Patent Publication Number: US-2003224830-A1

Title: Mobile telephone capable of displaying image of caller automatically and method for realize it

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a mobile telephone, and particularly to a mobile telephone that is capable of automatically displaying an image of a caller and a method for automatically displaying am image of a caller in a mobile telephone.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] With the progress of telecommunication technology, mobile telephones have become popular personal communication products. Mobile telephones are not only machines for personal communication but also products with humanity. When designing mobile telephones, we need to consider users&#39; feeling and satisfy users&#39; demand.  
       [0005] Nowadays, most mobile telephones provide caller identification. With a mobile telephone capable of recognizing the caller identification code (hereinafter referred as a CID mobile telephone), the telephone number of the calling party can be recongnized. Then, a LCD provided on the CID mobile telephone with simple user interface can display the telephone number. The CID mobile telephone also can display different words or colors that represent different callers on the LCD. Thus, when the mobile telephone receives the incoming call, the user can determine whether or not to answer the phone according to the information displayed on the mobile telephone. It is possible to save hundreds sets of information, each of which corresponds to a caller in the telephone directory of the mobile telephone. A set of information may include telephone number, name and displaying color. However, it is not easy for people to remember so much corresponding information. Although a user can get information about an incoming call according to a LCD provided on a CID mobile telephone, the user still does not know the person represented by the information. For example, a user of a mobile telephone gets a call made by a good friend who has not contacted the user for a long time. The information showing on the LCD may be a nickname that the user does not remember. This is not helpful for the user to determine whether or not to answer the phone. The user may think the caller is an unfamiliar person and determine not to answer the phone, when in fact, if the user misses the call, the user will be upset.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006] Accordingly, to address the drawbacks of a conventional CID mobile telephone, an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile telephone capable of displaying an image of a caller automatically when the mobile telephone receives a call.  
       [0007] The present invention provides a mobile telephone capable of displaying an image of a caller automatically that comprises an input device, a storage media, a caller register, a query device and a display device. The input device comprises a telephone number input device for receiving telephone numbers and an image input device for receiving images corresponding to the telephone numbers. A look-up table which comprises the telephone numbers, wherein each image corresponds to one of telephone numbers and index numbers, is stored in the storage media. An incoming telephone number is stored in the caller register. In the query device, the incoming telephone number and the telephone numbers are compared one by one to find incoming telephone number in the look-up table. The image corresponding to the incoming telephone number is displayed on a display device.  
       [0008] Furthermore, the invention also provides a method for automatically displaying an image of a caller in a mobile telephone. First, at least one input method is used to obtain at least one telephone number and at least one image, wherein each image separately corresponds to one of the telephone numbers. The input methods comprise downloading the images from a digital camera, downloading the images from an image storage media, downloading the telephone numbers from a telephone number storage media and inputting the telephone numbers from a user interface. Then, a look-up table that comprises the telephone numbers and the images corresponding to the telephone numbers is established. The step of establishing the look-up table comprises the sub-steps of: establishing at least one index number, each of which separately corresponds to one of the telephone numbers; and storing the images corresponding to the telephone numbers. Next, an incoming telephone number is received. The incoming telephone number and the telephone numbers of the look-up table are compared one by one to find the incoming telephone number in the look-up table. Lastly, when the incoming telephone number is found in the look-up table, the image corresponding to the incoming telephone number is displayed. When the incoming telephone number is not found in the look-up table, the incoming telephone number is displayed. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0009] The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description in conjunction with the examples and references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
     [0010]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile telephone capable of displaying an image of a caller automatically in the embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0011]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the input device in the embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0012]FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the method for automatically displaying an image of a caller in a mobile telephone according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0013]FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the method for establishing a look-up table according to the embodiment of the present invention; and  
     [0014]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the look-up table in the embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0015]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile telephone capable of displaying an image of a caller automatically in the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the mobile telephone  10  comprises an input device  102 , a storage media  104 , a caller register  106 , a query device  108  and display device  110 . The input device  102  receives at least one telephone number and at least one image, each of which separately corresponds to each of the telephone numbers. The images corresponding to the telephone numbers could be graphs or photographs. The input device  102  will become more apparent by referring to the following description with reference to the FIG. 2. A look-up table is stored in the storage media  104 . The look-up table comprises the telephone numbers and the images corresponding to the telephone numbers. The look-up table further comprises index numbers, each of which separately corresponds to each of the telephone numbers. An incoming telephone number is stored in the caller register  106 . In the query device  108 , the incoming telephone number and the telephone numbers stored in the look-up table of the storage media  104  are compared one by one. When the incoming telephone number is found in the look-up table of the storage media  104 , the image corresponding to the incoming telephone number is displayed on the display device  110 . When the incoming telephone number is not found in the look-up table of the storage media  104 , the incoming telephone number is displayed on the display device  110 .  
     [0016]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the input device in the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the input device  102  comprises a telephone number input device  202  for receiving telephone numbers and an image input device  204  for receiving images corresponding to the telephone numbers. Those telephone numbers and images are stored in the look-up table of the storage media  104 . In FIG. 2, there is a digital camera  20 , an image storage media  30 , a telephone number storage media  40  and a user interface  50 . The images corresponding to the telephone numbers could be graphs or photographs. The user of the mobile telephone draws graphs on the image input device  204 . The image input device  204  is a LCD provided on the CID mobile telephone (not shown in FIG. 2). The photographs can be downloaded from the digital camera  20  or the image storage media  30  to the image input device  204 . Each of images separately corresponds to one of the telephone numbers. The telephone numbers can be downloaded from the telephone number storage media  40  to the telephone number input device  202 . The telephone numbers can also be input from the user interface  50  to the telephone number input device  202 . All telephone numbers and images received are stored in the look-up table of the storage media  104 .  
     [0017]FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the method for automatically displaying an image of a caller in a mobile telephone according to the embodiment of the present invention. First, at least one input method is used to obtain at least one telephone number and at least one image, wherein each image separately corresponds to one of the telephone numbers (S 10 ) The images corresponding to the telephone numbers may be graphs or photographs. In conjunction with the input device shown in FIG. 2, the input methods comprises downloading the images from the digital camera, downloading the images from the image storage media, downloading the telephone numbers from the telephone number storage media and inputting the telephone numbers from the user interface.  
     [0018] Then, a look-up table that comprises the telephone numbers and the images corresponding to the telephone numbers is established (s 12 ). The flowchart illustrating the method for establishing the look-up table will be described in the following passage (see FIG. 4). Next, an incoming telephone number is received (S 14 ). The incoming telephone number and the telephone numbers of the look-up table are compared one by one to find the incoming telephone number in the look-up table (S 14 ). Then, according to the compared result, it is determined whether the incoming telephone number is found in the look-up table or not (s 18 ). Lastly, when the incoming telephone number is found in the look-up table, the image corresponding to the incoming telephone number is displayed (s 20 ). When the incoming telephone number is not found in the look-up table, the incoming telephone number is displayed (s 22 ).  
     [0019]FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the method for establishing a look-up table according to the embodiment of the present invention. First, at least one telephone numbers are is stored into look-up table (S 120 ). Then, at least one index number is established (S 122 ). Each index number separately corresponds to one of the telephone numbers. The index number is used to compare the incoming telephone number and the telephone numbers of the look-up table one by one (see to S 16  in FIG. 3). Finally, the images corresponding to the telephone numbers are stored into look-up table (s 124 ).  
     [0020]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the look-up table in the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, there are three columns in the look-up table. They are index numbers, telephone numbers and images. Each of the index numbers separately corresponds to one of the telephone numbers and one of the images. As described above, the look-up table is stored in the storage media  104  and is used in the query device  108 . By using the index numbers, the incoming telephone number and the telephone numbers stored in the look-up table are compared one by one in the query device  108 .  
     [0021] Finally, while the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.