Method for handling phone numbers in mobile station and mobile station

• US 6,606,508 B2
• Filed: 08/27/1998
• Issued: 08/12/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones UK Limited (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Becker, Stefan, Kurkilahti, Juha
• Primary Examiner(s): VUONG, QUOCHIEN B
• Application Number:
  US09/141,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20010041600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566, 455/567, 455/415, 455/550, 455/90, 455/575, 379/164, 379/179, 379/93.17, 379/93.23, 379/56.3, 340/825.44, 340/825.47, 340/825.48
• US Class Current: 455/567
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/041 Encoding the ringing signal, i.e. providing distinctive or selective ringing capability

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for handling phone numbers in a mobile station and a mobile station. According to the invention, numbers (3a, 3b, 3c) are handled in groups (1a, 1b, 1c) which have different attributes (2a, 2b, 2c). The attributes (2a, 2b, 2c) mean e.g. rights to generate a ringing tone. In a certain operating mode, only a call belonging to a group (1a, 1b, 1c) which in that operating mode has the right to call the mobile station, will generate a ringing tone. The attributes (2a, 2b, 2c) also mean group-specific ringing tones which represent the type of the group (1a, 1b, 1c). The attributes (2a, 2b, 2c) further mean symbols on the display of a mobile station.

Claims

1. A method for handling phone numbers in a mobile station, characterised in that numbers are handled in user defined groups for which different user defined attributes are specified, and wherein at least two attributes, an audible attribute and a visual attribute, are associated with each of the groups, the audible attribute comprising a group specific ringing tone and the visual attribute comprising an image.

2. The method of claim 1, characterised in that one of the attributes is a ringing tone.

4. The method of claim 1, characterised in that one of the attributes is a symbol representing a group , shown on a display of the mobile station.

5. The method of claim 4, characterised in that the symbol representing the group on the display of the mobile station is a dynamic symbol.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the dynamic symbol is comprised of several images.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the symbol is a bitmap image.

3. The method of claim 3, characterised in that each group is associated with a different ringing tone.

8. A mobile station comprising:

a processor for handling number groups and defining attributes, and

a memory connected to the processor for storing number groups, wherein the processor is adapted to associate at least an audible attribute as a group specific ringing tone to a group in a plurality of groups and a visual attribute as a group specific image to the group.

9. The mobile station of claim 8, characterised in that further comprises an audio part for sounding a group-specific ringing tone.

10. The mobile station of claim 8, characterised in that it further comprises a keypad for inputting and selecting numbers and number groups.

11. The mobile station of claim 8, characterised in that it further comprises a display for displaying a symbol of a number group.

12. The mobile station of claim 8, characterised in that it further comprises an IR link for loading a symbol of a number group to the mobile station.

13. A method of determining a source of an incoming telephone call to a mobile station comprising the steps of:

assigning one or more phone numbers to a user defined group selected from a plurality of user defined groups;

assigning at least one user defined audible attribute to each group in the plurality of groups, each group having a different audible attribute comprising a group specific ringing tone;

assigning at least one user defined visual attribute to each group in the plurality of groups, each group having a different visual attribute comprising an image; and

wherein when a telephone call is received by the mobile station a source telephone number of the incoming call is compared to each of the phone numbers in each group, and when the source number of the incoming call corresponds to a number in one of the groups, the at least one audible attribute and the at least one visual attributed associated with the group are presented to a user of the mobile station.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of assigning an audible attribute comprises the step of assigning a ringing tone.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of assigning a visual attribute comprises the step of assigning a symbol image.

16. A method for identifying a call received by a mobile station comprising the steps of:

defining in the mobile station at least one group, each group to be associated with one or more group specific callers;

assigning one or more caller identity numbers to each group;

assigning at least one audible and at least one visual attribute to each group;

wherein when a call is received by the mobile station, the mobile station determines a caller identity and a group associated with the caller identity and generates the at least one audible and at least one visual attribute associated with the group.

17. A mobile station comprising:

a processor adapted to handle at least one user defined group, each group including at least one caller identifier, and having at least one user defined visual attribute and at least one user defined audible attribute;

a memory connected to the processor, the memory adapted to store each group, wherein when a call is received by the mobile station, the processor is adapted to associate a caller identifier of the call with one of the user defined groups, and associate the at least one visual attribute and at least one audible attribute with the group in order to generate the at least one visual attribute and the at least one audible attribute.