Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-16
2003-04-15
Kincaid, Lester G. (Department: 2685)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Apparatus
C455S567000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06547620
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus that enables a conversation with an arbitrary person via a transmitter-receiver or handset at any moment. The invention relates also to a memory medium storing a program for operating the communication apparatus. Additionally, the invention relates to a type of telephone apparatus incorporating a display panel together with a speaker and a microphone, capable of displaying the telephone number of a second external apparatus on the display panel if a call arrives from the second external apparatus during a telephone communication with a first external apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A representative apparatus of known communication apparatuses may be a cordless telephone, which can be used remote from a base or a main telephone. A cordless telephone has a shape similar to that of an ordinary handset and exchanges aural signals, that are transmitted to and received from a communication partner via a communication line, with the base or the main telephone via predetermined-frequency of electromagnetic waves. Cordless telephones are provided as a child telephone, such as a wireless receiver or handset attached to a charging device, a cordless handset placed at a normal handset position on a base apparatus, and the like.
For a telephone conversation using such a cordless telephone, a user holds the cordless telephone near or on an ear so that voices are outputted and inputted via a speaker and microphone. Development of the communication technology has provided a generally-termed call-waiting service where if there is a call to a subscriber apparatus from a third apparatus during a telephone conversation via the subscriber apparatus, ringing sounds are produced in the subscriber apparatus, superimposed on the voices of the present communication partner. A cordless telephone adapted to the call-waiting service is capable of, if receiving a ringing signal from a second external apparatus during a telephone conversation with a first external apparatus, switching from the first external apparatus to the second external apparatus upon an instruction inputted by a user pressing a call-waiting button.
A caller identification service has started wherein the telephone number of a caller apparatus notified on a receiver side by adding the caller number to a ringing signal from the caller apparatus. Upon receiving the ringing signal, an apparatus adapted to the caller identification service displays the caller telephone number on a display panel provided in a cordless telephone or a base. Therefore, when such a telephone apparatus receives a call, a user of the apparatus can choose whether to answer the call on the basis of the caller telephone number displayed on the display panel.
However, conventional cordless telephones have drawbacks related to the call-waiting service and the caller identification service as described below.
If a conventional cordless telephone receives a ringing signal from a third apparatus while a user is having a conversation via the cordless telephone, the user needs to hold the cordless telephone at a position and in a posture such that the user can see the display panel provided in the cordless telephone to check the caller telephone number. That is, the user must move the cordless telephone away from the ear to look at the display while maintaining the connection status with the present communication partner. Therefore, to look at the display panel and see the caller telephone apparatus, the user must stop the conversation with the present partner, thereby causing an undesirable or awkward situation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a communication apparatus that enables the user to check information regarding a caller while continuing to talk to a present communication partner, without requiring the user to perform any switching operation or the like. The invention also provides a memory medium for storing a program for operating the communication apparatus.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a communication apparatus capable of switching from a telephone communication with a first external apparatus to a telephone communication with a second external apparatus when receiving a ringing signal from the second external apparatus during a telephone communication with the first external apparatus. The communication apparatus includes a transmitter-receiver that is normally held to a user's ear for a telephone communication via a communication line. The transmitter-receiver outputs and inputs voices. A display panel is provided at a predetermined location in the transmitter-receiver and is capable of displaying caller information added to a ringing signal from an external apparatus.
The communication apparatus further includes a caller information display control device that displays the caller information regarding the second external apparatus on the display panel if the ringing signal from the second external apparatus is received during a telephone communication with the first external apparatus. The display may be turned on by providing power to the display when the ringing signal from the second external apparatus is received during a communication with the first external apparatus. Alternatively, if an LCD, for example, is used as the display, the LCD may already have power applied but the display may be dark. Thus, turning on of the LCD display may include causing the background to illuminate so that the display is perceivable by a user. The display may likewise, be turned off after a predetermined time has elapsed from the display being turned on or after receiving a cancel command via the keypad.
An input/output level control device is also provided which changes an input level of the transmitter-receiver and an output level of the transmitter-receiver if the caller information regarding the second external apparatus is displayed on the display panel by the caller information display control device during the telephone communication with the first external apparatus.
Therefore, if the telephone apparatus receives a ringing signal from a second external apparatus during a telephone communication with a first external apparatus using the transmitter-receiver, the caller information regarding the second external apparatus is displayed on the display panel provided in the transmitter-receiver and the input/output levels of the transmitter-receiver are changed. In order to see the caller information, a user needs to put the transmitter-receiver in such a position that the user can look at the display panel. In this apparatus, since a generally-termed hands-free talk function is engaged by changing the input/output levels of the transmitter-receiver, the user can temporarily move the transmitter-receiver away from a user's ear to look at the display panel while maintaining a state where the telephone communication with the first external apparatus is possible. Thus, the telephone apparatus allows the user to check the caller information by looking at the display panel while continuing to talk to the present communication partner, without requiring the user to perform any switching operation or the like.
In this invention, the communication line may be a public telephone line, or a dedicated line, in the form of an actual cable or a wireless channel or the like.
The transmitter-receiver may suitably be a cordless telephone, or may also be a different type device that is normally held by a hand for communication with other devices.
The display panel may suitably be a display capable of displaying characters and the like. For example, the display panel may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a segment display panel employing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or the like, as long as the display panel is capable of displaying caller information.
The caller information may suitably be a caller telephone number notified by a service provided via a telephone line, a message expressed by c
Dan Kenichi
Hatamura Junji
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Kincaid Lester G.
Mehrpour Naghmeh
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