Profiles - General Discussion

[Lars-Peter Clausen]

Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
> More musings...
>
> Hmmm....  a profile is really an access rights matrix:  depending on a
> variety of things (we've been using location, time, and incoming phone
> number as examples; one expects we'd have other possibilities in
> practice -- maybe even open-ended?), some things are enabled, some
> disabled, and others customized (whether the phone rings, what ring
> tone to use, whether to answer in speakerphone mode....  again,
> open-ended?).
>
> We really want to be able to edit and manage profiles keyed on any of
> the things used to key the profiles; we also want to be able to manage
> groups of similar keys (be able to have a group labelled "emergency"
> for calls that always have to go through but cause the phone to
> vibrate instead of ring when the phone is "off", etc).
>
> So it ought to be possible to go to a name in the contact list, and
> mark it as an "emergency number".  Or mark it individually as a number
> that uses a different ringtone.
>
> Finally, yes, people who are comfortable with named profiles should be
> able to manage them through a central profile editor.  So... maybe a
> "phone settings" button tied to the GPS application that brings up the
> profile editor with current location and time already filled in?
>   
Hi

I think we should differentiate between profiles and groups.

A profile can be activated by time, position, velocity, by hand, or 
whatever.
For example a profile called "Midday" can be active between 11 am and 1 pm.

A group is a list of telephone numbers.
For example "Mum", "Dad" and "Brother" are in the group "Family".

Now we can define some settings (ring volume, ring tone...) for this group.
This will be stored as default for this group.

And now you want to use an different ring tone between 11 am and 1 pm.
So you select in your group settings editor the profile "Midday" (I am 
seeing a Combobox at the right top of your group settings editor)
and then define your preferred ring tone for this time.

To not let the user specify the similar settings again and again there 
should be a possibility to merge group profile settings.
You select two group profile settings and than you get the values for a 
specific options from both profile group settings displayed and than 
select one of them which will be used in the new profile group setting.
For example you set up "Family"->"Night" and now you want to set up 
"Friends"->"Night". You would select to merge "Family"->"Night" with 
"Friends"->Default" and probably choose to keep the ring tone from 
"Friends"->"Default" and the ring volume from "Family"->"Night".

There are surely more complex  ways of combining the options, but we 
should keep in mind that we are operating one a mobile and keep 
usability in mind.


What we also need is a clear order for profiles, to decide what profile 
to use when two (or more) collide.
For example you said profile A to be active on a given location and 
profile B at a given time. And now you are at the given time on the 
given location.

Lars