PATROLL Winning Submission

US 9,973,622

U.S. Patent No. 9,973,622 (“Bovis”), which was filed on March 15, 2016 without a claim
to an earlier priority date, is directed to a mobile device that allows the device to send a selected
message in response to a communication and to enter an inactive mode, depending on whether
the mobile device user presses a silence button upon receiving a communication corresponding
to various communication types.
U.S. Patent No. 8,948,821 (“Newham”), filed on October 30, 2012 and claims a May 27,
2012 priority date, relates to a mobile device notification system based on weights assigned to
various communication criteria such as sender’s identity, time, etc., wherein the values of the
weights may be preset or modified depending on whether the mobile device user ignores a
communication from a sender.
U.S. Patent No. 9,100,809 (“Olincy”), filed on December 1, 2012 and claims a December
21, 2009 priority date, relates to a mobile system that allows the automated sending of a reply to
a communication such as text message, email, or call when the mobile system user is
unavailable.
U.S. Patent Appl. No. 20100216509A1 (“Riemer”), filed on April 6, 2010 and claims a
September 26, 2005 priority date, relates to methods and apparatuses for managing one or more
portable electronic devices and their functionalities. The invention can automatically detect when
a user is unable to use a mobile device such as when the user is driving and can also provide
suitable notifications to the user based on the user’s status while allowing the mobile device user
to remain connected through the user’s mobile device, automatically and transparently to the
user’s contacts such as SMS, emails, instant messaging, and other communication means.

A sample claim chart comparing Bovis to Newham in combination with Olincy is

provided below.

U.S. 9,973,622 (“Bovis”) U.S. 8,948,821 (“Newham”) in view of

U.S. 9,100,809 (“Olincy”) and
U.S. Patent Appl. No. 20100216509A1 (“Riemer”)
1.pre. A mobile device Newham discloses “management of notifications across
comprising: mobile devices.” See Newham at col. 1:40-41.

1.a. a user interface including a Newham discloses the following:

silence button that, when
pressed, silences one or more
sound, visual, or vibration
communication cues
accompanying a
communication;
“Mobile devices, such as mobile phones, smart phones,
tablets, or laptops, may have various types of user
notifications including audio, visual, and haptic (e.g.,
vibration) notifications.” Newham at col. 1:11-14.
“These devices may also include various modes combining
or restricting some of these notifications (e.g., a smart phone
set to vibrate may not ring or a laptop allowing a pop up
reminder may not sound an alarm when sound is muted).” Id.

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 at col. 1:14-18.

“Current mobile devices may allow users to control

notification modes (e.g., silencing a ringing phone that may
be interrupting a meeting or movie).” Id. at col. 1:18-20.

“The mobile device 1100 may also include physical buttons

1112a and 1112b for receiving user inputs.” Id. at col. 18:24-
23.
1.b. a wireless communications Newham discloses that “the notification controller module
module; 202 may access wireless network transceivers 217 of the
mobile device, such as Bluetooth R) transceivers, Wi-Fi
transceivers, etc. to determine visible devices and/or
networks.” Newham at col. 8:35-38.

1.c. a processor, controlling the Newham discloses that “the mobile device processor may
wireless communications generate a request for an action influence indication. In an
module and the user interface; embodiment, a request for an action influence indication
and may be a user interface element, ....” Newham at col. 16:4-7.

Newham also discloses that “the functionality of a

notification controller may be executed as a software
program executing on a processor of the mobile device.” Id.
at col. 3:51-53.

1.d. a memory controlled by Newham discloses “enabled cellular telephones, wireless

the processor, the memory
including instructions that
when executed by the processor
cause the processor to perform
the steps of:
gaming controllers, and similar personal electronic devices
which include a programmable processor and memory and
circuitry for sending and/or receivi
ng voice and data calls, sending and/or receiving messages
(e.g., short message service (SMS) messages, e-mails, ….”
Newham at col. 2:51-55.

1.e. receiving a user selection Riemer discloses the following:

of an away message to use
when the mobile device is in an “In an embodiment, the dashboard allows the administrator
inactive mode; to monitor all safe driving mode activity. The driving
activity of one or more designated users may be periodically
uploaded to a remote server or to the network and saved
to a safety log accessible through the dashboard by the
administrator. The safety log may consist of safety event
entries in a simple text file, viewable over the dashboard.
Entries in the safety log may include the day and time

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when a portable electronic device engaged in safe mode,
then the device exited safe mode, functions used on the
device when engaged in safe mode, and overrides. The
safety log could also contain phone numbers called or
calling, types of events that were averted while in safe mode,
calls attempted to be made or actually made to or from the
device and the length of such calls while in safe mode, and
many other operational aspects of the device while in safe
mode.” Riemer at p. 17, col. 1, par. 155.

“The safety log may be stored in a database or in a text or

XML file and displayed through the dashboard using various
graphical representations. For example, the safety log may
be organized by group, by each contact, or by the type of
event, and presented through the dashboard on a tabular
form. The safety log could be available for download to a
local storage device.” Id. on p. 17, col. 1, par. 155.

“The contact policy may also include a set of rules

specifying when and how often to send notifications to one
or more contacts when in safe driving mode. For example,
the user may specify a policy to send a notification when the
device engages in safe driving mode and when it exits the
safe mode. The user may also enable auto-reply to
communications received while in safe mode. Further, if
auto-reply is enabled the dashboard provides options to
edit the content of the messages sent as auto responses.”
Id. on p. 16, col. 2, par. 147.

“FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of the preferences

panel 406 available through the dashboard 400. The
preferences panel 406 includes phone call options 502 and
auto-reply options 504.” Id. on p. 15, col. 1, par. 131.

“The auto-reply options 504 allow the user to specify

whether to auto-reply unanswered calls, to incoming calls, to
incoming text messages, or to do a combination of these.
While not illustrated in FIG. 5, other auto-reply options can
include customization of content in auto-reply messages,
and the assignment of custom auto-reply messages to
contacts or a group.” Id. on at col. p. 14, col. 2, par. 131.

“Through the dashboard or via an API directly in the

application, the user may further customize how to modify
the behavior of third-party applications when engaged in
safe driving mode, ranging from completely disabling a

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 third-party application, to a simple modification of the
behavior of the third-party application.” Id. on p. 17, col. 2,
par. 159.

“A key in an embodiment relates to not only modifying the

behavior of standard features of a mobile when in safe
driving mode, but also the ability to allow third-party
applications installed on the portable electronic device to be
driving aware. Notifications can be sent to all or to a select
set of third-party applications running locally on the portable
electronic device or running remotely. The manner in which
each third party application uses the driving aware
information will depend on the type of third-party
application and functions provided by the third-party
application. In an embodiment, all alerts associated with
third-party applications would be suppressed. For
example, alerts for a task or a calendar application would
be suppressed until exiting safe driving mode.” Id. on p.
18, col. 2, par. 166.

1.f. receiving, via the user Newham discloses “In an embodiment, a user interface may
interface, a minimum silences present the weighting factors for the various communications
threshold; related criteria and may enable the user to change the
weighting factors.” Newham at col. 4:24-27.

Newham discloses “The master notification control user

interface element 904 may include a slide bar including an
icon 906 for minimal notifications and an icon 908 for
maximum notification 908.” Id. at col. 16:66-67 through col.
17:1-2.

“In block 612 the mobile device processor may determine

the state of the mobile device, such as by accessing a mobile
device state register or operating system data indicating the
device's current setting and/or operating mode, such as
“silent” or “hands free.” Id. at col. 12:57-62.

“In an embodiment, a user acknowledgement history data

associated with past notifications may be used to modify the
notification control table or the weighting factors used in a
notification control algorithm.” Id. at col. 4:40-43.

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“In an embodiment, various weighting factors may be
assigned to the various communications related criteria as
part of the process by which the mobile device (or personal
hub) processor selects a notification for a received
communication.” Id. at col. 4:8-12.

“In an embodiment, notifications associated with repeat

acknowledgments may be designated as effective
notifications, while notifications which are repeatedly
ignored may be designated an ineffective notifications.”
Id. at col. 9:11-15.

“In an embodiment, the notification controller

module 202 may use such history information to modify
selected notifications to increase or decrease the likelihood
that an incoming communication will be acknowledged.” Id.
at col. 9:15-18.

“As an example, the notification controller

module 202 may modify the selected notifications by
increasing or decreasing one or more weighting factors

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1.g. receiving, via the user
interface, a communication
type threshold, contact group
threshold, time period
threshold, and location
threshold,
wherein the communication
type threshold, contact group
threshold, time period
threshold, and location
threshold define a plurality of
bins, wherein each bin of the
plurality of bins corresponds to
a trigger condition,
associated with the selected notifications for incoming
communications.” Id. at col. 9:18-22.
“Using the various slide bars in the user interface 902 the
various weighting values may be user-selectable and user-
configurable. In an embodiment, the positions of the
various slide bars in the user interface 902 may
correspond to weighting values in a weighting value
lookup table stored in a memory of a mobile device, and
changes to the various slide bar positions in the user
interface 902 may result in changes to the weighting
values in the weighting value lookup table stored in
memory.” Id. at col. 17:36-44.
Newham discloses the following:
“In the various embodiments, notifications may be managed
based on various criteria, such as a communication sender's
identity, user device settings, user activities, user device
state, user calendar information, time, location, user history
data, and/or communication type.” See Newham at col. 3:30-
35.
“The user interface 902 may also include weighting value
control elements 914, 916, and 918. Weighting value
control element 914 may correspond to caller/sender
identification weighting values and may include a category
slide bar 920 to enable all category weighting values for
caller/sender identification to be adjusted together, and
sub-category slide bars 922 to enable specific sub-
categories of weighting values, such as “Friend”,
“Privileged”, or “Unknown” to be adjusted.” Id. at col.
17:16-24.
“In an embodiment, tags may be assigned to contacts
and/or groups of contacts in the contact lists 208. As an
example, contacts and/or groups of contacts may be
designated with tags, such as “Privileged”, “Friend”,
“Work Colleague”, “Business”, “Golf”, or “Family
Member.” In an embodiment, the tags for contacts and/or
groups of contacts may be individually set by a user in a
contact list and/or assigned to all contacts based on the
contact list.” Id. at col. 7:45-52.
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“The user interface element 1002 may include various
buttons 1004, 1006, 1008, 1010, 1012, 1014 corresponding
to different categories and/or subcategories, such as
“Caller/Sender”, “Communication Type”, “Contact Type”,
“Device State”, “Current Activity”, and “Location”, which
may be action influences for acknowledging or ignoring
the generated notification.” Id. at col. 17:57-63.

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“37. A method of notifying a user of a mobile device of
incoming communications, the method performed by an
electronic device, the method comprising: executing an
algorithm using weighting values to select a notification
for an incoming communication received on a mobile
device, the weighting values including weighting values
for a caller/sender identification for the incoming
communication received on the mobile device, a
communication type for the incoming communication
received on the mobile device, and a user status, wherein the
executed algorithm adds to, subtracts from, multiplies, or
divides at least one of the weighting valued to select the
notification for the incoming communication; and triggering
a generation of the selected notification.” Id., claim 37.

“In an embodiment, a request for an action influence

indication may be a user interface element, such as a pop-up
message, requesting the user identify one or more of the
determined categories or sub-categories, such as
communication type, caller/sender ID, contact type,
calendar entry, device state, transceiver state, current
activity, current time, and/or current location, as a factor
which influenced the user's decision to acknowledge or
ignore the generated notification.” Id. at col. 16:5-13.

“As discussed above, in block 606 the mobile device

processor may determine the caller/sender ID for the
incoming communication. In block 704 the mobile device
processor may select a weighting value for the caller/sender
ID. In an embodiment, the mobile device processor may
select a weighting value from the caller/sender ID by
retrieving the weighting value corresponding to the
determined caller/sender ID from a weighting value lookup
table.” Id. at col. 14:6-14.

“In an embodiment, the notification controller

module 202 may include a learning/acknowledge
counter 204. For example, the notification controller
module 202 may monitor the output devices, such as an
earpiece 217, speaker 218, vibratory motor 220, display 222,
personal hub 224, and light 226, and may determine
whether a generated notification was acknowledged or
ignored.” Id. at col. 9:5-11.

“In an embodiment, notifications associated with repeat

acknowledgments may be designated as effective

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1.h. in response to receiving,
via the user interface, a
plurality of indications that the
silence button has been pressed
in response to a communication
cue signifying an incoming
communication,
assigning each indication to one
of the plurality of bins
corresponding to a
communication type, a contact
group, a time period, and a
location associated with the
indication,
notifications, while notifications which are repeatedly
ignored may be designated an ineffective notifications. In an
embodiment, the notification controller module 202 may
use such history information to modify selected
notifications to increase or decrease the likelihood that an
incoming communication will be acknowledged. As an
example, the notification controller module 202 may
modify the selected notifications by increasing or
decreasing one or more weighting factors associated with
the selected notifications for incoming communications.”
Id. at col. 9:11-22.
“A weighting value control element 918 may correspond to
user status weighting values and may include a category
slide bar 928 to enable all category weighting values for
user status to be adjusted together, and sub-category slide
bars 930 to enable specific sub-categories of weighting
values, such as “Free” or “Busy” to be adjusted.” Id. at
col. 17:30-36.
Newham discloses the following:
“In an embodiment, the notification controller may
monitor/record actions taken by the user of the mobile
device and/or connected devices to determine whether a
generated notification was acknowledge or ignored.”
Newham at col. col. 4:37-40.
“In an embodiment, a user acknowledgement history data
associated with past notifications may be used to modify the
notification control table or the weighting factors used in a
notification control algorithm.” Id. at col. 4:40-43.
“modifying assigned weighting values based on user
actions.” Id. at col. 13:60-61.
“increased or decreased by a value based on whether the
notification was acknowledged or ignored.” Id. at col. 4:67
through col. 5:1.
As an example, each weighting value in a weighting value
lookup table for the selected weighting values may be
increase by a set value, such as 1. Id. at col. 15:36-38.
“Examples of weighting factors that may be assigned
include, for example, a communication sender's identity,
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user device settings, user activities, user device state, user
calendar information, time, location, user history data, and/or
communication type, with potential notifications.” Id. at col.
4:12-16.

In an embodiment, a user acknowledgement history data

associated with past notifications may be used to modify
the notification control table or the weighting factors
used in a notification control algorithm.” Id. at col. 4:40-
43. col.

“In an embodiment, the notification controller

module 202 may use such history information to modify
selected notifications to increase or decrease the likelihood
that an incoming communication will be acknowledged.”
Id. at col. 9:15-18.

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“In an embodiment, a request for an action influence
indication may be a user interface element, such as a pop-up
message, requesting the user identify one or more of the
determined categories or sub-categories, such as
communication type, caller/sender ID, contact type,
calendar entry, device state, transceiver state, current
activity, current time, and/or current location, as a factor
which influenced the user's decision to acknowledge or
ignore the generated notification.” Id. at col. 16:5-13.

“As another example, entry 320 in the notification control

table 300 indicates that in response to a phone call (“Phone
call”) received from a listed non-privileged contact
(“Friend”) at a time with a corresponding calendar entry
(“Busy”) between the hours of 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM
(“0600-1700”) while the mobile device is in a normal state
(“Normal”) and moving (“Moving”) in the United States
(“US”) the mobile device should generate a notification
including a flashing light and a vibration. In this manner,
each combination of communication delivery method 302,
contact type 304, calendar entry 306, device state 308,
activity information 310, time 312, and location 314 may
result in different notifications 316 being generated.” Id.
at col. 10:12-25.

“FIG. 4E illustrates an example weighting factor (e.g.,

value) lookup table 410 for device states. In lookup
table 410 each device state (“DS”) sub-category, such as
“Normal”, “Hands Free”, and “Silent”, may be associated
with a weighting value.” Id. at col. 11:56-60.

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1.j. when a number of the
plurality of indications assigned
to a bin of the plurality of bins
exceeds the minimum silences
threshold, activate a trigger
condition corresponding to the
bin,
1.k. in response to receiving an
incoming communication from
the wireless communications
module that satisfies the
activated trigger condition,
transmitting, via the wireless
module, the user selected away
message to a sender of the
incoming communication and
Newham discloses the following:
“The notification controller may compare current status and
context data, as well as information regarding an incoming
communication to information in the notification control
table 300 to determine if there are matches between the
communication delivery method 302, contact type 304,
calendar entry 306, device state 308, activity information
310, time 312, and location 314, and use corresponding
notifications 316 included in matched records in order to
select the notifications to be generated.” Newham at col.
9:63-67 through col. 10:1-4.
“the weighting values of specific categories and/or sub-
categories corresponding to ignored notifications may be
decreased and future selections of notifications may be
tailored to be more likely to be acknowledged by the user
based on the user's actions.” Id. at col. 16:57-61.
“category slide bar 928 to enable all category weighting
values for user status to be adjusted together, and sub-
category slide bars 930 to enable specific sub-categories of
weighting values, such as “Free' or "Busy” to be adjusted.”
Id. at col. 17:32-36.
Olincy discloses that “the user can indicate a desire for an
automated response to be sent by doing any of the following
things (this list is not exhaustive and any other alternative
can be used also) in various alternative embodiments:. . . 2)
multiple pushes Such as two or three pushes of the same
button; 3) multiple pushes of the same button within a
predetermined time (to eliminate random pushes and key
bounce);....” Olincy at col. 49:1-17.
This embodiment, both automatically launches the Busy
application 169 (FIG. 4) and uses it plus context information
received from the kernel regarding whether a text message
was just received or a phone call is arriving to automatically
send a pre-typed text message in response if a text message
was just received or, if an incoming call is being received
when said Busy button is pushed,....” Id. at col. 4:6-12.
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1.l. suppressing one or more
sound, visual, or vibration
communication cues that would
have accompanied the
incoming communication.
Newham discloses “Current mobile devices may allow users
to control notification modes (e.g., silencing a ringing phone
that may be interrupting a meeting or movie).” Newham at
col. 1:18-20.
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