KR19990083006A - Dialing prefix method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cellular telephone 100 that enables a user to prefix the area code to a local telephone number recalled from the telephone book memory 112. The recalled local telephone number is displayed on the display unit 113. If the user enters a Prefix command to prefix the new digit to the local phone number, the local phone number disappears on the display 113. After the prefix command is entered, the user can enter a new digit indicating the area code (if the user has previously entered the area code, the area code is displayed on the display). Only the newly entered digits, ie the area codes already entered, are then displayed on the display. After the new digit is input, the entire telephone number including the area code and the local telephone number is displayed on the display unit 113. If the user enters a SEND command using the options menu or if the user presses the transmit key 110, the entire telephone number is transmitted. The entire telephone number is stored in telephone book memory 112 if necessary. Moreover, the entire telephone number is stored in the call history memory 114 to store the dialed telephone number as a call history.

Description

Prefix calling method and apparatus {DIALING PREFIX METHOD AND APPARATUS}

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to cellular telephones, and more particularly, to a communication terminal apparatus and method for prefixing additional prefix numbers, such as area codes, to local telephone numbers recalled from phonebook memory.

Cellular telephone users may address other cellular telephones or land-line telephones traveling from one place to another. Memory devices have been added to cellular telephones to facilitate dialing of telephone numbers. Such a memory device allows the user to recall pre-programmed numbers for automatic dialing.

When the user is in his home area with a telephone subscription, the user dials only seven digits to make a local call. In this case, the user should not dial the area code. Thus, the user always stores only the local phone number in the phonebook memory without the area code of that number for autodialing. However, if the user wants to call a phone number belonging to his home area when he is not in his home area, he must dial the appropriate area code before the seven digit numbers, but the user recalls from the phonebook memory. In order to add a local code to an existing local number, you cannot enter that area code alone. Instead, the user must enter the entire telephone number, including the area code for the local telephone number, each time a long distance call is made.

To overcome this drawback, a prefix dialing method has been proposed in the U.S. Patent No. 5,459,774. The patent uses an intelligent editing function to select a prefix mode if the phone number is automatically entered, and to select an additional editing mode if information indicating the phone number is manually entered. A method of transmitting the information presented is presented. More specifically, the method includes inputting, analyzing, judging, evaluating, adding, inserting and repeating. The input step inputs a new digit for display on the display. The analyzing step analyzes whether there is a currently displayed number on the display section before displaying a new digit. The determining step determines whether the displayed number includes the local telephone number retrieved from the memory if a positive result is obtained in the analyzing step. The evaluating step evaluates in response to the positive result in the determining step whether the displayed number includes one or more newly added digits placed immediately before the local telephone number. The adding step adds a new digit to the local telephone number in response to the negative result in the evaluation step. The inserting step inserts a new digit between the local telephone number and the newly added digit in response to the positive result in the evaluating step. The repetition step repeats the analysis step, the determination step, the evaluation step, the addition step, and the insertion step in response to each additional new digit entered by the user. However, because there are a plurality of judgment processes such as an analysis step, a judgment step and an evaluation step, the above method is very complicated. Moreover, the display of the local telephone number and the newly added number together on the display can be confusing for the user because the user must distinguish between the local telephone number and the newly added number which means the area code.

In order to overcome the above disadvantages, it is an object of the present invention to provide a telephone number transmission method, which comprises recalling a local telephone number in a memory and displaying the local telephone number on a display. Inputting a prefix command (PREFIX) to prefix a new digit to the local telephone number, deleting the local telephone number on the display in response to the input of the prefix command; A step of inputting a new digit indicating an area code, wherein in this step, an input step of displaying only the new digit entered is displayed on the display unit, and transmitting a complete phone number including the local phone number and the area code in response to a transmission command. Steps.

According to one aspect of the invention, the method further comprises displaying the entire telephone number on the display after the area code is entered.

According to another aspect of the invention, the method includes determining whether the area code has already been entered; And displaying only the area code on the display unit in response to a positive result in the determining step. The input of a new digit is requested as a response to the negative result at the decision step.

According to another feature of the invention, the method further comprises storing the entire telephone number in a memory.

According to another feature of the invention, the method further comprises editing a digit displayed on the display, wherein the digit is a local telephone number or area code.

According to another feature of the invention, the method further comprises storing the entire telephone number in a call history memory.

1 is a block diagram of a cellular telephone according to the present invention.

2 is a front view of a cellular telephone according to the present invention.

3 is a flow chart of a method according to the present invention for prefixing a area code to a local telephone number.

Fig. 4 illustrates the " prefix " mode operation after a user recalls a local phone number in the phonebook memory in accordance with the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: Cellular Phone 101: Battery

102 antenna 103 receiver

104: transmitter 105: transceiver switch

106: control circuit 107: alarm

108: speaker 109: microphone

110: key portion 111: dial shuttle

112: phone book memory 113: display unit

114: call history memory 115: nonvolatile memory

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cellular telephone 100 in accordance with the present invention. As shown, the cellular telephone 100 includes a battery 101, an antenna 102, a receiver 103, a transmitter 104, a transceiver 105, a control circuit 106, and an alarm. 107, speaker 108, microphone 109, keys 110, dial shuttle 111, phone book memory 112, display unit 113, call history memory 114 And the nonvolatile memory 115. The battery (energy source) 101 supplies power to the cellular telephone 100. The radio frequency signal is received or transmitted by the antenna 102. The antenna 102 is connected to the receiver 103 and the transmitter 104 by the transmission / reception switcher 105. The received signal is routed from the receiver 103 to the control circuit 106, which recovers all the information represented by the received signal.

The recovered information is then used to start up the functions within the cellular telephone 100, such as the alarm 107 (which is a ringer in the case of a cellular telephone) and maintain the connection even after the answer to the call. Once connected, the user communicates with the other party using the speaker 108 and the microphone 109 by sound. The audio recovered from the control circuit 106 is routed to the speaker 108 which converts electrical energy into acoustic energy and eventually allows the user to hear any transmitted information. The microphone 109 is used to convert acoustic energy into electrical energy for use by the control circuit 106 to modulate the radio frequency carrier supplied by the transmitter 104. The user may select a number of the other party to be contacted by using the key unit 110 and the dial shuttle 111 to initiate a call. In a preferred embodiment, the user can recall the local number in phonebook memory 112 and then enter the access code (or prefix) if necessary before the local number is recalled. If the local number that the user wants to dial is not stored in the phonebook memory 112, the user must enter the entire number including the area code. Formation of the full number is accomplished by prefixing the area code to the local number recalled from the phonebook memory 112. The entire telephone number is stored in the call history memory 114 as the call history, and if necessary, in the phone book memory 112. The newly entered area code is also stored in the nonvolatile memory 115. If necessary, the user can make a call, edit a number, or discard the dialing operation. When the call is initiated, the transmitting means 106, 104, 105 and 102 broadcast a modulated radio frequency carrier with information indicative of the access code. The cellular telephone base station then establishes a communication link once a valid identity is identified.

Although the phone book memory 112, the call history memory 114 and the nonvolatile memory 115 are shown independently in the above embodiments, the nonvolatile memory 115 supports two different memory functions. Will be appreciated.

As will be described in more detail, while the present invention has been described in relation to the operation of a cellular telephone, the present invention is not limited to cellular telephones, but is not limited to cellular telephones, PCS devices, pagers, mobile personal portfolios, and the like, as well as other types. It can be easily applied to the mobile device.

2 is a diagram schematically showing the front face 200 of the cellular telephone 100 of the present invention. The front surface 200 is provided with a dial shuttle 111, a display portion 113, a speaker 108, and a microphone 109. Also shown is antenna 102, which may be of the " pull-out " type, which is generally not in front. It will be remembered that the operation and function of the antenna 102, the speaker 108, and the microphone 109 are known in the art.

As shown in FIG. 2, the input key unit 110 includes a numeric input key of 0 to 9, a "#" key, a "*" key, a "send" key, an "end" key, and a "delete" key. Key, and a "power" key. The keys are actually present in all cellular telephones, so are well known in the art for the function and design for each of the above.

The dial shuttle 111 may be operable to move to an upper position, a lower position, and a pressed position by the user. The dial shuttle 111 maybe "clicks" when pressed to inform the user that he or she is pressed. Alternatively, the dial shuttle 111 may be moved to a right position and a left position instead of an up position and a down position, where for purposes of explanation the dial shuttle 111 is in an up position, a down position, and You can only move to the pressed position. Although the dial shuttle 111 is used as a three-stage switch in the preferred embodiment, other types of switches capable of switching to three or more positions may be used instead of the dial shuttle 111.

In a preferred embodiment, when the user moves the dial shuttle 111 to the up and down positions, the dial shuttle 111 operates to scroll up and down the various menus displayed on the display 113. When the user presses the dial shuttle 111, the user can select a particular input, indicated by a highlight, on the menu to indicate that it is subsequently executed by the cellular telephone.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, the dialing method according to the present invention will be described in detail below. 3 is a flowchart of a method for prefixing a area code to a local telephone number. 4 illustrates the operation of the "prefix" mode after the user recalls the local phone number in the phonebook memory 112.

Referring to Figure 3, in step 300 the user places a call mode on the cellular telephone. In step 310, the user determines whether to browse the phonebook memory 112.

If the user does not want to browse the phonebook memory 112, step 320 is executed. In step 320, the user must manually enter the desired telephone number, including the area code, if necessary. In step 330, the manually entered telephone number is displayed on the display 113. Then, if the user inputs a transmit command using the dial shuttle 111 or the transmit function key SEND at step 340, the displayed telephone number is transmitted at step 350. If the user does not enter a transmit command, step 360 is executed. In step 360, if the user presses the exit function key, an ABORT process is executed. Of course, the user can edit the recalled local phone number or manually entered phone number in the phonebook memory 112 if needed, although not shown in FIG. 3 before entering the transmit command. Now assume that, for example, the telephone number "567-8910" is displayed on the display unit 113, the user must first enter an editing command using the option menu to enter the edit mode EDIT. If the user operates the clear function key CLEAR in the edit mode, the last digit "0" of the currently displayed "567-8910" is removed and "567-891" is displayed on the display. If the user activates the delete key once more, "1" is removed.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step 310, if the user wants to browse the phonebook memory 112, step 370 is executed. In step 370, the user looks up the phonebook memory 112 to see if the local phone number to be dialed is stored.

In step 380, if the user does not find the desired local phone number, step 320 is performed in which the user manually enters the desired phone number. If the user finds the desired local telephone number, step 390 is executed. In step 390, the user selects the desired local telephone number using dial shuttle 111, and control circuit 106 is selected to display the number on display 113 as shown in A of FIG. Local phone numbers are retrieved from phone book memory 112.

In step 400, the user determines whether to select a prefix mode. If the user has not selected the prefix mode, steps 340 and 350 are executed to send the displayed local telephone number. If the user selects the prefix mode, step 410 is executed. In a preferred embodiment, when the user wants to select the prefix mode, the user first presses the dial shuttle 111 to display an option menu on the display 113 as shown in B of FIG. Select the prefix mode from the options menu. Once the prefix mode is selected, the control circuit 106 completely removes the local telephone number indicated at step 410 as shown in FIG. 4C.

However, it is known in the art that cellular telephones can automatically determine whether a user is in their home area. Thus, if the user is not in his home area and the local phone number is recalled from the phonebook memory 112, the prefix mode is automatically executed without the user selecting the prefix mode.

In step 420, the control circuit 106 looks for the nonvolatile memory 115 to see if the previously entered prefix is in the nonvolatile memory. If the result is positive, in other words, if the user has already entered the prefix, the prefix is recalled from the nonvolatile memory 115, and then the prefix is displayed on the display 113 at step 430. If the result of step 420 is negative, control circuit 106 asks the user to enter a prefix. Thus, the user must enter new digits representing the prefix, which are displayed on the display 113 at step 440. At this time, since the control circuit 106 completely removes the local telephone number displayed in step 410, only the newly input digits are displayed in the order in which they are input without the local telephone number recalled in the telephone book memory 112. For example, after the recalled local telephone number " 987-1234 " is deleted in step 410, " 1 " and " 6 " and " 1 " and " When 9 "is newly input, only" 1619 "is displayed.

In step 450, the user can edit the displayed prefix using the keypad 110 or the dial shuttle 111 if necessary. As described above, the user can delete the last digit of the displayed number by operating the clear function key CLEAR even when the user is entering a new digit in prefix mode.

In step 460, the user decides whether to transmit the number. If the user does not enter a transmit command in step 460, then step 470 is reached. In step 470, the discard process is performed by pressing the end function key END if the user wants to stop the call. If the user inputs a transmission command by pressing the dial shuttle 111 or the transmission function key SEND, step 480 is executed. In step 480, the control circuit 106 displays on the display 113 the entire telephone number, including both the prefix and the desired local telephone number recalled in the directory memory 112. In step 490, the control circuit 106 stores the newly entered prefix in the nonvolatile memory 115 in step 440 and also stores the entire telephone number to be transmitted in the call history memory 114, consequently. The user can easily dial the entire phone number once again. The user can also store the entire phone number in the phonebook memory 112 if necessary, so that the user can easily dial the entire phone number later.

Then step 350 is executed to transmit the entire telephone number.

Although the present invention has been shown and described in connection with particularly preferred embodiments, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the use of "prefix" mode is not limited to cellular phones, but can be embodied in pagers and computer terminals and in all other devices where it is desirable to limit the number of input keys.

Moreover, the "prefix" mode is applicable to other operations such as call forwarding operation as well as area codes. If the user wants to divert an incoming call to a predetermined phone number, for example "619-123-4567", the user first recalls the local phone number in the phonebook memory 112, and then calls the local phone number. Prefix area code "619". Then, the user must enter "* 72", which is a function code indicating an incoming call switching operation, before "619-123-4567" using the "prefix" mode according to the present invention. Thus, the user can easily switch a call received by the "prefix" mode, since the user does not have to enter the entire number including the function code and the telephone number to which the received call is diverted.

Claims (31)

In the telephone number transmission method, Recalling a local telephone number in memory; Displaying the local telephone number on a display unit; Inputting a prefix command (PREFIX) for prefixing a new digit to the local telephone number; Deleting the local telephone number from the display in response to the input of the prefix command; Inputting an area code, wherein said area code is displayed only on said display at that time; Inputting a send command SEND to initiate a transfer operation; Transmitting the entire telephone number including the area code and the local telephone number in response to the transmitting command; Inputting a transmit command to initiate a transmit operation; And And transmitting the entire telephone number including the area code and the local telephone number in response to the transmitting command. The telephone number transmission method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the entire telephone number on the display in response to the input of the transmission command. The method of claim 1, wherein entering the area code comprises: Determining whether the area code has already been entered; And And displaying only the area code on the display unit in response to the positive result in the determining step. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein inputting the area code further comprises requesting input of the new digit as a response to a negative result in the determining step. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the entire telephone number in the memory. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising editing a digit displayed on the display, wherein the digit is either the local telephone number or the area code. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the entire telephone number in a call history memory. In the telephone number transmission method, Recalling a local telephone number from memory; Displaying the local telephone number on a display unit; Entering a prefix command (PREFIX) to prefix new digits to the local telephone number; Deleting the local telephone number from the display unit in response to the selection of the prefix mode; Inputting a digit indicating an area code, wherein the digit is inputted, wherein only the digit is uniquely displayed on the display at that time; Inputting a transmission command SEND to initiate transmission of information; Displaying the entire telephone number including the area code and the local telephone number on the display unit in response to the transmission command input; And And transmitting the entire telephone number. In the information transmission method, Recalling the first information from the memory; Displaying the first information on a display unit; Inputting a first command to append second information to said first information; Deleting the first information from the display unit in response to the first command input; Inputting the second information, wherein only the second information is inputted, wherein the second information is displayed on the display unit at that time; And transmitting the entire information including the first and second information in response to a transmission command input by a user to transmit the entire information. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second information is prefixed to the first information in the first mode. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said first information comprises a local telephone number and said second information comprises a region code or a predetermined function code. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying the entirety of the information on the display unit after the transmission command is input. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein inputting the second information comprises: determining whether the second information has already been entered; And And displaying only the second information on the display as a response to the positive result from the determining step. 15. The method of claim 13, wherein inputting the second information further comprises requesting input of the second information in response to a negative result from the determining step. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing the entirety of the information in the memory. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising editing the information displayed on the display unit, wherein the information is the first information or the second information. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing the entirety of the information in a history memory to store the information as a transmission history. In the communication terminal device for transmitting information, Memory; A display unit; Recall means for recalling first information from the memory; Display means for displaying the first information on the display portion; Means for inputting a first command to append second information to the first information; Deleting means for deleting the first information from the display unit in response to the input of the first command; Means for inputting said second information, comprising: means for inputting said second information, wherein only said second information is displayed on said display portion at that time; And communication means for transmitting the entire information including the first information and the second information in response to a SEND command input by the user for transmitting the entire information. Device. 19. A communication terminal device according to claim 18, wherein said second information is prefixed to said first information. 19. The communication terminal device according to claim 18, wherein the first information includes a local telephone number and the second information includes a region code or a predetermined function code. 19. The communication terminal device according to claim 18, wherein the display means displays the entirety of the information on the display unit after the transmission command is input. 19. The display apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the means for inputting the second information includes determining means for determining whether the second information has already been entered and only the second information on the display unit in response to a positive result in the determining means. Communication means for transmitting information, characterized in that it comprises means for displaying. 23. The communication terminal according to claim 22, wherein the means for inputting the second information further comprises means for requesting input of the second information in response to a negative result in the determining means. Device. 19. A communication terminal device according to claim 18, further comprising means for storing the entire information in the memory. 19. The communication terminal apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising means for editing the information displayed on the display unit, wherein the information is the first information or the second information. 19. A communication terminal apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising means for storing the entire information in a history memory for storing the information as a transmission history. In the telephone number transmission method, Recalling the telephone number from memory; Displaying the telephone number on a display unit; Entering a prefix command to prefix a new digit to the telephone number; Deleting the telephone number from the display unit in response to the input of the prefix command; Inputting a code, wherein the code is displayed only on the display at that time; Inputting a transmit command to initiate a transmit operation; And And transmitting the entire number including the code and the telephone number in response to the transmitting command. 28. The method of claim 27, further comprising displaying the entire number on the display in response to the input of the transmission command. 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the code input step comprises: determining whether the code has already been entered; And displaying the code on the display unit in response to the positive result in the determining step. 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of entering a code further comprises the step of requesting input of the new digits in response to a negative result from the determining means. 28. The method of claim 27, further comprising editing the digits displayed on the display, wherein the digits are the code or the telephone number.