ABSTRACT
An audible sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. The term is used most often in regard to mobile or cell phones but may
be applied to other personal digital assistants (PDA), pagers, and any other communication devices operating on wireless communication networks. The ringtone market has become an important income source for the music industry, especially with reduced CD physical sales. As cell phone usage grew, it became obvious that ringtone differentiation would become important. Modern cell phones support a wide frequency range that allows for several seconds of music to be played, both monophonically (single tones) and polyphonically (multiple simultaneous tones). This has led to the development of prerecorded ringtones (often known as trutones, songtones, mastertones, or master ringtones) that consist of short samples of sound recordings.
