Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Programming control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-08
2004-11-23
Trost, William (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Programming control
C455S414100, C455S426100, C455S456400, C455S412200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06823184
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to telecommunications.
BACKGROUND
A mobile telephone creates more opportunities for people to talk with each other, especially while in public places.
This expanded ability to converse has some negative aspects brought about by talk being an easy-to-use, expressive, and also noisy activity.
There are several ways that people attempt to deal with the situation of having private conversations while in a public place. First, individuals may be noisy in their conversation. This approach requires judgment about when privacy is not an overriding concern or when talk would be considered acceptable or too important to miss in a given situation.
Second, an individual may talk quietly. It is not uncommon to see a telephone user in a corner of the room in an attempt to shield a conversation. This is often inconvenient for the telephone users on both ends and again requires judgment to determine when this approach is working adequately.
Third, the individual may move the conversation elsewhere. It is not uncommon to see people leaving the room with a mobile telephone in hand. However, the movement itself is distracting, particularly when the telephone user's attention is focused on the conversation and not the motion (e.g. banging doors). The movement is also often accompanied by snatches of conversation (e.g. “Hello! how are you?”, “Just a second”).
Fourth, an individual may use an inaudible technology. Switching the conversation to a different modality, such as two-way text pager, is quiet. However, all parties to the conversation must be willing and able to switch to new modality.
Fifth, the individual may not take the call. Voicemail is a traditional way of dealing with calls when one is engaged. However, some telephone calls must be answered.
Sixth, in addition to the problems of privacy and disruption, recent observations of public uses of mobile telephones have revealed other disadvantages of mobile communications. Users may need to quickly, but informatively and politely, disengage from a conversation when their attention must immediately be elsewhere (e.g. listening to an important announcement, negotiating traffic).
Consequently, there is sometimes a need for the call to either be temporarily paused or fully discontinued appropriately by a very simple interaction.
Therefore, there is a desire to provide a system and method for conducting a telephone conversation in a public place without the above-identified disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention allows people to converse easily, expressively, and quietly while using mobile telecommunication devices in public.
A personal digital assistant for providing a conversation utterance to a remote listener is provided. A display provides a conversation representation. A memory stores the conversation representation and an associate conversation element. The conversation element has an internal representation of an audible utterance. A processor is coupled to the display and memory and provides a control signal. An audio output provides the audible utterance responsive to the control signal and the conversation element.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an impedance matching circuit is coupled to the audio output. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, a telephone is coupled to the impedance matching circuit.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the display is a touchscreen display.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the processor includes a playback controller coupled to the memory by a RF-232 serial bus. The playback controller includes an audio generator and stores the conversation element.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the personal digital assistant includes a graphic user interface (“GUI”) having the conversation representation.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the conversation representation is selected from a group consisting of an icon, a symbol, a figure, a graph, a checkbox, a GUI widget and a graphic button. In an embodiment, the conversation representation is selected from a group consisting of a text and a label.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the conversation element is selected from the group consisting of a phrase, a word, a letter, a number, a symbol, or a sound effect.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the internal representation is in a format selected from the group consisting of a sound file, a record or playback, a text and a MIDI sequence.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user deletes the conversation representation and/or conversation element.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user adds the conversation representation and/or conversation element.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user alters the association between the conversation representation and the conversation element.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the conversation representation and the conversation element are downloaded and/or uploaded from or to a host computer.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the control signal is generated in response to a user selecting the conversation representation.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a personal digital assistant provides an audible utterance to a remote listener. The personal digital assistant comprises a display and a device for providing a conversation representation associated with a conversation element. A memory stores a conversation element associated with the conversation representation. The conversation element has an internal representation of an audible utterance. A processor is coupled to the display, the device and the memory. The processor generates a control signal response to a device signal. An audio output coupled to the processor and the memory provides the audible utterance responsive to the control signal and the conversation element.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the device is selected from the group consisting of a button, a switch, a knob, a label, a barcode, a glyph and Braille.
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Fliesler & Meyer LLP
Fuji 'Xerox Co., Ltd.
Rampuria Sharad
Trost William
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