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The present invention provides for customizing a telephony ring signal to correspond to the originator of an incoming call. Preferably, a user will access an application server using a browser to associate audio files with telephone numbers of people who are expected to call the user. The applicati

The present invention provides for customizing a telephony ring signal to correspond to the originator of an incoming call. Preferably, a user will access an application server using a browser to associate audio files with telephone numbers of people who are expected to call the user. The application server will create an association between the audio files and the telephone numbers and download indicia bearing on the association to the user's telephony device. Upon receiving an incoming call from a number associated with an audio file, the telephone will play the audio file as the ring signal.

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What is claimed is: 1. A method to provide for caller identification using telephony ring signals comprising: a) receiving, at an application server in a communications network, a telephone number of an expected caller; b) receiving identification of an audio file to play as the telephony ring sign

What is claimed is: 1. A method to provide for caller identification using telephony ring signals comprising: a) receiving, at an application server in a communications network, a telephone number of an expected caller; b) receiving identification of an audio file to play as the telephony ring signal at a telephony device for an incoming call originating from the expected caller; c) creating indicia associating the telephone number of the expected caller with the audio file; and d) sending the indicia associating the telephone number of the expected caller with the audio file from the application server to the telephony device, wherein the telephony device will play the audio file as the telephony ring signal upon receiving the incoming call from the expected caller independently of whether the telephony device for the incoming call is involved in an ongoing call, and; wherein the indicia associating the telephone number of the expected caller with the audio file includes a location of the audio file. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the audio file to the telephony device. 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising encoding the audio file using a compression algorithm prior to sending the audio file to the telephony device. 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: a) receiving a second telephone number of a second expected caller; and b) receiving identification of a second audio file to play as the telephony ring signal for an incoming call originating from the second expected caller, wherein the creating step further creates the indicia to associate the second telephone number of the second expected caller with the second audio file. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the indicia associating the telephone number of the expected caller with the audio file comprises a file readable by the telephony device. 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a profile associating a unique audio file with each of a plurality of telephone numbers of additional expected callers for the telephony device. 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the telephone number is one of the group consisting of an IP address, email address, packet-switched device telephony identifier, and traditional circuit-switched telephone number. 8. A method to provide for caller identification using telephony ring signals comprising: a) receiving, at an application server in a communications network, a telephone number of an expected caller; b) receiving identification of an audio file to play as the telephony ring signal at a telephony device for an incoming call originating from the expected caller; c) creating indicia associating the telephone number of the expected caller with the audio file; and d) sending the indicia associating the telephone number of the expected caller with the audio file from the application server to the telephony device, wherein the telephony device will play the audio file as the telephony ring signal upon receiving the incoming call from the expected caller independently of whether the telephony device for the incoming call is involved in an ongoing call; and providing a web interface accessible by a web browser wherein the telephone number of the expected caller and the identification of the audio file are received at the application server via the web interface using the web browser. 9. A method to provide for caller identification using telephony ring signals comprising: a) identifying, at an application server within a communications network, a telephone number for an originator of an incoming call; b) selecting an audio file based on the telephone number; c) effecting playback of the audio file as the telephony ring signal for the incoming call independently of whether the telephony device for the incoming call is involved in an ongoing call d) determining, at the application server, if the telephone number is associated with the audio file within a plurality of available audio files; and e) if the telephone number is not associated with the audio file within the plurality of available audio files, effecting a default ring signal. 10. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing the plurality of available audio files including the audio file and wherein the selecting step includes selecting the audio file from the plurality of available audio files. 11. The method of claim 9 further comprising receiving and storing indicia associating the audio file with the telephone number. 12. The method of claim 9 further comprising receiving and storing the audio file. 13. The method of claim 9 further comprising receiving and storing a profile associating the plurality of available audio files with a plurality of expected telephone numbers for originators of expected incoming calls, the profile identifying the audio file and the telephone number for the originator of the incoming call wherein the selecting step selects the audio file based on the telephone number in the profile. 14. The method of claim 9 wherein the identifying step identifies the telephone number for the originator of the incoming call using caller identification information received during initial reception of the incoming call.