Patent Application
20150312391
1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure generally relates to an automatic call control method, and more particularly, to an automatic call control method for selection of call approaches.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, preferential call services, such as unlimited call services, are available from many telecommunication suppliers. However, these preferential call services are often restricted to a specific condition, and it is not convenient for a user to always check whether the specific condition is satisfied before the user answers incoming calls. For example, when receiving a phone call from a caller, the user may first determine whether the phone call is directed to the right SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card with a preferential call service; otherwise, the caller may accrue expensive phone bills. Accordingly, there is a need to design a new call control method to solve the above problem.
In one exemplary embodiment, the disclosure is directed to an automatic call control method for use in an electronic device, including the steps of: receiving a mobile terminated call; checking whether the mobile terminated call matches a call rule; and if the mobile terminated call matches the call rule, rejecting the mobile terminated call, and then performing a callback according to a predetermined call approach corresponding to the call rule.
In another exemplary embodiment, the disclosure is directed to an electronic device, including: a storage device, storing at least one call rule and at least one corresponding predetermined call approach; a transceiver, receiving a mobile terminated call; and a processor, checking whether the mobile terminated call matches the call rule, wherein if the mobile terminated call matches the call rule, the processor further call rejects the mobile terminated call and then performs a callback according to the predetermined call approach.
In one exemplary embodiment, the disclosure is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product operable to cause an electronic device to perform operations including: receiving a mobile terminated call; checking whether the mobile terminated call matches a call rule; and if the mobile terminated call matches the call rule, rejecting the mobile terminated call, and then performing a callback according to a predetermined call approach corresponding to the call rule.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In order to illustrate the purposes, features and advantages of the invention, the embodiments and figures of the invention will be described in detail as follows.
In some embodiments, the storage device 110, the transceiver 120, and the processor 130 are respectively implemented with multiple circuits. In some embodiments, the storage device 110, the transceiver 120, and the processor 130 are integrated into a single circuit. In some embodiments, the storage device 110, the transceiver 120, and the processor 130 are implemented with program codes stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and are executed by a processor.
In some embodiments, the storage device 110 stores one or more call rules and one or more corresponding predetermined call approaches, and they are described in Table I.
In the embodiment of Table I, each of the call rules (1) to (4) includes three conditions, such as a telephone number of the caller, identification (ID) of the SIM card of the electronic device 100, and a status of the electronic device 100. More particularly, the identification of the SIM card may be ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card Identifier). The processor 130 may compare information of the mobile terminated call with all of these conditions, and may determine whether the mobile terminated call matches any one of the call rules (1) to (4) accordingly. For example, the processor 130 may determine that the call rule (1) is matched if the telephone number of the caller is “0987-423-XXX”, the mobile terminated call is directed to a first SIM card of the electronic device 100, and the electronic device 100 is positioned at an office. Moreover, for example, the processor 130 may determine that the call rule (2) is matched if the telephone number of the caller is “0918-911-XXX”, the mobile terminated call is directed to a second SIM card of the electronic device 100, and the electronic device 100 is not roaming abroad. It is understood that in Table I, “Don't Care” means that the condition is always satisfied, and “XXX” means specific numbers or any numbers. For example, the processor 130 may determine that the call rule (3) is matched if the telephone number of the caller is “0987-913-XXX”, regardless of the identification of the SIM card and the status of the electronic device 100. According to the matched call rule, the processor 130 may further determine the corresponding predetermined call approach and notify the user (as mentioned above in steps S204 and S206). The corresponding predetermined call approach may indicate a CS call, a VoIP call, or a networked call using a communication software product as the callback, but it is not limited thereto. The communication software product may be, for example, Line, What's app, Facetime, or Skype. The voice data may be transmitted between the user and the caller through a Wi-Fi network or a mobile communication network. For example, if the call rule (4) is matched, the processor 130 may select the corresponding predetermined call approach which indicates a networked call as the callback because the user and the caller may both have Wi-Fi networks. On the other hand, for the electronic device 100 with multiple SIM cards, the corresponding predetermined call approach may further indicate a specific one of the SIM cards. For example, if the call rule (2) is matched, the processor 130 may select the corresponding predetermined call approach which indicates a CS call using the second SIM card as the callback because the second SIM card may have a preferential call service of a free CS call from the user to the caller. Although there are only four call rules and four predetermined call approaches displayed in Table I, it is understood that the above settings are just exemplary, and the storage device 110 may store more, less, or different call rules and corresponding predetermined call approaches in other embodiments. The user may also adjust the above setting according to different requirements.
The invention provides a novel automatic call control method for selection of call approaches. By using the automatic call control method, a electronic device can automatically determine the optimized call approach while a mobile terminated call is coming With such a design, inappropriate incoming calls can be rejected, and the best approach of callback can be automatically selected and performed. The invention at least has the advantages of saving call charges and improving user experience, and it is suitably applied to a variety of electronic devices with one or more SIM cards.
The above embodiments are just exemplary, rather than limitations of the invention. It is understood that the automatic call control method and the electronic device of the invention are not limited to the configurations of
The method of the invention, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of a program code (i.e., executable instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMS, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine; such as a computer, the machine thereby becomes an apparatus for practicing the methods. The methods may also be embodied in the form of a program code transmitted over some transmission medium, such as electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via any other form of transmission, wherein, when the program code is received and loaded into and executed by a machine; such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the disclosed methods. When implemented on a general-purpose processor, the program code combines with the processor to provide a unique apparatus that operates analogously to application specific logic circuits.
Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
