WO2005096603A1

WO2005096603A1 - Automatic telephone book look-up

Info

Publication number: WO2005096603A1
Application number: PCT/EP2005/003327
Authority: WO
Inventors: Francis Cagney
Original assignee: Francis Cagney
Priority date: 2004-03-30
Filing date: 2005-03-30
Publication date: 2005-10-13
Also published as: TW200601795A; GB2412814A; GB0407199D0

Abstract

A method for automatically searching for a number saved in an electronic phone book where the entered number is compared to numbers saved in the electronic telephone book as the numbers have been entered. A search number is generated as the number is being entered and is then modified for subsequently entered numbers. The generation of a search number involves producing the number in global international telephone number format. The search number is then compared to each saved number in the electronic telephone book, where the saved numbers are also converted into the global international telephone number format, if necessary. A list of alternative matching telephone numbers between the number being entered and the saved numbers in the electronic telephone book is provided. The list of alternative matches is updated as each new digit of the number being entered is entered. The list could be used for automatic completion of a telephone number being dialled or for searching the contents of the electronic telephone book by telephone number.

Description

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE BOOK LOOK-UP

The present invention relates to automatically comparing a dialled telephone number with telephone . numbers stored in the electronic telephone book of a telephone. The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, applicable to mobile telephones.

Telephones often make use of electronic telephone books which store telephone numbers for convenient seeking for and selecting of a particular telephone number. These electronic telephone books can, generally, be searched by scrolling through each entry or alphabetically by inputting the name (or at least part of it) associated with the desired telephone number. Almost all mobile telephones are provided with such an electronic telephone book. Increasingly, these electronic telephone books are the user's only record of personal telephone numbers. Hence, the size of electronic telephone books, in terms of the number of entries of telephone numbers, can in many cases be extremely large.

These electronic telephone books can be stored in an internal and non-volatile memory of the telephone. Alternatively, in the case of mobile telephones, these numbers may be stored on a smart card or SIM (System Identity Module) card. The smart card or SIM card may contain an electronic telephone book which consists of the telephone number, and space for about 30 characters to store a name or other information under which the telephone number will be stored.

Often the name or other information under which the telephone number is stored will be more readily recognised by the user than the telephone number itself. Thus, electronic telephone books are usually searchable by the name or other information associated with the telephone number rather than or as well as the telephone number itself. Similarly, incoming telephone calls from a number already stored in the telephone book will be displayed on the telephone by the name or other information associated with that telephone number entry, rather than, or together with, the number itself. Further, once a user has entered a number he wishes to dial, if that number is already saved in the telephone book, the name associated with that number will often be displayed. In current mobile telephones, the name or other information associated with the telephone number entered will not be displayed until the dial button is pressed.

As numbers can be saved in the electronic telephone book in different formats, e.g. with or without an international dialling code, numbers stored in an electronic telephone book are compared with a number which has been entered by the user, starting from the last digit. Current telephone book look-up systems will compare a sequence of digits from the end of the telephone number entered or the end of the incoming telephone number, to a corresponding number of digits at the end of each entry in the electronic telephone book until a matching telephone number is found. The name or other information associated with the matching electronic telephone book entry can then be displayed. Such electronic telephone book look-up systems require the full number to be entered before any electronic telephone book look-up can take place.

The following examples illustrate how existing telephones work, as regards matching dialled numbers with those stored on the electronic telephone book.

A John Smith living in Munich, Germany, may have the following number: '08912345678' ('0' being a trunk code, '89' being the area code for Munich and '12345678' being the local number) . A user could telephone John Smith, provided the user was in Munich and dialling from a land line, by dialling the number '12345678'.

Alternatively, provided the user was in Germany, the user could telephone 08912345678. Further, this number would have valid international forms '0049 89 12345678' and '+49 89 12345678'. Hence, there are at least four different forms for the beginning portion of the telephone number for John Smith. Thus, to find a match between different forms of the same number, the telephone numbers are necessarily compared from the back end. Any search of the electronic telephone book must compare last digits of the dialled number with the corresponding number of last digits of the electronic telephone book entry, i.e. once the entire number has been input . Similarly, with some mobile telephone service providers, to call a person in the same country with the same service provider, only the local number need be dialled. For example, John Smith's mobile telephone number may be '01707 123456' ('1707' being the service provider code and '123456' being the local number) .

This could have valid forms of '123456' if dialled from a mobile telephone having the same service provider in the same country. Alternatively, it would have a valid national form of '01707 123456' and valid international forms '+49 1707 123456' and '0049 1707 123456'. Thus, it can be seen, in view of the various forms a telephone number can take and be stored in the electronic telephone book, that such numbers being entered by the user or received as an incoming call can only be compared to numbers in the electronic telephone book from the back end (from the last digit) . The electronic telephone books of such telephones, therefore, cannot be searched by telephone number until the telephone number has been completely entered by the user.

There is, therefore, a need in the art for an electronic telephone book look-up system which provides an improved way to compare telephone numbers with the telephone numbers stored in an electronic telephone book.

According to the invention, there is provided a method for automatically searching for a number saved in an electronic telephone book, wherein a procedure for comparing a dialled number to numbers saved in the electronic telephone book is executed as the user is entering the number. The method is preferably realised in the form of a program which may be stored in a microprocessor or on a data carrier to be run in a telephone, e. g. a mobile telephone.

The invention thus enables numbers to be compared, preferably digit by digit, from the 'front end', i. e. as they are being entered, rather than from the 'back end' only after the complete number has been dialled.

In a preferred embodiment, a search parameter is derived based on a first digit of a telephone number entered by the user as the first digit is dialled; the search parameter is modified for each digit input by the user; and it is determined whether a search parameter corresponds to a number saved in the electronic telephone book. In a preferred embodiment, a list of any matches between the telephone number entered and the at least one telephone number stored in the memory is displayed to the user in some way, e.g. on a telephone display or some other form of display or indicated in some other way e.g. audibly. In a further preferred embodiment, the user can select one of several telephone numbers of a list of matches between the telephone number entered and the at least one number stored in memory. In a preferred embodiment, the list of any matches is displayed as a list of telephone numbers.

In another preferred embodiment, the list of any matches is displayed as a list of the information associated with each number saved in the electronic telephone book.

In another preferred embodiment, a maximum number of matches to be found and displayed can be set.

In another preferred embodiment, the predetermined format is a global international format.

The present invention allows a number being entered by a user to be compared with entries in a telephone book as the number is being entered. Thus, a list of possible matching telephone numbers between the number being entered and the numbers stored in the electronic telephone book can be provided even when the user has only entered the first few digits. This list could be used to allow the user to identify and select the number desired without having to dial the entire number, provided that number is already stored in the electronic telephone book, so as to save time. The present invention also allows searching of the contents of the electronic telephone book by telephone number, without having to enter the complete telephone number, rather than by the name or some other information associated with that telephone number.

The present invention offers the further advantage of a more convenient way of searching through an electronic telephone book in order to find a desired telephone number.

The present invention also offers a faster way of entering numbers into a telephone, as they can be automatically completed (i. e. before the user has dialled the whole number) by searching for any matches between the telephone number being entered and numbers stored on the electronic telephone book. The user can select the telephone number desired from the possible matches without needing to enter the complete number, thereby saving time.

The present invention, by allowing an electronic telephone book to be searched by number may prove especially advantageous if the user has forgotten that the number was saved or has forgotten the name or other information under which the number was stored. A further advantage is that the user can search the electronic telephone book only by the beginning part of the telephone number, which may be the only information they can recall concerning this particular telephone book entry. The present invention offers the further advantage of reducing the chance of multiple entries on a telephone book for the same number by making the user aware of any matching telephone numbers already stored in the electronic telephone book.

The advantages of the present invention are especially realised when the user has a large number of entries on their electronic telephone book, thereby making it difficult to keep track of the numbers already stored in the telephone book and to remember the associated names or other information under which the numbers are stored.

The foregoing aspects of the present invention are described below in more detail in relation to specific examples, which serve to illustrate certain ways of carrying out the present invention. However, it should be borne in mind that there may well be alternative ways of performing the present invention, which would be readily apparent to the skilled person. Thus, it should be clear that the present invention is defined only by the appended claims .

Figure 1 shows a flow chart of the operation of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 shows a telephone simulator operating as though from Germany according to the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a telephone simulator operating as though from Italy according to the present invention.

The electronic telephone book look-up of the present invention begins as soon as the user begins to enter a telephone number. This number can be entered by a keypad on the telephone, a touch screen device or by any other appropriate number input means. The telephone number being entered is compared to telephone numbers stored on the electronic telephone book to determine whether the digits dialled match corresponding digits of saved numbers .

The telephone numbers stored on the electronic telephone book need to be normalised or put into an ideal format for the present invention to be able to make the necessary comparison between the numbers stored in the electronic telephone book and the number being entered (as described in more detail below) . One system for "normalising" the numbers or converting them to an ideal format is disclosed in International Application PCT/EP03/01292, also by the present inventor. This document discloses a way of converting, wherever possible, any telephone number into an "ideal" format. The normalised or ideal format is, preferably, the full global international form.

The following example illustrates a method of conversion which can be used in the present invention. A telephone number '00 49 (0) 8912345678' (Munich, Germany) , which could be a telephone number being entered by the user or a telephone number stored on an electronic telephone book, can be split into a series of components. The first- is the international access code, the second the country code, the third (in brackets) is the trunk access code and the fourth is the area code ('89' for Munich) plus the local number. For use with the present invention, this needs to be converted into a global international form, that is, ' +498912345678 ' . In order to convert to the ideal form, the international access code ('00' in this case) needs to be replaced with '+', which is the generic form representing all international access codes. If the number had been entered in national form, that is '08912345678', the trunk access code ('0') would need to be stripped away and replaced with the country code ('49' in this case) and preceded by the generic international access code ( ' + ' ) ■ The telephone number modifier disclosed in

PCT/EP03/01292 discloses a method of performing this conversion. The telephone number modifier disclosed therein generates a look-up table which relates a unique country identifier to the detailed dialling procedures for that particular country. In the case of mobile telephones, this country identifier is the MCC (Mobile Country Code) , which is provided to the mobile telephone by the mobile service provider and allows the mobile telephone to be able to identify which country it is in. The dialling procedures provided in the look-up table relate to information on the national prefix (i.e the trunk access code), the international prefix (i.e. the international access code) , the country code and any exceptional dialling procedure information for that country for each MCC. Some countries have multiple international access codes (for example Finland has four, namely, '00', '990', '994' and '999') or multiple trunk access codes (for example in Italy, a national number in San Marino must be dialled using the prefix '0549' instead of the national access code for San Marino ( ' 00 ' ) plus country code for San Marino ( ' 378 ' ) '00 378' as is the case from other countries) . The look-up table stores all of the necessary dialling procedure information for every MCC, including any exceptional dialling procedure information, such as that described in relation to Finland and Italy above.

The process for converting the number to an ideal format involves comparing the MCC of the current network (i.e. the network of where the caller is) to the MCCs in the look-up table to extract the relevant dialling procedures for that country (e.g. the international access code(s), the country code(s) and the trunk access code(s) for the country plus any exceptional dialling procedure information for that country) . The following conversion steps will then take place:

Numbers dialled using an international access code (e.g. '00' or '011') will be converted to '+' (i. e. the generic international access code) .

Numbers dialled with a trunk access code will be converted to '+' (country code) .

A more detailed description of the preferred process for converting a number disclosed in PCT/EP03/01292 into an ideal format will now be described for use in the present invention .

The MCC is identified by the mobile telephone. The above described look-up table associates each MCC with the dialling procedures for the current country. The number to be converted is also identified.

If the number to be converted begins with a '+', its country code, following the ' +', is compared to all country codes for this MCC. If the country code is found, the look-up table is examined to see if the international access code must be dialled as a trunk access code. If so, an appropriate status message is returned. Nonetheless, the number will be determined to have already been in the ideal format, and so not modified.

If the number being converted did not start with a '+', the program then compares the number with the format stored for that MCC and picks out the longest international access code that matches the number being converted. If there is a match, then, again, the country code of the number being converted is compared to all country codes for this MCC. If the country code is found, the look-up table is examined to see if the international access must be dialled as a trunk access code. If it must be dialled as a trunk access code, then an appropriate status message is returned. Nonetheless, the international access code is converted to a '+' provided the international access code is recognised.

If there is no international access code match, the longest trunk access code that matches the number being converted is picked out. If there is no match, the number has not been recognised and cannot be converted. If there is a match, the look-up table is then examined to determine if this trunk access code is actually a different country and/or if it must be dialled as a trunk access code and cannot be dialled internationally. Again, in such cases, an appropriate message may be returned. If the trunk access code is recognised for that country, the trunk access code is replaced with a '+' followed by the country code for that country. It should be noted that if the trunk access code was for international access, the country code is not of the 'home' country but the country that the trunk access forwards to.

The dialled number is therefore, wherever possible, converted to a global international number.

The telephone number modifier of the above mentioned patent also allows conversion of a telephone number to ideal format in cases where the dialling procedures are unusual . One example of this is Italy (country code '39'), where phoning to San Marino (country code 378) requires phoning 0549 instead of '+378'. The telephone number modifier disclosed in the above-mentioned patent would convert the number, say '054912345678' entered in Italy to full international form ('+37812345678') by stripping away the trunk access code ('0549') and replacing it with the international access code and the country code. The unusual trunk access code '0549' is stored in the look-up table along with the international access code and country code that this trunk access code forwards to. The number would thereby have been put into the global international format or ideal format as would be acceptable from other countries except Italy.

The disclosures of the above-mentioned patent explain in detail the exact mechanisms of how a telephone modifier works. A full explanation is not necessary for the purposes of the present invention. What is important is that it is now known in the art to convert a telephone number into an ideal form of known or predetermined format . Any other way of achieving this ideal form of a telephone number could be used, although preferably that of the above-mentioned patent is used. In particular, it is known from this patent to provide a look-up table containing all data relating to a unique country identifier (the MCC) and all corresponding dialling procedures for that country. Briefly stated, the present invention offers a way of automatically completing a telephone number being entered and/or searching for a telephone number stored on the memory of the telephone as it is being entered. This is achieved by performing an automatic telephone number look-up process as a user is entering a telephone number, preferably, digit by digit. A search number can be generated from the number being entered (as described in more detail below) , which can then be used to search the electronic telephone book. The programmed telephone will, using the digits entered so far, compare the generated search number with telephone numbers in the electronic telephone book. For each number in the electronic telephone book, the programmed telephone converts the number, if necessary and if possible, into an ideal format using, for example, the telephone number modifier described above. This allows comparison of the number being entered with the number in the electronic telephone book regardless of the form in which it has been saved, e. g. as a local number or in international form. Once this comparison has been completed for every telephone number in the electronic telephone book, a list of potential matches between the digits entered so far by the user and the numbers stored in the electronic telephone book is produced. The process is repeated for each further digit entered by the user.

By 'matching' or 'matches' or 'match', as used herein, it is meant that the sequence of digits entered so far, after having been converted as described below (if necessary) , corresponds digit by digit to a first portion of the number in the electronic telephone book, again after having been converted if necessary. That is to say, the telephone number being entered matches a telephone number in the telephone book if all characters are equal up to the end of the telephone number being entered. Thus, ' +498912', as entered by the user, matches ' +498912345678 ' and ' +498912876543 ' , and so on and will also match numbers saved in other than full international form, e. g. '004912345678' or '08912345678' .

The list of matches is preferably displayed to the user so as to indicate to the user any potential matching numbers already stored on the telephone ' s electronic telephone book. This indication can in one preferred form be a list of telephone numbers or in another preferred form be a list of information associated with the telephone number, such as the name under which the telephone number was stored in the electronic telephone book, or both. The user can then, preferably, select one of the displayed telephone numbers so as to save having to type in the entire number, i. e. the telephone number is automatically located, or if none of the indicated numbers matches the one desired, the user can continue to enter the number as normal and ignore the displayed list.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail, in relation to a mobile telephone, and with reference to the flow chart of Figure 1.

The program used in the present invention is called digit by digit as the user enters a number. One or more search numbers may be generated from the number being entered, as described fully below. In summary, the procedure for generating the search number (s) uses the number entered so far by the user and decides what search numbers are appropriate. This can generate more than one appropriate search number for the number entered by the user. The description below, assumes more than one search number was generated. It should be borne in mind, however, that this is for the purposes of illustration only and an equivalent description relating to a single search number is equally applicable. For each search number generated, each entry in the electronic telephone book is compared with the search number. In order for this comparison to be possible as the user enters the number, the entries in the electronic telephone book will need to be in ideal format, which is a format combatable, for the purposes of comparison from the front end, with the format of the generated search numbers (as described below) .

The result of this comparison will either be a match is found or the numbers do not match. For each match, a record is kept of the matching electronic telephone book entry. This record could be storing the unique identifier of the electronic telephone book entry, for example. If no match is found then the program will loop over the next entry in the electronic telephone book and repeat the conversion (if necessary) and comparison process. This procedure is repeated until all entries in the electronic telephone book have been searched. If the user then inputs a further digit of the telephone number being entered, the process of establishing the search number (s) and comparing the search number (s) to each entry in the electronic telephone book is repeated all over again.

The process for generating the search numbers for comparison with each entry in the electronic telephone book will first be described. This process determines whether or not to search the electronic telephone book and, if a search is to be performed, which search numbers should be used. If the length of the number entered by the user is greater than zero (i.e. no search number generation steps are performed otherwise as no number has yet been entered) then a determination is made as to whether the number being entered begins with a '+' . If so, then a further determination is made as to whether the length of the number being entered is greater than one, i. e. if a further digit has been entered after the '+' . If both of these conditions are satisfied then the number being entered forms a 'search number' in its unchanged form. A record of search numbers is used to store any numbers which will be compared to numbers stored on the electronic telephone book. A number being entered beginning with a ' + ' will mean the number is already in full international format and so can be compared with similarly formatted telephone numbers from the electronic telephone book. The reason for checking to see if the length of the number is greater than one (i.e. more than just the '+' on its own) is because the numbers in the electronic telephone book will usually be converted into ideal format, which normally begins with a '+'. This would probably result in a huge number of matches being produced, comparable to the number of entries in the electronic telephone book, which may prove to be of little value to the user. This is, therefore, a preferred feature which provides further advantages.

If the number does not begin with '+', then it is necessary to obtain information as to the dialling procedures for the country in which the telephone number is in. The look-up table described earlier which relates the MCC to the dialling procedures of the corresponding country is preferably used. This allows a mobile telephone to use its known MCC to establish the dialling procedures for the country it is currently in.

The number entered by the user, which does not begin with '+', is compared to all of the international access codes for this country. If the number entered matches one of these international access codes then a determination is made as to whether at least one further digit has been entered. If this is indeed the case, the international access code is replaced with the generic international access code '+' in forming the search number. The country code is not replaced because if the user was dialling an international number then a valid country code would necessarily be included. This number is then added to the record of search numbers .

The determination as to whether at least one digit of a country code has been entered is again to prevent too many matches being generated as a result of the use of too broad a search number for comparing with the electronic telephone book entries. This is because the international access code will be converted to a + and this will again match with most of the entries in the electronic telephone book which have been converted to ideal format .

If the number being entered by the user includes a valid international access code, determined as described above, then the number being entered is seen to be an international number regardless of whether at least one further digit is included.

If the number entered is not seen to be an international number (i.e. does not begin with a + or a recognised international access code for the current country) then the number entered is compared to each trunk access code for the current country. Often, the trunk access code matches the international access code e.g. 0 for trunk and 00 for international. Thus, the program preferably only determines if a number is a trunk access when international access has been ruled out. A country may have multiple trunk access codes and each needs to be compared to the number being entered to determine if a search number should be generated from any one or more of the trunk access codes. This information is again preferably obtained from a look-up table as described above. If the number entered matches any one or more of the trunk access codes then the number entered will be added as a search number as follows:

If the trunk access code corresponds to a trunk access code for a number in that country (i.e. it is a regular trunk access code) then the trunk access code is stripped away and replace with a '+' followed by the country code for the current country. If the trunk access code actually corresponds to an international number (such as in the case of dialling to San Marino from Italy) then the trunk access code is stripped away and replaced with a ' + ' and the country code which the number entered forwards to .

If the number entered is not seen to be an international number (as described above) , nor does it have a valid trunk access code then the number entered will be added unmodified as a search number to the record of search numbers. The telephone number modifier used to convert the electronic telephone book entries to ideal format will also be unable able to interpret a number stored not having a valid international access code or valid trunk access code. Thus, the telephone number modifier will leave any possible matching number stored on the electronic telephone book that could not be converted to ideal format unchanged as will the procedure for generating the search numbers. This means that the two (unmodified) numbers, if matching, will be recognised as matching numbers.

Some examples may help to illustrate how search numbers are generated. If the user enters '0049' from Germany, then this number is checked to see if it includes a valid international access code and at least one digit of a country code by interrogating the look-up table described above. In this example, '00' would be included in the look-up table as a valid international access code for the MCC corresponding to Germany. Thus, the number would be converted to the form '+49' by replacing the international access code with a ' + ' and setting the modified number as a search number for comparison with numbers stored in the electronic telephone book.

Alternatively, a number in the form '089' entered within Germany would not be recognised as including a valid international access code according to the dialling procedure for Germany. Thus, a search of the trunk access codes stored for Germany in the look-up table would be performed. '0' would be recognised as a valid trunk access code for Germany according to the dialling procedure information stored in the look-up table . The number would then be converted into the ideal form '+4989' to form the search number for the search of the electronic telephone book by stripping away the trunk access code and adding '+' followed by the country code. Thus, the user inputs '089' and the search number is '+4989'. Some countries have unusual dialling procedures, as one example, but by no means the only such exceptional case, if '054' was entered from Italy (country code '39'), this number would be recognised as a valid trunk access code according to the dialling procedure information stored on the look-up table, but is actually also the start of an international number for calling San Marino from Italy ('0549'). It would therefore be included as a search number for searching the electronic telephone book in the form '+378' (San Marino's international access and country codes) , by stripping away the trunk access code and adding a ' + ' followed by the country code, as usual. The look-up table would also contain information stating that Italy has no trunk access code (national prefix). Thus, the '054' entered could also correspond to the beginning of an Italian national telephone number. This will also form a search number by stripping away the trunk access code (i.e. none) and adding a '+' followed by the relevant country code. Thus, two search numbers are generated for 054, namely '+378' and ' +39054'.

The electronic telephone book look-up of the present invention, having established the search number (s), then proceeds to compare the or each search number to each entry in the electronic telephone book to find any matches . The numbers stored in the electronic telephone book need to be in the full international format in order to allow comparison with the search number (s) . This conversion is performed as follows:

If the telephone book entry begins with a '+' (i.e. is already in the ideal format) then the electronic telephone book entry remains unchanged. A comparison can then be made with each of the search numbers without any additional steps being required. If the telephone book entry does not begin with '+', a telephone number modifier, preferably as disclosed in PCT/EP03/01292 and as described above, is utilized to convert the electronic telephone book entry into the required ideal format. The number obtained, which is in ideal format, can then compared to each of the search numbers. In some instances, the telephone number being entered may not be of a recognised form and, therefore, no conversion to an ideal form could be performed. A comparison with the search number is still possible though, as the number entered would not have been convertible either, so the comparison will still be like for like.

The electronic telephone book entries, in ideal format, can then be compared to each search number.

This comparison involves checking to see if the digits of each search number are equal with the digits of the electronic telephone book entry up to the end of the search number. The search number is usually shorter than the numbers in the electronic telephone book as it is preferably generated from an incomplete number entered by the user. As described earlier, where the entire search number matches with the corresponding number of digits at the start of a particular electronic telephone book entry, then a match has been found. It should be noted that the search number will usually be shorter than the length of the electronic telephone book entries, hence the comparison is only to a beginning portion of the electronic telephone book entry of length equal to that of the search number. Each match found will be added to a record of all matches between the electronic telephone book and the search number (s) . The search for matching electronic telephone book entries will continue, with the or each search number being compared to every electronic telephone book entry, until all entries have been processed. This will result in a list of all potential matches being stored in a record of the matches . These matches can then be displayed as described below. As soon as the user enters another digit, the above process repeats itself. That is, search number generation, electronic telephone book comparison and conversion and match finding. This process will repeat for each additional digit of a telephone number being entered.

A record is kept of all the matches between the search number (s) and the numbers stored in the electronic telephone book. This information can be used by the programmed telephone to present to the user an indication of the potential matches. These matches are numbers stored on the telephone book and so the user can be presented either with the telephone number or any other information associated with that electronic telephone book entry, for example the name under which the telephone number is stored, or both. The user can, preferably, scroll through the telephone numbers presented so as to choose a desired telephone book entry, or select one of the telephone numbers presented in any other way. Alternatively, the user can carry on dialling the number by entering the remaining digits if none of the indications of the telephone number stored in the electronic telephone book is the telephone number desired. Another preferred embodiment allows the user to scroll through the matches presented, select one of them and then have the name or other information under which the number was stored displayed. This present invention may be very usefully employed in a telephone incorporating the technology disclosed in PCT/EP03/01292. This would mean that any number saved in the electronic telephone book would, preferably, be already converted into full international format in most cases. Thus, the search number (s) would be able to be immediately compared with the numbers in the electronic telephone book, without them being first converted to the ideal format in those cases . The fewer modifications to the electronic telephone book entries required for performing the search for matches the better, as this will save on processor usage.

It is a preferred feature of the invention that a maximum number of matches can be selected by the user or is predetermined by, e. g., the manufacturer or service provider. If the number of entries matching the number being entered, as found by the program on the telephone, is greater than the preset maximum, then the search for further matches will terminate. This will save processor usage and would also save presenting the user with more than a useful number of matches . For example the search for matches could be stopped if more than five matches are found. These matches found before the search was terminated could be displayed to the user or could be disregarded. As the user enters more digits, usually, fewer matches will be found as the degree of sorting of incompatible numbers (or non-matching cases) will increase.

An optional feature is that if only one match is found, and the entered number, as converted, completely matches the number stored on the telephone book, in ideal format, the user will not be presented with this number. This is because the user has already entered the number completely, thus presenting the user with the match found may, in most instances, be redundant information.

Preferably, if no matches have been found, the programmed telephone will cease to continue checking as the user continues to enter the number, thereby saving on the telephone's CPU cycles.

Figures 2 and 3 may serve to further illustrate how the present invention operates. Figure 2 shows a situation where the user has entered '0892' from Germany. The telephone would immediately begin generating search numbers for this entry.

The first '0' of the number being entered ('0892') will cause the generation of search numbers to begin. Whilst in theory this could be compared to all telephone book entries, it is likely to match a very large number. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment, the program will wait for the next digit entered. The next digit is '8'. Thus, '08' will be identified as a valid trunk number (0) followed by an '8', in Germany. A search number of '+498' would be established (see below for further details) and would be compared to every entry in the electronic telephone book to find matching entries. If fewer than the maximum number of entries were found, these could be displayed. The user then continues to enter the number, and each extra digit entered will cause the above process of search number generation and match finding to run. So, '08' would generate the search number '+498', then '089' would give '+4989', and so on and each time, a comparison with every entry in the electronic telephone book will be made. Each time an extra digit is entered, the user would be presented with a list of matches which match the modified search number and is, therefore, usually a more limited list than the previous one .

Describing the above example in more detail, the look-up table would be interrogated and any valid international access codes would be searched. For

Germany, the valid international access code would be '00'. A comparison with the number recognised would lead to the conclusion that the present number is not an international number. Therefore, any valid trunk access codes would be looked up. '0' would be recognised by the search number generation procedure in the telephone as a valid international access code. The next step in generating the search number would be to strip away the trunk access code and replace it with the international access code and the country code known from the look-up table. The search number '+49892' would then be added to the record of search numbers. This, being the only search number established, would then be compared to every entry in the telephone book. Each telephone book entry will be accessed. If it is already in international format, it will be compared to the search number. If it is not already in international format, it will be converted into ideal format using a telephone number modifier, preferably as in PCT/EP03/01292, and then compared to the search number. Any matches, i. e. where the first part of the saved number corresponds to the search number, will be recorded so as to produce a list of matches once the search through the telephone book has been completed. As can be seen in Fig. 2, in this example, three matches were found: '00498924228130' (which would have been converted to ' +498924228130 ' for the purposes of comparison with the search number) , '08924228140' ('+498924228140') and '+498921069111' (here, the telephone modifier would not have been called as the number was already in full international form) . The user has then scrolled down to the first entry 00498924228130, as this was recognised by the user as the desired telephone number. Further, upon selecting a particular telephone number, the information associated with that number or the name under which it was stored is highlighted beneath the telephone number.

As shown in Figure 3, the user has begun to enter '05' from Italy. Here, one of the exceptional cases will be involved, which the preferred embodiment of the present invention is equally able to deal with. Before the '5' was entered, the first digit entered '0' would not have been seen to be an international number as the search generation procedure for establishing an international search number requires a matching international access code and at least one further digit. This criteria would clearly not be met. The '0' would not have generated further search numbers, as international access is still possible, and trunk access is only checked if international access is ruled out.

Search numbers will be generated after the '5' has been entered. This involves determining whether it is a number in international form, which, by interrogating the look-up tables and comparing with the international access codes stored on them, it would establish that ^■05' is not a valid international access code. This would be confirmed by searching through all the possible international access codes for the current country, which is Italy in this case. The international access code for Italy is '00', thus no international access determination would be made. Next, a search of all the possible trunk access codes stored on the look-up table for Italy would be performed. In Italy, there is no standard national prefix (trunk access code) unless dialling to San Marino when it is '0549' . Two search numbers would be generated: '+378' and '+3905'. These search numbers would each be compared to every number stored in the electronic telephone book only with the telephone book numbers being converted to ideal form. As can be seen in Figure 1, three matches were found. The first is an Italian national number which has the ideal form of ' +3905481234567 ' and so matches one of the search numbers. The second has the ideal form '+37812345678' and so also matches a search number. The last number shown in figure 1 has the ideal form ¹ +37823456781 ' and again matches one of the search numbers . These matches can then be presented to the user and may be selected by the user if one of the presented numbers is that desired. If not, the user can just continue to enter the number as usual without using any of the options presented. Thus, the user may only need to partially enter the telephone number before being presented with the telephone number desired. Hence, the present invention offers a time saving way of entering telephone numbers to a telephone by providing the user with any matching telephone numbers stored in the electronic telephone book without requiring the entire number to be entered. Any one of these telephone number matches can be selected by the user, thereby saving the time needed to enter the full number. The present invention also offers an alternative to alphabetically searching through an electronic telephone book. The present invention allows the electronic telephone book to be searched by a front portion of a telephone number. The present invention also makes the user aware of telephone numbers stored in the electronic telephone book as the user is entering the telephone number, as the user may have forgotten the number was already stored or have forgotten the name under which it was stored. The invention also provides the further advantage of a reduced likelihood of multiple storing of the same telephone number.

Claims

1. A method for automatically searching for a number stored in an electronic database, wherein a procedure for comparing a number entered into a telephone to numbers stored in the database is executed as a user is entering the number into the telephone.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising comparing the entered number with the numbers stored in the database starting from the first digit of the numbers stored.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the comparison is performed on a digit by digit basis as the number is being entered after a predetermined number of digits have been entered.

4. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3 , comprising the steps of generating a search parameter associated with the entered number as the number is being entered; searching the database; and comparing the search parameter to a number stored in the database.

5. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3 , comprising the steps of generating a search parameter based on a first digit of the telephone number entered by the user as the first digit is entered; modifying the search parameter for each further digit input by the user; and determining whether the search parameter corresponds to a number stored in the database.

6. The method of claim 4 or 5 , comprising the steps of generating a comparison parameter based on the number stored in the database; and comparing the search parameter to the comparison parameter to determine whether they match.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of generating the search parameter comprises forming the entered number into a predetermined format and the seep of generating the comparison number comprises forming the stored numbers into the predetermined format .

8. The method according to any preceding claim, comprising generating a list comprising a match between a telephone number entered and a number stored in the database .

9. The method according to claim 1, comprising the following steps: determining whether to search the database if determination is positive; generating a search number; comparing the search number to stored telephone numbers in the database; and if a match is found between the search number and stored telephone number, adding the match to a list of matches .

10. The method according to any preceding claim, comprising using information on telephone number formats to make determinations concerning conversion of the number entered and the stored numbers into a predetermined telephone number format.

11. The method according to any preceding claim, comprising determining whether to convert the number entered and the numbers stored in the database into a predetermined format.

12. The method of claim 7, 10 or 11, wherein the predetermined format is a global international telephone number format .

13. The method of claim 8 or 9, comprising displaying the list.

14. The method of claim 8, 9 or 13 , comprising displaying information associated with the saved numbers in the list.

15. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the database is an electronic telephone book having telephone numbers saved therein.

16. A computer program stored in a telephone for causing the telephone to carry out the method of any preceding claim.