Abstract:
An information processing apparatus, which is connectable to a telephone, comprises a processor, a display device, and an input device. The processor displays information which is to be displayed on the telephone, on the display device. In response to an operation of the input device by a user, the processor sends a control signal which is adapted to control the telephone.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to controlling a telephone, and more particularly to controlling a mobile telephone by operating a personal computer.  
         BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0002]    Recently, a mobile telephone or an enhanced fixed telephone is configured so that the user can operate keys of the telephone to enter data into the telephone or access a Web page of, for example, “i-mode™” or “L-mode™” provided by NTT Corporation, Japan, via a telephone network. This access to a Web page can be performed only by an accessing operation through such a telephone. In order to operate such a mobile telephone or a fixed telephone, conventionally, the user directly operates keys of the telephone. In such a telephone, however, the number of keys and the size of a display screen of such a telephone are limited. Therefore, operating the keys and checking or viewing on the display screen of such a telephone require much more time and labor than operating a keyboard and a mouse and checking or viewing on a large display screen of an ordinary personal computer (PC).  
           [0003]    When a mobile telephone is connected to an information processing apparatus via a cable, it is possible to transfer data, which are previously produced by the information processing apparatus, to the mobile telephone to be stored thereinto, and then use the data in the mobile telephone.  
           [0004]    In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-249739 (A) laid open for public inspection on Sep. 14, 2001, Okamura discloses a method for operating a portable telephone terminal by input through a keyboard of a PC via a serial interface. In this method, a display device of the PC is not used.  
           [0005]    The inventors have recognized the need for allowing a user to control a mobile telephone in real time by operating a personal computer.  
           [0006]    It is an object of the invention to allow a telephone to be controlled by operating an information processing apparatus.  
           [0007]    In accordance with an aspect of the invention, an information processing apparatus, which is connectable to a telephone, comprises a processor, a display device, and an input device. The processor displays information which is to be displayed on the telephone, on the display device. In response to an operation of the input device by a user, the processor sends a control signal which is adapted to control the telephone.  
           [0008]    In response to reception of data representative of display information from the telephone, the processor displays the display information on the display device.  
           [0009]    In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a telephone, which is connectable to an information processing apparatus, comprises a processor and a display device. The processor receives a control signal. In response to the received control signal, the processor operates and displays information on said display device. The processor sends back data representative of the information.  
           [0010]    In accordance with a still further aspect of the invention, a program (which may be stored on a storage medium) is for use in an information processing apparatus and for controlling a telephone which is connectable to said information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus comprises a display device and an input device. The program is operable to effect the step of displaying information which is to be displayed on said telephone, on said display device; and the step of sending a control signal which is adapted to control said telephone, in response to an operation of said input device by a user.  
           [0011]    In accordance with a still further aspect of the invention, a program (which may be stored on a storage medium) is for use in an information processing apparatus and for controlling a telephone which is connectable to the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus comprises a display device. The program being operable to effect the step of receiving a control signal, the step of operating in response to the received control signal, the step of displaying information on said display device, and the step of sending back data representative of the information.  
           [0012]    According to the invention, the operation of a telephone can be easily controlled by operating an information processing apparatus.  
           [0013]    Throughout the drawings, similar symbols and numerals indicate similar items and functions. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 shows the configurations of a personal computer (PC) and a mobile telephone, in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 shows the schematic configurations of functions of the OS&#39;s and applications which are related to the invention, and which are implemented on the processor of the PC and on the processor of the mobile telephone.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram for a preliminary process for allowing the mobile telephone to be controlled by operating the PC, in accordance with the invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram for the operation for controlling the mobile telephone that is executed by the PC, in accordance with the invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIGS. 5A and 5B show an example of display screens on the PC, and display screens on the mobile telephone which are displayed in accordance with the flow diagram of FIG. 4. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1 shows the configurations of a personal computer (PC)  10  and a mobile telephone  20 , in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0020]    A main unit  100  of the PC  10  includes: a processor  102  having a CPU, a ROM and a RAM which are connected to each other via an internal bus; a storage device  104 , such as a hard disk device; a display circuit  110 ; an input device  120  including a keyboard and a mouse; an audio unit  130  having an audio circuit, a microphone and a loudspeaker; an external interface (I/F)  140 ; and a short distance wireless transceiver  145  which is connected to the external interface  140 . The main unit has a display device  112 , such as an LCD, which is connected to the display circuit  110 .  
         [0021]    The mobile telephone  20  includes: a processor  202  having a CPU, a ROM and a RAM which are connected to each other via an internal bus; a storage device  204 , such as a ROM and a RAM; a display device  210 ; a key input device  220 ; an audio unit  230  having an audio circuit, a microphone and a loudspeaker; an external interface (I/F)  240 ; a short distance wireless transceiver  245  which is connected to the external interface  240 ; and a telephone transceiver  250 .  
         [0022]    The telephone  20  communicates with another telephone or a Web server via the mobile telephone transceiver  250  over a mobile telephone network  40 . The PC  10  and the telephone  20  communicate with each other by using the interfaces  140  and  240  which are connected via a cable  50 , or on a communication path  52  via the short distance wireless transceivers  145  and  245 . Typically, the transceivers  145  and  245  perform communications in accordance with a short distance wireless communication standard, for example, the Bluetooth™ standard or a wireless LAN standard in compliance with to IEEE 802.11.  
         [0023]    The Bluetooth standard uses the 2.4 GHz band (2.402 GHz-20480 GHz) called ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band. It defines three power classes of 100 mW, 2.5 mW and 1 mW. In Power Class 3, short distance communications in a rage of about 10 m can be done. The Bluetooth standard employs the GFSK modulation and the frequency hopping scheme. The wireless LAN standard, such as IEEE 8002.11, uses the 2.4 GHz band (2.40 HHz-2.497 GHz) and employs the spread spectrum scheme and the DBPSK or DQPSK modulation, or the frequency hopping scheme and the GFSK modulation, for communications.  
         [0024]    The storage device  104  of the PC  10  stores an operation system (OS) and application programs, such as a mobile telephone application for a PC. The processor  102  operates in accordance with the OS and the application programs. Alternatively, the OS and the application programs may be implemented on the processor  102  in the form of hardware, such as an integrated circuit.  
         [0025]    The storage device  204  of the mobile telephone  20  stores an OS, a mobile telephone application, and a control object (control program) for a PC which is used for controlling the mobile telephone, which will be described later. The processor  202  operates in accordance with the OS and application programs. Alternatively, the OS and the application may be implemented on the processor  202  in the form of hardware, such as an integrated circuit.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 2 shows the schematic configurations of functions of the OS&#39;s and applications which are related to the invention, and which are implemented on the processor  102  of the PC  10  and on the processor  202  of the mobile telephone  20 , respectively. In the mobile telephone  20 , the processor  202  operates in accordance with the OS  2010 , a communication protocol stack  2020 , and the mobile telephone application  2040 . The storage device  204  stores the PC control object  2030 . The PC  10  receives the control object  2030  from the mobile telephone  20 , and stores it as a control object  1030  into the storage device  104 . In the PC  10 , the processor  102  operates in accordance with the OS  1010 , a communication protocol stack  1020 , the control object  1030 , and a PC mobile telephone application  1040 . The control object  1030  includes an API (Application Program Interface)  1034  for interface with the PC mobile telephone application  1040 .  
         [0027]    In the PC  10 , the PC mobile telephone application  1040  controls the control object  1030  via the API  1034 . The control object  1030  communicates with the mobile telephone  20  through the communication path  50  or  52  via the communication protocol stack  1020 , to control the mobile telephone  20 .  
         [0028]    In the mobile telephone  20 , the mobile telephone application  2040  communicates with the PC  10  on the communication path  50  or  52  via the communication protocol stack  2020 , and operates in accordance with control commands from the control object  1030 .  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram for a preliminary process for allowing the mobile telephone  20  to be controlled by operating the PC  10 , in accordance with the invention. Referring also to FIGS. 1 and 2, the operation of the PC  10  will be described. The OS  1010  at Step  302  detects when the PC  10  is connected to the mobile telephone  20  by the user, and at Step  312  detects when the PC mobile telephone application  1040  is activated in the PC  10  by the user. When the PC mobile telephone application  1040  is activated, the application  1040  may automatically activate the transceiver  145  to establish a connection with the transceiver  245  of the telephone  20  by short distance wireless communication.  
         [0030]    At Step  302 , the connection is detected by detecting or determining when the interface  140  of the PC  10  is connected by the user to the interface  240  of the telephone  20  via the cable  50 , or by detecting when the user activates the transceiver  145  of the PC  10  to establish the connection with the transceiver  245  of the telephone  20  via short distance wireless communication. When the PC  10  is connected to the telephone  20  in accordance with the IEEE 1394 standard or by a cable via the USB, the connection is notified as a hardware interruption to the OS by means of, for example, the Plug and Play function proposed by Microsoft® Corporation and Intel Corporation. When the PC  10  is connected to the telephone  20  by a cable via an Ethernet® interface, the connection can be detected by a higher layer protocol such as Jini proposed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. or UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) proposed by Microsoft® Corporation.  
         [0031]    At Step  304  following Step  302 , the OS  1010  requests the telephone  20  to transfer the control object  2030  through the communication path  50  or  52 . In response to the request, the OS  2010  of the telephone  20  sends the control object  2030  stored in the storage device  204 , to the PC  10  through the communication path  50  or  52 . The OS  1010  receives and loads the sent object as the control object  1030  into the storage device  104  and implements the object on the processor  102 .  
         [0032]    At Step  306 , the OS  1010  determines whether the telephone application  1040  is being activated on the PC  10  or not. If it is determined that the application is being activated, the OS  1010  at Step  322  informs the telephone application  1040  that the control object  1030  is loaded into the PC  10 . If it is determined that the application is not activated, the procedure proceeds to step  308 .  
         [0033]    At Step  308 , the OS  1010  instructs the user to activate the PC telephone application  1040 . In accordance with the instruction, the user activates the telephone application  1040  in the PC  10 . Alternatively, the OS  1010  may automatically activate the PC telephone application  1040 .  
         [0034]    At Step  312 , the OS  1010  detects when the mobile telephone application  1040  is activated.  
         [0035]    At Step  314 , the OS  1010  determines whether the control object is loaded into the PC  10  or not. If it is determined that the control object is loaded, the procedure proceeds to Step  324 . If it is determined that the control object is not loaded, the procedure proceeds to Step  318 .  
         [0036]    At Step  318 , the OS  1010  instructs the user to connect the PC  10  to the telephone  20 . In accordance with the instruction, the user connects the PC  10  to the telephone  20 . Alternatively, the OS  1010  may activate the transceiver  145  to automatically establish a connection with the transceiver  245  of the telephone  20  by short distance wireless communication.  
         [0037]    At Step  324 , the PC telephone application  1040  initializes the control object  1030 , and controls the control object  1030  so as to initialize the operation of the telephone  20 . At Step  326 , the PC  10  becomes ready for controlling the mobile telephone  20 .  
         [0038]    In response to the ready state, the PC telephone application  1040  displays, on the display device  112 , a display device image  114  and a software key arrangement image  116  of a virtual mobile telephone object which simulate the display device  210  and the key arrangement of the key input device  220 , respectively, of the mobile telephone  20 . The coordinates and the identification of each item in the display screen of the display device image  114  correspond to those on the display screen of the display device  210 . In order to make the view easily perceived, the display device image  114  may be made larger than the display area of the display device  210 , the same information may be displayed in a magnified manner, or a larger amount of information may be displayed at a time. In order to make the view easily perceived, moreover, the display device image  114  may display information in a format which is different from that of the display of the display device  210 , for example, in a different number of lines or in a different character font and style.  
         [0039]    The user operates the PC  10  by using the keyboard and/or the mouse of the input device  120 , to control the operations of the images  114  and  116  of the virtual mobile telephone. The software keys of the image  116  may correspond to a ten-key pad and function keys of the PC  10 . In response to the operation of the PC  10 , the virtual mobile telephone operates in cooperation with the telephone  20 . Operations of pointing an item in the display screen in the image  114 , and pressing a software key in the image  116  are performed by operating, for example, the mouse or a key of the input device  120 . Typing characters into the display screen within the image  114  is performed through the keyboard.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram for the operation for controlling the mobile telephone  20  that is executed by the PC  10 , in accordance with the invention. At Step  402 , while viewing the display device image or screen  114  displayed on the display screen of the display device  112  of the PC  10 , the user operates the input device  120  to input a command to operate the telephone  20 , and, in response to the input by the user, the OS  1010  supplies a control command to the PC telephone application  1040 . Such a command of the user may be a command to access information stored in the storage device  204  of the telephone  20 , or a command to access a particular Web page on the telephone network  40  by means of a URL.  
         [0041]    At Step  404 , the application  1040  operates in accordance with the command from the OS  1010  to change the display content of the display device image  114 , if necessary, and supplies the command to the control object  1030  via the API  1034 . The command may contain the coordinates or the item identification in the display screen of the display device  210  of the telephone  20 . If necessary, the application  1040  converts the coordinates or the item identification in the display screen of the display device image  114 , into those in the display screen of the display device  210  of the telephone  20 .  
         [0042]    At Step  406 , in accordance with the command from the application  1040 , the control object  1030  sends a command to the telephone  20  through the communication path  50  or  52  via the communication protocol stack  1020 .  
         [0043]    At Step  412 , the telephone application  2040  operates in accordance with the command which is received from the PC  10  via the communication protocol stack  2020 , and displays, on the display device  210 , an image which is obtained as a result of the operation, and/or presents obtained sound through the audio unit  230 . When a command to access a particular Web page by means of a URL is received, the telephone application  2040  connects the telephone to the Web server in the telephone network  40  to capture its Web page, displays the image of the page on the display device  210 , and presents associated sound through the audio unit  230 .  
         [0044]    At Step  414 , the telephone application  2040  sends data for displaying a result of the operation to the control object  1030  of the PC  10  via the communication protocol stack  2020 . The display data may be representative of the image displayed on the display device  210  of the telephone  20 , and/or sound for the audio unit  230 , or a state code indicating the operation state of the telephone  20  related to the image and sound to be presented.  
         [0045]    At Step  428 , the control object  1030  supplies the display data to the telephone application  1040  via the API  1034 .  
         [0046]    At Step  430 , in accordance with the display data supplied from the control object  1030 , the telephone application  1040  displays the resultant display image on the display device  112  of the PC  10 , and/or presents the resultant sound through the audio unit  130 . When the display data is representative of a Web page, the telephone application  1040  displays the image of the page on the display device  110 , and presents associated sound through the audio unit  130 .  
         [0047]    [0047]FIGS. 5A and 5B show an example of display screens  502  to  512  on the PC  10 , and display screens  542 .to  552  on the mobile telephone  20 , which are displayed in accordance with the flow diagram of FIG. 4.  
         [0048]    The user operates the input device  120  on the PC  10  to cause the telephone application  1040  to display the initial screen  502  on the display screen in the display device image  114  of the display device  112 , and to activate the control of the telephone. In response to the activation, the telephone application  1040  sends a command to display “FUNCTION MENU” to the telephone  20  through the communication path  50  or  52 . In response to the reception of the command, the telephone application  2040  of the telephone  20  displays the display screen  542  for activating the control of the telephone on the display device  210 , and executes the display of “FUNCTION MENU”.  
         [0049]    Thereafter, the telephone application  2040  of the telephone  20  displays the display screen  544  of “FUNCTION MENU” on the display device  210 , and sends display data representative of the display screen  544  to the PC  10  through the communication path  50  or  52 . As described above, the display data may be image data of the screen  544 , or an operation state code indicating the current operation state of the telephone  20  or the display of the display screen  544 . In response to the reception of the display data, the telephone application  1040  of the PC  10  displays the screen  504  of “FUNCTION MENU” corresponding to the screen  544 , in the display screen of the display device image  114 . When the telephone application  1040  receives the operation state code, the application fetches corresponding image data stored in the storage device  104 , and displays the data in the display screen of the display device image  114  after editing the data, if necessary.  
         [0050]    The user again operates the input device  120  of the PC  10  to point and select an item in the display screen  504  of the function menu, “ADDRESS BOOK” for example. The telephone application  1040  then displays the screen  506  in which the item “ADDRESS BOOK” is highlighted, in the display screen of the display device image  114 . The telephone application  1040  sends the position coordinates corresponding to the selected item “ADDRESS BOOK” in the display screen  506 , or an identification code of the item to the telephone  20  through the communication path  50  or  52  via the control object  1030 . In response to the reception of the coordinates or the identification code, the telephone application  2040  of the telephone  20  displays the corresponding display screen  546  in which the item “ADDRESS BOOK” is highlighted, activates the function of the selected item “ADDRESS BOOK”, and retrieves a list of indices from an address book database which is stored in the storage device  204 , for example.  
         [0051]    Thereafter, the telephone application  2040  of the telephone  20  displays the display screen  548  of “ADDRESS BOOK” on the display device  210 , and sends display data representative of the display screen  548  to the PC  10  through the communication path  50  or  52 . In response to the reception of the display data via the control object  1030 , the telephone application  1040  of the PC  10  displays the corresponding display screen  508  in the display screen of the display device image  114 .  
         [0052]    The user again operates the input device  120  of the PC  10  to point and select an item such as a name “AAA” in “ADDRESS BOOK”, and the telephone application  1040  then displays the display screen  510  in which the item “AAA” is highlighted, in the display screen of the display device image  114 . The telephone application  1040  sends the position coordinates corresponding to the selected item “AAA” in the display screen  510 , or an identification code of the item to the telephone  20  through the communication path  50  or  52  via the control object  1030 . In response to the reception of the coordinates or the identification code, the telephone application  2040  of the telephone  20  displays the corresponding display screen  550  in which the item “AAA” is highlighted, executes the display of the address information of the selected item “AAA”, and retrieves a index information corresponding to the item from the address book database.  
         [0053]    Thereafter, the telephone application  2040  of the telephone  20  displays the display screen  552  of the address information corresponding to the item “AAA” on the display device  210 , and sends display data representative of the display screen  552  to the PC  10  through the communication path  50  or  52  via the control object  1030 . In response to the display data, the telephone application  1040  of the PC  10  displays the corresponding display screen  512  of the address information in the display screen of the display device image  114 .  
         [0054]    In a similar manner, the user may operate the PC  10  to easily prepare an electronic mail in the mobile telephone  20 , and then send the mail to the telephone network  40 . Similarly, the user may operate the PC  10  to easily access a Web page in the telephone network  40  through the mobile telephone  20 . It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention can be applied also to an enhanced fixed telephone.  
         [0055]    The above-described embodiment is only a typical example, and its modifications and variations are apparent to those skilled in the art. It should be noted that people skilled in the art can make various modifications to the above-described embodiment without departing from the principle of the invention and the accompanying claims.