Abstract:
An apparatus that intelligently determines how to alert a user to the arrival of an incoming message at a telecommunications terminal, and what information is imparted to the user via the alert, is disclosed. In the illustrative embodiments, the terminal has a processor that makes this determination based on one or more of the following: properties of the incoming message (e.g., who sent the message, a priority level associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the length of the message, etc.), the time and date (i.e., the “calendrical time”), environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, ambient luminosity, etc.), the user&#39;s physiological parameters (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, etc.), the location of the user, the proximity of other wireless terminals in the vicinity, whether the user is currently receiving another message, and the delivery mechanism of the other message (e.g., voice, text chat, etc.).

Description:
STATEMENT OF RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/380,140, filed on 6 May 2002, entitled “Method for Interception, Manipulations, and Usage of Bluetooth Voice Streams.” 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to telecommunications equipment in general, and, in particular, to a telecommunications terminal that intelligently decides how to alert the user to the arrival of an incoming message. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  depicts a rendering of an exemplary subnetwork attached to public switched telephone network (PSTN)  100 . The subnetwork comprises: PBX  120 , cellular network  150 , and five telecommunications terminals: wireline telephones  110 - 1  and  110 - 2 , cordless telephone  130 , wireless telephone  160 , and two-way pager  170 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , PBX  120 &#39;s antenna  125  communicates wirelessly with wireless telephone  130 &#39;s antenna  135 , and cellular network  150 &#39;s antenna  155  communicates wirelessly with wireless telephone  160 &#39;s antenna  165  and two-way pager  170 &#39;s antenna  175 . Telecommunications terminals, such as those depicted in  FIG. 1 , alert a user when the terminal receives an incoming message. 
     In the prior art, a telecommunications terminal typically alerts the user to the arrival of an incoming message via some sensory mechanism; most commonly, this mechanism is an acoustic “telephone ring”. In some telecommunications terminals, it is possible for the user to specify one of a plurality of such sensory mechanisms; for example, some wireless telephones give the user a choice of an acoustic “telephone ring” or a physical vibration of the telecommunications terminal. However, the sensory mechanism selected by the user applies to all incoming messages. 
     In the prior art, some telecommunications terminals alert the user to the arrival of an incoming message via more than one sensory mechanism; for example, a telecommunications terminal with “caller ID” service can provide a visual text message indicating the identity of the caller in addition to an acoustic telephone ring. Again, the sensory mechanisms are the same for all incoming messages. 
     The fact that the user can specify which particular alerting mechanism(s) are employed is advantageous, but the techniques for doing so in the prior art are somewhat limited. Therefore, the need exists for a more flexible technique that a user can use to specify the alerting mechanism on his or her telecommunications terminal. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention enables a user to specify the alerting mechanism(s) of a telecommunications terminal without some of the costs and disadvantages for doing so in the prior art. In particular, the illustrative embodiment enables a telecommunications terminal to determine which mechanism(s) to use to alert the user to the arrival of an incoming message based on one or more of the following: some property of the incoming message (e.g., who sent the message, a priority level associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the length of the message, etc.), the time and date (i.e., the “calendrical time”), environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, ambient luminosity, etc.), the user&#39;s physiological parameters (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, gender, etc.), properties of the caller (e.g., the caller&#39;s gender, age, physiological parameters, etc.), the location of the user, the proximity of other telecommunications terminals in the vicinity, and whether the user is currently receiving another message. For example, it might be appropriate to alert a user via a vibration mechanism rather than an acoustic mechanism in a noisy environment, or when there are many telecommunications terminals nearby 
     The illustrative embodiment also enables a telecommunications terminal to determine which properties and/or components of the incoming message should be communicated to the user via the alerting mechanism, also based on the information enumerated above. For example, the visual alerting mechanism of a telecommunications terminal might display the “From” and “Subject” fields of an email message from a known party, but simply display a generic symbol for the arrival of an email message from an unknown party. The illustrative embodiment enables a user to program his or her telecommunications terminal to provide the desired behavior. 
     The illustrative embodiment comprises: a receiver for receiving an incoming signal directed to a telecommunications terminal, wherein said incoming signal is characterized by at least one property; a plurality of transducers, wherein each of said transducers can alert a user to the arrival of said incoming signal; and a processor for selecting which of said transducers alert said user based on at least one property of said incoming signal. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  depicts a block diagram of an exemplary subnetwork attached to public switched telephone network (PSTN)  100 . 
         FIG. 2  depicts a block diagram of cordless telephone  130 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  depicts a block diagram of wireline telephone  110 - i , as shown in  FIG. 1 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  depicts a block diagram of wireless telephone  160 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  depicts a block diagram of geo-location sensors  240 , as shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 4 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  depicts a block diagram of environmental sensors  250 , as shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  depicts a block diagram of physiological sensors  260 , as shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  depicts a flowchart of the operation of processor  220 , as shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 2  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of cordless telephone  130 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Cordless telephone  130  comprises: receiver  210 , processor  220 , clock  230 , geo-location sensors  240 , environmental sensors  250 , physiological sensors  260 , and transducers  225 - 1  through  225 -N, interconnected as shown. 
     Clock  230  transmits the current time, date, and day of the week to processor  220  in well-known fashion. 
     Geo-location sensors  240  receive positional data, as is described in detail below, and transmit these data to processor  220  in well-known fashion. 
     Environmental sensors  250  receive atmospheric data, as is described in detail below, and transmit these data to processor  220  in well-known fashion. 
     Physiological sensors  260  receive atmospheric data, as is described in detail below, and transmit these data to processor  220  in well-known fashion. 
     Processor  220  receives an incoming message (e.g., a telephone call, a fax, an e-mail, etc.) from a remote user, in well-known fashion, and determines, based on the inputs it receives, as described above, and properties of the incoming message, (1) which transducers should alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message, and (2) what information content from the incoming message should be communicated to the user in the alert. Details concerning how processor  220  makes such determinations are given below. 
     The appropriate transducers  225 , as determined above by processor  220 , generate an output signal based on the appropriate information content, again as determined above by processor  220 , in well-known fashion. For example, an acoustic transducer could generate a musical jingle or a human-like voice based on the sender and/or priority of the message, while a visual transducer could display the text in the subject line of an email message or a graphical symbol based on some property of the email message. 
       FIG. 3  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of wireline telephone  110 - i , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Wireline telephone  110 - i  comprises: receiver  210 , processor  220 , clock  230 , environmental sensors  250 , physiological sensors  260 , and transducers  225 - 1  through  225 -N, interconnected as shown. As can be seen by comparing  FIG. 3  with  FIG. 2 , wireline telephone  110 - i  is similar to cordless telephone  130 , with the exception that wireline telephone  110 - i  does not have geo-location sensors  240 , which are superfluous in a wireline terminal at a fixed position. 
       FIG. 4  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of wireless telephone  160 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Wireline telephone  110 - i  comprises: receiver  210 , processor  220 , clock  230 , geo-location sensors  240 , environmental sensors  250 , physiological sensors  260 , and transducers  225 - 1  through  225 -N, interconnected as shown. As can be seen by comparing  FIG. 4  with  FIG. 2 , wireless terminal  160  is similar to wireless terminal  130 . It will also be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art how to apply the architecture of  FIG. 4  to other wireless terminals such as two-way pagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. 
       FIG. 5  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of geo-location sensors  240 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Geo-location sensors  240  comprises: global positioning system (GPS)  510 , altimeter  520 , and accelerometer  530 . 
     GPS  510  receives satellite-based signals and determines global position, as is well understood in the art, and transmits the data to processor  220 . In some embodiments, GPS  510  also transmits information to processor  220  concerning the geo-locations of other wireless terminals in the vicinity; as described below, processor  220  can consider this information in determining how to alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message. 
     It will be clear to persons skilled in the art that some embodiments might employ means other than satellite-based signals for determining geo-location (e.g., triangulation, radio beacons, radio-frequency fingerprinting [U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,294, incorporated by reference], etc.) In such embodiments, an appropriate receiver (e.g., radio-frequency receiver, etc.) would be substituted for GPS  510 , as is well understood in the art. 
     Altimeter  520  measures altitude, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 ; in some embodiments altimeter  520 &#39;s readings are based on barometric pressure, and in some other embodiments altimeter  520  is radar-based. 
     Accelerometer  530  measures acceleration, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
       FIG. 6  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of environmental sensors  250 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Environmental sensors  250  comprises: thermometer  610 , hygrometer  620 , barometer  630 , sound level meter  640 , and photometer  650 , all of which receive information from the atmosphere. 
     Thermometer  610  measures ambient temperature, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Hygrometer  620  measures ambient humidity, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Barometer  630  measures ambient air pressure, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Sound level meter  640  measures ambient sound intensity, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Photometer  650  measures ambient light intensity, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
       FIG. 7  depicts a block diagram of the salient components of physiological sensors  260 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Physiological sensors  260  comprises: heart rate monitor  710 , blood pressure monitor  720 , respiration rate monitor  730 , body temperature monitor  740 , and brain activity monitor  750 . In some embodiments, at least one of these monitors receives input from the user via at least one sensor coupled to a part of a user&#39;s body (e.g., finger, forehead, etc.), wherein the sensor transmits data to the terminal either by a wire, or wirelessly. In some other embodiments, at least one of these monitors receives input from the user via at least one sensor located within the terminal, wherein the sensor receives physiological signals from the user when the user is holding the terminal. 
     Heart rate monitor  710  measures the user&#39;s heart rate, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Blood pressure monitor  720  measures the user&#39;s blood pressure, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Respiration rate monitor  730  measures the user&#39;s respiration rate, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Body temperature monitor  740  measures the user&#39;s body temperature, in well-known fashion, and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
     Brain activity monitor  750  measures the user&#39;s brain activity in well-known fashion (e.g., EKG, etc.), and transmits its measurements to processor  220 . 
       FIG. 8  depicts a flowchart of the operation of processor  220  according to the present invention. 
     At task  810 , processor  220  receives an incoming message from a remote user. 
     At task  815 , processor  220  considers one or more properties of the incoming message for determining how to alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message. In some embodiments such properties can include: the sender of the message, properties of the sender (e.g., the caller&#39;s gender, age, etc.), a priority associated with the message, the semantic content of the subject and/or body of the message, the length of the message, etc. 
     At task  820 , processor  220  notes whether receiver  210  is currently receiving another message, and if so, what type of message (e.g., voice, email, etc.), for determining how to alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message. 
     At task  825 , processor  220  considers data received from clock  230  for determining how to alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message. 
     At task  830 , processor  220  considers data received from geo-location sensors  240  for determining how to alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message. As indicated above, these data can indicate the most appropriate manner in which a user should be alerted to an incoming message; for example, it might be advantageous to alert a user inside a church or movie theater via a vibration transducer (the theory being that there are some places where an acoustic alert would disturb others.) 
     At task  835 , processor  220  considers data received from environmental sensors  250  for determining how to alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message; for example, it might be advantageous to alert a user via a vibration transducer in a noisy environment (the theory being that the user might not hear the alert.) 
     At task  840 , processor  220  considers data received from physiological sensors  260  for determining how to alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message; for example, it might be advantageous to alert a user via an acoustic transducer when a user is sleeping (the theory being that either (a) the user might not have the phone on his/her person, or (b) if the user does have the phone on his/her person, the vibration may not be sufficient to awaken the user.) 
     At task  845 , processor  220  decides, based on (i) how its user has programmed it; (ii) properties of the incoming message; (iii) whether receiver  210  is currently receiving another message, and if so, what type of message; and (iv) the data from clock  230 , geo-location sensors  240 , environmental sensors  250 , and physiological sensors  260 ; which of the incoming message&#39;s properties and/or portions of information content should be communicated via an alert (e.g., the “subject” field of an email message, the length of the message, the priority of the message, etc.) 
     At task  850 , processor  220  decides, again based on (i) how its user has programmed it; (ii) properties of the incoming message; (iii) whether receiver  210  is currently receiving another message, and if so, what type of message; and (iv) the data from clock  230 , geo-location sensors  240 , environmental sensors  250 , and physiological sensors  260 ; which transducer(s)  225 - 1  through  225 -N should alert the user to the arrival of the incoming message. 
     At task  855 , transducer(s)  255  selected in task  850  generate output signal(s) containing the information selected in task  845 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to generate such output signals; for example, an acoustic transducer could generate a musical signal or a human-like voice to alert the user, while a visual transducer could generate text or graphic symbols to alert the user, as is well understood in the art. 
     It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention and that many variations of the above-described embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that such variations be included within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.