TELEPHONE APPARATUS AND SIGNALLING METHOD

Abstract: A telephone apparatus, in particular a hand-held and/or mobile and/or digital telephone apparatus, comprises a database for holding a plurality of entries, each entry comprising a field for holding identifying information and a field for holding signalling information, selection means for selecting one of said entries of said database, and tone generating means (28) for generating signalling tones corresponding to said signalling information stored in the selected entry of said database. A dialling method employs such a telephone apparatus. The invention enables a user of a telephone to establish different types of connections in a convenient and error-free way.

Description: Telephone apparatus and signalling method The invention concerns a telephone apparatus and a signalling method to be employed in a telephone apparatus. The invention may be used with all kinds of telephones. In particular, the invention may be used in a mobile and/or hand-held and/or digital telephone apparatus, for example a GSM mobile telephone. A GSM mobile telephone typically comprises a phonebook directory for storing information about often called persons or institutions. In each entry, the name of a person or institution is associated with a corresponding telephone number. The phonebook directory may be reviewed on a display, and an entry may be selected using cursor keys on a keypad. The telephone number stored in the selected entry may then be dialled by pressing a special dialling key on the keypad. Using the phonebook directory of a known mobile telephone is a convenient way to contact people without having to remember telephone numbers. However, the user is forced to establish the connection via the mobile telephone. This may not be what the user really wants since mobile telephone calls are usually quite expensive and may have a poor transmission quality. The invention therefore has the objective to enhance the functionality of telephones, especially mobile telephones, and to allow the user of a telephone to establish different types of connections in a convenient and error-free way. According to the invention, this objective is attained by a telephone apparatus having the features of claim 1 and a signalling method having the features of claim 12. By combining the database facilities of the telephone apparatus and a suitable tone generating means, the invention provides a convenient way for generating appropriate signalling tones. The signalling tones may be used for a variety of purposes, e.g. dialling telephone and telefax numbers on another telephone or telefax apparatus. More generally, the signalling tones can be used to convey any kind of information, for example passwords for remotely accessing an automatic answering machine or for providing access to value added services. By using the telephone apparatus to generate the signalling tones based on the selected database entry, the user can conveniently generate the desired signalling tone sequences. He or she does not have to memorize long telephone numbers or passwords, and typing errors and the consequent problems (wrong connections, loss of time etc.) are avoided. The invention may be used in connection with a large variety of devices, namely with all devices that accept the signalling tones generated by the telephone. In a preferred embodiment, the signalling tones are DTMF (dual tone multi frequency) dialling tones. DTMF tones are very commonly used in order to signal dialling and other information. The signalling tones are advantageously output by an electroacoustic transducer such that they may be easily coupled into a variety of other devices equipped with microphones. In preferred embodiments, the loudness level of the signalling tones is fixed and adapted for input into the microphone of a common telephone handset. Then the invention can be used with all kinds of public and private telephones in a similar way as a known DTMF tone generator. In other preferred embodiments, the user may adjust the loudness level of the signalling tones such that a variety of different requirements may be met. In further preferred embodiments, the signalling tones are not output by an electroacoustic transducer. Instead, they are generated by a suitable tone generator and fed into an telephone connection established by the mobile telephone. In these embodiments, the database of the telephone can be used to store passwords and other information. In yet further embodiments, the user has the choice to output the signalling tones via the electroacoustic transducer and/or the mobile telephone connection. The database entries may, in preferred embodiments, be displayed on a suitable visual display means. The user can then select the appropriate entry using cursor keys on a keypad of the telephone or a touch sensitive screen or any other appropriate input means. Preferred embodiments of the telephone apparatus allow the user to enter an international prefix. An international prefix code (e.g. the character "+") may be part of the signalling information stored in the entries of the database. When signalling tones corresponding to the signalling information of a selected entry are generated, the international prefix will replace any occurrence of the international prefix code in the signalling information. This feature has the advantage that appropriate signalling tones are generated from signalling information that, for example, has a standard GSM telephone number format. Further preferred embodiments of the telephone apparatus allow the user to define a default prefix, for example a suitable carrier access code. Signalling tones corresponding to this prefix will be generated prior to the generation of signalling tones corresponding to the selected signalling information. The signalling information may have a standard GSM telephone number format, and may therefore comprise an international prefix and a country code even for local or national numbers. Such a telephone number may, however, be invalid in the national telephone network since this network may not understand the country code for its own country. A preferred embodiment of the invention therefore allows the user to enter an actual country code. If this actual country code is found in a signalling information to be sent, it will be removed from the signalling information. Thus telephone numbers in standard GSM notation may be dialled both in the destination country (then the country code will be removed) and in any other country (then the country code will be dialled). Preferably, the telephone apparatus employs a digital transmission method for the connections like GSM telephones do. In this case, digital signals (and not analog tone signals) are used for the normal dialling process. The addition of a tone generator means then enhances the functionality of the telephone apparatus considerably. The inventive method may, in preferred embodiments, also comprise the features mentioned above and/or in claims 2 to 11. In the following, a preferred sample embodiment of the invention is described in more detail. Reference is made to the figures, in which: Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a telephone apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 2 to Fig. 4 show examples of the information shown on a visual display means during selection of a database entry, and Fig. 5 to Fig. 7 show examples of the information shown on the visual display means when adjusting functions of the telephone. The described telephone apparatus is a hand-held GSM cellular telephone. The telephone includes a high frequency unit 10 for sending and receiving radio frequency over an antenna 12, and an audio frequency unit 14 coupled to the high frequency unit 10 as well as to a speaker 16 and a microphone 18. A processing unit 20 is coupled to the high frequency unit 10, the audio frequency unit 14, a memory 22, a keyboard 24, a visual display means 26 and a tone generating means 28. The tone generating means 28 comprises an oscillator 30 coupled to an electroacoustic transducer 32. The oscillator 30 is capable of producing all DTMF dialling tones and in addition a number of ringing and signalling tones for the normal operation of the telephone. The electroacoustic transducer 32 is a piezo buzzer or, in alternative embodiments, an earpiece or a loudspeaker or the speaker 16. Under control of the processing unit 20, the tone generating means 28 is adapted to generate DTMF signalling tones at a loudness level suitable for coupling into a handset of a standard, stationary telephone. In addition, the tone generating means 28 serves as a ringer to signal incoming telephone calls. The processing unit 20 is a known low-power microcontroller comprising appropriate program routines for controlling the operation of all components of the telephone. The memory 22 is a known non-volatile battery buffered RAM memory or any other type of non-volatile memory capable of holding, among other data, a phonebook database comprising a plurality of entries, e.g. 200 entries. Each entry comprises a field for holding the name of an entity (e.g., a person or institution) to be called, and a field for holding an associated telephone number. The name of the entity serves as identifying information, and the telephone number serves as signalling information. Since the telephone apparatus does not check whether a number entered in the telephone number field is actually a valid telephone number, any numeric information (e.g., a password) may be used as signalling information. The visual display means 26 is a known graphic LCD display capable of displaying alphanumeric data. The processing unit 20, the memory 22, the keyboard 24 and the visual display means 26 together form a selection means for selecting one of the entries in the database stored in the memory 22. Fig. 2 shows the phonebook menu displayed on the visual display means 26 of the telephone when the user presses a key marked "PHONEBOOK" on the keyboard 24. In order to set up the telephone for operation, the user defines a plurality of database entries in the phonebook database by choosing menu option "2" in the phonebook menu. The user is then prompted for a name and a telephone number, and he inputs these data items via the keyboard 24. When the user wants to dial a telephone number stored in the database on a stationary telephone, he selects menu option "11" in the phonebook menu. This may be done using the cursor keys on the keyboard 24 to highlight option "11" and then pressing an enter key. A list of the contents of the database will then be presented to the user on the visual display means 26. This list, which is shown in Fig. 3, comprises one line of the name field of each entry in the database. If there are more entries in the database than lines on the visual display means 26, only a portion of the contents of the database is displayed at any time. The user may then scroll through the complete database using the cursor keys of the keyboard 24. In order to select one of the entries of the database, the user may highlight the corresponding display line shown in Fig. 3 by means of the cursor keys of the keyboard 24. When the desired name is highlighted, the user may dial the associated telephone number on a stationary telephone. In order to do this, the user lifts the handset of the stationary telephone and holds the mobile telephone close to it such that the audible dialling tones generated by the electroacoustig transducer 32 will by coupled into the microphone of the handset. The user now presses a key labelled "SEND" on the keyboard 24 of the mobile telephone or chooses a corresponding menu option. The electroacoustic transducer 32 of the mobile telephone will then output DTMF signalling tones corresponding to the telephone number stored in the selected entry, which will be received by the microphone of the stationary telephone's handset and will cause the signalled telephone number to be dialled. Thus the desired connection may be established via the stationary telephone. The user does not have to look up and dial the desired telephone number digit by digit, which would be inconvenient, slow and error-prone. More in detail, when the user has highlighted the desired entry and has pressed the "SEND" key, the processing unit 20 accesses the memory 22 in order to look up the full contents of the highlighted entry in the database. The processing unit 20 then sends signals to the oscillator 30 to output a sequence of DTMF dialling tones, said dialling tones corresponding to the telephone number looked up by the processing unit 20. As an alternative to pressing the "SEND" key, there may be a corresponding menu option, which the user may select, or any other kind of command sequence to initiate DTMF dialling. When an entry is highlighted in the database list shown in Fig. 3, the user may immediately initiate dialling by pressing the "SEND" key. He may also first review the full database entry by pressing a key labelled "REVIEW" or choosing a corresponding menu option. Fig. 4 shows an example of the display when the full database entry for the name "Bente" is reviewed. After the user has verified that the database entry is the correct one, he may initiate dialling by pressing the "SEND" key, as described above. Fig. 5 shows an example of a setup menu, which is used to enter various options. The setup menu is displayed in response to the user selecting menu option "10" in the phonebook menu shown in Fig. 2. Items "1", "2" and "3" of the setup menu serve to enter an international prefix, an actual country code, and a default prefix, respectively. If one of these items is selected, the user is prompted by the screen shown in Fig. 6 to enter a corresponding digit sequence via the keyboard 24. The entered digit sequence is then stored in the memory 22 under control of the processing unit 20. The international prefix will be substituted for any international prefix code appearing in the telephone number field of a selected database entry. In the example GSM embodiment described herein, the international prefix code is the character "+" at the beginning of a telephone number. The international prefix entered by the user may be "00". Then, in the example shown in Fig. 4, pressing the send key will cause the tone generating means 28 to output DTMF dialling tones corresponding to the number "004598346456" since the leading "+" has been replaced by "00". The actual country code is the code of the country in which the telephone apparatus is currently located. For example, this country code is "+45" for Denmark. When DTMF tones are generated for a number which starts with this country code, the corresponding digits are omitted since the national telephone network may be unable to interpret its own country code. For example, if the number "004598346456" was dialled in Denmark, an error would occur and no connection would be established. Therefore, the initial digits "0045" will not be dialled as DTMF tones if the actual country code "+45" has been entered. Only the number "98346456" will be dialled. Alternatively, a national prefix (e.g., the digit "0") may be used to replace the country code. In alternative embodiments, the telephone apparatus will first try to get information about the actual country code from the GSM network. This attempt, however, may fail if the telephone apparatus is out of range or is currently not able or not allowed to access the GSM network for some other reason. The actual country code stored by the user will only be used as a default value if no information can be obtained from the GSM network. The default prefix will always be sent prior to the dialling of the selected telephone number. For example, a default prefix of "1001" will, in Denmark, establish a connection to a less expensive telephone service. Summing up, when the user selects an entry in the telephone database, the signalling information of this entry will first be compared to an actual country code obtained from the GSM network or entered by the user. If the beginning of the signalling information matches the actual country code, the corresponding characters will be removed from the signalling information and any default prefix followed by the remaining digits of the signalling information will be output as DTMF tones. If there is no match, an international prefix code will be searched in the signalling information. If such a code is found, it will be changed to the international prefix entered by the user. Then a default prefix will be output as DTMF tones, followed by the digits resulting from the above change operation, or by the original signalling information, if it did not contain the international prefix code. The loudness level of the generated DTMF tones can be adjusted by the user by selecting menu option "4" shown in Fig. 5. Then the screen shown in Fig. 7 is presented to the user on the visual display means 26. The user may adjust the loudness level by pressing appropriate arrow keys on the keyboard 24, and the current level will be shown as a row of boxes on the visual display means 26. Thus the user may select a loudness level that is appropriate for a variety of different devices.

Claims: Claims 1. A telephone apparatus, in particular a hand-held and/or mobile and/or digital telephone apparatus, comprising: - a database for holding a plurality of entries, each entry comprising a field for holding identifying information and a field for holding signalling information, - selection means for selecting one of said entries of said database, and - tone generating means (28) for generating signalling tones corresponding to said signalling information stored in the selected entry of said database. 2. The telephone apparatus of claim 1, characterized in that said database is a phonebook database and/or said identifying information is a name and/or said signalling information is a telephone or telefax number. 3. The telephone apparatus of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said signalling tones are DTMF dialling tones. 4. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said signalling tones are output by an electroacoustic transducer (32). 5. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said signalling tones are generated at a loudness level suitable for acoustically coupling said signalling tones into a standard telephone handset. 6. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said signalling tones are generated at a user adjustable loudness level. 7. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said selection means comprises a visual display means (26) for displaying at least one entry of said database, and a keyboard (24) for selecting one of the displayed entries. 8. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 7, characterized by means for entering and storing an international prefix, said international prefix replacing an international prefix code of said signalling information when said signalling tones are generated. 9. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by means for entering and storing a default prefix, said default prefix being sent prior to said signalling information when said signalling tones are generated. 10. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by means for entering and storing an actual country code, said actual country code being removed from the beginning of said signalling information or being replaced by a national prefix when said signalling tones are generated. 11. The telephone apparatus of one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that said telephone apparatus employs a digital transmission method. 12. A signalling method in a telephone apparatus, in particular a hand-held and/or mobile and/or digital telephone apparatus, comprising the steps of: - providing a database holding a plurality of entries, each entry comprising a field for holding identifying information and a field for holding signalling information, - selecting one of said entries of said database, and - generating signalling tones corresponding to the signalling information stored in the selected entry of said database. 13. The method of claim 12, characterized in that said method is used in a telephone apparatus having the features of one of claims 2 to 11.

Inventors: ANDERSEN JOERGEN ROGER, ANDERSEN, JOERGEN, ROGER
Applicants: ANDERSEN JOERGEN ROGER, MAXON SYSTEMS INC LONDON LTD, ANDERSEN, JOERGEN, ROGER, MAXON SYSTEMS INC. (LONDON) LTD.
Application year: 1997
Main classification: H04M1
IPC codes: H04M1