U.S. patent application number 09/203403 was filed with the patent office on 2002-05-30 for vehicle-installed telephone apparatus.
Invention is credited to ENDOH, YOSHIAKI, KAMIYA, KAZUHIRO, KAWABATA, MIKA, KAWAMURA, KATSUAKI, YOSHIDA, MASAO.
Application Number | 20020065112 09/203403 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 18294331 |
Filed Date | 2002-05-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020065112 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
ENDOH, YOSHIAKI ; et
al. |
May 30, 2002 |
VEHICLE-INSTALLED TELEPHONE APPARATUS
Abstract
A vehicle-installed telephone apparatus comprises a portable
phone with announcing means controlled by a microcomputer, running
detecting means which detects that a vehicle is running, incoming
call detecting means which detects that an incoming call is
received and control means which sends control signals to the
portable phone. The control means sends control signals which
invalidate the operation of the announcing means to the
microcomputer within the portable phone, when the running detecting
means detects that the vehicle is running and the incoming call
detecting means detects that the incoming call is received at the
same time, whereby a driver can concentrate on driving without
being diverted his attention, even if an incoming call is received
while driving.
Inventors: |
ENDOH, YOSHIAKI;
(SAITAMA-KEN, JP) ; YOSHIDA, MASAO; (SAITAMA-KEN,
JP) ; KAWAMURA, KATSUAKI; (SAITAMA-KEN, JP) ;
KAMIYA, KAZUHIRO; (SAITAMA-KEN, JP) ; KAWABATA,
MIKA; (SAITAMA-KEN, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ARENT FOX KINTNER PLOTKIN & KAHN
1050 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, N.W.
SUITE 400
WASHINGTON
DC
20036
US
|
Family ID: |
18294331 |
Appl. No.: |
09/203403 |
Filed: |
December 2, 1998 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/567 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 1/6505 20130101;
H04M 1/57 20130101; H04M 1/6075 20130101; H04M 1/66 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/567 |
International
Class: |
H04M 001/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 5, 1997 |
JP |
9-335967 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A vehicle-installed telephone apparatus comprising: running
detecting means for detecting that a vehicle is running, incoming
call detecting means for detecting that an incoming call is
received, announcing means for announcing that the incoming call
has been received, and control means for controlling said
announcing means, wherein said control means controls in such a
manner as to invalidate the operation of said announcing means,
when said running detecting means detects that the vehicle is
running and said incoming call detecting means detects that the
incoming call is received at the same time.
2. The vehicle-installed telephone apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said detecting means is connected to a parking brake
detecting switch.
3. The vehicle-installed telephone apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said detecting means is connected to a vehicle speed
sensor.
4. The vehicle-installed telephone apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said announcing means is included in a portable phone or a
car telephone.
5. The vehicle-installed telephone apparatus according to claims 1
to 4, said apparatus further comprising: message generating means
controlled by said control means, wherein said control means
controls in such a manner as to send messages stored in said
message generating means to a sending-side, when said running
detecting means detects that the vehicle is running and said
incoming call detecting means detects that the incoming call is
received at the same time.
6. The vehicle-installed telephone apparatus according to claims 1
to 5, said apparatus further comprising: voice synthesizing means
controlled by said control means, and a memory for storing the data
of incoming call records, wherein said control means controls in
such a manner as to convert messages according to the data of
incoming call records stored in said memory into voice and to
output it, when said running detecting means detects that the
vehicle is not running.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle-installed
telephone apparatus that is installed on vehicles and the like.
[0002] Recently, with the spread of car telephones and portable
phones, the scene, that drivers respond to the incoming call of a
portable phone and the like, is often observed on the street. Since
the danger of the case where drivers call while driving vehicles
and the like is well known, it has been beginning to emerge the
necessity for taking measures that the drivers do not have to
respond to the incoming call of the portable phone. Therefore, in
the prior art, proposed was a vehicle-installed telephone apparatus
having a function that when an incoming call of the telephone is
confirmed while a vehicle is running, it is automatically switched
to the speaking state and announces that the driver can not respond
because of while driving, in order not to have to respond
immediately to the portable phone, even if its ringing sounds are
rung while the vehicle is running (Japanese Patent Laid-open
Publication No. 7-115680).
[0003] In addition, there is another prior art in which the driver
is informed that an incoming call is received through the direct
conduction of vibration to the driver by means of a vibrator
function of the vehicle-installed telephone apparatus without
making ringing sounds when they become an incoming state.
[0004] However, the above-mentioned vehicle-installed telephone
apparatus has a problem that the ringing sounds of the
vehicle-installed telephone apparatus are suddenly rung or
vibrations are suddenly started when an incoming call is received
while driving. In other wards, when a driver concentrates his
consciousness on driving a vehicle, he/she would be instantaneously
surprised by suddenly making ringing sounds or starting vibration,
and while he/she would be preoccupied with the vehicle-installed
telephone apparatus, he/she could not concentrate on driving
vehicles and the like. Therefore, he/she would become
scatterbrained and enter in a very dangerous condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to
provide a vehicle-installed telephone apparatus which can
particularly make a driver be able to concentrate on driving
vehicles and the like without preoccupying with the
vehicle-installed telephone in view of the problems in the prior
arts of the vehicle-installed telephone apparatus.
[0006] According to the present invention, there is provided a
telephone apparatus, which is installable on vehicles, and
comprises running detecting means for detecting that the vehicle is
running, incoming call detecting means for detecting that an
incoming call is received, announcing means for announcing that the
incoming call has been received, and control means for controlling
the announcing means. When the running detecting means detects that
the vehicle is running and the incoming call detecting means
detects that the incoming call is received at the same time, the
control means controls in such a manner as to invalidate the
operation of the announcing means, which is controlled by a
microcomputer built in a portable phone. Accordingly, the driver is
not bothered with the ringing sound of the portable phone while
driving and can concentrate on driving, thereby the safety of
driving is improved.
[0007] It is a further object of the present invention to provide
the vehicle-installed telephone apparatus, further comprising
message transmitting means controlled by the control means. The
control means controls in such a manner as to send messages stored
in the message transmitting means when the running detecting means
detects that the car is running and the incoming call detecting
means detects that the incoming call is received at the same time.
Because of this, it is possible to announce that the driver can not
answer the incoming call because of while driving, and the
sending-side can avoid being worried because the sending-side can
know the reason why the driver can not answer the incoming
call.
[0008] It is another object of the present invention to provide the
vehicle-installed telephone apparatus further comprising voice
synthesizing means controlled by the control means and a memory
where data of incoming call records is stored. The control means
controls in such a manner that messages on the basis of the data of
incoming call records stored in the memory are converted into voice
by the voice synthesizing means, and that the voice is output, when
the running detecting means detects that the vehicle is not
running. Therefore, the driver can know immediately that incoming
calls are received, because the data of incoming call records is
read out automatically when the vehicle is stationary, and can deal
with them by calling back from the vehicle-installed telephone
apparatus.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The present invention, together with objects and advantages
thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following
description of the presently preferred embodiments together with
the accompanying drawings in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a system of a
vehicle-installed telephone apparatus according to the present
invention, and
[0011] FIGS. 2a and 2b are flow chart diagrams illustrating a basic
operation of the vehicle-installed telephone apparatus shown in
FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0012] Referring to FIG. 1, a reference numeral 1 denotes a
vehicle-installed telephone apparatus. The vehicle installed
telephone apparatus 1 comprises a main body 2 of the apparatus, a
portable phone 2a with announcing means controlled by a
microcomputer, and a parking brake detecting switch 3a. Within the
main body 2, there are provided running detecting means 3 that
detects whether the vehicle is running or stationary according to a
signal from the parking brake detecting switch 3a, incoming call
detecting means 4 that detects whether the portable phone 2a
receives an incoming call or not, a decision unit 5 where each of
signals from the running detecting means 3 and the incoming call
detecting means 4 are input, and control means 6. The decision unit
5 makes a decision whether any incoming calls are received by the
portable phone 2a or not, and under what kind of vehicle conditions
they are received, and then output signals of the decision are
output to the control means 6. The control means 6 controls a
plurality of means, which are described later, provided inside the
main body 2 of the apparatus according to the output signals from
the decision unit 5. Output signals from the control means 6 can be
fed to message transmitting means 7 which previously holds messages
such as that the driver can not answer to a sending-person because
of while driving to transmit the messages, a memory 8 where data of
incoming call records is stored, and voice synthesizing means 9
which convert messages according to the data of incoming call
records into voice. Particularly, the control means 6 and the
memory 8 are allowed to input and to output signals between the
both means, and the memory 8 is provided with not only the function
of storing the data of incoming call records but also the functions
of an automatic sound recording, forming read-out data lists of the
incoming call records and memorizing them. The output signals of
the message transmitting means 7 are input to the microcomputer of
the portable phone 2a. Additionally, the control signals from the
control means 6 are also directly input to the microcomputer of the
portable phone 2a. Depending on the control signal from the control
means 6 received by the microcomputer of the portable phone 2a, the
microcomputer of the portable phone 2a controls the announcing
means of the portable phone 2a so as to be brought into operation
or not. Moreover, the voice signals from the voice synthesizing
means 9 is input to an amplifying unit 10, and then it is output
from a speaker 11.
[0013] Next, the basic operation of the vehicle-installed telephone
apparatus 1 according to the present invention will be explained by
means of the flow chart in FIGS. 2a and 2b.
[0014] At step 1, whether an incoming call to the portable phone 2a
is present or absent is judged. If the incoming call is present, go
to step 2 and if the incoming call is absent, go to step 10. In the
case of going to step 10, it will be described later. Next, at step
2, whether a parking brake is brought into operation or not is
judged. If the operation is not detected, go to step 3 and if it is
detected, go to step 5. In the case of going to step 5, it will be
described later.
[0015] In the case of going to step 3, the line is connected with a
sending-side without making ringing sounds of the portable phone 2a
and a previously set message, for example, such as "I will call
back later, because I am driving now." is replied to the
sending-side without attracting the driver's attention. Next, go to
step 4 and a call subscriber number, which is hereinafter referred
to as a calling number, and the like are stored as incoming call
records into the memory 8 which stores the data of the incoming
call records. Upon hanging up at the sending-side, the call is
terminated, and then the vehicle-installed telephone apparatus 1 is
on standby until receiving next incoming call.
[0016] In the case of going to step 5, in order to announce that
the portable phone 2a has received an incoming call, ringing sounds
are rung. Next go to step 6, and if it is made a judgement that the
portable phone 2a is off-hooked, go to step 7, then upon switching
the portable phone 2a to the speaking mode, the portable phone 2a
is turned in normal speaking condition. If it is made a judgement
that the portable phone 2a is not off-hooked, go to step 8, then
the ringing sounds are rung until a predetermined time Ts has
elapsed. After the predetermined time has elapsed, go to step 9,
and while the portable phone 2a is switched to the automatic sound
recording mode, messages from the sending-side are recorded in the
memory 8. Upon hanging up at the sending-side, the call is
terminated.
[0017] In the case of going to step 10, if it is made a judgement
according to the output signals from the running detecting means 3
that the vehicle is stationary, go to step 11, and if the vehicle
is running, then the vehicle-installed telephone apparatus 1 is on
standby until receiving a next incoming call. At step 11, it is
confirmed whether unread data among all data of incoming call
records stored in the memory 8 is present or absent. If it is
present, go to step 12, the unread data of incoming call records
stored in the memory 8 is converted into voice by the voice
synthesizing means 9. Then the converted voice is amplified by the
amplifying unit 10, and the first calling number of the
sending-side is automatically read out with the voice through the
speaker 11. At step 13, if a driver selects one of these data of
incoming calls and wants to originate a call to it, it can be
automatically done with pushing one key. The sending-side is called
up at step 14, the line is connected, the driver has a conversation
at step 15, and then the call is terminated, when the driver-side
or the sending-side hangs up at step 16. Then the corresponding
data is deleted from the data list of incoming call records stored
in the memory 8 at step 17. Next, return to step 11 in order to
retrieve any unread data of incoming call records.
[0018] If the driver does not select to originate a call to the
data of incoming call records at step 13, then go to step 18, where
it is selected whether the corresponding data should be deleted
from the data of incoming call records in the memory 8. If Yes, go
to step 17. If No, go to step 19, then the corresponding data is
transferred to the read-out data lists of incoming call records.
When the corresponding data is deleted at step 17 or is finished
transferring to the read-out data lists of incoming call records,
return to step11 in order to retrieve any other unread data of
incoming call records. And the sequential processing in compliance
with the flow chart from step 11 to step 19 is performed until all
the unread data of incoming call records are disappeared, and if
the unread data of incoming call records can not be retrieved, the
processing is terminated.
[0019] Moreover, it is possible to re-originate a call from the
read-out data of incoming call records. In this case, a name and a
telephone number are indicated similar to the ordinary originating
call from a telephone directory function of the portable phone.
[0020] Next, explained is the process in a case where the portable
phone 2a receives an incoming call while a vehicle is running.
[0021] First of all, the incoming call detecting means 4 connected
with the portable phone 2a outputs the signals received by the
portable phone 2a to the decision unit 5. When the decision unit 5
makes a judgement according to the output signals from the running
detecting means 3 that the vehicle is running, the signals that the
portable phone 2a received an incoming call while the vehicle was
running, are output to the control means 6. Then, the control means
6 outputs control signals that announcement is invalidated to the
microcomputer within the portable phone 2a. Since the microcomputer
which received the control signals controls in such a manner as to
invalidate the operation of the announcing means such as ringing
sounds within the portable phone 2a, the ringing sounds of the
portable phone 2a are not rung.
[0022] On the other hand, the control means 6 connects the line
with a sending-side without making ringing sounds of the portable
phone 2a and a previously set message, for example, such as "I will
call back later, because I am driving now." is replied to the
sending-side without attracting the driver's attention.
[0023] Next, the control means 6 stores a calling number and the
like as incoming call records into the memory 8 which stores the
data of the incoming call records. Upon hanging up at the sending
side, the call is terminated, and then the portable phone 2a is on
standby until receiving the next incoming call.
[0024] Further, explained is the process in a case where the
portable phone 2a receives an incoming call while a vehicle is
stationary.
[0025] First of all, when the portable phone 2a receives an
incoming call, whether the vehicle is stationary or not is judged
at the decision unit 5 according to the signals detected by the
parking brake detecting switch 3a. If it is made a judgement that
the vehicle is stationary, the control means 6 outputs the control
signals that the announcement such as ringing sounds is validated,
to the microcomputer within the portable phone 2a. Then, since the
microcomputer receiving the control signals controls in such a
manner as to validate the operation of the announcing means within
the portable phone 2a, the ringing sounds of the portable phone 2a
are rung. Next, if it is made a judgement that the portable phone
2a is off-hooked, upon switching the portable phone 2a to the
speaking mode, it is turned in normal speaking condition. If it is
made a judgement that the portable phone 2a is not off-hooked, the
ringing sounds are rung until a predetermined time has elapsed.
After the predetermined time has elapsed, while the portable phone
2a is switched to the automatic sound recording mode, the messages
from the sending-side are recorded in the memory 8, then the
portable phone 2a is on standby until receiving the next incoming
call.
[0026] Last, explained is the process in a case where the portable
phone 2a receives an incoming call while a vehicle is running, and
then the vehicle is brought into a standstill.
[0027] When it is made a judgement at the decision unit 5 according
to the output signals from the running detecting means 3 that the
vehicle is stationary, the control means 6 confirms whether any
unread data among the data of incoming call records stored in the
memory 8 is present or absent. If it is present, the unread data of
incoming call records stored in the memory 8 is converted to voice
by the voice synthesizing means 9, the voice is amplified by the
amplifying unit 10, and then the calling number of the sending-side
is automatically read out one by one with voice through the speaker
11.
[0028] If the driver selects to call to one of the unread data of
incoming call records, it can be automatically done to call with
pushing one key. The sending-side is called up, when the line is
connected, the driver has a conversation, and then the call is
terminated, while the driver-side or the sending-side hangs up.
Then the corresponding data is deleted from the data list of
incoming call records within the memory 8.
[0029] Then, if the driver does not select to call to the
corresponding data, the driver can select to delete the
corresponding data from the data of incoming call records within
the memory 8, or to transfer them to the read-out data lists of
incoming call records. Then, when the driver re-originates a call
from the read-out data of incoming call records, a name and a
telephone number are indicated similar to the case of ordinary
originating a call from a telephone directory function of the
portable phone.
[0030] The above-mentioned detection of whether a vehicle is
running or stationary may be detected by a vehicle speed sensor,
instead of the shown example of using the parking brake detecting
switch 3a.
[0031] As described above, according to the present invention, even
if the portable phone receives an incoming call while a vehicle is
running, the driver is not bothered with the ringing sounds of the
portable phone and can concentrate on driving, so that the safety
can be improved since the control means provided in the
vehicle-installed telephone apparatus controls in such a manner as
to invalidate the operation of the announcing means controlled by
the microcomputer incorporated in the portable phone. At that time,
since the sending-side can know the reason why the receiving side
can not answer the incoming call by automatically announcing that
the driver can not answer the incoming call because of while
driving to the sending-side with the control means, the
sending-side can avoid being worried. Moreover, since the data of
incoming call records is read out by the control means when the
vehicle is stationary, the driver can know at once that any
incoming calls are received, and can deal with them by calling back
immediately from the vehicle-installed telephone apparatus.
[0032] While the presently preferred embodiments of the present
invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood
that these disclosures are for the purpose of illustration and that
various changes and modifications may be made without departing
from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended
claims.
* * * * *