Telephone apparatus with interrupt call processing capability

• US 5,841,853 A
• Filed: 08/16/1996
• Issued: 11/24/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ito, Takako, Kamimoto, Kouichi, Yamanishi, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wolinsky, Scott
• Application Number:
  US08/698,691
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• Field of Search: 379/215, 379/142, 379/201, 379/210, 379/211, 379/212, 379/93.35, 379/202, 379/203, 379/204, 379/205, 379/209, 379/419, 379/421, 379/350, 379/351, 348/15, 370/260
• US Class Current: 379/215.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72505 Radio link set-up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/048 Arrangements providing optical indication of the incoming call, e.g. flasher circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/428 Arrangements for placing incoming calls on hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/72 Finding out and indicating number of calling subscriber

Abstract

A telephone apparatus can receive information about a third party sent from a telephone exchange with a call waiting service when a call is issued from the third party during a conversation using the telephone apparatus. Upon issuance of the call from the third party during the conversation over the telephone apparatus, the exchange sends out an alert signal, in response to which the telephone apparatus sends back an acknowledge signal. The telephone apparatus also mutes a speech transmitter circuit in order to protect calling party information such as a telephone number sent from the exchange in succession from being destroyed by a speech signal. The calling party information sent from the exchange can be received without fail and can subsequently be displayed.

Claims

1. A telephone apparatus including a parent set connected to a telephone line and a child set capable of wireless communication with said parent set, wherein said parent set comprises:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto said telephone line,

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line,

alert signal detecting means for detecting an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus, and

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal;

wherein said child set comprises;

a microphone,

a speaker,

transmission and reception amplifier means for transmitting to and receiving from said parent set speech signals of said telephone conversation, and

calling party information receiving means for receiving the calling party information, detected by and sent from said parent set; and

wherein at least one of said parent and child sets further comprises muting control means for speech-signal muting of said telephone conversation upon receipt of said calling party information sent by said telephone exchange.

2. A telephone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said parent set further comprises:

acknowledge signal sending means for sending out automatically an acknowledge signal onto said telephone line after detection of said alert signal, said acknowledge signal serving as a message for indicating the detection of said alert signal to said telephone exchange.

3. A telephone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said child set further comprises child set control means for displaying the calling party information as detected on a display device.

4. A telephone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said parent set further comprises:

a memory,

parent set control means for storing in said memory said calling party information detected by said calling party information detecting means, and

calling party information sending means for sending out to said child set said calling party information stored in said memory.

5. A telephone apparatus including a parent set connected to a telephone line and a child set capable of communication with said parent set,

wherein said parent set comprises:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto a telephone line,

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line,

alert signal detecting means for detecting an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to issuance of a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus,

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal,

muting control means for muting said transmitter circuit upon reception of said calling party information sent by said telephone exchange,

a memory device,

parent set control means for storing said calling party information detected by said calling party information detecting means in a memory device, and

calling party information sending means for sending out said calling party information stored in said memory device as a calling party information signal;

wherein said child set comprises calling party information receiving means for receiving said calling party information signal from said parent set to thereby detect said calling party information; and

wherein said parent set control means additionally receives response information indicating whether or not said child set has responded to the call of the third party.

6. A telephone apparatus including a parent set connected to a telephone line and a child set capable of communication with said parent set,

wherein said parent set of said telephone apparatus comprises:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto said telephone line,

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line,

alert signal detecting means for detecting an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to issuance of a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus,

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal,

muting control means for muting said transmitter circuit upon receipt of said calling party information sent by said telephone exchange,

a memory device,

parent set control means for storing said calling party information detected by said calling party information detecting means in said memory device, and

calling party information sending means for sending mute command data to said child set and then sending said stored calling party information to said child set; and

wherein said child set of said telephone apparatus comprises;

a receiver circuit, and

calling party information receiving means for muting the receiver circuit upon detection of said mute command data sent from said parent set, and then detecting said calling party information sent from said parent set, and clearing the muting of said receiver circuit after detection of said calling party information.

7. In a telephone apparatus having a transmitter circuit, a method of processing reception of calling party information, comprising:

an alert signal detecting step of detecting an alert signal supplied from a telephone exchange upon issuance of a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus;

an acknowledge signal sending step of sending out automatically onto a telephone line an acknowledge signal for informing said telephone exchange of the detection of said alert signal after detection of said alert signal;

a calling party information detecting step of detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal;

a mute control step of muting said transmitter circuit upon reception of the calling party information issued by said telephone exchange; and

a control step of storing response information indicating whether or not a response has been made to the call from said third party together with said calling party information detected by said calling party information detecting step.

8. In a telephone apparatus including a parent set connected to a telephone line and a child set which includes a microphone and a speaker and which is capable of wireless communication with said parent set, a method of processing reception of calling party information, comprising:

an alert signal detecting step of detecting an alert signal supplied from a telephone exchange upon issuance of a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus, said alert signal detecting step being conducted by said parent set;

an acknowledge signal sending step of sending out automatically onto a telephone line an acknowledge signal for informing said telephone exchange of the detection of said alert signal after detection of said alert signal, said acknowledge signal sending step being conducted by said parent set;

a calling party information detecting step of detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal, said calling party information detecting step being conducted by said parent set;

a parent set control step of storing the calling party information detected by said calling party information detecting step in a memory device of said parent set;

a calling party information sending step of sending said calling party information to said child set as a calling party information signal;

a calling party information receiving step of receiving said calling party information signal at said child set to thereby detect said calling party information; and

a muting control step of speech signal muting of said telephone conversation upon receipt of said calling party information sent by said telephone exchange.

9. A telephone apparatus, comprising:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto a telephone line;

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line;

signal detecting means for detecting a signal of a frequency component contained in an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to issuance of a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus;

a muting circuit for inhibiting said transmitter circuit;

acknowledge signal sending means for sending onto said telephone line an acknowledge signal informing said telephone exchange of the detection of said alert signal;

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal;

muting start control means for controlling said muting circuit to thereby inhibit said transmitter circuit at a time point when said signal detecting means detects said signal;

acknowledge signal sending control means for recognizing said signal detected by said signal detecting means as an alert signal when said signal is detected continuously for a predetermined time, to thereby cause said acknowledge signal sending means to send out said acknowledge signal; and

muting clearing means for disabling operation of said muting circuit unless said signal detected by said signal detecting means is continuously detected for said predetermined time.

10. A telephone apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said calling party information detecting means detects the calling party information incoming via said acknowledge telephone line after said signal sending means has performed sending control.

11. A telephone apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a display, and control means for displaying said information on said display when said calling party information detecting means has detected said information.

12. A telephone apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a memory, and control means for storing said calling party information in said memory when said calling party information detecting means detects said calling party information.

13. A telephone apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a display, and wherein said control means displays on said display the calling party information stored in said memory.

14. A telephone apparatus comprising:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto said telephone line;

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line;

alert signal detecting means for detecting an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus;

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal;

muting control means for muting said transmitter circuit upon receipt of the calling party information sent by said telephone exchange;

a display device;

a memory device; and

control means for making said display device display the calling party information detected by said calling party detection means and storing in said memory device response information indicating whether or not a person using the telephone apparatus has responded to the call from said third party.

15. A telephone apparatus including a parent set connected to a telephone line and a child set capable of wireless communication with said parent set,

wherein said parent set comprises:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto said telephone line,

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line,

alert signal detecting means for detecting an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus,

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal,

muting control means for muting said transmitter circuit upon receipt of the calling party information sent by said telephone exchange,

calling party information sending means for sending out said calling party information stored in said memory device,

a memory device, and

control means for receiving from said child set response information indicating whether or not said child set has responded to the call from said third party, and storing the received information in said memory device; and

wherein said child set comprises;

a microphone,

a speaker,

transmission and reception amplifier means for transmitting to and receiving from said parent set speech signals, and

calling party information receiving means for receiving and detecting calling party information sent from said parent set.

16. A telephone apparatus including a parent set connected to a telephone line and a child set capable of wireless communication with said parent set,

wherein said parent set comprises:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto said telephone line,

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line,

alert signal detecting means for detecting an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus,

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after said alert signal,

muting control means for muting said transmitter circuit upon receipt of the calling party information sent by said telephone exchange, and

calling party information sending means for sending out the detected calling party information; and

wherein said child set includes;

a microphone,

a speaker,

transmission and reception amplifier means for transmitting to and receiving from said parent set speech signals, and

calling party information receiving means for receiving means for receiving and detecting the calling party information sent from said parent set.

17. A telephone apparatus of above claim 16, wherein said parent set further comprises:

a memory,

parent set control means for storing in said memory said calling party information detected by said calling party information detecting means, and

calling party information sending means for sending out to said child set said calling party information stored in said memory.

18. A telephone apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said child set further comprises a display device and child set control means for displaying the calling party information on said display device.

19. A telephone apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said parent set further comprises acknowledge signal sending means for sending out automatically an acknowledge signal onto said telephone line after detection of said alert signal, said acknowledge signal serving as a message for indicating the detection of said alert signal to said telephone exchange.

20. A telephone apparatus including a parent set connected to a telephone line and a child set capable of wireless communication with said parent set,

wherein said parent set comprises:

a transmitter circuit for sending a speech signal onto said telephone line,

a receiver circuit for receiving a speech signal from said telephone line,

alert signal detecting means for detecting an alert signal sent from a telephone exchange in response to issuance of a call from a third party during a telephone conversation through said telephone apparatus,

calling party information detecting means for detecting calling party information incoming from said telephone exchange via said telephone line after the alert signal,

muting control means for muting said transmitter circuit upon receipt of said calling party information sent by said telephone exchange, and

calling party information sending means for sending out to said child set said calling party information detected by said detecting means; and

wherein said child set comprises;

a microphone,

a speaker

transmission and reception amplifier means for transmitting to and receiving from said parent set speech signals, and

calling party information receiving means for muting at least a portion of said transmission and reception amplifier means in order to receive said calling party information sent from said calling party information sending means, to detect said calling party information and to clear the muting of said at least a portion of said transmission and reception amplifier means after the calling party information has ended.