Patent ID: 8155709

Claim:
An in-vehicle handsfree apparatus, comprising: a handsfree connection section configured to establish connection with a plurality of cellular phones by using a handsfree communication protocol; and a control section configured to: determine whether, of the plurality of cellular phones, a first cellular phone connected with the handsfree connection section and a second cellular phone connected with the handsfree connection section are respectively receiving a first incoming call and a second incoming call at a same time; and cause an external display unit, when the control section determines that the first and second cellular phones are respectively receiving the first and second incoming calls at the same time, to distinctly display: (i) a first incoming call information item associated with the first incoming call and a first operation information item associated with a user operation on the first incoming call; and (ii) a second incoming call information item associated with the second incoming call and a second operation information item associated with a user operation on the second incoming call, wherein when the control section determines that the first and second cellular phones are respectively receiving the first and second incoming calls at the same time, the control section further causes a first external sound output unit and a second external sound output unit to respectively output a first ring tone corresponding to the first cellular phone and a second ring tone corresponding to the second cellular phone at the same time while causing the external display unit to simultaneously display the first incoming call information item and the first operation information item on a first region of a display screen of the external display unit and the second incoming call information item and the second operation information item on a second region of the display screen of the external display unit, such that: the first and second regions of the display screen respectively correspond in location to the first and second external sound output units such that the first region is closer to the first external sound output unit than the second region is, and the second region is closer to the second external sound output unit than the first region is; the first operation information item displayed on the first region of the display screen is a first switch that is user operable to respond to the first incoming call; and the second operation information item displayed on the second region of the display screen is a second switch that is user operable to respond to the second incoming call.