Integrated pager and calling card

• US 5,675,627 A
• Filed: 11/29/1994
• Issued: 10/07/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Yaker, Rhoda
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne D.
• Application Number:
  US08/346,061
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• Field of Search: 379/57, 379/144, 379/357, 340/825.44, 235/380
• US Class Current: 455/558
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/228 combined with other devices having a different main function, e.g. watches
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/275 implemented by means of portable electronic directories
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

The functions of a paging device and the calling card or any other type of credit card having integrated into one unit which is referred to as a smartcard and has approximately the dimensions of a standard credit card. The smartcard not only receives the number of the caller from the paging center but automatically dials and transmits billing information when inserted into a pay telephone. The user can through the use of switches on the smartcard return all of the calls for the telephone numbers that were received from the paging service. In addition, the smartcard allows for the storage of commonly-dialed numbers used by the user that can also be automatically dialed when the smartcard is inserted into a pay telephone. Also, if the name of the caller is transmitted rather than the telephone number from the paging center, the smartcard searches the commonly-dialed numbers to find the telephone number associated with that name.

Claims

1. A smartcard for receiving pages and returning telephone calls, comprising:

a keyboard for receiving user information;

a memory;

a pager for receiving paging information;

controller for storing the paging information in the memory;

smartcard interface for connecting to a telephone and for receiving telephone information from the telephone;

the controller responsive to user information for transmitting billing information to the telephone; and

the controller further responsive to the telephone information, user information, and the stored paging information for placing telephone calls.

2. The smartcard of claim 1 wherein the paging information can be telephone numbers or names and the controller responses to the names in the paging information for determining telephone numbers from directory information stored in the memory and responses to the telephone numbers of the paging information for determining telephone numbers from the stored directory information.

3. The smartcard of claim 2 wherein the directory information is transmitted by a computer via an attached smartcard unit to the controller via the smartcard interface, and the controller stores the directory information in the memory.

4. The smartcard of claim 3 further comprises a battery and a power interface, and the smartcard unit comprises a power transfer circuit for charging the battery via the power interface.

5. The smartcard of claim 2 further comprises a display, and the user enters the directory information using the keyboard, the controller, and the display.

6. The smartcard of claim 5 further adapted for performing user calculations by using the display, keyboard, and the controller.

7. The smartcard of claim 2 further adapted for allowing the user to determine the order in which telephone calls are returned using the display, keyboard, and controller to arrange the paging information.

8. A method for receiving pages and returning telephone calls by controlling a smartcard comprising a keyboard, pager, controller, memory and smartcard interface, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving user information from the keyboard;

receiving paging information from the pager;

storing the paging information by the controller in the memory;

connecting to a telephone and receiving telephone information from the telephone by the smartcard interface;

transmitting billing information via the smartcard interface to the telephone by the controller in response to user information; and

placing telephone calls via the smartcard interface by the controller further in response to the telephone information, user information, and the stored paging information.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the paging information can be telephone numbers or names and determining telephone numbers from stored directory information by the controller in response to the names of the paging information and determining telephone numbers from the stored directory information by the controller in response to the telephone numbers of the paging information.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprises the step of transferring the directory information to the controller via the smartcard interface by a computer via an attached smartcard interface unit.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the smartcard further comprises a battery and a power interface and the method further comprises the step of charging the battery via the power interface by the smartcard unit using a power transfer circuit.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the smartcard further comprises a display and the method further comprises the step of entering the directory information by the user via the keyboard, the controller, and the display.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprises the step of performing user calculations by using the display, keyboard, and the controller.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprises the step of allowing the user to determine the order in which telephone calls are returned via the display, keyboard, and controller to arrange the paging information.