Method and apparatus for processing E-mail and outgoing calls

• US 9,307,065 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2010
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PANASONIC AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS CO., LTD. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kindo, Tsuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Thai
• Application Number:
  US13/500,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20120196583A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,008 Days
• Field of Search: 455/345, 455/346, 455/466, 455/566, 455/567, 455/569.1, 455/569.2, 455/575.9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface

Abstract

A vehicle-mounted device includes: a phone book acquiring section for acquiring a phone book data of a portable device via a communication section; a manipulation section for rejecting an arrival of a call at a call section; a specification section for specifying a mail address of the opposite party from which the arrival of a call is rejected by the manipulation section with reference to the phone book data; and a call-rejected party mail-reception notification suppressing section for suppressing the notification of reception of an E-mail from the mail address specified by the specification section to the vehicle-mounted device.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted device which is mounted on a vehicle and which is connected to a portable device having a call function and a function of exchanging a message by near field communication, the vehicle-mounted device comprising:

a controller which performs a multi-profile control of a Message Access Profile and a Hands Free Profile;

wherein the call function and the function of exchanging a message are performed by using the Message Access Profile used to exchange message information by connecting the portable device and vehicle-mounted device, and the Hands Free profile used to perform a hands free call function by connecting vehicle-mounted device and the portable device, and

wherein the controller for performing the multi-profile control of the Message Access Profile and the Hands Free Profile, includes;

a communication section that wirelessly communicates with the portable device by near field communication;

a message transmitting and receiving section that controls the portable device to transmit and receive a message via the communication section;

a message reading section that reads a received message with voice;

an outgoing call sensing section that senses that an outgoing call is in progress via the communication section;

an outgoing call selecting section provides a request to a user of said vehicle-mounted device, and based on a response to said request, performs physical selection between a) to interrupt the reading of the message with voice and to send the outgoing call before the reading of the message with voice is ended, and b) to not interrupt the reading of the message with voice and to send the outgoing call after the reading of the message with voice is ended,

wherein said request to said user occurs when the outgoing call sensing section senses that the outgoing call is in progress via the communication section while the message reading section is reading the received message with voice, and

wherein the selection made by the user is stored for determining whether to interrupt the reading of the message based on future outgoing calls; and

an interruption section that interrupts the reading of the message with voice by the message reading section,

when the outgoing call sensing section senses the outgoing call while the message reading section is reading the message with voice.

2. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the portable device has phone book data, the vehicle-mounted device further comprising:

a call section that has a call via the communication section;

a phone book acquiring section that acquires the phone book data of the portable device via the communication section;

a manipulation section that rejects an arrival of a call at the call section;

a specification section that specifies a mail address of the opposite party from which the arrival of the call is rejected by the manipulation section with reference to the phone book data; and

a call-rejected party mail-reception notification suppressing section that suppresses a notification of reception of a message from the mail address specified by the specification section to the vehicle-mounted device.

3. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a telephone communication section that has a call via the communication section;

a mail reception sensing section that senses reception of a message;

a state acquiring section that acquires the state of the call section under a call, or under an outgoing call, or under an incoming call;

a notification section that notifies the reception of the message; and

a suppression section that suppresses the notification by the notification section,

wherein when the mail reception sensing section senses the reception of the message in the state acquiring section acquires that the call section is under a call, or under an outgoing call, or under an incoming call, the suppression section suppresses the notification by the notification section and the notification section notifies the reception of the message after the call by the call section is ended.

4. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the portable device has a message function and an AV stream transmitting function, the vehicle-mounted device further comprising:

a stream reproducing section that receives and reproduces an AV stream transmitted from the portable device;

a first notification selecting section that selects whether to notify an arrival of a new message from the portable device while the stream reproducing section is reproducing the AV stream;

a message reading section that reads the received message with voice;

an stream reproduction interrupting section that interrupts the reproduction of the AV stream in the stream reproducing section; and

a stream reproduction resuming section that resumes the reproduction of the AV stream,

wherein when the first notification selecting section selects that the arrival of the new message should be notified to read the message if the message is received by the message transmitting and receiving section during reproducing the AV stream, the stream reproduction interrupting section interrupts the reproduction of the AV stream, the message reading section reads the received message with voice, and the stream reproduction resuming section resumes the reproduction of the AV stream after the reading of the message is ended.

5. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the portable device has a message function and a data communication function, the vehicle-mounted device further comprising:

a data communication section that performs data communication with the outside via the communication section;

a second notification selecting section that selects whether to notify an arrival of a new message from the portable device while the data communication section is performing the data communication;

a data communication interrupting section that interrupts the data communication by the data communication section; and

a data communication resuming section that resumes the data communication by the data communication section,

wherein when a message is received by the message transmitting and receiving section while outputting voice based on the data communication, the second notification selecting section can select to notify the arrival of the new message and to read the message with voice, or to only notify the arrival of the new message and not to read the message with voice; and

wherein when the second notification selecting section selects to notify the arrival of the new message and to read the message with voice and the message is received while outputting voice based on the data communication by the data communication section, the data communication interrupting section interrupts the data communication, the message reading section reads the received mail of which the arrival is notified, and the data communication resuming section resumes the data communication after the reading of the message is ended.

6. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a reading resuming section that resumes the reading of the message under reading,

wherein the reading resuming section resumes the reading of the message under reading when the call state is entered and is then ended after the reading of the message under reading is interrupted and a call is sent.

7. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a ringtone ringing section that rings a ringtone for alerting an arrival of a call;

a call receiving section that receives an arriving call receiving operation;

a call entering section that causes the vehicle-mounted device to enter a call state;

a call end sensing section that senses the end of the call; and

a reading resuming section that resumes the reading of the message under reading,

wherein when an arrival of a call is sensed while the message reading section is reading a message with voice, the interruption section interrupts the reading of the message, the ringtone ringing section rings a ringtone, and the call receiving section receives the call receiving operation, the call entering section causes the vehicle-mounted device to enter the call state, and the reading resuming section resumes the reading of the message under reading when the telephone call end sensing section senses the end of the call.

8. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the portable device has phone book data, the vehicle-mounted device comprising:

a call section that has a call via the communication section;

a call picture display section that displays a call picture which is a display picture of information on a call status;

a phone book acquiring section that acquires the phone book data of the portable device via the communication section;

an opposite party specifying section that specifies the opposite party under a call with reference to the phone book data; and

a button arranging section that arranges a button on the picture displayed by the call picture display section,

wherein the button arranged by the button arranging section is a button for acquiring at least one of an information piece of an outgoing mail to the opposite party under a call specified by the opposite party specifying section and an information piece of an incoming mail from the opposite party under a call.

9. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the portable device has phone book data, the vehicle-mounted device comprising:

a call section that has a call via the communication section;

a destination determining section that determines whether the destination of a message is the opposite party having a call via the call section when the message is requested to transmit; and

a notification changing section that changes a mail transmission state notifying method depending on the destination of the message determined by the destination determining section.

10. The vehicle mounted device of claim 1, wherein the controller performs the multi-profile control of the Message Access Profile and the Hands Free Profile simultaneously.