System and method for receiving and transferring a telephone directory from one cellular telephone to the same or another

• US 8,023,925 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2003
• Issued: 09/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: George Likourezos, Peter Deluca
• Original Assignee: George Likourezos, Peter Deluca
• Inventors: Likourezos, George, DeLuca, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): DESIR, PIERRE LOUIS
• Application Number:
  US10/635,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20040029568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,966 Days
• Field of Search: 455/408, 455/412.1, 455/414.1, 455/415, 455/414.4, 455/406, 455/566, 709/206, 709/226, 715/259
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A cellular telephone, system and method are provided which are capable of transferring a portion of or an entire telephone directory consisting of a plurality of telephone numbers to another cellular telephone via a remote central station. The remote central station receives the telephone directory and stores the same in memory for either temporary or permanent storage. The telephone directory can then be transferred from the remote central station to the same or another cellular telephone for storing the telephone directory within a memory of the cellular telephone. An individual, a company, or other entity, utilizing the remote central station, in order to store and transfer a telephone directory from a cellular telephone to the same cellular telephone or to at least another cellular telephone, pays a fee to at least one operator of the remote central station for providing and/or performing the receiving, storing and transferring services.

Claims

1. A cellular telephone comprising:

a memory storing a telephone directory;

a processor having access to the telephone directory stored in the memory; and

a set of instructions capable of being executed by the processor for;

establishing a communication link with a remote central station storing a plurality of telephone directories each assigned a unique identification code;

transmitting a unique identification code to the remote central station;

displaying on a display of the cellular telephone a telephone directory stored in a memory of the remote central station and assigned the transmitted unique identification code;

selecting at least a portion of the displayed telephone directory;

instructing the remote central station to transmit to the cellular telephone the selected portion of the telephone directory after selection of a first dedicated key of the cellular telephone;

receiving the selected portion of the telephone directory, said received selected portion of the telephone directory including at least one telephone directory listing transmitted to the remote central station by the cellular telephone after selection of a second dedicated key of the cellular telephone; and

storing the received telephone directory in the memory of the cellular telephone,

wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key are different keys.

2. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the remote central station identifies the telephone directory stored within the memory of the remote central station using the transmitted unique identification code.

3. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the received telephone directory includes at least one telephone directory listing created and transferred to the remote central station using a computing device other than the cellular telephone.

4. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for selecting the portion of the displayed telephone directory desired to be transmitted from the remote central station to the cellular telephone, wherein the received telephone directory only includes the selected portion of the displayed telephone directory.

5. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the step of storing the received telephone directory includes overwriting at least a portion of the telephone directory stored within the memory of the cellular telephone with the received telephone directory.

6. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for editing the telephone directory while it is displayed on the display.

7. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for instructing the remote central station to broadcast the telephone directory to a plurality of cellular telephones.

8. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for:

receiving a message transmitted from the remote central station indicating that the telephone directory is available for transmission from the remote central station to the cellular telephone for storage within the memory of the cellular telephone; and

transmitting a signal to the remote central station after receiving the message.

9. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for instructing the remote central station to transmit the telephone directory to a computing device via at least one network.

10. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for transferring the telephone directory stored in the memory of the cellular telephone to the remote central station.

11. The cellular telephone according to claim 10, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for instructing the remote central station to store the transferred telephone directory within a memory for a particular time period.

12. The cellular telephone according to claim 11, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for automatically instructing the remote central station to transmit the stored telephone directory or a portion thereof to the cellular telephone after lapse of the particular time period.

13. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for transmitting information corresponding to the subscriber to the remote central station during a registration process, wherein the registration process includes registering the subscriber with the remote central station.

14. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for:

identifying a calling party'"'"'s telephone number and an entity the telephone number is assigned to, i.e., Caller ID information; and

transmitting the Caller ID information to the remote central station for creating a telephone directory listing using the Caller ID information and storing the telephone directory listing within the memory of the remote central station.

15. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the cellular telephone belongs to a subset of cellular telephones and said processor further transmits a signal to said remote central station identifying the cellular telephone as belonging to said subset prior to said remote central station transferring the telephone directory to the cellular telephone.

16. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the unique identification code is used to determine whether the subscriber of the cellular telephone is authorized to receive the telephone directory and to identify the telephone directory stored in the memory of the remote central station.

17. The cellular telephone according to claim 8, wherein said signal includes at least an identification code identifying the telephone directory available for transmission.

18. The cellular telephone according to claim 1, wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key enable a user to perform the functions of respectively transmitting at least the portion of the telephone directory to and from the remote central station and the cellular telephone.

19. A telephone directory management system comprising:

a remote central station having a memory for storing a plurality of telephone directories each assigned an individual identification code and at least one processor having access to the plurality of telephone directories stored in the memory;

a plurality of cellular telephones each having a first dedicated key for transferring a telephone directory to the remote central station, each of the plurality of cellular telephones corresponding to a different subscriber, each storing a telephone directory and each having a processor for executing a set of instructions for;

establishing a communication link with the remote central station; and

transferring at least a portion of the telephone directory stored therein to the remote central station; and

a set of instructions capable of being executed by the at least one processor for;

identifying at least a portion of a telephone directory of the plurality of telephone directories stored by the remote central station and corresponding to at least one of the plurality of cellular telephones and transferring at least the identified portion of the telephone directory to at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones,

wherein the identified portion of the telephone directory includes at least one telephone directory listing transmitted to the remote central station using one of a computing device not corresponding to a subscriber of at least one of the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones, and the first dedicated key of a cellular telephone of the plurality of cellular telephones,

wherein the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones belong to a subset of cellular telephones and said at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones each transmit a signal to said remote central station identifying themselves as belonging to said subset prior to said remote central station transferring the at least the identified portion of the telephone directory to the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones,

wherein the first dedicated key and a second dedicated key enable a user to perform the functions of respectively transmitting at least the portion of the telephone directory to and from the remote central station and the cellular telephone; and

wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key are different keys.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the establishing and transferring steps are performed on a periodic basis.

21. The system according to claim 19, wherein identifying and transferring steps are performed on a periodic basis.

22. The system according to claim 19, wherein the processor of at least one of the plurality of cellular telephones executes the set of instructions for instructing the remote central station to broadcast a telephone directory stored within the memory to the plurality of cellular telephones.

23. The system according to claim 19, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for:

receiving a message transmitted from the remote central station indicating that a telephone directory is available for transmission; and

transmitting a signal to the remote central station after receiving the message.

24. The system according to claim 19, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for:

identifying a calling party'"'"'s telephone number and an entity the telephone number is assigned to, i.e., Caller ID information; and

transmitting the Caller ID information to the remote central station for creating a telephone directory listing using the Caller ID information and storing the telephone directory listing within the memory of the remote central station.

25. The cellular telephone according to claim 23, wherein said signal includes at least an identification code identifying the telephone directory available for transmission.

26. A method for managing telephone directories corresponding to a plurality of cellular telephones, said method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of telephone directories each corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of cellular telephones and assigned a unique identification code within a memory of the remote central station;

processing instructions received by the remote central station including at least one unique identification code for identifying at least one telephone directory stored within the remote central station; and

transferring the at least one identified telephone directory to at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones,

wherein one of the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones includes a cellular telephone which does not correspond to the at least one identified telephone directory,

wherein the plurality of cellular telephones each have a first dedicated key for transferring a respective telephone directory to the remote central station for storage therein,

wherein the at least one identified telephone directory includes at least one telephone directory listing transmitted to the remote central station prior to being transferred to the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones using one of a computing device not corresponding to a subscriber of at least one of the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones, and at least one cellular telephone of the plurality of cellular telephones,

wherein the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones belong to a subset of cellular telephones and said at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones each transmit a signal to said remote central station identifying themselves as belonging to said subset prior to said remote central station transferring the at least one identified telephone directory to the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones, and

wherein the first dedicated key and a second dedicated key of the cellular telephone of the plurality of cellular telephones enable a user to perform the functions of respectively transmitting at least the identified portion of the telephone directory to and from the cellular telephone and the remote central station.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein prior to processing, further comprising the step of transmitting a message by the remote central station to at least a subset of the plurality of cellular telephones indicating that the at least one telephone directory is available for transmission to at least the subset of the plurality of cellular telephones for storage thereat.

28. The method according to claim 27, further comprising the step of transmitting a signal by each of the cellular telephones of the subset of the plurality of cellular telephones after receiving the transmitted message from the remote central station.

29. The method according to claim 26, further comprising the steps of:

receiving Caller ID information, i.e., a calling party'"'"'s telephone number and an entity the telephone number is assigned to;

processing the received Caller ID information to create at least one telephone directory listing; and

storing the at least one telephone directory listing within the memory of the remote central station, wherein the at least one identified telephone directory includes the at least one telephone directory listing.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the telephone directory listing includes information selected from the group consisting of name, home telephone number, mobile telephone number, home address, business address, e-mail address, and web-site address.

31. The method according claim 26, further comprising the step of charging a fee to at least one subscriber of the plurality of cellular telephones.

32. The method according to claim 26, wherein prior to the transferring step, displaying the at least one identified telephone directory via a display of at least one of the plurality of cellular telephones;

selecting at least a portion of the displayed telephone directory desired to be transmitted from the remote central station to the at least one of the plurality of cellular telephones; and

instructing the remote central station, by selection of a receive dedicated key of the at least one of the plurality of cellular telephones, to transmit to the at least one of the plurality of cellular telephones the selected portion of the displayed telephone directory.

33. The method according to claim 26, wherein the unique identification code is used to determine whether the subscriber of the at least one of the at least two of the plurality of cellular telephones is authorized to receive the at least one identified telephone directory and to identify the at least one telephone directory stored within the remote central station.

34. A mobile communications device comprising:

a memory storing a telephone directory;

a processor having access to the telephone directory stored in the memory;

a first dedicated key in operative communication with the processor and configured to enable a user to perform the function of transferring at least a portion of the telephone directory to a remote central station;

a second dedicated key in operative communication with the processor and configured to enable a user to perform the function of receiving at least the portion of the telephone directory from the remote central station; and

a set of instructions capable of being executed by the processor for performing the steps of;

establishing a communication link with the remote central station;

transferring at least a portion of the telephone directory via the communication link to the remote central station after selection of the first dedicated key;

receiving at least a portion of a telephone directory stored by the remote central station after selection of the second dedicated key, and

instructing the remote central station to identify and transfer at least a portion of one of a plurality of telephone directories stored within a memory of the remote central station to the mobile communications device.

35. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of editing the portion of the telephone directory stored by the remote central station prior to selection of the second dedicated key.

36. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the at least the portion of the telephone directory received from the remote central station corresponds to the at least the portion of the telephone directory transferred to the remote central station by the mobile communications device after selection of the first dedicated key.

37. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the at least the portion of the telephone directory received from the remote central station corresponds to at least a portion of a telephone directory transferred to the remote central station by a computing device other than the mobile communications device.

38. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of instructing the remote central station to broadcast the telephone directory to a subset of a plurality of mobile communications devices.

39. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a message transmitted from the remote central station indicating that a telephone directory is available for transmission from the remote central station to the mobile communications device for storage within the memory of the mobile communications device; and

transmitting a signal to the remote central station.

40. The mobile communications device according to claim 39, wherein said signal includes at least an identification code identifying the telephone directory available for transmission.

41. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of instructing the remote central station to transmit the transferred telephone directory to a computing device via at least one network.

42. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of instructing the remote central station to store the transferred telephone directory within a memory for a particular time period.

43. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of transmitting an identification code to the remote central station for identifying a telephone directory assigned the identification code and stored within the remote central station.

44. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of transmitting information corresponding to a subscriber of the mobile communications device to the remote central station during a registration process, wherein the registration process includes the step of registering the subscriber with the remote central station.

45. The mobile communications device according to claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the steps of:

identifying a calling party'"'"'s telephone number and an entity the telephone number is assigned to, i.e., Caller ID information; and

transmitting the Caller ID information to the remote central station for storage as a telephone directory listing.

46. A mobile communications device comprising:

a memory storing a telephone directory;

a processor having access to the telephone directory stored in the memory; and

a set of instructions capable of being executed by the processor for performing the steps of;

parsing Caller ID information, said Caller ID information including at least a telephone number and an entity assigned the telephone number;

storing the parsed Caller ID information as a telephone directory listing within the telephone directory;

transferring at least the stored telephone directory listing to at least one computing device after selection of a first dedicated key; and

receiving the telephone directory listing from the at least one computing device after selection of a second dedicated key,

wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key enable a user of the mobile communications device to perform the functions of respectively transmitting at least the portion of the telephone directory to and from the at least one computing device and the mobile communications device;

wherein said processor is responsive to said first and second dedicated keys for selectively enabling the user to perform the steps of transferring and receiving said telephone directory listing to and from said at least one computing device; and

wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key are different keys and provided on a user interface of the mobile communications device.

52. The mobile communications device according to claim 46, wherein said first dedicated key is in operative communication with the processor and configured to enable a user to perform the step of transferring said telephone directory listing to said at least one computing device.

47. A telephone directory management system comprising:

a remote central station having a memory for storing a plurality of telephone directories each assigned an individual identification code and at least one processor having access to the plurality of telephone directories stored in the memory;

a plurality of mobile communications devices each storing a telephone directory and having a processor for executing a set of instructions for performing the steps of;

establishing a communication link with the remote central station;

transferring a respective telephone directory to the remote central station after selection of a first dedicated key; and

receiving at least a portion of the respective telephone directory from the remote central station after selection of a second dedicated key; and

a set of instructions capable of being executed by the at least one processor for performing the steps of;

identifying the at least the portion of the respective telephone directory corresponding to at least one of the plurality of mobile communications devices and transferring the same to the at least one of the plurality of mobile communications devices;

wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key enable users of the plurality of mobile communications devices to perform the functions of respectively transferring telephone directories to and from the remote central station and the plurality of mobile communications devices;

wherein said processor of each of said plurality of mobile communications devices is responsive to said first and second dedicated keys for selectively enabling the users to perform the steps of transferring and receiving telephone directories to and from said remote central station; and

wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key are different keys and provided on a user interface of each of said plurality of the mobile communications devices.

48. The system according to claim 47, wherein the steps of identifying and transferring are performed after selection of the second dedicated key of at least one of the plurality of mobile communications devices.

49. The system according to claim 47, wherein the processor of at least one of the plurality of mobile communications devices further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of instructing the remote central station to broadcast a telephone directory stored within the memory to the plurality of mobile communications devices.

50. The system according to claim 47, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a message transmitted from the remote central station indicating that a telephone directory is available for transmission; and

transmitting a signal to the remote central station, said signal including at least an identification code identifying the telephone directory available for transmission.

51. The system according to claim 47, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the steps of:

identifying a calling party'"'"'s telephone number and an entity the telephone number is assigned to, i.e., Caller ID information; and

transmitting the Caller ID information to the remote central station for storage as a telephone directory listing.

53. A method for managing telephone directories corresponding to a plurality of mobile communications devices, said method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of telephone directories each corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of mobile communications devices within a remote central station;

processing instructions received by the remote central station for identifying at least one telephone directory stored within the remote central station; and

transferring the at least one identified telephone directory to at least one of the plurality of mobile communications devices, wherein the plurality of mobile communications devices each have a first dedicated key configured to enable a user to transfer a respective telephone directory to the remote central station for storage therein after selection thereof and wherein the plurality of mobile communications devices each have a second dedicated key configured to enable a user to receive a respective telephone directory from the remote central station after selection thereof.

54. The method according to claim 53, further comprising the step of transmitting a message to the at least a subset of the plurality of mobile communications devices indicating that a telephone directory is available for transmission to at least the subset of the plurality of mobile communications devices for storage thereat.

55. The method according to claim 53, further comprising the step of automatically transferring at least one telephone directory to at least a subset of the plurality of mobile communications devices.

56. The method according to claim 53, further comprising the steps of:

receiving Caller ID information, i.e., a calling party'"'"'s telephone number and an entity the telephone number is assigned to;

processing the received Caller ID information to create at least one telephone directory listing; and

storing the at least one telephone directory listing within the remote central station.

57. The method according to claim 53, further comprising the steps of:

receiving data from a third party for transmitting to at least one subscriber of the plurality of mobile communications devices; and

sending the received data to the at least one subscriber of the plurality of mobile communications devices.

58. The method according to claim 57, further comprising the step of charging a fee to the third party for performing at least the step of sending the received data.

59. The method according claim 53, further comprising the step of charging a fee to at least one subscriber of the plurality of mobile communications devices.

60. The method according to claim 53, further comprising the step of editing at least one of the plurality of telephone directories using at least one of the plurality of mobile communications devices to remotely communicate with the remote central station.

61. A mobile communications device comprising:

a memory storing a telephone directory;

a processor having access to the telephone directory stored in the memory;

a first dedicated key in operative communication with the processor and configured to enable a user to perform the function of transferring at least a portion of the telephone directory to a remote central station;

a second dedicated key in operative communication with the processor and configured to enable a user to perform the function of receiving at least the portion of the telephone directory from the remote central station; and

a set of instructions capable of being executed by the processor for performing the steps of;

establishing a communication link with the remote central station;

transferring at least a portion of the telephone directory via the communication link to the remote central station after selection of the first dedicated key;

receiving at least a portion of a telephone directory stored by the remote central station after selection of the second dedicated key, and

instructing the remote central station to identify and transfer at least a portion of one of a plurality of telephone directories stored within a memory of the remote central station to at least one of a plurality of mobile communication devices.

62. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein each of the plurality of telephone directories corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of mobile communications devices.

63. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of editing the portion of the telephone directory stored by the remote central station prior to selection of the second dedicated key.

64. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the at least the portion of the telephone directory received from the remote central station corresponds to the at least the portion of the telephone directory transferred to the remote central station by the mobile communications device after selection of the first dedicated key.

65. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the at least the portion of the telephone directory received from the remote central station corresponds to at least a portion of a telephone directory transferred to the remote central station by a computing device other than the mobile communications device.

66. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of instructing the remote central station to transmit the transferred telephone directory to a computing device via at least one network.

67. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of instructing the remote central station to store the transferred telephone directory within a memory for a particular time period.

68. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of transmitting an identification code to the remote central station for identifying a telephone directory assigned the identification code and stored within the remote central station.

69. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the step of transmitting information corresponding to a subscriber of the mobile communications device to the remote central station during a registration process, wherein the registration process includes the step of registering the subscriber with the remote central station.

70. The mobile communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor further executes the set of instructions for performing the steps of:

identifying a calling party'"'"'s telephone number and an entity the telephone number is assigned to, i.e., Caller ID information; and

transmitting the Caller ID information to the remote central station for storage as a telephone directory listing.

71. A method for managing telephone directories corresponding to a plurality of mobile communications devices, said method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of telephone directories each corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of mobile communications devices within a remote central station;

processing instructions received by the remote central station for identifying at least one telephone directory stored within the remote central station; and

transferring the at least one identified telephone directory to at least one of the plurality of mobile communications devices, wherein the plurality of mobile communications devices each have a first dedicated key configured to enable a user to transfer a respective telephone directory to the remote central station for storage therein after selection thereof and wherein the plurality of mobile communications devices each have a second dedicated key configured to enable a user to receive a respective telephone directory from the remote central station after selection thereof, and wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key are accessible via a user interface of each of the plurality of mobile communications devices.

72. A cellular telephone comprising:

a memory storing a telephone directory;

a processor having access to the telephone directory stored in the memory; and

a set of instructions capable of being executed by the processor for;

establishing a communication link with a remote central station storing a plurality of telephone directories each assigned a unique identification code;

transmitting a unique identification code to the remote central station;

displaying on a display of the cellular telephone a telephone directory stored in a memory of the remote central station and assigned the transmitted unique identification code;

selecting at least a portion of the displayed telephone directory;

instructing the remote central station to transmit to the cellular telephone the selected portion of the telephone directory after selection of a first dedicated key accessible via a user interface of the cellular telephone;

receiving the selected portion of the telephone directory, said received selected portion of the telephone directory including at least one telephone directory listing transmitted to the remote central station by the cellular telephone after selection of a second dedicated key accessible via a user interface of the cellular telephone; and

storing the received telephone directory in the memory of the cellular telephone, wherein the first dedicated key and the second dedicated key are different keys.