(Phys.org) —An Apple iPhone invention would allow you to check the availability status of another iPhone user before you make the phone call. The advantage for the caller would be avoiding being dumped into voice mail without knowing when it would be a good time to call. The invention is not something available to Apple users; it is only a patent filing, which was published Thursday by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The application was originally filed in February 2012. Inventors are named as Devrim Varoglu and Swapnil Dave. The patent title is "Methods to Determine Availability of User Based on Mobile Phone Status." The status information might include more information than whether the person is free to take the call: Remaining battery life, time zone, current location, strength of the callee's signal (if it is indicated that the remote mobile phone is in an area that does not have a good reception, the local user may decide not to call) and whether the callee is in some special mode—normal, vibrate, airplane.
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