Title of Invention

AN EFFICIENT METHOD FOR STORING AND RETRIEVING INFORMATION FROM THE PHONEBOOK

Abstract

The invention proposes a method for storing and retrieving information from the phonebook for a specific set of numbers which follow certain pattern. The required phonebook entries are stored and retrieved using the Range Based and Wild card based approaches. The owner makes the necessary Phonebook entries according to the situation. An incoming alert is checked first for the exact match, if it matches then the corresponding Phonebook entry is shown, else it is checked for the meta-character matches, if it matches the corresponding Phonebook entry is shown, else the default name is shown.

Full Text

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention in general relates to the field of communication devices such as mobile handsets, handheld communication devices, smart phones, etc. Further, this invention relates to the maintenance and storage of phonebook and related records in such communication devices and is also applicable to devices which are capable of storage of such records. More particularly, this invention encompasses a method for storing and extracting information from the phonebook. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART The currently available mobile handsets and communication devices do not allow the user to recognize a set pattern matching phone numbers with just one or two entries in the Phonebook. For example, consider an organization name say "ABC" having a set of phone numbers ranging from 25075000 to 25076999 or another organization say "XYZ" having phone numbers starting from 2293. Now suppose the owner wants to be intimated from any call coming from Organization ABC, he needs to enter these many numbers in his Phonebook corresponding to entry ABC. Or, if any call comes from organization XYZ the owner has to store all the numbers starting with 2293 in his Phonebook corresponding to the entry XYZ. Imagine that a single phonebook entry can contain a maximum of 4 phone numbers. Office "LMN" has 1000 numbers ranging from 2356001 to 2356999. If the user wants to recognize the call from "LMN", he is forced to enter all the 1000 numbers manually. For that he needs to add and maintain 250 phonebook entries. The problems involved are mentioned hereunder: a) The user has to spend a substantial amount of time in entering all these numbers in the Phonebook. b) The user can hardly store 3 to 4 numbers for a single particular Phonebook entry. It is very cumbersome to store more numbers for one particular Phonebook entry. This manner of creating phonebook entries will consume a lot of memory and waste a significant number of phonebook entries. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the present invention is to invent a method of using meta-characters in phonebook entries in communication devices. It is another object of this invention to simplify the Phonebook record entry for a specific set of numbers which follow certain pattern and the invention involves using special characters to define range of phone numbers. It is a further object of this invention to provide mobile communication devices with some effective ways of representing the pattern matching numbers whereby the user will have to allot only a single phonebook entry for a set of pattern matching numbers irrespective of how many they are. Examples are given below • Phone numbers which are incremental. E.g. all the numbers from 21111000 to 21112000 can be grouped into one record. • Set of numbers which have particular digit incremental. E.g. numbers 21111111, 21111211, 21111311, 21111411 and 21111511. All these numbers can be grouped together using a meta-character for the 3rd Digit place. • Phone numbers starting with a common prefix numbers. E.g. all the numbers starting with number 2293 The proposed invention proposes a method for the user to enter all the pattern matched phone numbers into a single Phonebook entry. The Invention uses some special characters for a better and an easier representation of the pattern matched phone numbers. Here, the required Phonebook entries can be stored and retrieved using the Range Based and Wild card based approaches. Accordingly, the present invention comprises an efficient method for storing and retrieving information from the phonebook for a specific set of numbers which follow certain pattern characterized in that the said storing involves making the phonebook entries wherein the phonebook entries are made using ranges for representing phone numbers or by using meta-characters while retrieving the information involves checking the incoming alert for a match where the checking include checking for the meta-character matches and showing the phonebook entry if there is a match wherein a default name is displayed when there is no exact meta-character match. Other advantages and features of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the invention given as a non-restrictive example only and represented in the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING Figure 1 presents a flowchart of various steps involved when an incoming alert arrives. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art on how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. The proposed invention provides a simple solution by using some special characters in the Phonebook entries. The invention introduces the usage of meta-characters for representing a set of phone numbers in the Phonebook entries. Here the choice of characters could be user configurable or can be fixed by the manufacturer. Two approaches for representing a set of pattern matching phone numbers are illustrated as follows: Range based search In a situation where the telephone numbers are consecutive numbers over a range, for example, 2555521 to 2555545. Instead of adding all the consecutive numbers, the user need to enter only the start phone number and a part of the ending number. In this case, the Phonebook entry representation will be "2555521 ~ 45" for all the numbers ranging from 2555521 to 2555545. Wild card based search Here, the user can make use of single or multiple wild characters '*' &'?'. Usage of '?' at the place of '*', gives us more precision. Few examples are given below: a) Phonebook entry representation of 55554* for all the numbers ranging from 55554000 to 55554999 b) Phonebook entry representation of 55553??? , 55554??? for all the numbers ranging from 55553000 to 55554999. Here the user has to make use of two number fields in the phonebook entry. In the above examples, we have used the meta-characters "--', *' and '?' only for an illustration purpose. The manufacturer can fix some characters or icons for representation of these meta-characters. In the alternative, the manufacturer can give the liberty to the owner for setting his own meta-character as per his wish. However, the manufacturer should take enough care to ensure that the meta-character will not have any DTMF tone. For example, '#' (Hash character) cannot be used for the meta-character. For any incoming call, caller's exact match is searched first in the phonebook entries. If not found, range based and wild char based entries are searched for ■ Let us take the example of organization XYZ, where the numbers start with 2293, so the user will make an entry in the Phonebook in following way ■ XYZ — 2293* ? Henceforth any incoming local call, starting with number 2293 will be first checked for the exact match, if found, the corresponding name will be shown ? Else, XYZ will be shown as the caller name due to Wild card match ? Let us take another example of organization ABC, where the numbers start with 25075000 to 25076999, so the user will make a Phonebook entry in either way • ABC — 25075000 # 6999 Or ■ ABC — 25075??? , 25076??? [ 2 entries to be entered ] . Let the owner has a friend "R" in the same organization ABC having phone number 25076554, then the owner will make a separate entry in the Phonebook for his friend as • R — 25076554 ■ Henceforth, any local call coming from ABC organization, means originating from any of the number between 25075000 to 25076999 - It will be first checked for the exact match, if found, the corresponding name will be shown, that is , if the call is coming from the number 25076554 which is already entered in the Phonebook with name "R", then as the exact match is given top priority, "R" will be displayed as the caller name - Else, ABC will be shown as the caller name due to Range match / Wild card match Figure 1 depicts the flow chart/process for the Invention's functionality. The owner makes the necessary Phonebook entries according to the situation. An incoming alert is checked first in the Phonebook entries for the exact match, if it matches then the corresponding Phonebook entry is shown, else it is checked for the meta-character matches i.e. whether its lying in the range of numbers of any Phonebook entry which has used meta-characters, if it matches with any meta-character Phonebook entry then the corresponding Phonebook entry is shown, else the default name is shown. It will also be obvious to those skilled In the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted below. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a microchip, mobile handheld device, other communication device, computer or a multi function device. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND DEFINITIONS THEREOF • Meta-character: A meta-character can be any non numerical character(s) which are used to represent the pattern matching numbers. E.g: Symbols like * ; 1 ] [ ? etc Alphabets Like 'to', 'from' etc. WE CLAIM 1. An efficient method for storing and retrieving information from the phonebook for a specific set of numbers which follow certain pattern characterized in that the said storing involves making the phonebook entries wherein the phonebook entries are made using ranges for representing phone numbers or by using meta-characters while retrieving the information involves checking the incoming alert for a match where the checking include checking for the meta-character matches and showing the phonebook entry if there is a match wherein a default name is displayed when there is no exact meta-character match. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the required phonebook entries are stored and retrieved using the Range Based and Wild card based approaches. 3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the user enters only the start phone number and a part of the ending number in range based approach. 1 4. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein user makes use of single or multiple wild characters in wild card based approach. 5. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the meta-characters are customizable as per the specific approaches. 6. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the meta-characters do not have any DTMF tone. 7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the meta-characters are non numerical character(s) which are used to represent the pattern matching numbers. 8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein for any incoming call, caller's exact match is searched first in the phonebook entries and when not found, range based and wild char based entries are searched. 9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein for a set of pattern matching numbers a single phonebook entry can be configured. 10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein checking the incoming alert for the match includes checking first for the exact match and showing the phonebook entry if there is an exact match. 11. An efficient method for storing and retrieving information from the phonebook for a specific set of numbers which follow certain pattern such as substantially herein described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

1237-che-2004 abstract granted.pdf

1237-che-2004 claims granted.pdf

1237-che-2004 claims-duplicate.pdf

1237-che-2004 description (complete) granted.pdf

1237-che-2004 description (complete)-duplicate.pdf

1237-che-2004 drawing granted.pdf

1237-che-2004-abstract.pdf

1237-che-2004-claims.pdf

1237-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

1237-che-2004-correspondnece-po.pdf

1237-che-2004-description(complete).pdf

1237-che-2004-drawings.pdf

1237-che-2004-form 1.pdf

1237-che-2004-form 13.pdf

1237-che-2004-form 26.pdf