Virtual pager for general purpose data terminal

• US 5,459,458 A
• Filed: 02/24/1995
• Issued: 10/17/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnson, Mark J., Major, Susan B., Milikich, G. Michael, Richardson, C. Patrick, Van Rooy, Stephen J., Mathis, James E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yusko, Donald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MERZ, EDWARD W
• Application Number:
  US08/394,046
• Time in Patent Office: 235 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.52, 340/825.44, 379/53, 379/58, 364/705.01, 364/705.05, 364/715.01
• US Class Current: 340/9.15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/185 Selective call encoders for paging networks, e.g. paging centre devices

Abstract

A general-purpose data terminal (242), such as a personal computer, portable computer, notebook computer, personal intelligent communicator, portable wireless terminal and the like employs a radio frequency (RF) modem (408) and is programmed to function as a two-way acknowledge back pager. The general purpose data terminal (242) maintains a table listing (600) of caller identification information and presents this information to the device user upon receipt of a page (300) from an identifiable caller. The device user may respond to the page by selecting one of a plurality of user definable responses to be transmitted back to the caller. If no response is selected the caller will receive a message informing them of the paged party'"'"'s unavailability.

Claims

1. A data communication system comprising:

a base station for transmitting variable length message signals to a plurality of remotely located data terminals, said base station including;

input means for receiving variable length message signals to be sent to said plurality of data terminals, and a transmitter, coupled to said input means, for transmitting the variable length messages to said plurality of data terminals, said variable length messages comprising at least one of a call-back number and message text; and

said plurality of data terminals, each comprising;

a receiver for receiving the variable length messages, means, coupled to the receiver, for selecting a variable length message as intended for a particular data terminal among the plurality of remotely located data terminals, means for storing a table of caller identification information in memory, said caller identification information comprising at least one of a caller ID number and a catchword, means, coupled to the selecting means for extracting the call-back number from the selected message, means, coupled to memory and the selecting means, for comparing the received call-back number to caller ID numbers stored in memory, and means for displaying the selected message and the caller identification information stored in memory as a function of the comparison.

2. The data communication system of claim 1 wherein a data terminal is a device selected from the group consisting of:

general purpose computers, personal computers, portable computers, notebook computers, electronic personal organizers and intelligent personal communicators.

3. The data communication system of claim 1 wherein a data terminal further comprises means, coupled to the selecting means for comparing the received message text to stored catchwords when a call-back number is not present, and means for displaying the selected message and the caller identification information stored in memory as a function of the comparison.

4. A general purpose data terminal for receiving a radio paging call comprising a caller generated variable length message, said message comprising at least one of a call-back number and message text, said general purpose data terminal comprising:

a radio receiver for receiving the caller generated variable length message;

memory for storing a table of caller identification information, said information comprising at least one of a plurality of caller ID numbers and a plurality of catchwords;

processing means, coupled to the radio receiver, for extracting the call-back number from the received message;

said processing means, coupled to the memory, for indexing the table as a function of the extracted call-back number;

a display unit, coupled to memory, for displaying the received message and the indexed caller identification information;

an input device, operative by a data terminal user, for designating a user selected response in response to the message display; and

a radio transmitter, responsive to the user designation, for transmitting a signal acknowledging reception of said paging call, said acknowledge signal also being indicative of a response to said paging call.

5. The general purpose data terminal of claim 4 is a device selected from the group consisting of:

personal computers, portable computers, notebook computers, electronic personal organizers, intelligent personal communicators and portable wireless terminals.

6. The general purpose data terminal of claim 4 wherein the displaying unit is a visual display device selected from the group consisting of:

cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, television monitors, liquid crystal display (LCD) modules, and light emitting diode (LED) displays.

7. The general purpose data terminal of claim 4 wherein the input device for designating a user selected response is a device selected from the group consisting of:

touch screen apparatus, electromechanical switches, alphanumeric keyboards, light sensitive pens, voice activation devices, graphic user interfaces, and computerized information presentation systems.

8. The general purpose data terminal of claim 4 further comprising said processing means, coupled to the radio receiver and memory, for comparing the received message text to catchwords stored in memory when a call-back number is not present and for indexing the table based upon a catchword comparison, said display unit, coupled to memory, for displaying the received message and the caller identification information stored in memory as a function of the comparison.

9. The general purpose data terminal of claim 4 wherein the key words are selected from the group consisting of:

first names, surnames, business names, addresses and names for interpersonal relationships.

10. In a data communication system a method of radio paging comprising the steps of:

transmitting a paging call comprising a caller generated variable length message, said message comprising at least one of a call-back number and message text;

receiving at a general purpose computer, having a radio receiver, the caller generated variable length message;

storing within general purpose computer memory, a table of caller identification information, said caller identification information comprising at least one of call-back numbers and catchwords;

extracting the call-back number from the received message;

indexing the table as a function of the extracted call-back number;

displaying the received message and the indexed caller identification information;

in response to the display of said message and the caller identification information, designating a user selected response; and

in response to the user designation, transmitting a signal acknowledging reception of said paging call, said acknowledge signal also being indicative of a response to the transmitted paging call.

11. A data communication system comprising:

a base station for transmitting variable length message signals to a plurality of remotely located data terminals, said base station including;

input means for receiving variable length message signals from a message originator to be sent to said plurality of data terminals, said variable length messages comprising at least one of a call-back number and message text, a transmitter, coupled to said input means, for transmitting the variable length messages to said plurality of data terminals, a receiver for receiving messages from said plurality of data terminals in response to the transmitted message, and means, coupled to the receiver for routing signals back to said originator, said signals providing indicia of reception of the transmitted signal as well as a response to the originator; and

said plurality of data terminals, each comprising;

a receiver for receiving the variable length messages, means, coupled to the receiver, for selecting a variable length message as intended for a particular data terminal among the plurality, means for storing a table of caller identification information in memory, said caller identification information comprising at least one of a call-back number and a catchword, means, coupled to the selecting means for extracting the call-back number from the selected message, means, coupled to memory and the selecting means, for comparing the received call-back number to call-back numbers stored in memory, and means for displaying the selected message and the caller identification information stored in memory as a function of the comparison.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein a data terminal further comprises:

an input device, operative by a data terminal user, for designating a user selected response in response to the message display; and

a radio transmitter, responsive to the user designation, for transmitting a signal back to the base station, said signal providing indicia of reception of the transmitted signal as well as a response to the originator.