Control means of an exchange comprising connection means for accommodating a telephone and the control means for controlling the accommodated telephone, receives a dial signal from the telephone without causing the telephone to respond to an incoming call when the telephone that is performing incoming call ringing is hooked off, causes the hooked-off telephone to respond to the incoming call when the received dial signal is a first dial signal, and causes the telephone as a call source to make a call without causing the hooked-off telephone to respond to the incoming call when the received dial signal is a second dial signal. Thereby, it is possible to make a call even during incoming call ringing.

The invention relates to a method for dynamic model-based ringer profiles. The method includes receiving one or more incoming calls, and, based on the one or more incoming calls, generating one or more incoming call records. Each of the incoming call records includes an elapsed ringing time value associated with one of the incoming calls. Also, the method includes storing one or more ringer profiles. The ringer profiles are generated using the one or more incoming call records. The ringer profiles include a current ringer profile. Further, the method includes receiving a new incoming call, and, in response to receiving the new incoming call, sounding a ringtone according to the current ringer profile.

A system generally includes a lock-screen capable application executing on a recipient computing device configured to facilitate user interface access to a communication function of the recipient computing device while the recipient computing device remains in a locked state. The lock-screen capable application is configured to intercept a communication received by the recipient computing device that is associated with at least one of a communication application or a communication service. The system includes a content association application executing on the recipient computing device to facilitate associating a media content item with the intercepted communication based on a relevance of the media content item with the intercepted communication determined from automatically processing the intercepted communication to identify an association based on metadata descriptive of media content items stored in a library of the media content items.

A system generally includes a lock-screen capable application executing on a recipient computing device configured to facilitate user interface access to a communication function of the recipient computing device while the recipient computing device remains in a locked state. The lock-screen capable application is configured to intercept a communication received by the recipient computing device that is associated with at least one of a communication application or a communication service. The system includes a content association application executing on the recipient computing device to facilitate associating a media content item with the intercepted communication based on a relevance of the media content item with the intercepted communication determined from automatically processing the intercepted communication to identify an association based on metadata descriptive of media content items stored in a library of the media content items.

An intercom system according to the invention is configured to be communicable with dwelling unit devices installed in individual dwelling units, and includes: an input section (11) which can input, in order for a visitor to call a resident, dwelling-unit specifying information that specifies the dwelling unit device of the resident on a character-by-character basis and can call the specified dwelling unit device; a name display section (13) which displays a name that is allocated to at least one of the individual dwelling unit devices; and a dedicated call section (14) which is provided correlated with the name display section (13) and can call the dwelling unit device to which the name is allocated.

A call partner identification means identifies a call partner in order to make it possible for a user to easily identify the call partner by only the sense of hearing. A background sound selection means selects a background sound corresponding to the identified call partner. A synthesis means synthesizes a call speech signal and the selected background sound.

A method and apparatus for notifying an end user of a messaging event in a multi-user setting is disclosed. An apparatus that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in a communication device which includes computer instructions at least for matching a caller identifier associated with a messaging event and entries in a plurality of contact books corresponding to a plurality of users, and identifying a plurality of parties to whom the messaging event is potentially directed based on the matching. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

A device including a processor and a memory that includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations. The operations include receiving a call request from a calling device. The call request includes an identifier of a call alert option. The call alert option is a particular option selected by a user of the calling device from a list of called party approved call alert options. The operations include retrieving a content item based on the identifier. The operations also include, in response to the call request, generating a call alert based on the content item.

The present invention provides a system for managing and disabling phone ring tone profiles, the system comprising: a storage system comprising (a) a plurality of ringtones adapted to be activated when an incoming call is made; (b) at least one list of identified callers to execute at least one data processing system, said at least one data processing system comprising: an acquiring module operable to read an identifier of said incoming call or an incoming message; a detecting module operable to detect if the identifier exists in said at least one list in the system, to determine the caller from said list, and to detect how many incoming calls have been made within a predetermined period of time and a disabling module adapted to either activate or disable said ringtones.

Upon detecting at a two-way communication device that a communication link has been terminated, the two-way communication device can provide a unique corresponding signal (such as a unique audible signal) to indicate such termination. Pursuant to one approach, a plurality of such unique signals are available and a specific one of the available signals is selected for use in a given circumstance using a selection criteria of choice.