Abstract:
A display system for showing incoming call messages is introduced. The display system includes a monitor, a telephone plug coupled to a telephone signal source, and a microprocessor for controlling the display to show an incoming call message when an incoming call signal is received from the telephone signal source. The display enables users to notice incoming calls without disturbances of ring tones.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention provides a display device and an incoming call system; in particular a display device that displays incoming call information according to an incoming call signal and an incoming call system that displays incoming call information with the display device. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    In general, when receiving a call on either landline phones or mobile phones, the phones alert users with ring tones. However, on some occasions, such as meetings or ceremonies, ring tones annoy the users or sometimes others. Once the ring tone is turned off, the users can easily miss a call, causing inconvenience. At present, there are several landline phones and mobile phones that have screens that flash or blink to display incoming calls, but since the screens of these phones are not always in sight of the users, it is not very useful. At the same time, computers and televisions are commonly owned by households and offices. Even though computers and televisions have bigger screens and are normally placed in obvious places, they do not work in cooperation with the phones to provide a more convenient service. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    An incoming call display system according to the claimed invention includes a monitor for displaying images, a telephone plug coupled to a telephone signal source, and a microprocessor for controlling the monitor to display incoming call information when the telephone plug receives an incoming call signal. 
         [0006]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a first embodiment of an incoming call display system of the present invention. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a diagram of a second embodiment of an incoming call display system of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of a third embodiment of an incoming call display system of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a diagram of an incoming call display system  10  of the present invention. The incoming call display system  10  of the present invention comprises a telephone signal source  150  and a display device  100 . The display device  100  comprises a housing  110 , a monitor  120  installed on the housing  110  for displaying images, a telephone plug  130  installed on the housing  110  for coupling with the telephone signal source  150  in a wired or a wireless manner to receive a telephone signal from the telephone signal source  150 , and a microprocessor  140 . The display device  100  can be a television set or computer, or a device that cannot decode incoming voice signals from the telephone signal source  150 . The display device  100  of the present invention comprises the telephone plug  130  coupled to the telephone signal source  150 , with the microprocessor  140  in the display device  100  controlling the monitor  120  to display incoming call information when the telephone plug  130  receives an incoming call signal from the telephone signal source  150 . The display device  100  of the present invention is not required to have abilities of processing telephone signals (e.g., receiving calls, dialing calls etc.). The display device  100  only needs the microprocessor  140  to control the monitor  120  to display the incoming call information when an incoming call signal (normally a simple electrical signal, such as a squarewave) is detected. For example, the display device  100  of the present invention can be a computer with the monitor  120  being a liquid crystal display of the computer. A user can turn off a phone&#39;s ring tone and still be able to view the incoming call information on the computer monitor without being disturbed by the ring tone. 
         [0011]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a diagram of an embodiment  20  of an incoming call display system in the present invention. The incoming call display system  20  comprises a telephone signal source  250 , a display device  200 , a distributor  260 , and a telephone  270 . The display device  200  comprises a housing  210 , a monitor  220 , a telephone plug  230  for coupling the display device  200  to the telephone signal source  250 , and a microprocessor  240 , where each of the components and functions are the same as the display device  100  shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0012]    The telephone  270  is a conventional telephone and receives and transmits telephone signals through a telephone plug  272 . The distributor  260  is coupled to the telephone signal source  250  with an up-stream port  262 , coupled to the display device  200  with a first down-stream port  264 , and coupled to the telephone plug  272  of the telephone  270  with a second down-stream port  266 . When a user does not want to be disturbed by telephone ring tones, the user can turn down or turn off the ringer volume. When the telephone signal source  250  transmits an incoming call signal, the display device  200  of the present invention and the telephone  270  can both receive the incoming call signal through the distributor  260 . The microprocessor  240  of the display device  200  controls incoming call information, so that the user can see the incoming call information on the monitor and answer the call with the telephone  270 . As shown in  FIG. 2  the incoming call display system  20  of the present invention uses a display device which is unable to process incoming voice signals, to display incoming call information, hence the incoming call display system  20  is different from parallel extension lines of the prior art. 
         [0013]    The display device of the present invention can couple to telephones in parallel to form a system. Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a diagram of another embodiment of an incoming call display system  30  according to the present invention. The incoming call display system  30  comprises a telephone signal source  350 , a display device  300 , and a telephone  370 . The display device  300  comprises a housing  310 , a monitor  320 , a first telephone plug  330  for coupling to the telephone signal source  350 , a second telephone plug  332  for coupling to the telephone  370 , a microprocessor  340 , and a switch  360 . The telephone  370  is a conventional telephone which receives and transmits telephone signals through a telephone plug  372  that is electrically connected to the second telephone plug  332  coupled to the display device  300 . When a user does not want to be disturbed by telephone ring tones, the user can turn on a switch  360  of the display device  300  to have the second telephone plug  332  electrically disconnected from the telephone signal source  350 , meaning that the telephone  370  is not able to receive signals from the telephone signal source  350 . 
         [0014]    When the telephone signal source  350  transmits an incoming call, the display device  300  of the present invention receives the incoming call information followed by the microprocessor  340  controlling the monitor  320  to display incoming call information, so that the user can view the incoming call information on the monitor. If the user wants to answer the incoming call, the user needs to press (turn off) the switch  360  of the display device  300  to establish a connection between the telephone  370  and the telephone signal source  350  and receive telephone signals from the telephone signal source  350  with the telephone  370 . The present embodiment couples the telephone  370  and the display device  300  in series to have an advantage that the user is not required to turn off a ringer in the telephone  370 . The ringer in the telephone  370  can remain in an “on” status, since the telephone  370  cannot receive an incoming call signal from the telephone signal source  350  and ring when the switch  360  of the display device  300  is turned on. Obviously, the present invention is also able to have the switch  360  of the display device  300  remain in an “off” status, meaning keeping a connection between the telephone  370  and the telephone signal source  350 , and still avoid disturbances from incoming call ring tones by turning off the ringer of the telephone  370 . The display device  300  with the microprocessor  340  is able to control the switch  360  or operate the switch  360  through mechanical hardware. 
         [0015]    In summary, the present invention takes a display device, without abilities to process telephone signals, to display incoming call information on according to an incoming call signal from a telephone. Thus, a simple and convenient incoming call display system of a telephone is achieved. By extension of functionality of a microprocessor of the display device, the display device might be able to display an incoming call number or other information according to an incoming call signal. The present invention can apply to both landline telephones and mobile phones, or many other different telephone systems, and display incoming calls with the display devices such as televisions, computers, or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) etc., electronic devices comprising monitors that cannot process telephone signals. The display device, telephone signal source and the telephone, even the distributor, of present invention can be coupled together in a wired or a wireless manner. 
         [0016]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.