GB2252016A

GB2252016A - Message display paging system having universal entry procedure

Info

Publication number: GB2252016A
Application number: GB9127443A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hirokazu Tsuji
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 1990-12-29
Filing date: 1991-12-27
Publication date: 1992-07-22
Also published as: GB9127443D0; JPH04227135A

Abstract

In a radio display paging system, a paging signal from a switched telephone network 8 or from a paging servicing center is received by a paging transmitter station 1. The paging signal comprises a destination pager identifier followed by a message which may contain a predetermined message pattern, a sequence of numerals, or a mixture of a message pattern and numerals. The message pattern is translated into a corresponding identifier, and a paging signal is broadcast from the transmitter station containing a message pattern identifier, numerals or a mixture of a pattern identifier and numerals. On receiving a broadcast paging signal, each radio display pager translates a message identifier contained in it to a corresponding message pattern before displaying a message. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION "Message Display Paging System Having Universal Entry Procedure" BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to radio display paging systems, and more specifically to such a paging system capable of displaying callers' messages.

According to conventional radio display paging systems, a destination pager's identifier, or telephone number, is dialed to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to access a radio paging terminal from which voice response is returned to urge the caller to send a subsequent message. If a predetermined message pattern is to be sent, the user searches through a list of such patterns and detects an identifier representing that message pattern and enters the message pattern identifier instead of the whole sentence of the message pattern. On receiving a paging signal, a pager checks to see if it contains a message pattern identifier. if so, the pager uses the identifier as an address pointer to detect a corresponding message pattern from a memory.

When transmitting a pattern-containing message, on the other hand, it is entered simply as a series of numerals. While the transmission of message identifiers instead of whole messages improves the transmission efficiency of the system, calling subscribers must distinguish between a procedure for sending pattern-containing messages and a procedure for sending messages not containing a pattern.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of a radio display paging system which provides a universal message entry procedure while retaining high transmission efficiency.

In an embodiment to be described, a paging signal from a switched telephone network or a paging service center is received by a paging transmitter station. The paging signal comprises a destination pager identifier and a message which may contain a predetermined message pattern, a sequence of numerals, or a mixture of a message pattern and numerals. The message pattern is translated into a corresponding identifier, and a paging signal Is broadcast from the transmitter station containing a message pattern identifier, numerals or a mixture of a pattern identifier and numerals. On receiving a broadcast paging signal, each radio display pager translates a message identifier contained In it to a corresponding message pattern before displaying a message.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a radio display paging transmitter station; Fig. 2 Is a flowchart describing a sequence of steps to be executed by the radio paging terminal of the system; and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a radio display pager.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The radio display paging transmitter station of the embodiment is represented by numeral 1 in Fig. 1. The paging transmitter station comprises a radio paging terminal 2 to receive call requests from user stations via the public switched telephone network 8. The network transmits the dialed information to the paging terminal 2 indicating the destination pager. The paging system includes a pager identifier memory 3 in which identifiers of registered pagers are stored and a message conversion table 4 in which a map Is defined between predetermined message patterns and corresponding message pattern identifiers.

As shown in the flowchart of Fig. 2, radio paging terminal 2 is programmed to execute a sequence of steps. The program execution begins with step 10 to check to see if a call is received from the PSTN 8.

On receiving a call, control branches to step 1 1 to make a search through the pager identifier memory 3 to detect a match between the identifier received from the PSTN and a corresponding identifier stored in memory 3. If they mismatch, control branches to step 17 to return a voice response indicating that the destination identifier is not authentic, and if they match, control proceeds to step 12 to return a voice response urging the requesting user to send a subsequent message. Control moves to step 13 to check to see if a subsequent message is received within a specified timeout period. On receiving a subsequent message, the program execution branches at step 1 3 to step 14 to check to see if the received message contains a message pattern.If the answer is affirmative, control goes to step 15 to make a search through the message conversion table 4 to detect a corresponding message pattern identifier and substitute it for the message pattern. Control then passes to step 16 to transmit a paging signal to the coding and queuing processor 5 containing the pager identifier plus the message signal. If the subsequent message does not contain a predetermined message pattern, control moves to step 16 bypassing step 15.

On receiving a paging signal, processor 5 translates it into the format of a specified line code and stores it into a queuing memory before transmission. A plurality of transmitters 6 are connected to the processor 5 for modulating a radio-frequency carrier with the coded signal delivered from the queuing memory and broadcasting it from antennas 7 which are located at strategic points of the service area of the paging system.

The broadcast signal is received by radio display pagers. As shown in Fig. 3, each pager comprises a front end 21 for converting a paging signal received by antenna 20 to baseband signal for coupling to a decoder 22 in which a match or mismatch is detected between the identifier contained in the received paging signal and the pager's own identifier. On receiving a paging signal that is addressed to the pager, a visual and sound alarm unit 23 is activated by decoder 22 to notify the user of the arrival of a call. A controller 24 is coupled to the output of decoder 22 to receive a signal following the pager's identifier. Controller 24 is associated with a random access memory 25 for storing the received message signal. Controller 24 is further associated with a read only memory 26 in which alphanumeric data, symbols, and message patterns are stored.Controller 24 accesses the ROM according to received codes for reconstructing a message. A liquid crystal display unit 28 is coupled to the output of controller 24 by way of an LCD driver 27.

A reset switch 29 is operated when the user is alerted.

If the message transmitted from the calling user station contains a message pattern, the corresponding message pattern identifier is transmitted from the paging transmitter station, and received by the pager. Controller 24 uses this pattern identifier as an address pointer to accesses the ROM 26 and reads a corresponding message pattern out of the memory into RAM 25, whose contents are subsequently read into display unit 28. If the transmitted message does not contain a message pattern, the controller 24 reads corresponding alphanumeric data and symbols from ROM 26 into RAM 25 for display.

Therefore, message calling subscribers are not troubled to search message pattern identifiers from a list of identifiers before sending a message as in the case of transmitting messages not containing message patterns.

The foregoing description shows only one preferred embodiment of the present invention. Various modifications are apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention which is only limited by the appended claims. For example, the paging signal may be entered to the paging system in a paging servicing station by human intervention. In such instances, the calling user accesses the center by dialing its telephone number and verbally communicates a destination pager identifier and a message to an attendant personnel, who subsequently enters the data on behalf of the calling subscriber. Therefore, the embodiment shown and described is only illustrative, not restrictive.

Claims

1. A radio display paging communication system comprising a paging transmitter station and a plurality of radio display pagers, said paging transmitter station comprising: means for receiving a paging signal containing a destination pager identifier and a message, said message comprising a predetermined message pattern, a sequence of message data, or a mixture of thereof; means for translating said message pattern into a corresponding message pattern identifier; and means for broadcasting a paging signal containing said message pattern identifier, said message data or a mixture of the message pattern identifier and said message data, each of said radio display pagers including means for receiving said broadcast signals and translating a message identifier to a corresponding message pattern and displaying the message pattern, message data, or a mixture of the message pattern and the message data.

2. A radio display paging communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said paging signal is received from a switched telephone network.

3. A communication method for a radio display paging system comprising: a) receiving a paging signal containing a destination pager identifier and a message, said message comprising a predetermined message pattern, a sequence of message data, or a mixture of thereof; b) determining whether said message contains a predetermined message pattern; c) if said message is determined as having a message pattern, translating the message pattern into a corresponding message pattern identifier, and broadcasting a paging signal containing said pager identifier, said message pattern identifier and said message data if said message data is contained in the received message; d) if said message is determined as not having a message pattern, broadcasting a paging signal containing said pager identifier and said message data; and e) receiving at a pager said broadcast signal containing the pager's identifier; f) translating a message identifier contained in said received signal to a message pattern; and g) displaying said message pattern, message data contained in said received signal, or a mixture of the message pattern and the message data.

4. A communication method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the step (a) comprises receiving said paging signal from a switched telephone network.

5. A radio display paging communication system as claimed in claim 1 substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.