Abstract:
The disclosure relates to an infrared controlled hand-free operator for cellular phones housed in a vehicle. More particularly, it is concerned with a hand-free operator which can automatically transmit an infrared signal similar to a control signal of a vehicle&#39;s audio stereo system to turn the stereo system off or mute when income signals are received by a cellular phone mounted to a vehicle. The hand-free operator thus can automatically cut off the noise sound of an audio stereo system in operation so as to make the operation of a cellular phone free of interference in a vehicle on the move.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to hand-free operator for cellular phones housed in a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a hand-free operator which can automatically transmit an infrared signal analogous to a control signal of a vehicle audio stereo system to turn the stereo system off or mute when income signals are received by a cellular phone mounted to a vehicle. It thus can prevent the audio stereo system in operation from interfering with the reception of message of the cellular phone. 
     In consideration of driving safety, various kinds of hand-free operators for cellular phones have been widely adopted as an indispensable facility on vehicles. The present inventor has developed a prior art hand-free operator which can automatically turn a vehicle audio stereo system off or mute when a cellular phone receives income signals, and resume the normal functions of the vehicle audio stereo system at the end of a cellular phone&#39;s operation. Such a design was a breakthrough in this field and benefited a lot of people in practical use. However, such a kind of hand-free operator must be generally handled by professional technicians because of its complicated wiring arrangement. It is not easy for general people to get such a hand-free operator installed in a DIY manner. 
     The inventor noticed the installation problem which hinders the wide application of such a hand-free operator to general cellular phones. He was devoted to come up with a hand-free operator equipped with an infrared operated remote control means so as to permit a vehicle audio stereo system to be remotely controlled of its on and off operation, volume level and functional modes, such as a CD player or a tape player and etc. Therefore, the present invention adopts an infrared emitter in a hand-free operator which can control a vehicle audio stereo system to stop or become mute when a cellular phone is receiving income signals, permitting a person to use the cellular phone without interference. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a hand-free operator for cellular phones mounted to vehicles, which can particularly control the audio stereo system of a vehicle by way of an infrared signal to turn off or mute when income signals are received by a cellular phone mounted to a vehicle. Thereby, the operation of a cellular phone will not be interfered by loud noise of a vehicle&#39;s audio stereo system in operation, making the operational safety and facility of a vehicle effectively increased. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cellular phone in operation receiving income signals; 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a cellular phone in operation receiving income signals; 
     FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a sixth embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  1 , the block diagram of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. This hand-free operator for use in a cellular phone is particularly capable of infrared controlling an audio stereo system of a vehicle. It comprises a hand-free operator embodiment 1 and a signal cable B 12  selectively adaptable for various types of cellular phones B 1  and an infrared receiver C 1  compatible with a vehicle&#39;s audio stereo system A 1 . 
     This hand-free operator embodiment 1 comprises a hand-free operator circuit unit  11  and an infrared circuit unit  12 . The hand-free operator circuit unit  11  enables a cellular phone B 1  to receive income signals hand-freely. The infrared circuit unit  12  services to generate and transmit infrared signals analogous to infrared control signals of the vehicle&#39;s audio stereo system A 1  when income signals are received by said cellular phone so that the audio stereo system A 1  in operation will be turned off or mute. 
     The signal cable B 12  is used to connect the hand-free operator embodiment 1 to the cellular phone B 1  for transmission of signals and is selectively replaced to conform to different plug sockets of various types of cellular phones. 
     Thereby, when the cellular phone B 1  is receiving income signals, the signals will be transmitted to the hand-free operator circuit unit  11  by way of the signal cable B 12 . After the circuit unit  11  detects income signals, the infrared circuit unit  12  will be activated by the circuit unit  11  to issue an infrared control signal. This signal analogous to an infrared control signal of the vehicle audio stereo system A 1  is transmitted to the infrared receiver C 1  of the audio stereo system A 1  to turn the same off or mute. On the completion of the operation of the cellular phone, another signal will be sent off to resume the original mode the audio stereo system. Therefore, no special wiring know-how is needed in this installation in one aspect and it facilitates a driver to take message directly when his or her cellular phone is receiving signals with a vehicle&#39;s audio stereo system in operation automatically turned off or mute temporarily. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, the block diagram of the second embodiment is illustrated. This embodiment is designed on the ground that in a stand-by status, some types of cellular phones B 2  will fixedly deliver a HI or LO signal as shown in FIG.  3 . When income signals are received by a cellular phone, this HI (Z 1 ) or LO(Z 2 ) signal will be inversely converted to a LO or (HI) signal. Therefore, in addition to the hand-free operator circuit unit  21  and the infrared circuit unit  22  in the hand-free operator embodiment  2 , an infrared signal coding unit  24  and an income signal detecting unit  23  are installed. 
     As income signals are received by a cellular phone, the stand-by signal Z 1  or Z 2  of the cellular phone will change from HI (or LO) into LO (HI), and the income signal detecting unit  23  will identify such a variation. In response, the detecting unit  23  will activate the infrared signal coding unit  24  to deliver an infrared signal to control the vehicle audio stereo system A 2 . Then, the infrared circuit unit  22  is made to send off a signal to the infrared receiver C 2  of a vehicle audio stereo system to get the audio stereo system A 2  turned off or mute. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, the block diagram of the third embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. It is designed on the ground that for some types of cellular phones, a serial signal Z 3  will be produced when a cellular phone B 3  is put in a stand-by status, as shown in FIG.  5 . As income signals are being received by a cellular phone, the serial signal Z 3  will vary in its frequency as indicated by Z 4 . For this concept, in addition to a hand-free operator circuit unit  31 , an infrared circuit unit  32  and an infrared signal coding unit  33 , an extra cellular phone signal decoding unit  34  is added. As income signals B 3  are received by the cellular phone B 3 , the serial stand-by signal Z 3  is varied. This variation is identified by the cellular phone signal decoding unit  34 , and then the infrared signal coding unit  33  issues an infrared signal controlling the vehicle audio stereo system A 3  accordingly. Next, the infrared circuit unit  32  transmits a signal to the infrared receiver C 3  of the audio stereo system A 3  to turn the stereo system A 3  off or mute temporarily. 
     Referring further to FIG. 6, the block diagram of the fourth embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. To help a driver concentrate on the road situations in driving, this embodiment can employ phonetic sound control art to control a vehicle audio stereo system A 4 , a cellular phone B 4  and etc. It mainly installs in a hand-free operator embodiment 4 an extra phonetic sound identifying unit  45  in addition to a hand-free circuit unit  41 , an infrared circuit unit  42 , an infrared signal coding unit  43  and a cellular phone control signal decoding unit  44 . The phonetic sound identifying unit  45  is internally stored with signal identifying codes relating to phonetic sound control signals, such as the volume level CD, AM or FM and etc. Also in the infrared signal coding unit  43  are stored the infrared codes in correspondence to volume level, CD, AM or FM. Thereby, a person can perform a dialing operation on a cellular phone by way of phonetic sound or make adjustment control on functional modes of a vehicle audio stereo system. These controls ranges from the variation of the volume level of the audio stereo system to the switching of channels of radio or shift to a CD player. For instance, when a person says “loud” to the hand-free operator embodiment  4 , the phonetic sound identifying unit  45  receiving such a command will process judgement and then transmit the signal to the infrared signal coding unit  43 . The infrared signal coding unit  43  is activated to issue an infrared signal which is capable of controlling the vehicle audio stereo system A 4 , then the infrared circuit unit  42  transmits a corresponding signal to the infrared receiver C 4  to control the volume of the vehicle audio stereo system. 
     Referring to FIG. 7, the block diagram of the fifth embodiment of the present invention. A steering wheel is a place where a driver&#39;s hands lays in the longest time in driving, so, it is the most ideal place to position all the functional controls on a steering wheel of a vehicle. In the hand-free operator embodiment  5 , there is installed, in addition to the hand-free operator circuit unit  51 , the infrared circuit  52 , the infrared signal coding unit  53  and cellular phone control signal coding unit  54 , a dialing unit  55 . The dialing unit  55  placed at a proper position on the steering wheel is provided not only with the numeral buttons for dialing purposed but also with functional control buttons relating to the vehicle audio stereo system. When a person uses the dialing unit  55  to make a setting, the dialing unit  55  will transmit signals to the infrared. signal coding unit  53  to get corresponding infrared control signals coded. These coded signals will then be transmitted by the infrared circuit unit  52  to the infrared receiver C 5  of the vehicle audio stereo system to effect control of the functions of the audio stereo system A 5 . 
     At last, as in FIG. 8 is shown the block diagram of the sixth embodiment of the present invention. In the preceding instances, all possible conditions have been taken into consideration to solve all kinds of problems, but it is a priority that a vehicle audio stereo system must be equipped with an infrared operated means. So, to make the present invention applicable to all non-infrared controlled audio stereo systems A 6 , in the sixth embodiment of the present invention is provided with an plug-in infrared adapter connector  6 . Such an adapter connector  6  is made up of an infrared receiver  61 , a signal amplifier  62  and a signal decoding unit  63 . The infrared receiver  61  is responsible for receiving infrared control signals and the signal decoding unit  63  plays the role of decoding and transforming the received infrared signals into signals for use in the control of the vehicle audio stereo system A 6 . By means of the conversion of the adapter connector  6 , any non-infrared controlled audio stereo system can be easily compatible with the present invention in practical use. 
     In summary, all the preceding instances of the present invention demonstrate simple but complete considerations for wide application of the hand-free operator capable of infrared controlling a vehicle audio stereo system to all kinds of situations. It can be adapted for different people and effectively advance a hand-free operator and make driving on road safer and more facilitating.