“I am driving/busy” automatic response system for mobile phones

摘要

A cell phone which has been modified by the addition of software which responds to the press of one or more Busy keys by automatically sending a pre-typed text message to the sender of the latest text message just received or automatically answering an incoming call immediately upon pressing the Busy key and playing a pre-recorded audio message. The outgoing text or audio message can inform the sender of the incoming text or the caller that the user is driving or otherwise engaged and cannot respond immediately. In some embodiments, one or more Busy keys can be added keys or one or more existing keys on the cell phone or on the keypad of the cell phone or on a touchscreen or a visual depiction of a keypad on a touchscreen of the cell phone.

主权项

1. A cell phone comprising:
circuitry including at least memory and transceiver circuitry to carry out cellular telephony and Short Message Service texting and a touchscreen for displaying information and receiving user inputs and a microprocessor coupled to said transceiver circuitry and said touchscreen; software stored in said memory, said software including at least an operating system, said software structured to control said circuitry to implement said cellular telephony and said Short Message Service functions and to display a configuration menu option(s) that can be invoked by a user to configure said cell phone to select one of several predefined text messages stored in said memory as a default autoresponse text message, said software also structured to control said circuitry such that when an incoming cellular phone call is arriving, a busy key icon or area is displayed on said touchscreen, and wherein said software is further structured to control said circuitry such that when said busy key icon or area is touched, said circuitry is controlled to send said default autoresponse text message previously selected by a user of said cell phone to said caller who initiated said cellular phone call.