Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8064595 | Adaptive mute Systems and methods for providing mute status reminders are presented. The system and method includes monitoring a mute status duration upon activation of a mute status at a communication device, outputting a periodic mute reminder having an output period responsive... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8019078 | Phone call mute notification A phone call mute notification applies an aural effect to the user's speech, other parties' speech, non-speech, or combinations thereof. The phone call mute notification does not render speech unintelligible and may provide a constant indication that the phone call ... | 09/13/2011 |
| 7848511 | Telecommunications-terminal mute detection The subject matter provides a method that enable detecting if a party engaged into a tele-conference call is attempting to engage into conversation while a microphone is in a mute mode. The method provides receiving of a signal. The signal is then analyzed to determ... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7720217 | Mute condition indicator A method and apparatus for providing a mute condition indicator is presented. In a communication set for a telephone, the communication set including a speaker and a microphone, a mute condition is indicated with an indicator disposed adjacent the microphone. The in... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7266591 | Providing content delivery during a call hold condition An approach for providing content transmission upon placement of a call on hold is disclosed. A data communications system includes a proxy server that is configured to receive a message from a first client indicating the hold condition of a Voice Over Internet Prot... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7248107 | Method of controlling a variable gain amplifier and electronic circuit The present invention relates to a method of controlling a variable gain amplifier having at least one semiconductor switch, the amplifier having a first gain when the semiconductor switch is in a first steady state and a first gate voltage is applied to the semicon... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7224996 | Mobile information device, method of controlling mobile information device, and program A mobile information device has an operation unit which detects an operation by a user, a detection unit which detects a predetermined state when operated by the user, and a control unit which validates or invalidates the operation of the operation unit, depending o... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7212497 | Method and driver for detecting glitches A driver and methods therefore provide automated testing of USB client devices in real-time. The driver may use the layered driver or filter driver feature in Microsoft® Windows® Driver Model (WDM) layered architecture for the Microsoft Windows operating system. T... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7187767 | Communication device with dual-mode muting and method therefor A communication device (200) for dual mode muting operation includes a user interface (208) and a controller (202). The controller (202) is programmed to: in response to a first user input to the user interface (208), enable a firs... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7181027 | Noise suppression in communications systems A communications system contains a network linking a number of communications devices participating in a communications session. During the communications session, the communications devices share information indicating when participants are speaking. Based on this ... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7162026 | Alert muting method through indirect contact for portable devices The invention generally relates to a method for muting an alerting portable device such as a ringing cell phone or alarming PDA. Specifically where muting is activated in a means not requiring direct contact with the keys of the device. The indirect contact such as ... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7151970 | Multiple audio DACs with PC compatibility Multiple audio digital to analog converters (DACs) are provided to convert multiple digital audio streams to analog audio signals concurrently in a personal computer. Different digital audio streams are routed to each DAC and audio output device depending on priorit... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7142666 | Method and apparatus for selectively disabling a communication device The present invention is directed at a telephone that automatically selectively disables a microphone when the microphone is moved out of close proximity to the user's mouth. One embodiment comprises a sensor that detect if the telephone microphone is in close proxi... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7127074 | Method and apparatus for sleep conditioning Disclosed is a baby monitor which includes a base unit having a microphone for receiving sound and a transmitter for conveying the sound to a remote unit, and a remote unit including a receiver for receiving the sound from the transmitter and a speaker for reproduci... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7113582 | System for caller control over call routing paths A system for managing communications between a first node and a second node in a telecommunication network. Communication normally flows between the first node and the second node via a first communication link in the network. The flow can be re-routed, under a user... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7110799 | Mobile terminal for interoperating with a standard or push-button enabled headset The present invention relates to a mobile terminal that can interoperate with a plurality of headsets. The present invention further relates to systems and methodologies for facilitating communication to the mobile terminal from the plurality of headsets. The plural... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7024176 | Cellular telephone device and transmitter to cellular telephone There are provided a cellular telephone device and transmitter for setting a cellular telephone to answering mode and a telephone section to sleep status when communication forbidding information is received, and restoring telephone section operation when there is n... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7020271 | Ring control device A system and method that allows a ringer of a telephone to be silenced on demand without preventing outgoing calls to be placed. In an embodiment of the invention, there is a ring control device comprising a switch, a voltage control device in electrical series with... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6993010 | Spoofing to preserve a communication link A local communication layer is placed in communication with a remote communication layer via a communication link established between a local modem and a remote modem. The communication layers may, for instance, be PPP layers. The communication is then interrupted, ... | 01/31/2006 |
| 6931124 | Soft mute circuit A soft mute circuit includes a programmable amplifier controlled by a register. Data is stored in the register from an adder that combines the current data in the register with a second number for increasing or decreasing the gain of the amplifier. A summation circu... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6922572 | Apparatus and method for monitoring an earmicrophone state in a communication terminal An apparatus and method for correctly sensing the state of a 4-pole earmicrophone having two receiver terminals and two common terminals for a microphone and a switch in a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal senses a switch-on of the earmicrophone by mechanical con... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6917680 | Apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer An apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer includes a light sensing device operable to produce a signal indicative of a level of ambient light; and a controller operable to receive the signal and disable the telephone ringer when the signal indicates that the amb... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6914519 | System and method for muting alarms during a conference A system, method, apparatus, means, and computer program code for muting or disabling audible alarms or alerts during a conference or collaboration event are provided. During the conference or collaboration event, users may participate in the conference via user or ... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6870919 | Mute status reminder for a communication device According to some embodiments, a mute status reminder is provided for a communication device. ... | 03/22/2005 |
| 6754342 | Method and apparatus for concealing mute in an IP-based telephony system A method and apparatus for improving the mute function of an IP telephone is disclosed, where the method comprises determining, by a transmitting IP telephone, whether the mute function has been activated; and if the mute function has been activated, then providing,... | 06/22/2004 |
| 6751316 | Click-free muting circuit for headset A click-muting circuit for a headset microphone connected to a telephone, comprising a user operated mute switch, a click eliminator circuit connected across the microphone for gradually creating a short circuit across the microphone in response to closure of the mu... | 06/15/2004 |
| 6690793 | Click free mute switch circuit for telephones A circuit for eliminating switching noise from a mute switch connected between a microphone capable of receiving and transmitting audio signals to a communication system, comprising, a switch state detector connected to the mute switch for generating an o... | 02/10/2004 |
| 6381447 | Foldable mobile telephone A foldable mobile telephone which is constituted of a main body and a lid being open/close-able and is able to detect open/close state of the lid is provided. The main body provides a receiver for ultrasonic wave and the lid provides a microphone for ultr... | 04/30/2002 |
| 6339641 | Telephone device In a facsimile machine 1, when the speakerphone key 14 is depressed (S1: YES) and a call signal from some other telephone is not arriving to the facsimile machine 1(S2: NO), a speaker 26 is made ON and the microphone M is made OFF (S3). When at least one ... | 01/15/2002 |
| 6292560 | Click-free muting circuit for headset A click-muting circuit for a headset microphone connected to a telephone, comprising a user operated mute switch, a click eliminator circuit connected across the microphone for gradually creating a short circuit across the microphone in response to closur... | 09/18/2001 |
| 6212275 | Telephone with automatic pause responsive, noise reduction muting and method A telephone with an automatic muting circuit that mutes the microphone in response to detection of speaking pauses of the local user to reduce noise due to acoustical feedback that are detected by comparing the waveforms from the microphone and the audio ... | 04/03/2001 |
| 6154663 | Portable telephone communications system A portable telephone communications system has a portable telephone terminal (300) and a repeater unit (100), and a remote receiver unit (200), wherein the repeater unit (100) includes a main power supply control device which includes detection means trig... | 11/28/2000 |
| 6115474 | Method for removing switching noise during start and end of communication A method for removing a noise of a communication system, and more particularly, a method for removing switching noise generated during connecting and disconnecting a channel is provided. A method for removing switching noise during the start of communicat... | 09/05/2000 |
| 6061430 | Enhanced telephony system for premises monitoring An enhanced telephony system for use in premises monitoring is disclosed. More particularly, such system provides an alert signal upon sensing of a predetermined condition of interest at a business or residential premises. The system provides for the rece... | 05/09/2000 |
| 6002763 | Telephone with a mute ringer function having an automatic ringer reactivation capability A telephone with a mute ringer function having an automatic disabling feature includes multiple call indicators including a ringer. A power output reducing device is connected to the ringer to reduce the ringer volume prior to a connection between the tel... | 12/14/1999 |
| 5982880 | Method and apparatus for canceling tone signal noise generated when using a speakerphone in a digital key telephone apparatus A technique for eliminating tone signal noise generated using a speakerphone, in which the communication path of a microphone is interrupted when a key is pressed, and then the communication path of the microphone is linked only after a constant time peri... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5930352 | Communication terminal apparatus A communication terminal apparatus has a microphone module movable between an on-hook position adjacent to a main shell and a call position distanced from the main shell. The communication terminal apparatus also includes a transmitter/receiver circuit fo... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5841853 | Telephone apparatus with interrupt call processing capability A telephone apparatus can receive information about a third party sent from a telephone exchange with a call waiting service when a call is issued from the third party during a conversation using the telephone apparatus. Upon issuance of the call from the... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5812648 | Telephone ringer control device A telephone ringer control device selectively activates or deactivates a telephone ringer to silence a telephone during specified periods. The silent periods may be specified by a timer. In one embodiment, the ringer control device includes a remotely acc... | 09/22/1998 |
| 5793844 | Telephone having an answering machine A telephone having an answering function includes a receiving section for receiving a voice signal, a command signal, and a receiving signal from a telephone line, and providing the voice signal, the command signal, and the receiving signal as respective ... | 08/11/1998 |
