DE29800351U1 - Mobile computer with wireless telephony functions - Google Patents

Description

Mobile computer with wireless telephony capabilities

The invention relates to a mobile computer with wireless telephony functions according to the preamble of claim 1.

A mobile computer in the sense of this description is basically any portable computer that can be operated with accumulators or batteries. In particular, this term includes so-called laptop computers, notebook computers, palmtop computers, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) computers and others.

It is known to equip laptop and notebook computers with a so-called GSM card, with the help of which the computer can carry out wireless telephony functions, in particular in the area of data transmission. The GSM card is inserted into the computer like any other plug-in card, for example a network card, and has the classic functions of a GSM mobile phone, in particular a transceiver and electronics for making, receiving and maintaining GSM connections. The card is supplied with power by the personal computer and has an interface to it, via which data can be transferred. The card is used to send and receive data packets, electronic mail and faxes.

If the user of such a combination of mobile computer and GSM card wants to send a data packet, a message or a fax, he must first call up a control program or terminal program, register the GSM card in the network, select the desired method of sending and enter the destination number or address. These operations are carried out on the usual terminal programs using codes, which are followed by the desired numbers and information. Operation is therefore complicated and only possible for an experienced user. The situation is similar when receiving messages and documents.

Furthermore, telephony with the described combination of computer and GSM card is only possible with the use of an additional microphone and a loudspeaker and requires complicated inputs such as those required for sending electronic documents and faxes. For these reasons, these combinations are practically never used for making phone calls.

On the other hand, a classic commercially available GSM handheld telephone (mobile phone) is only partially suitable for selecting and activating the various functions, especially the convenience functions, of the GSM network. Due to the few buttons available on a telephone, these various functions must be assigned key codes that the user must remember if he or she wants to call up these functions. Experience has shown that only people who make a lot of calls can remember these key codes, and usually only those key codes for the most frequently used functions.

The task is therefore to develop a mobile computer with wireless telephony functions in such a way that the telephony functions can also be used quickly and easily by a layperson.

This problem is solved with the characterizing features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments can be found in the subclaims.

An embodiment of the invention is described in more detail below, based here on the particularly popular PDA computer "Apple Newton" with a touch-sensitive screen and stylus for the screen, which has a GSM interface, preferably in the form of a GSM card, which can be loosely or permanently installed. This mobile computer, together with the communication card and an earphone, is referred to below as a computer.

The computer makes it possible to offer functions that a conventional mobile phone cannot provide or that are difficult to use. In addition, by linking the phone with data stored in the computer, new functions can be offered that are not possible with a mobile phone alone.

The computer supports all the call management functions known from conventional mobile phones. It is not operated via a numeric keypad, but graphically within a so-called slip of paper, which corresponds to a window on the computer screen.

The sheet is divided into the header area, connection area and status line. The header area contains buttons for frequently used, essential functions. In the connection area all current connections are displayed and the status line has some function buttons.

The header shows the current reception quality, the volume as a symbolic slider and, if applicable, the call units still available. There are also buttons for disconnecting the current connection, opening the telephone keypad and making a speed dial. The connection area shows the current connections, for example normal telephone calls and conference calls. An active connection is indicated, for example, by the inverted name and another symbol.

As soon as a subscriber number is found in the phone book, i.e. in the computer's database, the respective name from the phone book appears in the display instead of the phone number. The call time or the accrued charges for this call are displayed below the name.

To set up a simple telephone call, it is possible to enter the number of the desired party directly, to use a speed dial or a

Redial function, working with the phone book or an assistant. The number is entered directly by the user writing the number in the connection area. After character recognition, the computer creates a connection with this number, which is established after pressing the "pick up" button. Alternatively, the number can be "dragged" into this area or entered using the telephone keypad. If the phone book contains the dialed number, the corresponding name is shown in the display.

An incoming call is displayed in the phone list. If the phone list is not visible, it opens automatically. If incoming calls are automatically answered, the phone list can be prevented from opening. To answer the call, the user presses the "answer" button in the header bar or taps the corresponding symbol. The line is established and playback is transferred to the earpiece. It is also possible not to answer a call by drawing the delete gesture over the symbol of the new connection. In this case, the caller receives a busy signal.

The call is ended by pressing the "hang up" button in the header area or by drawing the delete gesture over the symbol of the connection to be ended. The ended connection is removed from the display.

It is possible to mute the phone's microphone by tapping the background of the phonebook. The microphone can be turned back on in the same way. While a connection is muted, this is indicated next to the connection icon, for example by the word "muted".

If a further call is to be opened in addition to a current call, the graphical user interface makes managing multiple calls much easier and makes it practical for many users. The user can see on the interface that multiple calls are being held. The graphical display

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presents the status of all currently active connections, so that, for example, in a conference it can be determined whether and which participant is leaving the conference.

To initiate a consultation call during a call, the user dials the desired subscriber. The existing connection is put on hold. The new connection for the consultation call appears on the screen. The numbers are selected using the same options as for a simple call, for example by entering them directly or by selecting them from the phone book.

If another call arrives during a connection, the user is notified of this on conventional telephones by a so-called "call waiting". In this case, the computer displays the waiting call as an additional connection in the telephone list, similar to an incoming call. The acoustic signal can also be omitted. The user accepts the waiting call by tapping either the text or the symbol of the call. The active connection is automatically put on hold and the waiting call becomes the active connection. If two connections exist at the same time, the user can switch back and forth between these two connections ("makein" feature). To switch between the calls, the user taps the desired call on the screen. The active connection is put on hold and the other call is activated.

Setting up a telephone conference, a particularly difficult undertaking with conventional mobile phones, is easy here. If two active calls exist, the user can establish a conference by selecting the second call in addition to the current call. To select the participant, the user draws the selection marker over the symbol or text of the relevant connection. The user can also draw the selection marker over both calls to combine them into one conference. The new conference connection represents the two calls. A conference connection

behaves like a normal connection, which means that all operations for simple calls can also be applied to a conference connection. Disconnecting a conference connection disconnects all connections within that conference.

In addition, a conference connection can also be displayed with its individual connections. To do this, the user switches the display in the action button menu with the entry "Individual connections" or "Conference connections". If a conference is displayed with its individual connections, the user can have so-called private conversations with individual participants in the conference. During these private conversations, the user only speaks to one participant. The other conference participants cannot follow this conversation. The user starts a private conversation by tapping the symbol of the desired participant. The symbols of all connections are updated accordingly. Tapping the symbol again ends the private conversation and all participants are back in the conference. If the user taps the symbol of another participant during a private conversation, the current private conversation is ended and a new private conversation is started with the tapped participant. If a participant is to be removed from a conference, their symbol is marked with the delete gesture.

In the individual view of a conference, the user can check which calls he has to pay for by tapping the displayed call times. The display switches to the costs and if no units or no amount is displayed, the connection in question is an incoming connection that the user does not have to pay for.

This computer with mobile telephony functions also has a number of so-called secretary functions. For example, the user can activate a filter that suppresses all or certain incoming calls. If the phone number is not given for an incoming call, it will be rejected. Otherwise

the computer tries to find the number in its database and checks whether it is known to the activated filter. The call is only displayed if the number can pass the filter. In this way, for example, in a conference, certain calls can get through, but others are held back.

A call can also be answered completely automatically. In this case, a call that has passed a possible filter is automatically answered after a short delay. After the call, the line is automatically released again.

In another screen menu, automatic redialing can take place, whereby you can specify how many retries should be made and at what intervals.

The so-called "short message services" (SMS) messages, which are becoming increasingly popular in wireless telephony, can be sent quickly and conveniently using the present invention. A message can be written very quickly on the computer using a pen, for example. This is then read and supplemented with, for example, text blocks from the computer's memory, for which the computer has its own editor. The recipient of the message and the text of the message are specified in the editor, with the text consisting of a salutation, the actual text and a greeting. The salutation and greeting can be omitted. Messages can be saved in the notepad for archiving purposes. Any text blocks can be predefined or user-defined.

Only the most important telephony features have been described above, which can be implemented particularly easily and advantageously with the computer according to the invention. In addition, a large number of other features are possible, which are known per se, but have so far only been implemented with great difficulty, particularly in the wireless area.

to be carried out, such as sending and receiving fax documents, accessing the Internet, World Wide Web and e-mail, security settings, log and journal files, etc.

The invention has been described using an "Apple Newton" personal digital assistant, which works with a touch-sensitive screen and a pen. However, it can also be used on any other mobile computer, where the screen arrow or cursor is operated with a mouse, keyboard or trackball, for example, or where the command sequences required to call up the various telephony functions are entered via the keyboard, and help for the keyboard commands to be entered can be displayed on the screen.

Claims (6)

Protection claims 1. Mobile computer with a screen, operating elements and a device for carrying out wireless telephony functions, characterized in that graphic representations of the telephony functions can be displayed on the screen and can be influenced with the operating elements of the computer for controlling the telephony functions. 2. Mobile computer according to claim 1, characterized in that the screen is touch-sensitive and the operating elements have a stylus for controlling the computer by touching the screen. 3. Mobile computer according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the operating elements comprise a keyboard having numbers and/or letters. 4. Mobile computer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device for carrying out wireless telephony functions is designed as a plug-in card. 5. Mobile computer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the telephony functions include dialing telephone numbers and/or receiving calls and/or managing a telephone book database and/or sending and receiving SMS messages and/or sending and receiving fax documents and/or sending and receiving data packets and/or filter functions for incoming calls and/or call forwarding functions and/or call waiting functions and/or query functions and/or brokering functions and/or conference calls and/or redial functions and/or speed dial functions and/or mute functions and/or automatic reception of · · r calls and/or email functions and/or Internet access functions and/or time clock functions and/or telephone data storage functions.
6. Mobile computer according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wireless telephony functions can be carried out within the GSM network.