Telephone calling card having a wireless receiver for receiving notification of arrived messages

[0002] The present invention relates generally to telephone calling cards, and more particularly to a telephone calling card capable of receiving notification that a message has arrived at a messaging system.

[0003] As the prevalence of electronic mail (“e-mail”) and voice mail systems increases, subscribers feel a growing need to retrieve such mail virtually as soon as it arrives. However, to promptly receive an incoming message requires that a subscriber who is away from his or her home or office carry a wireless telephone or a portable computer. In many cases this is not a practical approach because of the size and expense of such devices. However, it may be sufficient if the subscriber is simply notified when such mail arrives. Once notified, the user can then use a nearby telephone or computer terminal to retrieve the message.

[0004] Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a small, inexpensive device that can notify a subscriber when an e-mail or voice mail message has arrived.

[0005] In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus is provided for notifying a subscriber via a telephone calling card that a message has arrived at the message center of a service subscriber. The messaging center may be a voice mail or e-mail system. In accordance with the method, the service provider receives and stores an incoming message for the subscriber. The service provider then transmits a radio signal to the telephone calling card of the subscriber indicating that the incoming message has arrived.

[0006] In one embodiment of the invention the telephone calling card includes a housing having a planar surface substantially equal in dimension to a credit card. An encoded data strip extends over the planar surface for transmitting encoded data to a card reader. A wireless receiver is embedded in the housing for receiving the radio signal that indicates notification of the arrived message. A receiver that is suitably compact for this purpose is a slimline antenna such as the Murata chip antenna available from Murata, Inc. A processor and memory are embedded in the housing for processing and storing the received notification of the arrived message. A display extends over the planar surface for displaying the notification of the arrived message. Such a notification may include, for example, the type of message that has arrived (e.g., voice or e-mail), the time at which the message was received, and the telephone number or e-mail address of the calling party.

[0007] FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a telephone calling card having a receiver embedded therein constructed in accordance with the present invention.

[0008] FIG. 2 shows a simplified block diagram of the calling card shown in FIG. 1.

[0009] FIG. 3 shows a service provider forwarding notification of an arrived message to the calling card device of FIG. 1.

[0010] FIG. 1 shows a device 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention for notifying a voice mail or e-mail subscriber that a message has arrived. The device 10 is embodied in a credit-card sized housing 101 which can be conveniently carried on the subscriber's person in a pocket or wallet, for example. As shown in the simplified block diagram of FIG. 2, embedded within the housing 101 is a wireless receiver 20, a processor 22, memory 24 and an electronic display 103 that extends over the housing surface. A receiver that is suitably compact for this purpose is a slimline antenna such as the Murata chip antenna available from Murata, Inc. The display 103 identifies the type of message that has arrived as either a voice or e-mail message. The display 103 also shows the time the message arrived and the address of the caller (i.e., a telephone number or e-mail address). Depressing push-button 102 activates the display 103. A message indicator 105 such as an LED and/or a transducer, for example, alerts the subscriber that a message has arrived by visual or audio means. If desired, the indicator 105 can be deactivated, or possible altered between audio and visual indicating states, by any convenient means, such as by providing a small hole containing a recessed switch that is accessed by an object such as a pen. A magnetically encoded data strip 106 stores information such as a conventional telephone calling card number, for example, so that a telephone call may be placed from a public telephone equipped with an appropriate magnetic card reader. Likewise, a label 107 is provided on the front of housing 101 listing the telephone calling card number so that a subscriber may place a call by manually inputting the number into the telephone.

[0011] In operation, the device 10 functions as a conventional telephone calling card and as a device for receiving notification that a voice or e-mail message has arrived on the subscriber's telephone voice mail system or computer. The server 30 includes a voice messaging system and an electronic mail system for receiving the incoming message over a telephone or computer network. Upon receiving an incoming message, the service provider transmits a radio-frequency signal to the device 10 via an antenna or satellite system. The signal, which contains the information regarding the arrived message, is received by receiver 20 and processed by processor 22 in a conventional manner so that indicator 105 is activated and the decoded information is directed to the display 103. For example, in the system shown in FIG. 3, a service provider server 30 transmits the wireless notification of an arrived message to the device 10 via an antenna 32.

[0012] Upon receiving notification of an arrived message, the subscriber may locate a convenient telephone or computer terminal to retrieve the arrived message using one of the conventional calling card features of the device 10. E-mail messages may be displayed on the telephone display if the telephone is so equipped. Alternatively, e-mail may undergo text-to-speech processing so that it can be relayed as an audio message over the telephone. Suitable text-to-speech processing systems are commercially available. Of course, the subscriber could forgo the opportunity to retrieve the arrived message and could directly contact the caller whose address is shown in display 103.