Content delivery during call idle time

• US 8,675,850 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2008
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Bychkov, Eyal, Ron, Uri
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US12/009,228
• Publication Number:
  US 20090185667A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,252 Days
• Field of Search: 379/215.01, 379/67.1, 379/82, 379/93.01, 379/93.35, 379/114.13, 455/414.1, 455/414.3
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4288 Notifying a called subscriber of an incoming call during an ongoing call, e.g. Call Waiting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/44 Additional connecting arrangements for providing access to frequently-wanted subscribers, e.g. abbreviated dialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27; automatic redialling H04M3/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/129 Details of providing call progress tones or announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method for effective utilization of call idle time, including automatically detecting that a first person using a phone has initiated a phone call to a second person, and that the second person has not yet answered the call, wherein the phone is operative in an idle mode to present content pre-designated by the first person, and is operative in a normal mode to send and receive voice communications to and from the second person and to not present the pre-designated content, activating the idle mode of the phone in response to the automatically detecting, further automatically detecting that the second person has answered the call, and automatically activating the normal mode of the phone in response to the further automatically detecting. A cell phone is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A processor-based method for effective utilization of call idle time, comprising:

detecting, by a processor of a phone of a first person during a phone conversation between the first person and a second person, that the phone conversation has been silenced for a designated period of time, wherein the phone is operative in an idle mode to present content pre-designated by the first person, and is operative in a normal mode to send and receive voice communications to and from the second person and to not present the pre-designated content;

activating, by the processor of the phone, the idle mode of the phone in response to said detecting;

subsequently detecting, by the processor of the phone, that the period of phone conversation silence has ended; and

subsequently activating, by the processor of the phone, the normal mode of the phone in response to said subsequently detecting.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said detecting, said activating, said subsequently detecting and said subsequently activating are repeated until the phone conversation between the first person and the second person ends.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said activating is performed automatically.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said activating is performed in response to manual instruction from the first person.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said subsequently activating is performed automatically.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said subsequently activating is performed in response to manual instruction from the first person.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-designated content is content stored locally on the phone.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-designated content is content served by a content server computer, and wherein the processor of the phone is operative to retrieve the pre-designated content from the content server computer via wireless communication.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the content server streams the pre-designated content to the phone.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the processor of the phone downloads the pre-designated content from the content server.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing a position indicating where the pre-designated content stops being presented when said subsequently activating occurs, and wherein the processor of the phone is operative in idle mode to begin presenting the pre-designated content at the stored position.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-designated content is music content.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-designated content is video content.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-designated content is text content.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the text content is a digital book.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-designated content is advertising content served by an ad server computer, and wherein the processor of the phone is operative to retrieve the advertising content from the ad server computer via wireless communication.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the ad server streams the advertising content to the phone.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the processor of the phone downloads the advertising content from the ad server.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the processor of the phone is operative in idle mode to play a game.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the game is a single player game.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the game is a mufti-player game with other phone users.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising storing a game state representing the state of the game when said subsequently activating occurs, and wherein the processor of the phone is operative in idle mode to resume playing the game at the stored game state.