PROVISIONING OF CALLBACK REMINDERS ON A VEHICLE-BASED COMPUTING SYSTEM

• US 20120172009A1
• Filed: 12/30/2010
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Wilkerson, Brian Y.
• Granted Patent: US 8,335,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface
• 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

One or more embodiments include a computer-implemented method and system for providing reply reminders to a vehicle occupant in a vehicle. Information indicating one or more unanswered communications from a nomadic telephone device may be wirelessly received at a vehicle computer. Time and/or date information for the unanswered communication may also be received. By automatically monitoring a passage of time, a determination may be made if one or more unanswered communications have been answered within a predefined reply period. If the one or more unanswered communications have not been answered within the predefined reply period, a reply reminder may be generated and presented in a vehicle.

Claims

13. A system for providing callback reminders to a vehicle occupant in a vehicle, the system comprising:

at least on vehicle computer configured to;

receive information defining one or more unanswered calls from a nomadic telephone device;

receive information defining multiple connected incoming calls and/or multiple outgoing calls from the nomadic telephone device;

identify one or more call characteristics of the incoming calls and/or outgoing calls;

determine if the one or more unanswered calls have been answered;

determine when to present a callback reminder based on the one or more call characteristics; and

if the one or more unanswered calls have not been answered, present a callback reminder in the vehicle based on when to present the callback reminder.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more call characteristics include at least one of frequency of the incoming and/or outgoing calls or a time period within which the incoming call is received or the outgoing call is made.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the unanswered call can be answered through one of multiple forms of communication.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the multiple forms of communication include electronic mail or text messaging.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the at least one vehicle computer is further configured to:

receive time and/or date information for the one or more unanswered calls; and

define a callback period based on the time and/or date information,

wherein the at least one computer is configured to determine if the one or more unanswered calls have been answered within the callback period.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the callback period is user defined.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one vehicle computer is further configured to:

receive information for designating the one or more unanswered calls as a priority;

designate the one or more unanswered calls as a priority based on the information; and

modify the callback period based on designating the one or more unanswered calls as a priority.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the information includes relationship information.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the at least one vehicle computer is configured to further prioritize multiple unanswered calls designated as a priority.

22. A method comprising:

receiving information at a vehicle computer defining unanswered communications and outgoing communications;

determining a time and/or date for the unanswered communications;

defining a reply period for the unanswered communication based on the time and/or date;

determining if a correspondence within the reply period exists between the outgoing and unanswered communications; and

if not, presenting a reminder from the vehicle computer.

23-1. The method of claim 23 further comprising receiving input via the reminder to reply to the unanswered communication.