Wireless communications device having contact specific silent mode disabling capabilities

1. A wireless communications device comprising:

a memory adapted to maintain individual profiles relating to each of a plurality of user contacts, the profiles including a silent notification mode setting;

an output device operable to emit audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts;

an input device operable to change a notification mode of the device between an audible notification mode and a silent notification mode; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the output device and the input device, the processor operable for processing user selections of the silent notification mode setting between a silent mode enabled setting and a silent mode disenabled setting for the profiles,

wherein, the processor is configured to cause the output device to emit audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts, when the device is in the audible notification mode;

wherein, the processor is configured to prevent the output device from emitting audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode enabled, when the device is in the silent notification mode; and

wherein, the processor is configured to cause the output device to emit audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode disabled, when the device is in the silent notification mode.

2. The wireless communications device as recited in claim 1 wherein the silent notification mode setting further comprises a first silent notification mode setting for a first type of incoming communication and a second silent notification mode setting for a second type of incoming communication.

3. The wireless communications device as recited in claim 2 wherein the first and second types of incoming communications are selected from the group consisting of incoming telephone calls, incoming text messages, incoming SMS messages, incoming MMS messages and incoming email messages.

4. The wireless communications device as recited in claim 2 wherein the processor is configured to cause the output device to emit audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode disabled for the type of incoming communication received, when the device is in the silent notification mode.

5. The wireless communications device as recited in claim 1 wherein the silent notification mode setting further comprises a soft switch.

6. The wireless communications device as recited in claim 1 wherein the output device further comprises a speaker.

7. The wireless communications device as recited in claim 1 wherein the input device is selected from the group consisting of a hard switch, a soft switch and a timer.

8. The wireless communications device as recited in claim 1 wherein the silent notification mode further comprises notifications selected from the group consisting of visual notifications, vibration notifications and no notifications.

9. A method of operating a wireless communications device comprising:

maintaining individual profiles relating to each of a plurality of user contacts, the profiles including a silent notification mode setting;

processing user selections of the silent notification mode setting between a silent mode enabled setting and a silent mode disenabled setting for the profiles;

emitting audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts, when the device is in an audible notification mode;

preventing audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode enabled, when the device is in a silent notification mode; and

emitting audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode disabled, when the device is in the silent notification mode.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein processing the user selection of the silent notification mode setting between the silent mode enabled setting and the silent mode disenabled setting further comprises processing a user selection of a first silent notification mode setting for a first type of incoming communication and processing a user selection of a second silent notification mode setting for a second type of incoming communication.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the first and second types of incoming communications are selected from the group consisting of incoming telephone calls, incoming text messages, incoming SMS messages, incoming MMS messages and incoming email messages.

12. The method as recited in claim 10 further comprising emitting audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode disabled for the type of incoming communication received, when the device is in the silent notification mode.

13. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the user selection of the silent notification mode setting further comprises shifting a soft switch.

14. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein emitting audible notifications further comprises emitting audible notifications from a speaker.

15. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising operating the device between the silent notification mode and the audible notification mode with an input device selected from the group consisting of a hard switch, a soft switch and a timer.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a set of computer instructions executable by a processor for operating a wireless communications device, the computer instructions configured to:

maintain individual profiles relating to each of a plurality of user contacts, the profiles including a silent notification mode setting;

process user selections of the silent notification mode setting between a silent mode enabled setting and a silent mode disenabled setting for the profiles;

cause an output device to emit audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts, when the device is in an audible notification mode;

prevent the output device from emitting audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode enabled, when the device is in a silent notification mode; and

cause the output device to emit audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode disabled, when the device is in the silent notification mode.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 16 further including computer instructions configured to process a user selection of a first silent notification mode setting for a first type of incoming communication and process a user selection of a second silent notification mode setting for a second type of incoming communication.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 17 wherein the first and second types of incoming communications are selected from the group consisting of incoming telephone calls, incoming text messages, incoming SMS messages, incoming MMS messages and incoming email messages.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 16 further including computer instructions configured to cause the output device to emit audible notifications responsive to incoming communications from the user contacts having profiles with the silent mode disabled for the type of incoming communication received, when the device is in the silent notification mode.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 16 further including computer instructions configured to receive the user selection of the silent notification mode setting responsive to shifting a soft switch.