Method and apparatus for representing communication attributes

• US 20060221935A1
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Lu, Wong, Daniel H.
• Application Number:
  US11/095,832
• Publication Number:
  US 20060221935A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/576 associated with a pictorial or graphical representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57

Abstract

A method and apparatus for visually representing characteristics of communication processed by a communication device (100) having at least one sensor (104) and a display device (122) are disclosed. When a call is engaged (402), the communication is monitored (404) by the sensor to generate a sensor signal (610). The sensor signal is correlated with an expression code (416) and stored (614) the memory (124) of the communication device (100). A visual representation (502) of an expression code is displayed (428) on the display device (122).

Claims

1. A method within a communication device for representing characteristics of a communication between the communication device and a second device, wherein the communication device includes at least one sensor, the method comprising the steps of:

monitoring the communication using at least one sensor to generate a sensor signal;

correlating the sensor signal with a first expression code; and

annunciating a first representation of the first expression code.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing the first expression code in the communication device;

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the storing step comprises:

adding the first expression code to a log file.

4. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the storing step comprises:

adding the first expression code to a log file with a time stamp.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the communication device further includes a display device, and wherein the first representation is a first visual representation, and further wherein the annunciating step comprises displaying on the display device the first visual representation.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the storing step comprises:

adding the first expression code to a log file,

the method further comprising the step of;

displaying the log file to include the first visual representation.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the annunciating step comprises one or more annunciating methods selected from a group comprising playing an audible first representation, illuminating a light first representation, activating a haptic first representation, displaying a visual first representation, and highlighting one or more portions of the communication using a color representation.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the second device includes at least one second device sensor, the method further comprising prior to the annunciating step, the steps of:

receiving a second expression code from the second device, wherein the second expression code is generated at the second device using at least one second device sensor; and

annunciating a second representation of the second expression code along with the first representation of the first expression code.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, further comprising the step of:

storing the second expression code in the communication device.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein storing step comprises:

adding the second expression code to a log file.

11. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the storing step comprises:

adding the second expression code to a log file with a time stamp.

12. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the communication device further includes a display device, and wherein the first representation is a first visual representation and the second representation is a second visual representation, and further wherein the annunciating step comprises displaying on the display device the first visual representation and the second visual representation.

13. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the annunciating step comprises one or more annunciating methods selected from a group comprising playing an audible first representation, playing an audible second representation, illuminating a light first representation, illuminating a light second representation, activating a haptic first representation, activating a haptic second representation, displaying a visual first representation, displaying a visual second representation, and highlighting one or more portions of the communication using a color representation.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

displaying the log file to include the second visual representation.

15. A method as recited in claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

comparing the first expression code and the second expression code; and

annunciating a relationship representation in response to the comparing step, wherein the relationship representation comprises one or more representations selected from a group comprising an audible representation, a light representation, a haptic representation, a visual representation, an animation representation, and a communication highlighting representation.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

tracking a duration of the communication; and

changing the relationship representation when the duration matches a predetermined duration.

17. A method as recited in claim 8, further comprising prior to the annunciating step, the steps of:

associating the first expression code and the second expression code with the communication,

wherein the annunciating step comprises annunciating the first representation, the second representation, and a communication representation.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the communication device further includes a display device, and wherein the first representation is a first visual representation, wherein the second representation is a second visual representation, wherein the communication representation is a visual communication representation, and further wherein the annunciating step comprises displaying on the display device the first visual representation, the second visual representation, and the visual communication representation.

19. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the annunciating step comprises one or more annunciating methods selected from a group comprising playing an audible first representation, playing an audible second representation, playing an audible communication representation, illuminating a light first representation, illuminating a light second representation, illuminating a light communication representation, activating a haptic first representation, activating a haptic second representation, activating a haptic communication representation, displaying a visual first representation, displaying a visual second representation, displaying a visual communication representation, and highlighting one or more portions of the communication using a color representation.

20. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the first expression code to the second device.

21. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein generating a sensor signal, comprises:

sensing voice fluctuations; and

generating a voice sensor signal.

22. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein generating a sensor signal comprises:

sensing touch fluctuations; and

generating a touch sensor signal

23. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein generating a sensor signal comprises;

sensing hand temperature fluctuations; and

generating a hand heat sensor signal.

24. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of sensor signals associated with the communication;

associating the plurality of sensor signals with a plurality of expression codes;

storing the plurality of expression codes in the communication device; and

displaying a plurality of visual representations of the expression codes associated with the communication.

25. A method for operating a communication device including sensors to store a collection of expression codes associated with visual representations, comprising:

processing instructions for transmitting a request to receive expression codes and visual representations;

transmitting the request;

receiving the expression codes and the visual representations;

assigning the expression codes to the visual representations;

storing the expression codes and the visual representations in the communication device.

26. A method as recited in claim 25, further comprising the step of:

associating a characteristic with an expression code wherein the characteristic is one or more chosen from a group comprising a voice characteristic, a touch characteristic, and a heat characteristic.

27. A method as recited in claim 25 further comprising the step of:

accessing the expression codes when the communication device is engaged in communication.

28. A method as recited in claim 27 further comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of sensor signals;

correlating the plurality of sensor signals with the expression codes;

storing the expression codes in the communication device; and

displaying visual representations of the expression codes associated with the communication.

29. A method as recited in claim 28 further comprising the step of:

transmitting at least one stored expression code to another communication device.

34. A communication device as recited in claim 27 wherein the communication device is selected from a group comprising a cellular telephone, a mobile telephone, a cordless telephone, a wired telephone, a messaging device, a personal digital assistant, and a personal computer.

30. A communication device, comprising:

at least one sensor adapted to monitor expression and generate a first expression signal;

a processor adapted to associate the first expression signal with an expression code;

a memory adapted to store the expression code associated with the first expression signal; and

a display adapted to display a representation of the expression code.

31. A communication device as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

a communication receiver adapted to receive a communication signal;

at least one communication sensor adapted to monitor the communication signal and generate a second expression signal;

a processor adapted to associate the second expression signal with a second expression code;

a memory adapted to store the second expression code associated with the second expression signal;

a display adapted to display a representation of the second expression code.

32. A communication device as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

instructions to generate a time stamped log file of first expression codes correlated with a call list.

33. A communication device as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

instructions to generate a time stamped log file of second expression codes correlated with a call list.