Smartphone Call Urgency Filtering via Remote Server Mediation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of mobile devices face a dilemma in managing incoming voice calls, as they need to choose between silencing unimportant calls and risking the possibility of missing important or emergency calls during specific situations or times.
Innovation Solution
A method that allows users to set a period during which their mobile device will not activate alert mechanisms for non-urgent incoming calls, using a smartphone application that communicates with a remote server to determine the urgency of calls and only alert the user for urgent calls, enabling the caller to decide whether to complete the call.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the mobile device is put on mute mode to avoid disturbances from unimportant calls, then the peace and quiet during specific situations is improved, but the ability to receive important and emergency calls deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-configuring silence periods in advance before the user needs to avoid disturbances. The user sets up silence periods ahead of time (e.g., before meetings, movies, or nap times), and the system automatically activates the silence mode during these predetermined periods, ensuring the user can enjoy peace without manually muting the device at the moment disturbances occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies dynamics by making the alert mechanism state changeable over time. During silence periods, the alert mechanism is dynamically deactivated for non-urgent calls. The system continuously monitors incoming calls and dynamically adjusts whether to suppress alerts based on the current time relative to configured silence periods and the urgency classification of each call.
2Reliability
If the mobile device is left in regular mode to receive all incoming calls, then the ability to receive important calls is maintained, but disturbances from unimportant calls increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by differentiating the treatment of different incoming calls based on their urgency. Instead of uniformly silencing all calls or allowing all calls to through, the system selectively applies silence only to non-urgent calls during silence periods while maintaining normal alert behavior for urgent calls. This localized differentiation resolves the contradiction by targeting only the harmful factor (unimportant calls) while preserving the useful function (important calls).
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary mechanism - the server - that acts as a mediator between the incoming call and the user's device. The server receives incoming calls, classifies them as urgent or non-urgent, and intelligently routes them accordingly. This intermediary enables the system to filter out disturbances from unimportant calls while ensuring important calls reach the user, resolving the contradiction without requiring the user to manually manage each call.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the alert mechanism is deactivated during silence periods, then disturbances from unimportant calls are reduced, but the user cannot be notified of incoming calls
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by notifying the user about incoming calls even during silence periods, but in a controlled manner. When a non-urgent call comes in during a silence period, the system suppresses the traditional alert (ringing, vibration) but provides subtle notification feedback (such as visual indicators or notifications in the status bar) so the user is informed without being disturbed. For urgent calls, full alert feedback is restored, ensuring the user receives appropriate notification based on call priority.
Data Source
AI summary
A method that enables a callee to manage incoming voice calls in a way that in a period of time that he sets the method prevents the operation of the alerts mechanisms of his mobile device. In case of an incoming voice call the method sends a notice to the caller mobile device notifying that the callee prefers to receive now only urgent voice calls. The method enables the caller to decide according to his sole discretion whether to complete this voice call.