Apparatus and method for displaying information of calling partner during call waiting in portable wireless terminal

Disclosed is a system for displaying on calling partner terminal during call waiting information on a wireless terminal received via an Internet server through which a user stores a call connection community screen, with a message containing a call connection community screen is received via the Internet server and displayed for a calling partner during a call waiting in a wireless terminal. A predetermined field of the message is checked when a message is received from the messaging server in a call waiting status. If the predetermined field has a specific set value, the call connection community screen is extracted from the message and displayed on a display window, with the call connection community screen containing information of the calling partner. User individuality can be visually expressed to the calling partner during the call waiting and the call waiting time can be more efficiently utilized through the interactive screen.

PRIORITY

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to an application entitled “Apparatus And Method For Displaying Information Of Calling Partner During Call Waiting In Portable Wireless Terminal” filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Oct. 1, 2004 and assigned Ser. No. 2004-0078151, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for displaying information of a calling partner during call waiting in a portable wireless terminal, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for receiving and displaying information previously registered by a calling partner, in a message form, during call waiting.

2. Background of the Prior Art

As electronic and communication industries advance, portable wireless terminals are being more widely distributed, and functions of the terminals are being diversified to meet user's demands. Meanwhile, the terminals tend to be of smaller-size and more lightweight. Further, the emergence of a portable wireless terminal with a built-in digital camera allows desired objects to be easily captured and stored. Also, the captured images can be uploaded to a wireless Internet server and transmitted to other terminals.

In the portable wireless terminal, a Short Message Service (SMS) is widely used. Meanwhile, SMS is evolving into a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) to allow transmission of a message having an attached image. That is, while SMS could originally only transmit characters, it can now transmit a variety of images, such as photographs or animation.

In general, for an outgoing voice call, a calling party hears a call connection sound (music or voice message), which is stored by a called party, until a called terminal responds to the voice call and the call is actually connected. Here, the duration of time until the call is actually connected after the outgoing voice call is made will be referred to as a call waiting time, i.e. “call waiting”. At this point, the calling terminal counts and displays a call duration and the called terminal displays a caller ID. That is, although a voice service capable of expressing the called party's personality during the call waiting is supported, such display service is uniform and does not allow various demands of a user to be met. Further, since the called terminal can recognize the calling party only through caller ID, there is a demand for more varied display services.

That is, if a display service capable of expressing the calling partner's personality during the call waiting is supported, it may be an additional service comparable to the call connection sound. Specifically, such an additional service may be useful in cases such as when a called party cannot answer the phone because he or she is on urgent business, at an important meeting, absent, on vacation, on a business trip, or in the hospital. If such a situation can be determined through a call waiting screen, allowing wasted time due to the repetitive callings to be prevented. In addition, if a called party's emotion (i.e. angry, depressed, happy, etc.) can be known through the call waiting screen, the calling party can more adaptively cope with the called party's emotion during or when initiating a telephone conversation. Specifically, such a call waiting screen can be used as a medium through which the calling party can be reminded of birthdays, meeting places, etc. Further, it can be used as a medium for expressing delicate emotions to intimate friends can be expressed with characters, photographs, pictures, etc.

As described above, in conventional systems, the calling terminal in call waiting status will simply display the call duration, and the called terminal will display only the caller ID. Accordingly, both the calling terminal and the called terminal simply display only such basic information. The present invention allows for visual display of the calling partner's personality, like the call connection sound, during the call waiting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for displaying information of a calling partner during a call waiting in a portable wireless terminal to substantially obviate one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for displaying information of a calling partner during call waiting in a portable wireless terminal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for receiving and displaying information of a calling partner through an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) during call waiting in a portable wireless terminal.

A further another aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for receiving and displaying information, which is previously registered in an Internet server by a calling partner, through an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) during call waiting in a portable wireless terminal.

A still further another aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for receiving and displaying a call connection community screen, which is set by a calling partner, during call waiting in a portable wireless terminal.

To achieve the object and other advantages, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for displaying the information of a calling partner during call waiting in a wireless terminal in a system, which includes an Internet server through which a user stores a call connection community screen in a database so as to display an information on a wireless terminal of a calling partner during a call waiting; and a messaging server for creating and transmitting a message to a corresponding wireless terminal, the message containing the call connection community screen of the Internet server. The method includes checking a predetermined field of the message when a message is received from the messaging server in a call waiting status; and, if the predetermined field has a specific set value, extracting the call connection community screen from the message and displaying the extracted call connection community screen on a display window, the call connection community screen containing an information of the calling partner.

The call connection community screen may display at least one of a calling partner's schedule, emotion information for close friends, an advertisement image, an event image, D-day of an event and matter for congratulation and condolence, the number of calls, a calling partner's popularity and bio-rhythm, an absence/presence, and photograph.

The call connection community screen may be a personal homepage which operates in the Internet server.

The call connection community screen may contain a link information which makes it possible to request additional information to the Internet server.

The method may further include the step of storing the displayed call connection community screen in a predetermined region of a memory according to a user's selection.

The message containing the call connection community screen may be any one of an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) message, an EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) message, an SMS (Short Message Service) message, and an LMS (Long Message Service) message.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are provided in the accompanying drawings. For clarity, well known features of the subject of the invention are not included in the following detailed description.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for receiving and displaying previously registered information during a call waiting time (i.e. “call waiting”) in a portable wireless terminal will be described. For the convenience of explanation, the information of the calling partner displayed during the call waiting will be referred to as a “call connection community screen”.

A network configuration to which the present invention can be applied will be schematically described with reference toFIG. 1. The network configuration will be recognized as a general mobile communication system. Although the names of the elements are different, the network configuration is common in IS-95A/B, GSM, IS-2000, WCDMA, UMTS, and similar systems.

FIG. 1is a schematic view of a network configuration according to the present invention.

Referring toFIG. 1, a network according to the present invention includes wireless terminals11and12, Base Station Subsystems (BTSs)13and14, Base Station Controllers (BSCs)15and16, Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs)17and18, a Home Location Register (HLR)19, a Short Message Service Center (SMSC)20, a router21, a Packet Data Service Node (PDSN)22, a wireless Internet server23, a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) server24, and a personal computer (PC)25.

The wireless terminals11and12represent portable terminals that are carried by users. Here, it is assumed that the wireless terminal11is a calling terminal and the wireless terminal12is a called terminal. The BTSs13and14perform a wired/wireless switching function to connect the wireless terminals11and12to the BSCs15and16, respectively. The BSC15is disposed between the BTS13and the MSC17and the BSC16is disposed between the BTS14and the MSC18. The BSCs15and16manage and control the BTSs13and14, respectively. The MSCs17and18have Visitor Location Registers (VLRs) to perform location registration of the wireless terminals11and12, respectively. Also, the MSCs17and18perform a call set-up and a call processing between calling partners for voice communication and data communication of the wireless terminals11and12. The HLR19stores and manages subscriber information (i.e. subscriber's name and address etc.), information of the additional services requested by the subscriber, and location information of wireless terminals. The SMSC20performs call processing for call and message transmission between the wireless terminals.

The router21performs a data switching to process a network connection between the mobile communication network and the PDSN22connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The PDSN22is connected to the wireless Internet server23and the MMS server24through an intelligent network and is connected to the mobile communication network through the router21. Also, the PDSN22interfaces communication data between the mobile communication network and an external IP network and performs routing and tunneling of packet data for the IP network.

The wireless Internet server23represents a server to provide Internet-based content. For example, NATE of SK Telecom and MAGICN of KT Freetel are the representative wireless Internet serivces in Korea. As is well known, the wireless Internet server23provides services to both the wired Internet and the wireless Internet. For example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used for the interface with the wireless Internet, and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is used for the interface with the wireless Internet.

In this embodiment, the wireless Internet server23provides contents for registering a call connection community screen and registers a call connection community screen in a database. The call connection community screen is to be transmitted to the calling partner during a call waiting according to the requests from the wireless terminals11and12or the PC25. When a message requesting transmission of the call connection community screen is received, the wireless Internet server23extracts a caller ID and a called ID from the message. Then, the wireless Internet server23accesses the database using the respective IDs and reads out the call connection community screens registered by the calling party and the called party. Also, the wireless Internet server23requests transmission of the call connection community screen to the corresponding terminals by transmitting a message containing the information of the read-out call connection community screen to the MMS server24.

The MMS sever24performs a call processing for transmitting multimedia messages, such as a moving picture, an image, an audio and a flash, between the wireless terminals. The MMS server24converts the information from the wireless Internet server23into MMS message based on a predetermined specification and transmits the MMS message to the corresponding wireless terminal. That is, the MMS message containing the call connection community screen registered by the calling party is transmitted to the called terminal12and the MMS message containing the call connection community screen registered by the called party is transmitted to the calling terminal11. The calling terminal11extracts the call connection community screen from the MMS message received during the call waiting and displays it on a display window. The called terminal12extracts the call connection community screen from the MMS message received during the call waiting and displays it on a display window. Meanwhile, the MMS server24records a specific set value (or identification code) on a predetermined field of the message in order to distinguish the message containing the call connection community screen from a general message. Therefore, if receiving the message having a predetermined field to which a specific value is set, the wireless terminals11and12determine that the received message contains the call connection community screen, so that they directly display the call connection community screen of the message without storing it in a message box.

The PC25has a built-in web browser based on HTTP protocol such that the PC25can exchange multimedia data on a web via the Internet network. The multimedia includes a character, an audio, an image, a moving picture, a flash, and so on. That is, the PC user can use a variety of contents after he or she connects to a website of the wireless Internet server23through the web browser. The PC user connects to the wireless Internet server23and registers the call connection community screen to be transmitted to the calling partner during the call waiting.

An overall operation of the network configuration shown inFIG. 1will be described later with reference toFIG. 4.

FIG. 2is a block diagram of a portable wireless terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. The portable wireless terminal includes a cellular phone, a Personal Communication System (PCS), a Personal Data Assistant (PDA), an international mobile communication-2000 (MIT-2000) terminal, a 4G (OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) terminal, and the like. A description will now be made with a general structure of the above terminals.

Referring toFIG. 2, a Microcomputer Processing Unit (MPU)200controls an overall operation of the terminal. For example, the MPU200processes and controls voice communication and data communication. In addition to the typical functions, the MPU200processes a function to display on the display window the information of the calling partner received in a message form during the call waiting. A description about the typical process and control operation of the MPU200will be omitted.

A memory includes a program memory202, a data memory204and a nonvolatile memory206. The program memory202stores a program for controlling an overall operation of the terminal. A flash memory may be used as the program memory. The data memory204temporarily stores data created during the operation of the terminal. A Random Access Memory (RAM) may be used as the data memory. The nonvolatile memory206stores system parameter and other data (phone number, message, image data, etc.). An Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) may be used as the nonvolatile memory.

A key pad208includes numeric keys of digits 0–9 and a plurality of function keys, such as a MENU key, a CANCEL (DELETE) key, an ENTER key, a TALK key, an END key, an Internet connection key and navigation keys (▴/▾//). The key pad208provides a key input data to the MPU200. The key input data corresponds to a key that is pressed by the user. A display device210displays status information (or indicator) of the terminal, numerals and characters, moving pictures and still pictures, and the like. A color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) may be used as the display device210.

A coder-decoder (CODEC)212connected to the MPU200, a speaker216and a microphone214connect to the CODEC212for audio input/output for use in voice communication. The MPU200produces PCM data and the CODEC212converts the PCM data into analog audio signals. The analog audio signals are outputted through the speaker216. Also, the CODEC212converts audio signals received through the microphone214into PCM data and provides the PCM data to the MPU200.

A Radio Frequency (RF) module220drops a frequency of an RF signal received through an antenna218and provides the RF signal to a baseband processor222. Also, the RF module220increases a frequency of a baseband signal provided from the baseband processor222and transmits the baseband signal through the antenna218. The baseband processor222processes the baseband signals that are transmitted/received between the RF module220and the MPU200. For example, in the case of the data transmission, the baseband processor222performs channel coding and spreading transmitting data. In the case of the data reception, the baseband processor222performs despreading and channel decoding for receiving data.

FIG. 3is a flowchart illustrating a method for displaying information of a calling partner received in a message form during a call waiting in a portable wireless terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring toFIG. 3, if a call is outgoing or incoming, the MPU200enters a call waiting status (Step301). For an call incoming, the MPU200typically outputs a control signal for output of a bell sound previously set by the user by the speaker216.

Then, the MPU200checks whether the call is connected (Step303). That is, the MPU200checks whether the called party presses a call key. If the call is connected, the MPU200performs a communication mode (Step319).

If the call is not connected, the MPU200checks whether a multimedia message is received (Step305). The multimedia message may be a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message, an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) message and the like, which can include the transmitted image. Also, the multimedia message may include a Short Message Service (SMS) message and a Long Message Service (LMS) message because the SMS message and the LMS message can express the image by an emoticon.

If the multimedia message is not received, the MPU200returns to Step303. Meanwhile, if the multimedia message is received, the MPU200checks a predetermined field of the received message (Step307).

Then, the MPU200checks whether the predetermined field has a specific set value (Step309). That is, the MPU200checks whether the received message contains the call connection community screen. If the call connection community screen is not contained in the received message, the MPU200performs a general message reception process (Step317).

If the call connection community screen is contained in the received message, the MPU200extracts the call connection community screen from the message and displays it on a display window (Step311). Here, the call connection community screen may include, for example, the calling partner's schedule, emotion and close friends, images showing a matter for congratulation and condolence, D-day of an event matter for congratulation and condolence, the number of calls, scores of popularity, scores of kindness, bio-rhythm, absence/presence, photograph information, and the like. Meanwhile, the call connection community screen may include buttons that can request other additional information. That is, if the user selects the buttons displayed on the display window, he or she can request other additional information registered by the calling partner.

After displaying the call connection community screen, the MPU200checks whether a key for requesting other additional information is inputted (Step313). If there is no key input for requesting the additional information, the MPU200returns to Step303. If there is the key input for requesting the additional information, the MPU200creates and transmits an additional information request message to the wireless Internet server (S315) and then returns to Step303.

In this embodiment, a storage of the call connection community screen has not been described in detail. However, since the received call connection community screen can include important information (e.g., the matter for congratulation and condolence) of the calling partner, the call connection community screen may be stored during the call waiting or after the call termination, depending on the user's selection.

An overall operation of the present invention will be described with reference to the messages exchanged between the components of the network.

FIG. 4is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing information of a calling partner to two terminals during call waiting according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring toFIG. 4, if the send button is inputted, the calling terminal11transmits an outgoing message to the BSC15(Step401). Here, the outgoing message contains a caller ID and a called ID. The BSC15transmits a call of the calling terminal11to the BSC16of the calling partner in response to the outgoing message. At this point, the BSC16receives a call message (PageReq) (Step407). In the reception of the call message, the BSC16transmits a call generation message (PCH_GenPage) to the called terminal12(Step409). Then, if a service connection is completed through signaling negotiation between the BSC16and the called terminal12, the BSC16transmits an alert message (FTCH_AlertWithInfo), containing the caller ID, to the called terminal12(Step411). At this point, the called terminal12outputs a bell sound that is set by the user.

Meanwhile, in the reception of the outgoing message, the BSC15extracts the caller ID and the called ID from the outgoing message and transmits a message of requesting the call connection community screen to the wireless Internet server23(Step403). The message contains the caller ID and the called ID. The wireless Internet server23extracts the caller ID and the called ID from the request message, accesses the database using the respective IDs and reads out the call connection community screens registered by the calling party and the called party (Step405). Then, the wireless Internet server23requests the transmission of the call connection community screens to the corresponding terminal by transmitting a message including the information of the read-out call connection community screens to the MMS server24.

The MMS sever24converts the information from the wireless Internet server23into an MMS message based on a predetermined specification and transmits the MMS message to the corresponding wireless terminal (Step413). First, the MMS message containing the call connection community screen registered by the called party is transmitted to the calling terminal11. Then, the calling terminal11extracts the call connection community screen from the MMS message and displays it on the display window (Step415).

Meanwhile, the MMS server24transmits to the called terminal12the MMS message containing the call connection community screen registered by the calling party (Step417). Then, the called terminal12extracts the call connection community screen from the MMS message and displays it on the display window (Step419). If the called party presses the call key (Step421), a channel is established between the calling terminal11and the called terminal12(Step423).

FIGS. 5A to 5Care exemplary views illustrating call connection community screens according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring toFIG. 5A, a User Interface (UI) is largely divided into two regions. An upper region501is a native user interface and displays the phone number of the calling partner and the call duration (or connected duration), as in conventional systems. Here, the call duration is updated within the terminal itself. A lower region502displays the information that is previously registered in the wireless Internet server. In more detail, the lower region502displays an advertisement image503, a text box504that explains the image503, a combo box505that can show information about the calling partner's close friends, a button506that can show a previously registered information, and a button507that can show photographs registered in the server by the calling partner. Since the text box504, the combo box505and the buttons506and507contain link information, the user can request other additional information to the server by using the link information. In this case, the server transmits the corresponding information to the MMS server in response to the request, and the MMS server converts the information into a message based on a specific specification and transmits it to the terminal again. In this manner, the terminal user can check a variety of information uploaded on the server by the calling partner, just as the terminal user connects to the web page of the calling partner.

Referring toFIG. 5B, a User Interface (UI) is largely divided into two regions. An upper region is a native user interface and displays the phone number of the calling partner and the call duration, as in conventional systems. In a lower region, a first box513displays the number of calls by the calling partner (today's number of calls and total number of calls), and a second box514displays a text message (e.g., on vacation until X day, in a meeting now, in absence, on business trip, etc.) which is set by the user. A third box515displays D-day of matters for congratulation and condolence, and a fourth box516displays graphs about the popularity and bio-rhythm of the user. Meanwhile, like the case ofFIG. 5A, a button which can see the previously registered information and a button which can see the photographs registered in the server by the calling partner are displayed at the lowermost region. Here, the contents displayed on the fourth box516are calculated based on a predetermined standard by the server. That is, it can be said that this service is not the registered information but it is provided from the server.

Referring toFIG. 5C, a User Interface (UI) is largely divided into two regions. An upper region is a native user interface and displays the phone number of the calling partner and the call duration, as in conventional systems. In a lower region, a first box523displays a map image that can provide notice a meeting place and the like, and a second box524displays D-day of matters for congratulation and condolence. A third box525displays emotional status (e.g., happy, tired, etc.) of the calling partner via icon or the like. Meanwhile, like the above examples, a button for viewing the previously registered information and a button for viewing the photographs registered in the server by the calling partner are displayed at the lowermost region. Accordingly, if the meeting place and the like are noticed through the call connection screen, the user himself or herself need not otherwise proved notice the meeting place and the like to everybody.

As described above, the call connection community screen according to the present invention can contain the calling partner's schedule, emotional information for close friends, advertisement, events, image of the matter for congratulation and condolence, D-day of event and a matter for congratulation and condolence, the number of calls, the calling partner's popularity and bio-rhythm, the absence/presence, the photographs, and the like. In another embodiment, his or her own homepage (e.g., mini homepage) operating in a wireless Internet can be used as the call connection community screen.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain previous knowledge about the calling partner before the call is connected, thereby improving a communication effect. Also, if the call connection community screen is developed as an additional service with which the call connection sound can be replaced with color, allowing service providers to make a profit from the additional service. Further, the individuality can be visually expressed to the calling partner during the call waiting and the call waiting time can be more efficiently utilized through the interactive screen.

The forgoing embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. The present teachings can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. The description of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof that are within the appended claims will be apparent to those skilled in the art.