Reactive management of dropped calls in a wireless communication system

• US 7,072,641 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2002
• Issued: 07/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Satapathy, Durga Prasad
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hashem, Lisa
• Application Number:
  US10/101,002
• Publication Number:
  US 20040203607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/413, 455/412, 455/38, 455/414, 455/423
• US Class Current: 455/412.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/656 for recording conversations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A method and system is disclosed for reactively managing dropped calls in a wireless communication system. A mobile station determines that it has experienced a dropped call. In response, the mobile station allows a user to continue communicating, such as by recording the user'"'"'s speech, for instance. The mobile station may then play out the recorded speech to the user or to another call participant, such as upon reestablishment of the call.

Claims

1. In a wireless communications system in which a mobile station communicates with a base station via an RF air interface, a method carried out by the mobile station comprising:

making a determination that a call in which the mobile station was engaged has been dropped, wherein making the determination comprises detecting that data has stopped flowing over the RF air interface from the base station to the mobile station, although the mobile station has not sent or received an end-of-call signal for the call; and

responsive to the determination, automatically recording in the mobile station a post-call-drop speech signal provided by a user of the mobile station, wherein recording in the mobile station a post-call-drop speech signal provided by the user comprises receiving a speech signal provided by the user, encoding the speech signal as CDMA/EVRC data, and storing the CDMA/EVRC data in a data storage medium.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein recording in the mobile station a post-call-drop speech signal provided by the user comprises:

recording the post-call-drop speech signal for a pre-set period of time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the preset period of time is 30 seconds.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, in normal operation during a call, the mobile station buffers an ongoing speech signal provided by the user, the method further comprising:

combining the ongoing speech signal with the post-call-drop speech signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after recording the speech signal provided by the user, playing out the recorded speech signal to the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein playing out the recorded speech signal to the user comprises:

playing out the recorded speech signal to the user in response to user instruction to play out the recorded speech signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user communicates with another entity during the call, the method further comprising:

responsive to the determination that the call has been dropped, automatically reestablishing a call with the other entity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user communicates with another call-participant during the call, the method further comprising:

after making the determination that the call has been dropped, reestablishing a call with the other call-participant; and

playing out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein playing out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call comprises:

playing out the recorded speech signal to only the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein playing out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call comprises:

playing out the recorded speech signal to the user and to the other call-participant.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving instruction from the user to play out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call, wherein the playing out of the recorded speech signal occurs in response to the instruction.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the call was between the mobile station and another entity, and wherein reestablishing a call comprises:

automatically originating a new call to the other entity.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the call was between the mobile station and another entity, and wherein reestablishing a call comprises:

receiving a new call from the other entity.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically recording in the mobile station a post-call-drop speech signal provided by the user comprises:

automatically prompting the user for instruction to record speech by the user;

receiving instruction from the user to record speech by the user; and

responsively recording speech by the user.

15. In a wireless communications system in which a mobile station communicates with a base station via an RF air interface, a method carried out by the mobile station comprising:

detecting that the mobile station has experienced a call-drop, wherein detecting that the mobile has experienced a call-drop comprises detecting that data has stopped flowing over the RF air interface from the base station to the mobile station, although the mobile station has not sent or received an end-of-call signal for the call;

responsive to the call-drop, prompting a user of the mobile station for instruction to record a speech signal provided by the user;

receiving from the user an instruction to record a speech signal spoken by the user; and

responsive to the instruction, recording a speech signal provided by the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user communicates with another call participant during the call, the method further comprising:

after making the determination that the call has been dropped, reestablishing a call with the other call participant; and

playing out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call.

17. A mobile station comprising:

a processor;

data storage; and

machine language instructions stored in the data storage and executable by the processor to cause the mobile station to perform a method comprising (i) detecting that a call in which the mobile station was actively engaged has been dropped and (ii) responsively recording into the mobile station a speech signal provided by a user of the mobile station,

wherein the machine language instructions are executable to detect that the call has been dropped by detecting that data has stopped flowing over an RF air interface from a base station to the mobile station, and wherein recording into the mobile station a speech signal provided by the user comprises receiving a speech signal provided by the user, encoding the speech signal as CDMA/EVRC data, and storing the CDMA/EVRC data in the data storage.

18. The mobile station of claim 17, wherein the machine language instructions are further executable, in response to detecting that the call has been dropped, (i) to prompt the user for instruction to record the speech signal, (ii) to receive from the user an instruction to record the speech signal and (iii) to record the speech signal, in response to the instruction.

19. The mobile station of claim 17, wherein the user communicates with another call-participant during the call, and wherein the machine language instructions are further executable, in response to detecting that the call has been dropped, to reestablish a call with the other call-participant.

20. The mobile station of claim 19, wherein the machine language instructions are further executable to play out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call.

21. The mobile station of claim 20, wherein the machine language instructions are further executable to play out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call in response to instruction from the user to play out the recorded speech signal in the reestablished call.