Deferred Communication and Relationship Management

• US 20100273447A1
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Mann, Jonathan L., Panchal, Prarthana H., Wood, Paula H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,340,631 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/405
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• 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 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

Techniques to defer an incoming communication and schedule a follow up communication and techniques to provide reminders to communicate with a selected contact in order to maintain a level of connectivity with the contact are disclosed. A communication recipient can defer an incoming communication and schedule a return communication time. The return communication may be manually deferred by a user and/or automatically deferred based at least in part on availability of a user on an appointment calendar. Also, the communication recipient can receive reminders of the scheduled return communication or reminders to communicate with a selected contact based on a level of connectivity.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

selecting, by a telecommunication device, a contact of a user of the telecommunication device to maintain a level of connectivity with;

monitoring, by the telecommunication device, communications between the user and the contact; and

reminding, by the telecommunication device, the user to communicate with the contact, the reminding performed based at least on the monitored communications and the level of connectivity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting comprises enabling the user to select the contact and to select as the level of connectivity a maximum time period during which there is no communication between the user and the contact and at the end of which a reminder is provided to the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the enabling includes allowing the user to select a contact and to turn on relationship management for that contact or providing the user with a relationship management user interface to enable the user to specify a contact to the relationship management user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting comprises automatically selecting the contact from at least one user contact list based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks or automatically forming a subset of contacts from the at least one user contact list for the user to select from.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the level of connectivity includes at least a maximum time period during which there is no communication between the user and the contact and at the end of which a reminder is provided to the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the monitoring includes:

determining a most recent communication between the user and the contact;

comparing a time since the most recent communication to the maximum time period; and

when the time matches or exceeds the maximum time period, performing the reminding.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the level of connectivity further includes a requirement that an email, an instant message, or a text message from the user be responded to by the contact for the email, the instant message, or the text message communication to count as a most recent communication.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the level of connectivity further includes a requirement that a call last for a minimum duration to count as a most recent communication.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the level of connectivity further includes a requirement that a communication be of a specified or selected type to count as a most recent communication.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring includes examining at least one of a call log, an instant message history, a text message history, an email inbox of the user, or a social history.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the selecting, placing an appointment on a calendar of the user at a date and time determined based on the level of connectivity and sending a calendar appointment invitation to the contact for a communication at the date and time.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating the date and time of the appointment based on the monitoring.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the reminding comprises providing a notification through a notification manager, the notification manager also providing other reminders to return calls that the user chose to defer.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the reminding in response to determining that the user has not communicated with the contact.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the reminding further comprises automatically initiating a communication with the contact.

16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising:

a plurality of computer-executable instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium and configured to program a server to perform operations including;

receiving from a telecommunication device an indication of a contact of a user of the telecommunication device selected by the telecommunication device to maintain a level of connectivity with;

monitoring communications between the user and the contact; and

providing a reminder to the user to communicate with the contact, the providing performed based at least on the monitored communications and the level of connectivity.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the receiving comprises automatically selecting, by the server, the contact from at least one user contact list based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks, or automatically forming, by the server, a subset of contacts from the at least one user contact list for the user to select from.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further include, in response to the receiving, checking calendars of the user and the contact and, based on the checking, placing an appointment on the calendars of the user and the contact for a date and time determined based on the level of connectivity.

19. A telecommunication device comprising:

a processor;

a storage component coupled to the processor and configured to store at least one of a call log, an instant message history, a text message history, an email inbox, or a social history; and

a plurality of executable instructions configured to be operated by the processor to perform operations including;

selecting a contact of a user of the telecommunication device to maintain a level of connectivity with, the level of connectivity including at least a maximum time period during which there is no communication between the user and the contact and at the end of which a reminder is provided to the user;

monitoring communications between the user and the contact, the monitoring including examining the at least one of the call log, the instant message history, the text message history, the email inbox, or the social history to determine a most recent communication between the user and the contact; and

reminding the user to communicate with the contact, the reminding being performed when a time since the most recent communication matches or exceeds the maximum time period.

20. The telecommunication device of claim 19, wherein the selecting includes:

enabling the user to select the contact,

automatically selecting the contact from at least one user contact list based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks, or

automatically selecting a subset of contacts from the at least one user contact list based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks and enabling the user to select the contact from the subset of contacts.