Voice communications method

A first electronic device makes a phone call to a second electronic device. The second electronic device issues an incoming call notification to a third electronic device. The third electronic device sends a response to the second electronic device. The second electronic device answers the phone call. The first electronic device sends first voice to the second electronic device. The second electronic device transfers the first voice to the third electronic device. The third electronic device plays the first voice. The third electronic device transfers second voice to the second electronic device. The second electronic device sends the second voice to the first electronic device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a voice communications method, and more particularly, to a method capable of transferring a phone call from one electronic device to other electronic devices over a local area network or the internet.

2. Description of the Prior Art

With the increasing popularity of mobile phones, people are becoming more dependent on mobile phones to communicate with each other. However, people may sometimes forget to bring their phones with them or leave their phones in places inconvenient for them to reach, causing people to miss phone calls which may be important to them. In such case, people may call back by dialing the phone number of missed calls displayed on their phones, however there are disadvantages thereof. One disadvantage is that the extension of a phone number cannot be displayed, and the other disadvantage is that people may wonder if they need to call back because the missed phone calls may be unwanted calls.

Although mobile phone carriers provide service to transfer phone calls from one phone to another phone for a same user, fees are usually charged for this kind of service. Besides, some people may not have other phones to which phone calls may be transferred and this kind of service is useless to them.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention discloses a voice communications method. The method comprises a first electronic device making a phone call to a second electronic device, the second electronic device issuing an incoming call notification to a third electronic device when the second electronic device fails to respond to the first electronic device after a predetermined time length, the third electronic device sending a response to the second electronic device, the second electronic device answering the phone call from the first electronic device, the first electronic device sending voice to the second electronic device, recording the voice sent from the first electronic device to the second electronic device to generate first recorded voice, encoding the first recorded voice to generate first encoded voice, the second electronic device transferring the first encoded voice to the third electronic device, the third electronic device decoding the first encoded voice to generate first decoded voice and playing the first decoded voice after the third electronic device receives the first encoded voice, recording voice received from a microphone of the third electronic device to generate second recorded voice, encoding the second recorded voice to generate second encoded voice, the third electronic device transferring the second encoded voice to the second electronic device, the second electronic device decoding the second encoded voice to generate second decoded voice, and the second electronic device sending the second decoded voice to the first electronic device.

The present invention provides a voice communications method capable of transferring a phone call from one electronic device to other electronic devices over a local area network or the internet so that a user can answer the phone call on one of the other electronic devices available to the user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer toFIGS. 1A,1B andFIG. 2,FIGS. 1A and 1Bare flowcharts illustrating a voice communications method100according to an embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 2illustrates the voice communications method100according toFIGS. 1A and 1B. The method100may be performed among a first, a second and a third electronic device,160,162, and164. The first electronic device160may be a mobile phone or a landline connected via a circuit switched network. The second electronic device162may be a mobile phone running first application software that can communicate with the third electronic device164. The third electronic device164may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a personal computer, a smart television, or other electronic devices, without limitation thereto, running second application software that can communicate with the second electronic device162. The third electronic device164may be equipped with a microphone and a speaker to record and play voice. The method100may include following steps:

Step102: The first electronic device160makes a phone call to the second electronic device162;

Step104: The second electronic device162issues an incoming call notification to the third electronic device164if the second electronic device162fails to respond to the first electronic device160after a predetermined time length;

Step106: If the third electronic device164sends a response to the second electronic device162, perform step108; else perform step128;

Step108: The second electronic device162answers the phone call from the first electronic device160;

Step110: The first electronic device160sends voice to the second electronic device162;

Step112: The second electronic device162records the voice to generate first recorded voice and encodes the first recorded voice to generate first encoded voice;

Step114: The second electronic device162transfers the first encoded voice to the third electronic device164;

Step116: The third electronic device164decodes the first encoded voice to generate first decoded voice and plays the first decoded voice;

Step118: The third electronic device164records voice received from a microphone of the third electronic device164to generate second recorded voice and encodes the second recorded voice to generate second encoded voice;

Step120: The third electronic device164transfers the second encoded voice to the second electronic device162;

Step122: The second electronic device162decodes the second encoded voice to generate second decoded voice;

Step124: The second electronic device162sends the second decoded voice to the first electronic device160;

Step126: Repeat steps110to124until a conversation ends and go to step130;

Step128: The third electronic device164generates a message indicating there is a missed incoming call;

The phone call in step102,108, the voice in step110, and the second decoded voice in step124are transmitted over the circuit switched network such as a PSTN (public switched telephone network), or are transmitted over a wireless network accessible to the PSTN. The first encoded voice in step112and the second encoded voice in step118may be in PCM (pulse code modulation) format. In another embodiment, the first encoded voice in step112and the second encoded voice in step118may be in AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) format.

To begin with, the user may install the first application software on the second electronic device162and install the second application software on the third electronic device164. Next, the user may configure the second electronic device162and the third electronic device164with the corresponding software so that a communications link between the second electronic device162and the third electronic device164may be established. The communications link is established over a packet switched network such as a LAN (local area network) or the internet, and the incoming call notification in step104, the response in step106, the first encoded voice in step114, and the second encoded voice in step120may be transmitted over the communications link thereafter. Internet protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP, or DLNA may be used for communication in the communications link.

After the communications link is established, if the second electronic device162is not available to the user when receiving the phone call, step104may be performed automatically to notify the user with the third electronic device164on hand. The incoming call notification in step104may be a message alert or a sound alert that notifies the user there is an incoming call. If the user decides to answer the incoming call after noticing the alert on the third electronic device164, the user may control the third electronic device164to send the response to the second electronic device162by pressing a button or by other ways predetermined by the software, then step106to step126may be performed. If the user decides not to answer the incoming call or does not notice the incoming call notification, step128may be performed.

In another embodiment, the user may configure a plurality of third electronic devices. Each of the third electronic devices may communicate with the second electronic device162for receiving and answering the incoming call transferred from the second electronic device162over a local area network or the internet. The third electronic devices may be smart house appliances such as a smart TV or a smart refrigerator running the second application software that supports the call transfer function.

The present invention provides a voice communications method capable of transferring a phone call from one electronic device to other electronic devices over a local area network or the internet so that users can answer the incoming call on one of the other devices available to them. The advantages of the present invention include: the user can answer the incoming call on other devices even if the user does not have a phone on hand, the user can be notified of an incoming call even if the user's phone is in silent mode, and the transferring of the incoming call over the local area network or the internet is usually free of charge which reduces users' voice communications cost.