Patent Grant
8620273
This invention relates generally to a user interface for messaging. More particularly, the invention relates to user interfaces for displaying a communications event in context with select stored communications events.
Most cellular networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Global Service Mobile (GSM) networks support data services in addition to standard telephony based services. Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) are data centric services available on many cellular networks. Data networks, such as MobiTex™, Datatac™, as well as advanced networks such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Enhanced Data for GSM Enhancement (EDGE) and 1× that overlay cellular networks, allow an appropriately configured mobile device to offer data services such as e-mail, web browsing, as well as SMS and Multimedia messaging service (MMS) messaging, and WAP data sessions.
Communications events include telephone calls, both sent and received, SMS messages both sent and received, e-mail correspondences both sent and received, and wireless application protocol sessions, among other data based transactions. Each communications event has at least two parties, the user of the mobile device and at least one correspondent. Each correspondent can have multiple contact addresses, such a work phone number, a home phone number, a mobile phone number, an SMS address, and a plurality of email addresses.
Mobile devices were originally intended to provide telephony services, and have, with the addition of data centric features, become complex to operate. The user interfaces currently available for viewing the history of communications events on a mobile device, typically only enable a user to view a history of one type of communications events, or a subset thereof, and from that history view the contents of a communications event. This makes sense in a voice only environment, but the addition of data services has exposed this interface paradigm as insufficient.
Presently, when a mobile device receives an incoming communications event, such as an SMS message, the only information provided to the user is that an SMS message has been received. This notification may indicate the originating SMS address. The user can then either view the SMS message, or scroll through a collective in-box of SMS messages to determine the last SMS message received from the same originating address. If the user wishes to view the last SMS message sent to the party originating the incoming SMS message, the user must check the SMS out box on the mobile device. Additionally, if the user would like to check to see when the last call made to the SMS originating address, or received from the originating SMS address occurred on, the user must check either the incoming or outgoing call logs. If email services are integrated in the mobile device, an additional list must be examined. This provides a plurality of different lists that a user must examine to determine the communications event history concerning a correspondent. If a correspondent has multiple contact addresses, viewing all communications events with the correspondent is further complicated.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method and system for handling communications events in a mamner that provides the user of a mobile device with the context of the communications event through a presentation of the communications event history associated with a given correspondent.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one disadvantage of previous communications event handling systems.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of handling a communications event in a mobile device having a user interface. The method includes identifying, in a communications event database, a correspondent associated with the communications event, retrieving, from the communications event database, a communications event history associated with the correspondent and controlling the user interface to provide the retrieved communications event history to a user.
In an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, the step of identifying is preceded by the step of determining a communications event type for the communications event, where the communications event type of the communications event is selected from a list including telephony based voice communications events, e-mail communications events, short messaging service communications event and wireless applications protocol communications event. In another embodiment of the present invention, the communications event is an incoming communications event, and the method further includes the step of receiving the incoming communications event prior to identifying the correspondent. In another embodiment of the present invention, the user interface is a display, and the step of controlling the user interface includes displaying the retrieved communications event history on the display. In yet a further embodiment of the present invention, the method includes adding the incoming communications event to the communications event history in the communications event database. In embodiments of the present invention, receiving an incoming communications event and identifying the correspondent includes one of receiving a telephony based phone call and extracting a phone number from call display information, receiving an incoming email message and extracting an email address from the header of an email message and receiving an incoming short messaging service (SMS) message and extracting an originating address from a SMS message. In a further embodiment of the present invention, identifying the correspondent further includes cross referencing one of the extracted phone number, the extracted email address and the extracted originating address, with entries in an address book accessible to the mobile device. In yet a further embodiment of the present invention the method includes the step of controlling the user interface to provide the user with communications event handling options, where controlling the user interface can include providing the user an option to either ignore or answer an incoming telephony based call, or read or ignore one of the incoming email message and the incoming SMS message. Another embodiment of the present invention includes updating the communications event database to reflect a status of the incoming communications event after providing the user with communications event handling options.
In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile device, having a user interface and a transceiver for transmitting and receiving communications events. The mobile device includes a communications event database, and a communications event handler. The communications event database is for storing a communications event history associated with a correspondent. The communications event handler is in communication with the communications event database for retrieving from the communications event database the communication event history in response to a communications event, and is for controlling the user interface to provide the retrieved communication event history to a user.
In an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the communications event handler includes a communications event type identifier for identifying the type of the communications event from a list including telephony based voice communications events, e-mail communications events, short messaging service communications event and wireless applications protocol communications event. In another embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the user interface is a display, and the communications event handler includes a display controller for controlling the display to display the retrieved communication event history. In another embodiment of the present invention, communications event handler includes a correspondent identifier for identifying the correspondent of an incoming communications event, and the correspondent identifier is connected to the transceiver for receiving call display information, and includes means for identifying the correspondent of an incoming communications event based on the received call display information, and includes header parsing means for parsing the header of one of a received email message and a received SMS message to extract an originating address, and includes means for identifying the correspondent of an incoming communications event based on the extracted originating address. In a further embodiment, correspondent identifier includes an address book interface for cross referencing the received call display information and the extracted originating address with entries in an address book accessible to the mobile device to identify the correspondent. In yet another embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the communications event handler includes a user interface controller for controlling the user interface to provide a user with communications event handling options and also includes means for updating the communications event database to reflect the status of an incoming call.
In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communications event handler for integration in a communication device having a user interface. The communications event handler includes a database interface and a user interface controller. The database interface is for communicating with a communications event database to retrieve a communications event history associated with a correspondent in response to a communications event. The user interface controller is for receiving the retrieved communications event history from the database interface, and for controlling the user interface to provide the retrieved communication event history to a user.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:
Generally, the present invention provides a method and system for tracking originating, and received, communications events on a mobile device. By tracking received and transmitted communications events, a mobile device can provide a user with the context of the communication with any party.
In the present invention a mobile device provides an integrated user interface through which a user can view communications events in which a particular correspondent has partaken. A mobile device of the present invention makes use of a communications event database to track all incoming and outgoing communications events with various correspondents.
The present invention provides a unified view of communications events, so that a user can determine the context of any received communications event, or can determine the context of a communications event to be placed. Thus, upon receipt of a SMS message, or other communications events, after identifying the type of the communications event, in addition to notifying the user that a message has been received, the mobile device will present the user with a listing of the most recent communications events that are associated with the originating address of the message. The user is also given the option of viewing information about the prior communications events, which would include viewing prior SMS messages, viewing information about the data received for a wireless application protocol browsing session, or the call length and dates of any placed or received calls. This information will allow the user to better contextualise the content of the new message. In a presently preferred embodiment, the user is able to set criteria that must be matched by the properties of an incoming communications event in order for the retrieval of the communications event history to begin. This allows the user the ability to only be presented with a communications event history for selected correspondents, and selected types of communications events.
One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that when the mobile device of the present invention receives a communications event in step 100 the communications event can be any of a number of event types. Typically, upon receiving a communications event in step 100, the mobile device analyses the incoming event and determines its specific type. This determination of the communications event type can be performed in numerous ways understood by those skilled in the art. One such method involves determining the communications event type based on the channel over which the communications event was received. For example, if the device supports GSM communications as well as GPRS communications, and the mobile device is capable of supporting voice, SMS, e-mail and WAP type communications events, a communications event received over a GPRS communications channel will be either a WAP or e-mail based communication, whereas a communications event received over the GSM communications channel will be either an SMS or voice type communications event. After narrowing the selection to the two choices based on the communications channel, the mobile device can parse the header associated with the incoming communications event to determine its specific type. For example, a WAP data session and an email message typically conform to different standard formats, and based on an analysis of the format, a determination can be made. The differentiation between an SMS message and a telephony based voice communications event is known in the art, and can be easily implemented. It is envisioned that on advanced networks all data and voice traffic will be carried on the same channel, much as both voice and data are carried in a Voice-over-IP data network. In such a network, header information associated with datagrams, or other data units, provide identification of the different types of communications event. One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a number of alternate method can be implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention.
As described above, the user interface preferably indicates to the user whether or not a SMS or e-mail message has been read, or replied to, and whether or not a call was answered. These factors are collectively described as the status of a message. In step 110, the database is updated to reflect whether or not the user chose to ignore or answer a call in step 108, or whether the user chose to read the message or exit the notification in step 108. In a presently preferred embodiment, the identification of the correspondent in step 102 is preformed by cross-referencing the information obtained through either call display, the analysis of the e-mail header, or the analysis of the SMS message to determine the originating address from which the communications event was placed, with information contained in an address book accessible to the mobile device. It is common for numerous correspondents to have a variety of contact addresses, including telephone numbers corresponding to cellular phones, home phones, and office phones, as well as a plurality of e-mail, and SMS addresses. Through cross-linking of the correspondent identification information obtained in step 102 with the address book of the mobile device, it is possible to provide the user of the mobile device with a communications event history that includes all correspondence, and telephone calls made to, or answered from the identified correspondent.
Database 116 is preferably structured to have at least one table 128. In table 128, four data fields are identified. The first identified data field is status 130. Status field 130 indicates whether or not an e-mail or SMS message has been read, or whether or not a telephone call was answered. Type field 132 denotes the type of communications event of the record. Type 132 is used to identify whether the communications event was an e-mail message, a telephone call, or an SMS message. In a presently preferred embodiment, the type field also indicates whether the communications event originated from, or was received by mobile device 112. The third entry in table 128 is data field 134. The data field 134 contains information about the communications event of this record. In a presently preferred embodiment, the data field for a SMS or e-mail message would include the body of the message. For a telephone call, in a presently preferred embodiment, data field 134 would indicate the time that the call was placed, and the duration of the call. The final field of Table 128 is index 138. One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a number of indexing mechanisms can be employed in either relational, or flat file, database types. The use of index 138 is to be able to easily identify and find a record related to a specific call. One skilled in the art will recognize that a number of entries in this Table will be introduced as the mobile device 112 begins communications events with various correspondents. One skilled in the art will recognize that in conjunction with an address book accessible by mobile device 112, the index field 138 and status field 130 can be correlated to determine a communications event history for a number of different correspondents. Transceiver 118 is used to both transmit and receive communications events. Upon receipt of a communications event, transceiver 118 begins to pass data to processor 122. In conjunction with communications event software interface module 126, processor 122 performs the method illustrated in
Transceiver 118 can be replaced by separate transmitters and receivers, and is intended to allow the mobile device to receive communications over a wireless link. Presently preferred embodiments of the present invention employ transceivers capable of receiving CDMA voice communication as well as 1× data communications, in an alternate embodiment, the transceiver is designed to receive GPRS, and GSM data and voice services, respectively. One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a transceiver capable of receiving a variety of other combinations of voice and data protocols are contemplated in the present invention.
Display 120 is preferably a liquid crystal display, and may optionally be a touch sensitive liquid crystal display, so that a user can be provided with user interface acknowledgement buttons on the screen of the device itself. Implementations of graphical interfaces on liquid crystal displays, and touch sensitive liquid crystal displays will be well understood by those skilled in the art of mobile device design. It is fully contemplated that though mobile device 112 has been described herein as having display 120, that display 120 can be replaced with other user interfaces. Examples of such user interfaces include audio interfaces and dynamic Braille pads for use by individuals with visual impairments.
Processor 122 is connected to the database 116, and is capable of performing database queries on database 116 to obtain information from the call event database 116. Additionally, processor 122 is connected to an address book so that the identified correspondent from step 102 can be cross-referenced to the address book and match to a name in the address book. This will allow mobile device 112 to provide the user with a call event history from the call event database 116 that includes all communications events in which the identified correspondence has partaken, regardless of the communication address used by the correspondent. Upon identifying the correspondent through cross-referencing the address book, processor 122 queries communications event database 116 to obtain a listing of all communications events between the user of the mobile device and the identified correspondent. The results of this query are then formatted and provided to the user on display 120.
In a presently preferred embodiment of the system illustrated in
The comparison as illustrated, in
As described above, a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention cross-links the correspondent identification information with information contained in an address book accessible to mobile device 112. This allows the address book information to be used to link SMS addresses, telephone numbers for cellular, home and work phones, a plurality of e-mail addresses, and WAP accessible sites associated with a single individual or entity, to each other. This cross-linking of address based information allows a user to properly put in context all communication with the individual from whom a message has been received.
In many mobile devices 112, the ability to integrate with a centralized e-mail server, using such standard protocols as the point of presence (POP) protocol is used to provide a seamless transition between the mobile device 112 and the central e-mail account. In this case, a user of the mobile device 112 is able to reply to e-mail messages from either a desktop computer, or mobile device 112 seamlessly. In a presently preferred embodiment, the mobile device 112 is updated through contact with a central server to reflect that e-mail messages replied to from the desktop have been replied to. Thus, the user of the mobile device 112 will be able to completely determine the context of a received message.
In an exemplary embodiment, all communications events including messages and calls originating from the mobile device, messages received and sent from a desktop computer, and all other communications events accessible to the mobile device are stored in a database 116. Database 116 is preferably integrated with the mobile device 112, though it is fully contemplated that database 116 can reside in a central server and be accessed wirelessly by mobile device 112. The implementation of such a system will be well understood by those skilled in the art.
The database 112 preferably tracks the type 132 of communications event, the data 134 contained in the communications event, and preferably a status 130 of the event. The type of the event 132 typically denotes whether it was a telephone call, a SMS message, an e-mail message, a WAP data transmission, or other data based transaction. The type field 132 also indicates whether the communication was received by the user of the mobile device, or originated from the user of the mobile device. The data field 134 typically contains the body of an e-mail message, the body of a SMS message, information related to the WAP data transmission, or call length, as appropriate. The status 130 of the message typically indicates whether a placed or received call was answered, or if a received message was replied to. One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that it is preferable to index this data with an index field 138, however, the implementation of an index is purely optional, though understood by one skilled in the art. Thus, in operation, a mobile device 112 of the present invention will receive a communications event and prior to displaying notification of this event, be it an e-mail message, a SMS message, or a telephone call, the processor of the mobile device queries the database 116 using the calling number as a key. The calling number is typically transmitted to the processor of the mobile device using such services as call display, or visual call waiting, which will be well understood to those skilled in the art. The query to the database 116 using the incoming number or address, as a search perimeter will result in a query response containing a list of all communications events between the mobile device 112 or any account associated with mobile device 112, and the incoming address. This information is then presented to the user on the display 120 of the mobile device so that prior to answering a telephone call the user will know the date of the last communication. Alternatively, if a received SMS message is generating the notification, the user is provided with the context of the SMS message as a result of being able to view prior SMS messages, prior e-mail messages, and is also presented with the dates of the last call initiated to the SMS originating address.
In a presently preferred embodiment, the communications event history retrieved from database 116 is sorted chronologically, so that the newest information is presented at the top of the list. Additionally, a summary of the number of e-mail messages, SMS messages, WAP sessions, and telephone calls between the mobile device 112 or any account associated with it, and the party originating the message is presented.
One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that database 116 can be either a relational database, or a flat file database. Although the use of a relational database provides numerous benefits understood by those skilled in art, it is conceivable that an implementation of the present invention can be provided through the use of a flat file database. Additionally, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a number of methods of implementing the present invention using a relational database exist. For exemplary purposes, one such method is presented. It should be understood by those skilled in the art, that the presented method is intended to be exemplary, and not limiting of the scope of the present invention.
In a non-illustrated embodiment, any event, regardless of whether it is a communications event or any other event detectable by the mobile device 112, can trigger the message software interface module to use a particular pre-set criteria 142 to display select communications events in the communications event history. For example, in a mobile device 112 having an integrated date book, when a conference call scheduled in a datebook occurs, processor 122 triggers the communication software interface module 126 with pre-set criteria 142 to preferably select and represent a pending outgoing conference call communications event with higher priority than other select communications events. Alternatively, when mobile device 112 receives a communication, such as an e-mail message, SMS message, WAP page response, voice/video call, processor 122 triggers the communication software interface module 126 with pre-set criteria 142 to preferably select and represent the received communications event with higher priority than other select communications events.
The pre-set criteria can also match communications event data. For instance, to view all communications events sent to or received from a particular contact, the pre-set criteria may include matching select communications event data with all of the specific contact information found in an address book entry for the contact. As an example, consider all communications events sent to or received from a stockbroker. Contact information for the stockbroker is preferably kept in the address book. Preferably, each address book entry contains a variety of fields that can be mapped to one or more communications addresses supported by the mobile device. In the entry corresponding to the stockbroker, for example, if the following fields are defined: telephone number, mobile phone number, fax number, email address, and URL's; then an example preferable mapping to message types follows. The phone, mobile, and fax numbers are mapped to voice and/or video communications events. The mobile number is additionally mapped to an SMS address for SMS type communications events. The email address is mapped to email communications events. The URL's are mapped to corresponding communications event types. For instance an http URL can be mapped to web and/or WAP, whereas an FTP URL (File Transfer Protocol) can be mapped to an ftp communications event. All communications events, including phone calls, SMS communications events, emails, web communications events, WAP communications events or other communications events that match at least one field in the stockbroker contact entry of the address book would then be selected by the communications event software interface module 126, and would be displayed. Preferably, the presentation of the retrieved data from database 116 would show the contact name, such as “stockbroker” as defined by the preset criteria 142.
In another embodiment, the communications event software interface module 126 may identify related stored communications events by comparing the communications event data of each stored communications event 128 with keywords selected by the user. This alternative method of matching the current communications event with select stored communications events 128 may be implemented by itself, or as a means of further limiting the select communications events identified by the other methods described above. To continue the previous stockbroker example, further pre-set criteria can be added to create a further filter that operates on the select communications events, for instance. The communications event data in the new filter may include stock quotes obtained via WAP using an URL as well as notes taken during phone calls with the stockbroker. The user may therefore decide to choose pre-set criteria that, as well as matching contact information, further matches a regular expression, such as for example, the keywords “buy” or “sell”. By allowing the user to configure the pre-set criteria, the communications event software interface module 126 unifies communications events based on pre-set criteria which are important to the user at a specific point in time, for instance, allowing the user to unify a stock pick provided by a stockbroker over a phone call or e-mail with a stock quote retrieved subsequently by the user via WAP in order to take a decision to either communicate a buy, sell, or hold directive to his stockbroker or to a trading system.
Thus far the system of the present invention has been described as integrated in mobile device 112, it will be understood by one skilled in the art that a software implementation of the present invention can be executed on a number of different platforms, or packaged for use on different platforms. In one such example, a desktop computer can be configured to use the communications event handler of the present invention to provide a communications event history for received email messages. Additionally, the desktop computer may be attached to an SMS modem so that it is capable of receiving SMS messages and can then provide a communications event history to a user to permit the user to determine the context of a received SMS message. Additionally, the desktop computer can be configured so that it is in communication with a Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) telephone, so that all incoming and outgoing calls are recorded to the communications event database 116. In such an implementation, the communications event handler would use a communications event database interface to communicate with either a local or remote communications event database 116 to retrieve the communications event histories associated with correspondents identified using either call display information, or addressing information extracted from the header of an incoming e-mail or SMS message.
The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/500,269, filed on Jun. 24, 2004, now abandoned which is a national stage filing under 35 USC 371 of International Patent Application PCT/CA02/02030, filed on Dec. 23, 2002, which in turn claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/342,130 filed on Dec. 26, 2001. Each of these prior applications is hereby incorporated by reference, in their entirety, into this patent application.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | 10500269 | US | |
| Child | 12211223 | US |
