System and method for provisioning social networking services through ring back tones

摘要

A method and system for provisioning of social networking services through ring back tones is provided. In various embodiments of the present invention, when a caller makes a call to a callee, a ring back tone containing social network profile information is provided to the caller.

主权项

1. A system for provisioning services available in an online social network to a user in a telecommunication network through ring back tones, the system comprising:
a user interface configured to receive a subscription request for socio-ring back tone (RBT) service applications from a user in the online social network, wherein the socio-RBT service applications enable a user to access social network profile information of one or more socio-RBT service application subscribers,
wherein the subscription request selects one or more socio-RBT service applications from among a plurality of available socio-RBT service applications,and wherein each of the plurality of available socio-RBT service applications defines a distinct information subset retrievable from the online social network for inclusion in a RBT transmitted to the user; a social network API comprising one or more APIs configured to receive socio-RBT service information from the user interface and to transmit the socio-RBT service information to a plug-in module in the telecommunication network, wherein the socio-RBT service information comprises socio-RBT service application subscription information corresponding to the user; an RBT social plug-in configured to:
(i) exchange socio-RBT service information between one or more elements of the online social network and one or more elements of the telecommunication network,(ii) store the socio-RBT service information in a subscriber database,(iii) generate for playback to the user, one or more RBT media files comprising information retrieved from the online social network, wherein contents of the generated RBT media files are determined by the one or more socio-RBT service applications selected by the user in the subscription request, and(iv) store the generated one or more RBT media files in a tone player database for storing RBT media files; an RBT subscriber database configured to store the socio-RBT service subscription information; and a tone player configured to play RBT based on the one or more RBT media files stored in the tone player database.