Method for controlling a mobile terminal and mobile terminal

• US 20040132426A1
• Filed: 12/22/2003
• Published: 07/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Swissvoice AG (Invoxia SAS)
• Original Assignee: Swissvoice AG (Invoxia SAS)
• Inventors: Baiker, Stefan
• Application Number:
  US10/481,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20040132426A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/403
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 6/00 Tactile signalling systems, e.g. personal calling systems

Abstract

The inventive method allows to control a mobile wireless terminal such as a cordless or a cellular mobile station in order to limit or completely avoid disturbances the mobile terminal may cause during the receipt of a call which is a first or a second stage is acoustically or mechanically signalled to the user of the mobile terminal, comprising the steps of detecting a mechanical stimulus at least during the time an incoming call is signalled, stopping acoustical or mechanical signalling in case that a mechanical stimulus is detected and subsequently signalling the incoming call by emission of optical signals or automatically accepting the call and sending a recorded message to the calling party or switching the mobile wireless terminal off.

Claims

1. Method for controlling a mobile wireless terminal such as a cordless or a cellular mobile station in order to limit or completely avoid disturbances the mobile terminal may cause during the receipt of a call which in a first or a second stage is acoustically or mechanically signalled to the user of the mobile terminal, comprising the steps of

a) detecting a mechanical stimulus at least during the time an incoming call is signalled;

b) stopping acoustical or mechanical signalling in case that a mechanical stimulus is detected and subsequently

c1) switching the system to a status in which incoming calls are exclusively signalled by optical means or

c2) automatically accepting the call and sending a recorded message to the calling party or

c3) switching the mobile wireless terminal off

c3-1) instantaneously or

c3-2) after receipt of a further mechanical stimulus.

2. Method according to claim 1, in which the incoming call is automatically accepted, a recorded message is sent to the calling party and the call is answered by the called patty after a while as indicated in said message or a message from the calling party is recorded before the call is terminated.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, in which a call is signalled by emission of optical signals for a pre-defined time period and, in case that no mechanical stimulus is detected during this time period, signalling is subsequently continued by emission of acoustical signals.

4. Method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, in which a mechanical stimulus is detected by a shock sensor (30) or by a sensor (10;

10a;

10b;

10c;

20) which transforms acoustical or mechanical waves into electrical signals.

5. Method according to claim 4, with a mobile terminal comprising a microphone which is used as acoustical sensor (10;

10a;

10b;

10c) and/or with a device for generating calling vibrations which is used as vibration sensor (20).

6. Method according to claim 4 or 5, in which the electrical signals provided by the microphone (10;

10a;

10b;

10c) are filtered thereby suppressing frequencies in the range of ringing signals and/or passing only frequencies in the range of acoustical signals which may be caused by a mechanical stimulus.

7. Method according to claim 4, 5 or 6, in which the electrical signals provided by the sensor (10;

10a;

10b;

10c;

20) are compared with a fixed or adjustable threshold value.

8. Mobile wireless terminal such as a cordless or a cellular mobile station designed to communicate over transmission channels with further voice and/or data terminals comprising a control unit (1), a memory unit (2) storing an operating system (5), a keyboard (3), a display unit (4), communication modules (11, . . . , 17) and means (18) designed for acoustically or mechanically signalling a call incoming from one of said further terminals such as an electromechanical transducer (18;

20, 24), characterised in that a shock sensor (30) or a sensor (10;

10a;

10b;

10c;

20), which transforms acoustical or mechanical waves into electrical signals, is connected to the control unit (1) which is programmed

a) to detect a mechanical stimulus based on signals received from said sensor (10;

10a;

10b;

10c;

20;

30) at least during the time an incoming call is signalled;

b) to stop acoustical or mechanical signalling in case that a mechanical stimulus is detected and subsequently.

c1) to switch the system to a status in which incoming calls are exclusively signalled by optical means such as a light emitting diode (9) for non-acoustical signalling or

c2) to automatically accept the call and to send a recorded message to the calling party or

c3) to switch the mobile wireless terminal off

c3-1) instantaneously or

c3-2) after receipt of a further mechanical stimulus.

9. Mobile wireless terminal according to claim 8, in which the control unit (1) is programmed to automatically accept incoming calls, to send a recorded message to the calling party and to keep the call on hold or to record a message from the calling party before the call is terminated.

10. Mobile wireless terminal according to claim 8 or 9, with a microphone (10) used for communication purposes and as sensor (10;

10a;

10b;

10c) which transforms acoustical or mechanical waves into electrical signals and/or a device (20) for generating calling vibrations which is used as vibration sensor (20) which transforms mechanical waves into electrical signals.

11. Mobile wireless terminal according to claim 10, with at least one element (106a;

106b;

106c) elastically connected to the microphone (10a;

10b;

10c) which during a mechanical stimulus is contacting

a) a second element (106a) thereby generating acoustical waves or

b) the membrane (103) of the microphone (10b) thereby inducing a voltage in the coil (102) connected to the membrane (103) or

c) a solid part of the microphone (10b) such as a yoke (107) thereby generating acoustical and mechanical waves.

12. Mobile wireless terminal according to one of the claims 8-11, in which the control unit (1) comprises a filter module (6) designed to filter electrical signals received from the microphone (10;

10a;

10b;

10c) thereby suppressing frequencies in the range of ringing signals and/or passing only frequencies in the range of acoustical signals which may be caused by a mechanical stimulus.

13. Mobile wireless terminal according to one of the claims 8-12, with a comparator (7) designed to compare the electrical signals provided by the microphone (10;

10a;

10b;

10c) or the vibration sensor (20) with a fixed or adjustable threshold value.