How can I distinguish important calls?

Question

I'm a freelancer and have a somewhat erratic work schedule, so it is rather difficult for me to tell people at which times I'm available, which means that occasionally people call me while I'm at a client's site.

I'd rather not blanket reject or ignore calls as occasionally there is something urgent that needs my attention.

Now I'd like to have my phone on silent while I'm at the customer site, but ring when the same person calls another time within five minutes of being ignored.

Is there an app that can do this already, or can it be done as an app within the normal permission framework?

Answer 1

Harass Me by Samuel Tardieu available from Google Play Store does what you want:

Tired of missing extra-urgent calls because you forgot to switch your phone off silent mode?

This application will turn the volume on if the same number tries to call you 3 times in 3 minutes (configurable).

Answer 2

I was able to set up a pair of tasker profiles that raises the volume to a particular level when a second call comes in from the same number within a five minute interval. It's fairly specific (it only acts if the second call is from the same number as the most recent missed call, doesn't reset the volume after the call, etc.), but it could be a starting point.

First profile: Context: state=missed call 
Tasks:  Set variable Missedcallnumber to called number // wait 5 minutes // clear variable Missedcallnumber

Second profile: Context: phone ringing & caller = %Missedcallnumber 
Tasks: Set ringer volume to 14

Answer 3

I would investigate Llama and see if it can do what you want. I don't think that it can do directly what you want with the current version(1.2011.12.29.1124), but the developer is pretty responsive if you email him, and this is exactly the kind of thing that would work well with what it does.

And an app that has an average rating of 4.72/5 on 3,256 reviews is pretty good.