Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Usage measurement
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-01
2001-10-09
Nguyen, Lee (Department: 2746)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Usage measurement
C455S406000, C455S407000, C455S409000, C379S091010, C379S111000, C379S114030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301472
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a portable telephone system and, more particularly, to what is called a prepaid type portable telephone system which allows a portable telephone to make a predetermined number of message units, or message units and timed receptions.
BACKGROUND ART
A prior art prepaid type portable telephone system proposed in JP-A No. 3-45031 is capable of metering message units used by a portable telephone and of stalling the portable telephone upon the detection of completion of a predetermined number of message units corresponding to a predetermined value to enable the omission of both a location registering operation and an accounting operation to be carried out by a switching system. The function of making message units correspond to a predetermined amount of money of the portable telephone is restored when the predetermined amount of money is paid.
The portable telephone for the prior art portable telephone system needs a circuitry for counting the number of message units, calculation and data storage to carry out an accounting procedure, and hence the complexity of the portable telephone is enhanced accordingly, which impedes the miniaturization and the reduction of weight of the portable telephone.
The accounting circuit of the portable telephone capable of carrying out an accounting procedure may be altered dishonestly, and it is difficult to prevent the dishonest use of the portable telephone.
The foregoing prepaid charging system cannot be applied to a simple portable telephone system. A portable telephone for a current portable telephone system is too expensive to use for the simple portable telephone system having a prepaid type charging system.
The present invention has been made to solve the foregoing problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a high-security portable telephone system allowing the use of a small, lightweight prepaid type portable telephone, and to provide a small, lightweight portable telephone for the portable telephone system.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
1
, an accounting means is included in a switching system. A switching system included in the portable telephone system counts the number of message units used by each of a plurality of portable telephones including origination-only portable telephones, each of which are identified by terminal identifying information assigned thereto. The originating operation of the origination-only portable telephone is denied when the number of message units used by the origination-only portable telephone identified by the terminal identifying information reaches a predetermined number of message units. Nevertheless, the originating operation of the origination-only portable telephone which is identified by the terminal identifying information, is accepted when a predetermined input operation is executed.
Thus, the origination-only portable telephone can be formed in a small, lightweight construction, and the security of the portable telephone system can remarkably be improved.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
2
, the power key of a power switch included in the origination-only portable telephone is operated to close the power switch every time the origination-only portable telephone is used for originating a call.
Thus, the power consumption of the origination-only portable telephone is low as compared with that of an originating-and-receiving portable telephone which is kept in a wait state, and the origination-only portable telephone for the portable telephone system can be formed in a small, lightweight construction.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
3
, the origination-only portable telephone has a control panel and numeric keys for entering telephone number information for a call are arranged on the control panel, and the origination-only portable telephone can be connected to a power supply by operating the numeric keys.
Thus, the origination-only portable telephone need not be provided with a power key, so that the size and the weight of the origination-only portable telephone can be reduced accordingly.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
4
, the origination-only portable telephone is disconnected from a power supply if any input operation is not made in a predetermined time after the connection of the origination-only portable telephone to the power supply or upon the detection of termination of a call.
Thus, the power consumption of the origination-only portable telephone can be reduced and the origination-only portable telephone can be formed in a small, lightweight construction.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
5
, an origination-only accounting control means included in the switching system of the portable telephone system sends data representing the cumulative number of used message units to the origination-only portable telephone every termination of a call, and a call information display means included in the origination-only portable telephone displays data representing the cumulative number of used message units.
Thus, the origination-only portable telephone is small and lightweight as compared with a origination-only portable telephone which manages the residual number of message units, and the security of the portable telephone system can remarkably be enhanced.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
6
, the plurality of portable telephones of the portable telephone system include originating-and-receiving portable telephones, the accounting means of the switching system counts the numbers of message units used by the origination-only portable telephones and the originating-and-receiving portable telephones identified by terminal identifying information.
Thus, a high-security portable telephone system including small, lightweight origination-only portable telephones can be constructed by adding only a origination-only accounting control means to the switching system of an ordinary portable telephone system.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
7
, an accounting means included in a switching system counts the number of message units used by a prepaid type portable telephone identified by terminal identifying information assigned thereto, a prepaid charge control means denies a call originating operation and a call receiving operation of the prepaid type portable telephone upon the increase of the number of message units used by the prepaid type portable telephone identified by the terminal identifying information to a predetermined number, and accepts a call originating operation and a call receiving operation of the prepaid type portable telephone identified by the terminal identifying information upon the reception of the terminal identifying information and charging information.
Thus the security of the portable telephone system can be remarkably enhanced.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
8
, an automatic accounting means reads the terminal identifying information assigned to the prepaid type portable telephone by a terminal identifying information reader, receives money reception information by a money input means, and sends money information together with the read terminal identifying information to a prepaid charge control means upon the reception of predetermined money information.
Thus, the portable telephone system is easy to use.
In a portable telephone system stated in claim
9
, the automatic accounting means encrypts the terminal identifying information and the money information into corresponding codes by a predetermined encrypting procedure, and sends the codes to the prepaid charge control means.
Thus, the security of the portable telephone system is improved remarkably.
In a portable telephone system according to an invention stated in claim
10
, portable telephones
Hayashi Hideki
Kodaka Kunio
Mitani Yuji
Nakasu Jiro
Onooka Yasushi
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
Nguyen Lee
Nguyen Simon
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