Telephone dialler with easy access memory

A method of dialing a telephone number using a telephone dialler having an electronic alphanumeric display device and an electronic telephone directory memory having stored therein data concerning parties who may be called, the method comprising the steps of:

• operating a manually operable address selection device of the telephone dialler a manually selectable amount to scroll through said stored data concerning parties who may be called,
• in an address generator coupled to said address selection device, generating at least partial memory addresses in response to said step of operating the address selection device,
• communicating said at least partial memory addresses from said address generator to a central processing unit (CPU),
• electronically accessing memory locations corresponding to said memory addresses received at said CPU,
• displaying, on the electronic alphanumeric display device, indicia corresponding to the stored data so that a user may view scrolling indicia in conjunction with and corresponding to said operating step, and
• selecting one telephone number having corresponding indicia displayed on said display device and automatically dialing said number.

A telephone dialler comprising:

• a keypad to generate a sequence of indicia corresponding to a telephone number;
• a page selection device;
• a memory to store said sequences of indicia to provide a telephone directory, said sequences of said indicia in said directory being collected into discrete pages, each of which may be selected for retrieval from said memory by use of said page selection device;
• an electronic display device to display sequences retrieved from said directory;
• a manually operable scanning control device to control the scanning of indica of said selected page on said electronic display device;
• a central processing unit (CPU) to access said directory to store and retrieve indicia therein in response to operation of said scanning control device, said CPU displaying at least one of said sequences on said electronic display device;
• and
• a manually operable selector to select one of said indicia on said display for dialling.

A telephone dialler operable in a dialling mode to dial a selected telephone number and in a programming mode to store a set of indicia comprising a telephone number and additional alphanumeric information in a telephone directory memory, said telephone dialler comprising:

• a telephone keypad having a plurality of push buttons each of which is associated with a respective alphanumeric set including a number and a respective set of alphabetic characters, a temporary buffer, an electronic display and a central processing unit (CPU) to store and retrieve information from the memory,
• said keypad, display and CPU being connected and controlled by firmware in such a way, that when being used to store a new set of indicia into the telephone directory memory, said keypad is operable in one of two programming functions, one of said functions permitting storage of additional alphanumeric information and another of said functions permitting storage of numerical only information,
• wherein in said alphanumeric storage function, depressions of the push buttons of the keypad are interpreted as follows:
• upon first depressing a given push button, a code representative for a fist alphanumeric character marked on the push button is stored in said temporary buffer and said first alphanumeric character is displayed at a first location of the display,
• after each subsequent depressing of the same push button, a code representing successive alphanumeric characters of the respective set is stored in the buffer and said characters are displayed at said first location of the display, until after each of a plurality of alphanumeric characters of the set has been displayed at said first location, said first alphanumeric character will again be displayed at said first location,
• the alphanumeric character being left in the buffer upon depression of a designated enter button so that a next character can be displayed at a second location of the display and a code for the next character can be stored in the buffer,
• each successive alphanumeric character code being stored in a similar way until termination of the entry of alphanumeric characters,
• wherein in said numerical storage function, depressions of the push buttons cause codes corresponding to numbers associated therewith to be stored,
• wherein said memory includes a plurality of cells of the same structure, and
• wherein the data stored in a cell of the telephone directory memory and in said temporary buffet contains the telephone number and information about its length in Binary Coded Decimal and all other additional information is in ASCII code.

A telephone dialler operable in a dialling mode to dial a selected telephone number and in a programming mode to store a set of indicia comprising a telephone number and additional alphanumeric information in a telephone directory memory, said telephone dialler comprising:

• a telephone keypad having a plurality of push buttons each of which is associated with a respective alphanumeric set including a number and a respective set of alphabetic characters, a temporary buffer, an electronic display and a central processing unit (CPU) to store and retrieve information from the memory,
• said keypad, display and CPU being connected and controlled by firmware in such a way, that when being used to store a new set of indicia into the telephone directory memory, said keypad is operable in one of two programming functions, one of said functions permitting storage of additional alphanumeric information and another of said functions permitting storage of numerical only information,
• wherein in said alphanumeric storage function, depressions of the push buttons of the keypad are interpreted as follows:
• upon first depressing a given push button, a code representative for a first alphanumeric character marked on the push button is stored in said temporary buffer and said first alphanumeric character is displayed at a first location of the display,
• after each subsequent depressing of the same push button, a code representing successive alphanumeric characters of the respective set is stored in the buffer and said characters are displayed at said first location of the display, until after each of a plurality of alphanumeric characters of the set has been displayed at said first location, said first alphanumeric character will again be displayed at said first location,
• the alphanumeric character being left in the buffer upon depression of a designated enter button so that a next character can be displayed at a second location of the display and a code for the next character can be stored in the buffer,
• each successive alphanumeric character code being stored in a similar way until termination of the entry of alphanumeric characters,
• wherein in said numerical storage function, depressions of the push buttons cause codes corresponding to numbers associated therewith to be stored, and
• wherein said storing includes storing in discrete pages in the telephone directory memory.

A telephone dialler, including a keypad, a central processing unit (CPU), a telephone directory memory, a telephone directory I/O memory buffer, an electronic alphanumeric display, and a calling party number decoding circuit,

• wherein the keypad includes a plurality of push buttons each of which is associated with a respective alphanumeric set including a number and a respective set of alphabetic characters, and additional data to be associated with a telephone number is input in a memory buffer by successively depressing a push button until a desired alphanumeric character is selected, and then depressing a designated enter button so that the selected alphanumeric character is stored in the memory buffer and a next alphanumeric character can then be input in the same fashion, and after input of the desired additional data into the memory buffer is completed the data is transferred from the memory buffer into the telephone directory memory,
• wherein a telephone number provided by a telephone service provider for an incoming call is stored in said telephone directory memory I/O buffer and compared by means of the CPU with numbers stored in said telephone directory memory, and
• wherein, if a match is found, then additional data corresponding to the calling party number is loaded by means of the CPU from the telephone directory memory into said telephone directory memory I/O buffer and the information is displayed on the alphanumeric display.

A telephone dialler comprising:

• a keypad to generate sequences of indicia corresponding to telephone numbers,
• an electronic display device to present a display corresponding to a selected one of said sequences of indicia,
• a memory to store said sequences of indicia and to provide a telephone directory,
• a central processing unit (CPU) to access said memory, said CPU including an internal address register,
• a manually operable address selection device to select one of said stored sequences of indicia,
• said address selection device including an address generator output buffer to store a selected address value for subsequent transfer to said CPU internal address register for access to the telephone directory memory, and a value generator to vary the selected value in the address generator output buffer, the change in selected value corresponding to a displacement of the selection device,
• wherein said CPU is connected to receive said stored sequences of indicia in response to manual operation of said address selection device, and to cause said display device to present a display corresponding to ones of said stored sequences selected as a result of said manual operation, so that a user can observe on said display device the scanning through data stored within said telephone directory,
• said telephone dialler being effective to dial a telephone number corresponding to a stored sequence that has been selected via said selection device.

A method of programming a telephone dialler to store a telephone number and related additional alphanumeric information in a telephone directory memory, said telephone dialler having a telephone keypad having a plurality of push buttons each of which is associated with a respective alphanumeric set including a number and a respective set of alphabetic characters, the dialler also including an electronic display and a central processing unit (CPU), the method comprising the steps of:

• controlling said keypad, display and CPU to perform a first function of storing the related additional alphanumeric information, and a second function of storing only the telephone number,
• (a) wherein in said first function,
• upon first depressing a selected push button, a code representative of a first alphanumeric character corresponding to the selected push button is stored in a temporary buffer and the first alphanumeric character is displayed at a first location on the display,
• after each successive depressing of said selected push button, a code representing successive alphanumeric characters of the set corresponding to the push button is stored in the buffer and the character is displayed at the first location of the display,
• the first function including controlling the dialler so that after repeated depressions of a push button, said first alphanumeric character will again be displayed at said first location,
• leaving the code for a last-displayed alphanumeric character in the buffer upon a preselected event,
• the preselected event remaining the same regardless of whether two characters to be stored in immediate succession correspond to the same push button or to different push buttons, and
• storing codes for each successive alphanumeric character of said additional alphanumeric information in a similar way,
• so that said first function provides a uniform manner of choosing alphanumeric characters to be stored regardless of whether successive characters selected for storage correspond to the same push button;
• and
• (b) wherein in said second function, depressing the push buttons causes codes corresponding to numbers associated with the respective buttons to be stored,
• (c) wherein said telephone directory memory is organized into discrete memory pages and wherein said first and second functions include storing in a selected memory page.

A method of operating a telephone dialler having a telephone directory memory I/O buffer, an electronic, alphanumeric display and a telephone directory memory, the method comprising the steps of:

• in the telephone directory memory, storing alphabetic and numeric data concerning parties,
• receiving an incoming call,
• determining the telephone number of the incoming call based on caller identification data provided by the telephone service provider,
• storing said incoming call telephone number in the telephone directory memory I/O buffer,
• comparing the incoming call telephone number with numbers stored in said telephone directory memory, and
• if a match is found, then loading alphabetic data corresponding to the calling number from the telephone directory memory into the telephone directory memory I/O buffer and displaying said alphabetic information on the alphanumeric display.