Microsoft Patents Tech That Would Silence Your Phone For You

tsamsoniw writes "Microsoft has filed a patent for a mobile technology called Inconspicuous Mode, aimed at helping you not be 'that guy' who disrupts movies, meals, or meetings with noisy, bright-screened phone alerts. It's a setting that would effectively put your phone in stealth mode when the device sensed it was in a movie theater (thanks to location information) and that the lights had gone down. The idea is, you could still receive alerts if a call or text came in, but no one around you would be disturbed by phone sounds or screen flashes."

Comments

Already got it.

[Frosty Piss]

I already have a phone that does this. As someone who is aware of my surroundings and generally conscientious, I simply turn my phone to "vibrate" or even - God forbid - OFF... It works very well indeed. And I even still receive alerts if a call or text came in. Amazing technology.

Re:Already got it.

[iamhassi]

I already have a phone that does this. As someone who is aware of my surroundings and generally conscientious, I simply turn my phone to "vibrate" or even - God forbid - OFF... It works very well indeed. And I even still receive alerts if a call or text came in. Amazing technology.

Yes Apple already patented the technology, silencing the phone based on GPS location. Similar to geofencing that came out in iOS 5

Re:Already got it.

[dkleinsc]

No, this is also about shutting down somebody else's annoying phone.

Which I can do, too - it's amazing what you can accomplish with a simple sledgehammer.

Re:Already got it.

[CanHasDIY]

I already have a phone that does this. As someone who is aware of my surroundings and generally conscientious, I simply turn my phone to "vibrate" or even - God forbid - OFF... It works very well indeed. And I even still receive alerts if a call or text came in. Amazing technology.

Yes Apple already patented the technology, silencing the phone based on GPS location. Similar to geofencing that came out in iOS 5

Cute, Apple patents something in 2012 that I've had on my Android phone since 2010 (little app called WhereRing). That sort of thing never happens.

Minor bitch, a script that takes input from existing sensors and uses said input to cause a particular action in existing hardware is not what I would refer to as "technology."

"Bloody obvious" would be a good alternate term.

Re:Already got it.

[Dishevel]

I love Tasker for this kind of thing.
Turning on wifi at home and at work.
Toggling GPS off when battery power gets low.
Guess though would would need some kind of patent on stuff like this to use it on iOS or Windows Phone 8.
On Android though Tasker has been on every one of my phones for a few years now.

Re:Already got it.

[bugs2squash]

I occasionally go to movies and leave my kids with a babysitter. She has my number and I expect a call if something really bad comes up that she needs to deal with (after she dials 911) and the kids have my number too. If the movie theater were to deliberately cause me to miss such a call I would sue their ass regardless of whatever legal crap they posted in their "conditions of ticket sale" fine print.
I'm sure I'm not alone.

Re:Already got it.

[BasilBrush]

You're so spoiled. Mobile phones have only been commonplace about 15 years and already people talk about them as if they have an inalienable right to be connected everywhere at any time.

People were able to cope with leaving their kids with a babysitter in the 1990s and earlier you know. Without going all prima donna and threatening lawyers.

Or you could turn it off ...

[Kittenman]

Or silent mode...

How does it know when the lights go down.....

[Ellis D. Tripp]

as opposed to just sitting in your dark pocket?

Turn it off, or leave

[innocent_white_lamb]

I own and operate a movie theatre. I have policy trailers that I play before every show telling you to turn your cell phone off. If I see a light from a cell phone while the show is on, I'll go in and ask you to turn it off until the show is over. If I see your light again, I'll ask you to come to the lobby with me, and when you get there I'll tell you to go home.

Since I have been doing this for years, ever since cell phones existed, I have very little problem with cell phones here.

Consistent enforcement is the answer. I have to tell maybe one or two people a month to turn their phones off, sometimes I can go a few months without having to do it once. And I can't remember the last time I threw someone out for that -- it's been at least a couple of years.

Re:this is like trying to make people good drivers

[Joce640k]

the people disrupting the movie won't care about this.

Even if they did, they'd still answer and say "I can't talk, I'm in the cinema... Really? No way, dude!! Haha. So what did he do next??? You're kidding me!!! " etc.

Re:this is like trying to make people good drivers

[icebike]

the people disrupting the movie won't care about this. and probably won't enable it even if their phone had it.

Most of the people who disrupt movies are not jerks, just forgetful, or they came in a few seconds late and missed the ever present "Cell Phone Off" request that appears on the screen in every theater I've been to in the last 5 years.

This would save a lot of embarrassment and I suspect a lot of people would turn it on if it worked properly.

If they do get it working properly, I'd like to see it on by default, with the setting to turn it off buried 5 menus deep. That would keep the clueless users who can't figure out how to silence their phones from being able to defeat it without the manual.

Re:this is like trying to make people good drivers

[bitt3n]

the only solution is to wait two weeks or more until after a movie comes out to see it in an almost empty theater

that's what I do. otherwise there's always some jerk who thinks it's funny to throw popcorn at me while I'm trying to talk on the phone.