Cellular phone with special standby feature
First Claim
1. A cellular telephone having a normal operating mode and a special operating mode to enable a conversation between a caller and a user, wherein upon receiving a call in the special operating mode the cellular telephone;
- automatically establishes an audio channel of communication enabling the user to converse with the caller;
sends a signal to the caller indicating that the cellular phone is in a special operating mode indicating that the user will attend to the call momentarily;
thereby informing the caller that the caller may begin conversation although the user may not answer.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A cellular phone is disclosed having a SPECIAL mode of operation. According to one embodiment, in the SPECIAL operating mode a channel of communication is automatically established upon receipt of an incoming call. Additional features enable muting of the ringing after the first ring, and sending a note to the caller that the phone in the SPECIAL mode. This allows a user in a meeting to receive a call and have time to exit the meeting to talk to the caller. According to another embodiment, is the special operating mode the phone blocks all incoming calls for a pre-programmed time period, and thereafter resumes normal operation.
73 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A cellular telephone having a normal operating mode and a special operating mode to enable a conversation between a caller and a user, wherein upon receiving a call in the special operating mode the cellular telephone;
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automatically establishes an audio channel of communication enabling the user to converse with the caller;
sends a signal to the caller indicating that the cellular phone is in a special operating mode indicating that the user will attend to the call momentarily;
thereby informing the caller that the caller may begin conversation although the user may not answer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A telephone having an accept button and a normal operating mode and a special operating mode to selectively enable a conversation between a caller and a user, wherein upon receiving a call in the special operating mode the telephone:
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alerts the user and monitors the accept button; and
,when the accept button is depressed the cellular phone;
establishes an audio channel of communication enabling the user to converse with the caller;
sends a signal to the caller indicating that the cellular phone is in a special operating mode thereby indicating that the caller may begin the conversation although the user may not answer immediately. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A user telephone system programmed to operate in one of a normal mode and special mode, said special mode structured to handle incoming calls so as to minimize user disturbance of answering the call, wherein when an incoming call from a caller is received in the special mode the telephone system performs the operations comprising:
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a. establishing an audio channel of communication between the caller and the user telephone, thereby enabling the user to converse with the caller;
b. sending a signal to the caller user indicating that the called telephone is in a special operating mode and has accepted the call automatically, thereby informing the caller that the caller may begin the conversation although the user may not answer in order to minimize user disturbance. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
muting the ringing after a pre-specified number of rings, said pre-specified number including zero rings.
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13. The telephone of claim 11, wherein upon receiving an incoming call in the special mode the telephone further performs the operations comprising:
determining the level of urgency of the incoming call and if the urgency level is below a specified level, transferring the call to a voice mail system.
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14. The telephone of claim 13, wherein the telephone determines the level of urgency by sending a request to the caller to indicate the level of urgency and monitoring the caller'"'"'s response.
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15. The telephone of claim 11, wherein said signal is an audible signal pre-recorded by said user.
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16. The telephone of claim 11, wherein when an incoming call from a caller is received in the special mode the telephone checks whether an acceptance button has been depressed by the user and, if so, performs operations a and b.
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17. A user telephone system programed to perform the operations comprising:
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when receiving an incoming call from a caller, sending a request to the caller to indicate the urgency level of the call;
comparing the urgency level indicated by the caller to a prescribed list of urgency levels; and
,wherein when the indicated level of urgency is above the prescribed level, the operation further comprise;
a. alerting the user to the call;
b. establishing an audio channel of communication enabling the user to converse with the caller;
sending a signal to the caller indicating that the telephone system is in a special operating mode and that an audio channel has been established, thereby informing the caller that the user will attend to the call momentarily and that the caller may begin the conversation. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification