KR100270589B1 - Selective call receiver and system - Google Patents

Abstract

The bidirectional select call receiver 1 comprises a combined transmitter and receiver circuit 2 for receiving a coded transmitted message and a processor 3 for determining whether the message is a preview message of a longer message. The selective call receiver 1 also includes a memory 4, a display 5 and a keypad 6. Upon receiving a signal from the keypad 6, the processor 3 provides the encoded request signal to the transmitter and receiver units. The request signal is used to request a longer message associated with the preview message from the information system.

Description

SELECT CALL RECEIVER AND SYSTEM

It is well known that paging information transmitted from a central information station to a selective call receiver (often referred to as a pager) is used in the form of communication. This paging information has been transmitted using a number of known paging coding schemes, some of which have been developed to help reduce transmission time. Despite the success of the select call receiver system, unfortunately, the communication channel is not always available and the cost of lengthy paged messages can be relatively expensive.

One method developed to reduce the cost and communication time of a paging message is to use a "canned message" as described in U. S. Patent 4,263, 480. This can message uses pre-programmed select call receivers each having a memory in which the message is stored. The stored message can be selectively restored by the received message code. Unfortunately, can messages are only useful when standard repetitive paging messages are sent, not for long, non-repeating paging messages.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or alleviate at least one of the problems associated with conventional selective call receivers and selective call receiving systems.

An optional call receiver according to one aspect of the invention comprises: receiver means for receiving a coded transmission message; Processing means for communicating with the receiver means to decode the coded transmission message to determine whether the message is a preview message of a longer message; Storage means for communicating with said processing means for storing at least a portion of said message; User signaling means for communicating with the processing means to display at least some of the message and information identifying the message as the preview message, and in communication with the processing means to allow the user to selectively request the selective call receiver Providing at least one signal to the processing means, wherein upon receipt of the signal the signal processing means is adapted to provide an encoded request signal to an associated transmitter means for requesting the longer message associated with the preview message. It characterized in that it comprises a user input means for.

Suitably the receiver means and the transmitter means may comprise a common antenna.

Advantageously, said processing means may comprise a decoder for decoding said coded transmission message.

Suitably, said processing means may comprise an encoder for encoding said request signal.

Preferably, said processing means may also comprise a modulator and a demodulator.

Suitably, said processing means may comprise a microprocessor.

Preferably, the storage means may be a random access memory.

Suitably, the user signaling means may comprise a visual disply. The image display may be a liquid crystal display. The user signaling means may comprise a light emitting diode or an audio signal generator.

Preferably, the user input means may be a keypad. Another form of the user input means may be a touch screen integrated with the video display.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a selective call receiver includes at least one antenna;

A plurality of bidirectional selective call receivers selectively communicating with the antenna, the receiver being adapted to receive a coded paging message from at least one of the antennas, and to determine if the message is a preview message of longer messages; Each of the receivers has user input means for enabling a user to selectively request one associated with the receivers to transmit an encoded request signal associated with the preview message to at least one of the antennas; And

At least one information center in communication with the one or more antennas for providing the coded preview message to the one or more antennas, wherein the message includes information identifying whether the message is the preview message or not;

The information center is adapted to process the encoded request signal received by one of the antennas,

In response to the signal processing, the information center provides the longer message to the one or more antennas.

Also preferably, the selective call receiver system

Receiver means for receiving the coded paging mesh;

Processing means for communicating with the receiver means to decode the coded page message to determine whether the message is the preview message;

Storage means for communicating with said processing means for storing at least a portion of said message; And

User signaling means for communicating with the processing means to display at least a portion of the message and information identifying the message as a preview message,

The user input means communicates with the processing means to provide at least one signal to the processing means such that the processing means receives the encoded request signal to request the longer message associated with the preview message upon receipt of the signal. An optional call receiver, characterized in that it is adapted to provide to an associated transmitter means.

Suitably, said information center comprises processing means for selecting said preview message from said longer message.

The present invention relates to a two way selective call receiver and system. In particular, the system may provide a preview message of the longer message to the pager and the pager may request a longer version of the preview message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS To make the present invention easier to understand, the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a selective call receiver in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a selective call receiver system including the selective call receiver of FIG. 1.

3 is a flowchart of the operation of FIGS. 1 and 2 when the selective call receiver of the present invention is in use.

4 is a flowchart of the operation of FIGS. 1 and 2 when the selective call receiver of the present invention is in use.

<Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments of the Invention>

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a bidirectional selective call receiver 1, known as a bidirectional pager. The select call receiver 1 comprises a receiver means 2 coupled for communicating with the processing means 3. In addition, a random access memory 4, a liquid crystal display 5 and a keypad 6 are combined to communicate with the processing means 3.

The receiver means 2 are receivers and transmitters having a common antenna 7 and coupled together. The receiver means 2 also comprise a transceiver 8 coupled to the antenna 7 via a radio frequency amplifier 9.

The processing means 3 comprise a combined modulator / demodulator 10 coupled to both the transceiver 8 and the encoder / decoder 11. The encoder / decoder has an associated read only memory 12 that stores data for encoding and decoding the received message.

The processing means 3 also comprise a microprocessor 13 coupled to the encoder / decoder 11 and an associated character read only memory 14. The microprocessor 13 is also coupled to the random access memory 4, the keypad 6 and the liquid crystal display 5. The liquid crystal display 5 has an LCD slave driver 15 controllable by a microprocessor 13 having an output coupled to a speaker 16 and a vibration motor 17.

The character read only memory 14 stores data for converting a decoded / encoded binary message into alphanumeric data. Also in this embodiment, the character read only memory 14 stores the operation code for the microprocessor 13.

Referring to FIG. 2, an information center 21 in communication with a plurality of antennas 22 for communicating with the remote select call receiver 1 of FIG. 1 is included.

If a selective call receiver is in use, as shown with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, in step 30 the system 20 is operated by a message sent to the information center 21. This message is sent, for example, by a normal trunk call. The message is then processed by the information center 21 in step 31 and encoded in the appropriate data protocol.

In step 32, during encoding, the character length of the message is examined. If the examined character length is greater than 30 characters, including spaces, then in step 33 the message type bits associated with the data protocol are set to logic one. In step 34 only the first 30 characters of the message are selected and transmitted as a preview message of the longer message.

In step 37 the longer message and the identification address code are stored in a memory, for example in the information center 21. If in step 32 it is determined that the character length of the message is less than 30 characters, the message type bit is set to logic zero. This identifies the message as a non-preview message, and in step 36 the message and identification address code are stored in memory.

The processing steps 31 to 37 are executed in the information center 21. In step 38, a preview message (or non-preview message) containing the message type bits and the identification address code is modulated in the information center 21 and then transmitted by the antenna 22 to the selection call receiver 1. .

In step 39 the antenna 7 receives a message comprising the message type bits, an identification address code, is amplified by the amplifier 9 and filtered by the transceiver 8 and demodulated by the demodulator 10.

In step 40, the decoder 11, coupled with read-only memory 12, decodes the message protocol. In step 41 the decoded message and the identification address code comprising the message type bits are stored in the random access memory 4. Then in step 42 the message type bit is checked. If the message type bit is set to logic 1, the message is determined to be a preview message. Then, in step 43, the liquid crystal display 5 displays a preview message with an icon identifying the message as a preview message in the longer message.

Also, in step 42, if the message type bit is determined to be logic 0, the message is determined to be a non-preview message. Thus, in step 44 a non-preview message is displayed by the liquid crystal display 5. Also, if switched to active mode, speaker 16 and motor 17 signal that a message has been received in step 43 or 44.

If the message is identified as a preview message on the liquid crystal display, the user may want to view the longer message, thus allowing the user to selectively request the longer message. Thus, in step 45 it is possible to operate the appropriate key on the keypad 6 to generate a longer message request signal. The longer message request signal and the identification address code are transmitted to the decoder 11. In step 46 the longer message request signal and the address code are coded into a pager request code, which is filtered by the transceiver 8 and amplified by the amplifier 9. The pager request code is then transmitted by the transmitter 7 in step 47 and then received by one of the antennas 22 in step 48.

The pager request code is then sent to the information center 21 where it is amplified, filtered, demodulated and decoded. The identification address code of the longer message is then used to access the stored longer message. In step 49 the longer message is then sent to the selection call receiver 1 by one of the antennas 22. The longer message has an associated message type bit set to 0 and thus the selection call receiver 1 treats the message as a longer message.

The present invention reduces or alleviates at least one of the problems associated with sending a relatively long message to a selective call receiver. In this regard, it is possible to select whether the pager user wants to check the longer message associated with the preview message. This allows for more efficient use of the communication channel so that the selective call receiver user has the option to request a particular long page message upon receipt of the preview message.

The present invention has the advantage of reducing operating costs and overhead associated with transmitted pager traffic. In addition, the present invention enables the transmission of an economical common preview message to multiple pages so that only users interested in the preview message can request the entire longer message. Such preview messages may include weather forecasts, breaking news or stock market data.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein.

Claims (8)

In the selective call receiver, Receiver means for receiving a coded transmission message; Processing means for communicating with the receiver means to decode the coded transmission message to determine whether the coded transmission message is a preview message of a longer message; Storage means in communication with the processing means for storing at least a portion of the message; User signaling means for communicating with said processing means to display at least a portion of said message and information identifying said message as said preview message; And Communicate with the processing means to enable a user to selectively request the selective call receiver to transmit at least one signal to the processing means, upon receiving the signal the processing means for requesting the longer message associated with the preview message. User input means for providing an adapted request signal to an associated transmitter means Selective call receiver comprising a. 2. A selective call receiver according to claim 1, wherein said user signaling means comprises a visual display. 2. The selective call receiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein said user input means is a keypad. 3. The selective call receiver as claimed in claim 2, wherein said user input means is a touch screen integrated with said video display. In a selective call receiver system, One or more antennas; A plurality of bidirectional selective call receivers selectively communicating with the antenna, the receiver being adapted to receive a coded paging message from at least one of the antennas and to determine whether the message is a preview message of a longer message; Each having user input means for enabling a user to selectively request an associated one of the receivers to transmit an encoded request signal associated with the preview message to at least one of the antennas; And In communication with the one or more antennas, the at least one information center for providing the coded preview message to the one or more antennas, wherein the message includes information identifying whether the message is the preview message; , The information center is adapted to process the encoded request signal received by one of the antennas, In response to the signal processing, the information center provides the longer message to the one or more antennas. Selective call receiver system, characterized in that. 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the selective call receiver is Receiver means for receiving the coded paging message; Processing means for communicating with the receiver means to decode the coded page message to determine whether the message is the preview message; Storage means in communication with the processing means for storing at least a portion of the message; And User signaling means for communicating with said processing means to display at least a portion of said message and information identifying said message as said preview message, The user input means communicates with the processing means to provide at least one signal to the processing means, and upon receiving the signal the processing means requesting the encoded request signal to request the longer message associated with the preview message. Adapted to provide the associated transmitter means Selective call receiver system, characterized in that. The method of claim 5, And the information center comprises processing means for selecting the preview message from the longer message. The method of claim 6, And the information center comprises processing means for selecting the preview message from the longer message.