GB2522229A

GB2522229A - Messaging system

Info

Publication number: GB2522229A
Application number: GB1400804.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Adam Messulam
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-01-17
Filing date: 2014-01-17
Publication date: 2015-07-22
Also published as: GB201400804D0

Abstract

A system for communicating between two devices wherein a communication is sent between a sender and a receiver, wherein the receiving device is selectively operable to emit at least one alert/notification when the communication is received, characterised in that the sender may, upon sending the communication, determine whether or not at least one alert is emitted by the receiving device when the communication is sent. The arrangement may allow a sender to override the local settings at the receiver to enable alerts e.g. override a silent notification mode and provide an audible, tactile and/or visual notification/alert when a communication is received from the sender. The communication may be an SMS, email or phone call between the devices. The sender may, in one embodiment, disable alerts at the receiver for the communication, such as to not disturb a potentially sleeping recipient. Further the receiver may maintain the local settings despite an override indication. The sender may specify a degree of the urgency of the communication using a priority indication and the incoming communication may be alerted in various modes depending on the indicated urgency.

Description

MessaQinQ System This invention relates to the sending of text (SMS) and email messages between mobile communication devices arid is also applicable to initiation of telephone calls.

The sending is text and email messages has grown significantly in popularity since the 1990s. Specifically the sending of text, or SMS (Short Message Service), messages has allowed short written communications between individuals to avoid a more costly phone conversation.

A problem arises in that receipt of a text message usually generates an alert on the receiving device or phone which may occur at an unwelcome time such as when in a meeting or when sleeping. This can be particularly problematic when the communication is being sent internationally with little awareness of the movements or time zone of the recipient. In modern day usage people rarely aflow their device to be beyond their reach and so at all times such alerts have the capacity to cause annoyance.

It is possible to silence a device to prevent generation of such alerts, which may be audible, visual or haptic (in the form of vibration). While this could be considered a solution to the problem, there are many users who prefer not to silence their device as it makes it more difficult to locate their device should they lose it and also prevents them from being alerted to messages in emergency situations. Such users rely on the judgement of the person sending the communication not to disturb them at an inappropriate time.

A problem arises with this approach is that different people determine an inappropriate time in different ways, for example some may be early sleepers, some may be putting a baby to bed, or in an important meeting, rather than one that may be interrupted without consequence. The key factor being that the sender does not have enough information to determine if an alert would inconvenience the receiver, nor any knowledge of the volume status of the receiving mobile device or phone.

With a view to solving the foregoing problem the present invention provides a system as set forth in claim 1 of the appended claims.

The invention further provides a communications transmitter as set forth in Claim I and a communications receiver as set forth in Claim 12, The invention can be implented by suitable programming of into the operating system of a conventional mobile phone or tablet and may be as simple as detection of a coded word or phrase within the body of a message. Equally the relevant data may be hidden within the communication data stream not visible to the end user. This is more relevant when the communication is a phone call intiating signal that has no visible text.

Though applicable to initiation of phone calls, the primary aim of the invention is to allow text and email message communications to be sent at any time of night without fear of waking the recipient at an awkward time.

Devices typically alert the user of an incoming text message by flashing the screen, vibrating or emitting a tone. Any one of these may annoy the receiving user if the timing is inconvenient. By giving control of the alert to a considerate sender, this problem can be avoided, without the receiver being forced to disable all alerts.

Disabling alerts is particularly relevant if the incoming message is considered an emergency of some kind.

There are situations, when a phone is set to disable all alerts yet as a result, the sender cannot ensure that a recipient has been alerted to the message or communication. By use of the present system, the sender can override the settings of the receiving phone to ensure that an alert is emitted.

Of course this generates the potential for abuse, which can be avoided by allowing the system to be selectively disabled by the recipient device. For example, there may be a setting within the receiving device to activate a silent mode which is silent regardless of the incoming message, or a silent (emergency) mode which is silent to all communications other than those deemed to be an emergency by the sender and electronically labelled or encoded to reflect this.

Control from the sender may be unchanged from the method of sending conventional communications other than the "send" instruction or button being replaced by, for example "send silently" or "send as emergency" depending on the circumstance.

Further complexity can be considered due to the different types of alerts that exist.

Typically a phone will be able to emit three types of alert at the same time when an incoming communication is received, It is conceivable that the sending device could be programmed so that any combination of these may be selectively disabled when sending a communication.

Claims

Claims I. A system for communicating between two devices wherein a communication is sent between a sending device and a receiving device, wherein the receiving device is selectively operable to emit at least one alert when the communication is received, characterised in that the sending device may, upon sending the communication, control whether or not, at least one alert is emitted by the receiving device when the communication is sent.
2. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the receiving device is operable to generate an alert on receipt of the communication, and the sending device overrides the receiving device to disable the at least one alert.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving device is operable to disable at least one alert on receipt of a communication, and the sending device overrides the receiving device to enable the at least one alert.
4. A system as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein the receiving device is configurable to prevent a sending device from overriding the alert status of the receiving device.
5. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein control of the alert emitted by the receiving device is achieved by data contained within the communication.
6. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the alert may include at least one of a sound, a light or a vibration.
7. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the communication is an SMS message.
8. A system as claimed in claim I to 6, wherein the communication is an email.
9. A system as claimed in claims I to 6, wherein the communication is a phone call.
10. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the devices are cellular telephones.
11. A communications transmitter operative when sending a message or initiating a conversation to transmit a code indicative of the degree of urgency of the data to be conveyed by the communication.
12. A communications receiver having a multi-mode alerting system for audibly, optically and/or haptically alerting an operator to receipt of a message or a request to initiate a conversation, wherein the mode of operation of the alerting system is set in dependence upon a received code indicative of the of the degree of urgency of the data to be conveyed by the communication.