Patent ID: 8452348
Filing Date: 2013-05-28
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
1. A hands-free apparatus for use in a vehicle comprising: a connection unit simultaneously establishing a connection to each of multiple cellular phones through a hands-free call protocol being connected for a hands-free call, each of the cellular phones is capable of selecting one of two call conditions, (a) one of the two call conditions is a hands-free call condition that enables, with a voice path connected to the hands-free apparatus, voice input by a voice input unit of the hands-free apparatus and voice output by a voice output unit of the hands-free apparatus for sending and receiving voice between the hands-free apparatus and a call partner, and (b) the other of the two call conditions is a handset call condition that enables, with the voice path closed to the hands-free apparatus, voice input by a voice input unit of the cellular phone and voice output by a voice output unit of the cellular phone for sending and receiving voice between the cellular phone and the call partner; a control unit presenting two functions, among which a first function is to make a user accessible to a call transfer switch that, in response to a user operation, allows switching to the hands-free call condition from the handset call condition of the cellular phone through the currently-connected hands-free call protocol being connected to the connection unit, and a second function is to make the user accessible to a response switch that, in response to a user operation, establishes a hands-free call for responding to an incoming voice call to the cellular phone that has the hands-free call protocol currently being connected to the connection unit, wherein, when it is determined that (i) one of the multiple cellular phones currently having the hands-free call protocol connected to the connection unit is in the handset call condition and not the hands-free call condition, and (ii) an other one of the multiple cellular phones currently having the hands-free call protocol connected to the connection unit is receiving an incoming voice call, the control unit makes the user simultaneously accessible to the call transfer switch in association with the one of the multiple cellular phones and accessible to the response switch in association with the other one of the multiple cellular phones.