KR20020022350A - Apparatus and method for searching telephone number in communication terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus and method for retrieving a telephone number in a communication terminal is provided to simply retrieve the telephone number by retrieving the telephone number using a primary consonant of each syllable. CONSTITUTION: If a telephone number retrieval key is inputted(201), a control unit displays items to telephone number retrieval methods(203). The control unit checks whether a consonant retrieval is selected by the selection of a user(205). If the consonant retrieval is selected, the control unit displays an input request window for requesting the input of retrieval consonants(207). The control unit retrieves a telephone number database stored in a memory using the consonants inputted by a user(211). The control unit judges whether a name or a telephone number list to be identical to the combination of the consonants exists by the retrieval(213). The identical telephone number list exists in the database, the control unit displays the retrieved results on a display unit(215).

Description

Apparatus and method for retrieving a phone number from a communication terminal {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SEARCHING TELEPHONE NUMBER IN COMMUNICATION TERMINAL}

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for searching a telephone number of a communication terminal, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for searching for a telephone number using the first consonant of each syllable.

In the prior art, a method of searching for a phone number stored in a terminal includes a method of searching by "address" and a method of searching by "name". The search method using the address is a method of sequentially searching the phone numbers stored in correspondence with the addresses using the up and down (or left and right) keys or by searching the phone numbers stored in the corresponding addresses by inputting numeric keys.

On the other hand, the method of searching by the name is a method of directly inputting a name and searching. If "Hong" is inputted, all names beginning with "Hong" are displayed. If "Hong Gil" is entered, "Hong Gil" starts. All names are displayed. The user selects a desired name from among the displayed names and makes a call. The name search is mainly used when there are many registered phone numbers. However, this method has a problem that the search time is too long when there are many phone numbers, especially when searching for a name having a common surname.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for quickly searching a telephone number in a communication terminal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for retrieving a telephone number with the first consonants of each syllable in a communication terminal.

In order to achieve the above objects, a telephone number search method of a communication terminal having a telephone number database corresponds to a combination of the plurality of consonants by searching the telephone number database with a combination of a plurality of consonants inputted when searching for a telephone number. And checking if there is a list of telephone numbers, and if the list of matching telephone numbers exists, displaying the list of matching telephone numbers.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a phone number search procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a keypad device;

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the controller 10 controls overall operations of the mobile communication terminal and controls operations related to phone number search according to the present invention. The memory 20 includes a ROM for storing a program for controlling the operation of the mobile communication terminal, and a RAM for temporarily storing data generated during the execution of the program. The memory 20 includes a telephone number database (or phone book) for storing telephone number lists according to the present invention.

The RF unit 30 converts an analog baseband signal into an RF signal (high frequency signal), transmits the signal to a base station through a wireless channel, and converts the RF signal received through the antenna AT into an analog baseband signal. downconversion) to the modem 40. The modem 40 converts digital data into an analog baseband signal and provides it to the radio unit 30. The modem 40 converts the analog signal from the radio unit 30 into digital data and provides it to the voice processor 50.

The voice processor 50 is connected to a microphone MIC and a speaker SP, converts an analog voice signal input from the microphone MIC into digital data (ADPCM data), and provides the same to the modem 40. The modem 40 The signal input from the device is processed as an analog voice signal and output through the speaker SP.

The key input unit 60 is composed of key metrics including a plurality of numeric keys, and provides the controller 10 with key data generated by a key operation. The display unit 70 displays the operation state of the mobile communication terminal on the LCD under the control of the controller 10.

2 illustrates a phone number search procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 shows a procedure for searching a telephone number with the first consonants of each syllable of a name.

Referring to FIG. 2, the controller 10 checks whether a telephone number search key is input by user selection in step 201. If the phone number search key is input, the controller 10 proceeds to step 203 to display items for phone number search methods. Otherwise, the controller 10 proceeds to step 217 to perform a corresponding mode. Here, the items for the search method may be, for example, "address search", "name search", "consonant search". The address search is a method of sequentially searching a list of phone numbers according to input of up and down (or left and right) keys or a number key to search a phone number of a corresponding address. The name search is a name (or a letter or syllable). How to search by typing. Meanwhile, the consonant search according to the present invention is a method of searching for a telephone number with each first consonant of syllables constituting a name.

After displaying the search items, the controller 10 checks whether the " consonant search " is selected by the user's selection in step 205. If the "consonant search" is selected, the controller 10 proceeds to step 207 to display an input request screen for requesting input of consonants to search, otherwise proceeds to step 219 to select the existing search method ( Actions according to name search or address search).

After displaying the input request screen, the controller 10 checks whether input for consonants to be searched is completed in step 209. For example, the user enters the first consonants of each syllable in the name, while the last one is long. The controller 10 detects the completion of input by sensing the last input.

Referring to the keypad device shown in FIG. 3, if a user wants to search for a phone number named "Hong Gil-dong", the user inputs the keys in the order of [-]-> [a]-> [c] (long press). Done. In this case, all names beginning with 'ㅎ', second starting with 'ㄱ' and third starting with 'ㄷ' are searched. However, there will not be many search results that match the combination of the three consonants. On the other hand, the user can find the desired phone number by about three keystrokes, it is possible to search the phone number quickly and easily.

On the other hand, after detecting the completion of the input, the control unit 10 searches the telephone number database stored in the memory 20 with the consonants input by the user in step 211. In operation 213, the controller 10 determines whether there is a name (or phone number list) that matches the combination of the consonants. If a matching telephone number list exists in the telephone number database, the controller 10 proceeds to step 215 and displays the searched results (including name, address and phone number) on the display unit 70. Otherwise, the controller 10 proceeds to step 221. Display an error message. In the displayed search results, when a user selects a specific phone number and inputs a call key, an automatic call is made to the phone number.

Since the above method uses only consonant keys, the vowel keys 1,2 and 3 are not used. Therefore, as another example, when the 1, 2, 3 keys (vowel keys) are input, it can be implemented to search by the address in the conventional manner. That is, from 1 to 39 addresses can be searched by address.

Here, when comparing the conventional name search method and the consonant search method according to the present invention, first, the conventional method is [Search]-> [Find by name]-> [8]-> [8]-> [2] -> [3]-> [0]-> {OK] There must be 8 keystrokes to search for names with 'Hong' last name. However, in the present invention, as described above, only three key inputs can obtain a search result. In other words, the user's key actions required for the search can be significantly reduced.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

As described above, the present invention performs a search with the first consonants of each syllable of the name when searching for a telephone number in the communication terminal, so that a search result can be obtained by about three key inputs. This has the advantage that the user can easily search for the phone number.

Claims (4)

In the telephone number search device of the communication terminal, A memory for storing a telephone number database, And a controller for searching the telephone number database with a combination of a plurality of consonants inputted when searching for a phone number, and displaying a list of telephone numbers corresponding to the combination of the plurality of consonants on a display unit. In the telephone number search method of a communication terminal having a telephone number database, Searching the telephone number database with a combination of a plurality of consonants input when searching for a phone number and checking whether a list of phone numbers corresponding to the combination of the plurality of consonants exists; And displaying the matching telephone number list when the matching telephone number list exists. The method of claim 2, The telephone number list includes a street address, a name, a telephone number. The method of claim 2, And displaying a list of the telephone numbers and automatically calling the corresponding telephone number when a call key is input.