Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at separate stations
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-08
2001-01-30
Tsang, Fan (Department: 2746)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at separate stations
C455S039000, C340S870030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06181915
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to portable one-way radio pagers of the kind comprising receiver means for receiving radio messages, a memory for storing the messages, a screen, a simplified keypad comprising fewer than ten keys, and an electronic CPU, the pager being designed to display on its screen at least some of the messages it receives.
BACKGROUND ART
Many of the messages received by such pagers are requests for the bearer of the pager to call back the original caller on the telephone.
Unfortunately, the original caller does not always ensure that the message includes the telephone number which is to be called back, and as a result, if the bearer of the pager does not have an address book available containing the telephone number of the original caller, then the received message is likely to be without effect, or else the bearer of the pager will be obliged to look up the original caller's telephone number by consulting a telephone directory or possibly by calling his or her own office, which leads to a waste of time and efficiency.
Consequently, if they are to be efficient, bearers of portable radio pagers must also carry telephone numbers around with them in an address book, either in the form of a booklet or else in the form of a cordless electronic unit with an alphanumeric keyboard, thereby making them carry clutter.
A particular object of the present invention is to mitigate those drawbacks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To this end, according to the invention, a portable one-way radio pager of the kind in question is essentially characterized in that its memory includes an address book which is designed to include at least one person's name and telephone number, and in that the CPU is designed to:
recognize special “downloading” radio messages including at least a name and data relating to said name for storage in the address book;
store the contents of the downloading messages in the address book of the memory; and
display the data contained in the address book on the screen as a function of commands received from a user by means of the keypad.
By means of these dispositions, it is possible to integrate an address book in the portable radio pager even though the simplified keypad of the pager is unsuitable in practice for directly inputting data into the address book, in particular names and telephone numbers.
Thus, bearers of such pagers always have a telephone address book available, thereby enabling them to respond optimally to messages received, and secondly they are not cluttered up with extra objects to be carried around such as a booklet or an electronic unit.
It should be observed that it is very easy for a user to enter data into the electronic address book, and no complex manipulation is required.
All the user needs to do is telephone a human operator at a station for transmitting pager messages in the network to which the pager belongs. In the same manner as is already common for ordinary messages, the operator then causes the desired radio message to be transmitted, which in the present case contains the data to be stored in the address book of the user's own pager.
In preferred embodiments of the portable radio pager, use may also be made of one or more of the following dispositions:
the CPU is designed to recognize at least one predetermined string of characters included in each downloading paging message, thereby enabling said downloading paging message to be recognized;
the address book is also designed to include a respective address for each name;
the address book is also designed to include an additional telephone number associated with each name respectively, said additional telephone number being that of a fax associated with that name;
the address book is also designed to include a personal radio pager number associated with each name, respectively;
the keypad does not include any alphanumeric keys;
the pager further comprises a sound signal emitter, the CPU being designed to: enable a user to use the keypad to select a number contained in the address book; and cause the sound signal emitter to emit a run of individual sound signals respectively corresponding to the various digits of the selected number in a “voice frequency” dialing system; in particular, this telephone number may be a telephone number proper, a fax number, or a person's radio pager number, providing dialing the number on a telephone keypad gives rise to a telephone call to an operator of a station for transmitting radio paging messages in order to send a radio message to the radio pager of that person; and
the pager further comprises a connector which is connected to the CPU and which enables a connection to be made to an external printer, the CPU being designed to cause said printer to print data stored in the address book.
The invention also provides a method of storing data in the address book of a portable radio pager as defined above and which receives radio messages from at least one transmitter station, the method comprising the following steps:
a) sending the data to be stored in the address book of the radio pager to the transmitter station; and
b) causing the transmitter station to transmit a downloading radio message for entering into the address book of the radio pager.
In preferred implementations of this method, use is also made of one or more of the following dispositions:
the transmitter station is controlled, at least in part, by a human operator, step a) consisting in telephoning the human operator to give the identity of the pager whose address book is to store the data, and also the data to be stored in the address book: in this way, the user of the pager has no difficulty in creating or modifying the address book;
the downloading message includes at least one string of predetermined characters that is recognizable by the CPU of the pager; and
the downloading message is integrated in a message for displaying on the screen of the portable pager, thereby making it possible optionally to enrich the address book progressively as messages are received from various persons, providing said messages include downloading messages containing data relating to those persons.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention appear from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limiting example and with reference to the accompanying drawing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4490579 (1984-12-01), Godoshian
patent: 5212721 (1993-05-01), DeLuca et al.
patent: 5675324 (1997-10-01), Hashimoto et al.
patent: 5675627 (1997-10-01), Yaker
patent: 0086255 (1983-08-01), None
patent: WO-A-9111875 (1991-08-01), None
patent: WO-A-9410781 (1994-05-01), None
English Translation of International Search Report of PCT/FR96/00512.
Carreel Eric
Lewiner Jacques
Marshall O'Toole Gerstein Murray & Borun
Sobutka Philip J.
Tsang Fan
LandOfFree
Portable one-way radio pager including an electronic directory does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Portable one-way radio pager including an electronic directory, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Portable one-way radio pager including an electronic directory will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2496534