TITLE: SWIPE PHOME ( CEIl PHONE WITH MAGNETIC CARD READER )

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to Telecommunications, and was conceived as an improvement to existing cell phones currently in the market place, in particular the way in which new contacts or phone numbers are downloaded and retrieved.

BACKGROUND ART - encompassing the problem which the invention is to solve

Typing in new contact phone numbers into a conventional cell phone is tiresome and time consuming, however if a cell phone were to be equipped with a magnetic card reader or optical scanner, contact phone numbers and other data such as e-mail addresses and website information could be downloaded into a cell phone in a matter of seconds.

Additionally conventional business cards can be lost causing frustration and loss of business opportunities. Also the printing of conventional cards to hand out is expensive and is not so environmentally friendly as one plastic card which never permanently leaves the possession of the card owner.

OBJECTIVE OF THIS INVENTION The objective of this invention is to simplify and speed up the process of downloading new contact phone numbers and affiliated information associated with a phone number (such as the persons name), into the phones memory and to simplify the retrieval of same.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS To further clarify the present embodiment of this invention reference should be made to the following attached drawing which serves to illustrate both the functionality and form of the invention.

Fig 1 is a perspective view of the current embodiment of the invention - clearly showing the intent of the invention described herein.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION - exemplary embodiment of the present invention

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention - there is a slot ( item 1 fig 1 ) provided in the side of the cell phone in which is located a magnetic card reader or optical scanner ( item 2 fig 1 ).

When a plastic business card equipped with a magnetic strip or bar code is swiped through this slot, data is automatically transferred from the card to the cell phone and stored in an electronic data base in the phone. This information may include as little or as much information as is desired by the card owner/holder and may even include photographic material.

(The card being supplied by a telecommunications provider for a one off fee or alternatively a fee log could be generated each time a card is swiped through the phones slot to provide revenue for the said telecommunications company.) This downloaded data or information is automatically stored ϊή the default folder in the phone, which may be called Temporary or New contacts which can be accessed later and the selected new phone number/s could be (if desired) cut

from this temporary folder and then pasted into the desired folder of ones choice, for example to a folder such as personal,friends,business etc, to simplify retrieval of stored phone numbers.

Professional and Tradesman's cards would include encrypted data which would automatically download the information into the most appropriate folder, for example a plumbers contact information would automatically transfer to the yellow pages folder, and would be stored alphabetically in subfolder ^* P' for later retrieval using the phones scroll buttons.

Such a listing could include a display type advert synonymous with conventional yellow pages adverts and may include a company logo etc.

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE INVENTION WORKS A plastic card equipped with a magnetic strip or bar code which contains nominated personalized data (volunteered by the card holder) such as contact phone numbers and an e-mail address etc, is swiped through a slot ( itemi fig1 ) provided in the side of a mobile (cell) phone where there is located a magnetic card reader or optical scanner ( item 2 fig 1 ) The data contained on the magnetic strip (or bar code) is read by the magnetic reader (or optical scanner) and is then stored in the phones memory.

Retrieval of the data (stored in the phone) is by way of a VIEW button

( item 3 fig 1 ) used to view and open folders and a scroll key ( item 4 fig 1 ) to select folders and browse for a particular contact number which may be stored in a folder or subfolder.

( item 5 fig 1 ) it is then a simple matter to press the send key to initiate the call as is the convention.

Phone numbers and contact names can also be manually entered into the phones memory using the phones alphanumerical keypad.

HOLD ALL CLAUSE

It will be appreciated that the invention broadly consists in the parts, elements and features described in this specification,

Which when compared to prior art relating to the field, should serve to illustrate the absolute novelty of the invention described herein.