Reducing distractions caused by setting up a communication session with a remote device that is being used during driving

1 . An electronic system comprising:

a communication subsystem connectable to a communication network;

a controller communicatively connected to the communication subsystem, and which:

detects initiation of setup of a communication session between a first electronic device and at least one second electronic device, via the communication subsystem and the communication network, with the electronic system as host;

receives data that indicates that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in a moving vehicle;

in response to determining that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in a moving vehicle:

communicates a request for receipt of information identifying whether driving conditions meet one or more criteria of the following criteria: presence of one or more of snow, rain, haze, wind, or sleet, a road containing turns, an incline/decline, road construction and obstacles, the driving conditions being detected by at least one sensor that detects external conditions to the vehicle;

receives the information including data related to a current driving condition provided by at least one of the first electronic device and the at least one sensor that detects the driving conditions with at least one of the one or more criteria;

pauses setup of the communication session to reduce distractions to the driver in response to receipt of the information identifying that the driver is potentially in the driving condition;

requests data about the first electronic device that indicates whether current driving conditions allow the driver to communicate via the communication session without degrading driving performance, wherein, to verify that the driver is able to communicate while operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions, the controller transmits a request, to the first electronic device, for a user input that indicates whether the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions;

completes setup of the communication session only in response to verifying that the driver is able to communicate via the communication session while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions, wherein the controller triggers completion of the setup of the communication session in response to receiving, from the driver via the first electronic device, an affirmative user input in response to the request for the user input; and

disconnects the first electronic device from a connected communication session, in response to receiving a negative response to the request for user input and rechecks the driving conditions prior to reconnecting the first electronic device to the communication session.

2 . The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein, in determining that the first electronic device is being used by the driver in the moving vehicle, the controller:

during the setup of the communication session, receives information from the communication network indicating that the first electronic device is being used by a user who is driving based on one or more of: (i) geographic location of the first electronic device indicating movement aligned with a roadway; and (ii) a report from a navigation application being executed by the first electronic device.

3 . The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein, to verify that the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions, the controller:

identifies a geographic location of the first electronic device; and

queries one or more of a navigation service and weather service for information of a corresponding one of hazardous traffic conditions and hazardous road conditions at the geographic location.

4 . The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein, the controller:

discontinues setup of the communication session and activates a timer with a time period for a delayed setup of a communication session in response to receiving, from the driver via the first electronic device, a negative user input in response to the request for the user input.

5 . The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the communication session is a video communication session and the controller:

completes setup of the communication session, but pauses communication of visual content to the first electronic device in response to receiving a negative user input from the driver using the first electronic device; and

initiates communicating visual content to the first electronic device in response to subsequently receiving an affirmative user input from the driver using the first electronic device.

6 . The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein:

the one or more sensors capture information about conditions external to the moving vehicle;

the at least one second electronic device comprises at least one output device; and

the controller:

receives the information of the conditions external to the moving vehicle;

identifies, from the information, external conditions meeting one or more of the criteria that are representative of at least one challenging driving condition; and

communicates a prompt to the at least one second electronic device, the prompt causing the at least one second electronic device to present a notification comprising one or more of an audio output and a visual output via a respective one of the at least one output device, wherein the notification indicates to a respective user of each of the at least one second electronic device that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in moving vehicle with driving conditions meeting one or more of the criteria.

7 . The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein, to verify that the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions, the controller:

transmits a request, to a navigation application that is one of executed by the first electronic device or communicating with the first electronic device, for data that indicates whether the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the moving vehicle under the current driving conditions;

completes setup of the communication session in response to receiving, from the navigation application, an affirmative response to the request for the data indicating the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the moving vehicle; and

discontinues setup of the communication session and activates a timer with a time period for a delayed setup of a communication session in response to receiving, from the navigation application, a negative response to the request.

8 . A method comprising:

detecting initiation of setup of a communication session between a first electronic device and at least one second electronic device, via a communication subsystem and a communication network, with the electronic system as host;

receiving data that indicates that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in a moving vehicle;

in response to determining that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in a moving vehicle:

communicating a request for receipt of information identifying whether the driving conditions meet one or more criteria of the following criteria: presence of one or more of snow, rain, haze, wind, or sleet, a road containing turns, an incline/decline, road construction and obstacles, the driving conditions being detected by at least one sensor that detects external conditions to the vehicle;

receiving the information including data related to a current driving condition provided by at least one of the first electronic device and at least one sensor that detects driving conditions with at least one of the one or more criteria;

pausing setup of the communication session to reduce distractions to the driver in response to receipt of the information identifying that the driver is potentially in the driving condition;

requesting data about the first electronic device that indicates whether current driving conditions allow the driver to communicate via the communication session without degrading driving performance, wherein, to verify that the driver is able to communicate while operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions, requesting the data comprises transmitting a request to the first electronic device for a user input that indicates whether the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions;

completing setup of the communication session only in response to verifying that the driver is able to communicate via the communication session while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions, wherein completing the setup of the communication session is performed in response to receiving, from the driver via the first electronic device, an affirmative user input in response to the request for the user input; and

disconnecting the first electronic device from a connected communication session, in response to receiving a negative response to the request for user input and rechecks the driving conditions prior to reconnecting the first electronic device to the communication session.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein verifying that the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions comprises:

identifying a geographic location of the first electronic device; and

querying one or more of a navigation service and weather service for information of a corresponding one of hazardous traffic conditions and hazardous road conditions at the geographic location.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

discontinuing setup of the communication session and activates a timer with a time period for a delayed setup of a communication session in response to receiving, from the driver via the first electronic device, a negative user input in response to the request for the user input.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the communication session is a video communication session, the method further comprising:

completing setup of the communication session, but pausing communication of visual content to the first electronic device in response to receiving a negative user input from the driver using the first electronic device;

initiating communicating visual content to the first electronic device in response to subsequently receiving an affirmative user input from the driver using the first electronic device.

12 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving information of conditions external to the moving vehicle captured by the one or more sensors;

identifying, from the information, external conditions meeting one or more of the criteria that are representative of at least one challenging driving condition; and

communicating a prompt to the at least one second electronic device, the prompt causing the at least one second electronic device to present a notification comprising one or more of an audio output and a visual output via a respective one of the at least one output device, wherein the notification indicates to a respective user of each of the at least one second electronic device that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in a moving vehicle with driving conditions meeting one or more of the criteria.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein verifying that the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions comprises:

transmitting a request, to a navigation application that is one of executed by the first electronic device or communicating with the first electronic device, for data that indicates whether the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions;

completing setup of the communication session in response to receiving, from the navigation application, an affirmative response to the request for the data indicating the driver is able to communicate while safely operating the moving vehicle; and

discontinuing setup of the communication session and activates a timer with a time period for a delayed setup of a communication session in response to receiving, from the navigation application, a negative response to the request.

14 . A computer program product comprising:

a non-tangible computer readable storage device; and

program code on the computer readable storage device that when executed by a processor associated with an electronic system, the program code enables the electronic system to provide functionality of:

detecting initiation of setup of a communication session between a first electronic device and at least one second electronic device, via a communication subsystem and a communication network, with the electronic system as host;

receiving data that indicates that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in a moving vehicle;

in response to determining that the first electronic device is being used by a driver in a moving vehicle:

communicating a request for receipt of information identifying whether the driving conditions meet one or more criteria of the following criteria: presence of one or more of snow, rain, haze, wind, or sleet, a road containing turns, an incline/decline, road construction and obstacles, the driving conditions being detected by at least one sensor that detects external conditions to the vehicle;

receiving the information including data related to a current driving condition provided by at least one of the first electronic device and the at least one sensors that detect driving conditions with at least one of the one or more criteria;

pausing setup of the communication session to reduce distractions to the driver in response to receipt of the information identifying that the driver is potentially in the driving condition;

requesting data about the first electronic device that indicates whether current driving conditions allow the driver to communicate via the communication session without degrading driving performance; and

completing setup of the communication session only in response to verifying that the driver is able to communicate via the communication session while safely operating the vehicle under the current driving conditions, wherein completing the setup of the communication session is performed in response to receiving, from the driver via the first electronic device, an affirmative user input in response to the request for the user input; and

disconnecting the first electronic device from a connected communication session, in response to receiving a negative response to the request for user input and rechecking the driving conditions prior to reconnecting the first electronic device to the communication session.

15 . The electronic system of claim 6 , wherein:

the at least one sensor comprises an image capturing device that captures an image stream of conditions external to the moving vehicle;

the at least one output device comprises a display device; and

the controller:

receives, within the received information, the image stream of conditions external to the moving vehicle;

analyzes the image stream to identify and determine the external conditions meet the one or more criteria that are representative of at least one challenging driving condition; and

in response to determining that the external conditions in the image stream are representative of the one or more criteria, automatically communicates, to the at least one second electronic device, a notification that triggers output of a visual image of the image stream on the display device of the at least one second electronic device to enable a respective user of the at least one second electronic device to receive a visual experience of a severity of the challenging driving conditions intuitively and in real-time.

16 . The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the controller:

presents a screen share window with visual content to each second participant of the communication session via respective one of the at least one second electronic device; and

presents within the screen share window, to the second participants not currently having driving conditions that meet the one or more criteria, a notification indicating which participants are prevented from viewing the content due to being in a driving condition meeting the one or more criteria.

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the at least one sensor comprises an image capturing device that captures an image stream of conditions external to the moving vehicle;

the at least one output device comprises a display device; and

the method further comprises:

receiving, within the received information, the image stream of conditions external to the moving vehicle;

analyzing the image stream to identify and determine the external conditions that meet the one or more criteria, which are representative of at least one challenging driving condition; and

communicating to the at least one second electronic device, a notification that triggers output of a visual image that is presented visually on the display device to a respective user of the at least one second electronic device,

in response to determining that the external conditions in the image stream are representative of the one or more criteria, automatically communicating, to the at least one second electronic device, a notification that triggers output of a visual image of the image stream on the display device of the at least one second electronic device to enable a respective user of the at least one second electronic device to receive a visual experience of a severity of the challenging driving conditions intuitively and in real-time.

18 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

presenting a screen share window with visual content to each second participant of the communication session via respective one of the at least one second electronic device; and

presenting within the screen share window, to the second participants not currently having driving conditions that meet the one or more criteria, a notification indicating which participants are prevented from viewing the content due to being in a driving condition meeting the one or more criteria.

19 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the program code enables the electronic system to provide functionality of:

receiving, within the received information, an image stream captured by an image capturing device of the first electronic device, of conditions external to the moving vehicle, the image capturing device operating as one of the one or more sensors;

analyzing the image stream to identify and determine the external conditions that are representative of at least one driving conditions that meet the one or more criteria; and

in response to determining that the external conditions in the image stream are representative of the at least one driving condition that meet the one or more criteria, automatically communicating to the at least one second electronic device, a notification of a driving condition of the first user that triggers output of a visual image of the image stream on a display device of the at least one second device for visual presentation to a respective user of the at least one second electronic device to enable the respective user of the at least one second electronic device to receive a visual experience of a severity of the challenging driving conditions intuitively and in real-time.

20 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the program code enables the electronic system to provide functionality of:

presenting a screen share window with visual content to each second participant of the communication session via respective one of the at least one second electronic device; and

presenting within the screen share window, to the second participants not currently having driving conditions that meet the one or more criteria, a notification indicating which participants are prevented from viewing the content due to being in a driving condition meeting the one or more criteria.