Patent ID: 7349722

Claim:
A system for enabling use of a portable device having wireless phone capabilities, the system being disposed in a vehicle, the system comprising: audio equipment attached to the vehicle, the audio equipment for receiving voice from an occupant and providing sound to the occupant; and a radio frequency transceiver coupled to be in communication with the audio equipment and physically coupled to the vehicle, the radio frequency transceiver being configured to communicate wirelessly and directly with the portable device located externally to the radio frequency transceiver in accordance with a Bluetooth standard communications protocol; wherein the audio equipment provides a first electronic signal representative of the voice to the radio frequency transceiver and the radio frequency transceiver provides a first radio frequency signal at least partially representative of the first electronic signal to the portable device, and wherein the radio frequency transceiver receives from the portable device a second radio frequency signal at least partially representative of a second electronic signal and the audio equipment receives the second electronic signal, the second electronic signal being representative of the sound; and wherein the system is configured to place a call via the portable device based on numbers spoken into the audio equipment or a command spoken into the audio equipment and transmitted via the radio frequency transceiver to the portable device.