Automatically establishing a telephonic connection between devices

Abstract

Various aspects of this disclosure are directed to determining, with a computing device, that there may be an emergency situation. The computing device can determine that there may be an emergency situation based on a determination that a threshold time value has been exceeded. Responsive to the determination, the computing device can identify a phone number, and a voice connection using the identified phone number can be established. The computing device can also provide a message for output using the voice connection.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method performed by a computing device comprising:
 determining that there may be emergency situation; and   responsive to the determination:
 identifying a phone number to call, 
 establishing a voice connection using the identified phone number, and 
 providing a message for output using the voice connection. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that there may be an emergency situation is based, at least in part, on data provided by one or more of: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor, and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that there may be an emergency situation includes determining that acceleration data indicates that a threshold acceleration value has been exceeded. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that there may be an emergency situation includes determining that velocity data indicates that a velocity threshold has been exceeded. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that there may be an emergency situation includes:
 determining an amount of time that has elapsed since the computing device was last physically moved; and   determining that the amount of time that has elapsed since the computing device was last physically moved exceeds a threshold value.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 determining a location of the computing device;   wherein the threshold value is determined, at least in part, by the location of the computing device.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a prompt for feedback regarding the emergency situation.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 receiving feedback indicating that there is no actual emergency situation; and   modifying a process for determining that there may be an emergency situation.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the process for determining that there may be an emergency situation includes a threshold acceleration value; and
 wherein modifying a process for determining that there may be an emergency situation comprises increasing the threshold acceleration value.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying a phone number to call includes:
 analyzing a call history stored in a call log associated with the computing device; and   identifying the phone number based on a number that occurs most frequently in the call history.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a geographic location of the computing device;   wherein identifying a phone number to call comprises identifying the phone number based, at least in part, on the geographic location.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a geographic location of the computing device;   wherein content of the message depends on the geographic location.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the content of the message also depends on the identified phone number. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein content of the message is determined by a process including:
 identifying a message template that includes a default portion and a placeholder portion,   generating content to include in the message based on the identified phone number, and   replacing the placeholder portion with the generated content.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a user of a second device;   wherein identifying a phone number to call includes identifying one of a set of phone numbers associated with the user of the second device.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein identifying the user of the second device is based on a list of contacts associated with the computing device. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein identifying the user of the second device includes:
 analyzing a call history stored in a call log associated with the computing device; and   identifying the user based on a username that occurs most frequently in the call history.   
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 determining that there may be emergency situation; and   responsive to the determination:
 identifying a phone number to call, 
 establishing a voice connection using the identified phone number, and 
 providing a message for output using the voice connection. 
   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein determining that there may be an emergency situation includes:
 determining an amount of time that has elapsed since the computing device was last physically moved; and   determining that the amount of time that has elapsed since the computing device was last physically moved exceeds a threshold value.   
     
     
         20 . A computing device, comprising:
 an emergency situation determination module configured to determine that there may be an emergency situation;   a phone number identification module configured to identify a phone number to call; and   a message determination module configured to determine content of a message for output through a voice connection established using the identified phone number in response to the determination that there may be an emergency situation.