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Mobile Phone Patent Abstract
The present invention provides a method for managing incoming calls
of a mobile phone. The mobile phone includes a control circuit and
a volume detector. The method includes (a) receiving a call signal
by the mobile phone, (b) detecting environmental volume surrounding
the mobile phone with the volume detector, and (c) executing a first
managing process with the control circuit when the detected surrounding
volume exceeds a predetermined value, or executing a second managing
process with the control circuit when the detected surrounding volume
does not exceed the predetermined value.
Mobile Phone Patent Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for managing incoming calls of a mobile phone, the
mobile phone comprising a control circuit and a volume detector,
the method comprising: receiving a call signal with the mobile phone;
starting a timer to measure a predetermined period of time when
the call signal is received; detecting environmental volume surrounding
the mobile phone with the volume detector after the predetermined
period of time has elapsed; executing a first managing process with
the control circuit when the detected surrounding volume exceeds
a predetermined value, or executing a second managing process with
the control circuit when the detected surrounding volume does not
exceed the predetermined value.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first managing process comprises
vibrating the mobile phone.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone comprises a speaker
and the first managing process comprises playing a ringing tone.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second managing process comprises
vibrating the mobile phone.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first managing process comprises
increasing the volume of a ringing tone.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first managing process comprises
sending a voice message.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone comprises a microphone
and the volume detector detecting the surrounding volume through
the microphone.
8. A mobile phone for implementing the method of claim 1.
Mobile Phone Patent Description
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for managing incoming
calls on a mobile phone, and more specifically, to a method for
managing incoming calls on a mobile phone using a volume detector
to detect volume of the surrounding environment and a control circuit
to execute incoming calls according to the detected volume.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In modern information-oriented society where communication systems
are highly developed, compact-sized mobile phones are broadly utilized
for communications between people in daily life. People can exchange
information, share experiences, and communicate with each other
at anytime at any place with mobile phones. Thus, it is a trend
to develop a faster and easier manner of mobile phone operation.
Incoming call alerts for a typical mobile phone can be divided
into two categories. The first category is, when a call comes in,
a ringing tone is played and the mobile phone is switched to a calling
mode. The second category is, when a call comes in, a vibrator is
activated and the mobile phone is switched to the calling mode.
Some mobile phones integrate the first and the second alerts so
that when a call comes in, the mobile phone plays the ringing tone
and activates the vibrator at the same time. However, either the
volume of the ringing tone or the activation of the vibrator is
required to be set up in advance.
Mobile phones have become a necessity of daily life. However, missing
calls happens very often in general. According to general experiences,
calls are missed mostly because of unawareness of the ringing tone
or the vibration, in order to receive each call precisely, users
always turn the volume or the vibration to the maximum to ensure
their calls can be precisely received. However, the maximum volume
might be an unpleasant annoyance to nearby people.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to
provide a method for managing incoming calls of a mobile phone using
a volume detector to detect surrounding environmental volume, in
order to reduce missed calls for users and solve the problems mentioned
above.
Briefly summarized, the present invention provides a method for
managing incoming calls of a mobile phone. The mobile phone includes
a control circuit and a volume detector. The method includes (a)
receiving a call signal with the mobile phone, (b) detecting environmental
volume surrounding the mobile phone with the volume detector, and
(c) executing a first managing process with the control circuit
when the detected surrounding volume does not exceed a predetermined
value, or executing a second managing process with the control circuit
when the detected surrounding volume exceeds the predetermined value.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt
become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading
the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that
is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile phone according to the present
invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for managing incoming calls on
the mobile phone according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A mobile phone according to the present invention utilizes a conventional
circuit to play a ringing tone with a speaker and counts time with
a timer when a call comes in. When the counted time exceeds a predetermined
time and the call is not received within the predetermined time,
the mobile phone uses a volume detector to detect volume of the
surrounding environment. If the detected volume exceeds a predetermined
value, the mobile phone will automatically change to another mode
to alert a user of an incoming call in order to reduce missed calls.
Please refer to FIG. 1 showing a block diagram of a mobile phone
10 according to the present invention. The mobile phone 10 includes
a control circuit 20, a speaker 30, a timer 40, a receive button
50, and a volume detector 60. The control circuit 20 is electrically
connected to the speaker 30, the timer 40, the receive button 50,
and the volume detector 60. The speaker 30 is used for playing a
ringing tone as an incoming call alert for the mobile phone 10.
The timer 40 is used for counting the calling time. The receive
button 50 is for receiving calls.
When a call comes in, the control circuit 20 controls the speaker
30 to play the ringing tone and activates the timer 40 to count
time. When the counted time exceeds a predetermined time and the
receive button 50 has not been pressed, the volume detector 60 detects
volume of the surrounding environment. If the volume exceeds a predetermined
value, a first procedure is executed. If the volume does not exceed
the predetermined value, a second procedure is executed.
Please refer to FIG. 2 showing a flowchart of a method for managing
incoming calls on the mobile phone 10 according to the present invention:
Step 110: The mobile phone 10 receives a call signal with the control
circuit 20.
Step 120: Determine whether to detect the surrounding volume or
not according to the settings of the mobile phone 10. If yes, proceed
to Step 130, if no, proceed to Step 190.
Step 130: Determine whether to detect surrounding volume immediately.
If yes, proceed to Step 160, if no, proceed to Step 140. The detection
is according to the settings of the mobile phone 10 set up by the
user.
Step 140: Activate the timer and set up a predetermined time T1.
Under this condition, the mobile phone 10 can operate as a conventional
mobile phone to alert the user of an incoming call through use of
the speaker 30 or vibration. The predetermined time T1 can be fixed
or set up by the user.
Step 150: During the predetermined time T1 passes, judge whether
the receive button has been pressed. If yes, proceed to Step 200,
if no, proceed to Step 160.
Step 160: The volume detector detects surrounding volume.
Step 170: See whether the detected surrounding volume exceeds a
predetermined value. If yes, proceed to Step 180, if no, proceed
to Step 190. The predetermined value can be fixed or set up by the
user.
Step 180: Execute a first managing process with the control circuit.
The first managing process is to alert the user to the incoming
call in another manner, such as increasing the ringing volume or
vibration, or playing a voice message. Proceed to Step 200.
Step 190: Execute a second managing process with the control circuit.
The second managing process is to alert the user to the incoming
call in a predetermined manner of the mobile phone 10, such as ringing
the ringing tone or vibrating the housing of the mobile phone 10.
Proceed to Step 200.
Step 200: Receive the incoming call.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the surrounding
volume detection of the mobile phone 10 can be set up according
to the requirements of users to start up the detection (Step 160)
as soon as the call signal is received (Step 110), or after the
predetermined time T1 (Step 140, Step 150). The volume detector
60 can detect surrounding volume through a microphone for the mobile
phone 10. When the predetermined time T1 passes and the receive
button 50 has not been pressed, the control circuit 20 turns off
the speaker 30 or vibration so that the volume detector 60 can detect
the surrounding volume.
The second managing process according to the present invention
refers to a predetermined manner for alerting a user of an incoming
call, such as ringing the tone or vibrating the mobile phone 10,
which is set up by the user. The first managing process includes
vibrating the mobile phone 10, increasing the volume, changing the
ringing tone, or playing a voice message and can be determined separately
according to the requirements of the user.
According to the method shown in FIG. 2, when the control circuit
20 of the mobile phone 10 in FIG. 1 receives a call signal, the
mobile phone 10 will judge whether surrounding volume detection
is being executed. If not, an incoming call alert similar to that
of the prior art (ringing or vibration) will be executed. If surrounding
volume detection is being executed, the mobile phone 10 judges whether
to begin surrounding volume detection immediately. If yes, the detection
will be executed immediately, and if not, the timer starts to count
time. After the predetermined time T1 passes and the call has not
been received (the user may not hear the alert due to surrounding
environmental volume), volume detection is executed.
If the result of volume detection does not exceed the predetermined
value, the surrounding volume is not too high for the user to notice
the incoming call, and the mobile phone 10 executes the second managing
process, which is to proceed like a conventional incoming call alert
as in the prior art. However, if the result of volume detection
exceeds the predetermined value, the surrounding volume may be too
high for the user to notice the incoming call. Then the mobile phone
10 executes the first managing process such as vibrating the mobile
phone 10 while ringing the tone, or increasing the ringing tone
gradually until the user notices and receives the call. Moreover,
a voice message such as "It is noisy here. It is inconvenient
for me to talk to you right now", can be delivered to the caller
in the first managing process.
In contrast to the prior art, the present invention provides a
method for managing incoming calls using a volume detector to detect
surrounding volume. This method is able to reduce miss calls for
users.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications
and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings
of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed
as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
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