GB2255847A

GB2255847A - Selective calling radio pager having time-shared display modes.

Info

Publication number: GB2255847A
Application number: GB9210554A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Masaaki Morishima
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 1991-05-17
Filing date: 1992-05-18
Publication date: 1992-11-18
Anticipated expiration: 2012-05-18
Also published as: JPH04341023A; HK87197A; JP2671634B2; GB2255847B; GB9210554D0

Abstract

In a selective calling radio display pager, a serial number and a time-of-day stamp are affixed to a received paging signal, and a caller's telephone number, the serial number and the time-of-day stamp are stored into a memory. The stored telephone number and serial number are displayed in first and second areas of a display unit, respectively. A timer is then activated to measure the amount of time elapsed from the time of reception of the signal. For efficient use of the second display area, the displayed serial number is replaced with the stored time-of-day stamp when the measured time lapse reaches a predetermined value. The above display procedure also occurs in response to operation of a readout key. Alternatively, the second display area displays time-of-day stamp and day-of-week (or month) stamp, on reception and in response to the readout key, but in the case of display in response to the readout key, the day-of-week (or month) stamp is omitted or not depending on whether at least a week (or month) has elapsed since reception.

Description

SELECTIVE CALLING RADIO PAGER HAVING TIME-SHARED DISPLAY MODES The present invention relates to a selective calling radio display pager.

With conventional radio display pagers, a time-of-day stamp is affixed to a received paging signal and stored into a location of a memory together with the caller's telephone number. The time-of-day stamp and a code indicating the storage location of the page are displayed simultaneously together with the caller's telephone number.

In most cases, it is inconvenient for users to simultaneously see and check many items of information. Since the pager is of compact design, the number of display segments which can be provided on an available space is severly limited. Further, the number of circuits for driving the display segments increases with information items to be displayed.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a selective calling radio display pager in which the number of information items to be displayed simultaneously, and hence the number of drive circuits is reduced.

This object is attained by using a common display area on a time-shared basis with different information items.

Thus, the invention provides a selective calling radio display pager comprising a display unit having first and second areas, a timer, a memory and control means for tagging a received paging signal with its time of receipt and the caller's telephone number, for recording said telephone number and time of receipt in the memory, for causing the telephone number to be displayed in the first area of the display, and for causing the second area to display information which changes either automatically or upon instruction when a predetermined time has elapsed from receipt of the paging signal The term "time of receipt" as used herein includes time of day and may also include calendar information.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a selective calling radio display pager comprises a display unit having first and second display areas, a memory and a timer, all of which are coupled to a control circuit. The control circuit receives a paging signal containing a callers telephone number and affixes to it a serial number and a time of day stamp indicating the time of day at which the paging signal is received. The telephone number, the serial number and the time of day stamp are stored into the memory. The stored telephone number and the serial number are displayed in the first and second areas of the display.

unit, respectively. The timer is then activated to measure the amount of time elapsed from the time of reception of the signal. In order to share the second display area, the displayed serial number is replaced with the stored time-of-day stamp when the measured elapse of time reaches a predetermined time.

In a practical aspect, a manually operated key is provided for readout of stored messages. The control circuit responds to the operation of the key to cause the stored telephone number and the serial number to be displayed in the first and second areas of the display unit, respectively, and activates the timer to measure the elapse of time. When the measured time lapse reaches a predetermined value, the stored time-ofday stamp is displayed in the second area instead of the serial number.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control circuit affixes to the received paging signal a day-of-week/month stamp indicating the day of reception of the signal and stores the day-ofweek/month stamp in the memory as well as the telephone number and the time-of-day stamp. The stored telephone number is displayed in the first area of the display unit and the stored time-of-day stamp and day-ofweek/month stamp are displayed in the second area. In response to the operation of the key, the stored day-of-week/month stamp is compared with the current day of week/month to determine if a predetermined length of period has elapsed from the day of reception of the paging signal, and the displayed day-of-week/month stamp is erased in response to a determination that the predetermined length of period has elapsed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION~IOF THE DRAINS The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a selective calling radio display pager incorporating the embodiments of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing a sequence of steps invoked in response to receipt of a paging signal according to the first embodiment of this invention; Fig. 3 illustrates data to be displayed according to the first embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing a sequence of steps invoked in response to the operation of a manual key; Fig, 5 is a flowchart showing a sequence of steps invoked in response to receipt of a paging signal according to the second embodiment of this invention;; Fig. 6 illustrates data to be displayed according to the second embodiment of the invention; Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing a sequence of steps invoked in response to the operation of the manual key according to the second embodiment; Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing a sequence of steps invoked in response to receipt of a paging signal according to a modification of the second embodiment; Fig. 9 illustrates data to be displayed according to the modification; and Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing a sequence of steps invoked in response to the operation of the manual key according to the modification of the second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to Fig. 1, a selective calling radio display pager embodying the present invention is adapted to receive paging signals through front end 10 where the signals are demodulated into baseband and shaped into rectangular pulses at 11. The encoded signal from waveshaper 11 is passed through decoder 12 to a controller 1 3 where destination user identifiers contained in the received signals are compared with the owner's identifier stored in programmable ROM 14 to detect a match to alert the owner of the pager with a speaker 15 when one of the signals is destined to the user. The received paging signal contains a source user identifier and a message as well as the destination user identifier.The pager is provided with a RAM 1 6 for storing the paging signal for instant display as well as for later retrieval, and a timer 1 7 which is activated by controller 13 during display in a manner as will be described. A timekeeping circuit 7 8 is also connected to controller 13. According to a first embodiment of this invention, timekeeping circuit 18 generates a time-of-day signal to be affixed to the received page, and according to a second embodiment, it further generates day-of-week and day-of-month signals. Display memory 19 is connected to controller 1 3 to store data to be displayed on a liquid crystal display unit 20 in response to manual operation of a readout key 21 by the owner.

The controller 1 3 is a microprocessor-based controller and is programmed to perform a paging display operation according to the first embodiment of this invention as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

When a paging signal destined to the owner's pager is detected (step 30), control advances to step 31 to affix a time-of-day stamp generated by timekeeping circuit 18 to the received page. Exit then is to step 32 to generate a serial number identifying the page and affixes to it that serial number and a code indicating the storage location of the page in RAM 16, and control then proceeds to step 33 to write into RAM 1 6 and display memory 19 the affixed serial number and storage location code together with the caller's telephone number and message contained in the transmitted page. Step 34 is then executed by causing the data stored in display memory 19 to be supplied to the liquid crystal display 20. Thus, page's serial number, storage location and caller's telephone number of message are displayed as shown at 20a in Fig. 3.

Timer 1 7 is then activated (step 35) and the amount of time elapsed is measured. When a prescribed period of time T is elapsed (step 36), control rewrites the serial number and storage location data in display memory 19 with the time-of-day data stored in RAM 16 (step 37), Exit then is to step 38 to cause data now stored in display memory 19 to be put on display. Thus, the time-of-day data is shown in place of the serial number and storage location data, while keeping the caller's telephone number and message on display as shown at 20b in Fig. 3. Now, control returns to the beginning of the program after resetting timer 17 (step 39).

In response to the operation of readout key 21, an interrupt program as indicated in Fig. 4 is invoked. The interrupt program begins with step 40 in which the serial number, storage location and caller's telephone number and message are read out of RAM 1 into display memory 19, and the data stored in memory 19 is put on display (step 41). Timer 1 7 is activated (step 42) and the time lapse is measured. When period T is reached in timer 17, control branches to step 44 to rewrite the serial number and storage location data in display memory 19 with the time-of-day data stored in RAM 1 6 and the data in display memory 19 is put on display (step 45). The interrupt program ends following resetting the timer (step 46).In this way, most recent page is displayed in response to the operation of readout key 21 by time-sharing a common display area with the page's serial number and storage location data, and the time-of-day data indicating the time of arrival of the page.

A second embodiment of this invention is shown in Figs. S to 7.

According to this embodiment, the controller 13 is programmed to display day-of-week (or day-of-month) data together with a caller's message or telephone number when a page is received. After the elapse of a week (month) or longer following the reception of the page, the message and time-of-day data of the page are displayed in response to the operation of the readout key 21 without displaying the day-of-week (day-of-month) data. The absence of the day of week (day of month) data signifies that the received page is older than a week (month).

In Fig, 5, the program execution starts with step 50 to receive a paging signal directed to the owner's pager. Exit then is to step 51 to affix a timeof-day stamp and a day-of-week stamp generated by timekeeping circuit 1 8 to the received signal. Control proceeds to step 52 to write the caller's telephone number and message into RAM 16 and display memory 19 together with time-of-day and day-of-week stamps indicating the time of reception of the page. The data stored in display memory 1 9 is then displayed (step 53) as shown at 20c in Fig. 6. Control now returns to the start of the program to repeat the process for a subsequent page.

When readout key 21 is operated by the user following the reception the page, an interrupt program as shown in Fig. 7 is invoked, which begins with step 60 to read out the message from RAM 16. Exit then is to step 61 to compare the day-of-week stamp with a current day of week generated by the timekeeping circuit 1 8 to determine if a week or longer has passed since the reception of the message. If the answer is affirmative, control exits to step 62 to write the caller's telephone number and message into display memory 19 together with the time-of-day and day-of-week stamps affixed to the page. Exit then is to step 64 to cause data stored in display memory 19 to be displayed as shown at 20d in Fig. 6.If the answer at decision step 61 is negative, control branches to step 63 to write the caller's telephone number and message and the time-of-day stamp into display memory 19 and proceeds to step 64 to display the stored data as shown at 20e in Fig. 6.

Instead of the day-of-week data, day-of-month data is used as shown in Figs. 8 to 10 in which the same numerals are used to indicate those corresponding to Figs. 5 to 7. Following the reception of a paging signal (step 50, Fi.g 8), time-of-day and day-of-month stamps are affixed to the signal (step 51a) and the caller's telephone number and message is stored into RAM 16 and display memory 19 together with the affixed stamps (step 52a) followed by the display of data in display memory 19 (step 53) as shown at 20e in Fig. 9.

When readout key 21 is operated by the user following the reception the page, the interrupt program of Fig. 10 is invoked to read out the message data from RAM 16 (step 60) for comparison with current day of month generated by the timekeeping circuit 1 8 to determine if a month or longer has passed since the reception of the message (step spa). if the answer is affirmative, control exits to step 62a to write the caller's telephone number and message into display memory 19 together with the time-ofday and day-of-month stamps affixed to the page. Exit then is to step 64 to cause data stored in display memory 19 to be displayed as shown at 20e in Fig. 9. If the answer at decision step 61 a is negative, control branches to step 63a to write the caller's telephone number and message and the time-of-day stamp into display memory 19, and proceeds to step 64 to display the stored data as shown at 20f in Fig. 9.

The invention also extends to any novel feature or combination of features herein described or illustrated, whether or not falling within the scope of any of the following claims.

Claims

1. A selective calling radio display pager comprising a display unit having first and second areas, a timer, a memory and control means for tagging a received paging signal with its time of receipt and the caller's telephone number, for recording said telephone number and time of receipt in the memory, for causing the telephone number to be displayed in the first area of the display, and for causing the second area to display information which changes either automatically or upon instruction when a predetermined time has elapsed from receipt of the paging signal

2.A selective calling radio display pager comprising: a display unit having first and second areas; memory means; timer means; and control means for receiving a paging signal containing a caller's telephone number, affixing to the paging signal a serial number and a time-of-day stamp indicating the time of day at which the paging signal is received, storing the telephone number, the serial number and the timeof-day stamp in said memory means, causing the stored telephone number and the serial number to be displayed in said first and second areas of the display unit, respectively, activating said timer means to measure elapse of tirne, and displaying the stored time-of-day stamp in said second area instead of the displayed serial number when the measured elapse of time reaches a predetermined time.

3. A selective calling radio display payer as as claimed in ciairn 2, further comprising a manually operated key, wherein said control means includes means for causing the stored telephone number and the serial number to be displayed in said first and second areas of the display unit, respectively, in response to operation of said key, activating said timer means to measure elapse of time, and displaying the stored time-of-day stamp in said second area instead of the displayed serial number when the measured elapse of time reaches a predetermined time.

4L A selective calling radio display pager as claimed in claim 2, wherein said control means includes means for displaying a code identifying a storage location of said caller's telephone number in said memory means in said second area of the display unit together with said serial number.

5. A selective calling radio display pager as claimed in claim 3, wherein said control means further includes means for affixing to the paging signal a day-of-week or day-of-month stamp indicating the day of week or month at which said paging signal is received, the day-of-week or dayof-month stamp in said memory means, causing the stored time-ofday stamp and day-of-week or day-of-month stamp to be displayed in said second area of the display unit, and erasing the displayed day-ofweek or day-of-month stamp in response to operation of said key.

6. A selective calling radio display pager comprising: a display unit having first and second areas; memory means; a manually operated key; and control means for receiving a paging signal containing a caller's telephone number, affixing to the paging signal a time-of-day stamp indicating the time of day at which the paging signal is received and a day-of-weekjmonth stamp indicating the day of week/month at which said paging signal is received, storing the telephone number, the time-ofday stamp and the day-of-week/month stamp in said memory means, causing the stored telephone number to be displayed in said first area of the display unit and the stored time-of-day stamp and day-ofweek/month stamp to be displayed in said second area of the display unit, comparing the stored day-of-week/month stamp with a current day of weekimonth in response to operation of said key to determine if a predetermined length of period has elapsed from the day of reception of the paging signal, and erasing the displayed day-of-week/rnonth stamp in response to a determination that said predetermined length of period has elapsed.

7 In a selective calling radio display pager comprising a display unit having first and second areas, a memory, and a manually operated key, a method comprising the steps of: a) receiving a paging signal containing a caller's telephone number; b) affixing to the paging signal a serial number and a time-of-day stamp indicating the time of day at which the paging signal is received; c) storing the telephone number, the serial number and the time-ofday stamp in said memory; d) causing the stored telephone number and the serial number in said first and second areas of the display unit, respectively; e) starting to measure the amount of time elapsed from the time of reception of said paging signal;; f) displaying the stored time-of-day stamp in said second area instead of the displayed serial number when the measured arnount of time reaches a predetermined value; g) repeating the steps (d) to (f) in response to operation of said key.

8. In a selective calling radio display pager comprising a display unit having first and second areas, a memory and a manually operated key, a method comprising the steps of: a) receiving a paging signal containing a caller's telephone number; b) affixing to the paging signal a time-of-day stamp indicating the time of day at which the paging signal is received and a day-ofweek/month stamp indicating the day of week/month at which said paging signal is received; c) storing the telephone number, the time-of-day stamp and the day-of-week/month stamp in said memory; d) causing the stored telephone number to be displayed in said first area of the display unit and the stored time-of-day stamp and day-of week/month stamp to be displayed in said second area of the display unit; ; e) comparing the stored day-of-week/month stamp with a current day of week/month in response to operation of said key to determine if a predetermined length of period has elapsed from the day of reception of the paging signal; and f) erasing the displayed day-of-week/month stamp in response to a determination by the step (e) that said predetermined length of period has elapsed.

9. A selective calling radio display pager substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 or Figures 5 to 7 or Figures 8 to leo of the accompanying drawings.