GB2295745A

GB2295745A - Paging system having data base of paging user's numbers

Info

Publication number: GB2295745A
Application number: GB9416610A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Barick Chung
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-08-17
Filing date: 1994-08-17
Publication date: 1996-06-05
Also published as: GB9416610D0

Abstract

A pager company has a computer data base, which records lists of names and pager numbers for its clients. If pager users want to call someone in the list, they just have to call their own pager company, and tell the operators whom they want to call and what the messages are. The operators will then retrieve records from the data base and translate the names into the corresponding pager numbers. At the same time the computer will send the prescribed messages to the destined pager company automatically. This eliminates the need for a pager user to memorise a large number of pager numbers. <IMAGE>

Description

CHUNG'S PAGING SYSTEM This invention relates to a paging system.

Pager is well-known as an electronic communication device in the modern societies. Every pager must be joint to a communication system before it can be used. Today's paging operating system is as follows: If John buys a pager, he has to open an account in a pager company, and pays a monthly service fee. If Mary wants to call John, she has to pick up a phone, call John's pager company and tell the operator John's pager account number, then she may leave a message. Some seconds later, John's pager will beep and he will get Mary's message.

A major problem under the current system is that if Mary has a lot of friends, she has to memorize a lot of pager numbers in order to call her friends incidentally.

Unfortunately, each pager number consists of a telephone number of the pager company and an account number, for example, 1168961 a/c 8288. Therefore, if Mary gets 10 friends, she may have to remember 10 times 11 number digits. Figure 1 shows a daily operation how Mary calls her friends via today's operation.

Considering the society as a whole, most people use pagers, and therefore everybody has to remember a lot of pager numbers. Such a system wastes a lot of resources and is easy to lead to mistakes. The call and message flow is shown in figure 2.

One of the solutions to the problem is to bring along a note book or to use a digital diary, but to bring along a digital diary or a note book is very troublesome.

According to the present invention there is provided a user friendly paging system, which allows the pager users to be free from memorizing a lot of pager numbers. In this system, the calling method is different from the traditional one and therefore a computer data base may be incorporated. A pager company will create a data base, which records lists of names and pager numbers, for its clients. For example, if Mary is a pager user, and she always calls her friends, John, Peter and Joe. She may then store John, Peter and Joe's pager number in her pager company's data base. If Mary wants to call any of her friends who is already in the list, she just has to call her own pager company, instead of calling John, Peter or Joe's Pager company, and tell the operators whom she wants to call and what the messages are.The operators will then retrieve records from the data base and translate the names into the corresponding pager numbers. At the same time, the computer will send the prescribed messages to the destined pager company automatically. Some seconds later, her friend will receive the message from his/her pager. In this way Mary needs not to memorize her friends' pager numbers.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by the way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrams in which: Figure 3 shows a pager company incorporates a data base that consists of all its clients' records, i.e., all the clients' potential calling pager numbers.

Figure 4 shows a pager end user, Mary, may call her friends through her own pager company. The pager company consists of a data base and translates John, Peter and Joe's' names into their pager numbers correspondingly. In this way the pager user may be free from memorizing pager number digits, and may also free from dialing the telephone many times.

Figure 5 shows under the new calling system, all the companies may be linked together with cables and messages may then be transmitted through the cables.

Figure 6 shows that if many companies join the system, one of them may become a message clearing server, and the system will be much efficient.

Refer to the diagrams, the pager end user, Mary, needs not to memorize a lot of pager numbers. She only needs to dial the same number, i.e., her own pager number. If she wants to call John, Peter or Joe, she just needs to call her own pager company and then tell the operator. The operator will then recall her records from the data base. The names of John, Peter and Joe will then be translated into their corresponding pager numbers and Mary's message will then be transmitted to John, Peter and Joe's pager companies automatically.

If all the companies adopt this system, cables or telephone lines may be connected among the companies. One of the companies may even serve as a message clearing server. In such a system, messages will be transmitted from Mary's pager company to the destined pager company much more efficiently.

Claims

1. A user friendly paging system allows the pager users to be free from memorizing a large number of pager numbers. In that system, the calling method is different from the traditional one and therefore a computer data base may be incorporated. A pager company will create a data base, which records lists of names and pager numbers, for its clients. For example, if Mary is a pager user, and she always calls her friends, John, Peter and Joe, she may then store John, Peter and Joe's pager number in her pager company's data base. If Mary wants to call any of her friends who is already in the list, she just has to call her own pager company, instead of calling John, Peter or Joe's Pager company, and tell the operators whom she wants to call and what the messages are. The operators will then retrieve records from the data base and translate the names into the corresponding pager numbers.At the same time, the computer will send the prescribed messages to the destined pager company automatically. Some seconds later, her friend will receive the message from its pager.

In this way Mary needs not to memorize her friends' pager numbers.

2. A user friendly paging system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data base system can be a computer one or not.

3. A user friendly paging system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the paging companies are linked with cables or telephone lines to transmit data or messages.

4. A user friendly paging system as claimed in claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the paging companies are linked with cables or telephone lines and one of the companies serves as a messages clearing server.

5. A user friendly paging system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein any pager user, for example, Mary may choose to call her friends by the new calling method or by the traditional one. In this way, there may exist a smoother evolutionary process from the traditional system to the new user friendly paging one.