Portable voice message terminal capable of transmitting pre-set text-based information

A portable wireless voice message transmitter over packet switched network for transmitting a voice message is provided. The transmitter is capable of transmitting a voice message and text-based information when a user makes an emergency call to a special address with which the text-based information is associated. The transmitter includes text-based information setting circuit for setting text-based information, a first memory for storing the text-based information, a special address setting circuit for setting a special address which is associated with the text-based information and a second memory for storing the special address. The transmitter also includes a microphone for inputting a voice message, a third memory for storing the voice message, a destination setting circuit for setting a destination, a transmission start key operable by a user for generating a transmission start signal and a transmitter circuit responsive to the transmission start signal for transmitting the voice message stored to the destination address. When the destination address is coincident with the special address stored in the first memory, the transmitter circuit transmits the text-based information as well as the voice message to the destination address so that the message recipient receives both the voice message and the text-based information.

BACKGROUND 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a wireless voice messaging system for 
transmitting a voice message signal over packet switched network. More 
particularly, this invention relates to a wireless voice messaging system 
for transmitting a voice message signal and a text-based information 
signal at the same time when a user sends the voice message to a special 
address such as an emergency number. 
2. Background of the Invention 
Personal communication systems for enabling users to communicate with each 
other have become popular in the recent years. While in the past such 
systems have generally been realized using analog technology, it is 
desirable to instead use digital processing in order to use limited 
frequency resources more efficiently as well as reduce signal distortion 
and degradation and thus improve the overall quality of the voice signal. 
In general, in a digital cellular telephone system for transmitting and 
receiving digital voice signals, an input voice signal is digitized and 
encoded to speech parameters. A variety of speech encoding/decoding 
methods have been known for processing digital voice signals. For example, 
MBE (Multi Band Excitation), SBE (Single Band Excitation), SBC (Sub-Band 
Coding), Harmonic Coding, LPC (Linear Predictive Coding), DCT (Discrete 
Cosine Transform), MDCT (Modified DCT) and FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) 
have been known as such a encoding/decoding method. In addition, CELP 
(Code Excited Linear Prediction), VSELP (Vector Sum Excited Linear 
Prediction), PSI-CELP (Pitch Synchronous Innovation--CELP) and RPE-LTP 
(Regular Pulse Excitation--Long Term Prediction) have also become known as 
a speech encoding method for digital cellular telephone systems. 
Such a digital cellular telephone system is called a circuit switched 
communication and two or more users can interactively communicate with 
each other in realtime. During the interactive communication, a signal 
line is physically established exclusively for the communicating users. 
The cellular telephone system is relatively expensive because the users 
are charged for the exclusive use of the channel, for example, per minute 
basis. Even when a user just wants to send a simple voice message for a 
short period, the service takes a high charge for using a cellular network 
in conjunction with PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network). 
Unlike a cellular telephone system for a realtime communication, packet 
switched communication systems are also known. Packet switched 
communication systems are considered as non-realtime communication 
systems. One of the non-realtime communication systems is a one-way pager 
which is capable of receiving a text-based (either numeric or 
alphabetical) short message. A two-way pager terminal is also known for 
providing limited capability of transmitting and full capability of 
receiving a text-based short message. For the non-realtime communication 
system, there is no need to establish an exclusive channel between the 
communicating users. Therefore, the charge for the system is based on the 
amount of data transmitted, for example, per byte basis. Such a pager 
system can handle only a text-based message. 
In the more distant future, however, two-way voice messaging terminals over 
packet switched network are planned to be commercially introduced. In such 
two-way voice messaging systems, it is anticipated that a user will be 
able to transmit a voice message to a receiving terminal which, in turn, 
will have the capability of responding to such transmitting terminals with 
a voice message response. 
However, users of such a voice messaging system are able to send a 
relatively short message only, for example, 10-second voice message, due 
to a limited storage capacity of a memory for storing the voice message as 
well as expensive air charge. Such a short talk time is sometimes not long 
enough. Especially, in case of an emergency call such as a call to a 
police station or a call to a road assistance service, users must inform 
the call recipient of various information within a restricted amount of 
time. Such various information may include not only the current emergency 
situation and location but also some basic information such as the 
caller's name, address, telephone number, driver's license number, 
membership identification, health/medical conditions and so on. Under the 
pressure caused by the emergency occurrence, the user cannot be expected 
to communicate all necessary information accurately and concisely in a 
short talk time. 
It would be desirable, therefore, for the user sending the voice message to 
have the capability of sending all necessary information even under the 
emergency situation. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a 
wireless two-way voice messaging system over packet switched network, 
which system is capable of transmitting a voice message and other basic 
information about the user who transmits the voice message. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a wireless two-way 
voice messaging system which enables the user to send a voice message and 
a preset text-based information when the user makes a call to a special 
address such as an emergency number. 
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a portable 
voice message transmitter capable of transmitting a voice message as well 
as text-based information when a user makes a call to a special address 
with which the stored text-based information is associated. The 
transmitter includes a text-based information setting circuit for setting 
text-based information, a first memory for storing the text-based 
information, a special address setting circuit for setting a special 
address which is associated with the text-based information and a second 
memory for storing the special address. The transmitter also includes a 
microphone for inputting a voice message, a third memory for storing the 
voice message, a destination setting circuit for setting a destination 
address, a send key operable by a user for generating a send signal and a 
transmitting circuit responsive to the send signal for transmitting the 
voice message to the destination address. When the destination address is 
coincident with the special address stored in the first memory, the 
transmitting circuit transmits the text-based information as well as the 
voice message to the destination address so that the message recipient 
receives both the voice message and the text-based information. 
In accordance with the present invention, when the user of the transmitter 
makes a call to a special address such as an emergency number, he only 
needs to send a brief voice message describing the current situation. 
Other basic information such as his full name, address and so on is 
automatically transmitted to the special address in the form of text-based 
information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the accompanying drawings, an embodiment of the voice message 
transmitter/receiver according to the present invention will be described 
hereinafter. 
FIG. 1 shows a wireless voice messaging system to which the present 
invention applies. Portable radio transmitter/receiver terminals 1-1, 1-2 
and 1-3 are provided for users. If a user of terminal 1-1 wants to send a 
voice message to a user of terminal 1-2, the user of terminal 1-1 inputs a 
voice message through a microphone and sets a destination address 
specifying terminal 1-2 as a destination. Terminal 1-1 encodes the input 
voice message and transmits an encoded message as well as the destination 
address to a base station 2-1 which covers an area where terminal 1-1 is 
located. The encoded message and the destination address are transmitted 
over the air as packet data. 
Base station 2-1 receives the packet data transmitted from terminal 1-1 and 
transfers the received packet data to a network switching control center 
3. Network switching control center 3 sends the packet data to a 
destination base station 2-2 which covers an area where destination 
terminal 1-2 is located. Base station 2-2 transmits the packet data over 
the air to destination terminal 1-2 in accordance with the destination 
address included in the packet data. When terminal 1-2 receives a complete 
message, a beep, vibration or other conventional notification tells the 
user of terminal 1-2 of arrival of a new incoming message. The user of 
terminal 1-2 can retrieve the new incoming message when he reproduces it 
through a speaker on terminal 1-2. 
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a wireless voice message transmitter/receiver 
terminal according to the present invention. Voice message 
transmitter/receiver terminal 10 has microphone 11, speaker 12, record key 
13, playback key 14, send key 15, LCD display 16, cursor keys 17, up/down 
keys 18, enter key 19, display select key 20, LED indicator 21, delete key 
22, volume key 23 and interface port to external device 24. 
When a user wants to send a voice message, he must record the voice message 
first. While holding down record key 13, the user speaks a voice message 
through microphone 11. After the input voice message is encoded to an 
encoded data, the encoded data is stored in an inside memory which is not 
shown in FIG. 2. If the user wants to hear the input voice message before 
sending it, he can do so by pushing playback key 14. The encoded data read 
from the memory is decoded and the input voice message is reproduced from 
speaker 12. If the user does not like the input voice message, he can 
delete it from the memory by pushing delete key 22 and record a new voice 
message in the same manner. When the user is satisfied with the input 
voice message which he has recorded, he sets a destination address. After 
setting the destination address, the user can push send key 15 at any 
time. The voice message is transmitted to a corresponding base station as 
described above in conjunction with FIG. 1. 
LCD display 16 selectively displays a destination address and other 
text-based information as the user selects by operating display select key 
20. When the user sets a new destination address, he first operates 
display select key 20 so that LCD display 16 is put in a destination 
display mode. Then, the user operates cursor keys 17 and up/down keys 18 
to set a desired destination address on LCD display 16. Cursor keys 17 are 
used for moving a cursor in LCD display 16 in right and left directions 
and up/down keys 18 are used for incrementing and decrementing a 
character/numeral at the position of the cursor in a conventional manner. 
After a desired destination address is set, the user pushes send key 15 to 
transmit the voice message. If the user wants to register the destination 
address for the future use, he pushes enter key 19 so that the destination 
address is registered in an address list stored in an inside memory which 
is not shown in FIG. 2. In addition to incrementing and decrementing 
functions as described above, up/down keys 18 are also used to scroll 
up/down the address list displayed on LCD display 16 so that any address 
previously registered in the address list can be recalled. 
Text-based information can also be set in a way similar to the destination 
address setting. The user first selects a text display mode by operating 
display select key 20 so that LCD display 16 is switched to display 
text-based information. Then, the user operates cursor keys 17 and up/down 
keys 18 to set desired text-based information in a conventional manner. 
Alternatively, the text-based information can be inputted by using an 
external device such as a personal computer, which can edit text based 
information. In that case, the text-based information edited by the 
external device can be downloaded into transmitter/receiver terminal 10 
through interface 24 as shown in FIG. 2. 
The text-based information usually includes information about the user 
himself such as his full name, address, telephone number, date of birth, 
membership ID number, drivers license number, health/medicine conditions 
and so on. After the user inputs desired text-based information, he pushes 
enter key 19. Then, LCD display 16 is automatically switched to the 
destination display mode again so that the user can set a special address. 
The user can set the special address by either setting a new address or 
recalling one of the destination addresses from the address list. After a 
desired special address is displayed on LCD display 16, the user again 
pushes enter key 19. When enter key 19 is pushed for the second time, the 
text-based information is stored in an inside memory (not shown) 
associated with the special address displayed on LCD display 16. 
After the text-based information setting is complete, when the user sends a 
voice message to a special address with which text-based information is 
registered and associated, the text-based information is automatically 
retrieved from the memory and transmitted to the destination address 
together with the voice message. The user need not do anything particular 
to send the text-based information. Whenever the user chooses as a 
destination the special address with which some text-based information has 
been registered and associated, the transmission of the text-based 
information is automatic with the transmission of the voice message. 
Transmitter/receiver 10 is also capable of receiving an incoming voice 
message. When a new incoming voice message is received, LED indicator 21 
is lit. The user can playback the received incoming voice message by 
pushing playback key 14. Then, the incoming voice message is reproduced 
from speaker 12. Volume key 23 is used for controlling the playback 
volume. Delete key 22 is used to delete from the inside memory either the 
recorded outgoing message or the received incoming message. 
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of internal circuits of 
transmitter/receiver terminal 10. In FIG. 3, microphone 11, speaker 12, 
LCD display 16, LED 21 are indicated by the same reference numerals as 
used in FIG. 2. Record key 13, playback key 14, send key 15, cursor keys 
17, up/down keys 18, enter key 19 and display select key 20 shown in FIG. 
2 are also shown collectively as keypads 30 in FIG. 3. 
When the user wants to send a voice message to someone, he first operates 
the record key in keypads 30. While the user holds down the record key, he 
speaks a voice message into microphone 11. Microphone 11 transforms the 
input voice message into a voice signal and supplies it to amplifier 31. 
Amplifier 31 supplies an amplified voice signal to A/D converter 32 which 
converts the same to a digital voice signal. A/D converter 32 supplies the 
digital voice signal to speech encoder 33. Speech encoder 33 encodes the 
digital voice signal to an encoded data. The encoded data is supplied from 
speech encoder 33 to CPU 34 and then, stored in RAM-1 35. When the user 
finishes an entire voice message, he releases the record key in keypads 
30. 
The user can hear the input voice message before transmitting it. When the 
user pushes the playback key in keypads 30, CPU 34 reads the encoded data 
from RAM-1 35 and supplies it to speech decoder 36. Speech decoder 36 
decodes the encoded data to a decoded voice signal. After the decoded 
voice signal is D/A-converted by D/A converter 37 and amplified by 
amplifier 38, the input voice message is reproduced from speaker 12. 
Speech encoder 33 may use various kinds of high-efficiency encoding 
methods. As mentioned above in the background, such a speech encoding 
method may be Multi Band Excitation (MBE), Single Band Excitation (SBE), 
Sub-band Coding (SBC), Harmonic Encoding, Linear Predictive Coding (LPC), 
Discrete Cosine Transforming (DCT), Modified Discrete Cosine Transforming 
(MDCT), Fast Fourier Transforming (FFT), Code Excited Linear Predictive 
(CELP) coding, Vector Sum Excited Linear Predictive (VSELP) coding, Pitch 
Synchronous Innovation-CELP (PSI-CELP) coding and Regular Pulse Excitation 
Long Term Prediction (RPE-LTP) coding. By using any one of these encoding 
methods or other similar encoding method, an amount of the digital signal 
from A/D converter 32 can be suppressed with acceptable degradation of 
quality of the voice message. Alternatively, the digital signal can be 
directly supplied from A/D converter 32 to RAM-1 35 without being encoded 
by speech encoder 33 even though RAM-1 35 would need more storage capacity 
than when speech encoder 33 is used. 
After recording a voice message, the user needs to set a destination 
address to which the voice message is transmitted. The user can either set 
a new destination address or recall one of the destination addresses 
registered in an address list stored in RAM-2 39. To set a new destination 
address, the user operates the cursor keys and the up/down keys in keypads 
30 in a manner described above in conjunction with FIG. 2 while he watches 
LCD display 16 which is controlled by LCD driver 40. If the user wants to, 
the newly set destination address can be added to the address list stored 
in RAM-2 39. Instead of setting a new address, the user can recall one of 
the destination addresses from the address list. The user operates the 
up/down keys in keypads 30 until a desired destination address is recalled 
from RAM-2 39 and displayed on LCD display 16. 
Once the user sets a destination address, he pushes the send key in keypads 
30. CPU 34 reads the encoded data from RAM-1 35 and supplies it to 
modulator 41. At the same time, CPU 34 controls switch circuit 43 so that 
fixed contact a of switch circuit 43 is connected to movable contact c 
thereof. Otherwise, fixed contact a of switch circuit 43 is connected to 
movable contact h thereof so that transmitter/receiver terminal 10 is 
ready to receive an incoming voice message. Modulator 41 modulates the 
encoded data to a modulated signal and supplies the modulated signal to 
amplifier 42 which amplifies the same. The amplified signal is transmitted 
through switch circuit 43 and antenna 44 to the base station. 
When transmitter/receiver terminal 10 receives an incoming voice message, 
antenna 44 receives a signal transmitted from the base station. The 
received signal is supplied through switch circuit 43 to amplifier 45. 
Amplifier 45 supplies an amplified signal to demodulator 46 which supplies 
a demodulated signal to CPU 34. CPU 34 supplies the demodulated signal to 
RAM-1 35. At the same time, CPU 34 controls LED 21 to be lit so that the 
user knows the arrival of the incoming voice message. When the user 
operates the playback key in keypads 30, the demodulated signal read from 
RAM-1 35 is supplied to speech decoder 36 which produces an decoded 
signal. After the decoded signal is D/A-converted by D/A converter 37 and 
amplified by amplifier 38, the incoming voice message is reproduced from 
speaker 12. 
In addition to sending a voice message, the user can also set in advance 
text-based information associated with a special address. If the user is a 
member of a road assistant service, for example, he may have the road 
assistant service's emergency number registered in the address list stored 
in RAM-2 39. Associated with the emergency number of the road assistant 
service, the user can set any information as text-based information. Such 
text-based information may include the user's full name, address, date of 
birth, member's ID number, driver license number, its expiration date and 
so on. 
By using the cursor keys and the up/down keys in keypads 30, the user 
inputs various text-based information. The text-based information thus 
inputted is stored in RAM-3 47. After the user finishes setting the 
text-based information, he pushes the enter key in keypads 40. LCD display 
16 is then switched to an address setting mode. The user sets a special 
address with which the text-based information is associated, either by 
setting a new address or by recalling one of the addresses stored in RAM-2 
39. When the user pushes the enter key again, CPU 34 adds to the special 
address a text ID. flag showing which text-based information stored in 
RAM-3 is associated with the special address. The special address added 
with the text ID. Flag is stored in RAM-2 39. Though the text-based 
information is set before the special address is set in this embodiment, 
the order of setting the text-based information and the special address 
can be reversed. 
When the user encounters an emergency situation on a road and needs the 
road assistance, he first inputs a voice message while holding down the 
record key in keypads 30. Since the user has to only communicate a limited 
amount of information by voice message, such as his current location and 
the emergency status, a talk time of 10 to 15 seconds is sufficient for 
him to communicate such information. The user does not have to mention any 
other basic information such as his full name and membership ID number. 
After the user inputs the voice message, he recalls the address of the 
road assistance service from the address list stored in RAM-2 39. When the 
user chooses the address of the road assistance service, CPU 34 finds that 
the text ID. flag is attached to that address. The text ID. flag tells CPU 
34 that there is text-based information associated with the address of the 
road assistance service. Because the text ID. flag tells which text-based 
information among various text-based information stored in RAM-3 47 is 
associated with the address, CPU 34 retrieves from RAM-3 47 the text-based 
information associated with the address of the road assistance service. 
When the user pushes the send key in keypads 30, CPU 34 supplies to 
modulator 41 the encoded data read from RAM-1 35, the address of the road 
assistance service read from RAM-2 39 and the associated text-based 
information read from RAM-3 47. Modulator 41 supplies a modulated signal 
to amplifier 42 and the amplified signal is transmitted from antenna 44. 
As described above, when the user makes an emergency call, he need not do 
anything to retrieve and send the text-based information. Transmission of 
the text-based information associated with the special address is 
automatically done whenever the special address is chosen as a destination 
address. 
The road assistance service station receives the voice message transmitted 
from the user. In the road assistance service station, there is provided 
both a voice message receiver capable of receiving and reproducing voice 
messages, and a text receiver capable of receiving and displaying 
text-based information. An operator at the service station listens to the 
voice message and knows what happens to its member and where it happens. 
The operator also sees on a display the text-based information transmitted 
with the voice message. The operator knows the sender's full name, 
address, membership ID. number and all other necessary information 
displayed as text-based information. 
FIG. 4 is a flow-chart to explain the steps of setting text-based 
information associated with a special address. A user first inputs 
text-based information about the user himself in step 1. Such text-based 
information may include the user's full name, address, telephone number, 
date of birth, membership I.D., driver license number, license plate 
number and so on. These are information necessary to be communicated when 
the user makes an emergency call to the special address. These items may 
be specified by the service provider side in advance. The format of this 
information may be ASCII, but a special format may also be acceptable. In 
step 2, while watching the input text-based information on a display, the 
user determines whether the input text-based information is satisfactory. 
If the user is not satisfied with the text-based information, he goes back 
to step 1 and inputs new text-based information. If the user is satisfied 
with the text-based information, the text-based information is stored in a 
text memory in step 3. 
After the user sets the text-based information, he sets a special address 
to which the text-based information is transmitted when the user makes an 
emergency call to the special address later. In step 4, the user sets a 
special address either by inputting a new address or by recalling one of 
the addresses from the address list stored in an address memory. In step 
5, the user determines whether the special address is correctly set. If 
the special address is not correctly input, the user goes back to step 4 
and enters a special address correctly. If it is determined in step 5 that 
the special address is correctly set, in step 6 the special address is 
stored in the address memory with a text I.D. flag indicating which 
text-based information stored in the text memory is associated with the 
special address. The same text-based information may be associated with 
several special addresses. 
Regardless of whether text-based information is set associated with a 
special address, the user can send a voice message at anytime. FIG. 5 is a 
flow-chart to explain the steps the user needs to take when he wants to 
send a voice message. First, in step 11, the user inputs a voice message. 
The voice message is encoded and stored in a voice memory. In step 12, if 
he wants, the user can reproduce the input voice message from a speaker so 
that he can determine whether the input voice message is satisfactory. If 
the input voice message is not satisfactory, the user goes back to step 11 
and inputs a new voice message. If the user is satisfied with the input 
voice message, he has to set a destination address to which the voice 
message is transmitted. In step 13, the user sets a destination address 
either by inputting a new destination address or by recalling one of the 
addresses from the address list stored in the address memory. In step 14, 
the user determines if the correct destination address is set. If not, the 
user goes back to step 13 so that he can enter the correct destination 
address. 
After the correct destination address is set, the user can push a send key 
at any time in step 15. When the send key is pushed, it is determined in 
step 16 whether the destination address is one of the special addresses 
with which the text-based information is associated. If the destination 
address is not any one of the special addresses, the voice message is 
retrieved from the voice memory in step 18. After modulation and 
amplification, the retrieved voice message is transmitted from an antenna 
in step 19. 
On the other hand, if it is determined in step 16 that the destination 
address is one of the special addresses, the text-based information 
associated with the destination address (which is a special address) is 
retrieved from the text memory in step 17. Then, the voice message is 
retrieved from the voice memory in step 18. Both the text-based 
information retrieved in step 17 and the voice message retrieved in step 
18 are modulated, amplified and finally transmitted from the antenna in 
step 19. 
Though the above-described embodiment of the invention has been explained 
with an example of emergency call to a road assistant service, the 
invention can be applied to various kinds of emergency situations. For 
example, a user with some health problems known to himself may want to set 
the 911 number as an emergency number. He might want to set as text-based 
information medical information such as his medical history, a type of the 
medicine he uses and so on. Therefore, it is to be understood that 
numerous changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art 
without departing from the scope of the present invention.