Granted Patent B2

US 9,338,761 · App. 14/382,662 · Granted May 10, 2016

Abstract

Claims (34)

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium hosted on a first device associated with a user to store one or more executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

detect a presence of a designated person other than the user based on an audio triggering event when audio capture is activated on the first device and a voice is available and a visual triggering event when visual capture is activated on the first device and a visual is available that verify a presence of the designated person by matching captured auditory cues of the designated person to a stored audio file on the first device when using the audio triggering event and matching a picture of the designated person captured by the first device to a stored image on the first device when using the visual triggering event;

determine whether the audio or visual triggering event occurred while the designated person was within a predetermined distance of the first device; and

responsive to an affirmative determination, change a notification mode for the first device from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode comprises an audible notification and the second mode comprises a non-audible notification.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein detect a presence of a designated person other than the user is based on determining a GPS location of a device associated with the designated person in lieu of the audio triggering event and the visual triggering event.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein detect a presence of a designated person other than the user is based on receiving a communication, based on a short range communication protocol, from a device associated with the designated person.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable medium hosted on a first device associated with a user to store one or more executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

detect a presence of a predetermined person other than the user based on an audio triggering event when audio capture is activated on the first device and a voice is available and a visual triggering event when visual capture is activated on the first device and a visual is available that verify a presence of the predetermined person by matching captured auditory cues of the predetermined person to a stored audio file on the first device when using the audio triggering event and matching a picture of the predetermined person captured by the first device to a stored image on the first device when using the visual triggering event;

determine whether the audio or visual triggering event occurred while the predetermined person was within a predetermined distance of the first device;

responsive to an affirmative determination, activate a notification mode change for the first device; and

change a notification mode for the first device from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode comprises an audible notification and the second mode comprises a non-audible notification.

5. A method to switch modes of a first device associated with a user, comprising:

determining, by the first device, a presence of a predetermined person other than the user based on an occurrence of an audio triggering event when audio capture is activated on the first device and a voice is available and a visual triggering event when visual capture is activated on the first device and a visual is available by matching captured auditory cues of the predetermined person to a stored audio file on the first device when using the audio triggering event and matching a picture of the predetermined person captured by the first device to a stored image on the first device when using the visual triggering event;

determining, by the first device, whether the audio or visual triggering event occurred while the predetermined person was within a predetermined distance of the first device to activate a notification mode change of the first device; and

responsive to an affirmative determination, changing a notification mode of the first device from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode comprises an audible notification and the second mode comprises a non-audible notification.

6. A method to switch modes of a first device associated with a user, comprising:

requesting an indication of a threshold distance measure to determine presence between the first device and a predetermined user of a second device;

determining, by the first device, whether an audio triggering event between the first device and the predetermined user of the second device has occurred within the predetermined threshold distance when audio capture is activated on the first device and a voice is available and whether a visual triggering event between the first device and the predetermined user of the second device has occurred within the predetermined threshold distance when visual capture is activated on the first device and a visual is available, wherein the audio or the visual triggering event includes capturing auditory cues of the predetermined user and matching the captured auditory cues to a stored audio file on the first device when using the audio triggering event, and capturing a picture of the predetermined user and matching the picture captured by the first device to a stored image on the first device when using the visual triggering event; and

responsive to an affirmative determination, changing a notification mode of the first device from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode comprises an audible notification and the second mode comprises a non-audible notification.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the device associated with the designated person comprises a smartphone.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein one of the first device and the device associated with the designated person includes a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a portable communication device, or a wearable computing device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the non-audible notification includes a selective silent mode, a meeting mode, or a silent mode, and the silent mode includes a vibrating notification.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the stored image on the first device includes a digital photograph, a video file, or a still image from the video file.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein detect a presence of a designated person other than the user is based on receiving a long-range communication from a device associated with the designated person via at least one of a wireless base station and a server.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the short range communication protocol includes a Bluetooth, radio-frequency identification (RFID), a WiFi, an infrared or near field communication (NFC).

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein determining a GPS location of a device associated with the designated person comprises determining whether the GPS location of the device associated with the designated person is within a predetermined threshold distance of the first device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the audio triggering event comprises a determination as to whether the captured auditory cues of the designated person is within a predetermined threshold distance of the first device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the visual triggering event comprises a determination as to whether the captured picture of the designated person is within a predetermined threshold distance of the first device.

16. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining, by the first device, whether the predetermined person is still within the predetermined distance of the first device; and

responsive to a negative determination, changing a notification mode of the first device from the second mode to the first mode or to a third mode.

17. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining a presence of a predetermined person other than the user is performed periodically.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determining whether the predetermined person is still within the predetermined distance of the first device includes detecting a movement of the user via an accelerometer on the first device.

19. The method of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined person is associated with one of a telephone number, a media access control (MAC) address, an IP address, or a unique identifier of a second device associated with the predetermined person.

Assignments (8)