Abstract:
A two-way telecommunications system includes a primary station ( 10, 14, 16 ) and a secondary station ( 18, 20 ). The primary station is arranged for transmitting on a downlink a data message together with indicia representative of status messages it wants to receive from the secondary station. The secondary station in response to the indicia represents the desired status items as icons and when the user has taken an action affecting the status, it transmits a status message on the uplink and changes the representation of the icon. The icons are stored with the message until the latter is erased.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a two-way telecommunications system comprising a primary station for transmitting messages on a downlink and at least one secondary station for transmitting signals on an uplink and to a secondary station for use in the telecommunications system. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     For convenience of description the present invention will be described with reference to an acknowledgement back (or back-back) paging system but it can be applied to specific applications of a paging system, for example relaying data to a computer terminal, to cellular and cordless telephone systems and private mobile radio systems. 
     When a primary station transmits a message which requires a response, even if receipt of the message is acknowledged, perhaps automatically, the primary station has no means of knowing if the message has been read unless a reply has been sent on the uplink. A busy user of a secondary station not only wants to know that he has received a message but also needs to be reminded that the message needs to be answered. 
     The use of icons to indicate the receipt of messages by a pager and of duplicates of a previously received message is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,269. However once a message has been read by the pager user the relevant icons are no longer displayed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,553 discloses a pager which displays a variety of functions as icons. If one of the icons is selected using a cursor, that icon is displayed by inverted video until it is deselected. Finally U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,779 discloses a wrist watch pager in which icons are used to represent common types of paging messages to a user. 
     OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to represent and relay status information in a user friendly manner. 
     According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a telecommunications system comprising a primary station for transmitting messages on a down-link and at least one secondary station for transmitting signals on an up-link, characterised in that the primary station includes in the down-link message indicia indicating status information associated with the down-link message which it wants to be transmitted on the up-link by the at least one secondary station, and in that the at least one secondary station comprises means for recovering the down-link message and said indicia, means for displaying the down-link message and for displaying the indicia as at least one icon, means responsive to a user of the secondary station taking an action affecting the status information, for transmitting a signal on the up-link and for altering the representation of the or at least one of the icons. 
     According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a secondary station for use in a telecommunications system in which a primary station transmits a message on a downlink together with indicia indicating status information associated with the downlink message which it wants transmitted on the uplink by the secondary station, characterised in that the secondary station comprises means for recovering the down-link message and said indicia, means for displaying the down-link message and for displaying the indicia as at least one icon, means responsive to a user of the secondary station taking an action affecting the status information, for transmitting a signal on the up-link and for altering the representation of the or at least one of the icons. 
     By means of the present invention the originator of a message can indicate to a recipient of the message, what actions by the recipient he/she wants to be informed about and also the recipient is provided with an aide memoire of what actions are to be taken and have been taken. Once an action has been taken, the primary station is informed automatically. 
     In order to inform a recipient of what actions have been taken, the relevant icons are displayed in reverse video format. 
     The icons may be displayed in a reserved area of a display screen which is separate from the message display area or may be displayed in tabular form. 
     The icons assigned to a message are stored by the secondary station and recalled each time the message is read-out and displayed so that the recipient is reminded of what actions he/she has taken and what actions need to be taken. When the message is erased, the icons associated with it are erased as well. 
     The uplink messages may be transmitted as pseudo-random code sequences. An advantage of sending uplink messages in this way is that two or more messages can be transmitted simultaneously without the need for synchronisation. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a block schematic diagram of a two-way message transmission system, 
     FIG. 2 is a block schematic diagram of the PNC  10  shown in FIG. 1, 
     FIG. 3 is a block schematic diagram of a pager, 
     FIG. 4 illustrates on embodiment of the front of a pager, 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a second embodiment of a pager having a message status table, 
     FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence of operations associated with receiving a message, and 
     FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence of operations associated with displaying a message. 
    
    
     In the drawings the same reference numerals have been used to indicate corresponding features. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the message transmission system comprises a paging network controller (PNC)  10  having a message entry port  12  which receives pager addresses and associated messages from an operator equipped with a personal computer (PC) or directly from a subscriber having a PC and a modem. The PNC  10 , which comprises directories containing information such as pager radio identity codes (RICs), areas to be paged, frequencies, pager types, prevailing protocols, for example POCSAG (or CCIR Radiopaging Code No. 1) and ERMES, and status of the pagers, assembles the messages and their associated RICs together with other relevant information into data packets which are forwarded to a paging area controller (PAC)  14  which formats the RICs and associated messages into a format which can be transmitted by base station transmitters (or transmitter section of a base station transceiver)  16  to two-way pagers  18 ,  20  respectively, by way of a down-link. 
     If a two-way pager  20  identifies that a message is being transmitted having its RIC, it receives the message and decodes it. An acknowledgement may be sent automatically by the pager without intervention by the user. Further if the user wishes to send a brief response then, by means of an integral key pad, he selects a pre-stored response and when invited by the PAC  14  it transmits its response by way of an up-link. The response signals may be sent simultaneously as pseudo-random data sequences (PRDS). 
     One or more receivers (or receiver sections of a transceiver)  22  are provided for receiving the responses and for relaying them to the PAC  14  in which they are decoded and sent as data packets to the PNC  10 . The PNC  10  comprises means for analysing the signals and for matching the responses with the messages transmitted on the down-link. 
     Those responses which are matched are relayed to the respective users in any suitable form, for example by e-mail or by transmission as one-way paging messages. Alternatively the responses are sent to a message answering service operated by the paging network. 
     FIG. 2 shows in block schematic form a PNC  10  coupled to a PAC  14  and a base station transmitter  16  and a receiver  22 . The entry port  12  is coupled to a microcontroller  24  to which are connected directories  26  to  36  relating respectively to RICs, paging areas, frequencies, pager types, prevailing protocols and status. A message store  38  is coupled to the microcontroller  24  for storing messages as they are received at the entry port  12 . The store  38  has an area  40  for storing indications such as acknowledgement of receipt of a message by an addressed pager, confirmation that a message has been displayed by the user and confirmation that a response to a respective message has been received. An output  42  from the microcontroller  24  is coupled to the PAC  14  to supply data packets to be formatted prior to being transmitted by the transmitter  16 . 
     Indications and/or responses received by the receiver  22  are relayed to a signal analyser  44  by way of the PAC  14 . As each indication and/or response is analysed successfully, it is forwarded to the microcontroller  24  for matching with the messages in the store  38 . At an appropriate moment the intended recipients of the information provided by the indications and/or responses are informed, for example by e-mail or a one-way paging message, or the information and/or responses are stored together with the respective pager number so that a subscriber can interrogate the store at his or her convenience. Once the processing of a message, response information and the response itself has been completed the microcontroller  24  erases the corresponding entries in message store  38  and area  40 . More conveniently the store  38  can comprise two halves with one half handling the acknowledgements of the messages already sent on the down-link and the other half storing messages to be sent. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, the pager  20  comprises a receiver  48  connected to a decoder  50  which in turn is coupled to a control processor  52 . The processor  52  operates in accordance with a program stored in a read-only memory  54 . The processor also includes an address store (not shown) which contains the unique addresses of that pager. In the event of the pager receiving a message then it is stored in a random access memory  56 . The messages can be displayed subsequently on a LCD panel  60  which has its associated driver  58  coupled to the control processor  52 . Annunciating devices which may comprise an acoustic transducer  62 , a light emitting transducer  64  and a vibrator  66  are coupled to the control processor  52 . A keypad  68  provides a man machine interface whereby a user can instruct the processor to carry out various functions, for example to display a stored message on the LCD panel  60 . A transmitter  70  is coupled to an output of the processor  52  and to an antenna  72 . A receiver power control stage  74  is coupled between the processor  52  and the receiver  48  in order to practice battery conservation in accordance with the provisions of the paging protocol being followed. In the event of the pager sending response signals as PRDS signals then the control processor  52  comprises means for determining the sequence to be transmitted having regard the identity of the pager and/or information in the original downlink message. The PRDS is then relayed to the transmitter  70  for onward transmission. If as an option power control is to be applied to the transmitter  70  then a power control signal is supplied by the processor  52  through a control line  76 . 
     The response signals may include messages relating to the automatic acknowledgement of a downlink message, to a user displaying a message and to a user sending a reply. Further the signals transmitted on the up-link may also comprise requests for services, such as registration. 
     When sending a message to a pager, the originator may want to be informed about the message status at the addressee&#39;s pager and this information may also be required by the addressee in order to satisfy himself that all the actions required have been taken and that the message can be deleted from the RAM  56 . 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a message pager  20  having a relatively large LCD panel  60 . The main area of the display  60  is devoted to displaying the message number and the text of the message. However a marginal area  80  of the display  60  is reserved for displaying message status icons  81 ,  82 ,  83 . In FIG. 4, the icon  81  represents acknowledgement of the message, the icon  82  represents the message having been displayed by the user and the icon  83  represents that the user has transmitted a response to the message. 
     The originator of a message specifies what status messages he wants and this information is included in the downlink transmission. At the pager  20  the nature of the required status messages is determined and the microcontroller  52  causes the appropriate icons to be displayed each time the same message is displayed on the display  60 . Once the pager automatically or the user manually takes an action affecting the pager&#39;s status, that icon is displayed in reverse video format and an appropriate status message is sent by the transmitter  70  on the uplink. The number of icons associated with each message may vary as required. If only acknowledgement of receipt is required then only icon  81  will be displayed. If the originator wants to know that the addressee has also displayed (or read) the message text the icons  81  and  82  are displayed and shown in reverse video format once the respective status message has been transmitted on the uplink. The icon is therefore not only able to convey the type of message but also its status. This allows up to 3 icons (that is 0, 1, 2 or 3 icons) and the reverse video format to represent 16 different combinations of message type and status. 
     When sending a downlink message. in accordance with the CCIR Radiopaging Code No. 1 (alternatively known as POCSAG), each icon can be identified by a hexadecimal character so that at a maximum one extra code word, compared to the same message not containing icons, will be required which overhead can be tolerated with long data messages. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a message status display in tabular form and before any transmissions have been sent. The table comprises four columns representing, respectively, message number “Mess No”, acknowledge “Back”, display “Disp” and reply “Rep”. Each row of the table represents by Y(yes) or N(no) what actions the originator of the message requires of the recipient. For message No.  1  only an acknowledgement of receipt is required and when this has been done the letter Y is shown in reverse vide. For message No.  2  the originator wants to know when the message has been read, that is, displayed so that the letter Y is shown in the Disp column and the letter N in the other two columns of that row. Needless to say once the message has been read the letter Y is shown in reverse video. Finally, message No.  3  has “Y”s in all three column positions. When the respective actions have been taken and an up-link message sent, the respective letter “Y” is shown in reverse video format. The message and the associated status table entry are retained until the pager user chooses to erase the message which causes the status table entry to be erased simultaneously. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart associated with a pager receiving a message and setting-up the message status table as shown in FIG.  5 . 
     Block  85  relates to the pager receiving a transmission in say its assigned POCSAG frame. Block  86  relates to detecting its address in a message and decoding the message including what message status signals are required. Block  87  relates to storing the message data and information relating to the desired status message icons. 
     Block  88  relates to checking if an acknowledgement signal is required to be sent on the uplink by the transmitter  70  (FIG.  3 ). If the answer is yes (Y), then in block  89  Back status is set to Y in the message status table of FIG.  5 . In block  90  the Back message is placed in the queue for uplink transmission. The flow chart proceeds to block  91  to which the no(N) output of the block  88  is applied. In the block  91 , a check is made if it is required to provide a status message indicating that the message has been displayed. If the answer is yes (Y), in block  92  a Disp status is set to Y in the message status table of FIG.  5 . 
     The flow chart proceeds to block  93  to which the no(N) output of the block  91  is connected. In block  93  a check is made to see if it is required to provide a status message indicating that a reply is to be sent. If the answer is yes (Y), in block  94  the Rep status is set to Y in the message status table of FIG. 5. A terminating or stop block  95  is connected to the block  94  and the no(N) output of the block  93 . 
     FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of the sequence of events associated with displaying a received message. Block  96  relates to the pager user displaying a message. Block  97  relates to checking if it is necessary to send an Ack message. If the answer is yes(Y) then in block  98  a check is made to see if a message has been sent. If the answer is yes(Y), then in block  99  the Ack icon is displayed in reverse video. If the answer to the check made in block  98  is no(N) then in block  100  the Ack icon continues to be shown in normal video. The no(N) output of the block  97  and the outputs of the blocks  99  and  100  are supplied to block  101  which relates to checking if a message has been read or displayed. If the answer is yes(Y) then in block  102  a check is made to see if a display status has been sent. If the answer is yes(Y) then in block  103  the respective icon is displayed in reverse video. In the event of a no(N) answer in the block  102 , then in block  104  a message is placed in the up-link queue and in block  105  the relevant icon remains displayed in normal video. A no(N) output from the block  101  and the outputs from blocks  103  and  105  are jointly supplied to a block  106  in which a check is made to see if it is required to send a reply message. If the answer is yes(Y), in block  107  a check is made to see if a message has been sent. If the answer is yes(Y), block  108  indicates displaying the respective icon in reverse video. If the answer from block  107  is no(N), a check is made in block  109  to see if a reply has been selected. If the answer is yes(Y) then in block  110 , the reply message is placed in a queue. No(N) outputs from the blocks  106  and  109  and the output from the block  110  are supplied to a terminating or stop block  111 . 
     From reading the present disclosure, other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. Such modifications may involve other features which are already known in the design, manufacture and use of two-way telecommunications systems and component parts thereof and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein.