Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TELEPHONE APPARATUS WITH MESSAGE DISPLAY
The present invention relates to telephone apparatus
such as telephones and facsimile machines of the type
connected to a public service telephone network for
making and receiving telephone calls and to such
apparatus having message displays.
It is known for telephone apparatus such as
telephones and facsimile machines to be connected to
signal lines of a public service telephone network so
that communications signals may be routed via the
network. Telephone calls originating from or received
at the telephone apparatus are typically routed via a
local exchange connected to one or more networks for
inland or overseas calls. Typically a residence or
workplace would be provided with telephone sockets into
which connection is made by appropriate wiring from the
telephone apparatus and signal lines, which may include
optical fibre links, provide connection to the local
exchange.
It is known for such telephone apparatus to be
provided with a display, typically in the form of a
liquid crystal display screen, driven by a processor and
indicating call number information and optionally date
and time information to the user.
It is also known in a pager system for portable
pager devices to receive messages from a radio pager
transmission via radio waves, typically VHF, and for a
pager device to include a liquid crystal display to
present a message addressed to a specific pager device
or broadcast to a group of pager devices by a paging
control centre from which messages are originated on
demand by users of the pager system. Typically users
contact the paging control centre by telephone and
request transmission of a text message to the specified
device(s).
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It i.s also known from EP-A-034467?_ to provide a
public telephone with a display for presenting
advertising information and information specifically
requested interactively by a user using data stored in
the telephone apparatus or transmitted from a remote
site. The displayed information may be transmitted via
a satellite communication or radio system, enabling the
displayed information to be broadcast other than via the
telephone lines used by the telephone.
It is an object of the present invention to provide
an improved telephone apparatus having improved display
facilities.
According to the present invention there is
disclosed telephone apparatus comprising:
(a) communication means operable to make and
receive telephone calls for sending and receiving
communications signals;
(b) display means operable to present a display of
information to a user of the communication means;
(c) memory means for storing information to be
displayed;
(d) detecting means operable to detect an event
associated with use of the communication means; and
(e) control means operable to control the display
means to present the display of the information stored
in the memory means to the user in response to said
detection by said detection means.
Preferably the control means is a processor which
controls the display means by running a display program
which processes display data, both program code and
display data being stored in the memory means and updated
periodically using broadcast signals. Where the
telephone apparatus is a land line telephone or facsimile
machine, the broadcast signals may be wireless signals
received via an antenna and receiving circuit.
r
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Alternatively, the broadcast signals may be received via
a network such as the Internet or private data network
and input to the apparatus by means of a suitable
decoder.
Where the telephone apparatus is a mobile telephone,
the broadcast signals may be received via a channel of
a mobile telephone cellular network. The events which
trigger the display of information may be detected as the
starting or ending of a telephone call or may be
dependent upon detection of digits in the communications
signals forming part of dialled telephone numbers,
network access codes or call line identification.
Other aspects of the invention are defined in
accordance with the appended claims.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will
now be described by way of example only and with
reference to the accompanying drawings of which:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication
system including a public service telephone network and
having telephone apparatus connected to the network and
arranged to receive broadcast information;
Figure 2 :is a schematic external plan view of a
telephone in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the internal
components of the telephone of Figure 2;
Figure 4A is a schematic diagram of the contents of
a broadcast message;
Figure 4B is a schematic diagram of the contents of
a Random Access Memory containing current message and
address information;
Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a
process for displaying information;
Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a
method of updating current message data and presentation
control data i_n the Random Access Memory of the terminal;
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figure 7 is an external view of an alternative
telephone apparatus;
Figure 8 is an external view of a further
alternative apparatus including a graphic display;
Figure 8A is a view of an alternative graphic
display;
Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of functional
components of the telephone apparatus of Figure 8;
Figure 10 is a flowchart representing a display
control process;
Figure 11 is a flowchart showing a control display
process in a route dependent mode; and
Figure 12 is a flowchart showing a display control
process in a route independent mode;
Figure 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating the
broadcasting of messages to a telephone via a cable
network;
Figure 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating
connection of a telephone for receiving broadcast
messages via the Internet;
Figure 14A is a schematic diagram illustrating
connection of a telephone for receiving broadcast
messages via a private data network;
Figure 15 is an illustration of a further embodiment
including a smart card reader/writer;
Figure 16 is a schematic component diagram of the
telephone of Figure 15;
Figure 17 is a flowchart illustrating the output of
a smart card token using the telephone of Figures 15 and
16;
Figure 18 is a schematic diagram illustrating the
broadcast of tokens to the telephone of Figures 15 to 17
via the Internet and a cable network;
Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of a mobile
telephone having a display of information and connected
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to a cellular network;
Figure 20 is a schematic diagram of a routing module
having a display of information;
Figure 21 is a schematic flowchart illustrating
interactive display of information; and
Figure 22 is a schematic diagram of a facsimile
machine in which the display of information is printed.
Figure 1 shows a communications system 1 in which
a telephone 2 is connected to local exchange 3 by means
of a signal line 4. The local exchange 3 is connected
to networks Sa, 5b and 5c and other local exchanges 6 and
7, together forming a public service telephone network
8.
Other telephone apparatus in the form of telephones
9 and 10 and facsimile machine 11 are similarly connected
to local exchanges 6 and 7 of the public service
telephone network.
The telephone 2 is provided with an antenna 12
suitable for receiving vHF signals at 153.35 MHz, this
being the type of broadcast electromagnetic signals
currently used by radio pager transmitters of paging
systems. In accordance with the POCSAG standard the
transmission encoded using FEC (Forward error coding) of
ECH type and interleaving.
A control centre 13 generates broadcast information
and is connected to a radio tower 14 transmitting the
broadcast electromagnetic (VHF) signals to be detected
by antenna 12.
Each of the further telephone apparatus 9, 10 and
11 is similarly provided with a respective antenna 12.
The external appearance of the telephone 2 is shown
in plan view in Figure 2 and consists of a base 20 to
which is removably mounted a handset 21 which includes
a microphone 22 and speaker 23. The handset 21 is
connected to the base 20 via cable (not shown). A key
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pad 24 is provided for the user input of telephone
numbers.
A display screen 25 is mounted on the base 20 and
presents a visible message consisting of a graphic
portion 26 and a text portion 27. The display 25 also
includes a number display area 28 in which dialled
telephone numbers are displayed in conventional manner
and a clock display area 29 in which the time of day is
indicated.
A loudspeaker 30 is also mounted in the base 20.
Figure 3 illustrates the internal structure of the
telephone 2 in schematic form. The telephone 2 comprises
a two wire to four wire converter 31, the input side of
which is connected to a telephone socket 32 via an OFF-
hook switch 33. On the telephone socket side of the OFF
hook switch 33, a ringer 34 is positioned between the two
wires. The contacts of the OFF-hook switch 33 are closed
when the hand set 21 shown in Figure 2 is lifted by the
user, thereby creating an OFF-hook event to initiate a
telephone call.
On the four wire side of the two wire to four wire
converter 31, two wires are connected to the microphone
22 and a further two wires are connected to earpiece
speaker 23.
A dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) generator 35 is
also connected to the two wire to four wire converter 31
in parallel with the microphone 22, the DTMF generator
having its input connected to an output of a processor
36. The processor 36 is also connected to the key pad
24, a ROM 38, a RAM 39 and a clock 40.
A display 41 has its input connected to an output
of the processor 36 and has outputs driving the display
screen 25 and the loudspeaker 30, these components
together providing an information presenting system 43.
A demodulator 4?_ has its input connected to aerial
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12. The demodulator 42 has an output connected to a
protocol decoder 45 whose output is connected to an input
of the processor 36.
Operation of the telephone 2 in making a telephone
call will now be described. A user initiates a telephone
call by lifting the handset 21, this being detected by
the OFF-hook switch 33 which connects the two wire to
four wire converter 31 to the telephone socket 32 and
provides an OFF-hook signal to processor 36. On hearing
a dial tone via the earpiece speaker 23, the user then
inputs the telephone number of the destination telephone
to be called using the key pad 24 which sends the
numerical data defining the call number to the processor
36. The processor actuates the DTMF generator which
outputs dial tone signals transmitted via the two to four
wire converter 31 to the telephone socket 32 for outgoing
transmission via the signal line 4. A call is terminated
by replacing the handset 21, this being detected by means
of the OFF-hook switch 33. The control centre 13
transmits the broadcast signals in which the encoded
broadcast information has contents as illustrated
schematically in Figure 4A. The broadcast message will
typically be addressed to a group of telephone apparatus
but every message will contain a message address block
50 which contains address data which determines whether
the telephone 2 is the intended recipient of the message.
A presentation control information block 56 contains
presentation control information defining the manner in
which message data contained in a message data block 55
is presented.
The telephone 2 stores terminal address information
70 in RAM 39, the terminal address information
representing an identifier specific to the telephone and
also user determined configuration data, and processes
only broadcast information containing corresponding
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message address data 50.
>:igure 6 illustrates schematically the process of
updating the current message data and presentation
control data in response to received messages. When a
broadcast message is detected at step 67 as having been
received, the message data 55, presentation control
information 56 and message address data 50 are
temporarily stored at step 68 in a buffer memory and the
address data compared at step 69 with the terminal
address information. If there is correspondence between
the message address data 50 and the terminal address
information 70, the stored current message data 71 and
current presentation control information 72 stored in the
RAM 39 are updated at step 73 to correspond to the
received broadcast message. If there is no
correspondence between the terminal address data 70 and
the message address data 50 then the current message data
and current presentation control information are not
updated and remain unchanged.
Figure 4B illustrates schematically the storage in
RAM 39 of the current message data 71, current
presentation control information 72 and the terminal
address data 70. The user may configure operation of the
telephone by setting the user configured component of the
current terminal address data 70 to any one of a set of
available addresses which may for example be comprised
of a number of fields indicating leisure interests,
professional activities, age and sex of the user so that
the user may configure the telephone to present only
those messages likely to be of interest.
The telephone therefore presents messages in
accordance with the current message data 71 and current
presentation control iniormati_on 7?., these being updated
periodically whenever a broadr_ast message having the
appropriate address data 50 is received. The user
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configured component of the terminal address data may be
reconfigured at any time by the user inputting an
appropriate command code via the keypad 24 and during
this configuration mode the processor .36 may control the
display screen 25 to present a menu of options to the
user for selection via appropriate input using the keypad
24.
The current presentation control information 72
contains an identifier indicating the nature of the
display as being text, audio, video, animated graphic,
or a combination thereof. The current presentation
control information 72 may also include an identifier
indicating that the display is to generate using a
display application (the term "display application" is
here used to indicate a program or application such as
a Java Applet which may be downloaded to the telephone
processor to process message data 71 and determine for
example a scrolling pattern or image movement to be used
in graphic displays). Typically, the display application
may be changed. periodically to present each set of
message data in a corresponding new style, the display
apparatus being stored in memory as display program code
which is updated by new code included in message data 55
contained in a broadcast message, or a series of
broadcast messages containing segments of program code.
The presentation control information block 72 also
contains information determining the timing of display
of presenting a message such as for example the following
options:
~ Option 1: display the message when received in real
time from the pager message control centre and
continue to display until a further message
received;
~ Option 2: receive and store the message information
and display the message for a predetermined time
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interval initiated in response to detection of an
OFF-hook event when the user initiates a telephone
call by lifting the handset;
~ Option 3: receive and store the message information
and initiate the presentation of the message in
response to detection of an ON-hook event when a
user terminates a telephone call by replacing the
handset;
~ Option 4: receive and store the message information
and initiate the presentation of the message in
response to detection of an outgoing call being
dialled so as to include a specific code, for
example a code indicating that the dialled
telephone number is an international call from the
United Kingdom to the United States, the display
message being an advertising message relating to
this destination;
~ Option S: receive and store the message information
and initiate the presentation of the message in
response to detection of a call line identifier
code contained in an incoming telephone call, the
call line identifier providing an indication of the
geographical location of the call origin, and the
message presented being selected to relate to this
geographical location;
~ Option 6: receive and store the message information
and initiate the presentation of the message in
response to detection of the line state indicating
a dialled number to be engaged or unattainable
The presentation control information block 72 also
contains information determining the time interval during
which the message is to be displayed in options 2 and 3
above.
Thle current message data block 71 contains data
relating to the information content of message to be
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presented by the information presenting system 43
constituted by the display 25, speaker 30, display
' interface 41, processor 36 and RAM 39 of Figure 3.
Existing paging systems are adapted to transmit
alphanumeric messages of a specified maximum. This
maximum limit varies by paging standard, protocol and
operator but is generally in the region of 240
characters. This may be sufficient for simple text
messages to be displayed in an embodiment of the present
invention by the information presenting system 43 where
for example a moving text message is presented in text
portion 27. Longer messages may however be transmitted
for storage in the RAM 39 by dividing the message content
into a number of portions and forwarding the portions in
separate consecutive pager transmissions.
Examples of information to be presented by the
information presenting system 43 will now be described.
An advertising message may be presented in the display
screen 25 of Figure 2 as text in the text portion 27
which may be expanded to fill the entire display screen
25. The text message may be scrolled from side to side
or up and down during the period for which the message
is displayed. The content of the advertising information
may for example be to publicise a special offer on
telephone calls or current call charges such as
"Pathfinder now offers peak time call charges to the
United States for 13 pence per minute". As referred to
above, the current message is tailored to the
requirements of the user, as determined by the
configuration data contained in the terminal address
information, so that advertising messages can be targeted
to appropriate recipients. Other text messages may for
example contain trading prices on the stock market
presented in the form of a Stock Ticker_ or other
commer_ci.al information of specific interest to the user
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such as sports results. A further alternative of
interactive messages is disclosed below with reference
to Figure 21.
A second example of presenting information by the
information presenting system 43 is to display an
animated graphic image in the~graphic portion 26 of
display 25. If it is not required to simultaneously
display text then the graphic portion may expand to fill
the whole display screen 25. The graphic display may
include text or have a separate text portion 27 as shown
in Figure 2.
The graphic display may represent an advertising
logo or display other visual graphic information such as
a weather chart, or road map.
In a third example, the visual display is not
required and an audible message is presented via the
speaker 30. The message may be encoded in a compact form
suitable for driving a speech synthesiser contained in
the interface 41. The audible message may include music.
A fourth example is an audible message delivered via
the earpiece speaker 23 , requiring connection between the
display interface 41 and the two wires connected to the
earpiece speaker 23, this connection being illustrated
by connecting wires 44 in Figure 3 which are shown as
broken lines representing that this is an alternative
option. The display screen 25 may optionally be also
controlled via the display interface 41 in this example
to display text corresponding to the synthesised speech
delivered to the earpiece speaker 23.
A procedure for controlling the elapsed time of a
display and the time at which the display is initiated
is illustrated in Figure 5. It is to be understood that
in referring to "display" any of the above examples of
presenting a message are to be included as possible
alter_natives_
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In Figure 5 the processor 36 checks at step 60
whether the telephone is in an OFF-hook state, as
detected by the OFF-hook switch 33. If the UFF-hook
state is detected, the processor checks for any change
in status to the ON-hook state. When the ON-hook state
is detected at step 62, the display is initiated and a
timer started. The elapsed time is measured by means of
clock 40 and when the elapsed time has reached a
predetermined time interval as determined at step 65, the
display is ended at step 66.
A further embodiment will now be described using
corresponding references to previous figures where
appropriate for corresponding elements.
Figure 7 shows an alternative telephone 2 in which
the display is presented solely in the form of text
contained in a text portion 27 of the display screen 25,
in addition to a number display area 28 and clock display
area 29. Text within the text portion 27 is scrolled in
a manner determined by a display application stored in
RAM 39, the circuit of the telephone of Figure 7
corresponding substantially to that shown in Figure 3.
The text portion 27 displays a 2x20 character display of
text stored in RAM as stored display data which is
periodically updated from broadcast message data in
broadcast signals.
The display application controlling the manner in
which the text is displayed is similarly defined by
stored display program code which is periodically updated
using broadcast message data contained in broadcast
signals.
figure 8 illustrates a further embodiment which will
be described using corresponding references to those of
previous figures where appropriate for corresponding
elements. In Figure 8, a telephone 2 includes a display
screed ?_S which, in response to use of the telephone by
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a user to make or receive a t=elephone call, displays an
advertising message in the form of an animated graphic
display in a graphic portion 26 of the display screen,
the displayed information including a text portion 80.
Figure 9 illustrates schematically the functional
elements of the apparatus of Figure 8 in which a
processor 36 controls operation of both a display 25 and
telephone communication circuits 81. The telephone
communication circuits 81 correspond generally to the
elements 31, 32, 34 and 35 of the circuit of Figure 3 and
function to enable telephone calls to be made and
received for sending and receiving communications signals
82.
A receiver circuit 83 is provided for receiving the
input of broadcast signals 84 which are separate and
distinct from the communications signals 82 and are
received via a separate input 85. The input 85 is
connected externally to an interface (not shown)
allowing signals from a cable distribution network,
Internet modem or other means of broadcasting signals
which do not require the placing of a telephone call to
the telephone 2 itself for the transmission of
information.
Broadcast signals are "addressed" to specific users
by including "address information", i.e. identification
data which enables the receiving telephone apparatus to
select only information which is relevant to the
requirements or preference of the user. The telephone
of Figures 8 and 9 includes a memory represented in
Figure 9 as RAM 39 and which contains a number of memory
areas as represented schematically. A buffer memory 86
is used to initially store all data contained in
broadcast signals 84 input to the processor 36 from the
receiver circuit 83. Address information contained in
the broadcast data stored in the buffer memory is
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compared with apparatus ID data 87 and user configuration
data 88 which t=ogether comprise terminal address data
(i.e. stored identifying information) which acts as a
filter for selecting only specific broadcast messages.
If correspondence is determined between the address
information and the apparatus ID data and user
configuration data 87 and 88, the information contained
in the buffer memory 86 is used to update stored display
data 89 and/or stored display program code 90, depending
upon the content of the broadcast message data held in
the buffer memory 86. The presentation control data 91
stored in RAM 39 may similarly be updated if required
together with information contained in a look-up table
92 used for selecting a display program and display data.
i5 A detector circuit 93 is represented in Figure 9 as
monitoring the status of the telephone communication
circuits 81 so as to input to the processor 36 detection
signals 94 representative of events associated with use
of the telephone communication circuits 81. Such
detection may correspond to sensing actuation of the off-
hook switch 33 shown in Figure 3 to detect transition
between the ON and OFF-hook status of the telephone
circuit. The detection signals 94 may also be
representative of dialled tones representing telephone
numbers or prefixes added to telephone numbers by a low
cost routing module 95. The low cost routing module 95
is operable to respond to the telephone number dialled
when making an outgoing call by determining a least cost
route for choice of network by which the call is to be
routed to its destination and to automatically prefix the
dialled telephone number with a code determining the
least cost route by routing the call to a network node
defined by the prefixed code.
'The low cost routing module 95 is controlled by the
processor 36 which refers to a look-up table 9E in order
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to determine the appropriate code f:or least cost routing.
The data stored in the routing look-up table 96 is
also periodically updated by including appropriate data
in a broadcast signal received by the receiver circuit
S 83 and, after being temporarily stored in buffer memory
86 for analysis as to whether updating is appropriate,
overwriting part or all of the look up table 96 with the
new data received via the broadcast.
Operation of the telephone apparatus 2 of Figures
8 and 9 to present a display will now be described with
reference to the flowchart of Figure 10. The processor
36 monitors at step 100 the status of the telephone
communication circuits 8i by means of the detector
circuit 93 in order to determine whether the telephone
communication circuits 8i are being used. When use is
detected at step 101, the processor refers at step 102
to the presentation control data 91 stored in the RAM 39
in order to determine the current operating mode. If the
current operating mode is one in which the display is
dependent upon the network route of an outgoing telephone
call, as detected from the initial digits of the dialled
code input by the user or as prefixed by the low cost
routing module 95, then at step 103 the processor selects
operation according to a routine 107 in which the control
of the display in a route dependent mode follows the
steps of Figure 11.
At step 110 of Figure 11, the processor detects
whether the call is an outgoing call and if so, the
outgoing number is detected at step 111. At steps 112
and 113, the processor 36 refers to the look-up table 92
to determine pointers to selected display data 89 and
selected display program code 90. A display program is
thereby selected and run by the processor 36 using the
selected display data. In the example shown in Figure
8, the display program is an Apples generating a graphic
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picture of an aeroplane and clouds in which text
contained in the display data is inserted in text
portions 80. Such a display of information is
appropriate for example in a case where the detected code
S of the outgoing call is the telephone number of an
airline reservation office. Figure 8A shows a further
example of a display appropriate where the detected code
of the telephone number is that of a shipping line. In
each case, the appropriate text can be an advertising
message, perhaps of a competitor, or of a supplier of a
related service such as insurance.
In each case, the graphic display is animated to
provide both movement of the generated stylised image and
to provide scrolling of the text if appropriate.
If at step 110, the processor detects that the call
is an incoming call, the call line identifier of the
incoming call is detected at step 118. The selected
display program and display data are then looked up at
steps 112 and 113.
The display is initiated when a cue to start the
display is detected at step 114 of Figure 11, the cue
being typically the time at which the receiver is
replaced into the on-hook condition. Depending upon the
current present control data 91 for the given display
program, various alternatives are possible including for
example a cue which initiates the display when the
telephone circuit initially goes OFF-hook.
The display continues to be generated in step 117
until detection at step 105 of Figure 10 of a cue to end
the display. The cue to end the display may correspond
to determining that elapsed time has reached a preset
value measured from commencement. of the display.
If at step 103 of Figure 10 the mode of operation
of the display control is determined to be other than
route dependent, display i_s controlled at. step 1.06 using
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display data and display program data determined in
accordance with the presentation control data 91.
Control of the display in a route independent mode
is illustrated schematically at Figure 12. In this mode,
S the processor makes no reference to the dialled telephone
number or prefix code, this mode being appropriate for
incoming calls as well as outgoing calls where the
presentation control data 91 determines that the display
is to be independent of the selected route.
At step 120 of Figure 12, the processor 36 monitors
the status of the telephone communication circuits 81 to
sense the ON/OFF-hook status. When the transition from
ON-hook to OFF-hook is detected at step 121, the
processor 36 refers to the presentation control data 91
to determine pointers to display data and display program
code stored in the RAM in areas 89 and 90 at steps 122
and 123.
At step 124, the processor awaits detection of a cue
to commence the display, in this example the cue being
a transition from off-hook to on-hook, and the processor
then runs the selected display program using the selected
display data at step 125.
When a cue to end the display is detected at step
126, the display is ended by the processor at page 127.
Figure 13 illustrates the manner in which the
telephone 2 of Figures 8 and 9 may be connected to
receive the broadcast signals 84 via a cable network.
Figure 13 illustrates schematically a typical connection
of the telephone 2 including low cost routing module 95
to a decoder 130 for an optical cable network. The
decoder 130 provides decoding of optical signals received
from the network to provide a television signal output
131 received by a television receiver 132. The decoder
1.30 also provides decoding of optical signals to output
broadcast signals f34 which are input via t=he broadcast
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signal input f35 shown in Figure 9 to provide updating
signals for data stored in memory as described above,
thereby enabling both the display functions and the low
cost routing module functions to receive updated
S broadcast information independently of operation of
telephone communication signals 82 which are input via
a separate input and handled separately by the decoder
130.
The digital data transmitted via the decoder 130 may
be packetised data using existing proprietary
transmission systems or protocols such as UDP, a one-way
transmission protocol which is a derivative of TCP
Internet protocol. The data transmitted as a multi-point
broadcast may be communicated to a local cable network
143 as shown in Figure 14 via the Internet 141 using an
Internet service provider 142. The communications
signals 82 are routed via the cable network 143 to the
public service telephone network 144.
A control centre 145 distributes the broadcast
information via the Internet 141.
Figure 14A illustrates an alternative arrangement
in which a private data network 146 provides
communication between a control centre 145 and a local
network 143 to which the decoder 130 is connected.
Figure 15 illustrates a further embodiment in which
a telephone having the configuration of Figure 9
additionally includes a smart card reader/writer 150
allowing a smart card to be inserted into the telephone
2. The telephane 2 of Figure 15 will be described using
corresponding references to those of preceding figures
where appropriate for corresponding elements and the
description with reference to Figures 9 to 14 applies
equally to the embodiment of Figure 15.
Figure 16 illustrates the modified component diagram
of the telephone including the smart card reader/writer
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connected to processor 36, a smart card 151 being
insertable by a user for read/write operation and
removable for use in transporting electronic coupons.
Figure 17 illustrates schematically the way in which
5 such a smart card may be utilised. At step 168, a user
makes or receives a telephone call using the telephone
2 and at step 169 the processor 36 selects a display
message using any of the criteria described above. At
step 174, the processor 36 awaits a cue to initiate the
10 display, the cue typically being the termination of the
call as detected by the receiver being replaced into the
on-hook position so that the on-hook signal serves as a
cue. At step 170 a message is displayed, following the
cue, to display a graphic message as described above, and
15 including in the message an offer for the user to accept
a token or coupon redeemable at a retail outlet.
At step 171, the user inputs via the keypad 24 a
response either accepting or declining the offer. At
step 172, the processor 36 determines whether the user
20 response requires a token to be output and, if so,
outputs at step 173 a write instruction to the smart card
writer. The smart card 151 includes an onboard processor
and storage medium allowing the information defining the
redeemable electronic token to be stored.
25 The user subsequently removes the smart card 151
from the smart card reader/writer 150 and presents the
smart card to a retail or service outlet where, using a
further smart card reader/writer connected to the till
of the retail or service outlet, the electronic token is
30 redeemed as a discount for goods, services or cash and
the data stored in the smart card amended appropriately
to cancel or decrement the token value.
In this way, electronics tokens or coupons for
merchandising may be broadcast by any of the means
35 described above, including 'or example wireless
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broadcast, Internet communication, and cable network.
The broadcast information relating to merchandising
tokens or coupons is included in broadcast signals 84 and
stored as token data 174 as represented in Figure 16.
Figure 18 illustrates the manner in which a
telephone having a smart card reader 150 is connected via
a cable network 130 to a control centre 145 which
originates the broadcast of merchandising tokens. A till
181 at a retail outlet has a corresponding smart card
reader/writer 182 into which the user's smart card can
be inserted to extract the relevant token data.
Redemption of the token is notified by the till 181 to
the control centre 145 via any suitable communication
link, the control centre serving as a clearing house for
electronic token transactions.
Typical use of such a system of broadcasting
electronic tokens would involve a service provider such
as a supermarket or bank requesting the control centre
operator to broadcast information which may include an
advertisement, a competition, questions or details,
promotional information or questions to which the user
can respond by answering a questionnaire. The broadcast
signals may be addressed to all users or only to selected
users, the selection or filtering process being conducted
on the above described basis of identification data
contained in broadcast signals being compared with
identification information stored in the receiving
apparatus. The stored information may be configured
according to particular user preference or directed
specifically by the control centre to users who make a
particular pattern of use of the telephone system. For
example, users who frequently make overseas telephone
calls are likely to be interested in promotions relating
to telephone network service providers offering reduced
rates for_ overseas calls.
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'I'he display of the above information is typically
via text in the display screen, the text typically being
included in a graphic animated form and optionally
accompanied by synthesized speech or music.
Information relating to the tokens may be
continuously displayed or, in the manner described above,
displayed in response to use of the telephone
communication means.
Use of the system in product promotion may for
example take the form of displaying a message "press 1
on your telephone keypad if you wish to take advantage
of our buy 1 hamburger, get another free offer". This
text could be incorporated in a graphic display including
the logo of the supplier and a representation of the
goods. When the user decides to take advantage of the
offer, the user actuates the keypad and the apparatus
responds with an appropriate acceptance display and
writing token information onto the smart card.
The data written onto the smart card may include
more information than simply the number or value of the
redeemable token. The information may for example
include response to a survey or questionnaire, the date
and time of the response and identification information.
When presented to a retail or service outlet, the
smart card is read at a terminal and the discount given
to the user, the data on the card being transmitted to
the control centre if appropriate.
Other forms of transportable memory media may be
used in place of a smart card in accordance with the
present invention, including re-writable optical data
storage media and magnetic data storage media.
A further alternative embodiment in which token data
174 is broadcast and stored in memory 39 relies upon the
token data being presented in a displayed message to the
user as an alphanumeric= code. Tt~e user may then note the
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code and present the code information to the retail or
service outlet where an operator can obtain verification
of the code by referring to locally stored information
or by communication with the control centre and, subject
to authentification, may then redeem the token. This
embodiment does not require the smartcard reader/writer
150 of Figure 16 but otherwise includes all of the
elements shown therein.
A unique token identification may be transmitted to
each user which the user can then present to the
participating sales or service outlets as described
above.
Figure 19 illustrates a further embodiment in which
the telephone apparatus comprises a mobile telephone 190
and which will be described using corresponding reference
numerals to those of previous figures where appropriate
for corresponding elements. The mobile telephone 190
includes a display 25 which, in addition to displaying
the alphanumeric information normally displayed in
conventional mobile telephones, is operable to display
stored information in a similar manner to the telephone
apparatus of the embodiments described above. The mobile
telephone 190 includes a keypad 2_4, a clock 40, read only
memory 38 and a random access memory 39 which stores
information corresponding to elements 86 to 92 and 96 of
Figure 9 described above.
The mobile telephone 190 also includes a
transmitter/receiver 191 and a decoder/encoder 192
enabling communications signals 193 to be sent and
received by wireless transmission. The mobile telephone
190 may thereby be connected t=o one or more cellular
telephone networks 194 which ar_e in communication with
the control centre 145.
Broadcast signals are periodically sent to the
mobile telephone 1.90 as part oi: broadcast communications
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signals 193 in order to update the stored program code
90 and display data 89, lookup tables 96 for routing and
user configuration data 88.
The mobile telephone 190 may function interactively
for display of information as described with reference
to Figure 21 and may be used to transmit token data 174
facilitating display of redeemable tokens to the user in
the form of displayed token codes.
The detection of events for triggering the display
may be any of the following;
turning on the mobile telephone,
detection of going on-hook status,
detection of going off-hook status,
detection of a specific telephone number dialled by
the user or network access code inserted by a routing
function of the processor,
detection of a line state being engaged,
detection of a line state being a ringing tone,
detection of a line state being unattainable, or
detection of an incoming call including the
possibility of responding to specific call line
identification.
Such a mobile telephone 190 would include a larger
screen than currently included in conventional mobile
telephones and comprising a colour display screen with
annotated graphics capability.
Figure 20 illustrates a further embodiment in which
a routing module is provided with a display. The term
"routing module" is here used to define a telephone
apparatus which is connected in-line between a telephone
or facsimile machine and the transmission line or network
decoder via which telephone calls are transmitted and
received. As shown in Figure 20 for example, a
conventional telephone 200 i.s connected to a decoder 130
of a cable network via a rout_ng module 201. The routing
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module functions to detect telephone numbers of outgoing
calls dialled by the user and intelligently adds or
alters prefixes to the telephone numbers in order to
route the outgoing call via a preferred route which will
5 usually be a least cost route.
The module includes a display 25 corresponding to
the display of previous figures and includes a processor
and memory providing equivalent functions to those
described above.
10 The routing module 201 receives broadcast signals
202 which are received by the decoder 130 and output
separately from communications signals to the module.
Figure 22 illustrates a further alternative in which
a facsimile machine 220 having a printer 221 is operable
15 to print received images on a recording medium 222 such
as plain paper.
In the example of Figure 22, the facsimile machine
220 is connected to a decoder 130 of a cable network to
send and receive communication signals 223.
20 The facsimile machine 220 includes a processor 36
and memory 39,in similar manner to the apparatus of
Figure 9 and functioning to generate data to display an
image selected from stored data. The facsimile machine
of Figure 22 however does not incorporate a separate
25 display screen but utilises the printer 221 to present
the display of information to the user as illustrated by
the printed image 224 in Figure 22.
The selection of the displayed information and the
cue triggering the initiation of the display may be
30 configured as described above in the various alternative
embodiments.
Broadcast signals 225 received via the decoder 130
are used to update the information stored in memory in
similar manner to the data updating procedure described
35 above in previous embodiments.
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The above described embodiments in which a display
of information is presented to a user may optionally be
modified to include an interactive display feature
illustrated schematically by the flowchart of Figure 21
and which will now be described using corresponding
reference numerals to those of preceding figures where
appropriate for corresponding elements.
At step 210, the detector circuit 93 detects one of
the above described events for triggering the display
when a user makes or receives a call. The processor 36
selects the appropriate display program code 90 and
presentation control data 91 and awaits the cue to
display at step 212.
When the cue is detected, the message is displayed
at step 213 requesting a response from the user. As an
example, a displayed message contains text stating "book
cheap flights to New York using Flight Airways; press #
to speak to a Flight Airways representative".
At step 214 the user inputs a response by means of
keypad 24, and the response is analysed at step 215 by
the processor 36. If action is requested, the processor
at step 216 actuates telephone circuits 81 to generate
an outgoing telephone call to connect the telephone
apparatus with a service provider. The user is thereby
automatically connected to an operator to discuss his
requirements, without the user having to dial the
telephone number.
If at step 215 it is detected that no action is
required, the display is ended at step 217 without
further action.
A number of alternative embodiments in accordance
with the present invention and within the scope of the
appended claims are envisaged. For example the display
screen in any of the above embodiments may comprise a
coloured liquid crystal display t=o enhance the appearance
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of text, video or animated graphics. The display screen
optionally may comprise a segmented alphanumeric display.
The handset 21 of the telephone 2 its the above
embodiments may be arranged to communicate by radio
signal with the base 20 in known manner to avoid the need
for a cable connection therebetween. The telephone may
alternatively comprise an integral handset as a "one
piece" telephone which the OFF-hook switch was a manually
actuated ON-OFF switch.
The wireless transmitter may alternatively be a
satellite based system.
Each of the embodiments of Figure 2 to 18
illustrates telephone apparatus in the form of a
conventional telephone receiver. It is to be understood
that telephone apparatus in the form of a facsimile
machine may similarly incorporate the graphic display,
moving text message display and ability to receive and
store broadcast messages relating to display, least cost
routing and other features of the described telephone
apparatus, including for example the addition of the
smart card reader/writer for broadcasting electronic
coupons or tokens.
In those described embodiments in which updating
broadcast information is received via a cable network,
the decoder 130 may alternatively output the broadcast
memory updating messages for the telephone 2 multiplexed
with the television signals 131, the input to the
telephone 2 being obtained by means of a T-junction to
divert a portion of the signal 131 shown in Figure 13.
This modification would require additional decoding
circuitry within the telephone 2 in order to demultiplex
the signal. In this arrangement, the broadcast message
could be included in a vertical blanking interval in the
television signal or in any other way appropriate with
current television transmission format.
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As a further alternative, a television set provided
with a satellite dish and decoder box may additionally
be provided with means for outputting from the decoder
the broadcast messages 84 where the broadcast messages
are multiplexed with the satellite transmission of
television signals.
It is envisaged that further forms of broadcasting
media will become available and to which the present
invention is equally applicable, it being necessary only
that the telephone apparatus is capable of receiving the
broadcast signals independently of any communications
signals associated with incoming or outgoing telephone
calls.
In each of the above described embodiments, the
duration of the display may be determined with reference
to an internal clock, the duration of the display having
a predetermined value which may be set according to
presentation control data received in the broadcast
signals.
The processor may additionally refer to the clock
in order to customize the selection of displayed
information according to the time of day, day of the
week, or calender events.
The selection of display information in route
dependent mode has been described above with reference
to the detected code of an outgoing call being
representative of the telephone number of a specific
destination_ Alternatively, the detected code may simply
be the initial digits of the telephone number determining
its route. This may be appropriate where the initial
code identifies a particular telecommunications service
provider selected by the least cost route module in
preference to other service providers on a competitive
basis. The displayed message may i_n such instances
indicate to the user ttw identity of the selected service
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provider, an advertising message specific to the service
provider, or an advertising message of a competitor.
Reference is made above to the use of DTMF
generators in relation to generating outgoing telephone
calls. Alternatively, loop disc connections could be
used instead of DTMF if this is necessary for
communication with the local exchange.
Conf iguration data has been described above as being
input by the user. Configuration data may alternatively
be included in broadcast signals on the basis of data
prepared centrally, the data being obtained for example
from questionnaires completed by the users and provided
to the control centre in order to avoid the need for the
user to input data to the telephone apparatus itself.
Configuration data may be addressed individually to
individual telephone apparatus or may be directed to
groups of such telephone apparatus in data broadcasts
with appropriate addresses.
The use of a Java Applet has been described above
in the context of program code downloaded in broadcast
signals . As an alternative, a display may utilise a Java
Applet which is embedded into the processor 36 or stored
in ROM in order to process message data which is
broadcast and stored in RAM.
Reference is made above to low cost route modules
designed to perform call routing based on minimum cost.
It is intended that such LCRM modules where referred to
in the above description could equally function to
perform routing on the basis of criteria other than cost,
such as network availability.
