Apparatus and methods for protection from inappropriate phone-dialing
First Claim
1. A method for preventing an inappropriate outgoing communications call initiated from a communication device, said method comprising the steps of:
- by said device, receiving a request from a user to initiate said call to a contact;
by said device, determining a local time associated with said contact;
by said device, determining whether said local time is inappropriate for initiating communication calls to said contact;
by said device, if said local time is inappropriate for initiating calls to said contact, presenting a request to said user for entry of a confirmation input into said device;
by said device, requiring said confirmation input from said user to be received by said device before allowing said call;
by said device, allowing said user to designate one or more contacts, or to designate one or more phone numbers associated with said one or more contacts, as belonging to a category; and
by said device, allowing said user to enable or disable said method for preventing an inappropriate outgoing communications call initiated from a communication device simultaneously for said one or more contacts, or for said one or more phone numbers associated with said one or more contacts, belonging to said category.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
What is addressed is the problem of dialing telephone numbers stored in the memory of a telephonic device at inopportune and/or inappropriate times for the contacts in question. A telephonic device'"'"'s database may incorporate means for flagging selected contacts or contact phone numbers for calling-confirmation step(s) to prompt the user to ensure that an outgoing call is appropriate. Alternatively, a contact'"'"'s local time and/or local time zone may be displayed when browsing a contacts list and/or upon call-initiation to the contact. The proposed solutions encompass communication devices that use buttons, switches, dials, wheels, joysticks, track sticks, trackballs, keypads, keyboards, touchpads, touch screens, voice-recognition commands, biometric-authentication devices, other input technology, or any combination thereof, and wired and wireless communication device accessories. Additionally, the proposed solutions can incorporate various contact-location technologies in order to facilitate automated determination of the current local time and/or time zone and/or vacation status for a contact.
-
Citations
34 Claims
-
1. A method for preventing an inappropriate outgoing communications call initiated from a communication device, said method comprising the steps of:
-
by said device, receiving a request from a user to initiate said call to a contact; by said device, determining a local time associated with said contact; by said device, determining whether said local time is inappropriate for initiating communication calls to said contact; by said device, if said local time is inappropriate for initiating calls to said contact, presenting a request to said user for entry of a confirmation input into said device; by said device, requiring said confirmation input from said user to be received by said device before allowing said call; by said device, allowing said user to designate one or more contacts, or to designate one or more phone numbers associated with said one or more contacts, as belonging to a category; and by said device, allowing said user to enable or disable said method for preventing an inappropriate outgoing communications call initiated from a communication device simultaneously for said one or more contacts, or for said one or more phone numbers associated with said one or more contacts, belonging to said category. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A system for detecting and preventing an inappropriate outgoing communications call initiated from a communication device;
- said communication device comprising an onboard controller circuit, memory for storing contact information, including contact names and telephone numbers, a display device, and a user-input device;
the system comprising;programming instructions stored on a computer-readable medium to be executed by said controller circuit such that when a user attempts to initiate a call to a stored contact telephone number, then a substantially real-time local time associated with said contact record is determined, whether said local time is inappropriate for initiating communication calls to said contact is determined, and if said local time is inappropriate for initiating a communication call to said contact, a confirmation-prompting message is presented to said user, wherein said user is required to enter an affirmative indication to enable said attempted outgoing call to be actually dialed; and wherein said user can customize at least one contact record by configuring at least one associated confirmation indicator associated with said at least one contact record. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
- said communication device comprising an onboard controller circuit, memory for storing contact information, including contact names and telephone numbers, a display device, and a user-input device;
-
21. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium for use with a communication device, said medium comprising at least one program for preventing an inappropriate outgoing communications call initiated from a communication device, said at least one program comprising:
-
the capability of causing said device to be able to receive a request from a user to initiate an outgoing communications call to a contact; the capability of causing said device to be able to determine a local time associated with said contact; the capability of determining if said local time is inappropriate for initiating calls to said contact, and if so, then causing said device to present a request for a confirmation input to said user, and causing said device to require said confirmation input to be received by said device before allowing said call; and the capability of causing said device to be able to receive a request from a user to enable or disable said capability of determining if said local time is inappropriate for initiating calls to a contact, or for one or more phone numbers associated with a contact.
-
-
22. A method for displaying a contact'"'"'s local time in a location associated with the contact'"'"'s record in a contacts database used with a communication device, said method comprising the steps of:
-
by said communication device, determining a local time associated with said contact; by said communication device, displaying an identifier associated with said contact on a display device; and one or more operational steps selected from the group consisting of; by said communication device, displaying a local time associated with said contact on said display device, and by said communication device, displaying an indicator that indicates that said contact is presently on vacation; by said communication device, allowing a user to designate a contact'"'"'s record, or to designate one or more phone numbers associated with said contact record, to receive said method. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
-
33. A method for indicating a local time associated with a contact upon initiation of a communication call by a communication device, said method comprising the steps of:
-
by said device, receiving a request from a user to initiate said call to said contact; by said device, determining a local time associated with said contact; and by said device, presenting an indication to said user of said local time associated with said contact; by said device, allowing said user to designate one or more contacts, or to designate one or more phone numbers associated with said one or more contacts, as belonging to a category; and by said device, allowing said user to enable or disable said steps of determining a local time associated with said contact and presenting of an indication to said user of said local time associated with said contact simultaneously for said one or more contacts, or for said one or more phone numbers associated with said one or more contacts, belonging to said category. - View Dependent Claims (34)
-
Specification