System and Method for Customizing Settings in a Communication Device for a User

• US 20090271503A1
• Filed: 04/24/2008
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pearce, Catherine M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,417 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment

Abstract

The illustrative embodiments described herein provide a method, apparatus, and computer program product for customizing settings in a communication device for a user. In one illustrative embodiment, the process identifies a user profile to which a user belongs. The process identifies a set of custom communication device settings associated with the user profile. The process also sets a current set of communication device settings for a set of functions in a communication device to the set of custom communication device settings. In one embodiment, identifying the user profile to which the user belongs includes identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on one or more characteristics of the user.

Claims

1. A method for customizing settings in a communication device for a user, the method comprising:

identifying a user profile to which a user belongs;

identifying a set of custom communication device settings associated with the user profile; and

setting a current set of communication device settings for a set of functions in a communication device to the set of custom communication device settings.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein setting the current set of communication device settings for the set of functions in the communication device to the set of custom communication device settings includes changing the current set of communication device settings for the set of functions in the communication device to the set of custom communication device settings in response to determining that the current set of communication device settings do not match the set of custom communication device settings.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs includes identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on one or more characteristics of the user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on the characteristic of the user includes identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on an age of the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on the age of the user includes identifying a particular user profile in response to the age of the user exceeding a predetermined threshold.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on the age of the user includes identifying a particular user profile in response to the age of the user being less than a predetermined threshold.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on the characteristic of the user includes identifying the user profile to which the user belongs based on a disability of the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs includes identifying a hybrid user profile to which the user belongs based on at least two characteristics of the user, and wherein identifying the set of custom communication device settings associated with the user profile includes identifying the set of custom communication device settings associated with the hybrid user profile.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs includes identifying at least two user profiles to which the user belongs, wherein identifying the set of custom communication device settings associated with the user profile includes identifying at least two sets of custom communication device settings associated with the at least two user profiles to form a hybrid set of custom communication device settings, and wherein setting the current set of communication device settings for the set of functions in the communication device to the set of custom communication device settings includes setting the current set of communication device settings for the set of functions in the communication device to the hybrid set of custom communication device settings.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a cellular phone.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs includes receiving a user selection indicating the user profile to which the user belongs.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of custom communication device settings is a user-defined set of custom communication device settings.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of functions for the communication device includes at least one of a ringer type, a speaker volume, a font size, a backlight duration, a call answer mode, a ringer volume, a clock mode, a incoming call display type, a menu mode, a key selection mode, and a background display type.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user profile to which the user belongs, identifying the set of custom communication device settings associated with the user profile, and setting the current set of communication device settings for the set of functions in the communication device to the set of custom communication device settings are implemented by an application on the communication device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the application is a Java application.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the application is transferred to the communication device via Internet.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the application is transferred to the communication device using over the air programming.

18. A computer-implemented method for deploying computer readable code for customizing settings in a communication device to a customer, the method comprising:

receiving a set of parameters about a customer;

identifying a communication device application for use in response to receiving the set of parameters to form an identified communication device application comprising;

computer usable program code capable of identifying a user profile to which the customer belongs;

identifying a set of custom communication device settings associated with the user profile; and

setting a current set of communication device settings for a set of functions in the communication device to the set of custom communication device settings when the computer usable program code is deployed in the communication device; and

deploying the identified communication device application to the communication device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the set of parameters about the customer includes receiving the set of parameters about the customer from the customer via a website.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein deploying the identified communication device application to the communication device includes deploying the identified communication device application to the communication device via Internet.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein deploying the identified communication device application to the communication device includes deploying the identified communication device application to the communication device via over the air programming.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the identified communication device application is a Java application.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the set of parameters about the customer includes receiving the set of parameters about the communication device.

24. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to;

identify a user profile to which a user belongs;

identify a set of custom communication device settings associated with the user profile; and

set a current set of communication device settings for a set of functions in a communication device to the set of custom communication device settings.