Patent Application
20150201055
The present application is based on, and claims priority from, China Patent Application No. 201410014059.6, filed on Jan. 13, 2014, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate generally to telephone dialing methods and devices for automatic conversion used in a call device, and more particularly, to telephone dialing methods and devices for automatic conversion which can automatically transfer a subscriber number according to a country code and an area code of a current location of the call device.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of international business activities, the number of business people working in many countries is also increasing rapidly. The business people communicate with other people in different countries by using an international telephone service when the business people do business in many countries.
Users can make or receive calls between countries by using an international telephone service to keep in touch with people in different countries without changing their phone number. However, coding rules for the phone number in foreign countries or cities are different from the coding rules in the local country, so errors can occur when the users dial international telephones. It might cause more inconvenience for the users.
An international phone number is composed of an international call prefix, a country code, an area code and a subscriber number. The international call prefix is used when making a call. When the user dials a phone number from a country to another country, he/she needs to use the international call prefix of the country and the country code of the other country. The area code is also known as a national destination code. It usually represents a specific geographic area. Therefore, a complete phone number is defined: the international call prefix-the country code-the area code-the subscriber number (where “-” is a delimiter for easy reading). For example, an international phone number is 01186-10-26XXXXXX) wherein 011 is the international call prefix of US, 86 is the country code of China, 10 is the area code of Beijing, and the subscriber number is 26XXXXXX, indicating that the international phone number is being dialed from the US to Beijing, China.
However, the international call prefix, the country code, the area code and so on are different because the countries where the users live and the countries the users want to connect to are different. Therefore, for international travelers, it is very difficult to make a call in a new country or area without any help. Thus, there is a need for a telephone dialing device and method that enables the user to dial a correct phone number in different countries or areas.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Telephone dialing devices and methods for automatic conversion are provided.
In one exemplary embodiment, the invention is directed to a telephone dialing device for automatic conversion. The telephone dialing device comprises an input unit, a processing unit and a subscriber information database. The input unit receives a subscriber number after a call device makes a call or answers the call corresponding to the subscriber number successfully. The processing unit is coupled to the input unit and performs a conversion process for converting the subscriber number into a complete number. The subscriber information database is coupled to the processing unit and is used for storing the complete number corresponding to the subscriber.
In one exemplary embodiment, the invention is directed to a telephone dialing method for automatic conversion. The telephone dialing method is used in a call device. The method comprises: receiving a subscriber number after the call device makes a call or answers the call corresponding to the subscriber number successfully; performing a conversion process for converting the subscriber number into a complete number; and storing the complete number corresponding to the subscriber.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Several exemplary embodiments of present disclosure are described with reference to
First, the present invention is divided into two main parts to explain: the first part is when a user successfully dials a subscriber number (wherein the subscriber number can be dialed through the contact list of a device directly, or through an input interface), or receives a call corresponding to the subscriber number, the device can employ a manner to obtain the country code and the area code of the subscriber number (if the subscriber number does not comprise the country code and/or the area code), transfer the subscriber number into a complete number and record it (the number recorded in the device can be called a “complete number”). In one embodiment, the complete number is not presented to the user. The second part is when the user dials a phone number, the device can automatically add the country code and/or the area code to the phone number, or modify the country code and/or the area code appropriately according to current information to help the user dial the phone number quickly and accurately if a complete number corresponding to the phone number has been stored in the device. Details are explained in the following description.
The First Part: Get a Complete Number Corresponding to the Subscriber Number
After the user makes a call or answers the call corresponding to a subscriber number successfully by using the call device, the input unit 110 receives the subscriber number. The processing unit 120 performs a conversion process for converting the subscriber number into a complete number.
When the processing unit 120 receives the subscriber number from the input unit 110, the processing unit 120 determines whether the subscriber number comprises an international call identification symbol “+”. If the subscriber number comprises an international call identification symbol “+”, the processing unit 120 records the subscriber number as a complete number. If the subscriber number does not comprises an international call identification symbol “+”, the processing unit 120 employ a manner to obtain an country code and an area code for a current location of the call device, and determines whether the beginning of the subscriber number is an international call prefix corresponding to country code of the current location.
Wherein the acquisition manner can be that the processing unit 120 obtains current location information of the call device using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, for example, which provides latitude and longitude coordinates information of the current location of the call device. Then, the processing unit 120 transfers the current location information to the country code and the area code of the current location.
In addition, the acquisition manner also can be that the processing unit 120 obtains current location information of the call device through a public land mobile-communication network (PLMN) and a cell global identity (CGI), and transfers the current location information to the country code and the area code of the current location. For example, the PLMN consists of a Mobile Country Code (MCC) and a Mobile Network Code (MNC), and the CGI consists of a mobile country code, a mobile network code, a location area code (LAC) and a cell identity (CI). Therefore, the processing unit 120 may obtain a mobile country code of the current location through the PLMN, and obtain the information of the current location of the call device through the CGI, therefore to obtain the area code of the current location, or use the CGI to obtain the area code corresponding to the current location.
It should be noted that the telephone dialing device 100 may further comprise a local database 140, and the telephone dialing device 100 may be connected to a database 150 via a wireless communication manner, as shown in
In another embodiment, when the current network is not available, the processing unit 120 may temporarily store related information comprising the country code, the CGI, and other information in the subscriber information database, and then perform the ensuing matters until the telephone dialing device 100 is connected to the network.
In addition, the acquisition manner also can be that the processing unit 120 obtains a line connection number via a connected line identification presentation (COLP). After obtaining the line connection number, the processing unit 120 removes the country code of the line connection number and obtains the area code of the current location according to the line connection number and the subscriber number dialed by the user.
Back to
If the processing unit 120 determines the beginning of the subscriber number is not the international call prefix corresponding to the international call prefix of the current location, the processing unit 120 records the country code of the current location as a country code of the subscriber number, and determines whether the subscriber number comprises an area code. If the subscriber number comprises the area code, the processing unit 120 adds the country code of the current location including the international call identification symbol “+” into the subscriber number to produce the complete number corresponding to the subscriber number, and records the complete number in the subscriber information database 130. Otherwise, the processing unit 120 adds the country code including the international call identification symbol “+” and the area code of the current location into the subscriber number to produce the complete number corresponding to the subscriber number, and records the complete number in the subscriber information database 130.
In addition, the processing unit 120 also obtains related information corresponding to the subscriber number according to the coding rule stored in the database 150 besides the subscriber number and the complete number corresponding the subscriber number, and records the related information in the subscriber information database 130, wherein the related information corresponding to the subscriber number at least comprises a number including the country code and the area code of the current location, a number which does not include the country code of the current location but includes the area code of the current location, and a number which does not include the country code and the area code of the current location.
In another embodiment, when the call device receives an incoming call, the processing unit 120 obtains a subscriber number of the incoming call through a call line identification presentation (CLIP). The processing unit 120 obtains the country code and the area code of the current location according to the coding rule and the subscriber number to produce the complete number corresponding to the subscriber number, and records the complete number in the subscriber information database 130.
In addition, the processing unit 120 may further comprise a counting unit (not shown) coupled to the processing unit 120. When the call device is successfully connected to the subscriber number, the counting unit counts the duration of the call. When the duration of the call is less than a predetermined call value, i.e., 10 seconds, the processing unit 120 does not record the complete number corresponding to the subscriber in the subscriber information database 130 to avoid the situation that the user dials an incorrect number which is wrong but still can be connected to.
The second part: the user dials a phone number corresponding to the complete number.
When the user dials a phone number, the telephone dialing device 100 can automatically add the country code and/or the area code to the phone number, or modify the phone number appropriately according to the current situation to help the user dial the phone number quickly and accurately if the phone number is one of the numbers in the related information of the subscriber umber (i.e., the complete number and the related information corresponding to the phone number are stored in the subscriber information database 130). Details are explained in the following description.
The user dials a phone number using the processing unit 120. The processing unit 120 determines whether the beginning of the phone number is the international call prefix of the current location of the call device or the international call identification symbol “+”. If the processing unit 120 determines the beginning of the phone number is the international call prefix of the current location of the call device or the international call identification symbol “+”, the processing unit 120 dials the phone number directly. If the processing unit 120 determines the beginning of the phone number is not the international call prefix of the current location of the call device or the international call identification symbol “+”, the processing unit 120 determines whether the country code of the phone number is country code of the current location. When the processing unit 120 determines the country code of the phone number is the country code of the current location, the processing unit 120 dials the phone number directly. Otherwise, the processing unit 120 further determines whether the phone number comprises the area code of the current location. If the processing unit 120 determines the phone number includes the area code of the current location, the processing unit 120 adds the international call identification symbol “+” and the country code of the subscriber into the beginning of the phone number, and dials the added phone number. If the processing unit 120 determines the phone number does not include the area code of the current location, the processing unit 120 adds the international call identification symbol “+” and the country code of the subscriber and the area code of the subscriber into the beginning of the phone number, and dials the added phone number.
It should be noted that the processing unit 120 may prompt the user to confirm whether to dial the processed phone number in the determining procedure described above. In another embodiment, the processing unit 120 may use a pop-up dialog box to prompt the user using the telephone dialing device 100, but the invention is not limited to this embodiment.
In one embodiment, when the processing unit 120 determines the phone number dialed by the user needs to be modified, the processing unit 120 may ask the user to confirm a request. In one embodiment, the processing unit 120 may use a pop-up dialog box to ask the user. In the pop-up dialog box, the user can determine that the processing unit 120 shall not use the pop-up dialog box next time. In addition, when the user determines to dial the original phone number, the processing unit 120 may clear the complete number corresponding to the phone number recorded in the subscriber information database 130.
Back to step S408, when the beginning of the phone number is not the international call prefix of the subscriber number (“No” in step S408), in step S414, the processing unit determines whether the country code of the phone number is the country code of the current location of the call device. If so, in step S406, the processing unit dials the phone number. Otherwise, in step S416, the processing unit determines whether the phone number includes the area code. If so, in step S418, the processing unit adds the international call identification symbol “+” and the country code into the beginning of the phone number and dials the added phone number, and the flow is finished. Otherwise, in step S420, the processing unit adds the international call identification symbol “+”, the country code and the area code into the beginning of the phone number, and dials the added phone number, and the flow is finished.
It is understood that any specific order or hierarchy of steps in any disclosed process is an example of a sample approach. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the processes may be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.
The above-described embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, the embodiments may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. It should be appreciated that any component or collection of components that perform the functions described above can be generically considered as one or more processors that control the above discussed function. The one or more processors can be implemented in numerous ways, such as with dedicated hardware, or with general-purpose hardware that is programmed using microcode or software to perform the functions recited above.
Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having the same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those who are skilled in this technology can still make various alterations and modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention shall be defined and protected by the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201410014059.6 | Jan 2014 | CN | national |
