Patent ID: 8502694

Claim:
A communication device, comprising: a housing having an exterior surface including generic indicators and a main display distinct from the generic indicators, each configured to be visible by way of the exterior surface of the housing; the generic indicators include a plurality of indicators arranged in a vertical direction with each vertical indicator being associated to a particular contact and a plurality of indicators arranged in a horizontal direction with each horizontal indicator being associated with a particular communication signal; a processor in communication with the generic indicators; a receiver in communication with the processor, the receiver being configured to receive communication signals of different types, the processor configured to determine receipt of a communication signal corresponding to a communication address stored in a memory and to generate an indicator signal to at least one of the generic indicators based on the communication address and a determination of which of different types of communication signal is received; and an announcement generator in communication with the processor is configured to generate an announcement by the at least one of the generic indicators based on the indicator signal.