Customizable notification based on recent communication history

• US 8,848,879 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2007
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Coughlan, Marc, Warta, Ralph, Runcie, Peter D., Gannon, Ciaran, Forbes, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bezuayehu, Solomon
• Application Number:
  US11/743,752
• Time in Patent Office: 2,707 Days
• Field of Search: 379/208.1, 379/210.02, 379/210.03, 37921101-21401, 379/215.01, 379 8808- 8821
• US Class Current: 379/88.12
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history recording a computer conference H04L12/1831
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/02 Calling substations, e.g. by ringing selective calling H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42051 where the notification is included in the ringing tone

Abstract

The present invention provides a feature for phones and other communication devices. More particularly, the feature allows a user to customize the notification for an incoming call or contact. The customization may be based on the user'"'"'s recent communication history with the user currently calling. This allows the user receiving the call to determine its possible importance prior to answering the call or even identifying the caller.

Claims

1. A method of customizing contact alert notifications, comprising:

a processor determining a threshold period of time;

the processor determining a threshold number of contacts, wherein the threshold number of contacts is based on at least two contacts from at least two different users who are part of a common agency;

a first user receiving a first contact from a second user;

the processor determining, for the first user, that a consolidated contact history, for the first user, includes at least a second contact that has been received from the second user, wherein the consolidated contact history includes contacts from two or more communication media the processor determining that the first contact and the second contact are received from different types of communication media types;

the processor determining that the first contact and at least the second contact are more than the threshold number of contacts occurring within the threshold period of time; and

the processor selecting a priority alert notification for presentation in connection with the first contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the contact history comprises determining that at least one of the second user and users associated with the second user have attempted at least the threshold number of contacts with the first user within the threshold period of time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein attempted contacts comprise at least one of missed calls, unread email messages, unread text messages, and voicemails initiated by at least one of the second user and users associated with the second user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold period of time comprises an amount of time prior to the first user receiving the contact from the second user.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding the contact to a communication device associated with the first user; and

presenting the priority alert notification to the first user via the communication device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a priority level associated with the second user for contacts with the first user;

determining a default alert notification associated with the second user;

in response to determining the contact history, increasing the priority level associated with the second user for the contact; and

altering the default alert notification.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of communication medium is a factor in whether to generate a priority alert notification.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority alert notification is based on whether the first user answered a prior contact with the second user.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority alert notification is based on a hierarchical relationship between the first user and the second user.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority alert notification is based a time since the second user has communicated with the first user.

8. A communication device, comprising:

an urgency detection module adapted to;

identify, for a first entity, when a received first contact from a second entity comprises a heightened state of urgency;

search a consolidated contact history for contacts from the second entity, wherein the consolidated contact history includes contacts from two or more types of communication media;

based on the search of the consolidated contact history, identify one of at least three heightened states of urgency by determining that the second entity has had at least a predetermined number of contacts with the first entity occurring within a predetermined period of time;

determine that the predetermined number of contacts occurring within the predetermined period of time are based on the first contact from the second entity and a second contact from a third entity who are part of a common agency and wherein at least the first contact and the second contact from are sent over different types of communication media; and

an alert selection module adapted to prepare an alert notification for the received contact based on the urgency of the received contact as determined by the urgency detection module.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the first entity comprises at least one of a single user and a collection of users and wherein the second entity comprises at least one of a single user and a collection of users.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the alert selection module is adapted to select an urgent alert notification, associated with the at least one heightened state of urgency, in response to the urgency detection module determining that the received contact comprises the at least one heightened state of urgency.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the urgent alert notification comprises at least one of a ring tone, a vibration, and a visual indicia that differs from a default alert notification.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the urgency detection module is further adapted to determine a priority level associated with the second entity for contacts with the first entity and increase the priority level associated with the second entity for the contact in response to determining that the received contact comprises the at least one heightened state of urgency.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the urgency detection module is adapted to determine a priority level associated with the second entity by referencing a known contact list associated with the first entity.

14. The device of claim 8, wherein the urgency detection module is further adapted to consider the contact medium used in identifying the at least one heightened state of urgency for the contact.

15. An non-transitory computer readable medium including computer-executable instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to conduct a method for customizing contact alert notifications, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive a contact for a first entity from a second entity;

instructions to access a consolidated contact history associated with the first entity, wherein the consolidated contact history includes information about contacts having two or more communication media types, wherein the contact history includes;

a user field operable to store an identification of a user that attempted a contact;

an identifier field operable to store communication device data associated with the user, wherein the communication device data identifies one of two or more contact types;

a contact time field operable to store a time of the attempted contact;

based on the received contact and the consolidated contact history, instructions to identify that the received contact comprises a heightened state of urgency, wherein identifying the heightened state of urgency includes determining that the second entity has had at least a predetermined number of contacts with the first entity within a predetermined period of time; and

instructions to select an alert notification based on an urgency of the highlighted state of urgency of the received contact, wherein selection of the alert notification is also based on a threshold that is based on at least two contacts from at least two different users who are part of a common agency.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions to select includes instructions to select between a high urgency, a medium urgency alert notification for contacts having a medium urgency, and a default alert notification for contacts having a low urgency.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein at least one of the high urgency alert notification and the medium urgency alert notification comprise at least one of a ring tone, a vibration, and a visual indicia that differs from the default alert notification.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions to identify that the received contact comprises the heightened state of urgency includes instructions to determine the contact type of at least one attempted contact.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the contact type comprises at least one of missed a phone call, an unread email message, an unread text message, and a voicemail initiated by the second entity.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the contact history further includes:

a user priority field operable to store a priority, assigned by the user, associated with the attempted contact;

a message field operable to store a message associate with the attempted contact; and

wherein the heightened state of urgency is based, at least in part, on the priority or a keyword in the message.