WO2001011849A1

WO2001011849A1 - Coding telephone numbers and ciphers with letters

Info

Publication number: WO2001011849A1
Application number: PCT/EP1999/005982
Authority: WO
Inventors: Aiwen Chen; Marie-Elisabeth Chen; Weilie Chen; Shaoxue Chen; Shangnong Chen
Original assignee: Aiwen Chen; Chen Marie Elisabeth; Weilie Chen; Shaoxue Chen; Shangnong Chen
Priority date: 1999-08-05
Filing date: 1999-08-05
Publication date: 2001-02-15
Also published as: AU5735099A

Abstract

The present invention is a design for coding telephone numbers and ciphers with letters in order to lighten memory load. The ten numerals (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) are combined with the alphabet letters of a language divided into ten groups: one numeral is corresponding to one group of letters. The signs [.] [:] [-] [,] representing abbrevation, omission, separation and substitution are arranged additionally in the table for the purpose of avoiding the reduplication of telephone numbers, and inputting messages.

Description

CODING TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND CIPHERS WITH LETTERS

The present invention concerns a method of coding telephone numbers or ciphers with letters (or words), named "letter coding" It includes a "Letter & Sign- Numeral Corresponding Table" (abbreviated to "Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table"), and a series of methods to compose telephone numbers and ciphers with letters

"Ciphers" means, in this invention, confidential codes used for drawing money from bank cashiers, checking one's account, operating mobile telephones, making distant phone calls, opening gates etc "Letter" means the alphabet of a language "Sign" means [ ] [ ] [,] [-] "Numeral" means 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 For the Latin alphabet, there are altogether 30 "letters & signs" (26 letters plus 4 signs), divided into ten groups, thus made corresponding to the ten numerals according to specific requirements The Letter & Sign-Numeral Corresponding Table has its practical functions as follows compose telephone numbers or ciphers with letters and signs

The existing telephone numbers and ciphers are composed of numerals, named hereafter "numeral codes", which are difficult to memorize "Letter coding" is just intended to lighten memory load

Some of the existing telephone sets have numeral keys accompanied by the alphabet, too, but different from the present invention in the following 1/ On these existing telephone key board, there are only letters, but no signs 2/ On these existing telephone key boards, only eight or nine numerals are combined with the alphabet, "1" and "0" being left alone So this is not a complete but partial corresponding table 3/ On the above-mentioned partial corresponding table, the arrangement of letters follows just the alphabetic order without any consideration of an even usage of the letters Because of these three defects, the partial corresponding table can not be used to compose telephone numbers or input ciphers with letters Its function is limited only to letter input The invented Completely Corresponding Table may be put to use for telephone numbers and for ciphers, and for messages in words as well

A Complete Corresponding Table is formed with the alphabetic letters (including signs) and the ten numerals according to the following two requirements a/ keep as much as possible an even frequency of using the ten numeral keys b/ easy to memorize the combinations of letters with numerals

Telephone numbers or ciphers may be composed either of letters (words) or of numerals The present invention is not to replace the traditional numeral codes with letter codes, but to offer a new method to compose telephone numbers and ciphers Technical Characteristics of the present invention

(1) Table I is an example of 10-key "Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table" Following are examples showing how to compose telephone numbers or ciphers with this table

- A telephone subscriber is named HILTON, the name HILTON can be used as its telephone number In table I, H=4, 1=4, L=5, T=7, O=0, N=6, HILTON corresponds therefore to 445706 - If the word SUNDAY is to be taken as a cipher, according to table I, S=9,

U=8, N=6, D=2, A=l, Y=9, so SUNDAY is equal to 986219 Words have meanings, and are easier to remember

In case of illiterates or foreigners who do not know of the language of the country where they live, they can use numeral codes as usual (2) Table II is a 12-key corresponding table to be used to compose ciphers only, whereas table I, a 10-key corresponding table, is to be used, either for telephone numbers or for ciphers

(3) Letter-code telephone number

The traditional numeral numbers can be used as before The present invention is offered just as a choice Each letter-code telephone number has its corresponding numeral number HILTON=445706 is an example showing that the same subscriber's number may be coded in two different ways

As for 8-code-place telephone numbers of a big city, the initial letter usually serves as the city code and thus there are only 7 code places left at subscribers' disposal In such cities as are divided into several districts, a telephone number often has its first two letters used as a city code and a district code respectively, therefore only 6 code places are available for free coding Definition of "code place^" the amount of letters (including the 4 signs) or numerals used to compose a telephone number or a cipher e g The number "434965" has 6 code places The number coded in "VICTOR" has 6 code places, too The number coded in "CLINTON" has 7 code places The number "43490294" has 8 code places

If subscribers in such a city as mentioned in the foregoing paragraph need 7 or 8 code places at their disposal to compose telephone numbers, a specific transforming program is to be put to use, or a new number area should be opened ( 1 e to begin a letter-code telephone number with a sign or with a different numeral than the current one ) Therefore in this big city, three different grades of telephone numbers may be proposed as a new service to subscribers Numbers with 6 code places at their disposal, numbers with 7 code places at their disposal, numbers with 8 code places at their disposal

Example 1, 7 codes are at subscriber's disposal for free coding

- If its name consists just of seven letters, e g CLINTON, the 7 letters may be used as its telephone number According to table 1, CLINTON corresponds to

2546706

- In case of a name of fewer than 7 letters, e g HABIB, it may be followed by the substitution sign [ ] — "HABIB ", or have the last letter repeated HABIBBB

- With a name of over 7 letters, the letters from the eighth on are to be omitted e g "WASHINGTON" becomes "WASHING"

- As for a name composed of two words, the following solutions are proposed for choice a/ From each word, are taken the first three letters and the words are connected with "-" e g "GEORGE WASHINGTON" — "GEO-WAS", and "GEORGE POMPIDOU" — "GEO-POM", (In case of a 6-code number, "-" is omitted "GEOWAS", and "GEOPOM") b/ If a name consists of two words, the more current one may be treated as bellows only the initial letter is used, followed by a dot while from the other word, five letters are employed , e g "GEORGE POMPIDOU"— -"G POMPI" Or without the sign " ", one more letter may be taken from the second word "G POMPID" c/ An over-three- word name is treated as follows

Use only the initial of the more current words, leaving as many vacancies as possible for the least current one e g "JEAN-JACQES ROUSSEAU" — "J J ROU" From each word, the first two or more letters are taken to compose the number w ith the abbreviation sign " " omitted, e g "JE JA ROU"

Instead of one's own name, any other words may be chosen to code one s number, e g "victory", "success"

- Letters may be combined with numerals e g

If a subscriber's name is "Henry the Fourteenth", its telephone number may be named "HENRY 14" (corresponding to "4367914") If "LOUIS" is an enterprise with several telephone lines, their telephone numbers may be composed as follows LOUIS- 1, LOUIS-2, LOUIS-3 "-" is used as a code, too, corresponding to "9" in table I (In case of a 6-code number, "-" is omitted LOUIS 1, LOUIS2, LOUIS3 ) (4) How to avoid reduplications Telephone numbers are not allowed to be reduplicated The reduplication may be avoided as below

- By varying the number (quantity) of letters taken from each word of one's name, just as mentioned in the previous paragraphs

- By varying the three non-letter signs [ ] [ ] [-] e g Subscriber A, named "George Washington", has "G Washi" as his telephone number, subscriber B, named "George Washington", too, may have "G Washi" as his number or "G-Washi", if "G Washi" is already used as someone else's number e g "ALEXANDER" may be reduced to "ALEXAND" In case of reduplication, it may be changed into "ALEXA-R" or "ALEXA R", or "ALEXAN-" (5) How to formulate ciphers and telephone numbers in Chinese

In China, ciphers or telephone numbers may be coded with Chinese characters by transcribing characters in Chinese phonetic alphabet and then taking the initial letter from each character to be put to use e g "LU

is used as a cipher , when transcribed in Chinese phonetic alphabet, it is "shan wai qing shan lou wai lou" Take the initial letter from each character transcribed "SWQSLWL", and they make thus a cipher composed of Chinese characters in phonetic alphabet "SWQSLWL" corresponds to 7807585, according to Table III given below

There are too many syllables in Chinese that begin with "y", so it is decided that syllable "yu" is replaced by "u" ("yu" and "u" have the same pronunciation) e g yuan — uan, yue — ue, yun — un, yu — u

The letter "u" is to be added in the corresponding table for Chinese, in which "u" is replaced by [v] The letter [v] plays a double function employed in Chinese, it represents "u", in western languages, it represents "v"

The 26 alphabetical letters have different frequencies in word formation between Chinese and western languages So they are arranged in a slightly different way in Table III (designed for Chinese) The Chinese characters employed in Japanese and Korean may be treated in the same way transcribe the character in Japanese or Korean Roman phonetic alphabet and then take the first letter of each character transcribed to compose a cipher or a telephone number

(6) How to code a telephone number in Chinese A/ As for subscribers with a name composed of several characters, the initial letter of each character is to be used as code Take a 6 code-place number for example e g

means "The Public Security Bureau of Beijing) The six Chinese characters are transcribed as "bei jing shi gong an ju" in Chinese phonetic alphabet, "BJSGAJ" being the initial letter of the six characters, are used to compose this organization's telephone number As for a 7-code-place number, the sign "-^"" may be inserted "BJS-GAJ"

B/ A private subscriber's name consists of only 3 or 2 characters, not enough to form a telephone number Some possible solutions are proposed as follows

- By adding some more characters A family may have two persons' names put together, "XXX YYY", "XXX P YY" (" ?P " is transcribed as "he^", and

"H" is its initial letter) ,or have one person's name repeated , e g "ABC ABC"

- A person's name may be followed by his profession, academic degree or address e g "XXX I Mffi", or by address "XXX ΞJtt#

- By using all letters of one's name including initial consonants and vowels (7) Letter-Numeral Corresponding Tables for different writing systems

Any writing systems existing in the world of today (Latin, Slavic, Arabian, Japanese kana, Korean )may have their own Letter-Numeral Corresponding

Tables established

Take a table for Russian (See Table IV) (8) Combined with the intercom at the gate of a building, the Letter-Numeral

Corresponding Table may be used to compose ciphers for calling the occupants No indication of occupants' names is needed The visitor will have just to press the letter keys that form the apartment code of the occupant he wants to contact

(9) With "Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table" a new type of telephone keyboard is designed on the board there are thirty keys, divided into ten groups, representing the 10 numerals (0-9) respectively Each numeral is with three keys, i e accompanied by three letters, including signs, Telephones with the designed key board can work in two different states 1/ normal working state Press any key of the same group, what is received is always the numeral accompanied by this group of letters or signs Take the O P Q for example Press any of the three keys, the received is no other than "0" (zero) 2/ Letter sign state Press a function-transforming key and the normal working state will be changed into letter-sign working state In this case, the thirty keys representing the 26 letters and 4 signs respectively can be used to communicate messages in words

(10) The Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table may be used to operate television set with letters when installed on the teleswitch

Table I

1 2 3 AB . CD, EFG

4 5 6 HIJ KL MN-

7 8 9 RXT UVW SYZ

0 OPQ

:able II

1 2 ->

AB . CD EF

4 5 6

GH IJ KL

7 8 9

TU VW XYZ

[ ] 0 [ ]

MN OPQ RS Table III

1 2 AB. CD EFG

4 5 6 HIJ KL MN-

7 8 9 RST UVW XYZ

0 OPQ

Table IV

1 2

A B B r JX E E « 3

4 5 6 M Pi K JI M H C T J

7 8 9

0 o π p

*The letter t> and t> are to be omitted when included in a subscriber's name consisting of more than the authorized code places

Table V( Another corresponding table for Chinese characters to be used in China only) 1 2 3

AC BDE FG

4 5 6

HIJ KL M R

7 8 9

STU VWX YZ-

0 OPQ Table VI

* The sign [-] is became to the space key, in letter and sign working state

Claims

1) The alphabetic letters of a language, plus several signs, are divided into ten groups so as to be made corresponding to ten numerals (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ), thus forming a complete "Letter & Sign-Numeral Corresponding Table" (abbreviated to "Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table"), which allows telephone numbers or ciphers to be composed with letters (words), and therefore makes them easier to memorize, this kind of Corresponding Table is adaptable to all the alphabets existing in the world of today

2) According to Claim 1, for the realization of composing telephone numbers with letters(words), some signs are arranged additionally in the Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table to indicate abbreviation, omission, separation and substitution, which, being used as codes, too, play the following roles to adjust telephone numbers to the authorized code places, to avoid reduplications as the three signs are exchangeable in use, to obtain an even usage of the ten letter groups, for being free from the constraint of the alphabetical order, these signs may be put in such letter groups that are rarely employed as initials, to be used as punctuation marks, which allows message communications

3) In order to realize Claim 1, the division of the alphabetical letters into ten groups is in such a way that allows an easy memorization, e g "O P Q" and "0"(zero) resembling each other are arranged correspondingly, "S" is put together with "Y Z" in order to increase the usage of thus letter group

4) According to Claim 1, the method to code telephone numbers and ciphers in China, Taiwan, Singapore, or in such countries as Japan, Korea etc, where Chinese characters are employed in their writing systems, is to use the initial letter of each character transcribed in phonetic alphabet 5) In order to realize Claim 4, the letter [v] is designed which, representing both "v" and "u" allows a Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table in Chinese phonetic alphabet to suit the coding of ciphers or telephone numbers in western languages as well 6) In order to facility the realization of Claim 1, the Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table may be impressed on the following: small cards, pieces of paper that may be stuck on telephone set, cipher apparatus or teleswitchs, telephone cards, cashier cards, note-books, telephone number albums, thing for office use, etc; and may be, combined with an intercom, put to use on a gate lock of a building.

7) According to the Letter-Numeral Corresponding Table of Claim 1, a telephone set with the invented keyboard which has 30 keys divided into 10 groups functions as an ordinary one when it remain in its normal state; it plays the role to communicate words messages when a function-transforming key is pressed