Abstract:
A memory management terminal for handling recorded acoustic samples and generating an electronic representation of the acoustic sample for being represented in categories in a hierarchical memory structure, and including means in order to enable later retrieval of the acoustic samples, where the terminal has means for enabling each electronic representation of the acoustic sample to be assigned a category-label and that electronic representations with the same category-label can be played back together. The terminal includes: means for assigning each electronic representation of said acoustic sample with a category-label, means for recording the electronic representation of the acoustic sample, means for storing each category-labelled group of electronic representations, means for retrieving the electronic representations with a certain category-label, playback means and means for organising the electronic representations. 
     The claimed invention also includes a method for handling recorded acoustic samples and generating an electronic representation of the acoustic sample in order to enable later retrieval of the electronic representations.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to a memory management terminal for handling recorded acoustic samples and a method for handling recorded acoustic samples in a memory management terminal. The recorded acoustic samples can be e.g. voice memos used for recording short memos to be played back on a later occasion. 
   Voice recorders in general are earlier known like in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,941, where a portable storage/playback apparatus is shown having means for recording audio programming digitally, storing memos and playing back the stored audio programming. 
   Motorola has in its new Tri-band phone L7089 something they call VoiceNotes, where notes could be recorded during normal calls, conference calls and standby. Up to 3 minutes of message could be recorded and every VoiceNote gets an individual tag. 
   Philips made a handheld PC, Velo 1, a couple of years ago, which could record voice memos. The voice memos could subsequently be moved as common files to different directories in order to be categorised. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the invention is to provide a method of handling recorded acoustic samples, which enables an easy and quick retrieval of recorded memos. 
   According to claimed invention this objective is obtained by a method where a user can with use of a memory management terminal record an acoustic sample. The user can assign each acoustic sample with a label or category-label, a priority, a sorting criteria and a name. The method includes those acoustic samples with the same label or category-label can be represented on the display of a memory management terminal and can be re-sorted, played back or deleted. The handling of the recorded acoustic samples can be done by just using a keyboard of the memory management terminal, but also partly by using the voice commands. 
   An object of the invention is to provide a memory management terminal with a voice recorder of handling recorded acoustic samples, which enables an easy and quick retrieval of recorded acoustic samples. 
   According to the invention a memory management terminal obtains this objective having a voice recorder, where acoustic samples will be assigned a label or category-label and a sorting criteria after recording, and that acoustic samples with the same label or category-label are stored together in a hierarchical memory. It also includes that the acoustic samples with the same category-label can be represented on the display of the memory management terminal and that they can be re-sorted, played back or deleted. The handling of the acoustic samples can be done by just using the keyboard of the memory management terminal, but also partly by using the voice commands. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be explained more fully below, by way of example, in connection with preferred embodiments and with reference to th drawing, in which: 
       FIG. 1  shows in a perspective view a preferred embodiment of the memory management terminal according to the invention. 
       FIG. 2  schematically shows the essential parts of a telephone for communication with a cellular network. 
       FIG. 3  shows an idle mode display for the phone. 
       FIG. 4   a  shows a flow chart of the handling for recording memos according to the invention. 
       FIG. 4   b  shows different windows of the phone display in the voice memo function according to the invention. 
       FIG. 4   c  shows different windows of the phone display in the voice recording function according to the invention. 
       FIG. 5   a  shows a flow chart of the handling for sorting memos according to the invention. 
       FIG. 5   b  shows different windows of the phone display in the sorting function according to the invention. 
       FIG. 6   a  shows a flow chart of the handling for playback of the memos according to the invention. 
       FIG. 6   b  shows different windows of the phone display in the playback function according to the invention. 
       FIG. 7   a  shows a flow chart of the handling for changing settings of the voice recorder function according to the invention. 
       FIG. 7   b  shows different windows of the phone display in the settings function according to the invention. 
       FIG. 7   c  shows different windows of the phone display in the settings function according to the invention. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates the basic structure of the list of memos listed on the display sorted after priority and date. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   According to a first aspect the memory management terminal according to the invention will be described with reference to a hand portable phone, preferably a cellular/mobile phone. A preferred embodiment of this phone is shown in  FIG. 1 , where a phone is shown in perspective. As will be seen, the phone is provided with a front cover  2  having a window frame  3  encircling the protection window of the display assembly  1 . The phone comprises a user interface having an on/off button  4 , a keyboard/keypad  7 , a battery, a display/LCD  1 , an ear-piece  21  and a microphone. 
   The keypad  7  has a first group of keys  13  as alphanumeric keys, by means of which the user can enter a telephone number, write a text message (SMS), write a name (associated with the phone number), etc. Each of the twelve alphanumeric keys  13  is provided with a Figure “ 0 - 9 ” or a sign “#” or “*”, respectively. In alpha mode each key is associated with a number of letters and special signs used in the text editing. 
   The keypad  2  additionally comprises two soft keys  8 , two call handling keys  12 , and a navigation key  10 . The functionality of the soft key depends on the state of the phone and the navigation in the menu by using a navigation key. The present functionality of the soft keys  8  is shown in separate fields in the display  1  just above the keys  8 . The two call handling keys  12  are used for establishing a call or a conference call, terminating a call or rejecting an incoming call. 
   The navigation key  10  is an up/down key and is placed centrally on the front surface of the phone between the display  3  and the group of alphanumeric keys  8 . Hereby the user will be able to control this key with his thumb. This is the best site to place an input key requiring precise motor movements. Many experienced phone users are used to one-hand handling. They place the phone in the hand between the fingertips and the palm of the hand. Hereby the thumb is free for inputting information. 
     FIG. 2  schematically shows the most important parts of a preferred embodiment of the phone, said parts being essential to the understanding of the invention. The microphone  22  records the user&#39;s speech, and the analogue signals formed thereby are A/D converted in an A/D converter (not shown) before the speech is encoded in an audio part  20 . The encoded speech signal is transferred to the controller  18  (physical layer processor), which e.g. supports the GSM terminal software. The controller  18  also forms the interface to the peripheral units of the apparatus, including RAM and ROM memories  17   a  and  17   b , a SIM card  16 , the display  1  and the keypad  7 (from  FIG. 1 ) as well as data, power supply, etc. The controller  18  communicates with the transmitter/receiver circuit  19 . The audio part  20  speech-decodes the signal, which is transferred from the controller  18  to the ear-piece  21  via a D/A converter (not shown). 
   The preferred embodiment of the phone of the invention is adapted for use in connection with the GSM network, but, of course, the invention may also be applied in connection with other phone networks. It could be cellular networks, various forms of cordless phone systems or in dual band phones accessing sets of these systems/networks. 
   The controller  18  is connected to the user interface. Thus, it is the controller  18 , which monitors the activity in the phone and controls the display  1  in response thereto. 
   Therefore, it is the controller  18 , which detects the occurrence of a state change event and changes the state of the phone and thus the display text. The user may cause a state change event, when he activates the keypad  7  including the navigation key or keys  10 , and these type of events are called entry events or user events. However, the network communicating with the phone may also cause a state change event. These type of events and other events beyond the user&#39;s control are called non-user events. Non user events comprise status change during call set-up, change in battery voltage, change in antenna conditions, message on reception of SMS, etc. 
   The invention will be described with reference to  FIGS. 3  to  8  showing the various features and steps of handling of acoustic samples. In the description the invention will be exemplified with voice memos as acoustic samples, where the acoustic samples are converted to an electronic representation of the acoustic samples. This electronic representation is a MIDI-file, MP3-file or any other similar file-type for an electronic representation of an acoustic sample. There will also be acoustic samples recorded used as voice tags for labels or category-labels, which are also naturally converted to MIDI-files or similar. 
   The starting point is that the phone is in idle mode, which means that the phone is turned on and ready to be used for any possible operation. An idle mode display  30  for the phone  1  is shown in  FIG. 3 , which includes two bars indicating the signal strength  31  and the battery level  32 . Furthermore there is a time indication  33 , an identification  34  of the operator to which the phone is presently connected, and two labels  35  indicating the present functionality (Menu: access to the Menu structure; Names: access to the Phone book) of the two soft keys  8 . 
   In idle mode the user can with a voice command, “Memo” start the voice memo function. The voice memo function can also be selected with menu selection by pressing the left soft key  8  “Menu” (shown in  FIG. 3 ) and scroll down with the navigation keys  10  until display  1  indicates “Voice Memo”, like in display  40  in  FIG. 4   b . This display will include a header  41  indicating the mode of the display, “Voice Memo”. By pressing the left soft key  8 , “Select”, once more when the display  40  “Voice Memo” is shown, the voice memo-function is activated, and display  42 , indicating “Record” is shown. If instead “Exit”, which is also indicated in the display is executed by pressing the right soft key  8 , the phone is brought back to idle mode (idle mode display  30 ), FIG.  3 . 
   With the voice command the phone will automatically change to the display  42 , shown in  FIG. 4   b , which is the “Record”-display. This display will include a header  43  indicating the mode of the display, “Record”. This display also indicates with the two labels  35  the present functionality of the two soft keys  8 . The function “Start”, which starts the function in the present display ( 42 ,  45 ,  46  or  47 ), is executed if pressing the left soft key  8 . By pressing the up/down navigation key  10  the other possible functions; “Sorting” (display  45 ), “Playback” (display  46 ) and “Settings” (display  47 ), will be accessible and shown on the display instead of “Record”. The display also indicates “Back”, which is executed by the right soft key  8  and will bring the phone back to “Voice Memo” mode (Voice Memo mode display  40 ). 
   When the user selects the “Select” operation from the “Record” display either by pressing the left soft key  8  or using a voice command “Record”, “Recording” display  50  will appear. The phone prepares recording of a voice memo, step  200  in  FIG. 4   a , thereafter starts the recording of a voice memo, step  201 , and simultaneously an electronic representation of the voice memo is created. Display  50  includes a header  51 , “Recording”, and the label  35  indicates the present functionality of the left soft key  8 . By pressing the left “Stop” soft key  8  the user has a possibility to stop the present recording. If the left “Stop” is pressed and the recording, step  201 , is stopped, step  213 , jumps the phone to display  52 . While recording, step  201 , the processor  18  will check, step  202 , if there is a pause in the recording, which is longer than five seconds. If there is a pause longer than five seconds the recording is stopped, step  203 , otherwise the recording continues. If the recording is stopped, step  203 , a display  52  will appear with a header  53  “Do you want to save the recorded memo”. 
   In display  52  the user is asked to decide if he/she wants to save the recorded memo or not, step  204 . There could always be a need to redo the recording once more. The display  52  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Yes: Initiate saving of the memo; No: ignore the memo recorded and jump back to display  42 ) of the two soft keys  8 . When pressing the right “No” soft key  8  the recorded memo will be erased, step  205 , and the phone is brought back, step  206 , to display  42 . In display  42  a new memo can be recorded or one of the other functions, “Sorting”, “Playback” or “Settings” can be displayed and selected by scrolling between displays  42 ,  45 ,  46  and  47  with the navigation keys  10 . By pressing the left “Yes” soft key  8 , the processor  18  checks if the memory has available space for the memo or not, step  207 . If the memory is full a display  54  appears showing a header, “The memory is full. Do you want to replace the oldest recorded memo with this new memo?” and the two labels  35 . The label  35  indicates the present functionality (Yes: Erase the oldest recorded memo; No: ignore the memo recorded and jump back to display  42 ) of the two soft keys  8 . When pressing the right “No” soft key  8 , step  215 , the recorded memo will be erased, step  216 , and the phone is brought back, step  206 , to the “Record”-display  42 , where a new memo can be recorded or one of the other functions, “Sorting”, “Playback” or “Settings” can be displayed by scrolling between displays  42 ,  45 ,  46  and  47  with the navigation keys  10 . By pressing the left “Yes” soft key  8 , step  214 , in display  54  the oldest recorded memo is erased, step  208 , and the processor  18  checks again if there is enough space in the memory for memo, step  207 . If there is not enough space the display  54  will appear again and this process will continue until there is enough space to save the memo. 
   After the processor has checked the memory, step  207 , and finally finds out that there is enough space to save the memo, a display  56  will appear having a header  57  saying, “Do you want to select category-label?”. Display  56  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Yes: Initiate selection of category-label; No: assign the memo a default category-label) of the two soft keys  8 . When pressing the right “No” soft key  8  the recorded memo will be assigned a default category-label, “default”, step  209 . How this default category-label is defined will be described in connection with the description of the setting function. If the user instead presses the left “Yes” soft key  8 , a display  60  will appear indicating a list  61  with the different possible/available category-labels. The display  60  appears to be of another size compared with previous shown displays, but this is not the case. However is the list  61  of category-labels can be longer than the available space in display  60 , so just to show the whole list  61  this display  60  is shown including the whole list  61 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down to see the whole list  61 . This display  60  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Select: The highlighted category-label is selected; Back: jump back to the previous menu level) of the two soft keys  8 . By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  it returns to the previous display  56 . In the list  61  a category-label  64  will be highlighted to indicate, which category-label that will be assigned to the recorded memo by pressing the left “Select” soft key  8 , step  209 . Selection can also be made with voice command. The user just says the name of the category-label and the processor  18  will compare the said category-label with the saved voice tags for each category-label, whereafter the selected category-label will be assigned to the memo. How the voice tag is connected to the category-label will be explained later when describing how to amend the list of category-labels. 
   After the selection of category-labels is executed, display  63  appears including a header  64  “Enter name of the memo:” and a text field  65 . In the text field  65  letters may be entered using the alphanumeric keys  13 . The labels  35  indicate the present functionality (OK: Finished entering the name, continue to next menu; Back/Erase: Erase the last entered letter or if no letters have entered jumps the phone to a previous display) of the two soft keys  8 . A cursor  66  in the text field  65  indicates the position of the next letter to be entered. The navigation keys  10  control the position of the cursor  66 , and scroll the cursor  66  left or right in the text field  65 . When pressing the right “Erase” soft key  8  the last entered letter in the text field  65  will be erased or if the cursor  66  is placed in any other place the letter placed left of the cursor  66  will be erased. If no letters have been entered in the text field  65  the right label  35  will indicate “Back” instead of “Erase”, and the phone jumps back to display  124  if the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed. By pressing the left “OK” soft key  8  the memo will be named, step  210 , the name that has been entered in the text field  65 . 
   After the naming, step  210 , a display  70  appears having a header  71 , “Do you want to assign a priority to the memo?”. This display also includes the two labels  35  indicating the present functionality (Yes: jump to next menu to assign a preferred priority to the memo; No: assign a default priority to the memo) of the two soft keys  8 . When pressing the right “No” soft key  8  the memo will be assigned a default priority, “Priority 3”, step  211 . Date/time and duration of the memo will be automatically attached to memo and saved together with the memo, step  212 . The record function is thereby ended, step  206 , and the phone is brought back to display  42 , where a new memo can be recorded or one of the other functions, “Sorting”, “Playback” or “Settings” can be displayed by scrolling between displays  42 ,  45 ,  46  and  47  with the navigation keys  10 . 
   If instead the left “Yes” soft key  8  is pressed in display  70 , a display  72  will appear indicating a list  73  with the different possible priorities (“Priority 1”, “Priority 2”, “Priority 3”, “Priority 4” and “Priority 5”). Naturally, there could be another number of priorities or another way of showing the priority, e.g. “Priority A”, “Priority B”, “Priority C”, etc. Display  72  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Select: The memo will be assigned the selected priority; Back: jump back to the previous menu level) of the two soft keys  8 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  73  to select the desired priority. By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  it returns to the previous display  70 . In the list  73  a priority  74  is highlighted to indicate, which priority that will be assigned to the recorded memo by pressing the left “Select” soft key  8 , step  211 . After the memo has been assigned a priority, step  211 , time and duration of the memo will be automatically attached to memo and saved together with the memo, step  212 . The record function is thereby ended, step  206 , and the phone jumps back to display  42 , where a new memo can be recorded or one of the other functions, “Sorting”, “Playback” or “Settings” can be displayed by scrolling between displays  42 ,  45 ,  46  and  47  with the navigation keys  10 . In display  63  a voice command “READY” can also be used quit naming the memo and giving it a priority, step  211 , and instead automatically save time and duration of the memo together with the memo in the memory, step  212 , whereafter the recording is ended, step  206 , like described above. The sorting feature shown in  FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b  will now be described in more detail showing an embodiment of the invention. When the user selects the “Start” operation, step  220 , from the “Sorting” display  45 , either by pressing the left “Start” soft key  8  or using a voice command “Sorting”, display  81  will appear and the phone prepares sorting of memos by displaying a list  82  of the different category-labels. The list  82  includes the different possible category-labels (“General”, “ToDo”, “Private”, “Urgent” and “Draft”, etc.). Display  81  also includes the two labels  35  indicating the present functionality, (Select: The memos with the selected category-label assigned will be sorted; Back: jump back to the previous menu level) of the two soft keys  8 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  82 . By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  it returns the phone to the previous display  45 . In the list  82  a category-label  83  is highlighted to indicate, which category-label will be selected by pressing the left “Select” soft key  8 , step  221 . When the left “Select” soft key  8  is pressed, the processor  18  will retrieve all memos with that category-label  83 . A display  84  will appear including a list  85  with all those memos, step  222 . The default order of the list  85  is that the newest recorded memo is at the top of the list  85 . 
   In display  84 , the display is also indicated with the two labels  35  the present functionality, (Options: jumping a selection menu for further sorting of the memos; Back: jump back to the previous menu level) of the two soft keys  8 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  85 . By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  it returns to the previous display  81 . In the list  85  a memo  86  is highlighted to indicate, which memo will be selected by pressing the left “Options” soft key  8 . If the left “Options” soft key  8  is pressed a display  87  will appear indicating a list  88  with the different available options of how to handle the list or the highlighted memo  86 . The available options are as shown in display  87 : “Sort by Date”, “Sort by Priority” and “Erase”, step  223 - 225 . Naturally, there could be other options like e.g. “Play” or “Rename”. The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  88  in order to select the required feature. 
   The features “Sort by Date” and “Sort by Priority”, which are shown in the list  88 , affects all the memos shown in display  84 . The memos in the list  88  are affected in that the individual place of the each memo in the list can be changed according to any of the sorting criteria, “Sorting by Date” or “Sorting by Priority”. A sorted list  91  is shown in display  90 . The different options in display  87  are selected with the two soft keys  8 . When the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed it jumps the phone to the previous display  84 , and a new choice is available. Also indicated with two labels  35  in display  87  is the present functionality of the soft keys  8 . If the left “Select” soft key  8  is pressed the processor  18  executes the selected option, step  223 ,  224  or  225  (in this display they are: “Sorting by Date”, “Sorting by Priority” or Erase) indicated with highlighted option  89 . A display  90  appears, step  226 , where a sorted list  91  shown with the memos sorted according to the selected option  89 . If the option “Erase”, step  223 , was selected the corresponding erased memo will not appear in the list  91  after executed sorting. In display  90  is also indicated with the two labels  35  the present functionality, (Options: jumping to the selection menu for further sorting of the memos; Back: jump back to the previous menu level, display  81 ) of the two soft keys  8 . When the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed the phone jumps to the display  81  and another category-label can be selected from the list  82  to be sorted or if the right “Back” soft key  8  in display  81  is pressed again the phone jumps to display  45 , step  227 . In this display the different options “Record”, “Sorting”, Playback” and “Settings” are available by scrolling between displays  42 ,  45 ,  46  and  47  with the navigation keys  10 . If the left “Select” soft key  8  is pressed in display  84 , display  87  will appear and further sorting of the memos with the present category-label is possible. 
   The displays  81 ,  84  and  90  appear to be of another size compared with previous shown displays, but this is not the case. However the lists  82 ,  85  and  91  of category-labels and memos could be longer than the available space in displays. To enhance the understanding displays  81 ,  84  and  90  are shown here including the whole lists  82 ,  85  and  91 , and thereby have the displays  81 ,  84  and  90  are not the actual size. 
   The playback feature shown in  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  will now be described in more detail showing an embodiment of the invention. When the user selects the “Start” operation, step  230 , from the “Playback”, display  46 , either by pressing the left “Start” soft key  8  or using a voice command “Playback”, display  101  will appear, step  231 . The phone prepares playback of memos, step  230 , display  101  indicates a list  102  with the different possible category-labels (“General”, “ToDo”, “Private”, “Urgent” and “Draft”, etc.). This display also include the two labels  35  indicating the present functionality, (Select: Selects the category-label from which memos to be played back and a list with all the memos with that category-label will be displayed; Back: jump back to the previous menu level) of the two soft keys  8 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  102 . By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  it returns to the previous display  46  and the playback function is ended, step  241 , where a new memo can be recorded or one of the other functions, “Record”, “Sorting” or “Settings” can be displayed by scrolling between displays  42 ,  45 ,  46  and  47  with the navigation keys  10 . 
   In the list  102  a category-label  103  is highlighted to indicate, which category-label will be selected by pressing the left “Select” soft key  8 , step  232 . When the left “Select” soft key  8  is pressed, the processor  18  will retrieve all memos with that highlighted category-label  103  and a list  105  with all those memos will appear in a display  104 , step  234 . The first memo in list  105  will automatically start to be played back, step  233 . Normally the first memo in the list  105  is the oldest memo, but if the list of memos have been sorted in the sorting function the list could have another order. If there are not any memos assigned with the selected category-label  103  the phone will return to display  101 . 
   In display  104 , the display is indicated with two labels  35  the present functionality, (Options: A selection menu will appear with different options; Back: jump back to a previous menu level) of the two soft keys  8 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  105 . By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  the phone stops the playback and jumps to display  101 , step  240 . In the list  105  a memo  106  is highlighted to indicate, which memo will be selected by pressing the left “Options” soft key  8 . If the left “Options” soft key  8  is pressed a display  107  will appear, step  241 , indicating with a list  108  the different available options of how to handle the selected memo  106  or other options, step  241 . The available options are as shown in display  107 : “Play” (Step  235 ), “Stop play” (Step  236 ), “Next” (Step  237 ), “Previous” (Step  238 ) and “Erase” ( 239 ). Naturally, there could be other options. The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  108  in order to select the required feature. Before the selection is made the earlier played back memo will still play if the phone has not finished the playback of that memo. When playback of a memo has been finished and no selection has been made in the display  107  or if the left “Options” soft key  8  has not been pressed in display  104 , the phone will start to play the next memo in the list  105 . If it was the last memo that was played the phone will jump to display  101 . 
   The selections in display  107  are made by pressing the left “Select” soft key  8 , and the highlighted option will be executed (Step  235 - 239 ). By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  instead the playback will be stopped, step  236 , and the phone jumps back to display  101 . 
   If the feature  109 , “Play”, is selected, step  235 , the phone will stop playing the present memo, step  243 , and start to play the selected memo, step  233 . A display  114  will appear, step  234 , where selected memo  116 , which is played back, is highlighted in a list  115 . If the feature  110 , “Stop play”, is selected, step  236 , the phone stop playing the present memo, step  243 , and the display  101  will appear, step  231 . When the feature  111 , “Next”, is selected, step  237 , the phone will stop playing the present memo, step  243 , and start to playback, step  233 , the next memo in the list  105 . The display  114  appears, step  234 , indicating the played memo  116  in the list  115 . If there are no more memos in the list  105  or  116  the phone will jump to display  231 , step  244 . When the feature  112 , “Previous”, is selected, step  238 , the phone will stop playing the present memo, step  243 , and start to playback, step  233 , the previous memo in the list  105 . The display  114  appears, step  234 , indicating the played memo  116  in the list  115 . If it was the first memo in the list  105  or  116  that was played back the phone jumps to display  231 , step  244 . When the feature  113 , “Erase”, is selected, step  239 , the selected memo will be erased, step  242 . The display  114  will appear, step  234 , where the memo, which was before the erased memo in list  104  is highlighted in the list  115 . Display  114  has the same features like display  104 , so that display  107  will appear if the left “Options” soft key  8  is pressed and the above options are available. If it was the last memo in the list  105  or  116  that was erased and that memo was played back when erased, step  242 , the phone will jump to display  101 , step  245 . 
   The “Playback” function will continue until it is ended, step  240 , which is done by pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  once or twice in display  101 ,  104 ,  107  and  114 , and the phone jumps back to display  46 . In the display the “Playback” function could be started again or one of the other functions, “Record”, “Sorting” or “Settings” can be displayed, and later started, by scrolling between displays  42 ,  45 ,  46  and  47  with the navigation keys  10 . 
   The user can also after having used the voice command “Playback” to start the playback function continue to use voice commands. As earlier described the phone will show a display  101 , after having used the voice command “Playback”, and that display  101  includes a list  102  with the different possible category-labels to be played back. The user can easily choose one of the category-labels to playback by saying the name of the required category-label. The phone will then jump to display  104  and start to playback the first voice memo on the list  105 . After the first memo has been played back the phone will continue with the next memo on the list  105 , and continue to take next memo on the list  105  when an earlier memo is finished. The playback of the memos will continue until all the memos have been played back or stopped earlier with the soft keys  8  as earlier described. If all memos are played back without interrupting them the phone will, after having finished the playing back of the last memo, jump to display  101 , where a new selection of category-label can be made. 
   The displays  101 ,  104  and  113  appear to be of another size compared with previously shown displays, but this is not the case. However the lists  102 ,  105  and  115  of category-labels respectively memos could be longer than the available space in displays. To enhance the understanding displays  101 ,  104  and  113  are shown here including the whole lists  102 ,  105  and  115 , and thereby have the displays  101 ,  104  and  113  are not the actual size. 
   In display  104  and  114  memos that have not been played back can be indicated so that the user can distinguish the memos played back from the memos not played back. This can be done by having the non-played back indicated in Italics (not shown in fig.). After the memo has been played back the name of the memo will change from italic to normal style. 
   The setting feature shown in  FIGS. 7   a ,  7   b  and  7   c  will now be described in more detail showing an embodiment of the invention. When the user selects the “Start” operation, step  250 , from the “Settings” display  120 , either by pressing the left “Start” soft key  8  or using a voice command “Settings”, the phone prepares changing the settings and display  121  will appear, step  251 . Display  121  indicates a list  122  with the different available category-labels (“General”, “ToDo”, “Private”, “Urgent” and “Draft”, etc.). This display also includes the two labels  35  indicating the present functionality, (Options: A selection menu will appear with different options; Back: jump back to the previous menu level) of the two soft keys  8 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  122 . By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  it returns to the previous display  120 , step  276 . In display  120  the “Settings” function could be started again or one of the other functions, “Record”, “Sorting” or “Playback” can be displayed, and later started, by scrolling up and down in this display with the navigation keys  10 . 
   In the list  122  a category-label  123  is highlighted to indicate, which category-label will be selected by pressing the left “Options” soft key  8 . When the left “Options” soft key  8  is pressed, a display  124  will appear showing a list  125 , step  252 , with different options (“Add entry”, “Add voice tag”, “Set as default”, “Rename” and “Erase”) to handle the selected category-label or execute other settings. Naturally, there could be other options than those in the list  125 , like “Set default priority”, “Playback voice tag” or “Set voice commands”. This embodiment is however only exemplified with the options present in list  125 . The user of the phone uses the navigation keys  10  to scroll up or down in the list  125  in order to select the required option or feature. 
   When the feature  126 , “Add entry”, is selected, step  253 , the processor  18  will check if there is available memory space for a new entry, step  258 , i.e. a new category-label. As a rule there could be some category-labels defined by the operator or by the phone manufacturer that cannot be changed, e.g. “General”, “ToDo”, “Private”, “Urgent” and “Draft”, and some other free category-labels that are to be defined by the user of the phone. There is no limit for how many category-labels that could be added, but a suitable number of category-labels could be between five and ten. In this embodiment there will be five manufacturer-defined category-labels used and up to five free category-labels to be defined by the phone user. 
   If the processor  18  finds out that the memory is full and there is no free category-label, step  259 , display  131  will appear with a header  132 , “The memory is full. Do you want to rename a category-label?”. It also shows the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Yes: Rename one of the user-defined category-labels; No: jump back to display  124 ) of the two soft keys  8 . By pressing the right “No” soft key  8  the phone jumps to display  133  indicating a list  134  with the present user-defined category-labels, step  261 . Since the user decided not to rename another category-label, when the memory was full and no new category-labels are available, one of the old ones needs to be erased. 
   In the list  134  a category-label  135  is highlighted to indicate, which category-label will be erased by pressing the left “Erase” soft key  8 , step  262 . If the left “Erase” soft key  8  is pressed a display  136  will appear indicating with a header  137  “Do you want to transfer the memos assigned with the erased category-label?”, step  264 . Any voice tag connected to that category-label is automatically erased, step  263 . The display  136  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Yes: A list of all remaining category-labels appears; No: All memos with that category-label are erased.) of the two soft keys  8 . By pressing the right “No” soft key  8  all memos with the category-label selected in display  133  are erased whereafter the phone jumps to the display  138 , step  267 . If the left “Yes” soft key  8  are pressed a display  141  will appear with a list  142  of all remaining category-labels, step  265 . 
   By scrolling up and down the list  142  with the navigation keys  10  it is possible to select, step  266 , which category-label should be attached to the memos that have no category-label. This due to that the one category-label that previously has been attached to the memos has been erased in order to make space for a new category-label. In display  141  is also indicated with label  35  the present functionality of the soft key  8 . “Select” will assign the highlighted category-label  143  to the memos and thereafter will display  138  appear, and “Back” will bring the phone to the previous display  136 . 
   The display  138  includes a header  139  “Enter name:” and a text field  140  into which letters may be entered by the alphanumeric keys  13 . The label  35  indicates the present functionality (OK: Finished entering the name, continue to next menu; Erase: Erase the last entered letter; Back: the phone jumps back to the previous display) of the two soft keys  8 . A cursor  144  in the text field  140  indicates the position of the next letter to be entered. The navigation keys  10  control the position of the cursor  144 . When pressing the right “Erase” soft key  8  the last entered letter in the text field  140  will be erased or if the cursor  144  is placed in any other place the letter placed left of the cursor  144  will be erased. If no letters have been entered in the text field  140  the right label  35  indicates “Back” instead of “Erase”,and the phone jumps back to display  124  if the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed. By pressing the left “OK” soft key  8  the category-label will be named, step  274 , that is entered in the text field  140 . Thereafter display  145  will appear including a header  146 , “Record Voice Tag”, and label  35  indicating present functionality of the two soft key  8 . “Start” will start recording a voice tag, step  275  that will be attached to the category-label entered in display  138 . After recording the voice tag the setting feature stops and the phone jumps to display  120 , step  276 . 
   If the processor  18  after having selected “Add category-label” in display  124 , step  253 , finds out that there is a free category-label, step  258 , display  138  will appear, which includes a header  139 , “Enter name:”, and a text field  140  into which letters may be entered by the alphanumeric keys  13 . The label  35  indicates the present functionality of the two soft keys  8 . A cursor  144  in the text field  140  indicates the position of the next letter to be entered. The navigation keys  10  control the position of the cursor  144 . When pressing the right “Erase” soft key  8  the last entered letter in the text field  140  will be erased or if the cursor  144  is placed in any other place the letter placed to the left of the cursor  144  will be erased. If no letters have been entered in the text field  140  the right label  35  indicates “Back” instead of “Erase”, and the phone jumps back to display  124  if the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed. By pressing the left “OK” soft key  8  the category-label will be named, step  274 , that is entered in the text field  140 . Thereafter will display  145  appear including a header  146 , “Record Voice Tag”, and label  35  indicating present functionality of the two soft key  8 . “Start” will start recording a voice tag, step  275 , which will be attached to the category-label entered in display  138 . After recording the voice tag the setting feature stops and the phone jumps to display  120 , step  276 . 
   If the left “Yes” soft key  8  is pressed in display  131 , step  277 , (The user wants to rename an already existing category-label) a display  147  will appear with a list  148  including all the user-defined category-labels, step  268 . It also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality of the two soft keys  8  in display  147 . By pressing the right “Back” soft key  8  the phone jumps back to the display  131 . If the left “Select” soft key  8  is pressed the phone selects the highlighted user-defined category-label  149  to be renamed. After the category-label to be renamed has been selected, step  269 , display  136  will appear, step  270 . The display  136  indicates with a header  137  “Do you want to transfer the memos assigned with the erased category-label?”, step  270 . Any voice tag attached to that category-label is automatically erased, step  263 . The display  136  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Yes: A list of all remaining category-labels appears; No: All memos with that category-label are erased.) of the two soft keys  8 . By pressing the right “No” soft key  8  all memos with the category-label selected in display  133  are erased, step  271 , whereafter the phone jumps to the display  138 , step  274 . If the left “Yes” soft key  8  is pressed a display  141  will appear with a list  142  of all remaining category-labels, step  272 . 
   By scrolling up and down the list  142  with the navigation keys  10  is possible to select, step  273 , which category-label should be attached to the memos that have no category-label. This due to that the one category-label that has previously been attached to the memos is going to be renamed. In display  141  is also indicated with label  35  the present functionality of the soft key  8 . “Select” will assign the highlighted category-label  143  to the memos and thereafter display  138  will appear, step  274 , and “Back” will bring the phone to the previous display  136 . 
   The display  138  includes a header  139  “Enter name:” and a text field  140  into which letters may be entered using the alphanumeric keys  13 . The label  35  indicates the present functionality (OK: Finished entering the name, continue to next menu; Back/Erase: Erase the last entered letter or if no letters have been entered jumps back to a previous display) of the two soft keys  8 . A cursor  144  in the text field  140  indicates the position of the next letter to be entered. The navigation keys  10  control the position of the cursor  144 . When pressing the right “Erase” soft key  8  the last entered letter in the text field  140  will be erased or if the cursor  144  is placed in any other place the letter placed left of the cursor  144  will be erased. If no letters have been entered in the text field  140  the right label  35  indicates “Back” instead of “Erase”,and the phone jumps back to display  147  if the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed. By pressing the left “OK” soft key  8  the category-label will be named, step  274 , that is entered in the text field  140 . Thereafter display  145  will appear including a header  146 , “Record Voice Tag”, and label  35  indicating present functionality of the two soft key  8 . “Start” will start recording a voice tag, step  275  that will be attached to the category-label entered in display  138 . After recording the voice tag the setting feature stops and the phone jumps to display  120 , step  276 . 
   If the feature  127 , “Add voice tag”, is selected in display  124 , step  254 , the processor  18  will prepare recording a voice tag. Display  145  will appear including a header  146 , “Record Voice Tag”, and label  35  indicating present functionality of the two soft key  8 . “Start” will start recording a voice tag, step  261  that will be attached to the category-label entered in display  138 , and simultaneously an electronic representation of the voice tag will be created actually is that attached to the category-label entered in display  138 . After recording the voice tag the setting feature stops and the phone jumps to display  120 , step  276 . 
   If the feature  128 , “Set as default”, is selected in display, step  255 , the processor  18  will prepare to store a category-label that will be the default category-label. This means the category-label that will be assigned to the memo if the right “No” soft key is pressed in display  56 , step  209 . It is the category-label  123  selected in display  121 , step  251 , prior to the selection of the options in display  124  that is selected to be the default category-label. After the phone has saved category-label  123  as default category-label the phone returns to display  120 , step  276 . 
   If a free category-label should be selected as default category-label, and later be erased one of the pre-defined category-labels, e.g. “General” will automatically be selected as default category-label. The same goes if no category has been selected, when a pre-defined category-label, e.g. “General”, acts as default category-label. 
   If the feature  129 , “Rename”, is selected in display  124 , step  256 , display  152  will appear indicating a list  153  with the present user-defined category-labels, step  268 . The display also includes the two labels  35  indicating the present functionality of the two soft keys  8 . If the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed the phone will jump back to display  124 . If the left “Rename” soft key  8  is pressed the highlighted category-label  154  is selected to be renamed, step  269 . The highlighted category-label  154  could be selected from the list  153  by scrolling up and down the list  153  with the navigation keys  10 . 
   After the category-label to be renamed has been selected, step  269 , display  136  will appear, step  270 . The display  136  indicates with a header  137  “Do you want to transfer the memos assigned with the erased category-label?”, step  270 . Any voice tag attached to that category-label is automatically erased, step  263 . The display  136  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Yes: A list of all remaining category-labels appears; No: All memos with that category-label are erased.) of the two soft keys  8 . By pressing the right “No” soft key  8  all memos with the category-label selected in display  152  are erased, step  271 , whereafter the phone jumps to the display  138 , step  274 . If the left “Yes” soft key  8  is pressed a display  157  will appear with a list  158  of all remaining category-labels, step  272 . 
   By scrolling up and down the list  142  with the navigation keys  10  is possible to select, step  273 , which category-label should be attached to the memos that have no category-label. This due to that the one category-label that previously has been attached to the memos is going to be renamed. In display  157  is also indicated with label  35  the present functionality of the soft key  8 . “Select” will assign the highlighted category-label  159  to the memos and thereafter will display  138  appear, step  274 , and “Back” will bring the phone to the previous display  136 . 
   The display  138  includes a header  139  “Enter name:” and a text field  140  into which letters may be entered using the alphanumeric keys  13 . The label  35  indicates the present functionality of the two soft keys  8 . A cursor  144  in the text field  140  indicates the position of the next letter to be entered. The navigation keys  10  control the position of the cursor  144 . When pressing the right “Erase” soft key  8  the last entered letter in the text field  140  will be erased or if the cursor  144  is placed in any other place the letter placed to the left of the cursor  144  will be erased. If no letters have been entered in the text field  140  the right label  35  indicates “Back” instead of “Erase”, and the phone jumps back to display  152  if the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed. By pressing the left “OK” soft key  8  the category-label will be renamed, step  274 , to that entered in the text field  140 . Thereafter display  145  will appear including a header  146 , “Record Voice Tag”, and label  35  indicating present functionality of the two soft key  8 . “Start” will start recording a voice tag, step  275  that will be attached to the category-label entered in display  138 . If the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed the phone will jump back to display  138  to enable entering of a new name of the category-label. Any voice tag attached to previous category-label is automatically erased. After that the setting feature stops and the phone jumps to display  120 , step  276 . 
   The displays  121 ,  141  and  157  appear to be of another size compared with previous shown displays, but this is not the case. However the lists  122 ,  142  and  158  of category-labels and memos could be longer than the available space in displays. To enhance the understanding are displays  121 ,  141  and  157  are shown here including the whole lists  122 ,  142  and  158 , and thereby the displays  121 ,  141  and  157  are not the actual size. 
   When the feature  130 , “erase”, is selected in display, step  257 , display  133  will appear, step  261 , indicating a list  134  with the present user-defined category-labels. The display also includes the two labels  35  indicating the present functionality of the two soft keys  8 . If the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed the phone will jump back to display  124 . If the left “Erase” soft key  8  is pressed the highlighted category-label  135  will be erased, step  262 . The highlighted category-label  135  could be selected from the list  134  by scrolling up and down the list  134  with the navigation keys  10 . Any voice tag attached to that category-label is automatically erased, step  263 . 
   If the left “Erase” soft key  8  is pressed a display  136  will appear indicating with a header  137  “Do you want to transfer the memos assigned with the erased category-label?”, step  264 . The display  136  also includes the two labels  35 , which indicates the present functionality (Yes: A list of all remaining category-labels appears; No: All memos assigned with that category-label are erased.) of the two soft keys  8 . By pressing the right “No” soft key  8  all memos with the category-label selected in display  133  are erased whereafter the settings function ends and the phone jumps to the display  120 , step  276 . 
   If the left “Yes” soft key  8  is pressed a display  141  will appear with a list  142  of all remaining category-labels, step  265 . By scrolling up and down the list  142  with the navigation keys  10  it is possible to select, step  266 , which category-label should be attached to the memos that have no category-label. In display  141  is also indicated with label  35  the present functionality of the soft key  8 . If the left “Select” soft key  8  is pressed, the highlighted category-label  143  will be assigned, step  266 , to the memos whereafter the settings function ends and the phone jumps to the display  120 , step  276 . If the right “Back” soft key  8  is pressed the phone will jump back to display  136 . 
   The voice memos are principally stored as generated electronic representations in a RAM as shown in  FIG. 8 , where each stored unit includes an identifying code  300 , a date of recording  301 , length of recording  302 , name of the memo  303 , priority  304 , and a pointer  305  to where in the memory the data has been stored. When sorting the memo only the pointer information will be changed. The same principle is valid for the storing of the category-labels and their voice tags. Another way of viewing the memory structure is to see it as a hierarchic structure, where the category-labels are main levels and the voice memos are organised under the category-label to which they have been assigned. 
   The invention is not limited to the above described or to the drawings showing examples of an embodiment, but can be varied within the scope of the appended claims.