Image icon associated with caller ID

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention allows a person receiving a telephone call to identify a caller in advance of answering the telephone call.
A image associated with the caller's Caller ID is used to indicate to the call recipient who the caller is.
The image can be displayed on a telephone display device, television set, personal computer or other display coupled to the telephone system.
The image can be, for example, the face of the caller.
The image can also be of two or more family members associated with a particular telephone.
Where a telephone call originates from a company or organization an image of that organization, such as a logo can be used.
Also, fanciful or humorous images can be arbitrarily associated with Caller ID's to make the images more personal to the user's particular knowledge to assist in remembering the caller.
Another feature of the present invention is that the calling party may define the image to be associated with their Caller ID.
The calling party transmits an image over the telephone line prior to, or concurrently with, a telephone call intended to be answered by the receiving party.
The image is stored in a storage device coupled to the receiving party's telephone system along with an indication of the Caller ID of the calling party.
The next time that the calling party calls the receiving party the previously stored image is accessed and displayed.
Images can be sent in other ways such as by making them available on the Internet, mailing a diskette or CD ROM, etc.
One embodiment of the invention is a method for displaying an image in association with a Caller ID identifier.
The method uses a telephone receiver, display device, processor, storage device and user input device.
Steps in the method include using the processor to store an image in a storage medium; using the processor to store an association into the storage medium, wherein the association indicates that a predetermined Caller ID identifier and the image are associated; using the telephone receiver to receive an incoming call and an incoming Caller ID identifier; using the processor to determine that the incoming Caller ID identifier matches the predetermined Caller ID identifier; using the processor to display the image on the display device; accepting signals from the user input device; and selectively answering the incoming call in response to the signals from the user input device