Abstract:
A method and a system allow a user of a portable communication device such as a mobile telephone to transfer contact data automatically from the portable communication device to a fixed line communication device and initiate a call to a selected contact via the fixed line device. The portable device transmits contact data wirelessly to a wireless reception unit associated with the fixed line communication device, and carries out a permission process to ensure that the portable device is authorized to instruct the fixed line device to initiate a call. The portable device then instructs the fixed line device to initiate a call and the user uses an audio interface of the fixed line device to make the call.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present application relates generally to the technical field of telecommunications and, in one specific example, to a method, system and apparatus to facilitate the making of telephone calls.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     As mobile devices such as mobile telephones and PDAs become increasingly popular, many persons maintain a list of contacts in a mobile device. The data defining each contact may include a telephone number, e-mail address or other data. When making a call to a contact using the mobile device, a user simply selects a desired contact from a list of stored contacts and initiates a call directly from the mobile device.  
         [0003]     For various reasons, it may be preferable to make a call from a communication device other than the mobile device on which a user&#39;s contacts are stored. For example, a user may prefer to make calls from a desk telephone in his or her office for reasons of cost, audio quality or call billing purposes. In this case, the user will typically have to look up a contact in the mobile device and manually enter the telephone number via the keypad of the desk phone. This is tedious, particularly where long numbers or many numbers must be dialed, and can lead to dialing errors. Due to the inconvenience of this procedure, the user is likely to make calls from the mobile device rather than the fixed line telephone, typically incurring greater expense.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     According to one embodiment, there is provided a communication method including storing data defining a plurality of contacts in a memory of a first communication device. Selection of a contact, via a user interface of the first communication device, is detected. Communications are initiated with a second communication device to transfer data corresponding to the selected contact to the second communication device and to instruct the second communication device to initiate a call to a communication device of the selected contact  
         [0005]     Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]     The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for automated transfer of numbers from a mobile communication device to a fixed line communication device according to one example of the present invention;  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a schematic block diagram illustrating the functional components of the system of  FIG. 1 ; and  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the method and system of  FIGS. 1 and 2 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0010]     A method and system for automated number transfer from a mobile to a fixed telephone are described. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  shows the main components of an example system according to the present invention. The system includes a first communication device, which may be, for example, a mobile cellular telephone  10 , or a personal digital assistant (PDA) or smart phone  12 . Generally, the first communication device  10 ;  12  will be a portable, wireless device. The portable device  10 ;  12  is typically carried by a user of the system and stores contact data defining a plurality of contacts of the user.  
         [0012]     Typically, the contact data stored in the portable device  10 ;  12  will include the name (whether partial or complete) of a person, company or other entity, and at least one telephone number, e-mail address or other contact details corresponding to the name. When the user wishes to make a call using the portable device, he or she selects a contact and initiates a call via a user interface of the portable device, typically a keypad or touch sensitive screen of the device.  
         [0013]     For various reasons, it may be desirable to make a telephone call (or to send an e-mail or another communication) from a second, different communication device instead of the portable device. Generally, the second communication device will be a non-portable, wired or fixed line device. The second communication device could be a fixed line office telephone on the user&#39;s desk, a hotel telephone, a public telephone, for example. It may be that the reception via the portable device is not good in a particular area, or the user may wish to have the call billed to a different account than the account of the portable device. It may also simply be that a call made from the fixed line telephone will be cheaper than one made from the portable device.  
         [0014]     The system includes a wireless reception unit  14  which can be connected to a conventional fixed line telephone  16 . The telephone  16  can be connected to a conventional POTS telephone network  18 , or to the Internet  20  via a modem  22  for Voice over IP (VoIP) communication with a compatible IP telephone  24 , or to a computer  26  running a “soft phone” application.  
         [0015]     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that instead of a fixed line telephone  16 , another communication device such as a computer configured to communicate via the Internet or another network could be provided with the wireless reception unit  14 .  
         [0016]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the functional components of the wireless portable communication device  10 ;  12  and the wired or fixed line communication device  16  are shown in greater detail. The mobile telephone  10  or PDA/Smartphone  12  each have a display or graphics interface  28  drive by a graphics processor  30 , and an audio interface  32  in the form of a loudspeaker or earpiece driven by an audio processor  34 . The processors  30  and  34  are connected via a bus  36  to a general processor  38  and to memory  40 , as well as to a local wireless interface  42  and a network wireless interface  44  which will typically be a radio transceiver designed to operate as part of a cellular telephone network.  
         [0017]     The wired communication device  16 , typically a conventional fixed line desk telephone, has a display or graphics interface  46  driven by a graphics processor  48 , as well as an audio interface  50  typically comprising a handset and a hands-free loudspeaker, driven by an audio processor  52 . The processors  48  and  42  are linked via a bus  54  to a general processor  56 . The bus also links the processors to memory  58 , a network interface such as a conventional POTS line interface  60 , an optional voice-over IP (VOIP) modem  62 , and a local wireless interface  64  compatible with the local wireless interface  42  of the wireless device  10 ;  12 .  
         [0018]     The memory  40  of the portable device  10 ;  12  stores contact data entered by a user of the device and a number transfer algorithm in the form of software which may have been preinstalled on the device or which may have been uploaded to the device via one of the interfaces  42  or  44 , or via another interface (not shown) such as a serial interface connectable to a complementary interface of a personal computer.  
         [0019]     A portion of the memory  58  of the wired device  16  is designated for contact data transferred from the wireless device, and also contains a number transfer algorithm which interacts with the number transfer algorithm of the portable device in use.  
         [0020]     The operation of the system is described with reference to the flowchart of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0021]     A user of the portable device  10 ;  12  stores (block  72 ) contact data in the memory  40  of the portable device for later use. When the user wishes to initiate a call using the method and system of one example embodiment of the present invention, the user operates the portable device to identify (block  74 ) a desired contact and, if the selected contact has more than one contact option, selects (block  76 ) the relevant option according to the desired location or device of the contact. For example, the contact may have a mobile telephone number, a home telephone number, a business telephone number and an IP phone number stored under the relevant contact heading, one of which can be selected by the user.  
         [0022]     The user now initiates (block  78 ) a wired device discovery module of the number transfer algorithm in the portable device to detect a compatible communication device with which it can pair. The portable device transmits polling signals via the local wireless interface  42  to any third party devices within range. If a suitable device is detected (block  80 ), a permission module in the portable device is then activated (block  82 ) which communicates with the wired device  16  via its local wireless interface  64 .  
         [0023]     The permission process may operate to verify at least one of an identity and permission status. For example, the identity of the caller may be determined from the information stored on a SIM card of the wireless device  10 . The wired device  16  may, in one embodiment, store (or have access to) a list of authorized users whose mobile telephones may be paired with the desk phone  16 , via the wireless reception unit  14 , the permissions module thus having access to this information. The wired device  16  may further be coupled to a database in which such a list of authorized users is maintained. In one embodiment, the wired device  16  may also have access to financial information regarding a user of the wireless device  10 , so as to enable the wired device  16  to check debit or credit information pertinent to the permissions process. For example, the system may operate under any “prepaid” model, where a user is required to have prepaid for calls made via the wired device  16 , prior to allowing a transfer of a telephone number from the wireless device  10  to the wired device  16 .  
         [0024]     The permission module in the memory  58  of the wired device  16  verifies (blocks  84 - 88 ) whether or not the portable device is authorized to initiate a call remotely and, if so, communicates (block  90 ) an acknowledgement to the portable device. A call initiate module of the portable device then runs and transmits (block  92 ) an instruction to the wired device to initiate a call to the selected contact. When the instruction is received (block  94 ), the contact data is used by the call initiate module in the memory  58  of the wired device  16  to initiate (block  96 ) a call to the selected contact via the network interface  60  or the modem  62  of the wired device, and the user then receives (block  98 ) the call via the audio interface of the wired device  16 . The call can be terminated in a conventional manner (block  100 ).  
         [0025]     Typically, a user of suitable portable wireless and fixed line or wired devices will need to pair them once, after which they can connect, carry out the permission process and initiate calls in a manner transparent to the user.  
         [0026]     Although an example has been described involving mobile and fixed line telephones, it will be appreciated that variations involving, for example, the sending of an e-mail from a portable PDA to a personal computer fitted with a wireless reception unit  14 , or other variations, are possible.  
         [0027]     The wireless reception unit  14  can be built into a conventional telephone, personal computer or other communication device, or could be provided as a separate plug-in module. Optionally, the wireless reception unit comprises a Bluetooth (trade mark) transceiver able to receive data from and send data to the standard Bluetooth interface now built into many portable telephones and similar devices.  
         [0028]     Thus, a method and system to facilitate the making of telephone calls or other communications via a fixed line telephone, using contact data from a portable telephone or other portable communication device, have been described. Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.