GB2383716A

GB2383716A - Mobile phone keypad which produces visual pattern depending on nature of incoming call

Info

Publication number: GB2383716A
Application number: GB0131040A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Byron Bakaimis
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2001-12-28
Filing date: 2001-12-28
Publication date: 2003-07-02
Also published as: GB0131040D0

Abstract

Communications terminal 40 includes keypad 68, means 72 to illuminate the keypad, and control means 76 which selectively illuminates the keypad to provide visual patterns corresponding to information characterising a received signal. The information may concern the type of received signal, e.g. voice, data/fax, SMS or infrared. A voice or SMS signal may be identified by the protocol required to receive the signal, and a fax call may be identified if the call is either received at a number reserved for fax calls or preceded by a predetermined audio tone. Alternatively, the characterising information concerns calling party identity, and may comprise Calling Line Identification (CLI) information. The terminal may compare CLI data with stored telephone numbers and display an appropriate keypad illumination pattern upon obtaining a match. The displayed pattern may comprise a sequence of patterns, and the user may input, amend and/or delete stored patterns. Each key may have an individual light source, e.g. an LED, and the terminal may comprise a cellular mobile phone comprising a processor 42 and/or memory 64, e.g. a removable SIM or smart card 46, with associated hardware 76 and/or software.

Description

COMMUNICATIONS TERMINAL BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to communications terminals, and in preferred embodiments to communications terminals that are capable of providing visual cues to a user on receipt of information characterising a received telecommunications signal.

SUMMARY OF THE PRIOR ART One previously proposed communications terminal, in this case a mobile telephone, is illustrated schematically in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.

As shown, the terminal 1 comprises a display 3, an aerial 5 and a plurality of keys 9 that are arranged in a so-called keypad. The keys, as is known in the art, can be arranged as so-called hard keys with one predetermined function or alternatively they can be arranged as soft-keys which have a plurality of functions depending on the particular operating mode of the terminal. The terminal 1 is provided with a microphone 11 and a loudspeaker 13 for input of user speech and generation of audio signals for relaying to a user. An infra-red input/output port 12 is also provided to permit infrared optical data signals to be received from and/or transmitted to other mobile terminals which are also equipped with an appropriate port.

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of key components of the terminal shown in Figure 1. As shown the terminal 1 includes a central control unit or processor 15 that, at least in general terms, is operable to

control operation of the terminal. Coupled to the processor 15 is a radio unit 17 and timing control circuitry 19 that together are operable to control the transmission and reception of telecommunications signals to and from other telecommunications terminals or from telecommunications networks to which the terminal can connect via the aerial 5.

Coupled to the processor 15 is the display 3, and signals can be sent from the processor 15 to the display in order to convey messages, instructions, and other information to a user of the terminal. The processor is also coupled to the keypad 9 for data input by a user to the terminal.

User speech picked up by the microphone 11 is processed by a speech processor 21 (for example to remove non-transmittable frequencies), and a coder/decoder (CODEC) 23 that is operable to convert analogue speech signals generated by the microphone 11 into digital data for subsequent processing. The speech processor 21 and CODEC 23 are also operable to process received digital data and convert it into appropriate audio signals for relaying to a user by means of the loudspeaker 13.

Also coupled to the processor 19 is a ring generator 25 which is operable to generate one of a variety of different alerts which are used to alert a user of the terminal as to when a call, a message or other information is received at the terminal 1. In this particular case the ring generator is operable to generate appropriate signals to drive a vibrating buzzer 27 or to generate a ring signal for relay to the user via the loudspeaker 13. Typically, a user of the terminal is able to select which of these alert options are most

preferable for their current ambient environment. For example, a user who is at work and does not want to disturb his or her colleagues with an audible ring tone might choose the vibrating buzzer as an alternative means to alert themselves to an arriving call at the terminal.

Whilst terminals of the type shown in Figures 1 and 2 function adequately, there are a number of ways that they have been improved to further enhance their appeal and their ease of use.

For example, it has previously been noted that it is often desirable to know the identity of a calling party before pressing a button on the keypad to go off-hook and accept the call. Most modem telecommunications networks transmit calling line identification (CLI) information'that, when available, identifies the telephone number of a calling party, and it has been previously proposed (in European Patent Application No. 0813787 for example) to use received CLI information to adapt the ringing tone so that a user can provide distinctive ringing tones for particular callers. For example, the user might choose one ring tone for calls from their office, and another ring tone for particular members of their family.

It has also previously been proposed to link received CLI information with telephone numbers stored in a memory of a terminal, and to display userinputted information (such as a name for example) associated with a particular

stored telephone number when a match is made between received CLI information and a telephone number stored in the memory of the terminal.

These systems do make it easier for a user to determine who is calling before they choose to accept the call, but a significant problem with such systems is that they do require the user to be able to be close enough to the terminal to see the display and hear the ring tone in order to be able to discriminate between callers. In a loud ambient environment such a busy urban street or bar they might not be able to see the display, and it is quite conceivable that they may not be able to hear the ring tone generated by the terminal.

In such circumstances it has been proposed to alert the user to receipt of a call by a vibrating buzzer, but use of a buzzer will be of little or no assistance if the terminal is some way away from the user, on top of a table for example.

In an effort to alleviate such problems it has previously been proposed in European Patent Application No. 1109380 to provide a mobile telephone with a translucent cover that can be illuminated to indicate that a call has been received. In the system taught in this document it is even possible to adapt the illuminated colour of the cover to indicate the type of call received or the identity of the calling party (assuming of course that CLI information is available for that caller).

However, a problem with this system is that it is only possible to illuminate the cover with one of a limited number of colours, and thus that it

is only possible to associate a limited number of callers with unique colours.

Given that most users store at least several tens, and often as many as a hundred or more, numbers in their terminals it is apparent that not enough colours will be available to permit a user to assign a unique illumination colour to each number stored in the terminal, or even to a useful selection of the numbers stored in the terminal.

The present invention has been conceived with the aim of avoiding, or at least mitigating, the problems that characterise the prior art.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION In pursuit of this aim, one presently preferred embodiment of the invention provides a communications terminal having a plurality of keys, illumination means operable to illuminate one or more of said keys, and control means operable to control the illumination of said one or more keys to provide visual patterns that are indicative of information characterising received telecommunications signals.

An important advantage that this embodiment provides over the prior art is that the number of visual alert patterns that can be generated can be greatly increased to provide an arrangement where there are more than enough combinations of keys (and hence different illumination patterns) to enable, for example, a user to assign a unique pattern to a greater number of the numbers stored in their terminal than was otherwise possible with devices of the prior art.

Further preferred features and aspects of this and other embodiments

are set out in the following description and the accompanying dependent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which : Fig. I is a schematic representation of a known communications terminal, in particular a mobile cellular phone; Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of the key components of the terminal of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 is a schematic representation of the key components of a communications terminal in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 is a schematic representation of a typical mobile telephone keypad; Figs. 5a to 5f are schematic representations of illustrative visual patterns; Fig 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of a visual pattern display process; and Fig. 6a is a flow diagram illustrating details of the process shown in Fig. 6; Figs. 7 and 7a are further illustrative visual patterns; Fig. 8 is another flow diagram, similar to that of Fig. 6a, illustrating a modification of the steps of the process shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 9 is another flow diagram illustrating the steps of a process for

displaying a series of visual patterns; Fig. 10 is an illustrative series of visual patterns displayed by the process of Fig. 9; and Fig. 11 is a schematic illustration of a storage table for series of visual patterns.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Embodiments of the invention will now be described with particular reference to a communications terminal implemented as a mobile terminal, and more particularly as a cellular mobile telephone. However, it should be noted that this description is provided by way of example only and thus that the teachings of the present invention are equally applicable to mobile terminals (such as mobile telephones, portable digital assistants (PDAs) with telecommunication capabilities and such like), non-mobile terminals (such as so-called landline telephonic equipment, or a personal computer (PC) running software to implement a virtual phone), and in general terms to any item of telecommunications equipment provided with a plurality of keys (be they real physical keys or virtual keys on a computer display).

It should further be noted that references in the following description to"calls"should be construed broadly, unless specifically stated otherwise, to include within their scope any sort of telecommunications signals, be they voice, data e. g. email, fax, SMS, images or pictures, enhanced SMS, multimedia SMS (e. g. instant messaging system) or infrared signals or any combination of the above.

With the foregoing in mind, Fig. 3 illustrates the principal components of a communications terminal, in this case a mobile telephone 40, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

As shown in Fig. 3, the terminal comprises a processor 42, a radio unit 44, timing control circuitry 46, an aerial 48, a speech processor 50, a CODEC 52, a ring generator 54, a microphone 56, a loudspeaker 58, a buzzer 60, an infrared I/O port 61 and a display 62 which are all similar to the components described above in relation to the terminal of Fig. 2.

In addition to the components of a communications terminal as shown in Fig. 2, the terminal according to this embodiment includes a memory 64 which is illustrated as being part of the processor 42 (although it could of course be a discrete hardware component wired to the processor). Also included is, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) or equivalent smart-card 66 which is operable to store data (including, for example, data identifying a user of the terminal and/or the terminal itself, such as the well-known IMSI for example). Since both the memory 64 and the SIM 66 are capable of storing data, such as data relating to display patterns for example, the general term "memory"will be used herein to designate one or both of the SIM 66 and memory 64.

A keypad 68 (or keyboard) comprising a plurality of keys 70 is coupled to the processor for user input, and associated with the keyboard is an illumination device 72 which is operable to illuminate one or more of the aforementioned keys 70. Typically, the keypad will comprise an array of

twelve keys (as is normal in the art for a mobile telephone) and the following description will be based on such a keyboard. However it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the teachings of the invention may be implemented on any size or shape of keyboard, and further that an increase in the number of keys available would be advantageous in that it would serve to increase the number of visual patterns that may be displayed and hence the number of different items of information that can be uniquely associated with a display pattern.

The illumination device 72 is coupled to the processor 42 and may comprise, for example, one or more light sources (such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) for example) for each of the aforementioned plurality of keys 70. The light sources can be built into the keys or alternatively the keys can be arranged to be at least partly translucent so that they pass light emitted by sources positioned behind them within the body of the terminal. As a further alternative, the light sources could be provided away from the keys and coupled to appropriate light guides (such as optic fibre light guides for example) operable to carry light from the sources to the keys. The illumination device is designed to accept instructions from the processor to light one or more of said plurality of keys to provide visual illumination patterns indicative of information characterising received telecommunications signals.

The terminal 40 also includes a visual alert unit (VAU) 76 which is shown, for illustration purposes only, as a discrete component within the

terminal 40 coupled to the processor 42. Whilst the VAU 76 is illustrated as being a discrete hardware component of the terminal 40 (such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), for example), it is considered that the VAU will most probably be implemented as software, and as such could form part of a so-called SIM Toolkit (or SIM Application toolkit as it is sometimes known) or part of the software provided in the mobile terminal 42.

The VAU functions (as will later be described) to permit a user to identify patterns of keys for association with information characterising received telecommunications signals. This information could comprise, for example, information such as CLI information identifying the telephone number of a calling party; information such as CLI information which identifies the telephone number of a calling party as a member of a group of telephone numbers, and thus identifies the group itself ; information identifying the type of a received telecommunications signal (such as for example information identifying the signal as being a voice signal or a nonvoice signal such as an SMS message, a fax call or any other data call or indeed a message received by means of the infra-red I/O port 61); or information identifying whether a received call is an international call, or indeed information identifying that no CLI or other characterising information is available for a given received telecommunications signal.

The VAU will typically be user programmable to allow a user to program visual patterns into the terminal and to control the allocation of the patterns to telephone numbers. Typically the VAU will also be provided with

a number of predetermined patterns for association with particular types of calls, which may or may not be amendable by the user. As a further alternative more limited in function, the VAU may be pre-programmed with a number of predetermined patterns and the user may be limited solely to controlling the allocation of patterns to telephone numbers and/or call types.

As is well known to those persons skilled in the art, information of this ilk which characterises received telecommunications signals is routinely transmitted (if available) as part of the information, considered as a whole, passed between the telecommunications network and the terminal in the course of call placement and set-up.

For example, in GSM cellular systems the protocols used to transmit voice calls from a base transceiver station (BTS) to a mobile terminal within the cell serviced by that BTS are different to the protocols used to transmit an SMS message, for example, from a messaging service centre (MSC) to that mobile terminal. Furthermore, data and fax enabled mobile GSM terminals are typically given an additional phone number or numbers (i. e. in addition to the normal phone number allocated to voice calls) that is or are exclusively for the transmission and/or reception of fax and data calls. Similarly, in wired telecommunications networks, such as the PSTN for example, data and fax calls are differentiated from audio voice calls by an audio tone that precedes the data or fax transmission. In addition, as mentioned above, most modem PSTNs are capable of providing CLI information that identifies the phone number of a calling party.

Fig. 4 illustrates a keypad 68 of the type that is commonly provided on prior art mobile telephones (such as the Timeporto 250 model manufactured and sold by Morotola for example). As shown, the keypad 68 comprises twelve keys 70 which, as explained above, are usually soft keys that have a function that differs in dependence on the particular operating mode of the terminal when a key of the keypad is pressed.

In this particular example, each of the keys are provided with a number (for use during dialling or entry of phone numbers) and a number of letters for use in SMS messaging, for example, that can be cycled through by repeatedly pressing the relevant key. For example, a user pressing the"5 jkl" key when the phone is in standby mode would cause a five to be displayed on the phone (i. e. the phone would assume that the user wanted to initiate a call to a number that includes the number"5"). On the other hand, if the user presses the"5 jkl"key when the phone is in a message editing mode, then a j is displayed and repeated presses of the key will cause the display to cycle through (at least) the other letters displayed on the key.

Figs. 5a to 5f are schematic representations of various illustrative visual patterns that can be generated by the VAU 76. In all of these Figures, the visual patterns are indicated by shading appropriate keys, but it should be noted that an absence of shading on the other keys does not necessarily mean that those keys have not been illuminated.

For example, each of the keys could be provided with a number of light sources (say for example, a red LED and a green LED) and the VAU and

illumination device 72 could be arranged to illuminate those keys shown as being shaded in Figs. 5a to 5f with the red LED, and the remaining keys with the green LED. As an alternative, the VAU and illumination device could instead be arranged to illuminate only those keys (i. e. the shaded keys) which are required to form the visual pattern. The former option may be advantageous in circumstances where the ambient lighting is of a relatively low level (such as at night for example) since it would allow the user to be able to see all of the keypad, whereas the latter option might be advantageous in circumstances where it is desired to prolong the life of the battery powering the terminal. As yet another alternative, all of the keys could be illuminated with the same colour of light, but with the intensity of illumination increased for those keys which are to form part of the pattern.

In any event, it is important to note that the scope of the present invention is not limited to only illuminating those particular keys required for a particular visual pattern.

Figs. Sa and 5b illustrate a"T"pattern 80 and a crucifix pattern 82, respectively, that can be generated by the VAU 76 and illumination device 72.

These patterns can be assigned, as will later be described, to particular types of calls or to the telephone numbers of particular calling parties, or groups of calling parties. The patterns can be input by a user for storage and subsequent use, or alternatively they can be pre-programmed into the terminal before it is sold to the user. The user may or may not be able to modify these patterns, and may even be able to choose the display colour of the pattern (assuming of

course that each key is provided with differently coloured illumination devices).

Figs. 5c to 5f are further display patterns which, it is considered, might be particularly useful for indicating the type of a received call. In particular, Fig. 5c illustrates a"D"pattern 84 which could be used to indicate that the call is a data call; Fig. 5d illustrates a"V"pattern 86 which could be used to indicate that the call is a voice call; Fig. 5e illustrates an"F"pattern 88 which could be used to indicate that the call is a fax call; and Fig. 5f illustrates a stylised"S"pattern 90 which could be used to indicate that the call is an SMS message. As a further alternative, the"F"pattern 88 could be used to indicate a call from a fixed or landline number, and an"M"pattern (not shown) could be used to indicate that the call is from a mobile number.

In the particular case of data, fax and SMS calls, it will be appreciated by all those skilled in the art that-in general terms at least-fax and SMS calls are merely particular kinds of data call (i. e. fax and SMS calls should really appear as subtypes of a general Data type). However, in the particular case of a mobile terminal (such as a GSM compatible mobile phone for example), data and fax calls are transmitted and received via a different number to that used for voice calls, and different protocols are used for transmitting and receiving SMS messages and voice calls. Consequently, the terminal described herein with reference to Fig. 6 is immediately able to discriminate between data, SMS and voice calls. For this reason, SMS and data calls are shown in Fig. 6 as being different, but this would not necessarily

be the case if the invention were to be implemented in a communications terminal other than a mobile terminal.

As mentioned above, Fig. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of the process implemented by the VAU 76 to display patterns on receipt of calls.

Once an incoming call is detected, the terminal checks in step 96 whether the visual alert of the invention has been enabled. If the visual alert has been enabled the terminal moves, in step 98, to determine the type of the call. If the visual alert has not been enabled, the terminal alerts the user to the presence of a call, in step 100, by conventional means of a ring or buzzer alert until the terminal detects, in step 102, that the call has been answered whereupon the alert is ceased in step 104.

The call type is determined in step 98, from the aforementioned characterising information that usually accompanies incoming calls to the terminal.

If the terminal determines, in step 106, that no characterising information is available it retrieves a pattern, in step 108, from the memory which has been assigned for display in the event that it is not possible to acquire characterising information from an incoming call. The pattern retrieved could be, for example, an"X"of the type shown in Fig. 7. Similarly, if the terminal determines, in step 110, that the incoming call is an SMS message it retrieves, in step 112, another (usually different) pattern from the memory. The pattern retrieved in this case could be, for example, the

stylised"S"of Fig. 5f.

If the terminal determines, in steps 114 or 116, that the incoming call is a fax or any other data message it retrieves an appropriate pattern, in steps 118 or 120, from the memory. The patterns retrieved could be, in the specific case of a fax call-an"F"of the type shown in Fig. 5e, or in the case of any other data call-a"D"of the type shown in Fig. 5c.

Once an appropriate pattern has been retrieved in one of steps 106 to 114, the pattern retrieved is displayed to the user in step 122 until the call is answered (or until the caller rings off or is diverted elsewhere) whereupon the display ceases in step 124. The pattern could be displayed continuously, or alternatively it could be flashed on an off in order to further increase the likelihood of it attracting the user's attention.

Fig. 6a is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of the process performed in the event that the terminal determines in step 126 that the incoming call is a voice call.

As shown in Fig. 6a, in the first step 128 the terminal determines whether CLI information is available for the call. If no CLI information is available, the terminal retrieves in step 130 a generic pattern-such as the"V" of Fig. 5d for example-for display (in step 132) until the call is answered (or until the caller rings off or is diverted elsewhere) whereupon the display ceases in step 134.

If CLI information is available, the terminal looks, in step 136, to see if the telephone number retrieved from the CLI information is stored along

with an identifying pattern in the memory of the terminal. If the number is stored in the memory, the terminal retrieves the pattern associated with the number (in step 138) and displays it in step 132. If the number is not stored in the memory (or the number is stored without a corresponding pattern being stored) the terminal retrieves (step 140) a generic pattern (such as the crucifix of Fig. 5b for example) and displays the pattern to the user (in step 132) to indicate either that the number is not stored in the terminal, or that no pattern is stored for that number.

Fig. 8 is a modification of the process illustrated in Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 8, in this case the process includes a further determination step 142 that is operable to determine whether the phone number included in the received CLI information is an international number or a national number.

As is well known in the art, international numbers received from CLI information are characterised by two leading zeros or a"+"indicator (to indicate that the call is an international call) followed by one, two or three numbers that together indicate the country of origin. As a consequence, the above-mentioned international call determination could be achieved by comparing the first three, four or five numbers of the phone number received in the CLI information with a look-up table of the international access code and one, two or three digit country codes. As an alternative, the terminal could be programmed to treat all calls with CLI information comprising two leading zeros or a"+"as international calls. As a further alternative, the terminal could simply be programmed to treat all calls with CLI information

comprised of more than eleven digits (for example) as international calls. It could even be that the threshold for the number of digits (after which the call is treated as being an international call) is settable by the user.

If the incoming call is determined in step 142 to be an international call, the terminal retrieves a pattern in step 144 that is generic for all international calls. For example, an"I"of the type shown in Fig. 7a could be used to designate international calls. Once the pattern has been retrieved it is displayed in step 132.

It will be appreciated that as the international call determination step is provided before the"number/pattern stored ?" determination of step 136, then it is not possible (in the terminal of this particular embodiment) to assign discrete patterns to international numbers stored in the memory. Whilst this arrangement might appear to be disadvantageous, it is in fact a useful feature when the terminal is not connected to its home network (known in the art as roaming) since it will immediately alert a user to the fact that an incoming call is an international call. This is advantageous since it is often the case that large charges are levied for accepting international calls when roaming. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the international call alert can be switched on and off by a user to enable them to disable the feature when they are not roaming.

As a further alternative, the software could be designed so that the international call determination step only occurs if the CLI information identifies a phone number that is not stored in the memory of the terminal. In

this way a user of the terminal would not be discouraged from answering calls from persons known to them just because the call has arrived from overseas.

Fig. 9 shows an adaptation of the display steps of the processes depicted in Figs. 6,6a and 8 which allows a user to make use of visual alerts that comprise a series of more than one display pattern. An example of such a display pattern is shown in Fig. 10 where the terminal has been arranged to display a"D"on the first ring, an"A"on the second ring and another"D"on the third ring to indicate to the user that the call received at the terminal is from their Dad, i. e. from their father.

An illustrative example of a display process that could be used to implement this functionality comprises a first instruction 146 to display a first pattern, followed by a step 148 to determine whether the display pattern retrieved from the terminal memory includes any additional patterns. If the retrieve pattern does include a further pattern, then that further pattern is displayed in step 150, and so on until all the patterns of the retrieved pattern have been displayed whereupon the system returns to step 146 and the pattern display starts over.

As shown in Fig. 9, in the preferred embodiment, the terminal determines whether the call has been answered, steps 152 & 154, before displaying the next pattern in the series. In an alternative arrangement the terminal could be arranged to display all the patterns of a given series before determining whether a call has been answered.

Each pattern can be displayed (in the manner of a normal ringer alert)

for a predetermined time, with an interval of no display before the next pattern is displayed. As an alternative, each pattern of a series of patterns could be displayed continuously without gaps between individual patterns.

Fig. 11 is a schematic illustration of an illustrative storage table (such as might form part of a phone book stored in memory of the terminal) that could be used to store data to implement the pattern series displays described above with reference to Figs. 9 and 10. In the example shown, the table is capable of storing up to three different patterns for any one number but obviously the table could be expanded to permit longer series of patterns to be stored and displayed.

As shown, the table comprises a first column 156 in which phone numbers are stored, a second column 158 in which an identifier for that phone number (in this case :"Father, Jim, Office, Tim"), a third column 160 where the first pattern is stored, a fourth column 162 where the second pattern (if any) is stored and a fifth column 164 where the third pattern (if any) is stored.

To facilitate the input and adaptation of the patterns it is preferred if they are stored as a series of numbers which correspond to the keys which are to be illuminated for display of that particular pattern. However, whilst this is the preferred arrangement it will be apparent that different arrangements may instead be adopted.

As will be apparent, if the CLI determining step 128 should determine that the phone number of the received CLI information is"07710 526859", then the pattern retrieved in step 136 will be"3 ; 6; 7; 9; < ; 0 ; > ;" and the

illumination device 72 will display a stylised"J"in steps 132 or 146. If the CLI information should match the number stored for"Father"then a"D", followed by an"A"and another"D"will be displayed before the pattern repeats (assuming of course that the call is not answered). If the CLI information includes a phone number that matches that stored for"Office", then a stylised"W" (signifying"Work") will be displayed. Similarly, if the CLI information includes a phone number which matches that stored for "Tim", then a"T"will first be displayed, followed by an"I"and subsequently a stylised"M".

It will be appreciated from the above that the embodiments described are capable of providing a user with a visual alert that can be tailored to provide a good indication of the identity of the calling party or alternatively the type of call received. It will also be apparent that the terminal could be arranged to provide both an indication of the type of call received (if available) and an indication of the identity of the calling party (again if available).

It should also be noted that modifications and alterations may be made to the particular embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.

For example, whilst in the preferred embodiment the table of Fig. 11 only includes user-inputted data, it will be apparent that the table could be expanded to include patterns for distinct call types so that the user can choose which pattern is to be associated with a given call type and adapt or replace

those patterns if so desired. It will also be apparent that the terminal could be provided with a number of predetermined patterns, and that the table could then be arranged to permit only the allocation of patterns to phone numbers and/or call types (i. e. no modification of patterns is permitted).

As an another example of a further alternative, it is conceivable that the terminal could be arranged to transmit a visual pattern to another remote display device (such as the monitor of a PC equipped with an appropriate receiver) on receipt of a call.

It will also be appreciated that the teachings of the present invention are particularly useful when used in communications terminals that are not provided with a display (or a display that is initially obscured by a flip down panel) so that a user can discriminate between calling parties or types of incoming call.

As another modification, the visual display described above may be combined with any type of traditional alert mechanism such as a buzzer or ringer, or even a ringer that rings with a different tone in dependence upon the identity of an incoming call.

As a further modification mentioned briefly above, the phone book could be adapted so that a user is able to group stored numbers. For example, a user having the telephone number of their mother, father and sister stored in the terminal could choose to define a"family"group including these numbers and assign a particular pattern to calls from terminals having a number defined as being part of this group. The terminal could then be arranged only

to display the pattern stored for the group, or alternatively to display the pattern stored for the group followed by the pattern (if any) stored for the individual member of that group who has placed the call.

As a further alternative that has already been mentioned above in passing, the terminal of the invention can be arranged to provide a multicoloured display of visual patterns depending on the type and colour of the illumination sources forming the illumination device 72.

As yet another modification, the terminal of the invention may be arranged to read the letters (and/or numbers or other characters) forming a name or other title associated with a number or group of numbers stored in the phone book and display a series of visual patterns corresponding to the series of letters (and/or numbers or other characters) forming that name or other title, or a predetermined portion of that name or title. In such circumstances the terminal would need to be provided with a list of letters and/or other numerals or characters and associated visual display patterns.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A communications terminal comprising a plurality of keys, illumination means operable to illuminate one or more of said keys, and control means operable to control the illumination of said one or more keys to provide visual patterns that are indicative of information characterising received telecommunications signals.
2. A terminal according to Claim 1, wherein said characterising information comprises information indicating the type of a said received telecommunications signal.
3. A terminal according to Claim 2, wherein said type of a said received telecommunications signals comprises one of a voice call, a data call such as a fax call, an SMS message or an infrared telecommunications signal.
4. A terminal according to Claim 3, wherein a said received telecommunications signal is identified as being a voice call or an SMS message on the basis of the telecommunications protocol required to receive the call.
5. A terminal according to Claim 3, wherein a said received telecommunications signal is identified as being a data call (such as a fax call) if the call is received at a telephone number or numbers exclusively reserved

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for calls of this type.
6. A terminal according to Claim 3, wherein a said received telecommunications signal is identified as being a data call (such as a fax call) if content of the call is preceded by a predetermined audio tone.
7. A terminal according to Claim 1, wherein said characterising information comprises information indicative of the identity of a calling party.
8. A terminal according to Claim 7, wherein said characterising information comprises Calling Line Identification (CLI) information.
9. A terminal according to Claim 8, comprising a store for telephone numbers and associated display patterns, and means for comparing received CLI information with the telephone numbers stored in said store, wherein said control means is operable-on a match being made between said received CLI information and a number stored in said store-to retrieve the display pattern associated in said store with said matched number and to control said illumination means to illuminate the keypad to provide a visual display corresponding to said retrieved display pattern.
10. A terminal according to Claim 9, wherein one or more of said display patterns comprises a plurality of individual displays, said control means being

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operable to control the illumination means to illuminate the keypad with said displays in sequence until the call is answered.
11. A terminal according to Claim 9 or 10, comprising means to enable a user to input patterns and/or telephone numbers for storage in said store.
12. A terminal according to any of Claims 9 to 11, comprising means to enable a user to amend or delete patterns and/or telephone numbers stored in said store.
13. A terminal according to Claim 9 or 10, wherein said store is preprogrammed with a number of predetermined patterns and a user is only permitted to control the allocation of those patterns to telephone numbers.
14. A terminal according to any of Claims 9 to 13, wherein said store is also for storing information indicative of types of received telecommunications signals and associated display patterns.
15. A terminal according to any preceding claim, wherein said illumination means comprises a plurality of light sources, one or more of said light sources being provided for each of said plurality of keys.
16. A terminal according to Claim 15, wherein said light sources each

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comprise a light emitting diode (LED).
17. A terminal according to any preceding claim, wherein the terminal comprises a cellular mobile telephone.
18. A terminal according to Claim 17, wherein said terminal comprises a processor, and said control means comprises hardware (such as an ASIC for example) wired to said processor.
19. A terminal according to Claim 17, wherein said terminal comprises memory, and said control means comprises software resident for execution in said memory.
20. A terminal according to Claim 19, wherein said memory comprises a hardware component wired to the processor.
21. A terminal according to Claim 19 or 20, wherein said memory comprises a removable Subscriber Information Module (SIM) or smartcard.
22. A method comprising the steps of : receiving a telecommunications signal; identifying information characterising said received telecommunications signal;

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retrieving a display pattern associated with said characterising information; and controlling illumination means to illuminate one or more of a plurality of keys of a telecommunications terminal in accordance with said retrieved pattern to provide a visual pattern that is indicative of said characterising information.
23. A computer program comprising one or more software portions executable in an execution environment to perform one or more of the steps of Claim 22.
24. A communications terminal substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of Figures 3 to 12 of the accompanying drawings.
25. A method substantially as hereinbefore described, and as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 6,6a, 8 and 9 of the accompanying drawings.