Telephone for children

Details Telephone for children Telephone for children

2001-07-05

2004-08-31

Chiang, Jack (Department: 2642)

Telephonic communications

Terminal

Housing or housing component

C379S433070, C379S368000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06785387

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone, particularly a mobile telephone for use by children, which is designed such that only certain preprogrammed keys for dialing a telephone number stored in an electronic memory of the telephone are accessible to the child.
2. Description of the Prior Art
By providing their child with a known telephone, particularly a mobile telephone, parents enable the child to establish, in an emergency, a link to an emergency call center, such as a rescue center or the police. In addition to establishing a link to an emergency call number or an office associated with the emergency call number, however, it is also possible in conventional mobile telephones to establish any other desired telephone links. Because this can entail considerable costs for the parents, many parents refrain from making use of this facility which is in itself desirable.
According to the current state of the art, there are various possible ways of enabling mobile telephones to make rapid emergency calls.
The American U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,570 A discloses, for example, a mobile terminal which is equipped for rapid emergency calls and which has a loudspeaker, microphone and a keypad which has an emergency call key for dialing the emergency call number 911 which is valid in the United States. When this emergency call key is activated, a link can be made quickly to the police, to the fire service or to a local rescue center.
A further American patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,210 A is concerned with a security device which can be used to prevent unauthorized access to some of the keys on the keypad of a mobile telephone. The security device is composed here of a plastic cover panel which is hooked onto one side of the key panel into a cutout provided for that purpose in the housing, and which can be locked on the opposite side of the key panel using a snap closure mechanism. The cover panel cannot be removed until after it is unlocked using a special key. The cover panel contains here two square-shaped openings which permit access to only two of the keys of the key panel.
Furthermore, according to the current state of the art further mobile telephones are known which have cover devices for some of the keys on the keypad of the mobile telephone. In European patent EP-0 414 365 A, a mobile phone is described which is composed of two housing parts A and B which can be inserted one into the other and which are held together by a helical spring. The housing part A contains a loudspeaker, a keypad TF
1
for the keys of the dialing numerals and a keypad TF
2
for additional function keys, and housing part B contains a microphone. In the fully pulled-out state of the housing parts A and B of the mobile telephone, a user has complete access both to the keys of the keypad TF
1
and to the keys of the keypad TF
2
. In this case, all the functions of the mobile telephone are completely available to him. In contrast, in the state in which the housing parts A and B of the mobile telephone are pushed together, the keys of the keypad TF
1
are covered in order to prevent unintentional, accidental incorrect activation of the keys as a result of lack of attention by an adult user or as a result of access by children. In this case, activating the keys of the keypad TF
2
provides a user with only a limited functional scope of the mobile telephone. In this state, the keypad TF
1
is protected against serious damage which can occur, for example, when the user inadvertently drops the mobile telephone.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a telephone, in particular a mobile telephone, which is suitable for children, keeping the above concerns in mind
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a conventional telephone, such as a mobile telephone or a wireless telephone, designed in such a way that just one or more preprogrammed keys for dialing a telephone number stored in an electronic memory of the telephone are accessible. In order to achieve this, the conventional mobile telephone is provided with a cover which covers all the keys and via which any desired non-preprogrammed telephone link can be established. This will relate, in particular, to the numerical keys, but is not restricted to this depending on the mobile telephone.
In order to bring about the desired function on a known mobile telephone, there is provision for the parents or a service center to preprogram the keys which are not covered by the cover with one telephone number in each case. The telephone number which is input when the keys are assigned and which can be dialed by activating the respective key is stored in the electronic memory of the mobile telephone. One of the keys which is still accessible after the cover is mounted is preferably pre-assigned to an emergency call number, such as 110, 112 etc. After the pre-assignment of the keys has been performed in the fashion described, the cover is detachably fastened to the keypad of the mobile telephone. For this reason, the cover then permits access only to such keys with which either no telephone link can be established or merely a telephone link can be established to a preprogrammed or predetermined telephone number; for example, an emergency call center, the mobile telephone number of the mother or the father, and so on.
The cover is preferably fastened on the upper side of the housing in such a way that the cover can be removed again only with a special tool. The special tool can be, for example, a key via which a child protection which is inserted into a socket can be pulled out. The “beard” of the key is inserted into a (slot-shaped) opening in the cover as in the case of the child protection, and turned slightly. Pulling arms on the beard then engage behind the cover so that the latter can be pulled off from a clamping arrangement on the housing of the telephone. If the cover is fastened to the upper side of the housing of the telephone by, for example, screws, they may be, for example, screws which do not have a slot but are rather provided with two blind holes which are provided to the left and right of the center of the screw head. The corresponding screwdriver or some other special tool and the cover can then be included, for example, with a telephone which permits the above mentioned functions. In this way, the parents can also easily “convert” a corresponding telephone into a “child's telephone” with an emergency call function.
In an alternative and/or additional solution there is provision for the telephone of the present invention to have a link-establishing device which establishes a telephone link with a telephone number stored in the memory of the telephone if a key assigned to the stored telephone number is activated.
In order to bring about this function, the link-establishing device can be activated or deactivated via the correct entry of a PIN (Personal Identification Number). In order, therefore, to be able to convert, for example, a fully functional mobile telephone into a child's mobile telephone, the corresponding menu item of the operating software of the mobile telephone is selected. The software requests the currently active PIN which is input, for example, by one of the parents, compares the entered PIN with a stored PIN and, if both correspond, activates the link-establishing device so that the latter prevents a telephone link being established to a subscriber of a telephone number which is not authorized. Before or after this procedure, the software preferably requests the telephone numbers which are assigned to the corresponding keys of the mobile telephone; these being, for examples the mobile telephone number of the mother and so on. This restriction of the functionality of the mobile telephone to its use as a child's mobile telephone can then be cancelled, for example, and the mobile telephone can be converted to its normal functionality by one of the parents inputting the correct PIN. For this purpose, a corresponding menu item

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