System and method for mitigating the mobile phone nuisance factor

• US 7,006,817 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2001
• Issued: 02/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Awada, Faisal M., Espinoza, Victor Jr., Brown, Joe Nathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US09/998,395
• Publication Number:
  US 20030092428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,566 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455/432.1, 455/432.2, 455/432.3, 455/434, 455/1, 455/411, 455/565, 455/456.4
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for mitigating the mobile phone nuisance factor. The present invention causes a mobile phone to activate an “In-Public-Use” profile when in a public establishment, which has a policy for mobile phone usage. A transmitter in the public establishment broadcasts an external control signal that contains an encoded command. The circuitry, or processor instructions, in a mobile phone decodes the command and activates the profile with the identified settings from the command. When the profile is activated, an icon is displayed indicating that the profile is active. Additionally, the “In-Public-Use” profile is deactivated when the mobile phone leaves the range of the signal and the previous settings of the mobile phone are enabled.

Claims

1. A method in a mobile communications device for activating a profile, the method comprising:

detecting an external control signal transmitted from a transmitter in a location, wherein the external control signal contains an encoded command;

decoding the encoded command to define features in the profile, wherein the features are identified by a group of settings contained in the encoded command and wherein the features were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal;

activating the profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communication device, and wherein the profile implements a policy of mobile communications device usage for the location and replaces a current profile for the mobile communications device; and

maintaining the profile only while the external control signal continues to be detected.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

restoring the current profile when reception of the external control signal is discontinued.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes disable a call from being received by a user of the mobile communications device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes are at least one of a ringer mode, a ringer volume, a rinser duration, a vibration mode, a conversation mode, a conversation duration, and an informational message, and wherein the conversation mode enables or disables a call from being received by a user, the ringer mode turns a ringer on or off, and the vibration mode turns a vibration on or off.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile cannot be activated or modified by a user of the mobile communications device.

6. A method in a mobile communications device for activating a profile when the mobile communications device is located in a location with a policy for mobile communications device usage, the method comprising:

detecting an external control signal in the location, wherein the external control signal contains an encoded command that identifies settings for the mobile communications device;

identifying the settings in the external control signal to form identified settings, wherein the identified settings define features in the profile that comply with the policy for mobile communications device usage for the location;

activating the profile with the identified to settings to form active profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communications device and were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal; and

maintaining the active profile while the external control signal is detected.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a prior profile is deactivated when the profile is activated and further comprising:

restoring the prior profile when an absence of the external control signal is detected.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

displaying an icon indicating that the profile has been activated, wherein the icon is displayed while the profile is active.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the location is a public establishment, a home, an office, or a government building.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the external control signal is broadcasted from a transmitter.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmitter is programmed by a control unit to broadcast the external control signal.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the mobile communications device contains circuitry that decodes the external control signal.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the attributes are at least one of a ringer mode, a ringer volume, a ringer duration, a vibration mode, conversation mode, conversation duration, and informational messages, and wherein the conversation mode enables or disables a call from being received by the user, the ringer mode turns a ringer on or off, and the vibration mode turns a vibration on or off.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein the mobile communications device is one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a two way pager, or a laptop computer.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the external control signal is one of a radio frequency signal, an infrared signal, or an ultrasonic signal.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein an emergency phone call is always allowed by the profile.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the profile cannot be activated or modified by a user of the mobile communications device.

18. A mobile communications device comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes as set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to detect an external control signal transmitted from a transmitter in a location, wherein the external control signal contains an encoded command;

decode the encoded command to define features in a profile, wherein the features are identified by a group of settings contained in the encoded command and wherein the features were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal;

activate the profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communication device, and wherein the profile implements a policy of mobile communications device usage for the location and replaces a current profile for the mobile communications device; and

maintain the profile only while the external control signal continues to be detected.

19. A mobile communications device comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes as set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to detect an external control signal in a location, wherein the external control signal contains an encoded command that identifies settings for a mobile communications device;

identify the settings in the external control signal to form identified settings, wherein the identified settings define features in a profile that comply with a policy for mobile communications device usage for the location;

activate the profile with the identified settings to form an active profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communications device and were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal; and

maintain the active profile while the external control signal is detected.

20. A mobile communications device for activating a profile, the mobile communications device comprising:

detecting means for detecting an external control signal transmitted from a transmitter in a location, wherein the external control signals contains an encoded command;

decoding means for decoding the encoded command to define features in the profile, wherein the features are identified by a group of settings contained in the encoded command and wherein the features were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal;

activating means for activating the profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communication device, and wherein the profile implements a policy of mobile communications device usage for the location and replaces a current profile for the mobile communications device; and

maintaining means for maintaining the profile only while the external control signal continues to be detected.

21. A mobile communications device for activating a profile when the mobile communications device is located in a location with a policy for mobile communications device usage, the mobile communications device comprising:

detecting means for detecting an external control signal in the location, wherein the external control signal contains an encoded command that identifies settings for the mobile communications device;

identifying means for identifying the settings in the external control signal to form identified settings, wherein the identified settings define features in the profile that comply with the policy for mobile communications device usage for the location;

activating means for activating the profile with the identified settings to form an active profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communications device and were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal; and

maintaining means for maintaining the active profile while the external control signal is detected.

22. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for activating a profile, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for detecting an external control signal transmitted from a transmitter in a location, wherein the external control signal contains an encoded command;

second instructions for decoding the encoded command to define features in the profile, wherein the features are identified by a group of settings contained in the encoded command and wherein the features were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal;

third instructions for activating the profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communication device, and wherein the profile implements a policy of mobile communications device usage for the location and replaces a current profile for the mobile communications device; and

fourth instructions for maintaining the profile only while the external control signal continues to be detected.

23. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for activating a profile when a mobile communications device is located in a location with a policy for mobile communications device usage, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for detecting an external control signal in the location, wherein the external control signal contains encoded command that identifies settings for the mobile communications device;

second instructions for identifying the settings in the external control signal to form identified settings, wherein the identified settings define features in the profile that comply with the policy for mobile communications device usage for the location;

third instructions for activating the profile with the identified settings to form an active profile, wherein the features in the profile control attributes of the mobile communications device and were not defined in the profile prior to detecting the external control signal; and

fourth instructions for maintaining the active profile while the external control signal is detected.