Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Message storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-25
2001-01-30
Bost, Dwayne D. (Department: 2744)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Message storage or retrieval
C455S412100, C370S342000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06181926
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to wireless telephone systems, and more particularly to voice mail systems for CDMA wireless telephone systems.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Voice mail systems are ubiquitous in modern telephone systems, including wireless telephone systems. In the wireless telephone context, however, current voice mail systems can degrade recorded messages, because the recorded messages are encoded and decoded multiple times.
More particularly, in the context of code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless telephone systems, a transmitting telephone encodes voice signals using a vocoder, prior to transmitting the signals over the air. A preferred CDMA system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,901,307 and 5,103,459, both of which are assigned to the same assignee as is the present invention and both of which are incorporated herein by reference. Also, a preferred vocoder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,796, which is also assigned to the same assignee as is the present invention and which is incorporated herein by reference.
When a person attempts to call a wireless station user from a landline telephone, the call is routed through a public switch telephone network (PSTN). The PSTN connects the call to a base station controller (BSC) which controls the operation of a plurality of base stations that serve a common geographic area. When it receives the call from the PSTN or another wireless telephone, the BSC determines whether the recipient wireless telephone is currently registered with any base station. If the wireless telephone is not registered (or it is registered but it does not pick up), the call is directed to a voice mail system that encodes and stores a voice message intended for the recipient wireless telephone user.
Subsequently, the wireless telephone user can access the voice mail system to retrieve the message, at which time the message is decoded and sent to the BSC. At the BSC, the message is once again encoded, then sent to a base station for transmission to the wireless telephone. Upon receipt of the message, the wireless telephone must once again decode the message. Hence, in existing wireless telephone system voice mail systems, a voice mail message undergoes two encoding/decoding cycles, once when the message is stored and again when the receiving person accesses his or her voice mail. Unfortunately, the quality of the voice message is degraded as an undesirable consequence of multiple encodings and decodings.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a voice mail system for a wireless telephone system which renders relatively high quality voice mail messages. Another object of the present invention is to provide a voice mail system for a wireless telephone system which minimizes the number of encoding/decoding cycles voice mail messages must undergo. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a voice mail system for a wireless telephone system which is easy to use and cost-effective to manufacture and implement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a wireless telephone system including a base station controller (BSC), a base station, and at least one wireless telephone, a computer logic device is disclosed which includes a computer logic storage device readable by a digital processing system. Instructions are embodied in the logic storage device, and the instructions are executable by the digital processing system for performing method steps for storing and relaying voice messages. As disclosed in detail below, the method steps include receiving a voice message at the BSC, wherein the voice message is intended for a called telephone. When the called telephone does not pick up, if the message is not from a wireless telephone it is encoded and then stored at the BSC. Otherwise, i.e., if the message is from another wireless telephone and consequently is already encoded, the message (after having been received and demodulated at the base station transceiver) is not decoded, and stored at the BSC.
Preferably, the method steps further include receiving a voice mail access call from an accessing telephone at the BSC. When the accessing telephone is an accessing wireless telephone in the same system as the BSC, the voice message is retrieved from storage and transmitted to the accessing wireless telephone without decoding the voice message at the BSC. Otherwise (i.e., when the accessing telephone is not in the BSC system, e.g., when the accessing telephone is a fixed telephone), the voice message is retrieved from storage, decoded at the BSC, and sent to the accessing telephone over a PSTN.
In a presently preferred embodiment, the digital modulation format is code division multiple access (CDMA) format. Additionally, the method steps further include determining whether the called telephone is a voice mail subscriber, and storing the message only when the called telephone is a voice mail subscriber. The computer logic device is also disclosed in combination with the BSC.
In another aspect, a computer-implemented method is disclosed for storing and relaying a voice message that has been generated in a wireless telephone system. The method includes determining whether the voice message should be stored, and if the voice message should be stored, storing the voice message. Then, the message is subsequently relayed to an accessing telephone for playing back of the voice message. As envisioned by the present invention, the voice message undergoes at most a single encoding/decoding cycle from when it is generated to when it is played back.
In still another aspect, a wireless telephone system includes at least one base station for receiving an incoming voice message transmitted by a sending telephone to a called telephone and for transmitting an outgoing voice message to an accessing telephone. The system includes a base station controller (BSC) that is associated with the base station. Logic means are provided at the BSC for storing the incoming voice message in speech encoded format that is compatible with the wireless communication system format when the called telephone does not pick up. Moreover, logic means at the BSC cause the voice message to be transmitted as the outgoing voice message in speech encoded format to the accessing telephone when the accessing telephone is a wireless telephone. Furthermore, logic means at the BSC decodes the voice message and then sends the voice message as the outgoing voice message to the accessing telephone when the accessing telephone is not a wireless telephone in the BSC system.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:
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Bost Dwayne D.
Gary Erika A.
Qualcomm Incorporated
Rouse Thomas R.
Wadsworth Philip R.
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