Telephone device

• US 20060140379A1
• Filed: 10/19/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Igarashi, Hiroyuki, Yamamoto, Osamu, Yokoi, Shigeki
• Granted Patent: US 7,206,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/215.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/578 associated with a synthesized vocal announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set

Abstract

A portable telephone apparatus 100 according to the present invention comprises a call waiting section and a telephone number acquisition section that can acquire telephone numbers of telephone apparatuses on the other end of lines. A telephone directory information registration section 109 registers telephone numbers associated with information on names. A caller confirmation section searches a telephone number of the telephone directory information registration section 109 based on the telephone number acquired by the telephone number acquisition section and confirms the caller. A character string speech conversion section converts the character information on the name of the confirmed caller to speech information. A caller information notification section notifies the user of the speech information from the character string speech conversion section when an incoming call arrives during a call with speech at a volume level which does not disturb the call.

Claims

1. A telephone apparatus comprising:

a call section that carries out a call with one of a plurality of telephone apparatuses;

a call waiting section that notifies, when there is an incoming call during a call using said call section, the user of said incoming call, holds the call in progress and connects the incoming call;

a telephone number acquisition section that can acquire the telephone number of the telephone apparatus of the other party;

a telephone directory information registration section that registers the telephone number associated with the information on the name;

a caller confirmation section that searches said telephone number of said telephone directory information registration section based on said telephone number acquired by said telephone number acquisition section and confirms the caller;

a character string speech conversion section that converts the character information on the name of said caller confirmed by said caller confirmation section to speech information; and

a caller information notification section that notifies, when said incoming call arrives during a call, said speech information to the user from said character string speech conversion section with speech at a volume level which does not disturb the call.

2. The telephone apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

another character string speech conversion section that converts, when information for identifying said corresponding caller is not obtained by said caller confirmation section, the information on said telephone number acquired by said telephone number acquisition section to speech information; and

another caller information notification section that notifies the user of said speech information converted by said other character string speech conversion section with speech at a volume level which does not disturb the call.

3. The telephone apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an incoming call rejection setting section that makes a setting in information on said telephone numbers registered by said telephone directory information registration section so as to reject incoming calls during a call,

wherein if said incoming call rejection is set in the information on said telephone number related to said incoming call when the incoming call arrives during the call, said incoming call is not notified to the user.