Method and apparatus for indicating a caller's intent
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for communicating a caller'"'"'s intent to a plurality of users sharing a phone number, the method comprising:
- (a) providing an intent-indicating apparatus comprising a microprocessor, a memory, a display screen and an input mechanism enabling users of a telephone to store personalized information in the memory and/or to select personalized information from the memory;
(b) storing by a plurality of users or by any other party at least one of an alert preference or a personal display image preference as the personalized information, wherein each user is assigned an ID code associated with the personalized information;
(c) answering an incoming call with an announcement requesting a caller to identify one of the users by ID code; and
(d) in response to an ID code selected by the caller, triggering at least one of the playing of the alert preference stored as personalized information by the user associated with the ID code or the displaying on the display screen of the display image stored as personalized information by the user associated with the ID code;
(e) storing by the intent-indicating apparatus the identification information of the user identified by the caller and the identification information of the caller for subsequent browsing by the user, such that when browsing the incoming call information stored for each incoming call, the user is capable of avoiding browsing stored information describing other incoming calls indicated by the respective callers as being intended for the other users;
wherein the identification information of the user includes at least one of the user ID or other text or code identifier;
wherein the identification information of the caller includes at least one of the phone number of the caller, the caller ID of the caller, the name of the caller, or any other text or code identifier;
wherein the incoming call information includes at least one of the identification information of the user, identification information of the caller, date of the incoming call, time of the incoming call, message-to-callee, or code indicating a context or level of urgency of the incoming call selected by the caller.
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Abstract
When a number of users share one telephone number, the present invention indicates who the callee (the person the caller wants to talk to) is, with personalized rings and information shown on a display, so as to allow each user to quickly identify calls directed to him/her. A mobile phone user could inform the callee his/her intent and/or the urgency level of the call by selecting from options provided by the callee reflecting the callee'"'"'s preferences.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for communicating a caller'"'"'s intent to a plurality of users sharing a phone number, the method comprising:
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(a) providing an intent-indicating apparatus comprising a microprocessor, a memory, a display screen and an input mechanism enabling users of a telephone to store personalized information in the memory and/or to select personalized information from the memory; (b) storing by a plurality of users or by any other party at least one of an alert preference or a personal display image preference as the personalized information, wherein each user is assigned an ID code associated with the personalized information; (c) answering an incoming call with an announcement requesting a caller to identify one of the users by ID code; and (d) in response to an ID code selected by the caller, triggering at least one of the playing of the alert preference stored as personalized information by the user associated with the ID code or the displaying on the display screen of the display image stored as personalized information by the user associated with the ID code; (e) storing by the intent-indicating apparatus the identification information of the user identified by the caller and the identification information of the caller for subsequent browsing by the user, such that when browsing the incoming call information stored for each incoming call, the user is capable of avoiding browsing stored information describing other incoming calls indicated by the respective callers as being intended for the other users; wherein the identification information of the user includes at least one of the user ID or other text or code identifier; wherein the identification information of the caller includes at least one of the phone number of the caller, the caller ID of the caller, the name of the caller, or any other text or code identifier; wherein the incoming call information includes at least one of the identification information of the user, identification information of the caller, date of the incoming call, time of the incoming call, message-to-callee, or code indicating a context or level of urgency of the incoming call selected by the caller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An apparatus for indicating a caller'"'"'s intent to a plurality of users sharing a phone number, the apparatus comprising:
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a microprocessor, a memory, a display screen and an input mechanism enabling users of a telephone to store personalized information in the memory and/or to select personalized information from the memory, the personalized information comprising at least a preference for an alert and/or a preference for a personal display image; an interface to a telephone network; and a programmed microprocessor providing; a function associating an ID code with each user;
a function enabling answering an incoming call with an announcement requesting a caller to identify one of the users by ID code;a function enabling at least one of playing the alert preference stored as personalized information by the user associated with the ID code, playing the preconfigured alert preference associated with the ID code, displaying on the display screen the display image stored as personalized information by the user associated with the ID code, or displaying on the display screen the preconfigured display image associated with the ID code; a function associating an ID code with the identification information of the user identified by the caller and the identification information of the caller for subsequent browsing by the user, such that when browsing the incoming call information stored for each incoming call, the user is capable of avoiding browsing stored information describing other incoming calls indicated by the respective callers as being intended for the other users; wherein the identification information of the user includes at least one of the user ID or other text or code identifier; wherein the identification information of the caller includes at least one of the phone number of the caller, the caller ID of the caller, the name of the caller, or any other text or code identifier; wherein the incoming call information includes at least one of the identification information of the user, identification information of the caller, date of the incoming call, time of the incoming call, message-to-callee, or code indicating a context or level of urgency of the incoming call selected by the caller. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification