A system recognizes a gesture of bringing a mobile electronic device to a user ear. The system may be integrated in the mobile electronic device and is provided with a movement sensor which provides a movement signal indicative of the movement of the mobile electronic device. A pressure sensor provides a pressure signal indicative of a pressure acting on the mobile electronic device during the movement. A processing stage performs a joint processing of the movement signal and of the pressure signal in order to recognize the gesture.

A display screen component and an electronic device are provided. The display screen component includes a display screen and a sensor unit arranged at a side of the display screen. The display screen includes a display area and a non-display area. The sensor unit includes a signal emitter and a signal receiver, the signal emitter is arranged at a side of the non-display area, and the signal receiver is arranged at a side of the display area. The non-display area includes a functional portion, the signal emitter is configured to emit a detecting signal to outside through the functional portion and the signal receiver is configured to receive a reflected signal from the outside through the display screen, in which the detecting signal is changed into the reflected signal after being reflected by an external object.

A system and method for providing anonymous communications from a user to a called party includes obtaining a dedicated phone number and creating a user account for the user and assigning the dedicated phone number to the user account. A provider account is created for a digital assistant using the dedicated phone number and the digital assistant is preprogrammed with the user account. The digital assistant is also preprogrammed with a skill for recognizing a specific utterance (e.g. Call). Connectivity is provided between the digital assistant and the Internet, for example, using a wireless access point. The digital assistant listens for the specific utterance and, upon recognizing the specific utterance followed by an identification of the called party, the digital assistant initiates a voice call through the Internet to the called party.

A system and method for controlling the content of a user device in response to an audible request is disclosed. The system and method include an intelligent voice assistant that can control viewable content of the user device in response to a user's request. The system and method can also be used to sync content between a user and a service representative when either the user or service representative make an audible request to sync content.

A privacy system and method are provided for selecting an audio play mode in a mobile electronic communications device having a microphone, a loudspeaker and an earpiece speaker. The described technique in an embodiment includes receiving a user request for information, and playing the information via the earpiece speaker if the earpiece speaker is adjacent the user's head and was adjacent the user's head when the user request was received. The information is played via the loud speaker if the earpiece speaker is not adjacent the user's head and was not adjacent the user's head when the user request was received. If the earpiece speaker was adjacent the user's head when the user request was received but is no longer adjacent the user's head, the device requests user permission to play the received information via the loud speaker.

A system for providing help includes a digital assistant and a network for connecting the digital assistants to a server. A plurality of agent computers is connected to the server. The digital assistant is preprogrammed and centrally managed with at least one skill for recognizing a preprogrammed specific utterance followed by a request for help. After the preprogrammed specific utterance and request for help is detected by the digital assistant, the digital assistant initiates a request for help to the server and upon receiving the request for the help, the server assigns one of the agent computers and presents medical information regarding the user at the agent computer for better determining the type of help needed.

An electronic device according to various embodiments in the present disclosure may comprise a modem, at least one sensor, and at least one processor which is connected with the modem and the at least one sensor and configured to control: determining the distance between the electronic device and a user thereof during the execution of a call application; determining the output intensity of sound data received from another electronic device connected through the call application, as an output intensity corresponding to the determined distance; and outputting the sound data at the determined output intensity.

An appliance can include a microphone transducer configured to receive sound from an environment and to convert the received sound into an audio signal. The appliance can be configured to receive an input audio signal via the microphone transducer, responsive to an activation input. The appliance can be configured to initiate a bi-directional, wireless communication connection with an external device in parallel with receiving the input audio signal, and responsive to the activation input. The appliance can be configured to transmit an output audio signal corresponding to the input audio signal over the communication connection when the wireless communication connection is established. Related aspects also are described.

A communications system may include a command communications device and mobile wireless communications devices responsive to the command communications device to be assigned into a push-to-talk mode workgroup and with subsets of the mobile wireless communications devices also to be assigned to respective different hands-free mode work subgroups. Each mobile wireless communications device may include a portable housing, at least one wireless transceiver carried by the portable housing operable in the push-to-talk mode and the hands-free mode, and a controller carried by the portable housing, coupled to the at least one wireless transceiver, and responsive to the command communications device to operate in the assigned push-to-talk mode workgroup and the assigned hands-free mode work subgroup.

Embodiments of the disclosure include methods, apparatus and computer programs for detecting the proximity of an ear to an audio device. In one embodiment, the disclosure provides a system for detecting the presence of an ear in proximity to an audio device. The system comprises: an input for obtaining a data signal from the environment of the audio device; and an ear biometric authentication module configured to: compare one or more ear biometric features, extracted from the data signal, to an ear biometric template; and generate a first output indicative of the presence or absence of any ear in proximity to the audio device based on the comparison of the one or more extracted ear biometric features to the ear biometric template.