* JavaPhone Design Ideas

JavaPhone Design Ideas

Last updated 1997 October 20 by Roedy Green © 1996 Canadian Mind Products.

When I was a kid growing up in West Vancouver in the 1950s, phones had no dials. You picked up the phone and said "I'd like to talk to Robbie Jones please" and the operator connected you. Modern technology is eventually going to get us back to the level of convenience we used to enjoy.

Java will make possible intelligent telephones. Here is my concept of the ideal Java-based phone which I have dubbed the JavaPhone. So far as I know JavaPhone is not a registered trademark. I would hope it could remain a generic term. Some of these ideas have nothing to do with Java, but I thought we might as well get the mechanical design right while we were rethinking the common phone.

Software features

  1. variable fidelity. You pay only for the bandwidth you need. This means that you can hear every nuance when your lover kisses you over the phone, but save money with low fidelity when he or she has to take a bathroom break.
  2. It has many features first pioneered by the MiniTel system in France. It replaces the paper white pages and yellow pages for directory lookup. Customers look up numbers themselves. It becomes not only a phone, but a cheap compute terminal for the masses.
  3. Call call blocking for long distance, 900 numbers etc. without the appropriate password. This lets parents have a little more control over their kids and businesses control over employees or walk-in customers. With Java-powered monitoring, more flexible rules are possible, e.g. allow you to phone a 900 number consulting service, so long as the bill stays under $50/day.
  4. You can order fancy features by downloading Java software into your JavaPhone. It is a fully functional little computer, capable of running a applets downloaded from the party you call. You might use it for something as trivial as selecting which pizza you want off a menu. Downloaded applets are an opportunity for companies to entertain callers with novelties.
  5. The BusTel (pronounced buzz-tell) button is white with a red heart symbol. When you press it, it exchanges electronic business cards with the other party and displays the information on the electroluminescent panel. You initially program in the electronic business card by phoning a service bureau computer that downloads it. The electronic business card looks very much like an Internet email header with named fields followed by a colon, e.g. Surname: GivenName: BusName: HomePhone: WorkPhone: DayPhone: NightPhone: Fax: Email: Apt: Street1: Street2: City: Postal: Country: Web: etc. etc. The BusTel/Heart key could also be called the trust key. You tap it once to exchange business cards. You tap it twice and key a P.I.N. number to also include charge card or debit card info.
  6. You can program the memories, caller id associations and ringing sound by being talked through the process by a synthesised voice on a server computer, or for simple tasks by reading the electroluminescent panel. You can also phone a human who can talk to you, and patiently extract from you what you want done, then download the change into your phone. This way even techopeasants will be able to get full power out of their JavaPhones.
  7. Assign phone numbers to individuals, not residences. When the phone rings, the distinctive sound lets you know who it is for. Existing call forwarding redirects calls for everyone using that phone. The JavaPhone service would track individuals.
  8. Built in phone directory of alphabetical names/numbers This way you could "dial" by using the up/down arrow keys to select, or by hitting a 4 digit code short dialing code. This long list would be backed up by your phone provider and could be updated using a computer. If you were visiting somebody else's phone, you could phone your provider and have your list temporarily downloaded into that JavaPhone.
  9. Battery backup of information stored in the phone. Service providers would also store a backup of that information for you so if your phone forgets, the JavaPhone automatically dials a number and refreshes its local copy. The number of your service provider would live in EAROM. This encourages evolution of new services, and spreads money around still further.
  10. "Money is like manure, it's no good unless you spread it around."
    -- Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly by Thorton Wilder and Jerry Herman.

  11. Various custom features currently only seen in PBX systems now become possible for the standard residential JavaPhone. Instead of memorising a zillion arcane codes, you use them by chasing nested menus on the display. These menus adapt to your usage so the things you do most commonly are easiest to get at.
  12. An RS-232 port (or some more modern equivalent) that squirts out data in ASCII to an attached computer so that computers can automate any function you can do by hand from the phone's keypad. A lawyer could use the information that the JavaPhone provides on call start/stop and called party for automatically generating billings of her time. Computers could request caller id or BusTel information and instantly bring up a customer's record before the receptionist even answered the phone. It would also allow your phone to be used as a modem.
  13. The JavaPhone may run off the usual copper wire to the telephone company CO (Central Office), or it might run off a coax cable modem to an ISP. In either case it can do advanced voice compression and/or encryption. Only both ends need know the scheme, not the carrier. This will permit more rapid evolution. For extreme secrecy, you could even go to the one-write XOR radioactive-decay (from the Americium in an old smoke detector) generated random number pad CD-ROM or Mexican peasant scheme I talk about so often, which is mathematically uncrackable.

Display Features

  1. The more expensive versions of the phone have various sizes of flat panel colour displays. The basic version uses a blue electroluminescent display.
  2. The display has four main functions:
    1. Displaying menus, phone numbers and other textual data.
    2. acting as a whiteboard on which you can scribble. Your combined scribblings are visible to both parties. You can also think of it as legacy FAX receiver.
    3. To act as a low-res, slow-update picturephone.
    4. To act as a GUI display for applets.
  3. Display of the last number dialed. In case you reach an unexpected party you can check that you dialled correctly and avoid the embarrassment of phoning the same wrong number a second time. It also gives visual feedback as you dial. The panel also shows a list of numbers recently dialled and the caller id of last 100 calls. Caller ID accesses a JDBC database to display names. Various models come with various sizes of display. This is transparent to the software. Users with small displays just do more scrolling.
  4. Call timer and running dollar cost display for long distance. Businessmen are interested in optimal use of their time. Home users are primarily interested in the cost of the call. This also makes it easier to pay someone fairly when they let you make a long distance call on their phone. Alternatively you could pay by billing the call to your own number. Such calls are password validated.
  5. 900-type service on any phone. A consultant could set up a telephone tech support service where people call with questions and get billed just by hitting the heart key a couple of times. Consultants could afford to take on one-shot phone clients since billing would be totally automated. The customer could even see the time and money meter running on his display.

Keypad Features

  1. Big buttons. This helps avoid misdialing and makes it easy even for old folks to see the numbers. Buttons are labelled both with numbers and alpha, with numbers much bigger. Even young people can benefit from such a phone with faster and more accurate dialing.
  2. No overloading of buttons. One button, one function.
  3. Some months ago I was in Mountain Equipment Co-Op. I saw these oddly shaped things used to create artificial climbing walls. They intrigued me no end. It lead me to speculate that perhaps the keys should have distinctive shapes and textures so you could even use the phone in the dark or if you are blind. In any case the distinctive shapes or textures would give subliminal tactile feedback that you had dialed correctly. Possibly the keys should have Braille patterns, particularly if various designers insist on being "creative" with the standard key layout.
  4. Red 911 button labelled 911 -- with no confusing symbols. The 911 button should be at the top of the phone set off from the rest of the buttons.
  5. A green redial button is labelled "again".
  6. The "quick" rapid dial select key should be blue, and placed next to redial. It should have a little lightning bolt symbol on it. To rapid dial, you hit "quick" then a digit.
  7. The violet "setup" configuration menu key should be set off by itself. It is violet to subliminally discourage people from accidentally touching it. Most people don't like that colour.
  8. Perhaps it is time to add check digits to phone numbers which are checked locally by the JavaPhone. This helps prevent misdialing. I have a phobia about phoning people, but I found that I don't have it when I use the memory feature. I think it comes from unpleasant confrontations when in past I dialed a wrong number.
  9. Unlisted numbers could have a password to make it harder for telephone solicitors or patient paparazzi to get through by random dialing. If your number and password leaked out, you would just need to change your password, (which you could do yourself) not get a new phone number. I always thought it odd that you must pay extra to persuade the phone company not to make a million or so copies of your name, address and phone number (but no postal code) on slips of paper and deliver them to people who have no intent of ever telephoning you.
  10. Optionally, you can dial, then wait for a confirming display of the name of the caller you are about to call before you confirm the call and allow ringing to proceed.
  11. Even local calls should be allowed to be dialed with full area and country codes to support standard-format computer databases of phone numbers since there is no way end users or even portable computers can be expected to know which exchanges are considered local.
  12. Yellow button labelled "flash" to provide a timed hook flash for handling a call waiting.
  13. Up down arrow keys are used for scrolling the display. The line in the center of the display is automatically the selected line.

Sound and Ringer Features

  1. Adjustable volume would be nice for older folks and the hard of hearing. It is also useful where background noise is high.
  2. choice of 10 interesting "organic" ringing noises selected by twirling a rotary dial on the bottom of the phone. This way there would be no confusion which phone is ringing in a multi-phone situation. These noises would be distinct from the noises used by convention for phones on TV, movies or VR. You could also download custom sounds as AU files. You might use the call of a loon when you are outside, or a waterfall sound when you are inside.
  3. Infinitely-variable ringer volume.
  4. I startle easily. Every time the phone rings I get a nasty jolt of adrenalin. Something must be done. The ring starts out quietly and gets gradually louder with each ring. This is less startling, especially if I am asleep.
  5. Distinctive ring depending on who the call was for, see programming features for more details. Rings sounds may also be coded in other ways -- e.g. emergency, or low priority.
  6. Do not disturb can direct your calls immediately to an answering machine on the first ring without making any sound. The answering machine may be a virtual one provided by your JavaPhone service provider. If you tend to ramble on and on in your greeting message, telling everyone all the news about all your relatives, somebody without time to hear all the juicy details can "interrupt" you and leave a message. You can of course leave different greeting messages for different callers so you don't tell just anyone about what happened when Mabel ××××××× ××× ××××××× ×× ××× × ××××× ×××××, (or more tersely: pattern 73723155).
  7. You can turn off the ringer without unplugging the phone. The display flashes when there is an incoming call.

Miscellaneous Features

  1. Your serivce provider lets you look up numbers given whatever information you've got e.g. old phone number, street address, rough area of the city, postal code...
  2. Available in 10 decorator colours. I'm getting tired of beige and white.
  3. desk or wall mount.
  4. non-tangling, springy cord so you can wander off to the bathroom with the phone should the need arise.

Designing Techniques

  1. Have the designers read Donald Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things".
  2. Hone the design by using a prototype and log any confusion, awkwardness or error in using it. These dissatisfaction points need to be honed.
  3. Have a fresh supply of "JavaPhone virgins" to use to test the phone. Give them no instruction on how to use it and see what features they can discover and use without fumbling.
  4. Check that people after a little experience can use the phone blind-folded.
  5. Let testers take the phones home and use them in real life situations. Give them a pad to put next to the phone, and pay them for every noted irritation they jot down.
  6. Drop the phones off desks and pour cups of coffee on them.

Jobs

The JavaPhone will create many new entrepreneurial jobs. By this I mean jobs where you directly work for more than one client, not jobs that require any great financial daring. For example:

  1. Receptionist/butler to screen both telephone and physical callers. With JavaPhone technology, you can work for dozens of people out of your own home. With the JavaPhone, anyone can afford a butler or receptionist.
  2. Operator to help technopeasants, those who are infirm, idly rich or mentally challenged, deal with the complexities of the phone system. All they need do is talk to you. They may be techically adept, but simply prefer the human touch. Your job is something like a conventional waitress namely to make lonely people feel better with a little casual contact.
  3. In comp.lang.java and comp.lang.java.advocacy I discussed the way you could use GPS positioning, integrating accelerometers, miniature video cameras and voice activated cell phones to let you keep track of the whereabouts of your pet Dalmatian Fido, and to trigger a call if he barked repeatedly or whimpered excessively to report a potential security threat or injury to himself. Somebody else has to screen these calls or he will drive you nuts. To see any of my postings just ask Dejanews who keep a permanent record of nearly everything anybody says on the net.

Courtesy

I often used to answer a phone call in a spitting rage because the sudden ring interrupted my train of thought at a crucial point and I would lose the idea forever. The poor caller had no idea why I was so curt with them. Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History Of Time ISBN?? attributes his success at thinking about physics to being unable to receive phone calls or other interruptions. I think it was Michael Smith who noted that if you win a Nobel prize, you have almost no chance of winning another because you will be driven nuts with phone calls and can't get any work done.

Strangers would not dream of barging into my home and demanding my attention by banging on a bell. That would be incredibly rude. Yet they think nothing of doing the same thing with the telephone. We will find ways to make the JavaPhone behave like a butler to gently inform me that a caller craves an audience at my earliest convenience.

People who would not dream of shoving others aside to get to the head of a queue, think nothing of it if they use the telephone as their instrument. The moment the imperious telephone rings, the shopkeeper drops all the real customers to cater to some potential one. This infuriates the paying customers. Phone callers should wait in line like anyone else, and perhaps wait until all the real customers are dealt with.

The phone caller should have some way of knowing how long the queue is, and be able to go off and do something else and have the her phone ring when her turn in the queue is just about due. Making people wait on hold, tying up bandwidth all the while, to listen to low fidelity elevator music is not only nuts, it is sadistic. Surely we will find ways around these problems with an all-digital system.

With the traditional telephone, callers cannot appreciate just how irritated you are with them. You can't get rid of them, even for a pressing bathroom emergency. They see none of your visual body language clues and continue to babble on inanely, blissfully unaware of how dearly you would love to wring their bloody necks.

In thinking about the JavaPhone, I realised I already had an electronic butler, my plain old answering machine. I finally got the nerve to disconnect the phones that I have detested all my life. I don't like calling people on the phone. I don't like people interrupting me, though sometimes I like the calls when a face-to-face meeting is impossible.

I don't like emailing people. It is rather presumptous to demand their attention to my ideas, or to answer my questions, rather like buttonholing them on the street and demanding a response. Public posting is not much better. Setting up a web page seems to be the best solution. I am not forcing myself on anyone then. The catch is, there is little discussion. Perhaps a solution will come to be when I am not modeling such a grumpy old man.

Child Mode

Young children love to play with telephones. They can make a nuisance of themselves calling the operator. The phone should have a child mode you can enter/leave with a code. In child mode, the child cannot dial anyone, other than 911 or perhaps grandma, if she has entered a code saying she is willing to accept calls from the grandchildren. The children can dial her by hitting 8.

A more elaborate child mode might offer a selection of sounds or games when you dial different numbers.

The Phone Store

Retail phone stores of the future will have the following features:

  1. You pick up the handset to listen to a recorded voice describing the phone's features. This let you get an idea of how good the quality of the earphone/loudspeakers is.
  2. You can speak into the telephone then hear your your own voice played back, so that you can judge the quality of the microphone/mouthpiece.
  3. You can try out the various programmable features since the phone is plugged into a simulated miniature phone system. If you can't figure out how to use them in the store, you will have even less chance at home without the salesperson to assist you.
  4. The demostrator models are labelled with the date they went into service. This will give you an idea of how durable each model is, and how easy it is keep clean.
  5. There is a computer terminal the public can use. It guides you through a multiple choice list of questions about how important various features are to you and your budget range. It then shows you a list of models that fit your criteria, highlighting the differences from your ideal specification. It shows you which are in stock, which can be shipped from warehouses, and which can be built on special order.


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