Mobile telephone having groups of user adjustable operating characteristics for facilitating adjustment of several operating characteristics

• US 5,479,476 A
• Filed: 02/04/1994
• Issued: 12/26/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ironworks Patents LLC
• Original Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones UK Limited (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Finke-Anlauff, Andrea
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne D.
• Application Number:
  US08/191,951
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 379/58, 379/59, 379/157, 379/200, 379/201, 379/210-212, 455/186.1
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6041 Portable telephones adapted for handsfree use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations

Abstract

A mobile telephone has a plurality of user adjustable operating characteristics, such as the volume of an output signal, the ringing volume, and the generation of tones. When moving from one environment to another, such as from an indoor environment to an in-car environment or an out-door environment, it is preferable to modify a plurality of these operating characteristics. In order to facilitate the modification of the plurality of user adjustable characteristics each group includes predetermined values for all these characteristics and the selection of a particular group results in a plurality of characteristics being modified simultaneously. Thus, when moving from one environment to another, a user is only required to make a single menu selection, resulting in a plurality of operating characteristics being modified simultaneously. For example, when moving into an in-car environment, the output volume can be increased, ringing tone volume can be increased and a call transfer function, if previously selected, can be disabled.

Claims

1. A mobile telephone having a plurality of user adjustable operating characteristics and means for adjusting said operating characteristics, comprising

means for defining a plurality of groups of said operating characteristics, wherein each said group includes a plurality of said user adjustable operating characteristics, and

means for selecting one of said defined plurality of groups for controlling an operation of said mobile telephone at least partially in accordance with the user adjustable characteristics of the selected one of said groups.

2. A mobile telephone according to claim 1, and further including ringing means, wherein the volume of said ringing means is one of said user adjustable operating characteristics.

3. A mobile telephone according to claim 1, and further including output means, wherein the volume of a signal generated by said output means is one of said user adjustable operating characteristics.

4. A mobile telephone according to claim 1, and further including means for generating tones when keys are depressed, wherein the generation of key tones is one of said user adjustable operating characteristics.

5. A mobile telephone according to claim 1, and further including means for generating warning tones, wherein the generation of warning tones is one of said user adjustable operating characteristics.

6. A mobile telephone according to claim 1, and further including means for illuminating said telephone, wherein said telephone illumination is one of said user adjustable operating characteristics.

7. A mobile telephone according to claim 1, and further including means for transferring calls, wherein the transfer of calls is one of said user adjustable operating characteristics.

8. A mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein values of the operating characteristics of at least one of said groups are adjustable by the user.

9. A method for modifying user adjustable operating characteristics of a mobile telephone having a plurality of operating characteristics, comprising the steps of:

defining a plurality of groups each of which includes a plurality of said user adjustable characteristics, inputting values for individual ones of said plurality of user adjustable characteristics and, selecting one of said defined groups for use in controlling an operation of the mobile telephone at least partially in accordance with the inputted values of the selected one of the groups.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the step of inputting values for said characteristics of a group is performed by a user.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein groups are predetermined for situations including "indoors", "outdoors" and "in-car".

12. A method according to claim 9, wherein the step of selecting is done from a displayed menu.

13. A method according to claim 9 and further comprising a step of changing the values of said characteristics of said groups by the user.

14. A method according to claim 9, wherein the steps of defining and inputting are performed during the manufacturing process.

15. A method according to claim 14 and further comprising a step of changing the values of said characteristics of said groups by the user.