Telephonic communications – Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-25
2001-01-30
Nguyen, Duc (Department: 2743)
Telephonic communications
Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...
C379S093050, C379S110010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06181782
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a PDA (personal digital assistance) device.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-23664 discloses a conventional automatic dialing unit as illustrated in FIG.
5
.
The automatic dialing unit illustrated in
FIG. 5
includes: a modular jack
2
for connecting the automatic dialing unit to a telephone line
1
; a diode rectifier
3
for rectifying a telephone line voltage of the telephone line
1
to the same polarity regardless of the polarity of the telephone line voltage; a constant-voltage power supply circuit
5
for supplying a voltage required for the automatic dialing unit; a RAM
7
for storing a telephone number to be dialed; a backup battery
8
for saving data stored in the RAM
7
; a control circuit
6
for receiving from the RAM
7
the telephone number data to be dialed and outputting a dialing signal; a dial switch circuit
4
for outputting a dial pulse signal by opening/closing the telephone line
1
according to the dialing signal received from the control circuit
6
; and an associated telephone
9
for closing the telephone line
1
so as to activate the constant-voltage power supply circuit
5
.
Referring to
FIG. 5
, when the associated telephone
9
is placed in the off-hook state, the telephone line voltage of the telephone line
1
activates the constant-voltage power supply circuit
5
via the diode rectifier
3
. The constant-voltage power supply circuit
5
supplies to the control circuit
6
a power for operating the control circuit
6
.
The control circuit
6
performs automatic dialing by controlling the dial switch circuit
4
according to the telephone number registered in the RAM
7
which saves its data by means of the backup battery
8
.
When the associated telephone
9
is placed in the on-hook state, the power supply from the telephone line
1
to the diode rectifier
3
stops, thereby turning off the control circuit
6
. In the “off-hook state” as used herein, the handset is taken off the hook, where a voltage of about 48 V is applied to the device. In the “on-hook state” as used herein, the handset is put on the hook, where a voltage of about 4 V is applied to the device.
In recent years, as small note-book PCs and PDA devices have become wide-spread while the PC network/internet environment has expanded with public telephones with a modular jack having become common, the PC communication environment including the internet (inter alia the outdoor communication environment) has been improved. Accordingly, the number of users who use such a communication environment has increased.
The automatic dialing unit illustrated in
FIG. 5
performs automatic dialing by a simple and easy operation of placing the handset of the associated telephone in the off-hook state. However, the automatic dialing unit illustrated in
FIG. 5
requires an associated telephone for performing automatic dialing, while the function thereof is limited to automatic dialing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of this invention, a personal digital assistance device for communicating with another device via a telephone line is provided, which includes: a connection section for connecting the personal digital assistance device to the telephone line; a communication section for dialing a telephone number of the other device, for transferring data between the devices, and for disconnecting the telephone line, thereby communicating with the other device via the telephone line to which the personal digital assistance device is connected by the connection section; a control section for controlling the communication section; a voltage detection section for detecting a voltage of the telephone line to which the personal digital assistance device is connected by the connection section; and a determination section for determining whether the voltage detected by the voltage detection section is equal to or greater than a predetermined voltage. When the determination section determines that the voltage detected by the voltage detection section is equal to or greater than the predetermined voltage, the determination section turns on a power supply for supplying a power to the control section.
In one embodiment of the invention, the personal digital assistance device includes a setting section for setting whether to turn on or off the power supply. When the determination section determines that the voltage detected by the voltage detection section is equal to or greater than the predetermined voltage, the determination section turns on or off the power supply according to a setting made by the setting section.
In another embodiment of the invention, when it is determined that the voltage detected by the voltage detection section is less than the predetermined voltage after the control section has been connected to the other device via the telephone line to which the personal digital assistance device is connected by the connection section, the determination section turns off the power supply.
In still another embodiment of the invention, when the determination section supplies a power to the control section, the determination section instructs the communication section to dial a predetermined telephone number, to transmit predetermined data to the telephone line and then to disconnect the telephone line.
According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically perform a series of communication procedures (i.e., dialing/data transfer/disconnection) by a simple and easy operation of connecting a modular plug/jack to a telephone line.
Moreover, after the modular plug/jack has been connected to the telephone line, it is possible to select whether or not to perform the communication procedures of the present invention. Thus, a user is allowed to select whether or not to perform communication procedures after the user has connected the modular plug/jack.
Furthermore, the power supply of the device is stopped when a voltage equal to or greater than a predetermined voltage is no longer detected. Therefore, the power supply of the device can be stopped by removing the modular plug/jack from the telephone line at any time during or after the communication. Since the power supply of the device is stopped by the removal of the modular plug/jack, the user is prevented from forgetting to turn off the device.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantage of solving the problems in the prior art by providing a PDA device with a voltage detection section and a control section for controlling the overall communication.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5588054 (1996-12-01), Shin et al.
patent: 5675524 (1997-10-01), Bernard
patent: 5835732 (1998-11-01), Kikinis et al.
patent: 6084954 (2000-07-01), Harless et al.
patent: 59-23664 (1984-02-01), None
Conlin David G.
Daley, Jr. William J.
Dike Bronstein, Roberts & Cushman LLP
Nguyen Duc
Ramakrishnaiah Melur
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