GB2340338A

GB2340338A - A telephone arranged to generate a waiting message

Info

Publication number: GB2340338A
Application number: GB9908955A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jong-Myung Kim; Hong-Sik Park
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 1998-07-28
Filing date: 1999-04-20
Publication date: 2000-02-16
Anticipated expiration: 2019-04-20
Also published as: KR100288357B1; GB9908955D0; KR20000009726A; GB2340338B

Description

1 2340338 SENDING OUTGOING MESSAGE UPON RECEPTION OF AN INCOMING CALL

Background of the Inventio

The present invention relates to an improved telephone set, and in particular, to a telephone set adapted to provide an outgoing message upon reception of an incoming call.

A user of a portable telephone set may often get a phone call in a place or situation where he or she can not answer the call immediately. For example, when the user is in a conference or lecture, is having an important conversation with someone else, or is in a calm library or in a noisy street, he should move to another place where he can answer the call or should answer the call later.

In such a case, the other party (i.e. the caller) cannot know the circumstances under which the user (i.e. the called person) is placed, since the user does not provide any information while moving to the other place to answer the call. The caller will then hang up the phone without waiting, so that the user may miss an important phone call. Otherwise, the caller should call again a little later, or the user may return the call if he is able to know who the caller is. Though the caller may wait for the call to be answered, this is tedious for the caller.

2 Sunnuary of the Invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved telephone set. Preferably, the improved telephone set is adapted to enable the sending of an outgoing message requesting a caller to wait for a while, upon reception of an incoming call.

The present invention addresses the above object by providing a telephone set adapted to operate as follows.

A call reception alarm is output upon reception of an incoming call. If a call answering wait function is enabled, the incoming call may be connected to the telephone set, which may send a first outgoing message requesting the caller to wait for a while. If a user answers the incoming call after the first outgoing message has been sent, a call mode may be performed.

In an embodiment of the invention, the telephone set is 20 further adapted to operate as follows. If the call answering wait function is not enabled, to continue to output the call reception alarm. If the user answers the incoming call the call reception alarm is no longer output; and a call mode is performed.

In an embodiment of the invention, if the call answering wait function is enabled, the first outgoing message is periodically repeated until the user answers the call.

In an embodiment of the invention, if the call answering wait function is enabled, the telephone set sends a 3 second outgoing message notifying the caller that the user cannot answer the incoming call, if the user does not answer the incoming call within a predetermined time after the first outgoing message is sent.

In an embodiment of the invention, the call mode is performed after sending the first outgoing message, only if the user answers the incoming call within the predetermined time.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first outgoing message is periodically repeated until either the user answers the call, or the second outgoing message is sent.

In an embodiment of the invention, the call answering wait function can be enabled by the user preselecting a corresponding operation mode of the telephone set.

In an embodiment of the invention, the call answering wait function can be enabled by pressing a dedicated key, or a dedicated sequence of keys, on a keypad of the telephone set.

In an embodiment of the invention, the call answering wait function can be enabled by selecting a corresponding mode from a menu of available options,provided by the telephone set.

In an embodiment of the invention, the menu is a call reception alarm type selection menu.

4 In an embodiment of the invention, the call answering wait function can be enabled by the user while the call reception alarm is being output.

In an embodiment of the invention, a call reception alarm type can be selected from a selection menu.

The telephone set may comprise a portable or mobile telephone set, and the call may be received by radio.

The telephone set may comprise a fixed line telephone set, and the call may be received over a fixed line. The fixed line telephone set may comprise a cordless fixed line telephone set.

is Brief Description of the Drawings

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of certain embodiments of the present invention, given by way of examples only, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a portable telephone to which the present invention is applied; and FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for handling an incoming call according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Deggription of the Inventio FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone set, in this example a portable telephone set, to which the present invention is applied. A microprocessor unit (MPU) 100 controls an overall operation of the portable telephone set. In particular, the MPU handles incoming calls according to the method of the present invention. An EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 102 stores various reference data for the MPU 100. A flash memory 104 stores a program for the MPU 100. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 106 is provided as a working memory for the MPU 100. A voice memory 108 stores voice data for outgoing messages according to an aspect of the present invention. A keypad 110 having numeric keys and function keys, allows key input by a user to the MPU 100. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 112 displays various information under the control of the MPU 100. An RF (Radio Frequency) module 116 modulates a signal from the MPU 100 to an RF signal, which is transmitted via an antenna 114. Further, the RF module 116 demodulates the RF signals received via the antenna 114 and outputs them to the MPU 100. A vocoder 118, a microphone 120, a speaker 122 and a vibrator 124 are blocks utilised in talking with the other party during a call; recording outgoing messages; and outputting a call reception alarm (ringing).

Typically, the call reception alarm (ring) is generated upon receipt of an incoming call. The call reception alarm (ring) may be an audible signal, a visible signal, 6 a mechanical vibration caused by vibrator 124, any combination of these, or any other suitable signal for attracting a user's attention. Further, the audible signal may typically be settable to generate a ring sound 5 or a melody.

The vocoder 118 encodes a voice signal from the microphone 120 to supply voice data to the MPU 100; and decodes voice data input from the MPU 100 to supply a voice signal to the speaker 122.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a call answering wait mode is added to a ring selection menu for selecting a type of ring sound, typically provided on a portable telephone set. Then, the user can set or release the call answering wait mode using the ring type selection menu.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method, executed by the MPU 100 of FIG. 1, for handling an incoming call according to an embodiment of the present invention. Upon reception of an incoming call, in step 200, the MPU 100 outputs a call reception alarm (ring signal) of a selected alarm type. In step 202, the MPU 100 checks the EEPROM 102 to determine whether the call answering wait mode is set.

Wait Mode Not Enabled When the call answering wait mode is not set, the MPU 100 determines whether the wait key is pressed and whether 7 the user answers the incoming call.

If the call answering wait mode is not enabled (step 202), the MPU 100 determines in step 220 whether a wait 5 key is input (pressed) The wait key may be a key on keypad 110 for enabling the call answering wait mode upon reception of the incoming call, if the call answering wait mode has not previously been set by the user. The wait key may in f act be a sequence of keystrokes, such as a combination of 'function' key, 101-key and 101-key on the keypad 110. If the wait key is input, the procedure proceeds to step 204.

If the wait key is not input, the MPU 100 examines in step 222 whether the user of the portable telephone set (the called person) answers the incoming call, for example by pressing a 'connect' or 'SEND' key on the keypad.

If the user answers the incoming call, the procedure goes to step 224. The MPU 100 stops outputting the call reception alarm in step 224 and then performs an ordinary call mode in step 226.

If the user does not answer the incoming call, the procedure returns to step 200.

Wait Mode Enabled on the other hand, if it is determined in step 202 that the call answering wait mode is enabled, the MPU 100 stops outputting the call reception alarm (ring) in step 204. The MCU then connects the incoming call in step 206 and in step 208 reads and sends pre-recorded voice data of a first outgoing message from the voice memory 108. The first outgoing message is sent to the caller via the RF module 116.

The first outgoing message is typically a voice message requesting the caller to wait for a while, e.g., "I am in conference now. Please wait just for a little while, then 1 will answer your call". 7his voice message may be recorded in the voice memory 108 by the user, using the microphone 120, or may be previously stored in the memory by the manufacturer of the telephone.

The MPU 100 determines in step 210 whether the user answers the incoming call. if the user has not answered the incoming call, the MPU 100 determines in step 212 whether a predetermined wait time has elapsed. The predetermined wait time is preferably set by the user in order to limit a time in which the user can answer the incoming call, and for which the caller can be kept waiting. For example, the wait time may be set to 15 seconds.

Preferably, the first voice message is periodically repeated until the user answers the incoming call. This 9 may be arranged by providing that the procedure loops back from step 212 to step 208 if the predetermined wait time has not elapsed. Otherwise, the procedure would loop back to step 210 to check whether the user has 5 answered the incoming call.

If the user answers the incoming call in step 210 before the predetermined wait time has elapsed, such as by pressing a 'connect' or 'SEND' key on the keypad 110, the MPU 100 performs an ordinary call mode in step 218.

On the contrary, however, if the user does not answer the incoming call before the predetermined wait time has elapsed, the MPU 100 reads in step 214 a second outgoing is message from the voice memory 108 and sends the second outgoing message to the caller via the RF module 116. The second outgoing message is a voice message notifying the caller that the user (the called person) cannot answer the call. The second outgoing message may be, for example, "I am unable to answer your call at the moment. Please call again later". This voice message can be prerecorded by the user using the microphone 120, or may be stored in the memory by the manufacturer.

As described above, a telephone set according to the invention sends an outgoing message requesting the caller to wait for a little while, when the user cannot answer the incoming call. This reduces the likelihood of missed calls due to the caller hanging up the phone before the user answers the call.

While certain embodiments of the present invention have been described by way of examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, within the scope of the present invention. For example, while there has been illustrated an example of setting the call answering wait mode by using the ring selection menu or pressing a wait key, it is also possible to adopt only one, or both, of these methods in a particular telephone set.

Although the described embodiments relate to implementation of the invention within a mobile or portable telephone set, wherein the call is received by radio, the invention is not limited to such applications.

Indeed, the invention may be applied to many different types of telephone set.

The invention may be implemented in mobile or portable telephone set, or may be implemented in a fixed-line telephone set, which receilves the incoming call over a fixed line.

A fixed-line telephone set according to the present invention may be a cordless fixed line telephone set, comprising a main unit which receives the call over a fixed wire, and a cordless handset which communicates with the main unit by radio or otherwise.

Telephone systems according to the present invention are useful in many situations, for example in shops or of f ices or even in the home. If the user is unable to 11 answer the incoming call immediately, as he is serving or conversing with another person or is otherwise occupied, the method of the present invention will allow the user to answer the call up to a predetermined time later, such 5 as the 15 second wait time mentioned above.

12

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A telephone set adapted to operate to:

- output a call reception alarm upon reception of an incoming call; connect the incoming call to the telephone set if a call answering wait function is enabled; - send a first outgoing message requesting the caller to wait for a while; and - perform a call mode, if a user answers the incoming call after the first outgoing message has been sent.

2. A telephone set according to claim 1, further adapted to operate, if the call answering wait function is not enabled, to: - continue to output the call reception alarm; and, if the user answers the incoming call, to: - stop outputting the call reception alarm; and 20 - perform a call mode.

3. A telephone set according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein, if the call answering wait function is enabled, the first outgoing message is periodically repeated until the user answers the call.

4. A telephone set according to any preceding claim further adapted to operate, if the call answering wait function is enabled, to: 30 - send a second outgoing message notifying the caller that the user cannot answer the incoming call, if 13 the user does not answer the incoming call within a predetermined time after the first outgoing message is sent.

5. A telephone set according to claim 4 wherein the call mode is performed after sending the first outgoing message, only if the user answers the incoming call within the predetermined time.

6. A telephone set according to claim 4 or claim 5 further adapted to enable the first outgoing message to be periodically repeated until either the user answers the call, or the second outgoing message is sent.

7. A telephone set according to any preceding claim in which the call answering wait function can be enabled by the user preselecting a corresponding operation mode of the telephone set.

8. A telephone set according to any preceding claim in which the call answering wait function can be enabled by pressing a dedicated key, or a dedicated sequence of keys, on a keypad of the telephone set.

9. A telephone set according to any preceding claim in which the call answering wait function can be enabled by selecting a corresponding mode from a menu of available options, provided by the telephone set.

10. A telephone set according to claim 9 wherein the menu is a call reception alarm type selection menu.

14

11. A telephone set according to any preceding claim in which the call answering wait function can be enabled by the user while the call reception alarm is being output.

12. A telephone set according to any preceding claim further adapted to enable selection of a call reception alarm type from a selection menu.

13. A telephone set according to any preceding claim, wherein the telephone set comprises a portable or mobile telephone set, and the call is received by radio.

14. A telephone set according to any of claims 1-12, wherein the telephone set comprises a fixed line telephone set, and the call is received over a fixed line.

15. A telephone set according to claim 14, wherein the fixed line telephone set comprises a cordless fixed line telephone set.

16. A telephone set substantially as described with reference to and/or as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.