Hands-free telephone conversation system and relay device in hands-free telephone conversation system

A relay device operable to wirelessly receive a user's voice from a communication device, the relay device comprising:

• a voice input unit operable to receive voice from the user;
• a wireless communication unit operable to wirelessly send and receive voice to and from the communication device;
• a wireless communication status detection unit operable to detect the status of the wireless communication with the communication device;
• a voice input switch unit operable to select either the communication device or the voice input unit based on a detection result of the wireless communication status detection unit;
• a network communication unit operable to send the voice received from the selected one of the communication device and the voice input unit to a communication device of an other party of a telephone conversation through a communication network;
• and
• a voice input switch message generation unit operable to generate a message that informs the other party of the telephone conversation of a switch by the voice input switch unit,
• wherein the network communication unit sends the message generated by the voice input switch message generation unit to the other party's communication device through the communication network.

A relay device operable to wirelessly receive a user's voice from a communication device, the relay device comprising:

• a wireless communication unit operable to wirelessly send and receive voice to and from the communication device;
• a wireless communication status detection unit operable to detect a status of the wireless communication with the communication device;
• a network communication unit operable to send and receive the voice to and from an other party's communication device through a communication network;
• and
• a network communication disconnection unit operable to cut off the connection with the other party's communication device through the communication network based on a detection result of the wireless communication status detection unit;
• a voice input unit operable to receive voice from the user;
• and
• a voice input switch unit operable to select either the communication device or the voice input unit based on a detection result of the wireless communication status detection unit,
• wherein the network communication unit is operable to send the voice received from the selected one of the communication device and the voice input unit to the other party's communication device through the communication network,
• wherein the relay device further includes a voice input switch message generation unit operable to generate a message that informs the other party of the telephone conversation of a switch by the voice input switch unit, and
• wherein the network communication unit sends the message generated by the voice input switch message generation unit to the other party's communication device through the communication network.

A hands-free telephone conversation method for a system comprising a communication device and a relay device,

• wherein the communication device is operable to execute a method comprising:
• a first voice input step of receiving voice from a user;
• a voice output step of outputting voice from an other party of the telephone conversation;
• and
• a first wireless communication step of wirelessly sending the user's voice to the relay device, and wirelessly receiving the other party's voice from the relay device, and
• wherein the relay device is operable to execute a method comprising:
• a second voice input step of receiving voice from the user;
• a second wireless communication step of wirelessly sending the other party's voice to the communication device, and wirelessly receiving the user's voice from the communication device;
• a wireless communication status detection step of detecting a status of the wireless communication between the communication device and the relay device;
• a voice input switch step of selecting either the first voice input step or the second voice input step based on a detection result of the wireless communication status detection step;
• a network communication step of sending the user's voice received in the selected one of the first voice input step and the second voice input step to a communication device of the other party through a communication network;
• and
• a voice input switch message generation step of generating a message that notifies the other party of the telephone conversation of a selection in the voice input switch step,
• wherein the network communication step comprises sending the message generated in the voice input switch message generation step to the other party's communication device through the communication network.