Interactive voice communication terminal with alpha and numeric keypad
US5561710A · kind A · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 30, 1995 |
| Grant date | Oct 1, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 30, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M11/066
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An interactive voice communication terminal (10) provides alpha and numeric characters transmitted from a DTMF generator (36) to access a database by interfacing with the mouthpiece (24) of a telephone handset (26) via a transducer (22). A keypad (14) is operable to allow selection of one of multiple characters associated with alpha characters and numeric characters. A table of DTMF strings associated with each key is stored in a memory (34). In response to depression of a key on the keypad (14), a centralized controller (32) controls the DTMF generator (36) to output the sequence associated with the depressed key that was stored in the memory (34) to transducer (22) via a driver (38). The tables in the memory (34) can be a combination of DTMF sequences for alpha characters and single number sequences for numerical sequences or they can be fixed-length sequences for all numerical and alpha characters. Further, a Learn mode is provided for allowing the user to program the DTMF sequence for a given key on the keypad (14).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.