Ask almost any BlackBerry user. They will tell you that as a cell phone, BlackBerry is subpar.

The reason, they say- and I say- is that call volume doesn't have the kick of some free-standing cell phones, and that's a limitation in noisy environments.

Well, on April 8, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application by BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion entitled "Automatic audio intensity adjustment."

The short and succinct abstract for Patent app  20060073819 states the invention's aims:

"The volume, or audio intensity, of audio output from a mobile communications device may be selected based on a detected state of the environment of the mobile communications device."

I have more deets, and pix.

"I'm the pied piper," follow me... 

According the application, here's how this automatic audio intensity adjustment is going to work:

The "mobile communications device" (i.e., BlackBerry)  will contain a sensor system for detecting a state of an environment of the communication device from among at least two states and an adjustment system for selecting an intensity of output for the audio output device based on the state detected by the sensor.

The BlackBerry will have the capacity of, as the patent app says, "a method of automatically adjusting intensity of output for an audio output device.T "he method includes determining a state of an environment of the mobile communication device and, based on the determining, selecting an intensity of output for the audio output device. In another aspect, a computer readable medium is provided to allow a processor to carry out this method."

By state of the environment,, that means how loud the potentially interfering background noise is. 

BlackBerrys equipped with this new technology will, according to the application, contain "an adjustment system for selecting an intensity of output for the audio output device based on the level detected by the sensor."

The application further states that a computer readable medium will be provided to enable a processor to carry out this method.

So here is a depiction of the flow I have just described:

Hang on, folks, this will get real interesting.