General-purpose electronic telephone station set
First Claim
1. A general-purpose electronic telephone station set for use in conjunction with a host computer (40) and having plural user-controllable operations, said set including transducers (17) for audio input/output of received or transmitted signal information, a display screen (13) for video output of information, a keyboard (20) including a plurality of keys for manual input of signal information, and data processing means (43) for electrically intercoupling the keyboard, the screen, and the transducers for programmable interaction, the improvement comprisingplural function keys (16) arrayed along at least one side of the screen in positions corresponding to different line positions on the screen, said function keys being coupled to said data processing means for inclusion in said programmable interaction, andsaid data processing means includingmeans, responsive to signals from said host computer, for displaying in text on said screen an initial set (140) of user-selectable choices of station set operations, such choices including at least one called station calling mode (CALL BY TYPING),means, responsive to actuation of at least one of said function keys, for sending to said host computer signals identifying such one key, andmeans, responsive to signals from said host computer directing the one of said calling modes corresponding to the identified function key, to produce signals identifying said called station.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The power of computer-based services is made available to telephone subscribers by a telephone station set (10) including a telephone handset (17) for audio transduction, a video output display screen (13) and manual input key facilities (16,20,23) coupled for interaction by a data processing facility (43). All of those elements are included in a common station set housing for programmable interaction under control of the station set user. The input key facilities include a full ASCII key set, additional buttons (30-32) for signaling standard computer service functions, and keys (16) for user selection of predetermined different text portions of the display screen. Also shown are various electrical and mechanical features which facilitate the combining of the functional parts into the common housing and illustrative processes (FIGS. 8-12) for demonstrating the programmable facility interaction.
145 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A general-purpose electronic telephone station set for use in conjunction with a host computer (40) and having plural user-controllable operations, said set including transducers (17) for audio input/output of received or transmitted signal information, a display screen (13) for video output of information, a keyboard (20) including a plurality of keys for manual input of signal information, and data processing means (43) for electrically intercoupling the keyboard, the screen, and the transducers for programmable interaction, the improvement comprising
plural function keys (16) arrayed along at least one side of the screen in positions corresponding to different line positions on the screen, said function keys being coupled to said data processing means for inclusion in said programmable interaction, and said data processing means including means, responsive to signals from said host computer, for displaying in text on said screen an initial set (140) of user-selectable choices of station set operations, such choices including at least one called station calling mode (CALL BY TYPING), means, responsive to actuation of at least one of said function keys, for sending to said host computer signals identifying such one key, and means, responsive to signals from said host computer directing the one of said calling modes corresponding to the identified function key, to produce signals identifying said called station.
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18. A general-purpose electronic telephone station set for use in conjunction with a host computer (40), said set including transducers (17) for audio input/output of received or transmitted signal information, a display screen (13) for video output of information, a keyboard (20) including a plurality of keys for manual input of signal information, and data processing means (43) for electrically intercoupling the keyboard, the screen, and the transducers for programmable interaction, the improvement comprising
plural function keys (16) arrayed along at least one side of the screen in positions corresponding to different line positions on the screen, said function keys being coupled to said data processing means for inclusion in said interaction, said plurality of keys in said keyboard includes a key set (20) for outputting a predetermined set of selectable characters representing, respectively, different ones of a predetermined set of letters, numbers, and functions, and additional keys (30-32) for outputting from each such key a signal corresponding to a respective predetermined information processing function available in said host computer, and said data processing means includes means (FIG. 15 translation) for determining from said host characters said host recognizes as requests for said processing functions and translating each said additional key output signal to a corresponding one of said host characters.
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22. A general-purpose electronic telephone station set for use in conjunction with a host computer (40), said set including transducers (17) for audio input/output of received or transmitted signal information, a display screen (13) for video output of information, a keyboard (20) including a plurality of keys for manual input of textual information, and data processing means (43) for electrically intercoupling the keyboard, the screen, and the transducers for programmable interaction, the improvement comprising
plural function keys (16) arrayed along at least one side of the screen in positions corresponding to different line positions on the screen, said function keys being coupled to said data processing means for inclusion in said interaction, and said data processing means includes means (FIG. 14 CONTROL CHARACTER) for translating an output of any of said plural function keys to any selectable one of plural textual characters and assembling such one character into a data message, for said host computer, along with a predetermined operational prefixal character (STX) and a predetermined operational suffixal end-of-message character (CR).
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24. A general-purpose electronic telephone station set including transducers (17) for audio input/output of received or transmitted signal information, and a display screen (13) for video output of information, the improvement comprising
a keyboard (20) including a plurality of keys for manual input of signal information, plural function keys (16) arrayed along at least one side of the screen in positions corresponding to different line positions on the screen, data processing means (43) in the set for electrically intercoupling the keyboard, the function keys, the screen, and the transducers for programmable interaction, said display screen being a part of a cathode ray tube display means including beam deflection controlling coils (118) coupled to said tube, one set of such coils being operable in the audible frequency range, and hybrid coupling transformer coils (76) for coupling output and input portions of said transducers to an analog signal input/output port (21) of said station set, said transformer coils being oriented with respect to said controlling coils to produce minimum deflection signal noise in said transducers.
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25. A general-purpose electronic telephone station set including transducers (17) for audio input/output of received or transmitted signal information, and a display screen (13) for video output of information, the improvement comprising
a keyboard (20) including a plurality of keys for manual input of signal information, plural function keys (16) arrayed along at least one side of the screen in positions corresponding to different line positions on the screen, data processing means (43) in the set for electrically intercoupling the keyboard, the function keys, the screen, and the transducers for programmable interaction, said display screen being a part of a cathode ray tube display means including inductive ray deflection controlling means (118) coupled to said tube, and operable in the audible frequency range, and hybrid coupling transformer coils (76) for coupling output and input portions of said transducers to an analog signal input/output port (21) of said station set, said transformer coils being oriented so that the mutual inductance with said inductive ray deflection controlling means is at a minimum level.
Specification