Systems and related methods for visual indication of an occurrence of an event

• US 8,976,940 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2013
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sorenson Ip Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: Sorenson Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Maxwell, Conrad Arlo, Winsor, Eric, Walters, Lane, Shimek, Phillip, Johnson, Miranda, Nelson, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, CREIGHTON H
• Application Number:
  US14/092,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20140270101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 468 Days
• Field of Search: 379/52, 379/376.01
• US Class Current: 379/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/576 associated with a pictorial or graphical representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/048 Arrangements providing optical indication of the incoming call, e.g. flasher circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/02 Calling substations, e.g. by ringing selective calling H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/04 the calling signal being supplied from the final selector
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42391 where the subscribers are hearing-impaired persons, e.g. telephone devices for the deaf

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for visually indicating an occurrence of an event. A spatial visual indicator system comprises a spatial visual indicator including a plurality of illuminatable elements configured in at least a two-dimensional arrangement. The spatial visual indicator displays a visual indicator pattern corresponding to a detected event. A control circuit is configured to detect an event, and cause a transceiver to send a communication indicating a visual indicator pattern corresponding to the event to the spatial visual indicator. The spatial visual indicator is configured to display the visual indicator pattern. The spatial visual indicator is located remote to the transceiver. A method of indicating an occurrence of an event comprises receiving a communication indicating one of a plurality of visual indicator patterns that is associated with a detected event. The method also includes displaying the one of the plurality of visual indicator patterns.

Claims

1. A spatial visual indicator system, comprising:

a spatial visual indicator comprising a plurality of discrete illuminatable elements configured in at least a two-dimensional geometrical arrangement, the spatial visual indicator configured to;

communicate with a transceiver located remotely from the spatial visual indicator, wherein the transceiver corresponds to a communication device configured to assist a hearing-impaired user in communicating with a far end user; and

display a first visual indicator pattern corresponding to a first event responsive to receiving a communication from the transceiver indicating the first visual indicator pattern.

2. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 1, further comprising another spatial visual indicator located remotely from the spatial visual indicator and the transceiver, the another spatial visual indicator comprising another plurality of discrete illuminatable elements configured in at least a two-dimensional geometrical pattern, the another spatial visual indicator configured to:

communicate with the transceiver; and

display the first visual indicator pattern corresponding to the first event responsive to receiving the communication from the transceiver indicating occurrence of the first event.

3. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 2, wherein the spatial visual indicator and the another spatial visual indicator are each configured to relay communications from the transceiver to each other.

4. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 3, wherein the spatial visual indicator, the another spatial visual indicator, and the transceiver are configured to communicate with each other according to an Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector Routing (AODV) protocol.

5. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 1, wherein the spatial visual indicator is configured as a visual caller identification device configured to indicate a source of an incoming call.

6. A method of indicating an occurrence of an event, the method comprising:

receiving, with at least one spatial visual indicator, a communication from a transceiver corresponding to a communication device for hearing-impaired users located remotely to the at least one spatial visual indicator, the communication indicating a visual indicator pattern that is associated with a detected event; and

displaying the visual indicator pattern with a plurality of discrete illuminatable elements configured in at least a two-dimensional geometrical arrangement on the at least one spatial visual indicator.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the communication from the transceiver comprises the communication being routed by at least another spatial visual indicator in a mesh network of spatial visual indicators including the at least one spatial visual indicator and the another spatial visual indicator.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving, with at least one spatial visual indicator, the communication from the transceiver comprises receiving the communication with a plurality of spatial visual indicators.

9. A method of indicating an occurrence of an event, the method comprising:

detecting an occurrence of an event with a control circuit corresponding to a video communication device configured to assist a hearing-impaired user in communicating with a far-end user; and

transmitting, with a transceiver corresponding to the video communication device, a communication to one or more spatial visual indicators located remotely to the transceiver, the communication indicating a visual indicator pattern that is associated with the detected event, the one or more spatial visual indicators each comprising a plurality of discrete illuminatable elements configured in at least a two-dimensional geometrical arrangement for displaying the visual indicator pattern.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising causing a user interface operably coupled to the control circuit to indicate the one or more spatial visual indicators to a user of the user interface.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

establishing communication between the transceiver and an additional spatial visual indicator responsive to the user interacting with the user interface; and

transmitting the communication to the additional spatial visual indicator.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein establishing communication between the transceiver and an additional spatial visual indicator responsive to the user interacting with the user interface comprises:

presenting, on the user interface, one or more detected spatial visual indicators detected by the transceiver; and

enabling the user of the user interface to select one or more of the one or more detected spatial visual indicators.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein causing the user interface to indicate the one or more spatial visual indicators comprises displaying a list of unique identifiers that are descriptive of locations of the corresponding one or more spatial visual indicators.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

terminating communication between the transceiver and a spatial visual indicator from the one or more spatial visual indicators responsive to the user interacting with the user interface.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising designating each of the one or more spatial visual indicators as one of active and inactive responsive to the user interacting with the user interface, wherein both active and inactive ones of the one or more spatial visual indicators are configured to route communications from the transceiver to each other, but only the active ones of the one or more spatial visual indicators are configured to display the visual indicator pattern.

16. A spatial visual indicator system, comprising:

a control circuit corresponding to a communication device configured to assist a hearing-impaired user in communicating with far-end users, the control circuit configured to detect an occurrence of an event corresponding to a visual indicator pattern to be displayed by a plurality of discrete illuminatable elements arranged in at least a two-dimensional geometrical configuration; and

a transceiver operably coupled to the control circuit, the transceiver configured to send a communication indicating the visual indicator pattern corresponding to the detected event to at least one spatial visual indicator that is configured to display the visual indicator pattern, and that is located remotely to the transceiver.

17. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 16, further comprising the communication device, wherein the communication device is configured to receive an incoming call from one or more other communication devices, the communication device comprising the control circuit.

18. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 17, wherein the communication device includes at least one of a video phone and a text captioned communication device.

19. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 17, wherein the event includes at least one event selected from the group consisting of:

an incoming call to the communication device from a particular one of the one or more other communication devices;

receipt of a voicemail message;

receipt of a text message;

receipt of a video message;

availability of a software update;

a system error; and

a detection of an additional spatial visual indicator that was not previously in communication with the transceiver.

20. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 16, further comprising a computer-readable medium operably coupled to the control circuit and configured to store computer-readable instructions, wherein the control circuit is at least partially implemented as a processing circuit configured to execute the computer-readable instructions.

21. A spatial visual indicator system associated with a video communication device configured to assist hearing-impaired users in communicating with users of other communication devices, the spatial visual indicator system comprising:

a plurality of spatial visual indicators, each spatial visual indicator thereof including a plurality of discrete illuminatable elements arranged in at least a two-dimensional geometrical arrangement;

a video communication device configured to assist hearing-impaired users in communicating with users of other communication devices over a communication network;

a storage device corresponding to the video communication device and configured to store data corresponding to visual indicator patterns associated with some of the other communication devices;

a communication transceiver corresponding to the video communication device and configured to communicate with each spatial visual indicator of the plurality of spatial visual indicators; and

a control circuit corresponding to the video communication device and operably coupled with the storage device and the communication transceiver, the control circuit configured to;

identify a source of an incoming video call received by the video communication device; and

direct the plurality of spatial visual indicators, through the communication transceiver, to display a visual indicator pattern corresponding to one of the other communication devices responsive to identifying the one of the other communication devices as the source of the incoming video call.

22. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 21, wherein each visual spatial indicator of the plurality of spatial visual indicators is configured to relay communications from the transceiver to others of the plurality of spatial visual indicators.

23. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of spatial visual indicators are operably coupled together in a mesh network.

24. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 22, wherein the plurality of spatial visual indicators are operably coupled together in a fully connected network such that each spatial visual indicator is configured to relay communications to all others of the plurality of spatial visual indicators.

25. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 21, wherein the video communication device includes the storage device, the communication transceiver, and the control circuit.

26. The spatial visual indicator system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of discrete illuminatable elements of at least one of the plurality of spatial visual indicators include a plurality of discrete shapes displayed on an electronic display and arranged in a two-dimensional geometrical arrangement.