KR20010032370A - Mobile telephone with silent answer - Google Patents

Abstract

The mobile telephone terminal according to the invention comprises a pre-recorded message. The telephone user can silently answer the incoming call by playing a pre-recorded message to the caller. The timer in the terminal further plays the message if the user does not start a regular call with the other party who has made a call within a predetermined time interval. The timer may also activate a response device function that records a message if the user does not answer the call.

Description

MOBILE TELEPHONE TERMINAL AND HOW TO USE AND USAGE

In everyday use of mobile phones, users often find themselves in situations where they are in a place where they are hard to hear and / or loud when they want to answer an incoming call. For example, a user may have had a phone call when in a meeting place, a theater, a restaurant, and other public places. Similarly, the caller's voice will be difficult to hear when the user is next to a noisy machinery or while driving on a noisy road. The user would have been in an uneasy or inadequate place to give all his attention or to immediately speak to the caller.

A typical result would be that if a user who called during a meeting had to answer the call, the caller would have to whisper and wait while he left the meeting room to continue talking. This situation often interferes with the meeting.

Prior art

Oki phones publication 01-30023, Issue 1 (© 1994 Oki Telcom. Suwanee GA USA) discloses a portable mobile phone terminal comprising an answering machine. The terminal can be programmed by the user to answer an incoming call automatically after a preset number of rings, allowing the user to answer without pressing any button.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention provides a mobile phone terminal that allows a user to silently answer an incoming call using a pre-recorded message informing the caller that the caller's call has been received and the user will be talking to him soon. to be. The pre-recorded message may indicate that the user is moving to a nearby location where the user can make a call.

The terminal also includes a timing circuit for reproducing the additional message if the user has not communicated with the caller for a certain time interval, in which case the caller may be able to record a message for the user. Will switch to device mode.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for allowing a user to silently answer an incoming call on a mobile phone terminal in a manner that can effectively inform the user that his or her telephone call has been received without disturbing others in the user's surroundings; and To provide a device.

The present invention relates to a mobile telephone terminal. As used herein, the term "mobile telephone terminal" includes so-called wireless telephone terminals, as well as terminals for public cellular and private mobile radios, and includes pockets as well as terminals that are always or movably installed in vehicles, ships, and aircraft. Both portable terminals are further included.

1 is a functional block diagram of a mobile telephone terminal according to the present invention;

1 is a functional diagram of a mobile telephone terminal 10 such as a portable digital cellular telephone, and the features to be clearly described later are excluded because they are prior art. Thus, the terminal 10 includes not only a modem but also an antenna 50 connected to a radio transceiver module 52 equipped with an RF circuit and other circuits operating in TDMA, CDMA or FDMA as required by the system equipment. The RF module 52 is a microprocessor 54, RAM 56, ROM 58, digital signal processor 60, keyboard in a typical manner, generally shown as data bus 80. 66, a ringer 68, and a display 70. The bus 80 is further connected to a silent signal device 72 such as a mechanical vibrator installed in a terminal case or a battery pack.

The digital processor 60 includes an A / D converter and a D / A converter and operates with known software routines, typically stored in ROM, for encoding and decoding sound among other functions. For this purpose, the digital signal processor 60 is connected to the earphone loudspeaker 62 and the microphone 64. The keyboard 66 includes two specific push buttons 82,84, whose functions will be described later, and push button keys for common and well-known functions on cellular telephone terminals.

In addition to the typical areas for storing control programs, system parameters and fast dialing data, the memories 56 and 58 further include areas 74 reserved for silent response messages. In the preferred embodiment, area 74 is the RAM portion, allowing the user to record and rewrite personal digitization messages using microphone 64 and digital signal processor 60. In an alternate embodiment, area 74a will be a ROM portion and a silent response message is written to the telephone terminal upon manufacture of the telephone terminal.

In operation when receiving a call from a telephone, it is detected by the RF module 52 and the microprocessor 54 that the telephone is called, and the telephone is ringed by the ringer 68 or the silent vibrator 72 programmed by the user. Is known to the user. When the user is in a location or situation where a call can be made, the user can press the ″ Send ″ key on the keyboard 66 or answer the incoming call in a typical manner by speaking directly to the caller. However, if the user is in a meeting or is in another place that is considered inappropriate or rude to talk on the phone, the user can call the software stored in ROM 58 until the user moves to another location or the call is available. The caller can play the prerecorded silent response message to answer the incoming call by pressing the button to hold the call. The silent response message is ″ Hello, you can call after a while. Please wait a little while. ″ Typically a silent response message is sent to be played at full volume, but not always, but at a low volume to be disturbed by a person near the terminal or through a terminal earphone. In a preferred embodiment, the silent response message is repeatedly played to the caller while the call is maintained. In addition, the silent response message provides a self-selection to the incoming call to switch to the answering device mode and record a message for the user by transmitting DTMF tone signals or voice commands recognized by software in the terminal.

When the user reaches a more appropriate location, the user presses a keypad button 84, which allows the terminal to return to typical operation to allow the caller to speak with the caller.

An alternative embodiment of the present invention includes a programmable timer that is described as a timer module 76 connected to the bus 80 but may be implemented in software. The timer is programmed to start counting when a silent reply message is played to the caller. If the user does not speak to the caller for a predetermined delay programmed or programmed by the user, the timer 76 repeats the silent response message, plays the second message to the second caller, and / or ), The caller may further initiate an answering device mode that allows the caller to record a message for the user in the memory area 78. In addition, the timer 76 can be programmed to terminate the call if desired.

In alternative embodiments the keypad button 84 may be removed and voice recognition software may be used to recognize that the user is preparing to start a call with the caller.

In an alternative embodiment, the user may program the terminal to silently answer the next incoming call, such as by pressing keypad button 82 during the terminal's idle period.

In the above embodiment, the function of answering an incoming call, reproducing a message, maintaining a call, and recording a message from a caller are performed by hardware or software in the terminal in an essentially autonomous manner. However, all or some of these functions may be performed by hardware and / or software, which may be part of a mobile telephone network facility in which a function may be performed by transmitting a specific signal or digital code from a terminal to a network base station. For example, such a signal can be used to send a call to a network-based voice mail system.

Claims (20)

In a mobile phone terminal, Means (68, 72) for detecting an incoming call, First user activating means 82 for temporarily responding to an incoming call detected as a first pre-record message; and And a second means (84) for stopping the pre-recorded message and for enabling normal voice communication. The method of claim 1, The first user activation means, And repeating said pre-recorded message until said second means is activated by a user. The method of claim 1, And said first and second means being a user activation push button (82,84). The method of claim 1, The second means, And a timer (76) for releasing said first pre-recorded message after a predetermined time interval. The method of claim 4, wherein The second means, A mobile telephone terminal activating a second pre-recorded message after said predetermined interval. The method of claim 5, The mobile telephone terminal, And a telephone answering means (78) for recording a message from the called party. The method of claim 6, The response means, And a mobile telephone terminal activated after the predetermined time interval. The method of claim 7, wherein The response means, A mobile phone terminal that can also be activated by the called party. The method of claim 8, The response means, A mobile phone terminal that can be activated by DTMF tones. The method of claim 8, The response means, A mobile phone terminal that can be activated by voice. The method of claim 1, The first pre-recorded message, A mobile telephone terminal recorded in the telephone set (74a) at the time of manufacture of the mobile telephone terminal. The method of claim 1, The mobile telephone terminal, And means (60, 62, 74) for allowing a user to record and rewrite the first pre-recorded message. The method of claim 1, The detection means, And a device (72) for silently informing the user that an incoming call has been detected. In the method of operating a mobile telephone terminal, Detecting from the user a first signal indicating a desire of the user to silently answer the incoming call; Detecting a call from the other party; Replaying the first pre-recorded message displayed to the called party answered to the incoming call to the calling party to answer the first signal and the incoming call, and A method of operating a mobile phone terminal, the method comprising maintaining an incoming call. The method of claim 14, The operating method of the mobile phone terminal, Measuring a time interval after playing the first prerecorded message; Detecting whether a user talks with the called party during the time interval, and Playing the second pre-recorded message to the calling party if the user does not talk to the calling party during the time interval. The method of claim 15, The operating method of the mobile phone terminal, And recording a message from the calling party to the user after playing the second pre-recorded message. A method of using a mobile telephone terminal from a first location where communication on a telephone is difficult or inappropriate, Receiving a signal from the terminal that a call from a called party is detected; Quietly answering an incoming call by sending a pre-recorded message to the caller; Maintaining the answered call; Moving from said first location to a second location, said second location being a less difficult and / or more appropriate location than at said first location; and Recovering the held call and talking to the called party Method of using a mobile phone terminal comprising a. The method of claim 17, The maintaining of the answered call may include activating a holding function in the terminal so that the call is held in the terminal, The moving of the terminal may include moving the terminal while the call is maintained. How to use your mobile phone terminal. The method of claim 17, Answering the call, sending a message and maintaining the call, And transmitting a signal to network infrastructure equipment to answer the call, replay a message, and maintain the call. The method of claim 19, And transmitting a signal to a network facility for transmitting a call to a voice mail system.