AUTOMATIC RESPONSE OPTION MOBILE SYSTEM FOR RESPONDING TO INCOMING TEXTS OR CALLS OR BOTH

• US 20140057610A1
• Filed: 12/01/2012
• Published: 02/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Julia Olincy, Ronald Craig Fish
• Original Assignee: Julia Olincy, Ronald Craig Fish
• Inventors: OLINCY, Julia, FISH, Ronald Craig
• Granted Patent: US 9,100,809 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A cell phone with software to provide options to auto-respond to incoming text message or phone calls with a pre-stored text message or audio message. In some embodiments, the auto-response text message can be one selected by the user from among a plurality of pre-stored text messages. In other embodiments, the user can also choose an auto-response audio message to play to callers. In some embodiments, the cell system makes a determination of the speed at which cell phones in the system are moving for at least phones to which incoming text messages or phone calls are directed, and automatically determines whether or not to send an automated response message. In some embodiments, the cell phone makes a determination of its speed and asks the user if he or she wants to auto-respond to incoming texts or calls or both if moving at driving speed.

Claims

1. A cellular phone comprising:

first circuitry for receiving a text message or cellular phone call and sending a notification of the receipt of said text message or cellular phone call to an application programmatic interface for software on said cellular phone;

second circuitry including display circuitry and user interface circuitry and baseband processor circuitry and control software coupled to said second circuitry and controlling said second circuitry via said baseband processor circuitry, said second circuitry coupled to said first circuitry and structured to respond to said notification sent by said first circuitry by controlling said cellular phone to display on a display a pre-stored text message which can be sent via a short message service channel to a sender of said text message received by said first circuitry or to a cell phone of a caller who is making said cellular phone call received by said first circuitry and structured to monitor user interface circuitry of said cell phone to receive a response from a user of said cell to determine if said user wishes to send said pre-stored text message as an auto-response to said text message or cellular phone call; and

third circuitry controlled by said second circuitry and control software and structured to retrieve said pre-stored text message from memory and send it via said short message service channel to the sender of said text message or to the cell phone of said caller if said user indicates he or she does want to send said pre-stored text message as an auto-response.

2. A cellular phone comprising:

first circuitry for receiving a text message and sending a notification of the receipt of said text message or cellular phone call to an application programmatic interface for software on said cellular phone;

second circuitry including display circuitry and user interface circuitry and baseband processor circuitry and control software coupled to said second circuitry and controlling said second circuitry via said baseband processor circuitry, said second circuitry coupled to said first circuitry, said second circuitry structured to respond to said notification sent by said first circuitry by controlling said cellular phone to display on a display of said cell phone one or more pre-stored text messages which can be sent via a short message service channel to a sender of said text message received by said first circuitry and structured to monitor user interface circuitry of said cell phone for a response from a user of said cell phone to determine if said user wishes to send one of said one or more pre-stored text messages as an auto-response to said text message and which one said user wishes to send; and

third circuitry controlled by said second circuitry and control software and structured to retrieve said pre-stored text message selected by said user from memory and send it via said short message service channel to the sender of said text if said user indicates he or she does want to send said pre-stored text message as an auto-response.

3. A cellular phone comprising:

speed calculation circuitry structured to calculate the speed of said cell phone using GPS or assisted GPS, and make a determination of whether said cell phone is probably in a car which is being driven;

first circuitry for receiving a text message or cellular phone call and generating a notification of the receipt of said text message or cellular phone call;

second circuitry including display circuitry and user interface circuitry and baseband processor circuitry and control software coupled to said second circuitry and controlling said second circuitry via said baseband processor circuitry, said second circuitry coupled to said first circuitry and said speed calculation circuitry and structured to receive said notification from said first circuitry and receive said determination from said speed calculation circuitry that said phone is traveling at a speed which indicates it is probably in a car which is being driven, and responding to said determination by displaying on a display of said cellular phone a query as to whether a user of said cellular phone wishes to auto-respond to incoming text messages or phone calls, and coupled to user interface circuitry of said cellular phone to receive any user response to said query, said baseband processor circuitry and control software also structured to respond to said notification from said first circuitry that a text or phone call has arrived or is arriving by controlling said cellular phone to display on said display of said cellular phone one or more pre-stored text messages which can be sent via a short message service channel to a sender of said text message received by said first circuitry or to a cell phone of a caller who is making said cellular phone call received by said first circuitry and structured to monitor said user interface circuitry of said cell phone for a response from a user of said cell phone to determine if said user wishes to send said pre-stored text message as an auto-response to said text message or cellular phone call and which one if more than one is displayed; and

third circuitry controlled by said second circuitry and structured to retrieve said pre-stored text message from memory or said pre-stored text message selected by said user if more than one pre-stored text message is displayed and send it via said short message service channel to the sender of said text message or to the cell phone of said caller if said user indicates he or she does want to send said pre-stored text message as an auto-response.

4. A cell phone comprising:

RF section circuitry for transmitting and receiving cellular voice phone calls and text messages on radio frequency carriers using one or more transmission protocols;

user interface circuitry for exchanging information with a user of said cell phone;

control circuitry coupled to said user interface circuitry and said RF section circuitry for controlling and exchanging information with said RF section and user interface circuitry, said control circuitry under control of at least an operating system program;

and wherein said operating system program is structured to;

receive notification of an incoming text message and control said control circuitry to control said user interface circuitry to notify a user of said cell phone a text has arrived and monitor said user interface circuitry for a command from a user to send a pre-stored text message to the sender of said text message as an automated response.

5. A cell phone comprising:

RF section circuitry for transmitting and receiving cellular voice phone calls and text messages on radio frequency carriers using one or more transmission protocols;

user interface circuitry including a touchscreen for exchanging information with a user of said cell phone;

control circuitry coupled to said user interface circuitry and said RF section circuitry for controlling and exchanging information with said RF section and user interface circuitry, said control circuitry under control of at least an operating system program;

and wherein said operating system program is structured to control said control circuitry to control said user interface circuitry and said RF section circuitry to carry out the following functions;

A) receive notification of an incoming event in the form of a text message or cellular phone call, and make a determination if said touchscreen is unlocked;

B) if said touchscreen is unlocked, and said incoming event is a cellular phone call, answer said phone call, but if said incoming event is a text message, control said touchscreen to present the home screen of said cell phone or whatever screen was last being displayed when said touchscreen went into lock mode;

C) if said touchscreen is not unlocked, display an auto-respond/options area on said touchscreen which if touched or otherwise manipulated by a user of said cell phone indicates a desire of said user to consider options such as automatically sending a pre-stored text message as an auto-response to said incoming text or call or scheduling a reminder or answering said call or sending said call directly to voicemail;

D) making a determination if said user touched or properly manipulated said auto-respond/options area on said touchscreen;

E) if the user did not touch or properly manipulate said auto-respond/options area within a predetermined time, sending said incoming call to voicemail if said incoming event is a phone call, and, if said incoming event is a text, storing said text for a later response;

F) if said user did touch or properly manipulate said auto-respond/options area within a predetermined time, making a determination if said incoming event is a text or call;

G) if said incoming event is a call, displaying first and second areas on said touchscreen which provide user command options such that if said first area is touched, the touch will cause said call to be answered or if said second area is touched, the touch will cause said call to be sent to voicemail, and displaying third and fourth areas on said touchscreen which provide user command options such that if said third area is touched, the touch will cause auto-response text message options to appear or, if said fourth area is touched, the touch will cause a reminder to contact the caller later to be scheduled;

H) making a determination as to whether said third or fourth area of said touchscreen was touched as opposed to the first or second area;

I) if neither said third nor fourth area were touched, making a determination if either said first or second areas was touched within a predetermined time, and, if said first area was touched indicating a desire by said user to answer said call, answering said call, and, if said second area was touched or neither said first or second area was touched within a predetermined time, sending said call to voicemail;

J) if either said third or fourth area was touched, making a determination as to which of said third or fourth areas was touched;

K) if said fourth area was touched indicating a desire to schedule a reminder, either scheduling a reminder to contact the caller later or presenting options the user can choose from as to when to schedule a reminder to contact the caller and monitoring for a selection and scheduling a reminder after the user selected interval has passed;

L) if said third area was touched indicating a desire to auto-respond to the incoming cellular phone call with a pre-stored text message, displaying one or more pre-stored text messages from which said user can choose as the text message to send back to said caller as an auto-response;

M) monitoring said user interface circuitry to determine which of said pre-stored text messages said user chose as the auto-response to send;

N) automatically retrieving the user selected text message selected as an auto-response and sending to said caller;

O) if step F determines that said incoming event is a text, displaying fifth and sixth areas on said touchscreen which provide user command options such that if said if said fifth area is touched, options for sending pre-stored text message as an auto-response will be displayed, and, if said sixth area is touched, a reminder will be scheduled to contact the texter later or options for intervals until a reminder will occur to contact the texter will be displayed such that said user can choose the interval, and monitoring said user interface circuitry to determine which of said fifth or sixth areas was touched, and, if said sixth area was touched, proceeding to step K, and if said fifth area was touched, proceeding to step L.

6. A subsystem for use in a cell phone having a system for providing auto-response options to respond to incoming texts and/or phone calls, comprising:

first circuitry including a display, a baseband processor controlled by an operating system of said cell phone and/or other software of said cell phone, said baseband processor controlling said display and audio circuitry including voice synthesis circuitry coupled to an audio CODEC which converts digital signals to analog sound signals which are fed to the input of an audio amplifier the output of which is coupled to a speaker and/or headphone output jack, said first circuitry functioning to receive notification of an incoming text or phone call including information identifying the sender of the text or the caller and to cause an audible announcement of the identity of said sender or caller to be made using said voice synthesis circuitry and causing a query to be posed to the user of said cell phone as to whether said user wants to auto-respond to the incoming text or call, said query posed to said user either audibly using said voice synthesis circuitry or visibly using a display of said cell phone controlled by said baseband processor and said operating system, or posed by both means; and

second circuitry including a keyboard or touchscreen display and a baseband processor controlled by an operating system of said cell phone and/or other software of said cell phone and which is controlled by said operating system to receive input from said keyboard or touchscreen display, said operating system and/or other software of said cell phone including voice recognition software which receives digital input signals from audio input circuitry including an audio CODEC coupled to an audio amplifier coupled to a microphone which picks up voice commands given by a user of said cell phone, said second circuitry functioning to receive one or more voice responses or one or more key presses on said keyboard or one or more touches of one or more predetermined areas of said touchscreen display as responses to said query, and process said one or more voice response using said voice recognition software or analyze said one or more key which were pressed or analyze said one or more areas of said touchscreen display which were touched to determine if said user wishes to auto-respond to said incoming text or phone call or not, predetermined words or phrases spoken by said user or a press of a predetermined key or presses of a predetermined key sequence or a touch of a predetermined area or a predetermined sequence of touches of areas on said touchscreen display each being adjudged an affirmative response indicating a desire by the user to auto-respond to said incoming text or phone call.

7. A process carried out in a cell phone comprising:

A) receiving notification of an incoming text or phone call to a cell phone including information identifying the sender of the text or the caller;

B) causing a query to be posed to the user of said cell phone as to whether said user wants to auto-respond to the incoming text or call, said query being announced audibly or displayed visually, or both; and

C) receiving at said cell phone one or more voice responses made by a user of said cell phone or one or more key presses on a keyboard of said cell phone or one or more touches of one or more predetermined areas of a touchscreen display of said cell phone as responses to said query, and processing said one or more voice response using voice recognition software or analyzing which one or more keys were pressed and in what sequence or analyzing which one or more areas of said touchscreen display were touched and in what sequence to determine if said user wishes to auto-respond to said incoming text or phone call or not.

8. The process of claim 7 further comprising the following step carried out after step A and before step B:

causing an announcement by said cell phone of the identity of said sender of said text or caller making said call, said announcement being announced audibly or displayed visually or both.

9. A cell phone comprising:

A) means for automatically launching a speed routing upon powering up a cell phone and using said speed routing to poll GPS or assisted GPS circuits of said cell phone to request position fixes for said cell phone at different times;

B) means for using said position fixes to calculate the speed of said cell phone over the surface of the earth;

C) means for comparing said speed to a discrimination speed to determine if said cell phone is likely to be in a car which is being driven;

D) means for automatically activating a Busy;

Respond Later™

Application program in said cell phone if it is determined that said cell phone is likely to be in a car which is being driven, and sending a query prompt to a user of said cell phone asking said user if said user desires automatically generated text message to be sent to senders of incoming text message and inquiring if said user desires that a pre-recorded audio message indicating the user of the cell phone is busy and cannot take the call be played to a caller on an incoming cell call;

E) means for processing incoming texts and phone calls normally per a Busy;

Respond Later™

protocol as if the cell phone were not in a car being driven if the user indicates that no automated responses are to be generated; and

F) means for automatically generating a text message indicating the user is busy in response to any incoming text message and sending it to the sender of any incoming text message, and for answering any incoming cell call and playing a prerecorded audio message to the caller indicating the user is busy and cannot take the call and then hanging up the call if said user indicates that an automated response is to be generated to each incoming phone call and text.