US 6,983,124 B1
Radio frequency-controlled telecommunication device
Oliver T. Bayley, Pacifica, Calif. (US); Bernard J. Kerr, Wellington (New Zealand); Geoffrey M. Smith, Palo Alto, Calif. (US); James E. Dishman, Portland, Oreg. (US); Mark A. McCabe, San Mateo, Calif. (US); and John M. Ananny, San Francisco, Calif. (US)
Assigned to Vulcan Patents LLC, Seattle, Wash. (US)
Filed on Jun. 09, 2003, as Appl. No. 10/458,004.
Application 10/458004 is a continuation of application No. 09/351995, filed on Jul. 12, 1999, granted, now 6,611,673.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04B 7/00 (2006.01); H04M 3/00 (2006.01); H04M 1/00 (2006.01); H04Q 5/22 (2006.01); G08B 13/14 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 455—41.2 38 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A telecommunications device, comprising:
a DTMF generator;
a microprocessor coupled to said DTMF generator; and
a radio frequency transceiver coupled to said microprocessor;
wherein said radio frequency transceiver is configured to:
detect existence of a radio frequency tag;
receive from said radio frequency tag a radio frequency signal comprising tag data associated with said radio frequency tag, said tag data being associated with an item with which the radio frequency tag is associated; and
provide said tag data to the microprocessor;
wherein said microprocessor is configured to do the following substantially at the time the radio frequency signal is received:
receive said tag data from the radio frequency transceiver;
associate said tag data with an associated DTMF sequence; and
cause the DTMF generator to provide said associated DTMF sequence as output; and
wherein said radio frequency tag is attached to a business card on which information for an entity is displayed and wherein said tag data is associated with a telephone number for said entity, whereby said microprocessor causes the DTMF generator to dial said telephone number for said entity in response to receiving said tag data.