Granted Patent B2

US 7,177,417 · App. 09/976,217 · Granted Feb 13, 2007

Abstract

Claims (48)

1. A method for operating a voice-based telecommunications device, comprising:

(a) monitoring the voice-based telecommunications device for at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state; and

(b) when the at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state is detected, automatically resetting at least one acoustic characteristic to a predetermined level, the acoustic characteristic capable of being associated with at least one of a transmit signal and a sidetone signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state is the off-hook state, wherein, when the telecommunications device is in an off-hook state, the acoustic parameter is freely adjustable by a user and wherein the acoustic parameter comprises a volume setting of a speaker of the device and further comprising:

(c) monitoring the voice-based telecommunications device for the off-hook state; and

(d) when the off-hook state is detected, performing steps (a) and (b).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state is the on-hook state, wherein, when the telecommunications device is in an off-hook state, the acoustic parameter is freely adjustable by a user, and wherein the acoustic parameter comprises a volume setting of a speaker of the device and further comprising:

(c) monitoring the voice-based telecommunications device for the on-hook state; and

(d) when the on-hook state is detected, performing steps (a) and (b).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring step (a) comprises comparing a magnitude of an electrical parameter of the voice-based telecommunications device to a predetermined value, wherein the electrical parameter is an electrical current flowing to a handset of the device, and, further comprising:

(c) when the at least one of the on-hook and off-hook state is detected, altering the state of a state indicator; and wherein the resetting step (b) comprises detecting the altered state of the state indicator and resetting the acoustic parameter to the predetermined level in response thereto.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic parameter is a frequency contour of acoustic signals handled by one or more of the, transmit and sidetone channels of the voice-based telecommunications device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic parameter is audio compression level of one or more of the transmit and sidetone signals.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic parameter is an acoustic parameter selected from the at least one of the volume, frequency contour and audio compression level of at least one of the transmit signal and the sidetone signal.

8. A method for operating a voice-based telecommunications device, comprising:

(a) monitoring the voice-based teleconununications device for at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state; and

(b) when the at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state is detected, automatically resetting at least one acoustic characteristic to a predetermined level, wherein:

the acoustic parameter is an acoustic parameter selected from the at least one of the volume, frequency contour and audio compression level of at least one of a transmit signal and a sidetone signal, and

the at least one of the transmit signal and sidetone signal is both of transmit and sidetone signals and the setting of the acoustic parameter of the sidetone signal is independent of the acoustic parameter setting of the transmit signal.

9. A method for operating a voice-based telecommunications device, comprising:

(a) monitoring the voice-based teleconununications device for at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state; and

(b) when the at least one of an on-hook and off-hook state is detected, the voice-based telecommunications device is capable of automatically resetting to a predetermined level at least one of:

(i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals,

(ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals,

(iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal, wherein in (iii), a volume setting of the at least one of the transmit signal and sidetone signal are independent of each other, and

(iv) a volume level, wherein the predetermined level is user adjustable.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein, in step (a), the at least one of the on-hook and off-hook states is the on-hook state and further comprising:

(c) monitoring the voice-based telecommunications device for the on-hook state; and

(d) when the on-hook state is detected, performing steps (a) and (b).

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein, in step (a), the at least one of the on-hook and off-hook states is the off-hook state and further comprising:

(c) monitoring the voice-based teleconununications device for the off-hook state; and

(d) when the off-hook state is detected, performing steps (a) and (b).

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one of: (i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, (ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, and (iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal is (i).

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one of: (i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, (ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, and (iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal is (ii).

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one of: (i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, (ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, and (iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal is (iii).

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the predetermined level is user configurable.

16. A voice-based telecommunications device, comprising:

(a) a state detector that detects at least one of an off-hook and on-hook state of the telecommunications device; and

(b) an automatic reset capable of operating, when the at least one of an off-hook and on-hook state is detected, to reset automatically to a predetermined level at least one of:

(i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals,

(ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, and

(iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal, wherein in (iii), a volume setting of the at least one of the transmit signal and sidetone signal are independent of one another.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the at least one of the on-hook and off-hook states is the on-hook state.

18. The device of claim 16 , wherein the at least one of the on-hook and off-hook states is the off-hook state.

19. The device of claim 16 , wherein the at least one of: (i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, (ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, and (iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal is (i).

20. The device of claim 16 , wherein the at least one of: (i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, (ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, and (iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal is (ii).

21. The device of claim 16 , wherein the at least one of: (i) a frequency contour of at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, (ii) an audio compression level of any of the at least one of transmit and sidetone signals, and (iii) a volume level of at least one of a transmit signal and sidetone signal is (iii).

22. The device of claim 16 , wherein predetermined level is user configurable.

Assignments (25)