Abstract:
A telephone rejects an arrival of unwanted e-mails. If the telephone does not have a telephone number of an incoming call in a memory, it counts a ringing time interval of the incoming call. If the ringing time interval is shorter than a predetermined time interval, the telephone stores the telephone number of the incoming call as a telephone number whose incoming call is rejected. When a user inputs a telephone number for calling in the telephone, a telephone number whose incoming call is rejected which corresponds with the inputted telephone number is automatically deleted from the memory section. The telephone number whose incoming call is rejected may be stored in a database connected to a communication network. In that case, a server accesses the database and disconnects the call line coming from the telephone number whose incoming call is rejected.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a telephone, control method thereof, and a telephone communication system, and more particularly to a function to reject an arrival of a call from a designated telephone number at a telephone.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Recently, quite a few e-mails which users do not want to receive actually arrive at telephones, particularly mobile phones, and this has become problematic. In response to such a problem, telephone service companies offer various services about unwanted incoming E-mails. Additionally, telephones which are capable of rejecting a call from a designated telephone number are also marketed. As an incoming call processing operation control method to reject arrivals of unwanted e-mails, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Hei No. 10 (1998)-042036, for example, discloses a control method as shown in  FIG. 1 . Its incoming call processing operation control method is as follows: a telephone detects an incoming call (S 1 ), and then receives the telephone number of the caller (S 2 ). The telephone checks whether or not the caller&#39;s number is registered in the memory section as a telephone number whose incoming call is rejected (S 3 ). If the telephone number has been registered (YES in S 3 ), an incoming call processing operation registered for this designated number is selected (S 8 , S 10 , S 12 ). As a result, any one of incoming call processing operations is performed. That is, any one of displaying without sound (S 9 ), automatic answering (S 11 ), or automatic disconnection (S 13 ) is selected. If the telephone number has not been registered, and a specified code is received at the end of communication (S 5 ), the telephone transfers the unregistered telephone number to a processing operations registration memory (S 6 ) to set and register an incoming call processing operation for this telephone number (S 7 ). Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei No. 7 (1995)-066868 discloses a technology in which a telephone switchboard prohibits an incoming call that a callee does not want to receive, and cancels such prohibition after a predetermined elapsed time. However, in order to use this service of incoming call rejection at the switchboard, a telephone user must manually register in advance caller&#39;s telephone number from which an unwanted e-mail was sent.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     A telephone according to the present invention rejects the receiving of a call from a specified telephone number. The telephone has a telephone number memory section, a telephone number identification section, and a ringing time interval determination section. By these elements, the telephone stores the specified telephone number, and detects the telephone number of the incoming call as well as the ringing time interval. In addition, the telephone has a telephone number collating section and a telephone number processing section. These elements compare a telephone number inputted to the telephone with telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected, and allows the incoming call from the inputted telephone numbers to arrive. The telephone has a telephone number registration section, which registers specified telephone numbers with a short ringing time interval as telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected.  
         [0006]     A control method according to the present invention has following steps. That is, the steps include: storing a telephone number whose incoming calls are rejected in the telephone; storing a telephone number to which a call is made in the telephone; determining whether or not a telephone number for calling matches up with any of the telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected; and, if both numbers match up, said telephone number is set as a telephone number whose incoming call is allowed.  
         [0007]     A telephone communication system has a telephone, a telephone switchboard for connecting to a network, and a server that controls the telephone switchboard to prohibit calls from a specified telephone number from arriving at the telephone. The server receives a telephone number sent from a telephone, and, if the received telephone number matches up with any of the specified telephone numbers, the call from said telephone is, allowed arriving.  
         [0008]     The server according to the present invention is connected to a network including a telephone switchboard. The server has a memory section that stores a telephone number. When a caller&#39;s telephone number matches up with any of the stored telephone numbers in the memory section, the server controls the telephone switchboard to prohibit the call from arriving at the telephone. Further, the server receives the telephone number from the telephone, and deletes the telephone number in the memory section that matches up with the received telephone number.  
         [0009]     In the present invention, if users store in the telephone a telephone number to dial, the prohibition of incoming call is cancelled even though the incoming call from this telephone number is prohibited from arriving. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0010]     The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken with the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of an incoming call processing operation control method for a telephone.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  are block diagrams of an embodiment of a telephone according to the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example of call receiving operations of a telephone according to the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example of processing operations of a telephone according to the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  illustrates an example of a telephone communication system according to the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  illustrates an example of a telephone communication system operation according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]     Preferred embodiments of a telephone according to the present invention will be described hereinafter. Referring to  FIG. 2A , a telephone according to the present invention comprises an antenna  1 , a transceiver section  2 , a CPU  3 , an input section  4 , a microphone  5 , a speaker  6 , memory sections  7 ,  8 , an LCD driver  9 , an LCD  10 , and a timer  11 . The transceiver section  2  sends and receives radio signals to and from a base station via the antenna  1  in accordance with the control by the CPU  3 . The CPU  3  sends out display information to the LCD driver  9  to display desired data on the LCD  10 . The timer  11  counts the ringing time interval of an incoming call. The memory section  7  is a random access memory (RAM) for storing information from the base station. The memory section  8  is a read only memory (ROM) for storing programs, character fonts, and the like, for controlling the telephone processing operation. The memory section  8  is, for example, an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), and can store a list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are allowed and a list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected.  
         [0018]      FIG. 2B  illustrates functions possessed by the CPU  3 . The CPU  3  has a call detection section  34 , a caller&#39;s telephone number identification section  35 , a ringing time interval determination section  36 , a registration section  37  for registering a telephone number whose incoming call is rejected, and an incoming call logging section  38 . The call detection section  34  detects an incoming call. The caller&#39;s telephone number identification section  35  identifies a caller&#39;s telephone number among the information detected by the call detection section  34 . The ringing time interval determination section  36  determines a call whose ringing time interval is smaller than a predetermined time interval to be a subject whose incoming call is rejected. If the memory section  8  does not contain the telephone number of a call which is determined by the ringing time interval determination section  36  to be one of those which are subjects whose incoming calls are rejected, the registration section  37  registers such telephone number as one whose incoming call is rejected. The incoming call logging section  38  registers the registration history of a telephone number whose incoming calls are rejected and the registration history of normal incoming calls.  
         [0019]     The CPU  3  further includes a telephone number registration section  31 , a telephone number collating section  32 , and a telephone number deleting section  33 . The telephone number registration section  31  registers a telephone number inputted by a user into a list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are allowed in the memory section  8 . The telephone number collating section  32  determines whether or not the telephone number registered by the telephone number registration section  31  is in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected. If the telephone number collating section  32  determines that said telephone number is contained in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected, the telephone number deleting section  33  deletes the telephone number from said list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of a telephone according to the present invention. The CPU  3  of the telephone detects an incoming call (S 201 ). The CPU  3  determines whether or not the received data contains a caller notification (S 202 ). If the CPU  3  receives the caller notification, a determination is made as to whether or not the caller&#39;s telephone number is contained in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected in the memory section  8  (S 203 ). If the list contains the same telephone number, the incoming call rejection operation is performed (S 210 ). If the caller notification is not coming (NO in S 202 ), or if the telephone number of the call is not present in said list (NO in S 203 ), the CPU  3  counts the elapsed time up to the point when the call is disconnected (S 204 ). When the call is disconnected, the CPU  3  compares the ringing time interval (T) with a predetermined threshold value (t1) (S 205 ). If T is equal to or greater than t1, the CPU  3  registers necessary items in the incoming call log as usual (S 209 ). If T is smaller than t1, the CPU  3  determines whether or not the telephone number of the call is same as one stored in the memory section  8  (S 206 ). If the telephone number of the call is not stored in the memory section  8 , the CPU  3  adds the telephone number to the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected in the memory section  8  (S 207 ). Then, the CPU  3  registers necessary items in the incoming call log as well as the fact that the telephone number is added to the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected (S 208 ). By aforesaid operations, it becomes possible that telephone numbers of calls whose ringing time interval is short are automatically registered in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected.  
         [0021]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , an example of an operation to delete a telephone number from a telephone list in the memory section  8  is shown. A user inputs a telephone number whose calls are to be allowed by means of the input section  4  and stores the telephone number in the list of telephone numbers whose calls are to be allowed in the memory section  8  (S 301 ). The CPU  3  looks up the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected in the memory section  8  (S 302 ). The CPU  3  determines whether or not the inputted telephone number is present in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected (S 303 ). If the telephone number is contained in the list (YES in S 303 ), the telephone number is deleted from the telephone number list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected (S 304 ). If the telephone number is not contained in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected (NO in S 303 ), the processing operation is ended. When a user registers a telephone number in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are to be allowed, the same telephone number as this telephone number in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected is always deleted automatically. The user does not need to perform a new operation for deletion.  
         [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , an example of a telephone communication system according to the present invention is shown. A mobile phone  401  is located in a radio communication area of a base station  402 . Base stations  402 ,  403  are connected with a switching control section  404  (e.g. a telephone switchboard), and a base station  406  and a fixed telephone  407  are connected with a switching control section  408 . The switching control sections  404 ,  408  are connected with a public phone network  409 . The switching control sections  404 ,  408  handle connecting processing operations and others for calls from the mobile phones  401 ,  405  and the fixed telephone terminal  407 . A server  410  is connected with public networks such as telephone network, internet, ISDN and the like. The server  410  is connected with a database  411 , and controls the data input to and output from the database  411  as well as data accumulation. The database  411  accumulates data such as a list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected corresponding to respective telephone numbers of mobile telephones. The server  410  stores in the database  411  telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected, which are sent from the fixed telephone terminal  407 . The list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected, which is stored in the database  411 , connected to the server  410  can be formulated individually for respective telephones, and further can be formulated as a list shared by all telephones.  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , an example of processing operation of the afore-described telephone communication system is shown. In this system, the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected is stored in the database  411 . The server  410  controls the switching control sections  404 ,  408 , to disconnect the line before an incoming call which is to be rejected actually arrives at a telephone. First, the CPU  3  of a mobile phone detects an incoming call (S 501 ). The CPU  3  determines whether or not received data contains a caller notification (S 502 ). If the CPU  3  received the caller notification, a determination is made as to whether or not caller&#39;s telephone number is contained in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected in the memory section  8  (S 503 ). If the list contains the same number, the incoming call rejection operation is performed (S 510 ). If the caller notification is not coming (No in S 502 ), or if the telephone number of the call is not present in said list (NO in S 503 ), the CPU  3  counts the elapsed time up to the point when the call is disconnected (S 504 ) When the incoming call is disconnected, the CPU  3  compares the ringing time interval (T) with a predetermined threshold value (t1) (S 505 ). If T is equal to or greater than t1, the CPU  3  registers necessary items in the incoming call log as usual (S 509 ). If T is smaller than t1, the CPU  3  determines whether or not the telephone number of the termination call is same as one stored in the memory section  8  (S 506 ). If the telephone number of the incoming call is not stored in the memory section  8 , the CPU  3  transmits the identification information and the telephone number of this call to the server  410 . Upon receipt of a signal from mobile phone, the server  410  adds the telephone number of the call in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected in the database  411  (S 507 ). Then, the CPU  3  registers necessary items in the incoming call log as well as the fact that the telephone number is added to the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected (S 508 ). By aforesaid operations, it becomes possible that the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected is shared and used by respective telephones.  
         [0024]     Next, an example of an operation to delete a telephone number whose incoming call is rejected which is registered in the database  411  will now be described. A user performs, with a mobile phone, the operation to register telephone numbers for calling. When the user wants to delete a telephone number stored in the database  411 , the user has a preprogrammed menu displayed on a display of the mobile phone, and selects a pertinent item. Based on such operation, the mobile phone starts up the server  410 . The server  410  receives the identification information and the telephone number to be deleted which are transmitted from the mobile phone, and looks up the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected in the database  411 . When the telephone number is located in the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected, the server  410  deletes the telephone number from the list. Therefore, when the user inputs a telephone number for calling in user&#39;s own mobile phone, the same number is simultaneously and automatically deleted from the list of telephone numbers whose incoming calls are rejected in the database  411 .  
         [0025]     While the present invention has been described in connection with certain preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the subject matter encompassed by the present invention is not limited to those specific embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to include all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as can be included within the spirit and scope of the following claims.