Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Message storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-24
2001-08-14
Bost, Dwayne (Department: 2681)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Message storage or retrieval
C455S567000, C379S088010, C379S080000, C704S231000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06275690
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a response message transmitter in a portable mobile radio communication apparatus such as a portable telephone apparatus, a cordless telephone apparatus, or the like, and more particularly to a response message transmitter in a cellular mobile telephone apparatus, which is operable to notify the calling party when the cellular mobile telephone apparatus receives an incoming call but the user cannot immediately answer a calling party, for example, because the user is driving a vehicle or the like, or because the user is in a place where the use of cellular mobile telephones and so on is restricted, or the like.
With a currently used cellular mobile telephone apparatus, when an incoming call is received, although the user should respond to the call, the user is not always immediately ready to do so. Particularly, when the user is driving a vehicle or the like, the user cannot immediately respond to a call. Conventional cellular mobile telephone apparatus have a special function of answer pending a call so as to cope such a situation. This function is invoked by depressing a pending button, when the user cannot immediately accept a call, to notify a calling party through a base station that the user cannot immediately respond to the call although the telephone line connection has been established therebetween, to reduce the volume of, the telephone ring and to permit the user to initiate a communication when the user is ready to do so. Such a cellular mobile telephone apparatus is disclosed in JP-A-8-163208.
However, such a simple response message function is not sufficient to notify a calling party of specific reasons for which the user is “pending” a call. More specifically, the calling party cannot know whether the user cannot respond to a call because he or she is now in a place where the use of cellular mobile telephone apparatus is restricted, and is moving from that place; or because the user is now busy with other business; or because the user is driving a vehicle or the like so that he/she cannot respond to a call before he/she stops driving. It can therefore be thought that the pending state extends over such long time period that the calling party gives up the call, as the case may be.
With the conventional cellular mobile telephone apparatus as described above, the user suffers from an inconvenience when an incoming call is received but the user cannot immediately respond to the call because the conventional cellular mobile telephone apparatus does not have any means for notifying a calling party of the current situation of the user. In addition, the calling party cannot know the current situation which the user of the destination cellular mobile telephone apparatus is experiencing.
According to certain data, traffic accidents related to the cellular mobile telephone apparatus during the operation of a vehicle happen more while drivers are looking for their cellular mobile telephone apparatus for placing a call or for responding to an incoming call than while they are actually communicating. The conventional cellular mobile telephone apparatus have not at all been designed in consideration of improvements, particularly, in the usability addressed to such a situation.
Furthermore, it has been found from exemplary usage that when the users carry their cellular mobile telephone apparatus with them, most of the users keep it in a bag or the like. Thus, even though the user is in a situation in which he/she cannot immediately respond to an incoming call, the user must once take the cellular mobile telephone apparatus from his/her bag, each time an incoming call is received in such a situation, for invoking the “pending” operation. It can therefore be seen that the conventional cellular mobile telephone apparatus have not been designed in any consideration of improvements in the usability addressed to such a situation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the problems mentioned above inherent to the prior art cellular mobile telephone apparatus. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a response message transmitter in a cellular mobile telephone apparatus which permits the user of the cellular mobile telephone apparatus to notify, even if he/she cannot immediately respond to a call, a calling party of the current situation of the user through simple manipulations.
According to the present invention, a cellular mobile telephone apparatus comprises incoming call responding means for responding to an incoming call from a calling party, means for storing a plurality of messages to be transmitted to the calling party, means for selecting a message to the calling party, and means for transmitting a selected message to the calling party, wherein a message to the calling party, previously selected by the user and stored in the storing means, can be transmitted to the calling party by the action of the incoming call responding means when the user cannot immediately respond to the call from the calling party.
The cellular mobile telephone apparatus further comprises a plurality of response switches corresponding to the stored messages, as the incoming call responding means, wherein the user may select a message to the calling party with the plurality of response switches, and respond to the calling party by transmitting the selected message.
The cellular mobile telephone apparatus is designed to previously select one of the plurality of messages and automatically transmit the selected message in response to the incoming call.
The cellular mobile telephone apparatus further comprises a change-over switch as the means for selecting a message to the calling party, and a response switch as the incoming call responding means, wherein the user may select a message to the calling party with the change-over switch and respond to the calling party with the response switch.
The cellular mobile telephone apparatus further comprises a speech coding encoder/decoder circuit for use in a digital telephone system. The speech coding encoder/decoder circuit may be utilized, when a message to a calling party is generated, to convert an analog voice signal to a digital voice signal so that the digital voice signal can be stored in the cellular mobile telephone apparatus.
The cellular mobile telephone apparatus further comprises means for detecting voice while the reception of an incoming call is being notified, wherein a response can be made to a calling party by detecting voice of the user during the notification of the incoming call reception.
The cellular mobile telephone apparatus further comprises means for recognizing a voice pattern, wherein the recognizing means detects a voice pattern while the reception of an incoming call is being notified, such that the user can respond to a calling party by transmitting a message to the calling party selected on the basis of the detected voice pattern.
The cellular mobile telephone apparatus further comprises a speech coding encoder/decoder circuit for use in a digital telephone system which is utilized to convert an analog voice signal to a digital voice signal so that voice can be detected or a voice pattern can be recognized.
The present invention also provides a cellular mobile telephone apparatus comprising a cellular mobile telephone body and an incoming call communicator for notifying the reception of an incoming call, wherein:
the cellular mobile telephone body includes transmitting/receiving means for transmitting and receiving information to and from the incoming call communicator through a radio channel, incoming call responding means for responding to an incoming call from a calling party, means for storing a message to the calling party, and means for transmitting the message to the calling party; and
the incoming call communicator includes incoming call responding means for responding to an incoming call received from a calling party, and transmitting/receiving means for transmitting and receiving information to and
Higuchi Kazutoshi
Itoh Fumitaka
Ogawa Katsuo
Okamoto Teiji
Takahara Yasuaki
Bost Dwayne
Craver Charles
Hitachi , Ltd.
Mattingly Stanger & Malur, P.C.
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