Telephone dialler with easy access memory

1. A telephone dialler comprising:

a keypad to generate sequences of indicia corresponding to telephone numbers,

an electronic alpha-numeric display device to present a display corresponding to a selected one of said sequences of indicia,

a memory to store electronically said sequences of indicia and to provide a telephone directory,

a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to said memory, said electronic display device, and said keypad,

an address generator including a manually operable address selection device to permit a user to scroll through said stored sequences of indicia by selecting at least partial addresses for selectable ones of said stored sequences of indicia, said address generator being coupled to said CPU so that said at least partial addresses are communicated thereto,

wherein said CPU is connected to receive said addresses, access said memory, and obtain stored sequences of indicia in response to manual operation of said address selection device, and to cause said electronic display device to present a display corresponding to ones of said stored sequences selected as a result of and corresponding to an amount of said manual operation so that a user can observe on said electronic display device the scrolling 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.

2. The dialler of claim 1 wherein said memory is organized into selectable discrete pages, and wherein said address selection device further includes a page selection device for selecting among said discrete pages.

3. 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.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said address selecting device is displacement proportional and wherein said step of operating the address selection device includes displacing said device in proportion to an amount of scrolling desired by the user.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said telephone directory memory is organized in discrete pages, and said step of operating a manually operable address selection device permits scrolling through and viewing stored contents of a designated memory page.

6. The method of claim 5 further including switching to a selected one of said memory pages by operating a page selection device.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein said method further includes selecting among a plurality of discrete memory pages.

8. 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.

9. The dialler of claim 8 wherein the activation of said page selection device causes page identification data to be displayed on said display device.

10. The dialler of claim 8 wherein said manually operable control device controls the scanning of indicia of inside a selected page on said display and causes selected telephone number data within the current page to be displayed on said display device.

11. The dialler of claim 8 wherein said keypad contains buttons, the activation of any of which switches the dialler into a manual mode of operation, and

wherein the activation of the page selection device or the scanning control device switches the dialler into a memory dial mode.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 13, wherein said memory includes a plurality of cells of the same structure and the data stored in a cell of the telephone directory memory and also in said temporary buffer contains the telephone number and information about its length in Binary Coded Decimal and all other additional information is in ASCII code.

15. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 13, wherein the entering of additional alphanumeric information is permitted to continue until the number of stored characters exceeds a predetermined value.

16. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 13, wherein the entering of additional alphanumeric information continues until a predesignated enter button is depressed twice in succession without entering information.

17. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 13, wherein the entering of additional alphanumeric information continues until a specially designated button for end of data is depressed.

18. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 13, wherein if the combined length of the additional alpha-numeric data plus the corresponding telephone number is longer than the maximum length of the alpha-numeric display, then the displayed data is left justified starting with the alpha-numeric data and all digits in excess of the display length are truncated.

19. A dialler according to claim 13 wherein the keypad is conditioned to operate in said alphanumeric storage function when using the dialler for entering alphanumeric characters into memory and said numerical storage function is selected upon completion of entry of alphanumeric characters.

20. A dialler according to claim 18 wherein completion of the entry of alphanumeric characters is indicated by depression of a predesignated button.

21. A dialler according to claim 18 wherein completion of entry is determined by the number of characters stored exceeding a predetermined value.

22. The telephone dialler according to claim 13 wherein said first alphanumeric character comprises a number and wherein said successive alphanumeric characters comprise alphabetic characters.

23. 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.

24. The dialler of claim 23 wherein, if a match is found, said CPU causes said additional data to be displayed on the alphanumeric display during the incoming call.

25. 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.

26. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 25, wherein the manually operable address selection device comprises:

an analog to digital converter (ADC) connected with its input to a tap of a potentiometer connected between ground and a voltage reference to provide a variable input voltage to said ADC;

wherein digital outputs of the converter are connected to the inputs of the address generator output buffer, whose outputs communicate with said CPU, said converter receiving its control inputs from said Central Processing Unit.

27. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 25, wherein the manually operable address selection device comprises:

a variable duty cycle generator connected on one side to a variation control element and on the other to a timer in duty cycle measurement mode of operation, connected with its output to said address generator output buffer,

wherein the duty cycle of the generator can be manually varied and is measured at preselected constant intervals by the timer,

the digital value from the output of the timer being fed into said address generator output buffer for further use as an address value by said CPU.

28. A telephone dialler as claimed in claim 25, wherein the manually operable address selection device comprises:

a variable frequency generator connected on one side to a variation control element having its outputs connected to a timer operating in frequency measurement mode,

said timer being connected with its outputs to said address generator output buffer;

the frequency of the generator being manually variable and being measured at preselected constant intervals by said timer;

the digital value from the output of the timer being fed into said address generator output buffer for further use as an address value by the CPU.

29. The dialler of claim 25 wherein said memory is organized into selectable discrete pages, and wherein said address selection device further includes a page selection device for selecting among said discrete pages.

30. 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.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein said preselected event comprises depressing a designated enter button.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein said memory and said temporary buffer includes a plurality of cells of the same structure,

wherein said step of storing data into the temporary buffer includes storing the telephone number and information about its length in binary coded decimal and storing all other additional information in ASCII code into at least one cell of the temporary buffer,

the method further including storing the data into at least one cell of the telephone directory memory in said binary coded decimal and said ASCII codes.

33. The method of claim 30 including storing additional alphanumeric information into said temporary buffer until the number of stored characters exceeds a predetermined amount.

34. The method of claim 30 including storing additional alphanumeric information into said temporary buffer until a predesignated enter button is depressed twice in succession without entering information.

35. The method of claim 30 storing additional alphanumeric information into said temporary buffer until a specially designated button for end of data is depressed.

36. A method of operating a telephone dialler according to claim 30 wherein the keypad is conditioned to operate in said first function when using the dialler for entering alphanumeric characters into memory and said second function is selected upon completion of entry of alphanumeric characters.

37. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of causing the codes to be stored in said telephone directory memory after storing them in the buffer.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein said step of causing includes depressing a "store" button.

39. 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.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein said step of loading comprises concatenating said alphabetic data from said telephone directory memory with said telephone number in said I/O buffer.

41. The method of claim 39 further including a step of requesting identification of the telephone number of the incoming call.

42. The method of claim 39 wherein the step of storing the incoming call telephone number precedes said step of comparing.

43. The method of claim 39 wherein the method further includes decoding the incoming call telephone number and the step of storing the incoming call telephone number includes storing the decoded number.

44. The method of claim 39 wherein said displaying occurs during the incoming call.