Telephonic communications – Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical... – Having transmission of a digital message signal over a...
Reexamination Certificate
1996-03-20
2001-09-18
Woo, Stella (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...
Having transmission of a digital message signal over a...
C379S093230
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292548
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a telephone interface unit that receives user inputs and display data, and selects data from multiple sources for display on a telephone display.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Some recent telephones have been provided with a liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying information that may be usefull to the user of the telephone. For example, a digital telephone may be connected to a private branch exchange (PBX). Various digital data is communicated between the telephone and the PBX to enable the telephone and the PBX to perform their respective functions. For example, when a user at the telephone places a call, the telephone communicates the dialed telephone number to the PBX, so that the PBX can attempt to make a telephony connection with the dialed number. The telephone may be provided with a display unit to display some of the information that is received from the PBX. For example, the telephone may receive data from the PBX indicating the telephone number from which an incoming call originated, and the display unit may display this information for the benefit of the user of the telephone.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an interface unit for a telephone display. In the preferred embodiment, the interface unit receives data from an external source, such as an ISDN switch. Some of the data from the external source can be displayed on the telephone display. The interface unit includes a user interface that receives user inputs from various keys on the telephone, including a set of dialog keys. The user interface generates menu messages for displaying and operating a set of menus on the telephone display. A user of the telephone can use the dialog keys to navigate through the menus and perform a variety of actions, including executing telephone functions and changing the configuration of the telephone. A display data selector within the interface unit receives the data from the external source and from the interface unit and selects particular data items to be displayed on the telephone display. The selection of data to be displayed is based in part on the operational state of the telephone. The telephone has an active state, a configuration state and an idle state.
Another embodiment of the present invention is an interface unit for a telephone display. The interface unit, which comprises a user interface and a display data selector, receives display data from an external source. The user interface detects user inputs and generates menu data for implementing a menu driven interface. The display data selector receives the display data from the external source and the menu data from the user interface and selects data items from the display data and the menu data for display on the telephone display.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5570420 (1996-10-01), Bress et al.
patent: 5615257 (1997-03-01), Pezzullo et al.
patent: 5657378 (1997-08-01), Haddock et al.
patent: 5771279 (1998-06-01), Cheston, III et al.
patent: 5774540 (1998-06-01), Davidson et al.
Bilgutay Vedat M.
Burnett Bruce E.
Fredericks Heinz-Josef
Howard Graham
Joerg Paul-Gerhard
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Woo Stella
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