Portable phone that changes function according to its self-detected geographical position

• US 6,975,874 B1
• Filed: 06/09/2000
• Issued: 12/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tomtom Global Content B.V (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bates, Cary Lee, Ryan, Jeffrey Michael, Santosuosso, John Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): GELIN, JEAN ALLAND
• Application Number:
  US09/591,331
• Time in Patent Office: 2,013 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455/457, 455/404.2, 455/564, 455/567, 455/422.1, 455/414.1, 455/458, 34235701-35709, 342/357.1, 34235711-35717, 379/216.01
• US Class Current: 455/456.6
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/045 Call privacy arrangements, e.g. timely inhibiting the ring signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver

Abstract

A portable phone is equipped with a position detector that detects the geographical position of the portable phone, and the function of the phone can be changed according to its geographical position. One or more “regions” may be defined by the user of the portable phone, and the ring parameters for each region may be set independently of the other regions. In this manner a phone in accordance with the preferred embodiments may ring with one tone at home, ring with a different tone at work, ring with a louder volume when on a job site, not ring at all when in church, and ring with a vibration when at the theater. In addition, the preferred embodiments include a dialer that allows selecting a contact from a text list, and that dials a number that depends on the geographical position of the portable phone, or that dials a number and sends with the call the geographical position of the portable phone. The preferred embodiments further allow assigning a telephone number to a defined geographical region, and ringing the portable phone only when within the geographical region that corresponds to the phone number.

Claims

1. A portable phone comprising:

a position detector that detects geographical position of the portable phone;

a processor coupled to the position detector that determines whether or not to ring the portable phone based on the detected geographical position of the portable phone when a call is received by the portable phone; and

a dial mechanism for selecting stored text that corresponds to a desired telephone contact, such that when a user selects the stored text, the dial mechanism dials a first stored telephone number when the portable phone is in a first defined region and dials a second stored telephone number when the portable phone is in a second defined region.

2. The portable phone of claim 1 wherein the position detector comprises a global positioning system (GPS) detector.

3. The portable phone of claim 1 wherein the processor further determines characteristics of a ring signal based on the detected geographical position of the portable phone when the processor determines to ring the portable phone.

4. The portable phone of claim 3 wherein the characteristics of the ring signal include volume, type and tone of the ring signal.

5. The portable phone of claim 4 wherein the type of the ring signal includes an audible ring and a vibration ring.

6. The portable phone of claim 1 wherein the processor does not ring the portable phone if the portable phone is in a predefined region.

7. The portable phone of claim 1 wherein the processor rings the portable phone with increased volume if the portable phone is in a predefined region.

8. The portable phone of claim 1 wherein the processor rings the portable phone with a different ring tone if the portable phone is in a predefined region.

9. A portable phone comprising:

a position detector that detects geographical position of the portable phone; and

a dial mechanism coupled to the position detector for selecting stored text that corresponds to a desired telephone contact, such that when a user selects the stored text, the dial mechanism dials a first stored telephone number when the portable phone is in a first defined region and dials a second stored telephone number when the portable phone is in a second defined region.

10. A method for controlling the operation of a portable phone, the method comprising the steps of:

(A) providing a position detector with the portable phone that detects geographical position of the portable phone;

(B) detecting the geographical position of the portable phone using the position detector;

(C) determining whether or not to ring the portable phone based on the detected geographical position of the portable phone when a call is received by the portable phone;

(D) selecting stored text that corresponds to a desired telephone contact;

(E) the portable phone dialing a first stored telephone number corresponding to the desired telephone contact when the portable phone is in a first defined region; and

(F) the portable phone dialing a second stored telephone number corresponding to the desired telephone contact when the portable phone is in a second defined region.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the position detector comprises a global positioning system (GPS) detector.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of determining characteristics of a ring signal based on the detected geographical position of the portable phone when step (C) determines to ring the portable phone.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the characteristics of the ring signal include volume, type and tone of the ring signal.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the type of the ring signal includes an audible ring and a vibration ring.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein step (C) does not ring the portable phone if the portable phone is in a predefined geographical region.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein step (C) rings the portable phone with increased volume if the portable phone is in a predefined geographical region.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein step (C) rings the portable phone with a different ring tone if the portable phone is in a predefined geographical region.

18. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of routing the call using the communicated geographical position of the portable phone to a second telephone that is the closest of a predefined group of telephones in physical proximity to the portable phone.

19. A method for making a call on a portable phone, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a position detector with the portable phone that detects geographical position of the portable phone;

detecting the geographical position of the portable phone using the position detector;

selecting stored text that corresponds to a desired telephone contact;

the portable phone dialing a first stored telephone number corresponding to the desired telephone contact when the portable phone is in a first defined region; and

the portable phone dialing a second stored telephone number corresponding to the desired telephone contact when the portable phone is in a second defined region.