“I am driving/busy” automatic response system for mobile phones

• US 8,412,161 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2011
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Julia Olincy, Ronald C. Fish
• Original Assignee: Julia Olincy, Ronald C. Fish
• Inventors: Olincy, Julia, Fish, Ronald C.
• Primary Examiner(s): MIZRAHI, DIANE D
• Application Number:
  US13/373,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20120058755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• Field of Search: 455/415, 455/412, 455/413, 455/414.1, 455/418, 455/455, 455/466, 455/558, 717/718, 717/714, 379/80, 379/88.1, 715/735
• US Class Current: 455/412.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6075 adapted for handsfree use in a vehicle H04M1/6058 takes precedence; arrangements for holding telephones in a vehicle B60R11/0241
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/64 Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations centralised dictation systems H04M11/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A cell phone which has been modified by the addition of software which responds to the press of one or more Busy keys by automatically sending a pre-typed text message to the sender of the latest text message just received or automatically answering an incoming call immediately upon pressing the Busy key and playing a pre-recorded audio message. The outgoing text or audio message can inform the sender of the incoming text or the caller that the user is driving or otherwise engaged and cannot respond immediately. In some embodiments, one or more Busy keys can be added keys or one or more existing keys on the cell phone or on the keypad of the cell phone or on a touchscreen or a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of the cell phone.

Claims

1. A method carried out on a host cell phone comprising:

A) receiving a text message on said cell phone or receiving an incoming phone call on said cell phone;

B) detecting a push of a Busy key (Short Message Service) or Busy key (Call) on said host cell phone and sending that event to an operating system of said cell phone with a request to send to a Busy application program on said cell phone predetermined data, said predetermined data, in the case of push of said Busy key (Short Message Service), being timestamps indicating when said Busy key (Short Message Service) or Busy key (Call) was pushed and a time of receipt of a latest text message received by said host cell phone, said latest text message being a text message which was received by said host cell phone within a predetermined interval before said Busy key (Short Message Service) was pushed, and said predetermined data, in the case of a push of said Busy key (Call), being information on whether an incoming call is currently ringing said cell phone;

C) making a function call to said Busy application program to launch said Busy application program after receiving information that either said Busy key (Short Message Service) or Busy key (Call) was pushed and sending said predetermined data to said Busy application program;

D) determining if said Busy key (Short Message Service) was pushed within a predetermined time of the time of receipt of said latest text message, and, if so, automatically selecting said latest text message as the text message to which an automated response is to be sent and automatically sending a pre-typed text message to the phone number from which said latest text message originated without any further interaction with said user of said cell phone, said pre-typed text message being a predefined text message which has been stored in said host cell phone by the manufacturer of said cell phone or the software which runs said host cell phone or a message said user has typed and stored in memory of said host cell phone previously;

E) if said Busy key (Short Message Service) was not pushed within a predetermined interval after receipt of said latest text message, determining if said Busy key (Call) was pushed while an incoming call was ringing said cell phone, and, if so, automatically answering said incoming call and playing a pre-recorded audio message to said caller; and

F) if steps E and F determine that neither the Busy key (Short Message Service) nor said Busy key (Call) was pushed within a predetermined interval after receipt of said latest Short Message Service text message or while said incoming phone call is ringing said cell phone, then shutting down said Busy application program.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step F further comprises diverting said incoming call to voicemail after playing said pre-recorded audio message.

3. A method carried out on a host cell phone comprising:

A) receiving an incoming Short Message Service text message or an incoming phone call;

B) detecting a push of a Busy key (Short Message Service) or Busy key (Call) on said host cell phone and sending information indicating which of said Busy keys was pushed to an operating system of said cell phone with a request to send to a Busy application program on said cell phone a timestamp indicating when said Busy key (Short Message Service) or Busy key (Call) was pushed and an indication of which Busy key was pushed;

C) sending a function call to a Busy application program on said cell phone with said timestamp;

D) launching said Busy application program on said phone when said function call in step C is sent and starting a timer and incrementing a count of the number of pushes of the particular one of said Busy keys which was pushed;

E) determining, if the same Busy key was pushed X time in Y seconds, which of the Busy key (Short Message Service) or Busy key (Call) was pushed X times in Y seconds;

F) if said Busy key (Short Message Service) was pushed X times in Y seconds, automatically selecting a latest text message received by said host cell phone within a predetermined time of occurrence of said push of said Busy key (Short Message Service) and automatically sending a pre-typed text message to a phone from which said latest text message was received without any further interaction with said user of said cell phone, said pre-typed text message being a predefined text message which has been stored in said host cell phone by the manufacturer of said cell phone or the software which runs said host cell phone or a message said user has typed and stored in memory of said host cell phone previously; and

G) if said Busy key (Call) was pushed X times in Y seconds, automatically answering said incoming call and playing a pre-recorded audio message to said caller.