GB2319645A

GB2319645A - Method of sending information to a pager

Info

Publication number: GB2319645A
Application number: GB9624554A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jackson Chang; David Lin; Charlie Tu
Original assignee: Inventec Corp
Current assignee: Inventec Corp
Priority date: 1996-11-26
Filing date: 1996-11-26
Publication date: 1998-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2016-11-26
Also published as: GB9624554D0; SG52870A1; CA2191276A1; GB2319645B

Abstract

A method for automatically sending information of a calling party 302 to a pager 305 of a called party 301 via the use of a paging system 304 includes setting some data pertinent to the paging system and the pager in a telephone set 301. Thereafter, information originating from the calling party 302 through a telephone network 303 is retrieved by the telephone set 301, and is stored in the telephone set 301. The use of the paging system is requested via sending the data pertinent to the paging system and the pager. Finally, the stored information of the calling party is sent to the paging system, and is further sent to the pager by the paging system. Thus , if the called party 301 does not answer his phone, he is automatically paged.

Description

METHOD OF SENDING INFORMATION TO A PAGER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of automatically sending information ofa calling party to a pager of a called party via the use of a paging system.

2. Description of the Prior Art Since Alexander Graham Bell performed experiments on a device fbr sending signals over a conductive wire, the telephone has been growing as a practical device in the modern day. FIG. 1 shows the block diagram of a telephone set. Whenever a caller lifts the handset 10, or referred to as off hook, the telephone network or telephone system is then requested and ready for use by an indicated dial tone. Thereafter, the number of a called party is sent to the telephone network by rotating a dial 12 or by pressing number keys 14. A ringing signal detecting circuit or a ringer 16 in the telephone set of the called party detects the ringing signal and consequently generates some audible tone. After the handset on the called side is lifted, both parties can communicate to each other through transforming sound wave to or from electrical signals by the receiver (earpiece) 18 and the transmitter (mouthpiece) 19.

As the number of the telephones increases, a central office exchange (CO) is established to switch among the telephones. Each telephone is connected to the central office through a local loop consisting of the two wires or four wires. The status of the handset is detected by the CO through this local loop where a de voltage, usually about 48 volts, is provided by the CO. When the number of the connected telephones further increases, a public switched telephone network is employed to accommodate more telephone connections in an effective manner.

As the telephone network grows larger and more complicated, varieties of functions and services become available. Caller identification (ID) display is a new service available in some modern telephone network, where the caller ID is sent during the beginning of the ringing. FIG. 2A shows a simplified block diagram of the Bellcore used in North American, illustrating that the caller ID 20 is transmitted between two first ring patterns 21, 22. The caller ID is usually transmitted by a modulation method such as frequency shift keying (FSK). FIG. 2B shows another simplified block diagram of the method used in Great Britain, demonstrating that the caller ID 23 is transmitted after the channel is seized 24, but before the ringing 25.

Caller ID display is a convenient service to the public, however the display becomes useless when the called party does not stay near the telephone set to answer the call. Therefore, a need has been arisen to provide a method to immediately notice the called party who misses the call.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a method is provided for automatically sending information of a calling party to a pager of a called party via the use of a paging system. In one embodiment, a setting procedure is firstly performed. A paging system number of a pager station is set in the telephone set, and a pager number is also set. A wait time setting is optionally used for inserting a period of the wait time between sending the paging system number and sending the pager number. Further, a code is set for specifically indicating to the paging system what type of the following content is, and a flag is used internally to assert the action of the present invention The data mentioned above are stored in a memory area such as a random access memory device.

In the beginning of a phone call, the caller ID information is retrieved by the caller ID retrieving device and stored in memory area such as a RAM. Before the ringing stops, if the handset of the telephone set is lifted, the present invention ends. On the contrary, if the call is not answered, the stored flag is checked, and a switch is closed or off hooked, followed usually by a delay of a few seconds to ensure that the connection to the local loop becomes electrically stable. The use of the paging system is then requested via dialing out the paging system number, delaying a period of the set wait time and dialing out the pager number. After a connection to the pager has succeeded, the caller ID information is sent to the pager. Usually, the code is sent before the caller ID information is sent. Finally, the switch is opened or on hooked.

If another phone call comes while the caller ID information is sending, the caller ID information of the coming phone call is retrieved using the interval such as the delayed wait time or the delay period Further, if the CPU is fast enough, the retrieving operation and the sending operation can be performed concurrently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows the block diagram of a conventional telephone set.

FIG. 2A shown a simplified block diagram of the Bellcore paging system used in North American FIG. 2B shows another simplified block diagram of a paging system used in Great Britain.

FIG. 3 shows a traditional paging system FIG. 4 shows an encoding of the control center number and the pager number in a conventional paging system.

FIG. 5A shows the block diagram of a telephone set in connection with the present invention.

FIG. 5B shows a telephone set in connection with the present invention.

FIG. 5C demonstrates one situation occurred in utilizing the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows the flow diagram of the setting procedure according to the present invention FIG. 7 shows that the set data and the retrieved caller ID information are stored in a memory area.

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of the procedure according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In order to solve the problem mentioned in the background, the present invention provides a method that utilizes an existent paging system to immedlately send information of a calling party to a pager of a called party who misses the call.

FIG. 3 shows a paging system which includes a control center or paging control terminal (PCT) 30, some base stations 32 connected to the control center 30 via conductive wire 34. When a caller requesting the use of the paging system by dialing the control center number, followed by sending the pager number, the pager 36 will receive the electromagnetic wave from a nearby base station 32, and an audible sound or a display is then generated on the pager.

Public paging system is one type among the paging systems used today.

Coverage of five to eight kilometers is usually achieved by a base station having at least power of 100 watts. Another type of paging system is a private system used in a limited building or area such as a plant, a construction site or a business building.

The encoding of the control center number and the pager number can be different for different paging system or different area Following is one example of the encoding: 070 + A (area code) + XBX...X (9 digits) A corresponding flow diagram is shown in FIG. 4. When a dial tone is heard 40, dial 41 the aforementioned encoded format, 070AXXXX. ..X. After the format is verified by the control center (step 42), a code such as "#" is pressed (step 44), followed by at most 20 characters and the "#"again.

One embodiment of the present invention is described in the following paragraphs. FIG. 5A shows the block diagram of a telephone set in connection with the present invention. A central processing unit (CPU) 103 controls a caller ID retrieving device 101, which is used to retrieve the caller ID information in the beginning of each phone call. The software program which implements the control procedures resides in a read only mernory (ROM) 102, and some set data and the retrieved caller ID infbrmation are stored in a memory device 104 such as a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory or an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). The CPU 103 also controls a transmitter-receiver circuit 108 and a dialing circuit 107, which sends out signal frequency pertinent to a dialing telephone number. Conventional ringer 109 and ringing signal detecting circuit 110 are connected to the local loop from a central office exchange (CO). Further, a liquid crystal display (LCD) & key pad circuit 105 is used to control the input/output of a telephone set shown in FIG. 5B, where the caller ID infbrmation is shown in a LCD panel 210, and the phone number is input using the key pad 204.

FIG. 5C demonstrates one situation occurred in utilizing the present invention.

The calling party 302 originates a phone call to the phone set 301 of the called party via a telephone network 303 such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a private switched telephone network. Assume the called party misses this phone call, the pager 305 held by the called party will nonetheless receive some caller ID information sent by the telephone set 301 ofthe called party via the telephone network 303 and the paging system 304 according to the present invention Before the operation mentioned above begins, a setting procedure, shown in FIG. 6, must be performed. A paging system number, which is usually the number of the pager station to be requested, is set (step 60) in the telephone set of FIGs. 5A and 5B. In step 61, a pager number is set consequently. The wait time setting in step 62 is optionally used for inserting a period ofthe wait time between sending the paging system number and sending the pager number later in connection with the operation in FIG. 8.

A code is set in step 63 for specifically indicating to the paging system what type of the following content is. A flag is further used (step 64) internally to assert the action of the present invention. It is understood that the flag can be omitted to penently turn on the action. It is also noted that the sequence of the above setting can be altered without departing from the spirit of the present invention The above set data are stored in a memory area 70, such as a RAM, a flash memory or an EEPROM, as shown in FIG. 7, where the paging system number, the pager number, the wait time, the code and the flag are respectively designated as 701 through 705.

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention. In the beginning of a phone call, the caller ID such as the caller's number and the call's name are retrieved by the caller ID retrieving device in step 80 and stored in memory area such as a RAM, a flash memory or an EEPROM in step 81. Numeral 72 in FIG. 7 designates how the caller's number 707, the caller's name 708 and additional data 709 are stored in the memory area. Before the ringing stops, if the handset of the telephone set is lifted, the YES branch of block 82 is followed and thus ends the present invention On the contrary, if the call is not answered, the stored flag is checked (step 83) whether the following operation is asserted. If the check result is YES, the switch 111 in FIG. 5A is thereafter closed or off hooked in step 84, followed usually by a delay of a few seconds to ensure that the connection to the local loop is electrically stable in step 85.

The use of the paging system is then requested via dialing out the paging system number (step 86), delaying a period of the set wait time (step 87) and dialing out the pager number (step 88). After a connection to the pager has succeeded, the caller ID information such as the caller's number 707, shown in FIG. 7, is sent (step 90) to the page. Usually, the code 704, shown in FIG. 7, is sent (step 89) before the caller ID infbrmation is sent. It is understood that other information, such as the caller's name 708 or the additional data 709, shown in FIG. 7, can also be sent to the pager and only limited to the capacity under the associated paging system Finally, the switch 111 in the FIG. 5A is opened or on hooked in step 91 to disconnect the telephone set from the telephone network.

There is a possibility that another phone call may come while the caller ID information is sending during step 84 through stet 97. The situation can be solved without missing any coming phone call by retrieving the caller ID information of the coming phone call using the interval such as the delayed wait time in step 87 or the delay period in step 85. Further, if the CPU is fast enough, the retrieving operation and the sending operation can be performed concurrently.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modification may be made without departing from the spirit which is intended to be limited solely by the appended claims.

For example, the telephone network mentioned above can be a public switched telephone network, a local loop or a private switched network. The present invention can be applied to each paging system having different protocoL Further, the aforementioned pager can be a tone type pager, which only generates an audible sound when connected, or can be a character display or numeric display type pager, which usually has a LCD panel for displaying incoming character or numeric message.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method for automatically sending information of a calling party to a pager of a called party via the use of a paging system, said method comprising the steps of: setting a plurality of data pertinent to the paging system and the pager in a telephone set; retrieving said infbrmation of the calling party by the telephone set, said information of the calling party being originated from the calling party through a telephone network, said information of the calling party being stored in the telephone set; requesting the use of the paging system via sending the data pertinent to the paging system and the pager; and sending the stored information of the calling party to the paging system, said sent information being further sent to the pager by the paging system

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of data comprises: a paging system number for requesting the use of the paging system; a pager numbeer for identifying the pager; and a code for indicating to the paging system the type of content in the sent information.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising setting a wait time for inserting the period of the wait time between sending the paging system number and sending the pager number.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising setting a flag to assert the action of said method.

5. The method according to claim 1. wherein said information of the calling party comprises: a caller number designated as an identification of the calling party; and a caller name representing the name of the calling party.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said set data pertinent to the paging system and the pager are stored in a memory device.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said memory device is a member selected from the group consisting of a random access memory, a flash memory, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory, and combinations thereof.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said information of the calling party is stored in a memory device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said memory device is a member selected from the group consisting of a random access memory, a flash memory, an electrically erasable programable read only memory, and combinations thereof.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising connecting the telephone set to the telephone network after ringing ends.

11. The method according to claim 5, wherein said sent information of the calling party is the caller number.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising disconnecting the telephone set from the telephone network.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving another information of another calling party when the paging system being requesting.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein said telephone network is connected to a central office exchange via a local loop.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein said telephone network comprises a public switched telephone network.

i 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said telephone network comprises a private switched telephone network.

17. A method for automatically sending information of a calling party to a pager of a called party via the use of a paging system, said method comprising the steps of: setting a plurality of data pertinent to the paging system and the pager in a telephone set, said data comprising at least a paging system number for requesting the use of the paging system, a pager number for identitjing the pager, and a code for indicating to the paging system the type of content in the sent information; retrieving said information of the calling party by the telephone set, said information of the calling party being originated from the calling party through a public switched telephone network, and being stored in the telephone set, said information of the calling party comprising at least a caller number designated as an identification of the calling party, and a caller name representing the name of the calling party; requesting the use of the paging system via sending the data pertinent to the paging system and the pager; and sending the stored information of the calling party to the paging system, said sent information being further sent to the pager by the paging system

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising setting a wait time for inserting the period of the wait time between sending the paging system number and sending the pager number.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising setting a flag to assert the action of said method.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein said set data pertinent to the paging system and the pager are stored in a memory device.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said memory device is a member selected from the group consisting ofa random access memory, a flash memory, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory, and combinations thereof.

22. The method according to claim 17, wherein said information of the calling party is stored in a memory device.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein said memory device is a member selected from the group consisting of a random access memory, a flash memory, an electrically erasable prograininable read only memory, and combinations thereof.

24. The method according to claim 17, further comprising connecting the telephone set to the public switched telephone network after ringing ends.

25. The method according to claim 17, wherein said sent information of the calling party is the caller number.

26. The method according to claim 17, further comprising disconnecting the telephone set from the public switched telephone network.

27. The method according to claim 17, further comprising retrieving another information of another calling party when the paging system being requesting.

28. The method according to claim 17, wherein said public switched telephone network is connected to a central office exchange via a local loop.

29. Methods for automatically sending information of a calling party via the use of a paging system as claimed in claim 1 and as herein described.

30. Methods for automatically sending information of a calling party via the use of a paging system as herein described and illustrated in Figures 5 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.