Priority-Based Call Interruption Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Phones with call waiting often experience multiple interruptions during calls, with users lacking notification of higher-priority incoming calls.
Innovation Solution
A method that determines the priority of incoming and ongoing calls, interrupting the user only if the incoming call has a higher priority, using a system that groups entities by priority and applies rules based on user-defined settings and past behavior.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If call waiting is enabled to allow multiple interruptions during a phone call, then users can be reached by multiple entities, but users experience multiple disruptions and lack notification of higher-priority calls
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary classification of incoming calls into priority groups before the user is interrupted. By pre-establishing priority levels and groups for different entities, the system can determine whether to interrupt the current call based on the incoming call's priority, thus resolving the contradiction by enabling multi-call capability while filtering out low-priority disruptions.
2Ease of operation
If all incoming calls are treated equally during call waiting, then simple call handling is maintained, but users cannot distinguish between important and non-important calls
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments incoming calls into different priority groups based on the calling entity. By dividing calls into hierarchical priority levels, the system preserves call handling simplicity while preventing loss of priority information, as each segment (priority group) is processed according to its designated importance level.
3Device complexity
If the system interrupts the user for every incoming call during an ongoing call, then no priority differentiation is needed, but user productivity and focus are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by selectively interrupting the user only for high-priority incoming calls rather than all calls. This approach maintains relatively simple interrupt handling logic while significantly improving user productivity by avoiding unnecessary interruptions from low-priority callers.
Data Source
AI summary
A method including receiving an interrupt originating associated with an interrupting entity during an ongoing communication between a user and a current entity, determining if the interrupting entity has a higher priority than the current entity, interrupting the user if the interrupting entity has a higher priority than the current entity, and not interrupting the user if the interrupting entity has a lower priority than the current entity.