Deferred communication and relationship management

• US 8,340,631 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Mann, Jonathan L., Panchal, Prarthana H., Wood, Paula H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): Siddiqui, Kashif
• Application Number:
  US12/833,829
• Publication Number:
  US 20100273447A1
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• Field of Search: 455405-406, 455/414, 455418-420, 370/328, 379/210, 709204-207
• US Class Current: 455/405
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/651 Text message transmission triggered by call
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

Techniques to defer an incoming communication and schedule a follow up communication and techniques to provide reminders to communicate with a selected contact in order to maintain a level of connectivity with the contact are disclosed. A communication recipient can defer an incoming communication and schedule a return communication time. The return communication may be manually deferred by a user and/or automatically deferred based at least in part on availability of a user on an appointment calendar. Also, the communication recipient can receive reminders of the scheduled return communication or reminders to communicate with a selected contact based on a level of connectivity.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

automatically selecting, by a telecommunication device, a contact of a user of the telecommunication device to maintain a level of connectivity with;

in response to the automatically selecting, checking calendars of the user and the contact and, based on the checking, placing an appointment on a calendar associated with instructions performing the automatic selecting, that calendar being separate and distinct from the calendars of the user and the contact;

monitoring, by the telecommunication device, communications between the user and the contact; and

reminding, by the telecommunication device, the user to communicate with the contact, the reminding performed based at least in part on the appointment, the monitored communications, and the level of connectivity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to select as the level of connectivity a maximum time period during which there is no communication between the user and the contact and at the end of which a reminder is provided to the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically selecting comprises automatically selecting the contact from at least one user contact list based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks or automatically forming a subset of contacts from the at least one user contact list for the user to select from.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the level of connectivity includes at least a maximum time period during which there is no communication between the user and the contact and at the end of which a reminder is provided to the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the monitoring includes:

determining a most recent communication between the user and the contact;

comparing a time since the most recent communication to the maximum time period; and

when the time matches or exceeds the maximum time period, performing the reminding.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the level of connectivity further includes a requirement that an email, an instant message, or a text message from the user be responded to by the contact for the email, the instant message, or the text message communication to count as a most recent communication.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the level of connectivity further includes a requirement that a call last for a minimum duration to count as a most recent communication.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the level of connectivity further includes a requirement that a communication be of a specified or selected type to count as a most recent communication.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring includes examining at least one of a call log, an instant message history, a text message history, an email inbox of the user, or a social history.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the appointment based on the monitoring.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the reminding comprises providing a notification through a notification manager, the notification manager also providing other reminders to return calls that the user chose to defer.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the reminding in response to determining that the user has not communicated with the contact.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the reminding further comprises automatically initiating a communication with the contact.

14. A computer-readable storage medium comprising:

a plurality of computer-executable instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium and configured to program a server to perform operations including;

receiving from a telecommunication device an indication of a contact of a user of the telecommunication device automatically selected by the telecommunication device to maintain a level of connectivity with;

in response to the receiving, checking calendars of the user and the contact and, based on the checking, placing an appointment on a calendar associated with the instructions performing the receiving, that calendar being separate and distinct from the calendars of the user and the contact;

monitoring communications between the user and the contact; and

providing a reminder to the user to communicate with the contact, the providing performed based at least on the monitored communications and the level of connectivity.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the automatically selecting is based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks.

16. A telecommunication device comprising:

a processor;

a storage component coupled to the processor and configured to store at least one of a call log, an instant message history, a text message history, an email inbox, or a social history; and

a plurality of executable instructions configured to be operated by the processor to perform operations including;

automatically selecting a contact of a user of the telecommunication device to maintain a level of connectivity with, the level of connectivity including at least a maximum time period during which there is no communication between the user and the contact and at the end of which a reminder is provided to the user;

in response to the automatically selecting, checking calendars of the user and the contact and, based on the checking, placing an appointment on a calendar associated with the instructions performing the receiving, that calendar being separate and distinct from the calendars of the user and the contact

monitoring communications between the user and the contact, the monitoring including examining the at least one of the call log, the instant message history, the text message history, the email inbox, or the social history to determine a most recent communication between the user and the contact; and

reminding the user to communicate with the contact, the reminding being based at least in part on the appointment or the monitoring.

17. The telecommunication device of claim 16, wherein the automatic selecting includes:

automatically selecting the contact from at least one user contact list based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks, or

automatically selecting a subset of contacts from the at least one user contact list based on information associated with the contact or information retrieved from social networks and enabling the user to select the contact from the subset of contacts.