Importance

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Abstract

A system includes a telephone and a distant device. The distant device contains one or more telephone numbers which are later to be dialed at the telephone. The telephone numbers are transmitted in coded form, preferably dual tone multifrequency form, from the device to the telephone. The distant device may be a directory assistance service position, a caller ID receiver, and answering machine, a voice or electronic mail system, a terminal operated by a secretary or receptionist, or a simple DTMF keyboard. After the telephone numbers are received, they are stored in any of several memories in the telephone. Later, the user selects one of the entries for dialing and the entry is used for address signaling. Optionally, storage, selection and dialing of a memory entry can be further simplified by using voice processing techniques. The system is particularly pertinent to the driver of an automobile who is operating a cellular telephone, to a travelling individual who regularly receives and needs to return a large number of calls, to a pedestrian carrying a portable telephone, or to a person with a physical disability, because it saves the user having to jot down telephone numbers and dialing them manually. A particularly significant embodiment enables the user of this system to establish a customized paging service through an ordinary telephone network, using end-user, customer premises equipment only.

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First Claim