WO1999060765A1

WO1999060765A1 - Call handling in radio communication terminals

Info

Publication number: WO1999060765A1
Application number: PCT/GB1999/001567
Authority: WO
Inventors: Makis Kasapidis
Original assignee: Matsushita Communication Industrial Uk Ltd.
Priority date: 1998-05-18
Filing date: 1999-05-17
Publication date: 1999-11-25
Also published as: GB9810668D0; AU3944299A; GB2337666A; GB2337666B

Abstract

A mobile telephone is provided with means for transmitting one or more pre-recorded messages to provide an 'on handset' answering facility. Messages from callers may also be recorded. In one mode of operation, a call remains connected following the playing of a message simply so that the called party can remove himself to a more convenient location. An optional feature is 'selective notification' in which the user is only alerted to selected incoming calls. The remainder may be dealt with by the answering facility.

Description

Call Handling in Radio Communication Terminals

The present invention relates to mobile telephones and other radio communication terminals and in particular the manner in which mcoming calls are dealt with by such telephones and terminals.

Nowadays most mobile telephone network operators provide telephone users with an answering service whereby calls to a mobile telephone which are not connected for any reason are diverted to a network operator's answering service facility. When the user next turns his phone on and logs onto the operators network, or after a suitable period of time if he was logged on when the message was taken but did not answer the call, the network notifies the user that a message has been left for him. If he is geographically located within his home network the message is automatically played back to him/her when he is notified, if he is roaming (different country or network) a short text message is sent to him that invites him to call a certain number to hear the message. In either case hearing the message incurs a cost for the user over and on top of the cost incurred by the calling party that left the message.

More recently, mobile telephones have been provided with an "on handset" answering facility to play and record messages. A preferred aspect of the present invention aims to improve this facility for situations in which the user simply needs to place himself in a more convenient location to take a call.

EP-A-0763958 concerns an apparatus for rejecting calls. The apparatus allows the handy phone user to inform the caller of the reason why the call is being rejected. The apparatus comprises a radio communication apparatus including means for storing a plurality of answer messages, means for selecting one or more of the answer messages, means for displaying the selected message(s) and means for transmitting the message(s) to the calling apparatus. The messages are user configurable data messages and may be input using the phone keypad prior to the incoming call. On receiving the call, the user selects one or more messages to be transmitted.

WO-96/12378 concerns an apparatus for holding calls, which allows the user to complete his previous activity without simply ignoring an incoming call. The apparatus comprises a cellular radio communication system including a cellular telephone with hold selection means and answer delay means for accepting the telephone call without establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone and for transmitting a predetermined signal to the source telephone. The predetermined message may be stored in a voice chip.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a radio communication terminal means having means for recording a plurality of voice messages, means for selecting one or more said recorded voice messages in response to an incoming call from a caller and means for transmitting one or more of said voice messages to the caller. Preferably, in response to the transmission of at least one prerecorded message, the line of communication between the caller and the receiver remains open for a predetermined length of time. For example, in a telephone according to this aspect of the invention, the handset can be manually instructed to accept a call (eg: via a button press) but keep the microphone and speaker inactive, play a pre-recorded message, and then continue to keep the call active but the microphone and speakers inactive for up to a predetermined length of time. The predetermined length of time will allow the receiving party to find a suitable location in which to conduct a conversation before answering call. Preferably the microphone is not enabled following connection of the call until a manual operation, e.g. button press, is carried out by the user. It is envisaged that this facility would operate side-by-side with a network operator's answering service since the network operator's answering service would still be useful when the called party's telephone was switched off, the user decided not to respond to the incoming call at all or when the user was unreachable.

A terminal means according to the invention might be operable to automatically transmit a message to the caller if the terminal means is in standby mode and the call is unanswered after a predetermined time. However, in a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the terminal, eg. telephone, is operable to transmit the pre-recorded message to the caller only in response to a manual operation. This might be, for example, the depression of a button if the telephone user is unable to immediately answer an mcoming call.

A terminal means according to the invention could have means for storing a plurality of pre-recorded messages. Means could then be provided for selecting an appropriate one of said messages. The selection might be made accordmg to the prevailing circumstances of the user. The selection means are preferably manually operable. For example, a separate manually operable device, e.g. button, could be provided for each of the pre-recorded messages. Alternatively, the message could be selected according to the number of times of operation of suitable manually operable means.

A radio communication terminal means according to the invention could have means for selecting one from a number of messages that can be played back to a calling party in advance of receiving calls. For example, if a user was about to go into a meeting, a message to this effect would be useful whereas a different message might be appropriate if the user was to be unavailable for a longer period.

A terminal means such as a telephone according to the invention could advantageously operate in the manner of a conventional answering machine and thus have means for recording a message from the caller following the transmission of a pre-recorded message.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a radio communication terminal means such as a mobile telephone having means for responding to selected calls only. Thus, if a user was to enter a meeting which could be interrupted for calls from certain parties, the identification of those parties could be memorised by the terminal means so that only calls from those parties were connected. Possibly, all calls other than those from selected callers would be diverted to a network operator's answering service. Alternately such calls could be dealt with by an "on handset" answering facility. This aspect of the invention could be used in conjunction with the first aspect described above.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of the basic components of a mobile telephone according to the invention; and

Figure 2 is a is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a telephone according to the invention.

In the block diagram of Figure 1, control signals are indicated by dotted lines and information paths are indicated by solid lines. mcoming digital signals are received by receiver 10 and output to a digital to analog converter 11. From here they are routed via suitable amplifiers to a voice memory 12 and, via switch S I to speaker 13. The output from the voice memory 12 is further amplified and routed via analog to digital converter 14 and switch S3 to the radio transmitter, not shown. A microphone 15 is connected via an amplifier and switch S2 to analogue to digital converter 14. The telephone also includes an LCD display 16, keypad 17, subscriber identity module (SIM) 18 and handset memory 19. The operation of the switches S I, S2 and S3, the voice memory 12 and the LCD display 16 is controlled by a micro controller 20 in response to information from keypad 17, SIM 18 and handset memory 19.

The voice memory may be any suitable erasable and programmable memory, such as an analogue or digital EEPROM or a Flash RAM.

When a pre-recorded message in the voice memory 12 is to be played back to the caller, the call is accepted, switch S2 remains open (i.e. the line is cut off), the voice memory 12 is activated for playback, switch SI remains open and only switch-S3 is closed. If the user subsequently indicates that he or she is available to take the call, switches 1, 2 and 3 are closed so that normal two way communication between the caller and the user is possible. When recording an incoming message, switch S 1 is open, switch S2 is open and the voice memory 12 is activated for recording.

When the user is recording a message to be played back to callers, switch S2 is closed, switch S3 is open and the voice memory is activated for recording at a specific location.

The SIM 18 is always present in current GSM mobile telephones in the form of a removable card which carries personal subscription information and usually stores a number of telephone numbers frequently called by the user. When the telephone is powered up, information from the SIM is read by the telephone. The functions of the mobile telephone can be manually controlled by the keypad 17 in conjunction with other buttons which are usually present on a mobile telephone.

The detailed operation of the microprocessor 20 will now be described with reference to Figure 2.

Step 21 in the flow chart of Figure 2 illustrates an incoming call. Assuming that the call is successfully connected, a decision at the telephone itself is made at step 22 as to whether the user has chosen "selective notification". In other words has the user indicated that only certain calls are to be alerted to him? If the answer is yes, then at step 23 it is determined whether the user has selected to be alerted to a call from the calling party. If the answer is no, then at step 24 the call is directed to the network operator's answering service. If the incoming call is a "selected call" or if selective notification has not been chosen at step 22, then at step 25 the user is alerted to the call, for example either by means of an audio signal or the handset vibrating. Following this, a first timer Tl is started at step 26. If, at step 27, the time Tl elapses with no action on the part of the user having taken place, then at step 28 the usual procedure for dealing with unanswered calls is followed. This might be the termination of the call, the diversion of the call to a network operator's answering service or the payback of a pre-recorded message. If a "keyboard" input is registered before the time Tl has elapsed, as indicated at step 29, for example the depression of a button on the handset, the second timer T2 is started at step 30.

It should be noted here that an additional button could be provided on a mobile telephone, possibly at the side of the telephone away from the keypad, in response to which the timer T2 is started. Alternatively, the telephone might be programmed to respond to the depression of one of the existing buttons on the mobile telephone.

At step 31, the mobile telephone is waiting for additional keyboard inputs. When the time T2 elapses at step 32, then at step 33 an examination is made as to how many key presses have taken place from the start of T 1 to the end of T2. In this particular embodiment of the invention, if the key is depressed three times, a first type of message is transmitted to the caller at step 34. A suitable message might be:

"I am sorry I am unavailable today, please call tomorrow", following this, the call would be teπninated at step 35.

If the message selection button was pressed twice, the procedure continues to step 36 in which an alternative message is transmitted to provide a local answering machine service. An example of such a message might be:

"I cannot answer your call as I am attending a meeting but I will return your call during the next coffee break. Please leave a short message" then, at step 37 any message from the calling party would be recorded following which the call would be terminated at step 38. If the call selection button was pressed only once, then at step 39 the line of communication is opened but the telephone microphone and speaker remain disabled. At step 40 yet another alternative pre-recorded message is transmitted back to the caller such as:

"I will talk to you in a few seconds. Please hold while I make may way out the conference room" following this, a third timer T3 would be started at step 41. The time T3 would be chosen to be sufficiently long to enable the called party to find a convenient place in which to take the call. In response to a keyboard input detected at step 42, the microphone and speaker would then be enabled at step 43 to enable normal conversation to begin and the call would then be handled in the usual way. If, for any reason, the time T3 elapsed before the button was depressed as indicated at step 44, the call would be terminated at step 45.

Following the termination of a call, either at step 45, step 48 or step 45, the call would be terminated as indicated at step 46 and at step 47 the handset visual display would indicate the identification of the calling party, e.g. the calling party's telephone number, and the length of any message left.

As noted above, the advantage of an "on hand set answering machine" facility is that the called party has immediate and unlimited access to the messages which is also provided for free as no call needs to be established between the network operators answering service facility and the user. In addition, the user avoids the nuisance of the notification of a left message in the form of a call from the network which may come at an inconvenient time.

The advantage of "selective notification of calls" is that the user does not have to do this manually by looking at the telephone display and deciding what action is to be taken. This would be particularly useful in meetings during which the user might not want to check the display often if calls are received frequently but only to be altered for specified incoming calls. One possible modification of the procedure described with reference to step 1 would be for steps 36, 37 and 38 to automatically follow step 23 for "unselected" calls.

The delayed call response provided by steps 39 to 45 enable the user to very quickly switch off an embarrassing or annoying vibration or audio alert and still respond to the call after placing himself in the appropriate environment, possibly without others knowing he was leaving to respond to a call. The calling party is notified that the user has acted on the call and will respond shortly but cannot hear what the user is doing or saying as the microphone is not activated. This facility saves the user from having to whisper to the called party whilst trying to remove himself to a suitable location at which to take the call.

Selective notification of calls can be provided by selecting a subset of the numbers stored in the SIM and indicating whether the subset is active or not. For example in a SLM that can store 100 numbers, positions 2 and 35 with the numbers for the users spouse and boss may form a subset. This subset and its status, active or inactive, can be stored on programmable media on the handset requiring no modification of the SIM. When there is an incoming call the microprocessor checks the calling number against the numbers stored on the SIM, then if found and if a selective notification subset is active, it checks the number's position in the SLM against the position numbers in the subset and only if a match is found it alerts the user to the mcoming call.

It should be noted that the message at step 34 might be used if the user does not want to overwrite existing messages when the voice memory is full and does not wish to divert to the operator's answering machine as this may ring back to notify of the message. This facility is most likely to be used when the identity of the calling party has been read from the handset display.

. The idea of selective notification of calls can readily be extended to enable a telephone to respond to different calls in different ways. Thus, in an alternative embodiment of the invention, the user could designate a first selection of possible callers to be notified to him, a second selection, different from the first, to receive the message at step 36 and all remaining calls to receive the message at step 34. Thus, the message selection would not be in response to the number of manual operations, but a predetermined caller "heirachy" set up by the user.

Claims

1. A radio communication terminal means having means for recording a plurality of voice messages, means for selecting one or more said recorded voice messages in response to an mcoming call from a caller and means for transnntting one or more of said voice messages to the caller.

2. A radio communication terminal means according to claim 1 in which the means for recording said messages is operable to enable the user to add, delete or replace one or more of said message at will.

3. A radio communication te╧Çninal means according to claim 1 or 2, in which,- in response to the transmission of at least one pre-recorded message, the line of communication between the caller and the receiver remains open for a predeteraiined length of time.

4. A radio communication te╧Çriinal means according to claim 1, 2 or 3 in which said transmitting means are operable to transmit said message or messages to the caller only in response to a manual operation.

5. A radio communication terminal means according to any preceding claim in which said selecting means are manually operable.

6. A radio communication terminal means mobile telephone according to claim 5 having a separate manually operable device for each message.

7. A radio communication te╧Çninal means according to claim 5 in which a message is selected according to the number of times of operation of said manually operable means.

8. A radio communication terminal means as claimed in any preceding claim in which the message may be selected in advance of receiving calls.

9. A radio communication te╧Çninal means as claimed in any preceding claim additionally having means for recording a message from the caller following the transmission of a pre-recorded message.

10. A radio communication terminal means as claimed in any preceding claim in which, following connection of a call, the telephone microphone remains disabled.

11. A radio communication teirninal means as claimed in claim 10 including manually operable means for enabling the microphone following transmission of said at least one message and before the expiry of said predetermined length of time.

12. A radio communication terminal means operable to alert the user to selected calls only.

13. - A radio communication terminal means as claimed in claim 12 in which all calls other than those from selected callers are diverted to a network operator's answering service.

14. A radio communication terminal means mobile telephone as claimed in claim 13 in which a pre-recorded message is transmitted back to all connected calls other than those from selected callers.

15. A radio communication te╧Çninal means as claimed in claim 13 having means for recording messages from callers.

16. A radio communication terminal means as claimed in claim 14 having means for transnntting a different pre-recorded message to a set of selected callers other than the first mentioned selected callers.