"I am driving/busy" automatic response system for mobile phones

• US 20110151838A1
• Filed: 12/21/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Julia Olincy, Ronald C. Fish
• Original Assignee: Julia Olincy, Ronald C. Fish
• Inventors: Olincy, Julia, Fish, Ronald C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,249,627 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6075 adapted for handsfree use in a vehicle H04M1/6058 takes precedence; arrangements for holding telephones in a vehicle B60R11/0241
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/64 Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations centralised dictation systems H04M11/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A cell phone which has been modified by the addition of software which responds to the press of one or more Busy keys by automatically sending a pre-typed text message to the sender of the latest text message just received or automatically answering an incoming call immediately upon pressing the Busy key and playing a pre-recorded audio message. The outgoing text or audio message can inform the sender of the incoming text or the caller that the user is driving or otherwise engaged and cannot respond immediately. In some embodiments, one or more Busy keys can be added keys or one or more existing keys on the cell phone or on the keypad of the cell phone or on a touchscreen or a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of the cell phone.

Claims

1. A process carried out on a cell phone comprising the steps:

A) activating an automated response application program on a cell phone;

B) receiving a text message on said cell phone;

C) receiving a command from a user of said cell phone to send an automated text message response; and

D) doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically select the latest text message received and send a pre-typed text message to the sender of said latest text message indicating the user of said cell phone cannot immediately respond to said text message.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein said pre-typed text message is one of several pre-typed text messages which can be automatically sent and further comprising the steps of accessing a configuration file to determine the pre-typed text message to send and using the pre-typed text message pointed to by said configuration file as the pre-typed text message to send to the sender of said latest text message in step D.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein step C comprises sensing that a “

hot key”

has been pressed along with an existing key on the phone or on the keypad or on the touchscreen of the phone or on the touchscreen depiction of a keypad of said cell phone assigned to be a Busy (SMS) key such that said hot key and existing key assigned as said Busy (SMS) key are both pressed for intervals which at least partially overlap.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein step C comprises sensing that a Busy (SMS) key has been pressed by said user, said Busy (SMS) key being a key which has been added to said cell phone or to said keypad of said cell phone.

5. The process of claim 1 further comprising the step of displaying the identity of the sender of said latest text message if said sender is in the address book of said cell phone.

6. A process carried out on a cell phone comprising the steps:

A) activating an automated response application program on a cell phone;

B) receiving a text message on said cell phone or receiving an incoming cellular phone call on said cell phone;

C) receiving a command from a user of said cell phone to send an automated text message response if a text message has been received or receiving a command to play a pre-recorded audio message to the caller of an incoming phone call that is ringing the ringtone of said cell phone; and

D) if a command has been received from said user to send an automated text message in response to a text message which has been received, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically select the latest text message received and send a pre-typed text message to the sender of said latest text message indicating in any way the user of said cell phone is driving or cannot or chooses for any other reason to not immediately respond to said text message; and

E) if a command has been received from said user to automatically play a pre-recorded voice message to a caller, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically answer an incoming cell phone call, play a pre-recorded audio message to said caller.

7. The process of claim 6 wherein step E further comprises the step of automatically hanging up said cell phone after playing said pre-recorded audio message.

8. The process of claim 6 wherein step E further comprises the step of automatically carrying out whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone to divert the incoming cellular call to voicemail after playing said pre-recorded audio message.

9. The process of claim 6 wherein step D further comprises the step of reading data from a configuration file pointing to one of a plurality of pre-typed text messages that can be automatically sent and retrieving the text of the pre-typed text message pointed to by said configuration file and sending said text as said pre-typed text message to the sender of said latest text message.

10. The process of claim 6 wherein step E further comprises the step of reading data from a configuration file pointing to one of a plurality of pre-recorded audio messages that can be played to a caller, and retrieving the data of the pre-recorded audio message pointed to by said configuration file and using said retrieved data to play said pre-recorded audio message to said caller.

11. The process of claim 10 further comprising the steps of downloading pre-recorded text messages and pre-recorded audio messages from a server on the internet which provides them for free or for a fee and storing said downloaded text messages and pre-recorded audio messages on said phone in a plurality of files stored in non-volatile memory of said phone, said files comprising pre-recorded text messages and pre-recorded audio messages some of which may have been typed by said user and some of which may have been recorded by said user.

12. The process of claim 6 wherein step C comprises detecting the fact that the user of said cell phone pressed a Busy (SMS) key which has been added to said cell phone or a keypad of said cell phone or the touchscreen of said cell phone or a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of said cell phone or comprises detecting the fact that the user of said cell phone pressed a Busy (Call) key which has been added to said cell phone or a keypad of said cell phone or to the touchscreen of said cell phone or to a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of said cell phone.

13. The process of claim 6 wherein step C comprises detecting the fact that the user of said cell phone pressed, within a predetermined time after receiving a text message, a Busy (SMS) key which is an already existing key on said cell phone or on a keypad of said cell phone or on the touchscreen of said cell phone or on a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of said cell phone or wherein step C comprises detecting the fact that the user of said cell phone pressed a Busy (Call) key during playing of a ringtone of said cellphone indicating a cellular call was being received, said Busy (Call) key being a key which already exists on said cell phone or on a keypad of said cell phone or on the touchscreen of said cell phone or on a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of said cell phone.

14. The process of claim 6 wherein step C comprises detecting the fact that the user of said cell phone pressed a Busy (SMS) key which is the combination of pressing of a hot key and another key both of which are keys which already exist on said cell phone or on a keypad of said cell phone or on a touchscreen of said cell phone or on a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of said cell phone or wherein step C comprises detecting the fact that the user of said cell phone pressed a Busy (Call) key during playing of a ringtone of said cellphone indicating a cellular call was being received, said Busy (Call) key being the combination of a hot key and another key both of which already exist on said cell phone or on a keypad of said cell phone or on a touchscreen of said cell phone or on a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of said cell phone.

15. The process of claim 13 further comprising the step of displaying the identity of the sender of said text message and/or the identity of the caller of an incoming cellular call which is being received.

16. A process carried out on a cell phone comprising the steps:

A) activating an automated response application program on a cell phone;

B) receiving a text message on said cell phone or receiving an incoming cellular phone call on said cell phone;

C) receiving a context-sensitive command from a user of said cell phone which comprises detecting pressing by said user of a context sensitive Busy key which indicates said user wishes to send an automated text message response if a text message has been received or play a pre-recorded audio message to the caller of an incoming phone call that is ringing the ringtone of said cell phone; and

D) doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone to determine whether a text message was received just before said context sensitive Busy key was pushed or an incoming cellular call is causing the ringtone of said cell phone to be played at the time said Busy key is pushed;

E) if said Busy key was pressed in response to a text message which has just been received, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically select the latest text message received and send a pre-typed text message to the sender of said latest text message indicating in any way the user of said cell phone is driving or cannot or chooses for any other reason to not immediately respond to said text message; and

F) if said Busy key was pressed while the ringtone of said cell phone is being played indicating an incoming cellular call, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically answer an incoming cell phone call, play a pre-recorded audio message to said caller indicating said user is driving or cannot or chooses for any other reason to not take the call immediately.

17. The process of claim 16 wherein step C comprises pressing a Busy key which has been added to said cell phone or to a keyboard of said cell phone or to a touchscreen of said cell phone or to a visual depiction of said keyboard displayed on a touchscreen of said cell phone.

18. The process of claim 16 wherein step C comprises pressing a Busy key which is one or more existing keys on said cell phone or on a keyboard of said cell phone or on a touchscreen of said cell phone or on a visual depiction of said keyboard displayed on a touchscreen of said cell phone.

19. The process of claim 16 wherein steps E and F further comprise accessing a configuration file and reading pointer data therein which points to one of a plurality of pre-typed text message files to use to send said pre-typed text message and which points to one of a plurality of pre-recorded audio message files to use to play said pre-recorded audio message.

20. A conventional cell phone apparatus which has been modified to add a software application which is structured to control said cell phone to respond to the press by a user of said cell phone of one or more Busy keys, each of which can be a key which has been added to said cell phone or to a keypad of said cell phone or to a touchscreen of said cell phone or to the visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of a cell phone or which can be one or more existing keys on said cell phone or on a keypad of said cell phone or on a touchscreen of said cell phone or on the visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of a cell phone, said response to the press of a said Busy key being to send a pre-typed text message to the sender of a text message just received.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein said software application added to said cell phone is also structured to control said cell phone to respond to the press by a user of said cell phone of a said Busy key by automatically answering an incoming cellular call and automatically playing a pre-recorded audio message to said caller.

22. A process carried out on a cell phone comprising the steps:

A) receiving a text message on said cell phone or receiving an incoming cellular phone call on said cell phone;

B) receiving a command the user of said cell phone makes by making one or more pushes of a Busy key somewhere on said phone, said one or more pushes of said Busy key causing a function call to be made to an application programmatic interface of an operating system requesting that a Busy application program be launched and that the Busy application be informed whether an incoming text message was just received or an incoming cell call is occurring;

C) making a function call to an application programmatic interface of said Busy application requesting that said Busy application launch and passing context information to said Busy application regarding whether a text message has just been received or whether a cell phone call is currently occurring;

D) if a text message has just been received, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said Busy application program is running to automatically select the latest text message received and automatically send a pre-typed text message to the sender of said latest text message without any further interaction with said user of said cell phone; and

E) if a cell phone call is being received, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically answer an incoming cell phone call and play a pre-recorded audio message to said caller.

23. The process of claim 22 wherein step F comprises playing an automated voice message to said caller indicating said user of said cell phone is busy and cannot take the call immediately, and further comprises the steps of diverting the caller to voicemail and recording any message said caller leaves.

24. A process carried out on a cell phone comprising the steps:

A) receiving a text message on said cell phone or receiving an incoming cellular phone call on said cell phone;

B) detecting a push of a Busy key (SMS) or Busy key (Call) on said cell phone and sending that event to an operating system of said cell phone with a request to send to a Busy application program on said cell phone the time of the Busy key (SMS) or Busy key (Call) push and the time the latest SMS text message was received in the case of a Busy key (SMS) push or information on whether an incoming call is currently ringing said cell phone in the case of a Busy key (Call) push;

C) making a function call to said Busy application program to launch it after receiving information that either said Busy key (SMS) or Busy key (Call) was pushed and sending the information requested in step C to said Busy application program;

D) determining if said Busy key (SMS) was pushed within a predetermined time of the time of receipt of the latest SMS text message, and, if so, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said Busy application program is running to automatically select the latest text message received and automatically send a pre-typed text message to the sender of said latest text message without any further interaction with said user of said cell phone;

E) if said Busy key (SMS) was not pushed within a predetermined time of receipt of the latest text message, determining if said Busy key (Call) was pushed while an incoming cell call was ringing said cell phone, and, if so, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically answer an incoming cell phone and play a pre-recorded audio message to said caller; and

F) if steps E and F determine that neither the Busy key (SMS) was pushed within a predetermined time of receipt of the latest SMS text message nor the Busy key (Call) was pushed while an incoming phone call is ringing said cell phone, then shutting down said Busy application program.

25. The process of claim 24 wherein step F further comprises carrying out whatever steps are required on said cell phone executing said Busy application to divert said incoming call to voicemail after playing said pre-recorded audio message.

26. A process carried out on a cell phone comprising the steps:

A) receiving an incoming SMS text message or an incoming phone call;

B) detecting a push of a Busy key (SMS) or Busy key (Call) on said cell phone and sending that event to an operating system of said cell phone with a request to send to a Busy application program on said cell phone the time of the Busy key (SMS) or Busy key (Call) push;

C) sending a function call to a Busy application program on said cell phone with the time of the Busy key push and which Busy key was pushed;

D) launching said Busy application program on said phone when said function call in step C is sent and starting a timer and incrementing a count of the number of pushes of the particular one of the Busy keys which was pushed;

E) determining if the same Busy key was pushed X time in Y seconds, which of the Busy key (SMS) or Busy key (Call) was pushed X times in Y seconds;

F) if said Busy key (SMS) was pushed X times in Y seconds, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said Busy application program is running to automatically select the latest text message received and automatically send a pre-typed text message to the sender of said latest text message without any further interaction with said user of said cell phone; and

G) if said Busy key (Call) was pushed X times in Y seconds, doing whatever steps are necessary on the host cell phone upon which said automated response application program is running to automatically answer an incoming cell phone and play a pre-recorded audio message to said caller.