METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STORING TELEPHONE NUMBERS IN A PORTABLE TERMINAL

• US 20120185495A1
• Filed: 01/09/2012
• Published: 07/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lim, Heui-Do, Park, Yun-Seon
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,662 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27457 Management thereof, e.g. manual editing of data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs

Abstract

A method and apparatus for storing a telephone number in a portable terminal. The method includes the steps of providing a user with a name input request message; determining whether or not the inputted name exists in a phone book list of the portable terminal; and generating a new entry including the inputted name and its associated telephone number and adding the new entry to the phone book list when the inputted name does not exist in the phone book list.

Claims

1. A method for storing a telephone number in a portable terminal, comprising:

providing a user with a name input request message in response to a telephone number store request;

determining whether or not the inputted name exists in a phone book list of the portable terminal; and

generating a new entry comprising the inputted name and the telephone number and adding the new entry to the phone book list if the inputted name does not exist in the phone book list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether or not the inputted name is similar to another name in the phone book list; and

storing a telephone number with an existing name of the phone book list if the inputted name is the same as the another name.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

generating the new entry and storing the new entry in the phone book list when the inputted name is not same a name of the phone book list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching for similar name while the name is inputted in real time.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing a telephone number in a corresponding selected word in case of selecting one of displayed similar words.

6. A portable terminal for storing a telephone number, comprising:

a display unit configured to display a name input request message;

a key input unit configured to input a user name for storing the telephone number;

a memory configured to store the phone book list and a newly generated name with a corresponding telephone number; and

a controller configured to generate the name input request message, provide the name input request message to the display unit, and generate a new entry according to whether or not the inputted name is similar to an existing name in the phone book list.

7. The portable terminal of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to generate the entry and store the entry with the telephone number in the phone book list when the inputted name does not exist in the phone book list.

8. The portable terminal of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether or not the inputted name is similar to another name in the phone book list, generate the entry if the inputted name and the another name represent two different people, and store the inputted name with a telephone number in the phone book list.

9. The portable terminal of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to store a telephone number with an existing name of the phone book list when the inputted name and the another name represent the same person.

10. The portable terminal of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to search for the existing name while the inputted name is entered and display search results to the display unit in real time.

11. The portable terminal of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to store a telephone number in a corresponding selected word in case of being selected one of displayed similar words while inputting the name.

12. The portable terminal of claim 10, wherein the display unit and the key input unit comprises a touch screen.

13. The portable terminal of claim 12, wherein the touch screen comprises a QWERTY keyboard.

14. The portable terminal of claim 6, further comprising a RF transceiver.

15. A computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:

providing a user with a name input request message in response to a telephone number store request;

determining whether or not the inputted name exists in a phone book list of the portable terminal; and

generating a new entry comprising the inputted name and the telephone number and adding the new entry to the phone book list if the inputted name does not exist in the phone book list.

16. The computer program of claim 15, further comprising code for:

determining whether or not the inputted name is similar to another name in the phone book list; and

storing a telephone number with an existing name of the phone book list if the inputted name is the same as the another name.

17. The computer program of claim 16, further comprising code for:

generating the new entry and storing the new entry in the phone book list when the inputted name is not same a name of the phone book list.

18. The computer program of claim 15, further comprising code for:

searching for a similar name while the name is inputted.

19. The computer program of claim 15, further comprising code for:

searching for a similar name while the name is inputted in real time.

20. The computer program of claim 15, further comprising code for:

storing a telephone number in a corresponding selected word in case of selecting one of displayed similar words.