Apparatus and method for delayed answering of mobile telephones
First Claim
1. A method of delayed answering of calls directed to a mobile telephone, comprising:
- accepting an incoming call from a calling party device;
disabling transmission of input from a voice pickup device associated with the mobile telephone during a preset delay period from a time the incoming call is accepted; and
transmitting a prerecorded message to the calling party device during the preset delay period.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for delayed answering of calls directed to mobile telephones are provided. With the apparatus and method, a mobile telephone may be set to a delayed answering mode which provides a brief delay between answering of the call and actual conversation by the called party. That is, the call may be answered, but the attention of the called party is not required until the elapse of a particular delay period. This delay period allows the called party to gracefully discontinue current involvement that is requiring the attention of the called party so that the called party'"'"'s attention can then be provided to the calling party. The delayed answering mode may be entered in any of a number of different ways. For example, the mobile telephone may be set to a delayed answering mode in response to a setting directed by the user of the mobile telephone, based on an identification of a calling party, based on a schedule of events, based on a physical location of the user of the mobile telephone, and the like.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of delayed answering of calls directed to a mobile telephone, comprising:
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accepting an incoming call from a calling party device;
disabling transmission of input from a voice pickup device associated with the mobile telephone during a preset delay period from a time the incoming call is accepted; and
transmitting a prerecorded message to the calling party device during the preset delay period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for delayed answering of calls directed to a mobile telephone, comprising:
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means for accepting an incoming call from a calling party device;
means for disabling transmission of input from a voice pickup device associated with the mobile telephone during a preset delay period from a time the incoming call is accepted; and
means for transmitting a prerecorded message to the calling party device during the preset delay period. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for delayed answering of calls directed to a mobile telephone, comprising:
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first instructions for accepting an incoming call from a calling party device;
second instructions for disabling transmission of input from a voice pickup device associated with the mobile telephone during a preset delay period from a time the incoming call is accepted; and
third instructions for transmitting a prerecorded message to the calling party device during the preset delay period. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification