MXPA00012663A - Call origination in a mobile telephone apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

There is described a phone, particularly a mobile phone, which allows a user to set one of two modes of operation. In one mode, dialled numbers are treated as private numbering plan numbers unless one specific character, such as a particular digit, is dialled, while, in another mode, numbers are treated as external numbers, unless another specific character is dialled.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a telephone device, and particularly to a mobile telephone that can be used in situations in which there is the possibility of using a private numbering plan. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The current mobile telephony standards allow the use of what are known as private numbering plans in which several subscribers can contact each other by dialing abbreviated numbers. The necessary interactions in the radio interface are defined in the GSM standard for example, in GSM 04.08, Section 10.5.4.7. This standard defines the required format of a number to send on the radio interface, to allow access to a private numbering plan number. The problem remains as to how to convert a number dialed by a user to a number that has appropriate access to the radio interface. Obviously, the telephone must also be able to handle calls to numbers that are not part of the same numbering plan. COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION In accordance with aspects of the invention, the telephone has two modes of operation. In a first mode, the sequences of dialed digits are interpreted as numbers of a first type, unless they include a specified prefix digit. In a second mode of operation, the sequences of dialed digits are interpreted as numbers of the second type, unless they include a specified prefix character. Thus, for example, when the user expects mainly to be making calls to numbers within a private numbering plan, he can set the telephone to an operating mode in which the dialed numbers are normally interpreted by the telephone as numbers in a plan. of private numbering, and managed accordingly, while requiring the dialing of a prefix digit to allow access to external numbers that are not part of this private numbering plan. When a user thinks that he / she will be making calls outside of the private numbering plan, he / she can place the telephone in an operation mode in which the dialed numbers are normally interpreted by the telephone as external numbers, and handled accordingly, whereas It is necessary to mark a prefix character to allow access to numbers that are part of the private numbering plan. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile telephone according to the first aspect of the invention. Figure 2 is a flow diagram showing a method according to a second aspect of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a telephone according to a first aspect of the invention. As is conventional, telephone 2 includes a man-machine interface (MMI) 4, which includes a keypad for entering digits by a user and a display device, for example, in the form of an LCD. Likewise, the telephone 2 includes a transceiver (TX) 6, for converting signals into a suitable form for transmission in a radio interface, and for converting signals received in the radio interface in a form suitable for processing in the telephone. In addition, the telephone 2 includes an interface 8 for a SIM card, which, as is known, stores information specific to a particular user. Other components of the telephone 2, not illustrated, are also conventional. According to the invention, the telephone incorporates, for example, within its programmatically controlled processor, a number conversion module 10 that includes two switches 12, 14 jointly controlled by a telephone processing unit, based on income provided. by the user through the MMl 4. It will be noted that the switches can be physical switchesor, perhaps, more conveniently, they can be "virtual switches", illustrating how different input data can be processed in different ways in the programmatic according to different user income. Depending on the position of the switch 12, the inputs of the MMI4 can be supplied to one of the two number processing units 16, 18 while, depending on the position of the switch 14, the number input to the block 10 can be decoded in one. of two decoding units 20, 22. Figure 2 is a flow diagram showing the different operations of two number processing units 16, 18. As indicated above, it will be noted that these operations can be performed in different equipment blocks. or, as suggested in figure 2, an alternative processing path in the programmatic processing unit. The process begins at step 40, when a user of the telephone dials a number using the MMI 4. In step 42, it is determined whether the telephone is in the PNP (Private Numbering Plan) mode. In this embodiment of the invention, the telephone can be set to a PNP mode which is useful when the user expects that most of the outgoing calls will be to other numbers within a common private numbering plan, or in an external mode , which is useful when the user expects that the majority of outgoing calls will be towards external numbers (for example, the user may not be a member of a private numbering plan). The telephone operation mode can be selected by the user, for example, from a menu that appears in the MMI 4. Alternatively, the mode can be established by entering a specific code from the telephone keypad. If, in step 42 of the process illustrated in Figure 2 it is determined that the telephone is in the PNP mode, the number is handled in step 48 in the number processing block 18. In this mode of operation, the following step, step 50 in figure 2 is to examine the dialed number, determine if the specific escape digit has been entered as the first digit. If this is not the case, then, in step 52, the number processing block 18 converts the number in the correct form, for example, formatted in accordance with GSM 04.08, for transmission to transceiver 6, as if it were a number of PNP. On the other hand, if the user has dialed a specific escape digit as the first digit of the dialed number, this digit is used by the number processing block 18 as an indication that the remainder of the dialed number must be converted, in the step 54, in figure 2, as if it were an external number.

Preferably, the user can define a specific escape digit for their own use, again through the MMI 4 on the telephone. (Alternatively, the escape digit may be a sequence of digits or may include pressing a key several times or pressing a key for a long period of time). For example, if the user knows that none of the numbers in his Private Numbering Plan that he wants to dial begins with the digit "9", he can choose to define this digit as the relevant escape digit. Then, to dial an external number (or network dial plan), you must dial 9xxxx. On the other hand, to dial a number from a private numbering plan, simply dial the number yyyy, without a preliminary escape digit. If the telephone is in the external mode, ie the answer to the question in step 42 is NO, the method proceeds to step 44 where the number is received, for example, by the number processing block 16 in Figure 1. In this mode of operation, the next step, step 70 in Figure 2, is to examine the dialed number to determine whether a specific prefix character has been entered as the first digit. If this is the case, then, in step 72, the number processing block 18 converts the number into a suitable form for transmission to transceiver 6, as if it were a PNP number. On the other hand, if the user has not marked the specific escape digit as the first digit of the dialed number, this is employed by the number processing block 18 as an indication that the dialed number must be converted, in step 74 , in figure 2, as if it were an external number. In this case, even though the prefix character can be selected to be a digit, it may not be possible to determine a particular digit that will never be the first digit of an external number, and therefore can be used as the prefix character, known below as "p". Accordingly, the telephone preferably recognizes a specific key oppression operation as the required prefix character p. For example, this specific key oppression operation may include the pressing of several keys simultaneously or in a particular sequence, or may include a long-duration key press of a specific key or several specific keys. Then, to mark a number of a PNP (private numbering plan) you must mark pxxxx. On the other hand, to dial an external number (or network dialing plan), simply dial the number yyyy, without a prefix character. The invention also relates to decoding blocks 20, 22, which can, again, be set in different modes. In conventional mobile phones, the user can have a smart card, a SIM card, which can be used to store frequently dialed numbers. Alternatively, the numbers can be stored in a non-volatile memory on the phone itself. In the case of storage in a SIM card, a mode of operation of the SIM card allows the user to enter a short code to access the relevant number, which is then displayed in the MMI 4, for marking by the user. Typically, these numbers are stored in the same format as the format used for transmission to the transceiver mentioned above. In a telephone according to the invention, the number that the user must dial depends on the mode in which the telephone is operating. Thus, Figure 1 shows a switch 14 which, according to that described above with reference to switch 12, can be found in the equipment or can simply represent a device for deciding in the programmatic what processing steps should be taken, and what determines if the numbers retrieved from the SIM card 8 are sent to a decoding block 20, or to a decoding block 22., the numbers are stored in the SIM card 8 together with the type of number and the numbering plan identification. The decoding blocks 20, 22 decode the numbers stored in the same way but present the decoded numbers differently from the display of the MMI 4, in such a way that the displayed number is the number that must be marked in the operation mode associated with the phone. Thus, depending on whether the telephone is in a PNP mode or in an external mode, the number displayed in the MMI 4 may include an escape digit or prefix character that the user must dial to access this number, or You can either skip that digit or character. Accordingly, a mobile telephone is described that allows easy abbreviated dialing, for example, when operating a private numbering plan.

Claims (12)

1. CLAIMS _ A mobile telephone having: a first mode of operation wherein sequences of dialed digits that include a first specific prefix character are interpreted as numbers of a first type, and sequences of dialed digits that do not include the first digit of the specified prefix they are interpreted as numbers of a second type; and a second mode of operation wherein sequences of dialed digits that include a second specified prefix character are interpreted as numbers of the second type and sequences of dialed digits that do not include the second prefix digit specified are interpreted as numbers of the first type.
2. A mobile telephone according to claim 1 wherein numbers of the first type are private number plan numbers, and numbers of the second type are external numbers.
3. A mobile telephone according to claim 2, wherein the first specified prefix character is a digit of the telephone keypad.
4. A mobile telephone according to claim 2, wherein the first specified prefix character is defined by a multi-key oppression operation.
5. 5. A mobile telephone according to claim 2, wherein the first specified prefix character is defined by a long duration key oppression.
6. 6. A mobile telephone according to claim 3, 4, or 5, wherein the first specified prefix character is selectable by a user.
7. 7. A mobile telephone according to claim 2, wherein the second prefix character specified is a digit of the telephone keypad.
8. A mobile telephone according to claim 2, wherein the specified second prefix character is defined by a multi-key oppression operation.
9. 9. A mobile telephone according to claim 2, wherein the second specified prefix character is defined by the oppression of a long-duration key.
10. 10. A mobile telephone according to claim 7, 8 or 9, wherein the second specified prefix character can be selected by a user.
11. 11. A mobile telephone according to claim 1, wherein the operating mode can be selected by a user from a menu on a telephone display device.
12. 12. A mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein the mode of operation can be selected by a user by entering a code on a telephone keypad. A mobile telephone according to any of the preceding claims, comprising a device for decoding stored numbers and a device for displaying the stored decoded numbers, the device for the operation of the display in accordance with the first mode of operation of the telephone or the second mode of operation of the telephone, in such a way that the displayed number is the number to dial in this operating mode.