GB2513723A

GB2513723A - Calling system

Info

Publication number: GB2513723A
Application number: GB1405329.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dean Paul Elwood
Original assignee: VOXYGEN Ltd
Current assignee: VOXYGEN Ltd
Priority date: 2013-03-28
Filing date: 2014-03-25
Publication date: 2014-11-05
Also published as: GB201305765D0; GB201405329D0

Abstract

A telecommunication system comprises an originator device and a recipient device wherein the originator device is capable of making a request for a connection permitting real time interaction between the user of the device and a user of the recipient device. The originator device is arranged to determine information relating to an apparent location of the recipient device, determine a time zone relating to said apparent location, calculate a current time in said time zone and provide a warning if said current time in said time zone is outside a preÂdetermined time or set of times. Aspects of the invention include the recipient device establishing its location using the global positioning system (GPS) or using triangulation between cellular base stations or a geographic location of a base station or wherein the recipient device comprises means for selecting a location. The information may comprise part of the recipient devices identification. Further aspects include the warning is associated with an entry in a contact list, the warning is given if a user attempts to place a call to a particular recipient.

Description

Calling System This invention relates to apparatus and methods for improving the experience of users using telecommunications systems to contact one another.

With the increasing number of ways in which people can communicate with one another from mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets, particularly where a single device is used for both business and personal communications, there arises a problem identified by the Applicant that there is an increasing risk of a user receiving a real time request for connection such as a voice or video call or a live chat request at a time of day when it is not welcome. This is particularly the case if the intended recipient is located in a different time zone from the caller either ordinarily or temporarily e.g. as the result of a holiday or business trip.

It is an aim of the present invention to address this issue and when viewed from a first aspect the invention provides a telecommunication system comprising an originator device and a recipient device wherein the originator device is capable of making a request for a connection permitting real time interaction between the user of the device and a user of the recipient device, the originator device being arranged to determine information relating to an apparent location of the recipient device, determine a time zone relating to said apparent location, calculate a current time in said time zone and provide a warning if said current time in said time zone is outside a pre-determined time or set of times.

The invention also extends to a communication device capable of making a request for a connection permitting real time interaction between the user of the device and a user of a recipient device, the device being arranged to determine information relating to an apparent location of the recipient device, determine a time zone relating to said apparent location, calculate a current time in said time zone and provide a warning if said current time in said time zone is outside a pre-determined time or set of times.

Thus it will be seen by those skilled in the art that in accordance with the invention a user may receive a warning before they attempt to place a request for a real time connection (hereinafter referred to as a "call") so that they may avoid inadvertently disturbing the recipient at a time which is inappropriate based on the recipient's current time zone. This obviates the need for the originator to consider in advance where the recipient is and what the current local time is to determine whether this is an appropriate time. The warning may be delivered by default e.g. associated with an entry in a contact list. Additionally or alternatively, a warning may be given if the originator attempts to place a call to a particular recipient.

The predetermined time or set of times could simply be a pre-programmed default, could be specified by a user of the originator device, or could be specified by a recipient where a suitable data connection exists between the recipient and the originator e.g. if they are both part of the same closed network or are both operating a protocol which allows background data communication.

The information relating to an apparent location of the recipient device could be obtained in a number of ways. In a set of embodiments, said information may comprise part of the recipient device's identification such as the dialling code applicable to a telephone number. This has some advantages in that it does not require any data communication between the recipient device and the originator device and the relationship between dialling codes and geographic locations is relatively well established and publicised (although dialling codes are only one possible implementation of this feature). There are some limitations to relying on information such as dialling codes however. One such limitation is that not all dialling codes are allocated on a geographic basis these days, although there is usually at least a country dialling code which will give a time zone at least approximately (e.g. the US covers four time zones). Another limitation is that when users take mobile phones to a different country, calls are routed through the user's home network and a new dialling code is not allocated.

In another set of embodiments, the information comprises the internet protocol (IP) address of the recipient. This may be available if the recipient device is connected to the internet and will normally give at least an approximate geographic location which is sufficient to deduce the time zone although there may be complications to employing this information such as where the IP address is hidden, or where connection is made through a proxy or routed via a home network during international roaming.

Where the recipient device includes the capability to connect to a cellular communications network, this may be exploited for example through establishing an approximate location of the device using triangulation between cellular base stations or simply a geographic location of the base station to which the recipient device is connected. Such information could be determined by the recipient device and reported through a separate data channel or it may be retrieved through the cellular network infrastructure.

In another set of embodiments the recipient's device may be equipped to establish its location using the global positioning system (GPS) or an equivalent locating system which it may then report back to the originator device through a separate data channel.

In a further set of embodiments, a user of the recipient device may simply select a location either as part of a general setting for the device or specifically for the purpose of managing incoming communications as outlined above. It is recognized that this would permit an arrangement whereby a user of the recipient device could falsely report a location for whatever purpose he or she may have.

Although each of the techniques for establishing information relating to an apparent location of the recipient's device could be employed beneficially by itself, the applicant envisages that any combination of these methods (and indeed any combination of these methods with other methods not explicitly referred to herein) could be used either to gain a greater confidence in the information obtained through validation or to obtain location information using one approach when the information is not available using another approach. There are a wide variety of possible algorithms that could be applied to combine the various sources of information and all of these are intended to be encompassed within the scope of the present invention.

The warning may be given to the user of the originator device in any appropriate way. In a set of embodiments, the warning comprises an icon associated with the entry of the recipient in the contact list or address book of the originator. Where appropriate, other information may be provided such as whether a user is online or offline. This could be combined with the warning set out above. In a set of embodiments, a text warning is given if the originator attempts to place a call with the recipient when the determined local time for the recipient is outside the preset time or times. In a set of embodiments an audible warning is given.

The originator device could be arranged either optionally or permanently to prevent a call being placed to a recipient outside of the predetermined time or set of times in addition to the warning being given. Any combination of warning methods may be employed.

Certain embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, in reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic drawing showing a possible implementation of the invention; Figure 2 is a flowchart corresponding to the embodiment of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing second set of embodiments of the invention; Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the embodiments in Figure 3; Figure 5 is an exemplary textual warning in accordance with embodiments of the invention; Figure 6 is an enlarged view showing the possible states of a composite icon; and Figure 7 is an example partial screen shot showing a possible implementation of a warning in accordance with the invention.

Figure 1 shows schematically an embodiment of the invention in which the user of an originator device 2 wishes to place an ordinary telephone call to the owner of a recipient device 4. The originator device 2 is running a software application that allows it to communicate with a server 6. In the example shown in Figure 1, the recipient device 4 is in a different time zone to the originator device 2 such that when it is normal working hours in the location of the originator device 2, it is late evening in the time zone in which the recipient device 4 is located.

With further reference to the operation outlined in Figure 2, it may be seen that in the first step 10 the user of the originator device 2 enters an ordinary public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone number for the recipient device 4 or selects such a number from a previously stored address book. Then, at step 12, the originator device extracts the country code and, if available, the area code from the number entered or selected and transmits this as part of a query to the server 6.

The serverS performs a lookup on the serverS against the country code and area code and uses these to determine a location corresponding to the codes and the associated time zone. The time zone is communicated back to the originator device 2 which uses this to calculate the local time at the location of the recipient device 4 based on the time zone and the local time of the originator device 2 (step 14).

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that different implementations are possible, for example with the originator device 2 carrying out the lookup without requiring a connection to the server 6 (although such a connection may be used to update the tables stored on the originator's device 2 periodically).

At step 16, the originator device determines whether the calculated local time of the recipient's device is outside predefined working hours. If it is then a warning 8 is displayed to the user (step 18). Figure 5 shows one form of possible warning that could be used. If the user decides not to heed the warning, the application will nonetheless allow the user to place the call at step 20. If it is established at step 16 that the calculated local time is within working hours, then the originator device 2 proceeds directly to placing the call at step 20.

Figure 3 shows an alternative arrangement where the originator device 2 and the recipient device 4 are both connected to a common network 22 such as the Internet. The originator device 2 and recipient device 4 may, for example, be running the same communication software application. An example of possible operation of such an arrangement is described below with reference to the flowchart of Figure 4 and to the displays of Figures 6 and 7. In this embodiment, the user of the originator device 2 starts by opening up a contact list at step 24 which contains, for example, all of those contacts which have previously been registered with the same communication software application.

Upon opening the contact list, the software application at step 26 communicates through the network 22 to establish for each contact whether it is online and, if so, to request information from the device corresponding to the contact as to its current location. If the contact's device is registered on the network, it returns a message indicating this and providing location information. The contact's device could return this based on a GPS location or on a reported location entered by the user of that device. In another alternative, the network 22 may return the location of the device e.g. using an IP address or cellular network information.

For those contacts which are determined to be online (query 28), the local time for that contact is established based on the location information which is reported (step 30). The application then performs a lookup for each of the contacts to determine whether the established local time is outside a predefined set of working hours (step 32). If the time is determined to be outside the working hours, then a night symbol is displayed next to that contact (step 34). If the local time is established as being within working hours, then a day symbol is displayed next to the contact (step 36). Figure 6 shows a list of contact entries 38 with corresponding symbols 40 displayed against each entry. The night symbol 42 and day symbol 44 are shown in greater detail in Figure 7.

If it is determined at query 28 that the contact is not online, then its local time is established at step 46 based on its last known location. A determination is then carried out at step 48 as to whether this local time is outside the preset working hours and, if it is, then a night symbol is displayed at step 50 except that in this case the symbol is greyed out in order to indicate that the user is not online.

Similarly, if the established local time is within working hours, a day symbol is displayed at step 52 but also greyed out. The user may then use the software application to call any contact who is online or indeed may use a different communication method such as an ordinary phone call to contact users who are not online. If the user of the originator device 2 attempts to call a contact having a night symbol 42 displayed against their entry 38, the application may issue a further warning such as that shown in Figure 5.

Thus it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that in the embodiments described above a user will be given warning if he or she attempts to contact someone who may be in a time zone such that a call would be unwelcome.

Although the embodiments described above have been described in terms of voice calls, the same principles can be applied to video calls, instant messages, chat requests etc. or indeed any other form of communication which requires real time participation by the recipient. It will also be appreciated that the way in which the time zone of the recipient is established may differ from those described as indeed may the mode of warning given to the originator.

Claims

Claims 1. A telecommunication system comprising an originator device and a recipient device wherein the originator device is capable of making a request for a connection permitting real time interaction between the user of the device and a user of the recipient device, the originator device being arranged to determine information relating to an apparent location of the recipient device, determine a time zone relating to said apparent location, calculate a current time in said time zone and provide a warning if said current time in said time zone is outside a pre-determined time or set of times.
2. A system claimed in claim 1 wherein the recipient device includes the capability to connect to a cellular communications network, and the originator device is arranged to establish an approximate location of the device using triangulation between cellular base stations or a geographic location of a base station to which the recipient device is connected.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the recipient device is equipped to establish its location using the global positioning system (GPS) or an equivalent locating system and arranged to which it may then report back said location to the originator device through a separate data channel.
4. A system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said recipient device comprises mean for selecting a location.
5. A communication device capable of making a request for a connection permitting real time interaction between the user of the device and a user of a recipient device, the device being arranged to determine information relating to an apparent location of the recipient device, determine a time zone relating to said apparent location, calculate a current time in said time zone and provide a warning if said current time in said time zone is outside a pre-determined time or set of times.
6. A system or device as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said warning is associated with an entry in a contact list.
7. A system or device as claimed in any preceding claim wherein a text warning is given if the user of the originator device attempts to place a call with the recipient when the determined local time for the recipient is outside the preset time or times.
8. A system or device as claimed in any preceding claim arranged to give an audible warning.
9. A system or device as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said originator device is arranged to give said warning if a user attempts to place a call to a particular recipient.
10. A system or device as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said information comprise part of the recipient device's identification.
11. A system or device as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the information comprises the Internet protocol (I P) address of the recipient.
12. A telecommunication system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
13. An originator device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.