A recent patent granted to Apple titled “Communications system that provides user-selectable data when user is on-hold” will allow a useful system implementation that is capable of displaying relevant information on the screen of iPhone when a call is put on hold, the information displays is contextual and depends on the data taken from the phone call with the data ranging from calendar information, notes, contact information, mails or messages. The information displayed is not limited to the contextual data of the call only but also depends on user’s location, data, time, schedule and many other metrics. Rather than displaying static information like call time etc, useful information like news, weather etc. can be displayed on the screen.
There were many more examples detailed in the patent that seems to be a intelligent mix of what Google now does in a better and automated manner. More examples include getting more information of the person in call like their social network information, birthday, email IDs, messages etc. Other example shows a use case where a person’s family, birthday, hobbies or other facts of interest, the last time the user communicated with the person, or how many unsuccessful communication attempts were made.
Apple is also looking into the possibilities of pushing iAd platform using the same patent by displaying relevant ads on the call screen. Apple has been struggling to push the iAd platform and this may be a good addition to witness more traction with iAd platform.
Source: AppleInsider