While in the middle of being told Apple is washed-up, a has-been being overtaken by Android, comes a patent which reminds us the company actually has some good ideas left.

Take, for instance, those annoying calls which seem to arrive in the middle of dinner. The gear heads at Apple also find them annoying and created a way to put you in control of who calls you when and whether a text might suffice. Particularly when you have a mouth of spaghetti.

The granted patent describes a "system for facilitating contacting people using electronic devices."

Instead of taking the usual path most technology firms selling smartphones would follow - creating multiple ways to blast messages to you - Apple goes for a more zen-like approach, realizing that understanding when not to make a call could make for the ultimate smartphone...