Method and apparatus for automatic telephone dialing from a pager message

• US 6,184,796 B1
• Filed: 01/19/1996
• Issued: 02/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cirrus Logic Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pacific Communication Sciences , Inc. (Cirrus Logic Incorporated)
• Inventors: Osborn, Neal A., Canova, Jr., Francis J., Allard, David J., Tiller, Bryon K., Beatty, Brent, Rivero, Jose L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Horabik, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Asongwed, Anthony A.
• Application Number:
  US08/587,717
• Time in Patent Office: 1,845 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.44, 340/825.48, 340/825.69, 340/825.72, 340/825.8, 340/825.79, 379/57, 379/40, 379/156, 379/157
• US Class Current: 340/407.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/275 implemented by means of portable electronic directories

Abstract

A personal communication device which includes the ability to generate dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals to provide automatic telephone dialing of a numbers received in messages. A message which includes a number is received, decoded, and displayed on a display device. The user may then select to have a number which is included as part of the message encoded into an audible DTMF, series of signals which can be coupled to a conventional “touch-tone” telephone (i.e. a telephone that supports tone dialing) through speaker in the personal communication device and the microphone of the conventional telephone. The user may select all or any part of the message to be encoded into DTMF signals. Accordingly, if the message includes other information in addition to a telephone number, the user can parse the message to indicate which portion of the message includes the number to be dialed. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, a processor within the personal communication device parses the message to detect numbers from among the information that has been transmitted. The user may then verify that the processor has properly identified numbers which the user wishes to encode in DTMF signals.

Claims

1. A portable personal communication device for receiving messages over a radio air link, the messages including a numeric sequence representing a telephone number which can be dialed by the portable personal communication device to initiate a telephone call, the portable personal communication device comprising:

a radio receiver to receive messages over a radio air link;

a processor coupled to the radio receiver, the processor to automatically parse a received message to automatically identify a numeric sequence as a telephone number;

a DTMF generator, the DTMF generator to generate a sequence of DTMF signals in response to the processor automatically identifying a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message; and

a loudspeaker coupled to the DTMF generator, the loudspeaker to receive a generated sequence of DTMF signals from the DTMF generator and generate a sequence of audible tonal sounds in response thereto, the generated sequence of audible tonal sounds including audible tonal sounds to dial a telephone number into a microphone of a telephone to initiate a telephone call.

2. The portable personal communication device of claim 1 further comprising:

a display device coupled to the processor to display a received message and first and second user selectable icons, the first user selectable icons being associated with operation of the portable personal communication device and the second user selectable icons being associated with instructing the processor to identify a telephone number within a displayed received message.

3. The portable personal communication device of claim 2 wherein,

one of the first user selectable icons displayed on the display device to select a carrier from one or more available carriers for use in placing a call to a selected telephone number using a user'"'"'s credit card number, and

the processor to generate DTMF signals to select the particular carrier and to represent the user'"'"'s credit card number and the selected telephone number in response to the selection of the one of the first user selectable icons.

4. The portable personal communication device of claim 2 wherein,

the portable personal communication device is a pager and the pager to acoustically couple audible tonal sounds into a microphone of an external telephone.

5. The portable personal communication device of claim 2 wherein,

the portable personal communication device is a cellular telephone with a message receive capability and the cellular telephone further comprises a microphone coupled to the DTMF generator to receive the generated sequence of DTMF signals to dial a telephone number to initiate a telephone call.

6. The portable personal communication device of claim 2 wherein,

the DTMF generator is part of the processor.

7. The portable personal communication device of claim 1 further comprising:

a speech synthesis output device coupled to the processor to communicate information within a received message to a user.

8. The portable personal communication device of claim 7 further comprising:

a speech recognizer input device coupled to the processor to receive audible speech commands from a user for operation of the portable personal communication device.

9. The portable personal communication device of claim 8, wherein,

the audible speech commands from a user include selection of a telephone number from a received message for communication to the processor.

10. A portable personal communication device for receiving messages over a radio air link, the received messages including a numeric sequence representing a telephone number which can be dialed by the portable communication device to initiate a telephone call, the portable personal communication device comprising:

a radio receiver to receive messages over a radio air link;

a processor coupled to the radio receiver, the processor to control the functionality of the portable personal communication device and to process the received messages and to allow a user to select a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

a display device coupled to the processor to display a received message and a user directable cursor to select a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

an input device coupled to the processor, the input device to receive user inputs directing the user directable cursor over the numeric sequence displayed by the display device to select a telephone number within a received message and to communicate to the processor received user inputs, including the selection of a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

a DTMF generator, the DTMF generator to generate a sequence of DTMF signals in response to the selection of a numeric sequence associated with a telephone number within a received message; and

a loudspeaker coupled to the DTMF generator, the loudspeaker to receive a generated sequence of DTMF signals from the DTMF generator and to generate a sequence of audible tones in response thereto, the generated sequence of audible tones for coupling into a microphone of a telephone to initiate a telephone call.

11. The portable personal communication device of claim 10 wherein,

the portable personal communication device is a pager and the pager to acoustically couple audible tonal sounds into a microphone of an external telephone.

12. The portable personal communication device of claim 10 wherein,

the portable personal communication device is a cellular telephone with a message receive capability and the cellular telephone further comprises a microphone coupled to the DTMF generator to receive the generated sequence of DTMF signals to dial a telephone number to initiate a telephone call.

13. The portable personal communication device of claim 10 wherein,

the DTMF generator is is part of the processor.

14. The portable personal communication device of claim 10 wherein,

the display device coupled to the processor further displays user selectable icons, a first set of the user selectable icons being associated with operational procedures of the portable personal communication device and a second set of user selectable icons being associated with instructing the processor to identify a telephone number within a displayed received message.

15. A personal communication device for receiving messages over a radio air link, the messages including a numeric sequence representing a telephone number which can be dialed to call a sender of a received message, the personal communication device comprising:

a receiver for receiving messages over a radio air link;

a processor coupled to the receiver, the processor to control the personal communication device and to process received messages and allow a user to select a numeric sequence associated with a telephone number within a received message;

a display device coupled to the processor to display a received message and a user directable cursor to select a telephone number within a received message, the display device further displays user selectable icons, the user selectable icons being associated with operational procedures or a sequence of DTMF signals for instructing the processor to identify a telephone number within a displayed received message, wherein one of the user selectable icons displayed on the display device selects a particular carrier for use in placing a call to a selected telephone number using a user'"'"'s credit card number and the processor generates DTMF signals to select the particular carrier and represent the user'"'"'s credit card number and the selected telephone number;

an input device coupled to the processor, the input device to receive user inputs to direct the user directable cursor to select a telephone number within a received message and to communicate received user inputs to the processor, including the selection of a telephone number within a received message;

a DTMF generator, the DTMF generator to generate a sequence of DTMF signals in response to the selection of a numeric sequence associated with a telephone number within a received message; and

a speaker coupled to the DTMF generator, the speaker to receive a generated sequence of DTMF signals from the DTMF generator and generate a sequence of audible tones in response thereto, the generated sequence of audible tones for coupling into a microphone of a telephone.

16. The personal communication device of claim 15 wherein,

the personal communication device is a pager and the pager acoustically couples the audible tones into a microphone of an external telephone.

17. The personal communication device of claim 15 wherein,

the personal communication device is a cellular telephone with a message receive capability and the cellular telephone further comprises a microphone coupled to the DTMF generator to receive the generated sequence of DTMF signals to dial a telephone number to initiate a telephone call.

18. The personal communication device of claim 15 wherein,

the DTMF generator is part of the processor.

19. A portable personal communication device for receiving messages over a radio air link, the messages including a numeric sequence representing a telephone number which can be dialed by the portable personal communication device to initiate a telephone call, the portable personal communication device comprising:

a radio receiver to receive messages over a radio air link;

a processor coupled to the radio receiver, the processor to control operation of the portable personal communication device and to process received messages and to allow a user to select a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

a speech synthesis output device coupled to the processor to audibly communicate information to a user using audible speech to enable a user to select a telephone number within a received message;

a speech recognizer input device coupled to the processor, the speech recognizer input device to receive and recognize audible speech user inputs including audible speech commands to select a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message and to communicate to the processor received user inputs, including the selection of numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

a DTMF generator, the DTMF generator to generate a sequence of DTMF signals in response to the selection of a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message; and

a loudspeaker coupled to the DTMF generator, the loudspeaker to receive a generated sequence of DTMF signals from the DTMF generator and to generate a sequence of audible tonal sounds in response thereto, the generated sequence of audible tonal sounds for coupling into a microphone of a telephone to initiate a telephone call.

20. The portable personal communication device of claim 19, wherein,

the speech synthesis output device further communicates information of the received messages to select a received message.

21. The portable personal communication device of claim 19, wherein,

the audible speech commands from a user include selection of a telephone number from a received message for communication to the processor.

22. A method of automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, the method comprising:

a) providing a portable personal communication device for receiving messages over a radio air link, the portable personal communication device including,

a radio receiver to receive messages over a radio air link,

a processor coupled to the radio receiver, the processor to automatically parse a received message to automatically identify a numeric sequence as a a telephone number,

a DTMF generator, the DTMF generator to generate a sequence of DTMF signals in response to the processor automatically identifying a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message, and

a loudspeaker coupled to the DTMF generator, the loudspeaker to receive a generated sequence of DTMF signals from the DTMF generator and generate a sequence of audible tonal sounds in response thereto, the generated sequence of audible tonal sounds including audible tonal sounds to dial a telephone number into a microphone of a telephone to initiate a telephone call;

b) receiving a message in the portable personal communication device;

c) automatically parsing a received message in the processor to automatically identify a numeric sequence as a telephone number in the received message;

d) generating DTMF signals in the DTMF generator in response to the automatic parsing of the received message identifying a numeric sequence as a telephone number; and

e) generating audible tonal sounds in response to the generated DTMF signals, the audible tonal sounds for acoustical coupling to a microphone to dial a telephone number in order to initiate a telephone call.

23. The method of claim 22 for automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, the method further comprising:

f) selecting one of a plurality of received messages for automatic parsing by the processor using an input device included in the portable personal communication device in order to automatically generate audible tonal sounds associated with a telephone number within a selected received message.

24. The method of claim 22 for automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, the method further comprising:

f) correcting an error in the automatic parsing by the processor prior to storage of the telephone number into a memory of the portable personal communication device.

25. A method of automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, the method comprising:

a) providing a portable personal communication device for receiving messages over a radio air link, the portable personal communication device including,

a radio receiver to receive messages over a radio air link;

a processor coupled to the radio receiver, the processor to control the functionality of the portable personal communication device and to process received messages and to allow a user to select a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

a display device coupled to the processor to display a received message and a user directable cursor to select a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

an input device coupled to the processor, the input device to receive user inputs directing the user directable cursor over the numeric sequence displayed on the display device to select a telephone number within a received message and to communicate to the processor received user inputs, including the selection of a numeric sequence as a telephone number within a received message;

a DTMF generator, the DTMF generator to generate a sequence of DTMF signals in response to the selection of a numeric sequence associated with a telephone number within a received message; and

a loudspeaker coupled to the DTMF generator, the loudspeaker to receive a generated sequence of DTMF signals from the DTMF generator and generate a sequence of audible tonal sounds in response thereto, the generated sequence of audible tonal sounds for coupling into a microphone of a telephone to initiate a telephone call;

b) receiving a message in the portable personal communication device;

c) moving the user directable cursor by use of the input device to select a numeric sequence associated with a telephone number within the received message displayed on the display;

d) generating DTMF signals in the DTMF generator in response to the selection of the numeric sequence in the received message; and

e) generating audible tonal sounds for coupling to a microphone in response to the generated DTMF signals.

26. The method of claim 25 for automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, wherein,

in the moving of the user directable cursor, the numeric sequence associated with the telephone number is selected within the received message displayed on the display by selecting each individual number of a telephone number.

27. The method of claim 25 for automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, wherein,

in the moving of the user directable cursor, the numeric sequence associated with the telephone number is selected within the received message displayed on the display by selecting the first number of the telephone number and the processor automatically selects the remaining numbers of the telephone number.

28. The method of claim 25 for automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, wherein,

in the moving of the user directable cursor, the numeric sequence associated with the telephone number is selected within the received message displayed on the display by selecting a user selectable icon on the display associated with a telephone number and the processor automatically selects the telephone number associated with the user selectable icon to which to initiate a telephone call.

29. The method of claim 25 for automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, further comprising:

selecting a first user selectable icon on the display to select a telephone carrier to use in placing a telephone call and to generate DTMF signals associated with the selected telephone carrier.

30. The method of claim 29 for automatic acoustical dialing of a telephone number for coupling into a telephone to dial a telephone number, further comprising:

selecting a second user selectable icon on the display to select a telephone number to use in placing the telephone call and to generate DTMF signals associated with the selected telephone number.