Patent ID: 8410914

Claim:
A method for providing ambient noise sensitive alerting, the method comprising: receiving ambient noise via a microphone; converting the ambient noise to an electrical signal; detecting a parameter of the electrical signal, the parameter indicative of the ambient noise, wherein detecting the parameter of the electrical signal comprises (i) detecting peak level and cumulative level for the electrical signal across a predetermined time interval, (ii) calculating a running average of an amplitude of the electrical signal, storing samples of the electrical signal that are above a predetermined threshold, detecting an envelope of the electrical signal, detecting the amplitude of the electrical signal, and acquiring samples of the electrical signal to generate a sequence of digitized samples, and (iii) integrating the electrical signal using a weighting function that emphasizes recently acquired portions of the electrical signal and deemphasizes portions of the electrical signal that were not recently acquired; accepting a user preference specifying a default volume level and minimum volume level for an audible alert and a desired ring tone from a menu of audible alerts; sensing an incoming communication; controlling volume of the audible alert of the incoming communication in response to the parameter of the electrical signal, the controlling the volume including automatically adjusting the volume of the audible alert in response to the parameter using the default volume level as an initialization point and the minimum volume level as a minimum limit; and repeatedly detecting the parameter of the electrical signal and dynamically controlling the volume of the audible alert in response to the parameter.