Agere Systems Inc.

Agere Systems Guardian Corp.

James Skorko

Philip David Mooney

Jeffrey Paul Grundvig

Richard Lawrence McDowell

Angelo Rocco Mastrocola

John Peter Veschi

Charles William Berthoud

Bradley M Feick

A technique and apparatus for integrating a speaker with button (or keyboard) components such as a tactile membrane and/or PCB. The tactile membrane conventionally used between buttons and switch mechanisms to provide tactile feedback to a user upon depression of the button is extended to form a vibrating portion of a speaker. The vibrating portion is doped with or otherwise includes an activating material (e.g., copper) which will be physically affected by a magnetic field. The activating material may be adhered to the upper and/or lower side of the vibrating portion, or doped therein. A coil for the speaker is formed with a coil tracing pattern formed on one or more layers of a PCB. One or more amplifier circuits may be included to drive one or more coil patterns, to cause a fluctuating magnetic field in the direction perpendicular to the vibrating portion of the tactile membrane. The vibrating portion of the tactile membrane responds to the fluctuations in the magnetic field, causing audible sounds to be output.

Field layer speaker for consumer products

A wireless communication handset with a sensor and detection circuitry to detect user proximity to the handset is disclosed. The detection circuitry is connected to the control unit of the handset to implement ring volume control. When a user comes into close proximity of the sensor, the detection circuitry signals the control unit to lower the ring volume. Alternatively, the control unit will initiate an automatic answering service when the user comes into close proximity of the sensor.

Auditory feedback control through user detection

Systems and methods utilize cradle contacts for completing diagnostic tests of rechargeable devices, such as cordless telephones. A cordless telephone handset or base is placed into a test fixture. Once the handset or base is cradled, diagnostic message signals are transmitted through cradle contacts in the test fixture and handset/base. The message signals may be made up of ASK signals. The beginning and end of each test may be identified by a code or codes embedded in a message signal. The use of cradle contacts to complete diagnostic tests alleviates problems associated with use of internal test access ports to carry out such tests.

Systems and methods for completing diagnostic tests on rechargeable devices using cradle contacts

Apparatus and process for allowing a user to selectively disable all or a portion of the manual controls, e.g., the keypad and/or other buttons (including switches, keys, on-hook button, and/or other buttons) of customer premises equipment. The customer premises equipment includes a button disabling module which allows subsequent control signals relating to the particular keys or buttons which have been disabled to be essentially ignored. Thus, for instance, if an on-hook button is inadvertently depressed while the on-hook button has been disabled by the button disabling module, the telephone line interface of the telephone will not signal the termination of the telephone call to the central office. The manual controls of the customer premises equipment can be disabled by the user in any of a number of different ways. For instance, a dedicated button at either the base unit or the handset of a telephone may be provided, or a sequence or simultaneous combination of alphanumeric keys and/or other buttons may be sensed. The disabled button(s) can be re-enabled either manually by the user, or automatically, e.g., after hanging up the telephone. A timer can be included to automatically re-enable any disabled manual controls (i.e., buttons) if the user failed to manually re-enable disabled buttons before terminating the previous telephone call.

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Allentown, PA, United States of America

James Skorko