Low battery indication for callers to mobile device

• US 9,301,256 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2014
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Mohan, Prabhu V., Sundarraman, Ramya, Rajendran, Sridevi, Surianarayanan, Vinod Krishnan, Chandrasekar, Anand, Senthil, Vijay A., Ganesan, Raja Sundaram, Kathiresan, Parthasarathi, Radhakrishnan, Vijayan
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Kimberly A
• Application Number:
  US14/339,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20160029316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4365 based on information specified by the calling party, e.g. priority or subject
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A network device receives battery status signals for multiple mobile devices and receives a notification of an incoming call from a calling device to a particular mobile device. The network device determines if a battery status, from the battery status signals, is available for the particular mobile device and provides, to the calling device, a challenge to solicit a categorization of the incoming call as important or not important when a battery status is available for the particular mobile device. The network device receives, from the calling device, a response to the challenge, wherein the response includes the categorization of the incoming call. The network device connects the incoming call from the calling device to the particular mobile device when the categorization of the incoming call is important.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sending, by a first mobile device and to a network device, a battery status signal indicating a low battery level;

sending, by the first mobile device and to a second mobile device, the battery status signal indicating the low battery level;

receiving, by the network device, the battery status signal;

storing, by the network device, the battery status signal associated with a unique identifier for the first mobile device;

receiving, by the network device, a notification of an incoming call from a calling device to the first mobile device;

determining, by the network device, if the low battery level, from the battery status signal, is stored for the first mobile device;

providing, by the network device and to the calling device, a challenge to solicit a categorization of the incoming call as important or not important, when the low battery level is stored for the first mobile device;

receiving, by the network device and from the calling device, a response to the challenge, wherein the response includes the categorization of the incoming call; and

connecting, by the network device, the incoming call from the calling device to the first mobile device when the categorization of the incoming call is important.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

redirecting, by the network device, the incoming call to a voicemail system associated with the first mobile device when the categorization of the incoming call is not important.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the network device, an activation signal for implementing a low-battery caller alert service for a mobile device; and

determining, by the network device and in response to receiving the notification of the incoming call, if the first mobile device is participating in the low-battery caller alert service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mobile device and the second mobile device each include a battery-saver agent application that manages handling of outgoing calls.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the first mobile device and to the network device, another battery status indicating a satisfactory battery level; and

sending, by the first mobile device and to the second mobile device, the other battery status indicating the satisfactory battery level.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the battery status signal and the other battery status signal each correspond to a threshold capacity for a battery of the first mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the threshold capacity is configurable by a user of the first mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the categorization of the incoming call is selected based on a subjective input from a user of the calling device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the challenge further comprises:

providing a query via an interactive voice response system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the challenge further comprises:

holding the incoming call, and

sending a query to the calling device via a text-based message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a user of the second mobile device is stored as a contact on the first mobile device.

12. A mobile device, comprising:

a network interface to communicate with one or more remote systems;

a battery;

one or more memories to store instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to;

determine that a low-battery condition exists;

send, to a second mobile device, a battery status signal indicating the low-battery condition;

receive a notification of an incoming call from a calling device to the mobile device;

provide, to the calling device, a challenge to solicit a categorization of the incoming call as important or not important;

receive, from the calling device, a response to the challenge, wherein the response includes the categorization of the incoming call; and

accept the incoming call from the calling device to the mobile device when the categorization of the incoming call is important.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

redirect the incoming call to a voicemail system associated with the mobile device when the categorization of the incoming call is not important.

14. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

receive an activation signal for implementing a battery-saver agent application for the mobile device.

15. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein the battery-saver agent application manages handing of outgoing calls from the mobile device.

16. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein, when providing the challenge, the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

hold the incoming call until the receiving of the response to the challenge.

17. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein, when providing the challenge, the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

send a query to the calling device via a text-based message.

18. A calling device, comprising:

a network interface to communicate with one or more remote systems;

a battery;

one or more memories to store instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to;

store, in the memory, a battery-saver agent application;

receive, from a mobile device of a contact that is associated with the battery-saver agent application, battery status information of the mobile device;

store the battery status information from the mobile device;

receive, from a user, an input to select the contact corresponding to the mobile device;

determine a low-battery indication for the mobile device based on the battery status information when the contact corresponding to the mobile device is selected; and

notify the user, based on the battery status information and in response to the input, of the low-battery indication for the mobile device.

19. The calling device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

initiate a call from the calling device the mobile device;

receive, from the mobile device, a low-battery indication;

present, to a user, a challenge to solicit a categorization of the call as important or not important; and

provide, to the mobile device, a response to the challenge, wherein the response includes the categorization of the call.

20. The calling device of claim 18, wherein the categorization of the call includes a designation selected from a group including important and not important.