1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a telecommunications system for allowing a subscriber connected to the Internet to receive customized audible alerts concerning an incoming telephone call.
2. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms which refer to various telecommunications services, components and techniques, as well as features relating to the present invention. Although some of these acronyms are known, use of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, acronyms will be defined as follows:                Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)        Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)        Central Office (CO)        Called Party Number (CDN)        Calling Party Number (CPN)        Compact Service Node (CSN)        Customer Name (CNAME)        Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)        Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)        Directory Number (DN)        High Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL)        Internet Caller Identification (ICID)        Internet Service Provider (ISP)        Line Information Database (LIDB)        Numbering Plan Area-Central Office Code (NPA-NXX)        Personal Computer (PC)        Personal Identification Number (PIN)        Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)        Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)        Real Time Database (RTDB)        Registration Server (RS)        Service Control Point (SCP)        Service Switching Point (SSP)        Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)        Signaling System 7 (SS7)        Signaling Transfer Point (STP)        Terminating Attempt Trigger (TAT)        Transactional Capabilities Application Part (TCAP)        Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)        User Agent Server (UAS)        Wide Area Network (WAN)        
3. Description of Background Information
Various attempts have been made at providing Internet caller identification (ICID) services. Typically, a subscriber of Internet caller ID receives the telephone number and name (if available) of a calling party, while the subscriber is on an active Internet session. The caller ID information is provided in a pop-up window on the subscriber's display while the subscriber is actively connected to the Internet. Further, various disposition options are presented to the subscriber which, upon selection, determine the handling of the incoming call.
With such systems, it would be desirable to have an audible alert associated with the calling party. Further, users would appreciate being able to configure a particular sound file to be played according to the incoming telephone number of the calling party.
One attempt at solving this problem was presented by Caller EyeDee by dazil Internet Services. Caller EyeDee appears to permit configured ring sounds (i.e., .wav files) for each individual caller, e.g., “It's Dave Calling”. However, Caller EyeDee apparently does not function while the called party is connected to the Internet via a dial-up connection using a modem because, for instance, Caller EyeDee does not send caller identification information via TCP/IP. Essentially, Caller EyeDee has moved the caller ID functionality from customer premises equipment (CPE) to a personal computer. Additionally, Caller EyeDee apparently requires specialized hardware in the form of a modem that supports Caller ID. Thus, Caller EyeDee is not an effective solution.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art.