EP1110420A2

EP1110420A2 - Cellular telephone system and interpretation apparatus

Info

Publication number: EP1110420A2
Application number: EP99936868A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Colin Ian Buckley
Original assignee: Interpraphone Ltd
Current assignee: Interpraphone Ltd
Priority date: 1998-08-03
Filing date: 1999-08-03
Publication date: 2001-06-27
Also published as: GB9918316D0; AU5184099A; GB2340347A; WO2000008875A3; WO2000008875A2

Abstract

A mobile telephone system has a primary mobile telephone (1) arranged to communicate over a network (2, 3, 4) with a call centre router (4). The call centre router is arranged to connect the primary cellular telephone with an interpreter (6). A secondary telephone (20) is arranged to communicate only with the primary telephone (1). The system provides interpretation facilities to users of the primary mobile telephone and secondary telephone.

Description

CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM AND INTERPRETATION APPARATUS

This invention relates to a cellular telephone system and to an interpretation apparatus .

When people travel overseas to a country having a foreign language there is often a difficulty in verbal communication . In particular, where a traveller wishes to conduct a transaction it would be of great assistance if that traveller had their own personal interpreter with them to interpret between the traveller ' s own language and a third party person native to the country of concern. It is extremely expensive to have a personal interpreter accompany an individual on, for example vacation or a business trip, and the present invention seeks to overcome the foregoing disadvantage .

According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a mobile telephone system including a primary mobile telephone having a transceiver arranged for communicating over a network with a call centre routing means , said call centre routing means being arranged to connect said primary cellular telephone with interpreter means, and a secondary telephone having a transceiver arranged to communicate over a transmission path directly with said primary mobile telephone only, whereby interpretation facilities are provided to respective users of said primary mobile telephone and said secondary telephone.

Preferably the mobile telephone system is one of a cellular network or a network employing communication satellite means, high altitude earth atmosphere means, high voltage electrical reticulation means, or the like. At the present time cellular phone networks provide the general means of mobile telephonic communication. Increasing areas of the globe however are now covered by communications satellite footprints" and a programme of launches is underway to cover the entire globe for general commercial purposes. High altitude drone planes are also being developed to provide a less expensive means of providing wide area footprints and also to increase signal carrying capacity where demand will be highest and to compete with, or complement, cellular networks. Further, it is technically feasible to relay digital information along high voltage power cables providing electricity reticulation, as another alternative to the existing cellular networks.

Preferably, the transmission path between the primary mobile telephone and the secondary telephone is a metal wire, a light path, e.g. fibre optic cable, one employing an infrared transmitter and receiver, or an electro-magnetic wave, e.g. an ether transmission path.

Advantageously, the secondary telephone is capable of receiving signals received by the primary mobile telephone and of transmitting signals to said primary mobile telephone and thence over the network via said primary mobile telephone.

Preferably, the secondary telephone is a cordless telephone adapted to be in radio wave communication with the primary mobile telephone.

Conveniently, the secondary telephone includes a transceiver connected to antenna means, speaker means, microphone means and a power supply and, advantageously, an ON/OFF switch and volume control means. Preferably, a primary cellular telephone includes a tuned antenna arranged to communicate with said secondary telephone, said tuned antenna being connected to a normally provided port connector means on said primary cellular telephone, whereby the tuned antenna is tuned to a frequency different to that of an antenna of said primary cellular telephone that is used for communication over a cellular network.

In a feature of this invention there is provided a secondary telephone for use in the system of the first aspect. According to a second aspect of this invention there is provided an interpretation apparatus including a customer mobile telephone having a loud speaker capable of being heard by more than one person in the vicinity chereof , a microphone capable of picking up voice signals from said more than one person located in the vicinity thereof, an interpreter means telephone means and a call centre routing means for connecting said customer mobile phone with said interpreter means telephone means, said call centre routing means including means for recording the time of connection between the customer mobile telephone and the interpreter means telephone for billing purposes, whereby interpretation facilities are provided via said interpreter means telephone means to said more than one person who require said interpretation facilities .

Advantageously, the call centre routing means includes means for connecting said customer cell mobile telephone with a suitable one of a plurality of interpreter means telephone means in dependence upon the languages to be interpreted.

In a feature of said second aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of performing interpretation between a first person having an understanding of a first language and a second person having an understanding of a second language including the steps of:

(a) said first and second persons being arranged to be in voice contact with one another,

(b) said first person contacting a call centre routing means over a cellular network and advising routing means at said call centre routing network of the language translation facilities required,

(c) said call centre routing means connecting said first person with interpreter means over a telephone network, (d) said interpreter means providing translation between said first and second languages to said first and second persons, and

(e) said call centre routing means recording the time of connection between the customer mobile telephone and the interpreter means telephone means for billing purposes.

The voice contact between said first and second persons may be one of an amplified, e.g. face to face, verbal contact, or may be effected over a telephonic transmission path using a secondary telephone.

According to a third aspect of this invention there is provided a charging unit including male member means having a first configuration for connecting to a power supply, female member means having a second configuration for connecting to a plug, means for interconnecting between said male member means and said female member means, power converter means for converting power from the power supply to a d.c. power supply suitable for charging a rechargeable telephone battery, and connector means for connecting said d.c. power supply to said rechargeable telephone battery.

Advantageously, said interconnecting means is a direct path between the male and female members means or may include a voltage step up or down transformer means.

In present day rechargeable telephones said battery is charged in situ in the telephone but the battery may be recharged whilst located in a separate charging unit.

Preferably, said male member means is capable of providing plural sets of first configurations by providing plural sets of male members which are sequentially rotatable by a selecting means.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows in schematic form a cellular telephone system according to a first aspect of this invention, Figure 2 shows in schematic form a plug-in aerial connector for the primary cellular telephone,

Figure 3 shows in block schematic form the manner of communication between a primary cellular telephone and a secondary telephone,

Figure 4 shows in schematic form a secondary telephone, and Figure 5 shows in schematic form a charging and adapter unit in accordance with a second aspect of this invention. In the Figures like references denote like parts. The mobile telephone system shown in Figure 1 has a primary cellular telephone 1 which is operative in a manner known per se over a cellular telephone network so that the telephone 1 communicates over a radio wave transmission path 2 to at least one network beacon 3. In this invention the beacon 3 connects the telephone 1 with a call centre routing means 4 over a path 5 which may comprise one or more of an electro-magnetic radiation path, metallic wire and fibre optic cable or any other known transmission path for voice activated analogue or digital signals. The call centre routing means may typically be a human operator using a switchboard who will receive a call from the telephone 1, determine the languages required to be translated and will connect the telephone 1 with an interpreter using an interpreter telephone 6. Alternatively, a fully automated router means may be used for connecting a traveller directly to an interpreter by keying in a code for the relevant languages to be interpreted. The connection between the routing means 4 and the interpreter telephone 6 is over any transmission path 7 known per se. The interpreter telephone 6 may be connected to a machine or, with current technology, a human interpreter.

The primary cellular telephone 1 conventionally has an output port for connection with a subscriber identification module (SIM) card connector that may be connected to a computer or to a charging unit. The output port of the telephone 1 is plugged into a port connector 11, as shown in Figure 2, that is connected to a signal relayer 12 that, in turn, provides signals to, and receives signals from, a tuned aerial 13. The tuned aerial 13 preferably operates at a different frequency and bandwidth from the frequency and bandwidth of the cellular network. A secondary telephone 20, which does not need a keypad, is provided and which, in the preferred embodiment, communicates over the ether by radio wave communication with the telephone 1. Thus, in the preferred embodiment the secondary telephone 20 is cordless and, therefore, mobile telephone. The telephone 20 however, it is anticipated, may communicate with the primary cellular telephone 1 over a transmission path which may be one of a metal wire, a light path, for example a fibre optic cable, or a path employing an infra-red transmitter and receiver. Referring to Figure 3, the telephone 1, in known manner, has an antenna 31 tuned to the cellular telephone mobile network, a transceiver 32 connected to the antenna and to a SIM card 36 having an output port 10 to which the SIM connector 11 may be connected. The transceiver 32 is connected in conventional manner to a microphone 33, a loud speaker 34 and to a power supply, typically a battery 35.

The secondary telephone in the preferred embodiment includes an antenna 41 tuned to communicate directly with the telephone 1 only, a transceiver 42 connected to the antenna 41 and to a microphone 43 and loud speaker 44. The transceiver is also connected to a power supply 45, which is, typically, a battery.

The tuned antenna 13 is arranged to communicate with the tuned antenna 41 in such a manner that the frequency is different to that of the tuning of the network antenna 31.

The secondary telephone shown in Figure 4 may, additionally, have an ON/OFF switch 46, a volume control 47 and a fine tuning control for the transceiver 48.

In use, a traveller may utilise their conventional primary cellular telephone 1 to which they have attached the plug-in port connector 11, signal relayer 12 and antenna 13, and the traveller will carry a secondary telephone 20 which will be passed to a third party with whom verbal communication in a different language is required. The traveller, utilising the primary cellular telephone 1, makes a telephone call to the call centre routing means 4, states the languages between which interpretation is required and the routing means 4 connects the traveller, i.e. the caller, to an interpreter which may be, as previously stated, an automated translation device or, more typically, a home working interpreter utilising the telephone 6. The third party, by using telephone 20, is able to hear the telephone conversation between the primary telephone 1 and the interpreter using telephone 6. The traveller using the primary telephone 1 is thus able to communicate with the third party using the secondary telephone 20 through the intermediary of the interpreter using telephone 6. The call centre routing means advantageously incorporates a timing mechanism (not shown) by which the time that the primary cellular telephone is in contact with the interpreter telephone 6 is measured for billing purposes.

The method and apparatus of this invention thus provides a simple and inexpensive manner of providing interpretation facilities to a traveller in a foreign language speaking country.

In another aspect of this invention the primary cellular telephone includes a loud speaker capable of being heard by the primary user and a third party who is in the vicinity, e.g. the same room, as the principle user, and the primary cellular telephone has a microphone which is capable of picking up voice signals from both the principle cellular telephone user and the third party, in the manner of a so- called "speaker" telephone such as Panasonic model GD 70. In such an arrangement, the necessity for a secondary telephone 20 is avoided, but in all other instances the link between the primary telephone and the interpreter is set up in the same manner through the call centre routing means 4. It will be realised that the call centre routing means is capable of connecting a primary cellular telephone traveller with a desired one of a plurality of interpreters.

Where a traveller uses both a primary cellular telephone and a secondary mobile telephone, then it is desirable that the battery power supplies of both telephones are capable of being recharged. So as to avoid the necessity of sequentially charging the respective telephones, a charging unit and adapter unit has been devised.

Referring to Figure 5, a combined plug, adapter and charging unit has a housing 100 within which is located a charger unit (not shown) that is connected by a lead 101 to a connector 102 for connection to an input terminal or terminals to charge a secondary telephone. The lead 101 is capable of receiving power from a converter and step-down transformer (not shown) whereby mains voltage is converted to d.c. voltage suitable for charging a battery of a secondary telephone. The charger unit has at least one pair of male pin members 105.

Preferably, plural sets of male members 105, 105' are provided within the housing, each set being arranged to be sequentially released from the housing and each set being arranged for connection to a particular configuration of power supply socket. The sets of male members may be released from the housing by a rotatable face plate 106 having apertures 107,

107' therein for sequentially releasing the sets of male members 105, 105' in the fashion of a known travel adapter.

The housing 100 also incorporates at least two female members 110, three being shown in the embodiment of Figure 5, having a desired configuration which may be the same or different from the configuration of the male members 105. The configuration of the female, socket, members 110 is such that they accommodate a plug of a user's primary cellular telephone charging unit 120. Thus, the charger unit 120 has three male pins 121 for cooperation with the female socket members 110. The charger unit 120 has a converter and step-down transformer for converting a.c. mains supply to a d.c. power supply which is connected to a connector 122 that cooperates via a lead 123 with a charging socket on a user's primary cellular telephone or separate battery only charging unit. The male members 105 may be directly connected to the female members 110 so that the same voltage is transferred therebetween, or there may be a step-up/step-down transformer 130 located in the path between the male members 105 and female members 110.

In use, a user selects the male member configuration that is suitable for the country in which he is located, inserts the male members into the mains power supply, e.g. 110V a.c. or 220V - 240V a.c, inserts the male members 121 into the female members 120 and inserts connector 102 to a secondary telephone or separate charging unit and connector 122 to a primary telephone or separate charging unit. It is, however, to be realised that if the secondary telephone and the primary telephone have the same batteries and connectors then the location of the primary telephone may be interchanged with the secondary telephone. By the use of the combined plug, adapter and charger unit described above, a user is able to simultaneously charge two telephones. Although described in connection with charging telephones, the charger and adapter unit described herein is not so limited in purpose and the charging unit may be used to charge, for example a telephone and a portable telephone.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A mobile telephone system including a primary mobile telephone having a transceiver arranged for communicating over a network with a call centre routing means, said call centre routing means being arranged to connect said primary cellular telephone with interpreter means, and a secondary telephone having a transceiver arranged to communicate over a transmission path directly with said primary mobile telephone only, whereby interpretation facilities are provided to respective users of said primary mobile telephone and said secondary telephone.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said network is one of a cellular network or a network employing communication satellite means, high altitude earth atmosphere means, high voltage electrical reticulation means, or the like.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmission path between the primary mobile telephone and the secondary telephone is one of a metal wire, a light path, e.g. fibre optic cable, one employing an infra-red transmitter and receiver, or an electromagnetic wave, e.g. an ether transmission path.

4. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the secondary telephone is capable of receiving signals received by the primary mobile telephone and of transmitting signals to said primary mobile telephone and thence over the network via said primary mobile telephone.

5. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the secondary telephone is a cordless telephone adapted to be in radio wave communication with the primary mobile telephone.

6. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the secondary telephone includes a transceiver connected to antenna means, speaker means, microphone means and a power supply.

7. A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the secondary telephone further includes an ON/OFF switch and volume control means .

8. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a primary cellular telephone includes a tuned antenna arranged to communicate with said secondary telephone, said tuned antenna being connected to a normally provided port connector means on said primary cellular telephone, whereby the tuned antenna is tuned to a frequency different to that of an antenna of said primary cellular telephone that is used for communication over a cellular network.

9. A secondary telephone for use in a mobile telephone system, said secondary telephone having a transceiver arranged to communicate over a transmission path directly with a primary mobile telephone only, said primary mobile telephone having a transceiver arranged for communicating over a network.

10. An interpretation apparatus including a customer mobile telephone having a loud speaker capable of being heard by more than one person in the vicinity thereof, a microphone capable of picking up voice signals from said more than one person located in the vicinity thereof, an interpreter means telephone means and a call centre routing means for connecting said customer mobile phone with said interpreter means telephone means, said call centre routing means including means for recording the time of connection between the customer mobile telephone and the interpreter means telephone for billing purposes, whereby interpretation facilities are provided via said interpreter means telephone means to said more than one person who require said interpretation facilities .

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the call centre routing means includes means for connecting said customer cell mobile telephone with a suitable one of a plurality of interpreter means telephone means in dependence upon the languages to be interpreted.

12. A method of performing interpretation between a first person having an understanding of a first language and a second person having an understanding of a second language including the steps of:

(c) said call centre routing means connnecting said first person with interpreter means over a telephone network,

(d) said interpreter means providing translation between said first and second languages to said first and second persons , and

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the voice contact between said first and second persons may be one of an amplified, face to face, verbal contact, or may be effected over a telephonic transmission path using a secondary telephone .

14. A charging unit including male member means having a first configuration for connecting to a power supply, female member means having a second configuration for connecting to a plug, means for interconnecting between said male member means and said female member means, power converter means for converting power from the power supply to a d.c. power supply suitable for charging a rechargeable telephoen battery, and connector means for connecting said d.c. power supply to said rechargeable telephone battery.

15. A charging unit as claimed in claim 14, wherein said interconnecting means is a direct path between the male and female members means or may include a voltage step up or down transformer means.

16. A charging unit as claimed in claim 15, wherein said battery is charged in situ in the telephone or the battery may be recharged whilst located in a separate charging unit.

17. A charging unit as claimed in claim 14 or 15, wherein said male member means is capable of providing plural sets of first configurations by providing plural sets of male members which are sequentially rotatable by a selecting means.