Patent ID: 8131323

Claim:
A handsfree apparatus in a vehicle comprising: a connection unit establishing a simultaneous connection of a handsfree call protocol and a mail transfer protocol while the handsfree apparatus is connected to a cellular phone through a short range wireless communication link, the handsfree protocol for a handsfree call and the mail transfer protocol for a transfer of mails; a condition determination unit determining whether or not the cellular phone having an established handsfree call protocol is having a call; a mail reception determination unit determining whether or not the cellular phone having an established mail transfer protocol has received a mail; a reception notification unit notifying a user of a reception of the mail; a mail display unit displaying a mail content of the mail that has been transferred from a network to the cellular phone; a display operation reception unit receiving a mail display operation by a user for the displaying of the mail content; a controller controlling the reception notification unit to notify the user of the reception of the mail if the mail reception by the cellular phone is determined by the mail reception determination unit, and controlling the mail display unit to display the mail content if the mail display operation by the user is received by the display operation reception unit, when the cellular phone having the simultaneous connection of the handsfree call protocol and the mail transfer protocol established to the connection unit is determined to be having a call by the condition determination unit; and a storage unit storing yet-to-read history indicative of existence of a not yet displayed mail that has not yet been displayed on the mail display unit, wherein (a) the controller controls the storage unit to store the yet-to-read history, if (a1) the mail reception is notified for the user by the reception notification unit and (a2) the mail display operation by the user is not received by the display operation reception unit, (b) the controller determines whether or not a mail that has not been displayed by the mail display unit exists based on the yet-to-read history stored by the storage unit after disconnection of the short range communication link between the connection unit and the cellular phone having received the mail due to a fulfillment of a first condition, and (c) the controller controls a notification unit to notify the user of yet-to-read information that indicates that existence of not yet displayed mail has been determined.