A mobile device

Abstract

There is provided a mobile device (1), comprising a transceiver (30) for making and receiving telephone calls, a processor (5) connected to the transceiver, a memory (10) connected to the processor an

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a mobile device, in particular a mobile device for making and receiving telephone calls. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Mobile devices for making and receiving telephone calls have become ubiquitous and are carried by many people most of the time. It is common for a user’s face-to-face interactions with other people to be interrupted by an incoming telephone call to their mobile device. This often causes an unwanted distraction, and may end the user’s face-to-face interaction with another person in favour of the telephone call. However, there are circumstances in which ending the interaction with the other person because of the incoming telephone call is desirable. For example, when the user has had enough of the interaction with the other person and wishes to politely end the interaction without causing offence. It is known for a user to ask a friend to call the user on their mobile device at a certain time to provide a means for the user to end an interaction with another person, for example if the user is on a date with another person, or in a meeting that they wish to end at a certain time. This of course requires the user to make a prior arrangement with their friend, and for the friend to remember the arrangement and make the call at the designated time. There may also be circumstances in which the interaction with the other person has not been arranged in advance, and so there is no opportunity to arrange for a friend to call to give the option to politely end the interaction with the other person. It is therefore an object of the invention to improve upon the known art. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a mobile device as defined in claim 1. The mobile device comprises a transceiver for making and receiving telephone calls, a processor connected to the transceiver, a memory connected to the processor and storing a ringtone, a speaker connected to the processor and a microphone connected to the processor. The processor is configured to play the ringtone through the speaker upon receipt of an incoming telephone call at the transceiver. The processor comprises a sound recognition module configured to recognise a trigger sound when the trigger sound is picked up by the microphone. The processor is configured to simulate an incoming telephone call by playing the ringtone through the speaker in response to recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module. Thus, a user who wishes to politely leave an interaction with another person may themselves make the trigger sound, causing their mobile device to simulate an incoming telephone call, and providing the user with an excuse to leave the interaction. The mobile device simulates the incoming telephone call by ringing with the same ringtone as the mobile device uses for actual incoming telephone calls, and so the other person in the interaction will not suspect the incoming telephone call is not genuine. The user can pretend to answer the simulated incoming telephone call if they wish and speak into the phone as though they are speaking to an actual caller. The trigger sound may be stored in the memory, and the sound recognition module may be configured to compare sounds picked up by the microphone to the trigger sound stored in the memory. The sound recognition module may be configured to determine the trigger sound has been picked up by the microphone when the sound picked up by the microphone matches the trigger sound stored in the memory. The trigger sound may be stored in the memory as an audio file, or as a file defining the characteristics of the trigger sound, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The trigger sound may be a user-defined trigger sound that is set by a user of the mobile device. Thus, the user can set the trigger sound to a sound that they can make during a normal interaction with another person, without arising any suspicions in the other person. For example, the trigger sound may correspond to a spoken word or phrase that can easily be dropped into the conversation with the other person when desired. Thus, the sound recognition module may be a voice recognition module. The processor may comprise a sound recording module connected to the microphone, the sound recording module for recording the user-defined trigger sound in the memory upon an instruction input into the mobile device by a user. Since the user can define the trigger sound themselves, the chances of the other person in the interaction recognising the trigger sound as a trigger sound are reduced. Since the mobile device may not be in active use when the telephone call is to be simulated, the sound recognition module may be configured to continuously listen for the trigger sound even when the mobile device is in a locked mode. The locked mode of a mobile device typically requires the user to enter a predefined set of characters or to provide their fingerprint before the mobile device can be fully operated, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. To enhance the authenticity of the simulated telephone call, the mobile device may be programmable for the user to designate a contact person that is stored in the memory, and the processor may be configured to simulate the incoming telephone call by acting in a same manner as when an actual telephone call is received from the designated contact person. For example, the mobile device may comprise a display screen connected to the processor and the processor may also display a name or telephone number on the display screen in response to the recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module. The processor may also vibrate a vibrator in response to the recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module. The display screen may be a touchscreen, and the processor may be configured to display an icon on the touchscreen in response to the recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module, the icon inviting the user to answer the simulated telephone call by touching the icon. The processor may be configured to continue playing the ringtone through the speaker until the icon is touched, and may cease playing the ringtone through the speaker once the icon has been touched. Optionally, the ringtone may time-out and cease being played by the processor through the speaker after more than a certain length of time has elapsed, for example 10 or 15 seconds. Thus, the simulated incoming telephone call appears to be an actual incoming telephone call to any people watching the user of the mobile device. It will be appreciated that mobile devices typically comprise a plurality of processing devices and memories, and so the processor may comprise a plurality of distributed processing modules within the mobile device, and / or the memory may comprise a plurality of distributed memory modules within the mobile device. The telephone calls (both actual incoming telephone calls and simulated incoming telephone calls) are typically cellular telephone calls, although could alternatively be telephone calls sent or received over the Internet, for example VOIP calls, or telephone calls carried over WiFi ® networks. The mobile device may be configured in accordance with the invention using a mobile device app, or in other words a piece of software that is downloaded and run on the mobile device. The processor may run the mobile device app, and the mobile device app may configure the processor to perform the recognition of the trigger sound and the simulation of the incoming telephone call. In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a signal carrying a mobile device app, the mobile device app for configuring a processor of a mobile device to act as described above. Specifically, the mobile device app comprises instructions configuring the processor to: recognise a trigger sound when the trigger sound is picked up by the microphone; and simulate an incoming telephone call by playing the ringtone through the speaker in response to recognition of the trigger sound, the ringtone being a same ringtone as a ringtone the processor is configured to play through the speaker upon receipt of an incoming telephone call at the transceiver. In accordance with a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing the mobile device app of the second aspect of the invention. The computer readable storage medium may for example be a memory of a server computer from which the app can be downloaded to the mobile device via the Internet or a cellular network, or the computer readable storage medium may be the memory of the mobile device itself. In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of simulating an incoming telephone call on a mobile device. The method comprises recognising a trigger sound when the trigger sound is picked up by a microphone of the mobile device, and simulating an incoming telephone call by playing a ringtone in response to the recognition of the trigger sound, the ringtone being a same ringtone as a ringtone the mobile device is configured to play upon receipt of an incoming telephone call. The mobile device may be the mobile device of the first or second aspects of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example only and with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a mobile device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The schematic block diagram of Fig. 1 shows a mobile device 1, which may for example be a mobile phone such as a smartphone, or a smartwatch. The mobile device 1 comprises a transceiver 30, a processor 5 connected to the transceiver 30, a memory 10 connected to the processor 5 and storing a ringtone 12, a speaker 45 connected to the processor 5 and a microphone 40 connected to the processor 5. The mobile device 1 may also comprise one or more of an antenna 35 connected to the transceiver 30, a display 20 connected to the processor 5, a vibrator 50 connected to the processor 5 and a keypad 55 connected to the processor 5. The display 20 may be a touchscreen display, and the keypad 55 may be implemented by the touchscreen. The memory 10 may store a ringtone 12 and contacts 18, the contacts 18 being contact details of persons whose details have been entered into the mobile device, for example name and telephone number details. In response to receiving an incoming telephone call via the transceiver 30, the processor 5 plays the ringtone 12 through the speaker 45 and vibrates the vibrator 50, to alert the user to the incoming call. The mobile device may also display the name 24 and telephone number 22 of the person who is calling on the display 20, along with an icon 26 the user can touch to accept the telephone call, and an icon 28 the user can touch if they wish to reject the call. The incoming telephone call may for example be a cellular telephone call received via a cellular network, or may be a VOIP call received over the Internet. A user of the mobile device 1 may download an app stored in a remote server computer (not shown) to the mobile device. The app 18 may be carried to the mobile device in a signal 60, which the processor receives via the transceiver 30 and stores in the memory 10. The app 18 may configure the processor 5 with a sound recognition module 7 and a sound recording module 8. Alternatively, those modules may already be present in the processor. The memory 10 also stores a trigger sound 14. The trigger sound 14 may be recorded by the sound recording module 8, for example the user may use the keypad 55 to instruct the sound recording module 8 to record sound from the microphone and to store the sound as the trigger sound 14. Thus the trigger sound may be stored as an audio file, and may be a spoken word or phrase, or a particular sound, such as a clap. Alternatively the user may use the keypad 55 to define a particular word or phrase, and so the trigger sound may be stored in alphabetical form as that word or phrase. The sound recognition module 7 is configured to analyse sounds picked up by the microphone 40, and to compare them to the trigger sound 14. This may comprise comparing the picked up sound to the trigger sound 14 stored as an audio file, or it may comprise the sound recognition module 7 performing speech recognition and comparing the recognised speech to the trigger sound 14 stored as an alphabetical word or phrase. The mobile device 1 has a locked mode in which the functions of the device are restricted. However, the sound recognition module 7 may continue to analyse sounds picked up by the microphone 40 whilst the mobile device 1 is in the locked mode. In response to the sound recognition module 7 signalling that the trigger sound 14 has been recognised from the sound picked up by the microphone 40, the processor 5 acts to simulate an incoming telephone call. Specifically, the processor 5 plays the ringtone 12 through the speaker 45 in the same manner as it does when an actual incoming telephone call is received. The processor 5 may also instruct the vibrator 50 to vibrate, and may display the name 24 and telephone number 22 of a person in the contacts 16, along with the icons 26 and 28 that allow the simulated incoming telephone call to be accepted or rejected. Thus, the mobile device may appear just the same to the user regardless of whether the incoming telephone call is an actual incoming telephone call from the user or a simulated incoming telephone call that has been triggered by the receipt of the trigger sound at the microphone 40. The app 18 may allow the user to specify which one of their contacts 16 should be displayed on the display 20 in the event of a simulated incoming telephone call. For example, in a social situation the user may specify a parent or sibling to be displayed when an incoming telephone call is to be simulated, or in a work situation the user may specify their boss or manager to be displayed when an incoming telephone call is to be simulated. Once the simulation of an incoming telephone call begins, the mobile device may behave in the same manner as for an actual incoming telephone call. For example, the ringtone may continue to be played until the icon 26 is touched to accept the simulated call, and the ringtone may cease thereafter. The person may immediately excuse themselves upon the ringtone being played, or they may accept the simulated call and pretend to speak to the person whose name was displayed on the display screen 20. The ringtone may alternatively cease when the user touches the icon 28 to reject the simulated call. For example, the user may touch the icon 28 to reject the simulated call if the trigger sound was generated in the surrounding environment for a reason unrelated to the desire to simulate an incoming telephone call, or if the user wishes to make a show of receiving and rejecting a telephone call from a particular person for any reason. The processor 5 may play the ringtone for a predetermined length of time before the ringtone ceases to be played, in the event that neither of the icons 26 or 28 are pressed first. The predetermined length of time may for example be ten seconds, and thus the length of time that the ringtone is played for simulates the length of time that a caller might wait for, before giving up on the chances of the user answering the incoming telephone call and ending the call before it has been accepted. Many other variations of the described embodiments falling within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising a transceiver for making and receiving telephone calls, a processor connected to the transceiver, a memory connected to the processor and storing a ringtone, a speaker connected to the processor and a microphone connected to the processor, wherein:the processor is configured to play the ringtone through the speaker upon receipt of an incoming telephone call at the transceiver,the processor comprises a sound recognition module configured to recognise a trigger sound when the trigger sound is picked up by the microphone, the processor is configured to simulate an incoming telephone call by playing the ringtone through the speaker in response to the recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the trigger sound is stored in the memory, wherein the sound recognition module is configured to compare sounds picked up by the microphone to the trigger sound stored in the memory, and wherein the sound recognition module is configured to determine the trigger sound has been picked up by the microphone when the sound picked up by the microphone matches the trigger sound stored in the memory.

3. The mobile device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the trigger sound is a user-defined trigger sound that is set by a user of the mobile device.

4. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the processor comprises a sound recording module connected to the microphone, the sound recording module for recording the user-defined trigger sound in the memory upon an instruction input into the mobile device by a user.

5. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the sound recognition module is configured to continuously listen for the trigger sound even when the mobile device is in a locked mode.

6. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the trigger sound corresponds to a spoken word or phrase.

7. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the mobile device is programmable by the user to designate a contact person that is stored in the memory, and wherein the processor is configured to simulate the incoming telephone call by acting in a same manner as when an actual telephone call is received from the designated contact person.

8. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the mobile device comprises a display screen connected to the processor and wherein the processor is configured to display a name or telephone number on the display screen in response to the recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module.

9. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the mobile device comprises a touchscreen connected to the processor and wherein the processor is configured to display an icon on the touchscreen in response to the recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module, the icon inviting the user to answer the simulated telephone call by touching the icon.

10. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to continue playing the ringtone through the speaker until the icon is touched.

11. The mobile device of claim 9 or 10, wherein the processor is configured to cease playing the ringtone through the speaker once the icon has been touched.

12. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the mobile device comprises a vibrator connected to the processor, and wherein the processor is also configured to vibrate the vibrator in response to the recognition of the trigger sound by the sound recognition module.

13. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the processor comprises a plurality of distributed processing modules within the mobile device.

14. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the memory comprises a plurality of distributed memory modules within the mobile device.

15. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the telephone calls are cellular telephone calls.

16. The mobile device of any preceding claim, wherein the processor is configured to run a mobile device app, and wherein the mobile device app configures the processor to perform the recognition of the trigger sound and the simulation of the incoming telephone call.

17. A signal carrying a mobile device app, the mobile device app for configuring a processor of a mobile device, the mobile device comprising a transceiver for making and receiving telephone calls, a processor connected to the transceiver, a memory connected to the processor and storing a ringtone, a speaker connected to the processor and a microphone connected to the processor, wherein the mobile device app comprises instructions configuring the processor to:recognise a trigger sound when the trigger sound is picked up by the microphone; andsimulate an incoming telephone call by playing the ringtone through the speaker in response to the recognition of the trigger sound, the ringtone being a same ringtone as a ringtone the processor is configured to play through the speaker upon receipt of an incoming telephone call at the transceiver.

18. A computer readable storage medium storing a mobile device app for configuring a processor of a mobile device, the mobile device comprising a transceiver for making and receiving telephone calls, a processor connected to the transceiver, a memory connected to the processor and storing a ringtone, a speaker connected to the processor and a microphone connected to the processor, wherein the mobile device app comprises instructions configuring the processor to:recognise a trigger sound when the trigger sound is picked up by the microphone; andsimulate an incoming telephone call by playing the ringtone through the speaker in response to the recognition of the trigger sound, the ringtone being a same ringtone as a ringtone the processor is configured to play through the speaker upon receipt of an incoming telephone call at the transceiver.

19. A method of simulating an incoming telephone call on a mobile device, the method comprising recognising a trigger sound when the trigger sound is picked up by a microphone of the mobile device, and simulating an incoming telephone call by playing a ringtone in response to the recognition of the trigger sound, the ringtone being a same ringtone as a ringtone the mobile device is configured to play upon receipt of an incoming telephone call.

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