Pager having remotely programmable canned messages

• US 5,561,702 A
• Filed: 01/18/1994
• Issued: 10/01/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Uniden America Corporation (Cornwall Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: Uniden America Corporation (Cornwall Capital Management LP)
• Inventors: Lipp, Ronald L., Rodriguez, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Rogers, Scott A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, CHEUKFAN
• Application Number:
  US08/182,932
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• Field of Search: 379/57, 379/63, 379/88, 379/96, 379/97, 340/825.44, 340/825.22, 455/38.2, 455/38.1, 455/186.1, 455/88, 455/70, 455/68
• US Class Current: 340/7.41
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/229 with other provisions not elsewhere provided for

Abstract

A select call receiver, such as a pager, is disclosed which comprises a canned message memory. The canned message memory has canned message memory storage locations that are linked to message tag identifiers. The pager recalls and displays canned messages upon receipt of message tag identifiers. In the first embodiment, the pager provides a programming mode wherein the user of the pager can remotely program canned messages into the pager by accessing a convention paging terminal and keying numeric data into a telephone keypad. The numeric data is converted to alphanumeric data according to a mnemonic entry scheme and stored in the pager'"'"'s canned message memory. In a second embodiment, the message tag identifier is also remotely programmable by the user, allowing great flexibility in the definition of the message tag identifiers.

Claims

1. A method of utilizing canned messages in a pager, the pager adapted to receive, store, recall, and display messages, and wherein said messages comprise numeric data, comprising the steps of:

specifying a tag identifier,

enabling a mode of operation, by the end user of the pager, wherein subsequently received messages, that are received by radio transmission, are stored in a canned message memory at a message storage location specified by said tag identifier, as a canned message,

disabling said mode of operation,

parsing subsequently received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion,

decoding said numeric data messages into alphanumeric data according to a decoding algorithm, and wherein

said decoding algorithm is defined by the following table, and is encoded by entering digits on a telephone by pressing keys;

space="preserve" listing-type="tabular">______________________________________ Letter Keys ______________________________________ A 2 B 2-2 C 2-2-2 D 3 E 3-3 F 3-3-3 G 4 H 4-4 I 4-4-4 J 5 K 5-5 L 5-5-5 M 6 N 6-6 O 6-6-6 P 7 Q 1 R 7-7 S 7-7-7 T 8 U 8-8 V 8-8-8 W 9 X 9-9 Y 9-9-9 Z 1-1 Delin 0 Space 0-0 ______________________________________

recalling said canned message from said canned message memory at a message storage location specified by said tag identifier portion of said received message.

2. A method of utilizing canned messages in a pager, the pager adapted to receive, store, recall, and display messages, and wherein said messages comprise numeric data, comprising the steps of:

specifying a tag identifier,

enabling a mode of operation, by the end user of the pager, wherein subsequently received messages, that are received by radio transmission, are stored in a canned message memory at a message storage location specified by said tag identifier, as a canned message,

disabling said mode of operation,

parsing subsequently received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion,

decoding said numeric data messages into alphanumeric data according to a decoding algorithm, and wherein

said decoding algorithm is defined by the following table, and is encoded by entering digits on a telephone by pressing keys;

space="preserve" listing-type="tabular">______________________________________ Letter Keys ______________________________________ A 2-1 B 2-2 C 2-3 D 3-1 E 3-2 F 3-3 G 4-1 H 4-2 I 4-3 J 5-1 K 5-2 L 5-3 M 6-1 N 6-2 O 6-3 P 7-1 Q 1-1 R 7-2 S 7-3 T 8-1 U 8-2 V 8-3 W 9-1 X 9-2 Y 9-3 Z 1-2 0 n/a 1 1-0 2 2-0 3 3-0 4 4-0 5 5-0 6 6-0 7 7-0 8 8-0 9 9-0 * *-0 # #-0 Delin n/a Space 0-0 ______________________________________

recalling said canned message from said canned message memory at a message storage location specified by said tag identifier portion of said received message.

3. A pager, comprising:

a receiver for selectively receiving messages;

a memory having a plurality of storage locations for storing canned messages and at least one of said plurality of storage locations having a tag identifier linked therewith,

an actuator, actuatable by the end user of the pager, for specifying one of said tag identifiers and enabling a mode of operation of said pager, and

a controller coupled to said receiver, said memory, and said actuator, such that when said actuator enables said mode of operation, the next received message(s), that is received by radio transmission, is interpreted as a numeric data message and is decoded into a canned message according to a decoding algorithm, and said canned message is stored in the one of said plurality of storage locations linked with the one of said tag identifiers specified by said actuator, and wherein

said decoding algorithm converts said numeric data message into said canned message, comprising alphanumeric data, according to the following conversion table;

space="preserve" listing-type="tabular">______________________________________ Alpha- numeric Numeric data data ______________________________________ A 2 B 2-2 C 2-2-2 D 3 E 3-3 F 3-3-3 G 4 H 4-4 I 4-4-4 J 5 K 5-5 L 5-5-5 M 6 N 6-6 O 6-6-6 P 7 Q 1 R 7-7 S 7-7-7 T 8 U 8-8 V 8-8-8 W 9 X 9-9 Y 9-9-9 Z 1-1 Delin 0 Space 0-0 ______________________________________

and said numeric data are delineated by the "Delin" character "0" from the above table.

4. A pager, comprising:

a receiver for selectively receiving messages;

a memory having a plurality of storage locations for storing canned messages and at least one of said plurality of storage locations having a tag identifier linked therewith,

an actuator, actuatable by the end user of the pager, for specifying one of said tag identifiers and enabling a mode of operation of said pager, and

a controller coupled to said receiver, said memory, and said actuator, such that when said actuator enables said mode of operation, the next received message(s), that is received by radio transmission, is interpreted as a numeric data message and is decoded into a canned message according to a decoding algorithm, and said canned message is stored in the one of said plurality of storage locations linked with the one of said tag identifiers specified by said actuator, and wherein

said decoding algorithm converts said numeric data message into said canned message, comprising alphanumeric data, according to the following conversion table;

space="preserve" listing-type="tabular">______________________________________ Alpha- numeric Numeric data data ______________________________________ A 2-1 B 2-2 C 2-3 D 3-1 E 3-2 F 3-3 G 4-1 H 4-2 I 4-3 J 5-1 K 5-2 L 5-3 M 6-1 N 6-2 O 6-3 P 7-1 Q 1-1 R 7-2 S 7-3 T 8-1 U 8-2 V 8-3 W 9-1 X 9-2 Y 9-3 Z 1-2 0 n/a 1 1-0 2 2-0 3 3-0 4 4-0 5 5-0 6 6-0 7 7-0 8 8-0 9 9-0 * *-0 # #-0 Delin n/a Space 0-0 ______________________________________

and said numeric data are delineated as every two of said numeric data.

5. A method of utilizing canned messages in a pager, the pager adapted to receive, store, recall, and display messages, and the pager further adapted to receive messages transmitted from an automated paging terminal which accepts message transmission requests from the public switched telephone network wherein standard DTMF telephones are used as message input terminals, comprising the steps of:

specifying a tag identifier,

enabling a mode of operation in the pager wherein subsequently received messages are stored in a canned message memory at a message storage location identified by said tag identifier,

accessing the automated paging terminal via the public switched telephone network using a standard DTMF telephone,

entering a message on a DTMF telephone keypad,

transmitting, by the automated paging terminal, said message entered on the DTMF telephone keypad,

receiving of said transmitted message by the pager,

storing said message in said canned message memory at a message storage location identified by said tag identifier, as a canned message,

disabling said mode of operation,

subsequently receiving messages from said automated paging terminal,

parsing said received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion, and

recalling said canned message from said canned message memory at a message storage location identified by said tag identifier portion of said received message,

displaying said canned message and said data message portion on a display.

6. A method of utilizing canned messages in a pager, the pager adapted to receive, store, recall, and display messages, and the pager further adapted to received messages transmitted from an automated paging terminal which accepts message transmission requests from the public switched telephone network wherein standard DTMF telephones are used as message input terminals, comprising the steps of:

specifying a tag identifier,

enabling a mode of operation in the pager wherein subsequently received messages are stored in a temporary memory,

accessing the automated paging terminal via the public switched telephone network using a standard DTMF telephone,

entering numeric data on a DTMF telephone keypad according to an encoding algorithm related to the placement of alphabetic characters on the DTMF telephone keypad wherein alphanumeric data is thereby encoded as a numeric data message,

transmitting, by the automated paging terminal, said numeric data message,

receiving of said transmitted numeric data message by the pager,

decoding into alphanumeric data said transmitted numeric data message according to said algorithm by the pager,

storing said alphanumeric data in said temporary memory,

displaying said alphanumeric data on a display,

repeating said accessing, entering, transmitting, receiving, and displaying steps until a desired message is displayed,

disabling said mode of operation,

transferring said alphanumeric data from said temporary memory into a canned message memory at a message storage location specified by said tag identifier, as a canned data message,

subsequently receiving messages from said automated paging terminal,

parsing said received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion, and

recalling said canned message from said canned message memory at a message storage location specified by said tag identifier portion of said received message,

displaying said canned message on a first page of said display, and

displaying said data message portion on a second page of said display.

7. A method of utilizing messages in a pager, the pager adapted to receive, store, and recall messages, comprising the steps of:

selecting a storage address,

enabling a mode of operation, by the end user of the pager, wherein subsequently received messages, that are received by radio transmission, are parsed into a tag identifier portion and a canned message portion, and said tag identifier portion and said canned message portion being stored in a canned message memory at a linked pair of memory storage locations specified by said storage address,

disabling said mode of operation, and

recalling said canned message stored in said canned message memory from said linked memory storage location upon receipt of a tag identifier portion matching said tag identifier stored in said canned message memory at a storage location linked with said canned message, in a subsequently received message.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of:

displaying, on a display, said canned message and said data message portion.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

said canned message is displayed on a first page of said display and said data message portion is displayed on a second page of said display.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said messages comprise numeric data, and further comprising the step of:

decoding said numeric data messages into alphanumeric data according to a decoding algorithm.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said decoding algorithm is defined by the following table, and is encoded by entering digits on a telephone by pressing keys.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said decoding algorithm is defined by the following table, and is encoded by entering digits on a telephone by pressing keys.

13. A method of utilizing canned messages in a pager, the pager adapted to receive, store, recall, and display messages, and the pager further adapted to receive messages transmitted from an automated paging terminal which accepts message transmission requests from the public switched telephone network wherein standard DTMF telephones are used as message input terminals, comprising the steps of:

selecting a storage address in a canned message memory,

enabling a mode of operation in the pager wherein subsequently received messages are stored in the canned message memory at a message storage location defined by said selected storage address,

accessing the automated paging terminal via the public switched telephone network using a standard DTMF telephone,

entering a tag identifier portion and a canned message portion on a DTMF telephone keypad thereby creating a tagged message,

transmitting, by the automated paging terminal, said tagged message,

receiving of said tagged message by the pager,

parsing said tagged message into said tag identifier portion and said canned message portion,

storing said tag identifier portion and said canned message portion in said canned message memory in a pair of linked memory storage locations as defined by said selected storage address,

disabling said mode of operation,

subsequently receiving messages from said automated paging terminal,

parsing said received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion,

scanning said canned message memory for a match between said received tag identifier portion with said stored tag identifiers,

upon finding a match, recalling said canned message from one of said pair of linked storage locations in said canned message memory, linked to said matched tag identifier, and

displaying said canned message and said data message portion on a display.

14. A method of utilizing canned messages in a pager, the pager adapted to receive, store, recall, and display messages, and the pager further adapted to received messages transmitted from an automated paging terminal which accepts message transmission requests from the public switched telephone network wherein standard DTMF telephones are used as message input terminals, comprising the steps of:

selecting a storage address in a canned message memory,

enabling a mode of operation in the pager wherein subsequently received messages are stored in a temporary memory,

accessing the automated paging terminal via the public switched telephone network using a standard DTMF telephone,

entering a tag identifier portion and an encoded canned message portion, comprising numeric data, on a DTMF telephone keypad according to an encoding algorithm related to the placement of alphabetic characters on the DTMF telephone keypad wherein alphanumeric data is thereby encoded, thereby creating a tagged message,

transmitting, by the automated paging terminal, said tagged message,

receiving said tagged message by the pager,

parsing said tagged message into said tag identifier portion and said encoded canned message portion,

decoding, into alphanumeric data, said encoded canned message portion according to said algorithm by the pager, thereby creating a decoded canned message,

storing said tag identifier portion and said decoded canned message in said temporary memory,

displaying said tag identifier portion and said decoded canned message on a display,

repeating said accessing, entering, transmitting, receiving, parsing, decoding, storing, and displaying steps until a desired message is displayed,

disabling said mode of operation,

transferring said tag identifier portion and said decoded canned message from said temporary memory into said canned message memory into a pair of linked storage locations specified by said storage address,

subsequently receiving messages from the automated paging terminal,

parsing the received data messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion,

scanning said canned message memory for a match between said tag identifier portion and one of said stored tag identifiers,

upon finding a match, recalling said decoded canned message from one of said pair of linked storage locations, linked to said matched tag identifier, and

displaying said decoded canned data message on a first page of said display, and

displaying said data message portion on a second page of said display.

15. A pager, comprising:

a receiver for selectively receiving messages;

a memory having a plurality of linked pairs of storage locations for storing a tag identifier in the first one of said linked pair of storage locations and for storing a canned message in the second of said linked pair of storage locations, and each of said linked pair of storage locations being identified by a storage address,

an actuator, actuatable by the end user of the pager, for specifying one of said storage addresses and enabling a mode of operation of said pager, and

a controller coupled to said receiver, said memory, and said actuator, such that when said actuator enables said mode of operation, the next received message, that is received by radio transmission, is parsed into a tag identifier and a canned message, said tag identifier and said canned message being stored in said memory at said linked pair of storage locations identified by said storage address specified by said actuator.

16. The pager of claim 15, wherein:

deactivation of said mode of operation causes said controller to parse subsequently received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion, and said controller recalls said canned message stored in the one of said plurality of storage locations linked with said tag identifier equal to said tag identifier portion.

17. The pager of claim 16, further comprising:

a display coupled to said controller for displaying messages, and wherein,

said controller is capable of displaying said canned message and said data message portion.

18. The pager of claim 17, wherein:

said controller is capable of displaying said tag identifier portion.

19. A pager, comprising:

a receiver for selectively receiving messages;

a temporary memory for storing a tag identifier and a canned message,

an actuator, actuatable by the end user of the pager, for specifying a storage address and enabling a mode of operation of said pager, and

a controller coupled to said receiver, said temporary memory, and said actuator, such that when said actuator enables said mode of operation, the next received message, that is received by radio transmission, is parsed into a tag identifier and a canned message and said tag identifier and said canned message are stored in said temporary memory.

20. The pager of claim 19, wherein:

so long as said mode of operation is enabled, said controller stores every subsequently received message in said temporary memory as one each of said tag identifier and said canned message.

21. The pager of claim 20, further comprising:

a display coupled to said controller, and wherein,

said controller is capable of displaying said tag identifier and said canned message stored in said temporary memory.

22. The pager of claim 20, further comprising:

a memory coupled to said controller, said memory having a plurality of linked pairs of storage locations for storing a tag identifier in the first one of said linked pair of storage locations and for storing a canned message in the second of said linked pair of storage locations, and at least one of said linked pair of storage locations being identified by a storage address, and wherein,

said controller transfers said tag identifier and said canned message stored in said temporary memory into said memory when said mode of operation is disabled, and said tag identifier and said canned message are stored in the one of said plurality of linked pairs of storage location identified by said storage address specified by said actuator.

23. The pager of claim 22, wherein:

deactivation of said mode of operation causes said controller to parse subsequently received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion, and said controller recalls said canned message stored in the one of said plurality of linked pairs of storage locations linked with said tag identifier equal to said tag identifier portion.

24. The pager of claim 23, wherein:

said controller is capable of displaying said canned message and said data message portion on said display.

25. The pager of claim 24, wherein:

said controller is capable of displaying said tag identifier portion on said display.

26. A pager, comprising:

a receiver for selectively receiving messages;

a memory having a plurality of linked pairs of storage locations for storing a tag identifier in the first one of said linked pair of storage locations and for storing a canned message in the second of said linked pair of storage locations, and each of said linked pair of storage locations being identified by a storage address,

an actuator, actuatable by the end user of the pager, for specifying one of said storage addresses and enabling a mode of operation of said pager, and

a controller coupled to said receiver, said memory, and said actuator, such that when said actuator enables said mode of operation, the next received message, that is received by radio transmission, is parsed into a tag identifier and a numeric data portion, and said numeric data portion is decoded into a canned message according to a decoding algorithm, and said tag identifier and said canned message are stored in said memory at said linked pair of storage locations identified by said storage address specified by said actuator.

27. The pager of claim 26, wherein:

deactivation of said mode of operation causes said controller to parse subsequently received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion, and said controller recalls said canned message stored in the one of said plurality of storage locations linked with said tag identifier equal to said tag identifier portion.

28. The pager of claim 27, further comprising:

a display coupled to said controller for displaying messages, and wherein,

said controller is capable of displaying said canned message and said data message portion.

29. The pager of claim 28, wherein:

said controller is capable of displaying said tag identifier portion.

30. The pager of claim 26, wherein:

said decoding algorithm converts said numeric data portion into said canned message, comprising alphanumeric data, according to the following conversion table;

space="preserve" listing-type="tabular">______________________________________ Alpha- numeric Numeric data data ______________________________________ A 2 B 2-2 C 2-2-2 D 3 E 3-3 F 3-3-3 G 4 H 4-4 I 4-4-4 J 5 K 5-5 L 5-5-5 M 6 N 6-6 O 6-6-6 P 7 Q 1 R 7-7 S 7-7-7 T 8 U 8-8 V 8-8-8 W 9 X 9-9 Y 9-9-9 Z 1-1 Delin 0 Space 0-0 ______________________________________

and the numeric data in said numeric data portion are delineated by the "Delin" character "0" from the above table.

31. The pager of claim 26, wherein:

said decoding algorithm converts said numeric data portion into said canned message, comprising alphanumeric data, according to the following conversion table;

space="preserve" listing-type="tabular">______________________________________ Alpha- numeric Numeric data data ______________________________________ A 2-1 B 2-2 C 2-3 D 3-1 E 3-2 F 3-3 G 4-1 H 4-2 I 4-3 J 5-1 K 5-2 L 5-3 M 6-1 N 6-2 O 6-3 P 7-1 Q 1-1 R 7-2 S 7-3 T 8-1 U 8-2 V 8-3 W 9-1 X 9-2 Y 9-3 Z 1-2 0 n/a 1 1-0 2 2-0 3 3-0 4 4-0 5 5-0 6 6-0 7 7-0 8 8-0 9 9-0 * *-0 # #-0 Delin n/a Space 0-0 ______________________________________

and the numeric data in said numeric data portion are delineated as every two of said numeric data.

32. A pager, comprising:

a receiver for selectively receiving messages;

a temporary memory for storing a tag identifier and a canned message,

an actuator, actuatable by the end user of the pager, for specifying a storage address and enabling a mode of operation of said pager, and

a controller coupled to said receiver, said temporary memory, and said actuator, such that when said actuator enables said mode of operation, the next received message, that is received by radio transmission, is parsed into a tag identifier and a numeric data portion and said numeric data portion is decoded into a canned message according to a decoding algorithm, and said tag identifier and said canned message are stored in said temporary memory.

33. The pager of claim 32, wherein:

so long as said mode of operation is enabled, said controller parses, decodes, and stores every subsequently received message in said temporary memory as one each of said tag identifier and said canned message.

34. The pager of claim 33, further comprising:

a display coupled to said controller, and wherein,

said controller is capable of displaying said tag identifier and said canned message stored in said temporary memory.

35. The pager of claim 33, further comprising:

a memory coupled to said controller, said memory having a plurality of linked pairs of storage locations for storing a tag identifier in the first one of said linked pair of storage locations and for storing a canned message in the second of said linked pair of storage locations, and at least one of said linked pair of storage locations being identified by a storage address, and wherein,

said controller transfers said tag identifier and said canned message stored in said temporary memory into said memory when said mode of operation is disabled, and said tag identifier and said canned message are stored in the one of said plurality of linked pairs of storage location identified by said storage address specified by said actuator.

36. The pager of claim 35, wherein:

deactivation of said mode of operation causes said controller to parse subsequently received messages into a tag identifier portion and a data message portion, and said controller recalls said canned message stored in the one of said plurality of linked pairs of storage locations linked with said tag identifier equal to said tag identifier portion.

37. The pager of claim 36, wherein:

said controller is capable of displaying said canned message and said data message portion on said display.

38. The pager of claim 37, wherein:

said controller is capable of displaying said tag identifier portion on said display.