Abstract:
An integrated call processing system, comprising: a wireless telephone including a keypad, a speaker, and a microphone to enable entry of call information and to enable phone transaction through one of a plurality of telephone networks; and a software telephone processor configured to receive and process the call information, wherein the processed call information is used to open phone transaction through a telephone network that incurs lowest price.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of priority of co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/569,916 entitled “Wireless Telephone with External Call Processing Interfaces”, filed May 10, 2004. Benefit of priority of the filing date of May 10, 2004 is hereby claimed, and the disclosure of the Provisional Patent Application is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Telephone services can be provided using an increasingly variety of methods, such as by using a traditional wireline telephone over the public switched telephone network (PSTN), by using a wireless telephone over the cellular network, or by using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone over the Internet. Some of the newer services may utilize a data terminal, such as a personal computer (PC) or personal data assistant (PDA), having a software telephone application installed in the terminal. However, to provide the telephone service, the data terminal requires peripheral accessories, such as keypad, speaker, microphone, and/or display, for inputting and outputting audio and/or data signals. Further, changing from one telephone service method to another telephone service method involves a change of phones including porting/copying of personal information, such as personal phonebook data, from one phone to another phone.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0003]     The present invention provides methods, systems, and computer programs for integrating wireless telephone with an external call processor.  
         [0004]     In one implementation, an integrated call processing system is disclosed. The system includes: a wireless telephone including a keypad, a speaker, and a microphone to enable entry of call information and to enable phone transaction through one of a plurality of telephone networks; and a software telephone processor configured to receive and process the call information, wherein the processed call information is used to open phone transaction through a telephone network that incurs lowest price.  
         [0005]     In another implementation, an integrated call processing method is disclosed. The method includes: providing a wireless telephone including a keypad, a speaker, and a microphone to enable entry of call information and to enable phone transaction through one of a plurality of telephone networks; and receiving and processing the call information using a software telephone processor, wherein the processed call information is used to open phone transaction through a telephone network that incurs lowest price. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]      FIG. 1  shows one example of an integrated call processing system integrating a wireless telephone and a data terminal through an interface.  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  shows a detailed block diagram of another example of an integrated call processing system including a wireless telephone, a hardware interface, and a data terminal.  
         [0008]      FIG. 3  shows a detailed block diagram of another example of an integrated call processing system. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0009]     The integration of wireless telephone with an external call processor involves configuring the wireless telephone and a data terminal, such as a personal computer (PC) or personal data assistant (PDA), having a software telephone application installed in the terminal. In one implementation, the wireless telephone is a cellular telephone providing telephone service over the cellular network. In another implementation, the wireless telephone is a telephone providing telephone service over the public switched telephone network (PSTN).  
         [0010]     The configuration of the wireless telephone and a data terminal includes adding an interface driver to each of the wireless telephone and the data terminal so that audio and/or data signals can be exchanged between the wireless telephone and the data terminal. Thus, the integrated system enables the data terminal to use the wireless telephone as a peripheral accessory device providing input and output functions through the keypad, speaker, microphone, and/or display of the wireless telephone. The integrated system also enables the wireless telephone to provide a telephone service over the cellular network or over the Internet using the software telephone application (e.g., VoIP) installed in the data terminal. Further, the integrated system obviates the need to port or copy the personal information stored in the wireless telephone into the software telephone application of the data terminal since dialing information can be extracted from the personal information stored in the wireless telephone and transmitted to the data terminal as any other manually entered dialing information.  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  shows one example of an integrated call processing system  100  integrating a wireless telephone  102  and a data terminal  104  through an interface  106 . In the illustrated example of  FIG. 1 , the wireless telephone  102  can be configured as a cellular telephone providing telephone service over the cellular network or as a cordless telephone providing telephone service over the PSTN. The data terminal  104  can be configured as a PC, PDA, VoIP terminal, or VoIP telephone. In one implementation, a software telephone application is installed in the data terminal  104 .  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  shows a detailed block diagram of another example of an integrated call processing system  200  including a wireless telephone  210 , a hardware interface  230 , and a data terminal  250 . In the illustrated example of  FIG. 2 , the wireless telephone  210  includes a speaker or earpiece  212 , display  214 , keypad  216 , microphone  218 , and/or storage  220 . The display  214  typically shows the dialing information such as a calling telephone number. The storage  220  typically stores personal information of the user such as a phonebook.  
         [0013]     The hardware interface  230  includes I/O interface line  232  for an audio signal to the speaker  212 , line  234  for a signal to the display  214 , line  236  for a signal from the keypad  216 , line  238  for an audio signal from the microphone  218 , and line  240  for data from the storage  220 . The keypad  216  is the input device for numbers, alphabets, special characters and specific functions. The display  214  is the output device showing menus, status, and character/picture information. The audio signal from the microphone  218  is an electrical signal from the wireless telephone  210 , which can either be analog or digital depending on the availability of the analog signal line in the hardware interface  230 . The audio signal to the speaker  212  is an electrical signal to the wireless telephone  210 , which can either be analog or digital depending on the availability of the analog signal line in the hardware interface  230 . The storage  220  is a data file storing personal information such as an electronic phonebook.  
         [0014]     In some implementations, the hardware interface  230  is configured as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, Bluetooth interface, wireless local area network (LAN), infrared interface, or serial interface with or without audio signal lines. The data terminal  250  includes a software telephone application, such as a VoIP software application, running on a software telephone processor  252  and other applications  254 .  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  shows a detailed block diagram of another example of an integrated call processing system  300 . The integrated call processing system  300  of  FIG. 3  includes a wireless telephone  310 , an interface  330 , and a data terminal  350 . The wireless telephone  310  includes a master controller  312 , an interface driver  314 , storage  316 , and a hardware interface  318 . The interface  330  includes an email/message file line  332 , a storage file line  334 , a speaker audio line  336 , a microphone audio line  338 , a display data line  340 , a keypad data line  342 , and other physical interface data line  344 . The data terminal  350  includes a software telephone processor  352 , an interface driver  354 , and a hardware interface  356 . The email/message file is a data file of email or message contents, such as character short message, audio clip, video clip that is stored in the wireless telephone and is used by the software telephone processor  352  when a user sends email, audio, or video messages.  
         [0016]     The master controller  312  includes a mode in which user operations to make/receive phone calls is input on the keypad  216  of the wireless telephone  210 / 310  and is routed through the hardware interfaces  318 ,  358  to cause the software telephone processor  352  in the data terminal  350  to initiate phone calls. The master controller  312  is also configured to automatically detect the existence of the software telephone processor  352  in the data terminal  350 , to check the status/functionality of the readiness of the software telephone processor  352  (e.g., whether the processor  352  is connected to the Internet so that the VoIP call can be made), and to allow the user to select the call route through the Internet using the software telephone processor  352  or through other telephone network such as a cellular network. The software telephone processor  352  can use call routes other than the Internet. Preferably, the software telephone processor  352  uses the call route that incurs lowest price. The selection of the call route can be pre-programmed.  
         [0017]     The master controller  312  is further configured to process the user operation to determine whether the call information should be received from the keypad, the phonebook, or hyperlinked texts in an email text or browser content. Once the call information is determined, the dialing sequence of the call information is translated to equivalent manual keypad dialing sequence. This translated sequence is transmitted to the software telephone processor  352  through the interface line  344 .  
         [0018]     The interface drivers  314 ,  354  enable the wireless telephone  310  to operate substantially similar to a generic audio input/output, keypad, and storage device for the software telephone processor  352  of the data terminal  350 .  
         [0019]     The various implementations of the invention are realized in electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of these technologies. Some implementations include one or more computer programs executed by a programmable processor or computer. For example, referring to  FIG. 3 , in one implementation, the interface drivers include computer programs executed by processors. In general, each computer includes one or more processors, one or more data-storage components (e.g., volatile or non-volatile memory modules and persistent optical and magnetic storage devices, such as hard and floppy disk drives, CD-ROM drives, and magnetic tape drives), one or more input devices (e.g., mice and keyboards), and one or more output devices (e.g., display consoles and printers).  
         [0020]     The computer programs include executable code that is usually stored in a persistent storage medium and then copied into memory at run-time. The processor executes the code by retrieving program instructions from memory in a prescribed order. When executing the program code, the computer receives data from the input and/or storage devices, performs operations on the data, and then delivers the resulting data to the output and/or storage devices.  
         [0021]     Various illustrative implementations of the present invention have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will see that additional implementations are also possible and within the scope of the present invention. For example, while the above description focuses on integration of the wireless telephone with a data terminal, other implementations can involve integration of wireless telephone with other external call processors such as an instant messaging system or video conferencing system.  
         [0022]     Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to only those implementations described above.