Radio selective call receiver with display

Abstract: A radio selective call receiver with display includes, storing means for storing at least received messages, display means for displaying the received messages, input means for inputting retrieval attribution to be added to the received messages, adding means for adding the retrieval attribution to the received messages, and retrieving means for retrieving the received messages on the basis of the retrieval attribution.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a radio selective call receiver with display and, more particularly, to a radio selective call receiver with display, which has an electronic notebook function. The conventional radio selective call receiver with display has a function of displaying a received message together with its own selective call number. Such a radio selective call receiver with display is sometimes provided with the function of an electronic notebook, the received messages and the information inputted as desired can be retrieved or searched and displayed by further comprising the keyboard or like input means and also a control unit, a memory and a display unit. If the above radio selective call receiver having the display function is provided with an electronic notebook function, when a message is received together with its own selective call number, the message is stored in a memory. However, the received message is not provided with any retrieval information. In addition, the message is different in format depending on its transmitter. Therefore, it is impossible to obtain efficient retrieval of the necessary message by making use of the electronic notebook function. GB 2 253 501 describes a radio pager which detects the presence of keywords in a received message and detects whether the keyword is already registered in the memory. When a keyword is detected, it and data relating to it within the message are stored in a memory, unless the keyword is already stored in the memory in which case the data from the message is appended to the existing data in the memory. An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a radio selective call receiver with display capable of efficient retrieval and display of desired information based upon the electronic notebook function. According to the present invention, there is provided a radio selective call receiver with display, said receiver comprising: storing means for storing at least received messages; and display means for displaying said received messages; characterised in that said receiver further comprises: input means for inputting retrieval attribution to be added to said received messages whilst stored in the storing means; adding means for adding said retrieval attribution to said stored received messages; and retrieving means for retrieving said received messages on the basis of said retrieval attribution. Preferably, the receiver further comprises: an antenna; a radio unit for amplifying and demodulating a radio signal received via said antenna; a waveform shaper for shaping the demodulated signal in shape and converting the shaped signal into a digital signal; an ID memory storing its own selective call number; a decoder for comparing the own selective call number from said ID memory and a signal obtained through decoding of the digital signal from said waveform shaper; and a loudspeaker for audible display of the message receival. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 shows examples of received messages in the embodiment, and Fig. 3 shows examples of retrieved message display in the embodiment. PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Now, an embodiment of the invention will be described merely by way of example with reference to the drawings. In Fig. 2, (A) shows received messages before addition of retrieval attribution, and (B) those after addition of retrieval attribution. In Fig. 3, (A) to (C) show first to third examples of retrieved message display, respectively. Referring to Fig. 1, the radio selective call receiver in this embodiment comprises the following elements. A radio unit 2 amplifies and demodulates a radio signal received via an antenna 1. A waveform shaper 3 shapes the demodulated signal and converts the shaped signal into a digital signal. An ID memory 5 stores its own selective call number. A decoder 4 compares the own selective call number read out from the ID memory 5 and the signal obtained through decoding the digital signal from the waveform shaper 3. A keyboard switch 13 inputs the retrieval attribution for the received message. A memory 10 stores the received message. An LCD 9 displays the received message. An LCD driver 8 drives the LCD 9. An LED 11 visibly displays the message arrival. A loudspeaker 12 audibly displays the message arrival. A driver 7 controls and drives the LED 11 and loudspeaker 12. A CPU 6 controls the whole elements included in the embodiment. The operation of the embodiment will now be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3. Referring to Fig. 1, in this embodiment a radio signal received by the antenna 1 is amplified and then demodulated in the radio unit 2. The demodulated signal is converted in the waveform shaper 3 into a digital signal to be fed to the decoder 4 for comparison with the own selective call number stored in the ID memory 5. As a result of the comparison, if the own selective call number is received, a signal notifying the reception is supplied to the CPU 6. When the signal is input from the decoder 4, the CPU 6 outputs a control signal for notification to the driver 7 and also outputs a control signal to the LCD driver 8 for displaying message on the LCD 9. The received message is stored in the memory 10 and is displayed again through the control of the CPU 6. When the control signal from the CPU 6 is received, the driver 7 drives the LED 11 and loudspeaker 12 to notify a call. For the utilization of the electronic notebook function, the inputted information from the keyboard switch 13 is stored in the memory 10. The stored information can be retrieved by operating the keyboard switch 13, and also the information from the LCD 9 can be displayed by controlling the LCD driver 8. Further, when displaying the received message, a desired word or phrase may be added as retrieval attribution to the received message. The added retrieval attribution is stored together with the received message in the memory 10. Thus, it is possible to effectively attain retrieval of the received messages according to the retrieval attribution. That is, it realizes an effective retrieval by using the retrieval attribution word or phrase as keyword. Now, the addition of the retrieval attribution and the retrieval for the received message in this embodiment will be described. Fig. 2(A) shows examples of the received message in the memory 10 before addition of retrieval attribution. The received messages stored in the memory 10 are, for example, as follows: 4/9, conference from 13 : 00. Urgent, contact home, from brother. 4/1, Yamamoto Trading Co. gets together at 15 : 00. On Sunday, I wait in Yokohama at 11 : 00. 4/10, at 7 afternoon, as usual. The memory 10 has a received message storage area, which comprises a retrieval attribution storage section 101 and a received message storage section 102. Received messages are successively stored in the received message storage section 102. Fig. 2(b) shows examples of the received message with the added retrieval attribution from CPU 6 by operating the keyboard switch 13. In the illustrated examples, three retrieval attribution keywords of (1) "COMPANY", (2) "PRIVATE" and (3) "OTHERS" are set. The received messages are retrieved according to the retrieval attribution keywords after addition of the retrieval attribution as shown in Fig. 2(B). Fig. 3(A) shows the retrieval and display of the received message with the retrieval attribution specified as "COMPANY". Likewise, Figs. 3(B) and 3(C) show the retrieval and display of received message with the retrieval attribution specified as "PRIVATE" and "OTHERS", respectively. As has been described in the foregoing, in the radio selective call receiver with display according to the invention, the retrieval attribution is added to the received messages in advance to the retrieval and display of the received messages with the electronic notebook function. As a result, it is possible to obtain efficient retrieval and display of only desired information by making use of the electronic notebook function.

Claims: A radio selective call receiver with display, said receiver comprising: storing means (10) for storing at least received messages; and display means (4) for displaying said received messages; characterised in that said receiver further comprises: input means (13) for inputting retrieval attribution to be added to said received messages whilst stored in the storing means (10); adding means (6) for adding said retrieval attribution to said stored received messages; and retrieving means (13) for retrieving said received messages on the basis of said retrieval attribution. A radio selective call receiver with display according to Claim 1, said receiver further comprising: an antenna (1); a radio unit (2) for amplifying and demodulating a radio signal received via said antenna; a waveform shaper (3) for shaping the demodulated signal in shape and converting the shaped signal into a digital signal; an ID memory (5) storing its own selective call number; a decoder (4) for comparing the own selective call number from said ID memory (5) and a signal obtained through decoding of the digital signal from said waveform shaper (3); and a loudspeaker (12) for audible display of the message receival. A receiver according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein said retrieval attribution comprises a keyword. A receiver according to any preceding claim, wherein said storing means (10) includes first and second areas (101,102). A receiver according to Claim 4, wherein said first area of said storing means (10) comprises a retrieval attribution storage section (101) and said second area of said storing means comprises a received message storage section (102), said received messages being successively stored in said received message stored section (102). A receiver according to any preceding claim, wherein said retrieval attribution is added to the received messages prior to retrieval and display of the received message. A receiver according to any preceding claim, wherein said input means (13) comprises a keyboard switch.

Inventors: MOTOHASHI TERUYUKI, MOTOHASHI, TERUYUKI, MOTOHASHI, TERUYUKI, C/O NEC CORPORATION
Applicants: NIPPON ELECTRIC CO, NEC CORPORATION
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G08B5
IPC codes: H04Q7, G08B5