Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Message storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-06
2002-12-10
Le, Thanh Cong (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Message storage or retrieval
C455S413000, C455S414200, C455S415000, C379S088210
Reexamination Certificate
active
06493548
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to portable telephone terminals and, more particularly, to a portable telephone terminal having an answering function for switching between answer messages in accordance with a caller number and the time, and also to a terminal operable by a remote telephone set using caller number authentication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-66145 discloses a mobile communication terminal having an answering function for switching between answer messages depending on a caller number. A call signal incoming at a called terminal from a calling terminal includes a caller number and control information for controlling the called terminal. The called terminal controls an answering mode and switches between answer messages based on the caller number and the control information. Answer messages for individual expected callers are registered in the called terminal and retrieved according to the flowchart of FIG.
7
. Each answer message has associated therewith a message identification number.
Referring to
FIG. 7
, when it is determined in step ST
1001
that there is an incoming call, a determination is made in step ST
1002
as to whether the automatic answering mode is activated. When the answering mode is activated, a determination is made in step ST
1003
as to whether a calling number is identified. If the calling number is identified, a determination is then made in step ST
1005
as to whether the calling number is registered in a directory. If the calling number is registered, a determination is made in step ST
1006
as to whether the forced answering mode is on. If it is determined that the forced answering mode is turned on, a determination is made in step ST
1007
as to whether a predetermined answer message is to be used to automatically respond to the particular caller. If an affirmative answer is yielded in step ST
1007
, the answer message for that caller is used for response in step ST
1008
. If a negative answer is yielded in steps ST
1003
, ST
1005
, ST
1006
and ST
1007
, a default answer message is used for response to that caller in step ST
1004
.
If it is determined in step ST
1002
that the answering mode is not activated, similar steps (ST
1011
, ST
1012
and ST
1009
) are executed. When it is determined in step ST
1009
that the forced answering mode is not turned on, a normal voice call proceeds in step ST
1010
.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-126495 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 9-182158 disclose a portable telephone set provided with a capability whereby the portable telephone set, if lost, can be remotely operated by another telephone set so that a dialing operation using the lost portable telephone set is prohibited. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-126495 also discloses a portable telephone set configurable, if lost, for a fixed call destination by feeding a remote operation signal to the lost portable telephone set. Operations related to the memory are prohibited so that the leak of personal information and the illegal use of the portable telephone set are prevented. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 9-182158 discloses a system wherein a lock preventing an illegal use of a lost portable telephone set is registered in a base station using another telephone set so that call origination by an illegal user is prevented.
A rapidly increasing number of portable telephone sets is being used because of the convenience it provides in enabling communication not bounded by time and place constraints. When a user is not able to answer a call, the answering function is utilized. The related-art mobile communication terminal disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-66145 is provided with an answering function for switching between answer messages depending on the caller number. However, related-art mobile communication terminals are not capable of switching between answer messages for a particular caller in accordance with the time that a call is received.
A user of a portable telephone set may want to answer a call from a particular caller but does not want to answer a call from the others. The answering function that meets such a requirement should be provided with a forced alert function for alerting a user of a call from a registered caller even when the answering mode is activated.
Another problem with the portable telephone system according to the related art is that an input of a password is required when a user calls a lost portable telephone set and remotely sets up a locked dialing option in the lost telephone set. When the user has forgotten the password, the locked dialing option cannot be set up when necessary.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone set in which the aforementioned problems are eliminated.
Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication terminal such as a portable telephone set provided with an answering function that enables switching between answer messages in accordance with the time of calling.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a portable telephone set in which a remote operation not requiring an input of a password is enabled by specifying terminal numbers (caller numbers) authorized to perform a remote operation for a locked dialing option or a voice mail option.
The aforementioned objects can be achieved by a mobile communication terminal comprising: timer means for detecting the time when a call incoming signal including a caller number is received from an originating terminal; caller number storage means for storing control codes in relation to expected caller numbers, the control codes being used to switch between different modes of operation of the mobile communication terminal; answer message storage means for storing messages to be returned to a caller; and answer message selecting means referring to said caller number storage means so as to determine whether the caller number included in the incoming call signal is registered in said caller number storage means, reading from said caller number storage means the control code associated with the caller number, and selecting an answer message stored in said answer message storage means based on the caller number, the control code and the time of call detected by said timer means.
The caller number storage means may store caller numbers, caller names corresponding to the caller numbers and time-dependent switching codes in relation to each other, the time-dependent control codes designating callers for whom answer messages are switched depending on a time zone in which the call is made.
The caller number storage means may store caller numbers, caller names corresponding to the caller numbers and forced alert codes in relation to each other, the forced alert code designating callers triggering a forced alert option for alerting a user of the mobile communication terminal of an incoming call even when an answering mode is activated.
The caller number storage means may store caller numbers, caller names corresponding to the caller numbers and locked dialing codes in relation to each other, the locked dialing codes designating callers authorized to set up a locked dialing option in the mobile communication terminal from a calling terminal.
The caller number storage means may store caller numbers, caller names corresponding to the caller numbers and voice mail codes in relation to each other, the voice mail codes designating callers authorized to set up a voice mail option in the mobile communication terminal from a calling terminal.
According to the invention, mobile communication terminal is provided with an answering function capable of selecting an answer message in accordance with the caller number included in an incoming call signal and switching between answer messages depending on the time of call. Since it is possible to prepare a variety of an
Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck
Tran Tuan
LandOfFree
Mobile telephone terminal with improved utility does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Mobile telephone terminal with improved utility, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Mobile telephone terminal with improved utility will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2925874