Microsoft Files Patent for "Inconspicuous Mode" on Phones

[Guest]

"Inconspicuous mode" may dim down your display and sound automatically.

Microsoft Files Patent for "Inconspicuous Mode" on Phones : Read more

 

[halcyon]

Could be useful...but needs to be on Android. Why couldn't Samsung have thought of this.

 

[christarp]

[citation][nom]halcyon[/nom]Could be useful...but needs to be on Android. Why couldn't Samsung have thought of this.[/citation]
cause samsung doesn't think of anything

 

[contentsmayvary]

Prior art exists, such as:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.GriggSoft.TheaterMode&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5HcmlnZ1NvZnQuVGhlYXRlck1vZGUiXQ..

 

[abbadon_34]

What's so hard about using your phone with the sound turned off? Or turning the brightness down? Or maybe just watching the movie your paid for? I don't get it.

 

[Guest]

lol @ that hack job of an app. An app to dim the phone? And a _future_release_ of the app will include profiles? For a phone that ALREADY has user-settable profiles?

I hope whoever wrote that is making money from fools, because to plop that app out there for free is to make a fool of the author.

 

[fnh]

I thought the dimmed screen feature on my Samsung Focus was already an 'inconspicuous mode'. Though an ability to match volume levels to ambient levels would be most welcome.

 

[contentsmayvary]

@Xperiabaddphone: Yeah, looks like a crap app. That's irrelevant. I bet it still works better than the NOT YET EVEN EXISTING feature for which MS has applied for a patent.

See, the point is that there is prior art for the proposed feature, but I guess all you heard was a whooshing sound just now?

 

[Guest]

Prior art does account for "quality" broadly defined. Don't know what patent process you're referring to here.

 

[Camikazi]

Motorola Smart Actions can do this and I'm sure there are a few other Smart Actions like programs that have profiles that can do this as well, nothing new.

 

[house70]

"...and possibly even brightness detection to allow auto-switching into the mode."
So, if your phone is in your pocket (not a very bright environment), you miss your notifications because the sound was muffled?
That's gonna work out great.

 

[chill1221]

Can people really not sit through a movie without the need to get on their phone? That's kinda sad if you think about it...

 

[classzero]

[citation][nom]halcyon[/nom]Could be useful...but needs to be on Android. Why couldn't Samsung have thought of this.[/citation]
Samsung will copy, er I mean innovate this.

 

[halcyon]

@Chill1221
The young folks today often feel the need to be connecting to each other non stop. Weird but it's the world we're in.

@Classzero
Samsung's version would likely be able to differentiate between being in a pocket and being in a dark theater.

 

[anti-painkilla]

Does this even need a patent? It is just a new profile...