Abstract:
A method for notifying a caller to a telephone of a profile status of the telephone. The telephone is connected to a telephone network. The method includes selecting a profile status of the telephone, transmitting the selected profile status of the telephone to the telephone network in response to selection of the profile status, and the telephone network notifying a caller of the selected profile status of the telephone when the caller calls the telephone and the user does not answer.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a profile status of a telephone, and more specifically, to a method for notifying a caller to a telephone of a selected profile status of the telephone.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     With the improvements being made in the telecommunications industry, staying in touch with friends, family, and colleagues has never been easier. On the other hand, there are times when a telephone user does not wish to be disturbed or is not able to answer an incoming call.  
         [0005]     For example, suppose that the telephone is a mobile phone and the mobile phone user is driving home from work. If the user receives a call on the mobile phone while driving, the user will likely not be able to answer the phone for legal or safety reasons. Unfortunately, the caller has no way of knowing where the mobile phone user is or what the user is doing at the time of the call. The lack of information about the status of the mobile phone user may cause the caller to needlessly worry about the user, and to wonder why the user does not answer the phone.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a method for notifying a caller to a telephone about a profile status of the telephone in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.  
         [0007]     According to the claimed invention, a method for notifying a caller to a telephone of a profile status of the telephone is disclosed. The telephone is connected to a telephone network. The method includes selecting a profile status of the telephone, transmitting the selected profile status of the telephone to the telephone network in response to selection of the profile status, and the telephone network notifying a caller of the selected profile status of the telephone when the caller calls the telephone and the callee (telephone user) is not answering.  
         [0008]     It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the telephone network notifies the caller of the profile status of the telephone so the caller can know what the telephone user is doing if the caller can not speak to the user directly.  
         [0009]     These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a first telephone communicating with a second telephone through a telephone network.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating the method of notifying a person calling with the second telephone of a profile status of the first telephone according to the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a chart showing status identification codes corresponding to various profile statuses.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a message sequence diagram illustrating the flowchart of  FIG. 2  with an example. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a diagram of a first telephone  10  communicating with a second telephone  20  through a telephone network  30 . The first telephone  10  is preferably a mobile phone, but other telephones also fall within the scope of the present invention, as will be explained below.  
         [0015]     A user of the first telephone  10  selects a profile status for the first telephone  10  when the user does not want to be disturbed or when the user will not be able to answer any incoming telephone calls. Example profile statuses include “in a meeting”, “driving car”, or “sleeping”. After the user of the first telephone  10  has selected the profile status, the first telephone  10  transmits the selected profile status to the telephone network  30 . The primary purpose of the user of the first telephone  10  selecting the profile status is to inform callers of the status of the first telephone  10 .  
         [0016]     Suppose that a person using the second telephone  20  calls the user of the first telephone  10 , and the user of the first telephone  10  does not answer. If the user of the first telephone  10  has already selected a profile status, the first telephone  10  will transmit the profile status to the telephone network  30  and the telephone network  30  will notify the person calling with the second telephone  20  of the selected profile status of the first telephone  10 . In this way, the person calling with the second telephone  20  can immediately know what the status of the user of the first telephone  10  is, and will not needlessly wonder why the user of the first telephone  10  did not answer the call.  
         [0017]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating the method of notifying the person calling with the second telephone  20  of the profile status of the first telephone  10  according to the present invention.  
         [0018]     Step  100 : Start;  
         [0019]     Step  102 : The user of the first telephone  10  selects a profile status of the first telephone  10 ;  
         [0020]     Step  104 : The person using the second telephone  20  calls the first telephone  10 ;  
         [0021]     Step  106 : The telephone network  30  receives the incoming call from the second telephone  20  and connects the second telephone  20  to the first telephone  10 ;  
         [0022]     Step  108 : The selected profile status “ 010 ” is transmitted from the first telephone  10  to the telephone network  30  if the user of the first telephone  10  is not answering;  
         [0023]     Step  110 : The telephone network  30  notifies the person calling with the second telephone  20  of the selected profile status of the first telephone  10 ; and  
         [0024]     Step  112 : End.  
         [0025]     Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a chart  50  showing status identification codes corresponding to various profile statuses. The chart  50  shows three example profile statuses and their corresponding status ID codes. A profile status of “In a meeting” has a status ID code of “ 010 ”, a profile status of “Driving car” has a status ID code of “ 011 ”, and a profile status of “sleeping” has a status ID code of “ 012 ”.  
         [0026]     Please refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  is a message sequence diagram illustrating the flowchart of  FIG. 2  with an example. In step  102 , the user selects the profile status “In a meeting” for the first telephone  10 . Instep  104 , the person using the second telephone  20  calls the first telephone  10  through the phone network. In step  106 , the network receives the incoming call from the second telephone  20  and connects the second telephone  20  to the first telephone  10 . In step  108 , the first telephone transmits the selected profile status “ 010 ” to the telephone network  30  if the user of the first telephone  10  is not answering. In step  110 , the telephone network  30  translates the status ID code “ 010 ” into a voice message “The telephone user is currently in a meeting” and transmits this voice message to the second telephone  20 .  
         [0027]     The present invention preferably uses a mobile phone for the first telephone  10  and a mobile phone network for the telephone network  30 . Since all calls to a mobile phone must go through the mobile phone network, the present invention method can easily be implemented with the existing mobile phone network infrastructure. The firmware of mobile phones should be upgraded to transmit the profile status to the mobile phone network. Additionally, the mobile phone network should be capable of translating the profile status to a corresponding voice message, (ex: “The telephone user is currently in a meeting”), to inform callers of the profile status. However, the present invention is not limited to using mobile phones as the first telephone  10 . The present invention method can use any telephone as the first telephone  10  for selecting a profile status, so long as the telephone network  30  is able to receive the selected profile status from the first telephone  10  and inform callers of the selected profile status.  
         [0028]     Compared to the prior art, the present invention method uses the telephone network to automatically notify callers to a telephone of the profile status of the telephone. Therefore, the caller can directly learn the status of the telephone user quickly and easily.  
         [0029]     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.