the SMS message 80 in which the audio data are packaged, the mobile phone station acts merely as a buffer and forwards the data to the connected subscriber identity module (SIM) card 90. The SIM card 90 then stores the received data in an internal buffer or in a memory register. If the transmission was successful, a transmission success report is finally sent back from the MS 20 to the serving MSC 70 and subsequently from the serving MSC 70 to the SMS-C 30. Otherwise an error report is generated.

With regard to an SMS (MO-SMS) message originating from a cellular phone, a user can initiate an SMS signal at a cellular phone station 20 to request the download of data such as audio data. The cellular phone station 20 makes a request to the mobile switching center (MSC) 70 to transmit audio data to the cellular phone station 20. The MSC 70 packages the request into a packet message and forwards the message to a Short Message Service Access Mobile Switching Center (SMS-GMSC) 40 within a PLMN 50 serving the cellular phone station 20. The SMS-GMSC 40 restores the requested data and subsequently forwards a message to the MSC 70 which provides the current location of the mobile telephone station. The cellular phone station 20 is then notified and a connection between the cellular phone station and the PLMN 50 is established. The MSC 70 packs the audio data in an SMS message 80 and sends the SMS message to the mobile phone station 20 via one of the control data channels. The data are then stored within the SIM card 90 as described above.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the communication of a USSD notification between a USSD external node user 100 and a mobile phone station 20. USSD messages are used by the cellular network to transport user-defined data to a cellphone station 20 or an application module within a cellphone station. Therefore, instead of storing and receiving the character data in a SIM card, the received data are either manipulated within the receiving mobile phone station by the feature application modules in order to provide special subscriber feature functions or they are accessed a display unit for user interactions.

The external node user 100 transmits the USSD message, in which the audio data is packaged, to the HLR 60 within the serving PLMN 50. The HLR 60 is assigned within a number of different MSCs within the same PLMN 50. While the mobile phone station 20 is traveling from one MSC area to another, the HLR receives location update signals for recording the current location of the mobile phone station 20. Then, when a USSD signal is received by the HLR, the HLR determines a current location of the mobile phone station 20. The USSD handler 110 then transparently forwards the USSD signal within the HLR 60 to the appropriate MSC 70, which is currently serving the mobile phone station 20. The USSD handler 120 within the serving MSC 70 receives the transmitted message and forwards the USSD message 130 to the cellular phone station 20 via a connectionless communication link. The USSD handler

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140 within the radio telephone station 20 then receives the transmitted USSD message 130, recovers the packaged audio data and forwards the obtained data to the appropriate application module.

Reference is also made to FIG. 3, in which a block diagram shows the necessary components for the downloading of tones which are requested by the subscriber (user). The subscriber requests access to a tone database 150 containing a variety of predetermined data packets representing a particular tone or group of tones emitted from the audio output 155 of the cellular phone unit 20 in response to a particular calling or calling called number can be played. The user application 160 within the cellular phone unit 20 initiates a request for access to the sound database in response to user input via the user interface 165. The user application 160 activates an application program 170 located in the PLMN. The application program 170 may be associated with the MSC / VLR, the HLR, or some other external node. The application program 170 connects the user to the database 150 using either the SMS or USSD protocols discussed above. The user then selects the desired tones in a manner that will be described in greater detail with reference to FIG will be.

The tone data associated with the tone selected from the tone database 150 is downloaded as a digitally encoded tone sample into the user application 160 using either the USSD or SMS protocols previously referred to with reference to FIG Figs. 1 and 2 have been described. The manner of downloading a tone from tone database 150 described above is used with respect to menu driven options that only use SMS or USSD messages. Optionally, an audio menu can be made available to the user in such a way that an actual connection between the cellular phone station 20 and the sound database 150 is created. In this case, an audio version of the sounds would be played for the user and the user application 160 would record the sound for storage in the SIM card 90 and convert it to digital form.

In the case of a transmission using an SMS message, the serving MSC 70 receives the transmitted tone signal from the SMS-GSMC 40 and then transmits an SMS message packing the tone data to the cellular phone station 20 via a connectionless communication link such as SDCCH. The user application 160 within the cellular phone unit 20 acts as a buffer for the SMS message and forwards the audio data from the message to the SIM card 90. The user can then, through the user application 160, associate the tone within the SIM card 90 with a particular calling or called telephone number.

When a USSD message is used for downloading, the audio data is sent by the USSD handler 120 to the cellular phone station 20 within the serving MSC 70 as a USSD message packaging the audio data via connectionless messaging such as SDCCH. The USSD conductor 140 within the mobile phone station receives the transmitted USSD message and forwards this message to the user application 160 for the extraction of the audio data. The sound data obtained are then stored within the SIM card 90. Through the user application 160, the user can uniquely associate the tone with a particular calling or a particular called telephone number.

As soon as the sound data is downloaded into the SIM card 90 of the mobile telephone unit 20 and assigned to a particular telephone number, the receipt of an incoming call activates a call logic 200 within the mobile telephone station 20. The call logic 200 checks the presence of tone patterns associated with the number called or the number of the calling party. If such an association is found, the audio data is played through the audio output 155, which provides an audio indicator to the user of who is being called or which of the user's numbers are being called.

Referring to FIG. 4, the sequence is illustrated by which a user can download a special sound sample from the sound database 150. Once the cellular phone unit 20 has been connected to the tone database 150, the cellular phone user is presented at step 260 with a variety of menus which allow the user to select the tones

AT 409 694 Bchen. The menus can divide the tones into a variety of types, such as alphabetically, by musical genre, by novelty, etc. When a desired tone or tone pattern has been selected, the user can play a sample tone at step 270 to order being able to predict what the tone will sound like. If a desired tone or pattern is found, the user can instruct the application 160 to download the tones at step 280. Otherwise, the user can return to previous menus at step 300.