URGENT COMMUNICATIONS THAT OVERCOME RECEIVING DEVICE IMPEDIMENTS

• US 20100222084A1
• Filed: 03/02/2009
• Published: 09/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Butterfield, Daniel J., Fitzpatrick, Gregory P., Cheng, Tsz S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,285,839 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/458
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/651 Text message transmission triggered by call automatic reactions in messaging within packet-switching networks H04L51/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks

Abstract

A communication attempt directed towards a recipient device can be identified. At least one proximate device geographically proximate to the recipient device can be automatically detected. Responsive to the determining of the proximate devices, a digitally encoded message can be wirelessly conveyed to one or more of the determined proximate devices. In various embodiments the message can be a text message, an instant message, and/or a voice message. The digitally encoded message can direct a user of the proximate device to inform a user of the recipient device of the communication attempt.

Claims

1. A method for directing communications to a receiving communication device proximate to an impeded communication device comprising:

identifying a communication attempt directed towards a recipient device;

automatically determining at least one proximate device geographically proximate to the recipient device; and

responsive to the determining of the at least one proximate device, wirelessly conveying a digitally encoded message to the determined at least one proximate device, wherein said digitally encoded message directs a user of the proximate device to inform a user of the recipient device of the communication attempt.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient device performs programmatic actions which result in the recipient device automatically determining the at least one proximate device, and wherein the recipient device performs programmatic actions that result in the recipient device wirelessly conveying the digitally encoded message to the at least one proximate device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication attempt is received by a network transceiver of the recipient device that links the recipient device to a wide area network (WAN), and wherein the recipient device utilizes a personal area network (PAN) transceiver to convey the digitally encoded message to the at least one proximate device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the recipient device is a mobile telephony device, and wherein the identified communication attempt is an attempt to establish a telephony voice call.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

filtering a set of determined proximate devices to include only those proximate devices associated with a contact included within a contact list of the recipient device, wherein determined ones of the proximate devices not associated with a contact included in the contact list are excluded from the filtered set of proximate devices; and

wirelessly conveying the digitally encoded message to each device in the filtered set of the proximate devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication attempt is conveyed from an originating device to the recipient device by a communication service provided by a service provider, wherein said service provider performs programmatic actions which results in the service provider automatically determining the at least one proximate device, and wherein the service provider performs programmatic actions that result in the service provider wirelessly conveying the digitally encoded message to the at least one proximate device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the service provider is a telephony service provider, wherein the originating device and the recipient device are telephony devices, wherein the communication attempt is a telephony voice call, and wherein at least one of recipient device and the proximate device comprise customer premise equipment connected to the telephony service provider via a land-line.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the service provider is a telephony service provider, wherein the originating device, the recipient device, and the proximate device are telephony devices, and wherein the communication attempt is a telephony voice call, and wherein the digitally encoded message is a voice message that is conveyed by a user of the originating device after a telephony session is established by the service provider between the originating device and the proximate device.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the wirelessly conveyed message sent to the at least one proximate device is at least one of a text message, an instant message, audio, and video.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

the service provider determining a geographic location of the recipient device based upon at least one of GPS data provided by the recipient device, location data provided by a presence server, and location information ascertained by wireless signals conveyed to and from the recipient device and at least one wireless transceiving node having a known fixed geographic location; and

the service provider accessing a presence database accessible by the service provider to determine the at least one proximate device based upon devices in the presence database proximate to the determined geographic location.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

the service provider identifying a contact list associated with the recipient device or a user of the recipient device;

filtering a set of determined proximate devices to include only those proximate devices associated with a contact included within a contact list, wherein determined ones of the proximate devices not associated with a contact included in the contact list are excluded from the filtered set of proximate devices; and

wirelessly conveying the digitally encoded message to each device in the filtered set of the proximate devices.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting an impediment to the communication attempt, wherein said impediment decreases a likelihood that a user of the recipient device will be successfully notified of the identified communication attempt, wherein the determining of the proximate device and the conveying of the digitally encoded message to the proximate device occurs responsive to the detecting of the impediment and only occurs when an impediment to the communication attempt is detected.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein existence of the impediment is based upon a condition detected by at least one sensor of the recipient device, wherein the sensor is at least one of a light sensor and a motion sensor, wherein said light sensor is used to detect an impediment of the recipient device being concealed, and wherein the motion sensor is used to detected an impediment of the recipient device being located within a moving vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

responsive to detecting the impediment, adjusting a behavior characteristic of the recipient device to increase a prominence of a notification issued by the recipient device to a user to inform the user of the communication attempt, wherein the adjusting of the behavior characteristic comprises at least one of;

increasing a ringer volume of the recipient device;

toggling a ring state of the recipient device from non-active to active; and

altering a ring tone of the recipient device.

15. A mobile communication device comprising:

a network transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with a communication system;

a personal area network transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with proximate devices;

a computer program product executed by the mobile communication device configured to detect proximate devices within range of a personal area network associated with the personal area network transceiver and to wirelessly convey digitally encoded messages to at least one of the detected proximate devices via the personal area network, wherein said digitally encoded messages directs a user of the proximate device to inform a user of the recipient device of a communication attempt directed towards the mobile communication device from the communication system.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 15, wherein the communication system is a mobile telephony system, wherein the network transceiver is a mobile telephony transceiver, wherein the personal area network transceiver conforms to a standardized protocol comprising at least one of BLUETOOTH, WIRELESS USB, ZIGBEE, and WIFI.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 15, further comprising:

a memory comprising a contact list, said contact list comprising a plurality of contacts, wherein said computer program product is configured to filter detected proximate devices using the contact list so that only those detected proximate devices associated with one of the plurality of contacts are conveyed messages.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 15, further comprising:

a condition detector configured to detect whether an impediment to a communication attempt exists, wherein said computer program product executes only when the condition detector detects an impediment, and wherein said impediment decreases a likelihood that a user of the recipient device will be successfully notified of an incoming communication attempt.

19. A service provider comprising:

a presence database configured to track a geographic location of a plurality of communication devices, which are able to initiate and receive telephony communications facilitated by the service provider over a telephony network managed by the service provider, wherein said plurality of communication device comprise mobile telephony devices associated with mobile phone numbers and land-line telephony devices associated with land-line phone numbers;

a computer program product stored in a storage medium and executable responsive to a programmatic event detected by the service provider, wherein the computer program product when executed causes a computing device to determine a set of communication devices proximate to a recipient communication device based upon information maintained in the presence database and to convey digitally encoded messages to at least one of the detected proximate communication devices, wherein said digitally encoded messages directs a user of the proximate communication device to inform a user of the recipient communication device of a communication attempt directed towards the recipient communication device, which a user of the recipient communication device has not responded to.

20. A computer program product for directing communications to a receiving communication device proximate to an impeded communication device comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to identify a communication attempt directed towards a recipient device;

computer usable program code configured to automatically determine at least one proximate device geographically proximate to the recipient device; and

computer usable program code configured to, responsive to the determining of the at least one proximate device, wirelessly convey a digitally encoded message to the determined at least one proximate device, wherein said digitally encoded message directs a user of the proximate device to inform a user of the recipient device of the communication attempt.