Flexible lifestyle portable communications device
View Patent ↗A method may include receiving a call at a portable communication device, entering a first mode when the call is directed to a first device identifier associated with the portable communication device; and entering a second mode when the call is directed to a second device identifier associated with the portable communication device, wherein the first mode provides access to a first set of applications and a first set of user data and the second mode provides a second set of applications and a second set of user data.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining a state of a portable communications device, wherein the state includes information about previous communications;
comparing the state to a plurality of rules, wherein the plurality of rules include one or more conditions regarding previous communications, wherein each of the plurality of rules is associated with a corresponding one of a plurality of modes, and wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with a corresponding one of at least two billing attributes; and
changing a mode of the portable communications device, based on the comparison, to one of the plurality of modes,
wherein the information about previous communications includes a first device identifier of a previous telephone call and a first email address of a previous email, and
wherein the one or more conditions regarding previous communications includes a second device identifier, a second email address, and a time window.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two billing attributes is associated with a different device identifier, each device identifier identifying the portable communications device, and wherein changing the mode includes changing the device identifier.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the at least two billing attributes include a personal billing account and a business billing account.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with a different skin, wherein changing the mode includes changing the skin, and wherein changing the skin includes changing a background color or a background pattern of a display of the portable communications device.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with a different set of applications and a different set of corresponding application data, and wherein changing the mode includes changing the set of applications and the set of corresponding application data.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with a different contact list.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the state includes a current time of day or a current day of week, and wherein comparing the state includes comparing the current time of day or the current day of week.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the state includes a current location and wherein comparing the state includes comparing the current location.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the state includes a device identifier of a called device of an outgoing phone call from the portable communication device.
10. A system comprising:
a portable communications device including:
a transceiver to transmit and receive user communications;
a memory to store a plurality of rules, each of the plurality of rules associated with one of a plurality of modes, wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with one of at least two billing attributes; and
a processor to determine a state of the portable communications device based on words used in the user communications, compare the state to each of the plurality of rules, and change a mode of the portable communications device, based on the comparison and based on a location of a called party, to one of the plurality of modes associated with one of the plurality of rules,
wherein the words used in the user communications include words spoken in a phone call by the user of the portable communications device.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein each of the at least two billing attributes is associated with a different device identifier, each device identifier identifying the portable communications device.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with a different skin, wherein the processor is configured to select the skin based on the comparison, and wherein the portable communications device further comprises:
a display for displaying a background simultaneously with a plurality of icons associated with applications, wherein the processor instructs the display to change, based on the selected skin, a background color or a background pattern.
13. The system of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with a different set of applications and a different set of corresponding application data, and wherein the processor changes the set of applications and corresponding application data based on the comparison.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with a different contact list.
15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the state includes a current time of day or a current day of week, and wherein the processor compares the current time of day or the current day of week.
16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the state includes a current location and wherein the processor compares the current location.
17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the state includes a device identifier of a called device of an outgoing phone call and the processor compares the device identifier of the called device of the outgoing phone call.
18. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining a state of a portable communications device based on words transmitted or received in user communications including words spoken in a phone call by a user of the portable communications device;
comparing the state to a plurality of rules, each of the plurality of rules associated with one of a plurality of modes, wherein each of the plurality of modes is associated with one of at least two billing attributes, each device identifier identifying the portable communications device;
selecting, based on the comparison and based on a location of a called party, a mode from the plurality of modes; and
changing a mode of the portable communications device to the selected mode.
19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 , wherein each of the at least two billing attributes is associated with a different device identifier, and wherein changing the mode includes changing the device identifier.
20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein the at least two billing attributes include a personal billing account and a business billing account.
21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the time window is a first time window associated with the second device identifier, and wherein the one or more conditions regarding previous communications includes a second time window associated with the second email address.
22. The system of claim 10 , wherein the words used in the user communications includes words appearing in an email sent from or received by the portable communications device.
23. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor instructs the display to change, based on the selected skin, a window border size, a button size, or a text size.
24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time window ends at a present time and begins at a predetermined time period before the present time.
25. The method of claim 18 , further comprising selecting a mode based on a priority associated with each rule when the comparison results in a conflict between the plurality of rules.