WO2014197929A1

WO2014197929A1 - Call handling in mobile telephones and mobile telephone networks

Info

Publication number: WO2014197929A1
Application number: PCT/AU2014/000603
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joshua ROBERTSEN; Andrew Martin
Original assignee: Appy Software Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2013-06-12
Filing date: 2014-06-11
Publication date: 2014-12-18

Abstract

A method of operating a mobile telephone including: indicating to a user of the mobile telephone that they have an incoming call from a calling party; allowing the user to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system; if the call is diverted to a voicemail system then allowing the user to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and allowing the user to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

Description

CALL HANDLING IN MOBILE TELEPHONES AND MOBILE TELEPHONE

NETWORKS

Technical Field

The present invention relates to mobile telephones and mobile telephone networks and to methods of handling calls using mobile telephones and mobile telephone networks.

Background to the Invention

Referring to figure 1, a known mobile telephone system 10 is shown schematically which typically includes a cellular network of land based mobile phone towers (not shown) which are in communication with a widespread system of network infrastructure which controls the network in a known fashion. User devices in the form of mobile phones 12, 14, 16 communicate with the network 10 by way of radio communication with nearby mobile phone towers.

Mobile network 10 is in communication with the wider telephone network 100 which includes a combination of land based telephone systems and other mobile telephone networks situated anywhere in the world which themselves have user devices being various mobile or fixed line telephone handsets.

Telephone calls may be originated by calling parties to seek a connection with called parties. Calls may be originated by any other of mobile phones 12, 14, 16 seeking a connection with a called party being any of mobile phones 12, 14, 16, or any other calling party via network 100. Similarly, users of network 100 may originate calls to seek a connection with called parties being any one of the mobile phones 12, 14, 16.

Mobile telephone network 10 includes a voicemail feature in which calls made to any of mobile phones 12, 14 16 can be diverted to a voicemail system 20. The voicemail system can be configured to play a recorded greeting message to callers and invites them to record audio messages which the account holder can later retrieve and listen to. Each of the users of the mobile phones 12, 14, 16 are able to configure various options of the voicemail system as it applies to their account such as by recording their own personalised greeting message, by turning their voicemail feature on or off, and by selecting after how many rings or after what time interval a caller will be diverted to the voicemail system. When a call is placed to one of the mobile phones 12, 14, 16, caller ID information including the telephone number of the calling party is transmitted to the phone. At the same time, the phone is caused to "ring" to alert the user of the mobile phone that a call is being placed to their device. The caller ID information is processed by the phone to determine additional information relating to the calling party. For instance, if the telephone number of the calling party is recorded in the users list of contacts stored in their phone then the name of that contact and an image associated with that contact can be displayed on the screen of the phone at the same time the phone is ringing. If the number is not known then only the number itself is displayed.

Whilst the phone is ringing the user can use the displayed contact or caller ID information to decide how to handle the call. The user may elect to answer the call, ignore the call, or reject the call. If the call is rejected or ignored, then depending upon the existing configuration of the user's voicemail system, the call may be diverted to voicemail. The calling party may leave a message. In order to find out what was the reason for the call, the user must then later access their voicemail system to listen to the message left by the calling party. If the message requires action by the user, they may find themselves in the position of having to call back the original caller, who may not be available at the time they call back.

There remains a need for improved call handling arrangements in mobile telephones.

Summary of the Invention

In a first aspect the present invention provides a method of operating a mobile telephone including: indicating to a user of the mobile telephone that they have an incoming call from a calling party; allowing the user to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system; if the call is diverted to a voicemail system then allowing the user to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and allowing the user to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

In a second aspect the present invention provides a mobile telephone including: means for indicating to a user of the mobile telephone that they have an incoming call from a calling party; means for allowing the user to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system; means for allowing the user to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and means for allowing the user to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

In a third aspect the present invention provides a set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone to operate according to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect the present invention provides a set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone to operate according to the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect the present invention provides a method of operating a mobile telephone network including: allowing calling parties to place calls to called parties who are users of mobile phones associated with the mobile telephone network; indicating to called parties that a call to them has been placed; allowing called parties to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system; if the call is diverted to a voicemail system then allowing the called party to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and providing the called party with the ability to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

In a sixth aspect the present invention provides a mobile telephone network including: means allowing calling parties to place calls to called parties who are users of mobile phones associated with the mobile telephone network; means for indicating to called parties that a call to them has been placed; means for allowing called parties to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system; means for allowing the called party to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and providing the called party with the ability to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

In a seventh aspect the present invention provides a set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone network to operate according to fifth aspect.

In an eighth aspect the present invention provides a set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone network to operate according to the sixth aspect.

Brief Description of the Drawings

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic view of a known arrangement of a mobile telephone network;

Figure 2 is a schematic view of a modified mobile telephone network in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 is a screenshot showing the display of a user's mobile phone of figure

2 at the time of recording a greeting message;

Figure 4 is a screenshot showing the display of a user's mobile phone of figure 2 at the time of receiving a call;

Figure 5 is a screenshot showing the display of a user's mobile phone of figure 2 at the time of a caller leaving a message; and

Figure 6 is a screenshot showing the display of a user's mobile phone of figure 2 at the time of reviewing their recorded messages.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring to figure 2, the system of figure 1 is shown in a modified form in which users of mobile phones 12, 14 have installed a software application 30 to operate on their mobile phone which includes voicemail handling features as will now be described.

Mobile phones 12, 14 are any of a wide range of so-called "smartphones" which have onboard processors, local data storage and data communications capabilities such as mobile data or Wift connectivity. Examples of such phones are well known and widely available such as those produced by Apple Inc, Samsung, HTC, Blackberry, Nokia etc.

To install the software application a user accesses a repository of available applications using the user interface of their device in a well known manner to search for and select the software for installation which may require a payment from the user and may be delivered by mobile data or wifi internet connection in a well known manner.

Referring to figure 3, upon installing the application the user is prompted to record a greeting message by pressing onscreen button "Record" 32. The user may review their message by pressing "Play" 34 and, when satisfied with their message, press "Save" 36. The greeting message will typically be in the form of a traditional voicemail greeting message which explains to callers that the user is not available, and invites them to leave a message.

Once installed, the application 30 becomes the default handler for incoming calls on the user's phone. Referring to figure 4, when a call is placed to the user's phone the call is handled by the application in the following manner. Caller ID information 38 along with any known additionally derived information, such as contact name and optionally, an image associated with the contact, is displayed on the screen of the user's device. At the same time the user's phone is caused to "ring" according to options previously set by the user to play a sound file and/or vibrate.

The user may handle the call in one of four ways "Answer" 42, "Decline" 44, "CallScreener" 40 or ignore the call. If the user selects "Answer" 42 then the call is taken and a telephone connection with the calling party is established. The role of application 30 is now over and the call is in the control of the user which proceeds in a traditional manner until either party ends the call.

If the user selects "Decline" 44 then the user's phone returns to an indication their mobile phone network 10 that their phone is unavailable. This situation is handled by the user's network according to previously configured network options.

If the user selects "CallScreener" 40 then a connection with the calling party is established, but remains under the control of application 30. Referring to figure 5, upon establishment of the connection the audio signal received from the calling party is relayed to the user of the phone 12, typically through a loudspeaker function. The previously recorded greeting message is played to the calling party, and is also relayed through the loudspeaker to be audible by the user of phone 12. At the conclusion of playing the greeting message, the phone 12 records the audio signal received from the calling party and continues to relay that audio to the user of phone 12. In this way, the user can hear the message which the caller is leaving whilst the caller is leaving the message. Importantly, during this process, no audio is relayed from the user's phone to the calling party. The calling party are unaware of the user's participation in the call. The call proceeds in this manner until the calling party finishes leaving their message and hangs up the call.

If at any time during the leaving of the message the user decides they wish to speak with the calling party they can press onscreen button "Pick Up Call" 46. This simultaneously stops the recording process and commences a normal telephone connection in which the audio from the microphone of the user's phone 12 is relayed to the calling party. The user can explain to the calling party that they have now picked up the call. The call then proceeds in the usual manner until it is terminated by either party.

Referring again to figure 4, if the user ignores the call, then it is handled according to options previously set by the user. The user can set their phone to ring indefinitely, or can select that after a preconfigured number of rings the phone would proceed to establish the connection and play the recorded message as if the user had selected the "CallScreener" button 40.

Referring to figure 6, the user may elect to view a summary of the messages 48 which have been recorded by application 30. Each message is shown in a list with information such as name, associated image, call time and date, message duration. Selecting a message causes a list of options 50 to be shown such as Play, Callback, Send SMS or Delete. In the embodiment described above the user operated their phone by selecting various onscreen buttons. In other embodiments the user could control operation of their phone using voice commands. For example, instead of selecting option

"CallScreener" 40, the user could instead say "CallScreener" or any other configured command word.

In the embodiment described above, the user's phone was configured to operate in accordance with the invention by downloading and installing a software application which became the default call handling routine in the user's phone. In other embodiments the same functionality could be provided as part of the phone's operating system. The features of the invention would therefore be provided to the user without the need for them to install separate software.

In other embodiments, the features of the invention may be implemented by a mobile network provider implementing a modified version of their own voicemail system in which messages being left by calling parties are relayed to users in real time at the time of the message being left and providing the users with an option to pick up the call whilst the message is being left.

It can be seen that embodiments of the invention have at least one of the following advantages: A phone user can listen to a message being left by a calling party in order to decide whether to take the call or not. This allows a user to gauge the importance of a call.

A user does not need to subsequently access their voicemail system in order to hear what messages they have been left by calling parties as they can hear them in real time whilst the messages are being left.

In embodiments where voicemail messages are stored in a user's phone, they can access those messages later at any time, when their phone may be out of range of their phone network, or mobile data or wifi internet connection. This also saves a user from incurring network usage charges to access their voicemail messages.

Any reference to prior art contained herein is not to be taken as an admission that the information is common general knowledge, unless otherwise indicated.

Finally, it is to be appreciated that various alterations or additions may be made to the parts previously described without departing from the spirit or ambit of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of operating a mobile telephone including:

indicating to a user of the mobile telephone that they have an incoming call from a calling party;

allowing the user to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system;

if the call is diverted to a voicemail system then allowing the user to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and

allowing the user to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

2. A mobile telephone including:

means for indicating to a user of the mobile telephone that they have an incoming call from a calling party;

means for allowing the user to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system;

means for allowing the user to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and

means for allowing the user to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

3. A set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone to operate according to the method of claim 1.

4. A set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone to operate according to the system of claim 2.

5. A method of operating a mobile telephone network including:

allowing calling parties to place calls to called parties who are users of mobile phones associated with the mobile telephone network;

indicating to called parties that a call to them has been placed;

allowing called parties to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system;

if the call is diverted to a voicemail system then allowing the called party to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and providing the called party with the ability to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

A mobile telephone network including:

means allowing calling parties to place calls to called parties who are users of mobile phones associated with the mobile telephone network;

means for indicating to called parties that a call to them has been placed;

means for allowing called parties to either take the call, or to divert the call to a voicemail system;

means for allowing the called party to listen to the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving a message; and

providing the called party with the ability to take the phone call whilst the calling party is leaving the message.

A set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone network to operate according to the method of claim 5.

A set of computer software instructions configured to cause a mobile telephone network to operate according to the system of claim 6.