KR20010053011A - Call origination in a mobile telephone apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Phones, in particular mobile phones, which allow a user to set one of two modes of operation are described. In one mode, when one particular character, such as a specific digit, is dialed, the dial number is treated as an extension number plan number, and in another mode, when another specific character is called, the number is treated as an external number.

Description

CALL ORIGINATION IN A MOBILE TELEPHONE APPARATUS}

The current mobile phone standard considers the use of so-called premises numbering schemes, in which a group of subscribers can be connected to each other by dialing a speed dial number. The required interaction on the air interface is defined in the GSM standard, such as GSM 04.08 section 10.5.4.7. This standard defines the format required for the number transmitted on the air interface, giving access to the premises number plan number.

There remains a problem regarding how to convert the number the user calls to a number that properly accesses the air interface. Of course, the phone must also be able to handle calls with numbers that are not part of the same number plan.

The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus, in particular a mobile telephone, which can be used where there is the possibility of using a private numbering plan.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile telephone according to a first aspect of the present invention.

2 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to a second aspect of the present invention.

According to an aspect of the invention, the telephone has two modes of operation. In the first mode, if the dialed digit sequence does not include a prescribed prefix digit, the dialed digit sequence is interpreted as a first type number. In the second mode of operation, if the dialed digit sequence does not include a prescribed prefix character, the dialed digit sequence is interpreted as a second type number.

Thus, for example, when the user primarily expects to call with a number in the extension plan, the user can set the phone to an operating mode in which the dialed number is interpreted by the phone as the number of the extension number plan, thus processing The prefix digit needs to be dialed to access an external number that is not part of the extension number plan.

When the user primarily expects to make a call to an outside number of the extension number plan, the user can set the phone to an operating mode in which the dialed number is generally interpreted by the phone as an outside number, and is processed accordingly, with the prefix characters The numbers that form part of the numbering plan need to be dialed to access them.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a telephone according to a first aspect of the present invention. Typically, telephone 2 includes a human-computer interface (MMI) 4, which is a keypad and LCD for digit input entry by a user. It includes a display in the form of: The telephone 2 also has a transceiver (TX) 6 for converting the signal into a form suitable for receiving on the air interface and converting the signal received on the air interface into a form suitable for processing in the telephone. Include. In addition, the telephone 2 comprises an interface 8 for a known SIM-card which stores information specifications to a specific user. Other parts, not shown, of the telephone 2 are also conventional.

According to the invention, the telephone comprises a number conversion module 10 comprising two switches 12, 14 jointly controlled by the telephone's process unit, based on the input supplied by the user via the MMI 4. ) Into a software-controlled processor. The switch can be a physical switch, and perhaps a more conventional "virtual switch," describing how different input data can be processed in different ways in software as user input changes.

Depending on the position of the switch 12, the input from the MMI 4 may be supplied to one of the two number processing units 16, 18, and, depending on the state of the switch 14, the block ( The input number of 10) may be decoded in one of the two decoding units 20 and 22.

2 is a flowchart illustrating different operations of two number processing units 16 and 18. As described above, it can be appreciated that this can be realized in different hardware blocks or alternative processing paths of the software processing unit, as shown in FIG. 2. When the telephone user makes a call using MMI 4, in step 40, the process begins. In step 42, it is determined whether the telephone is in PNP (Plan Number Planning) mode. In this embodiment of the present invention, the telephone can be set to the most useful PNP mode when the user expects most outgoing calls to be different numbers in the common premises plan, or the user wants most outgoing calls to be external numbers. When expected (for example, the user may not be able to be a member of an extension number plan), it can be set to the most useful external mode. The operating mode of the telephone can be selected by the user, for example, from a menu displayed in the MMI 4. Alternatively, the mode can be set by entering a regulation code from the keypad of the telephone.

If in step 42 of the process shown in Fig. 2 it is determined that the phone is in PNP mode, then in step 48, the number processing block 18 processes the number. In this mode of operation, step 50 of FIG. 2, which is the next step, examines the dialed number to determine if a prescribed escape digit is entered as the first digit. If a particular escape digit is not entered as the first digit, then at step 52, the number processing block 18 sends the number to the transceiver 6, for example GSM 04.08, to transmit the number as if it were a PNP number. Convert to a formatted corrected format according to On the other hand, if the user calls the prescribed escape digit as the first digit of the dialed number, in step 54 of FIG. 2, this is a number indicating that the reminder of the dialed number should be converted as if it were an external number. Used by processing block 18.

Preferably, the user can again define the regulatory escape digits via the phone's MMI 4 for his own use. (Alternatively, the escape digit can be a digit sequence, or can include multiple keypresses or long keypresses.) For example, the number that the user wants to call is in his extension number plan. Knowing that none of the numbers begin with digit "9", the user can choose to define the number as an appropriate escape digit. Then, to dial an external (or network dialing plan) number, the user must dial 9xxxx. On the other hand, in order to call the extension number plan number, the user simply calls the number yyyy without a preliminary escape digit.

If the phone is in external mode, ie if the answer to the question is NO in step 42, the sequence goes to step 44 where the number is received, for example by the number processing block 16 of FIG.

In this mode of operation, the next step, step 70 of FIG. 2, checks the dialed number to determine whether a prescribed prefix character is entered as the first digit. If a prescribed prefix character was entered as the first digit, then at step 72, the number processing block 18 converts the number into a suitable form for transmission to the transceiver 6, as if it were a PNP number. On the other hand, if the user does not call the prescribed escape digit as the first digit of the dialed number, in step 74 of FIG. 2, this indicates that the number processing block 18 indicates that the dialed number should be converted like an external number. Used by.

In such a case, even if the prefix character may be selected as a digit, it may never be the first digit of the outer number, and thus may not be able to determine any particular digit that can be used as the prefix character referred to below as "p". Therefore, the telephone preferably recognizes the prescribed key press operation as the necessary prefix p. For example, such prescribed key press operations may be to press multiple keys simultaneously, or may be included in a particular sequence, or may include a long press of a prescribed key or key.

After that, the user must call pxxxx to call the PNP (or extension number plan) number. On the other hand, to call an external (or network dialing plan) number, the user simply dials the number yyyy, without pressing a prefix character.

The present invention relates to decoding blocks 20, 22 which can be set back to different modes. In a typical mobile phone, a user may have a smart card, a SIM card, which can be used to store numbers that the user frequently calls. Alternatively, the number can be stored in non-volatile memory in the telephone.

When stored on the SIM card, for the user to make a call, one mode of operation of the SIM card allows the user to enter a short code that allows the user to access the appropriate number, which is later assigned to the MMI 4. Is displayed. Typically, this number is stored in the same format used to transmit to the transceiver, described above.

In the telephone according to the present invention, the number that the user wants to call varies depending on the mode in which the telephone is operated. Therefore, FIG. 1 includes a switch 14 as described above with reference to the switch 12, which may be in hardware or simply must be included in the processing step and retrieved from the SIM card. Means for determining in software that determines whether the data has been transmitted to decoding block 20 or decoding block 22. Therefore, the number is stored in the SIM card 8 together with the number type and number plan identification. The decoding blocks 20, 22 decode the stored numbers in the same way, but the decoded numbers are displayed differently on the display of the MMI 4, so that the numbers as indicated are the numbers that should be dialed in relation to the telephone operating mode. . Therefore, depending on whether the phone is in PNP mode or external mode, the number displayed on the MMI 4 may include escape digits or prefix characters that the user must call to access the number, or any such digit or character may be included. Can be omitted.

Thus, for example, a mobile phone is described which facilitates speed dialing when an extension number plan is in operation.

Claims (13)

For mobile phones, A dialed digit sequence that includes a first prescribed prefix character is interpreted as a number of the first type, and a dialed digit sequence that does not include the first prescribed prefix digit is interpreted as a number of the second type, and A dialed digit sequence that includes a second prescribed prefix character is interpreted as a number of the second type, and a dialed digit sequence that does not include the second prescribed prefix digit includes a second mode of operation that is interpreted as a number of the first type. Mobile phone characterized in that. The method of claim 1, Wherein the number of the first type is an extension number plan number and the number of the second type is an external number. The method of claim 2, And said first prescribed prefix character is a digit from a keypad of the telephone. The method of claim 2, And wherein said first prescribed prefix character is defined by a number of key press operations. The method of claim 2, And said first prescribed prefix is defined by a long time key press. The method according to any one of claims 3, 4 or 5, And said first prescribed prefix character can be selected by a user. The method of claim 2, And said second prescribed prefix character is a digit from the keypad of the telephone. The method of claim 2, And said second prescribed prefix is defined by a number of keypress operations. The method of claim 2, And said second prescriptive prefix is defined by a long keypress. The method according to any one of claims 7, 8 or 9, And said second prescribed prefix character can be selected by a user. The method of claim 1, And the operating mode can be selected by the user from a menu on the display of the phone. The method of claim 1, And the operating mode can be selected by the user by entering a code on the keypad of the telephone. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, Means for decoding a stored number, means for indicating the decoded stored number, and means for indicating operating according to a first mode of operation or a second mode of operation of the telephone, wherein the displayed number A mobile telephone characterized by being a number dialed in mode.