Known ringback tone services allow a called party to preselect a ringback tone to be played to a calling party. Traditionally, the calling party would receive standard ringback content before the called party answers the call. The ringback tone service replaces that standard ringback content with a ringback tone selected by the called party. For example, the ringback tone service allows the called party to customize the ringback content that the calling party receives during the ringing phase of a call to the called party. The calling party receives the ringback tone preselected by the called party while waiting for the called party to answer the call.
The called party in one example is the ringback tone service subscriber and controls the selection of the ringback tone. Without assistance, the ringback tone service subscriber may select a ringback tone that the calling party would dislike receiving. As one shortcoming, until the ringback tone service subscriber selects a different ringback tone, the calling party may continue to receive the disliked ringback tone on subsequent calls to the ringback tone service subscriber. As another shortcoming, the ringback tone service subscriber may have been charged a fee for selecting the ringback tone that ends up being disliked by the calling party. As yet another shortcoming, a disliked ringback tone may fail to serve as a proper fashion statement. Therefore, the disliked ringback tone may fail an intended purpose of selecting ringback tones.
If the calling party dislikes the ringback tone, the calling party may attempt to get the ringback tone changed. For example, the calling party may contact the ringback tone service subscriber to indicate that the currently selected ringback tone is disliked and a different ringback tone is desired. As one shortcoming, contacting the ringback tone service subscriber to request a ringback tone selection change may be inconvenient for both the calling party and the ringback tone service subscriber. As another shortcoming, the ringback tone service subscriber may not always honor such requests. For example, the ringback tone service subscriber may forget to make a requested change.
Thus, a need exists for a ringback tone service that assists a ringback tone service subscriber or a proxy for the ringback tone service subscriber select a ringback tone for a calling party that conforms to the ringback tone preferences of the calling party.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds