Today, many people use portable phones in their vehicles. For safety reasons, the industry is focused on providing hands-free features to people who use portable phones in their vehicle. Some portable phones allow the audio output of the phone to be routed to the radio system in the vehicle. One known way to route the audio output of the phone to the radio system is through a wireless connection, such as a frequency modulated (FM) signal. There, the portable phone has an FM transmitter that transmits the audio output of the portable phone to the vehicle's radio system. The vehicle's radio system allows the audio output to be played through the vehicle's audio speakers when the radio system is tuned to a predetermined radio frequency.
Conventional systems, however, require at least a two-step process for answering an incoming cellular phone call. First, the user must tune the radio in the vehicle to a compatible radio frequency. Second, the user must answer the call via the cell phone's user interface. Although it is possible for a user of some phones to set the portable phone to automatically answer incoming calls and transmit the audio output automatically through a FM transmitter to the vehicle's radio system, the situation is not ideal since the user may not be ready to receive the phone call and the radio system may not yet be tuned to a compatible radio frequency to hear the audio output.
There is a need to reduce the number of steps in answering an incoming cellular phone call in the vehicle. Reducing the number of steps allows the user of the vehicle to focus on their primary role—driving the vehicle. Additionally, there is a need for improving the way a voice communication is established in a hands-free cellular communication system that reduces the number of distractions to the user.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved hands-free cellular communication system and method to overcome or minimize most, if not all, of the preceding problems.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds