Telephonic communications – Reception of calling information at substation in wireline... – Blocking caller id transmission
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-03
2001-07-17
Woo, Stella (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
Reception of calling information at substation in wireline...
Blocking caller id transmission
C379S100150, C379S156000, C379S164000, C379S183000, C379S199000, C379S373040, C379S375010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263059
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus such as a telephone and a facsimile machine, wherein the communication apparatus includes a main phone (provided with a primary handset) and an additional cordless handset (or handsets).
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as part of services, telephone exchange stations have been providing telephone subscribers with various kinds of data via telephone networks. An example of such data is “caller ID (caller-identification).” Typically, the caller ID is supplied during silent periods of a calling signal. The contents of the caller ID may be the date and time of a call, the telephone number of a caller, the telephone number of the receiver, the type of the call, the name of the caller, and the conditions of the network systems.
When the caller ID includes information about the telephone number of a caller, the subscriber can enjoy a “number display service” with the use of a specially designed telephone or facsimile machine for that purpose. According to the number display service, the telephone number of a caller will be visually presented on a liquid crystal display of the telephone. Thus, just by looking at the display panel, the receiver (i.e., the user of the receiving telephone) can know who is making a call, even before he or she answers the call.
Consideration is now given to a facsimile machine including a main phone and two additional cordless handsets (a first additional handset and a second additional handset). The main phone is capable of providing number display function, whereas the first and second additional handsets are not. Now, it is supposed that the above facsimile machine is owned by a family consisting of four members (a husband, a wife, a daughter and a son). The main phone may be installed in the living room where every member of the family can use the phone, while the first additional handset may be placed in the daughter's room, and the second additional handset may be placed in the son's room.
Conventionally, in the above circumstances, when someone else dials the telephone number of the family, hoping to talk with a particular one of the family members, not only the main phone but also the first and second additional handsets will be actuated to ring. In such an instance, the wife, who happens to be in the living room, may be the first to answer the call without bothering to check on the displayed telephone number, or it may be the girl who first answered the call through the first additional handset by which the caller's telephone number is not shown.
On the above occasion, however, chances are that it may be the boy (not the wife nor the girl) who is wanted by the caller. If so, whoever first answered the call (the wife or the girl in the above example) needs to transfer the call to the second additional handset belonging to the boy. Unfavorably, such an operation can be troublesome for the wife or the girl. For the boy, who failed to be the first one to answer the call, it may be embarrassing to let other members of the family come to know who has made a call to him.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a communication apparatus capable of overcoming the problems stated above.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium incorporated in such a communication apparatus.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus for communicating with an external device comprising:
a main unit; and
a plurality of secondary units capable of communicating with the external device via the main unit;
wherein the main unit includes:
an identification data storage for storing identification data of the external device in a manner such that the identification data is linked to one of the secondary units;
an identification data detector for detecting the identification data of the external device;
an identification data registration checker for determining whether or not the detected identification data is registered in the identification data storage; and
a calling sound generation command issuer for causing only said one of the secondary units to ring when the detected identification data is registered in the identification data storage.
With such an arrangement, when the identification data of the external device is registered in the identification data storage, only one of the secondary units will be caused to ring. Thus, the caller can directly reach a person with whom he or she really wants to talk.
Preferably, the main unit and the plurality of secondary units may be arranged to generate ringing sounds different from one another. In this manner, just by listening to the ringing sound, the users of the communication apparatus can know who the caller is hoping to talk with.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the main unit comprises an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory serving as the identification data storage. Further, the main unit also comprises a central processing unit serving as the identification data detector, the identification data registration checker and the calling sound generation command issuer.
Preferably, each of the secondary units may be physically separated from the main telephone. For instance, the secondary unit may be a cordless handset. In this arrangement, while talking, the user of the handset can freely move around without being bothered by a cord which otherwise were used for connecting the handset to the main phone.
The identification data detector may be arranged to detect a telephone number of the external device. The telephone number of the caller may be contained in caller identification data transmitted from a telephone exchange station.
In the preferred embodiment, the communication apparatus comprises a facsimile machine.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus for communicating with an external device comprising:
a main unit; and
at least one secondary unit capable of communicating with the external device via the main unit;
wherein the main unit includes:
an identification data storage for storing identification data of the external device in a manner such that the identification data is linked to either one of the main unit and the secondary unit;
an identification data detector for detecting the identification data of the external device;
an identification data registration checker for determining whether or not the detected identification data is registered in the identification data storage;
an object determiner for determining whether the detected identification data is linked to the main unit or the secondary unit;
a calling sound controller for causing the main unit to ring when the detected identification data is linked to the main unit; and
a calling sound generation command issuer for causing only the secondary unit to ring when the detected identification data is linked to the secondary unit.
With such an arrangement, a calling sound will be generated at only a selected unit (i.e., only one of the main unit and the secondary unit). Thus, in this arrangement again, the caller may be able to directly reach a person with whom he or she intends to talk.
Preferably, the main unit and the secondary unit may be arranged to generate ringing sounds different from each other.
In the above apparatus, the main unit may comprise an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory serving as the identification data storage.
Further, the main unit may comprise a central processing unit serving as the identification data detector, the identification data registration checker, the object determiner, the calling sound controller and the calling sound generation command issuer.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus for communicating with an external device comprising:
a main unit; and
a plurality of
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Tieu Binh K.
Woo Stella
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