Patent Application
20080037754
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.
Accordingly, while the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description of the figures.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof Moreover, when an element is referred to as being “responsive” to another element, it can be directly responsive to the other element, or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly responsive” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items and may be abbreviated as “/”.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first telephone or party could be termed a second telephone or party, and, similarly, a second telephone or party could be termed a first telephone or party without departing from the teachings of the disclosure.
The present invention is described below with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.
Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.). Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.
It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or the functionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be at least partially integrated.
Some embodiments of the present invention may arise from recognition that it may be difficult for a given party to remember the various subject matters that the given party wishes to or needs to discuss with one or more other parties when they speak over the telephone. Some embodiments of the present invention allow a first party, or any other party, to generate and store reminders that are associated with an identification of a second party, so that when the first party initiates a telephone call to, or receives an incoming telephone call from, the second party, the notes may be presented to the first party as a reminder of the desired subject matter of the telephone call between the first and second parties. The notes may be, for example, a list of topics to be discussed, a point of information to be discussed or other information associated with the phone call with the second party, such as the names of the second party's children. Accordingly, notwithstanding the many telephone calls that are made during the day, a telephone caller can be reminded of the desired topics of conversation when the phone call is actually made or received.
Still referring to
Still referring to
More specifically, the database 150 for the first party may include a collection of notes that provide reminders to the first party. The notes may be presented to the first party when a call with a given other party is either initiated or received. The database 150 may include an identification (ID) of the other party and the notes that were generated to provide the reminders. The identification may use a telephone number associated with the other party, the name of the other party, and/or any other conventional technique for identifying a calling or called party for telephone communications. The notes may be text that may be entered from a keyboard of a given telephone or other device and/or may be speech that is input to a telephone or other given device.
According to some embodiments of the invention, any party may provide reminder notes for itself and/or for any other party. Some of these embodiments are illustrated by the directional arrows in
Specifically, in some embodiments, a given party may provide reminders to itself as to phone calls that are later made to or received from another given party. Thus, arrow 162 illustrates generation of a reminder note by the first party relative to a future outgoing call to or incoming call from the third party. Upon placing an outgoing call to the third party or upon receiving a call from the third party, the appropriate reminder may be extracted, as shown by arrow 164, and presented to the first party telephone 110 as a displayed message on display 112 and/or as a voice message on the speaker or headset of the first party telephone 110. In a simplified example, assume the first party is an employee and the third party is the employee's manager. Arrow 162 can illustrate the employee generating a reminder to himself/herself to schedule a meeting with the manager the next time the employee speaks with the manager. Arrow 164 can represent presentation of this message at the employee's phone the next time the employee calls the manager or the next time the manager calls the employee.
In another example, arrow 166 illustrates that the second party 120 may insert a reminder into the database 150 for the first party. Arrow 168 illustrates that when the first party calls the second party, or vice versa, the message that was inserted by the second party may be presented to the first party. Thus, continuing with the above simplified example, if the second party is the employee's manager, the employee's manager can place a reminder message which states “set up a meeting with me” and the reminder may be provided to the employee the next time the employee calls the manager or the manager calls the employee.
Arrow 172 illustrates another scenario wherein a third party stores a message in the reminder database 150 for the first party that relates to the second party. For example, the third party may wish to remind the employee to set up a meeting with the employee's manager. Then, as shown by arrow 168, the next time the employee calls the manager or the manager calls the employee, the message that was inserted by the third party may be presented. Finally, it will be understood that a given reminder message may be directed to more than one party to provide, for example, “workgroup” reminders.
It will also be understood that the messages for the first party that are inserted by the first party need not be inserted from the first party telephone 110 itself Rather, a second device 114 may be used by the first party to insert a reminder message as shown by arrow 174. Similarly, any other party may insert a reminder using any device, which need not be the other party's telephone. Finally, a reminder may be directed to a given party, independent of the telephone the party is using. For example, a message may be sent to both a cell phone and a wireline phone belonging to a given party.
In any of the above embodiments, a message may be inserted into the database 150 by using a telephone to insert a voice message, a text message, an email message and/or any other alphanumeric message as a note in the database 150. Moreover, any other non-telephone device such as the device 114 may also be used to insert a voice message, a text message, an email message, and/or any other alphanumeric message into the database 150. In some embodiments, the database 150 may be maintained at a web server (such as a telecommunications provider web server and/or a dedicated reminder web server) and may be accessed by a web browser via email and/or by filling out a form on a web page. In stand-alone embodiments, the database 150 may be included within the first party telephone 110 and notes may be inserted by the first party using the keyboard and/or microphone of the first party telephone 110 and may also be inserted by other parties by sending an email, page, text message, voice mail message and/or other message to the first party telephone 110. The message may contain an identification of the first party telephone (e.g., a telephone number) in a subject or header field, and the notes in the body of the message.
Many embodiments of the operations for delaying the connection, corresponding to Block 410 of
In other embodiments, connection to an outgoing telephone call by the first party to the second party may be delayed. This delay may be provided, in some embodiments, by not beginning the outgoing telephone call until a “send” key or other indication is provided by the first party on a cellular telephone. In a wireline telephone, the almost instantaneous connection that is provided to a second party may be delayed for a predetermined time, such as for 10 or 15 seconds, to allow the first party to review the notes. Other embodiments may provide a distinctive ring tone, background music and/or other conventional delay tones, to allow the first party an extended time to review the notes before connecting to the outgoing call.
Continuing with the description of
Referring now to
Finally, at Block 640 at the end of the delay period, the connection may be completed. In some embodiments, the connection may be completed by automatically connecting the called party and the calling party. In other embodiments, the called party is not connected to the calling party unless a key such as the “send” key on a cell phone is depressed or a wireline phone is picked up. In still other embodiments, if the “send” key is not depressed or the wireline phone is not picked up, then after the delay, the caller may be sent to voice mail. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the connection of an incoming call to a receiving party may be delayed by delaying transfer of the incoming call to the receiving party's voice mail in response to receipt of the delay instruction from the receiving party.
If reminder retrieval is desired, then, at Block 730, a determination may be made as to whether a match is found in the reminder database by identifying any notes for the calling telephone number that are associated with the called telephone number. If a match is not found, then the call may be placed. However, if a match is found, then the reminder may be retrieved at Block 740 and presented at Block 750 as text and/or speech.
Continuing with the description of
Continuing with the description of
Continuing with the description of
Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention may present previously generated notes to a first party that relate to a future telephone call with a second party in response to initiation of an outgoing telephone call to the second party by the first party and/or receipt of an incoming telephone call from the second party by the first party. A reminder is thereby provided to the first party as to the subject matter of the telephone call between the first party and the second party. The reminder may be generated by any party and may be presented as speech and/or text. A delay may be implemented in order to allow the first party to review the notes. Moreover, a delay of a connection of an incoming call may be provided independent of the presence of a reminder to allow the receiving party to delay acceptance of a telephone call for a short period. Finally, it will be understood that the various embodiments described herein in connection with
It will be understood that embodiments of the invention have been described above in connection with a telephone call. However, other embodiments of the present invention may be used with other “real time” communications sessions other than telephone calls, such as instant messaging sessions and/or text messaging sessions, to allow previously generated notes to be provided to a party for use in connection with an instant message and/or text message that is received and/or will be sent.
In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.
