Background of the invention Conventional telephone cards are offered by telecommunication service providers to enable cash-less telephone services from payphones. They contain a pre- paid amount worth of telephone calls which are used up by the customer over a period of calls. The pre-paid amount is digitally stored on telephone cards using e. g. a computer chip which is mounted on the card. The telephone cards cooperate with read/write devices which are typically incorporated into the payphones. Those devices identify the available amount on the telephone card and update that amount according to calls made while in use.

On the other hand, business cards are commonly used to distribute details of a person or a business. Although intended to be kept by the recipient for future easy reference to e. g. maintain or create business relationships, business cards are often discarded by the recipient unless there exists an immediate need to correspond with the person/business to which it belongs.

Summary of the invention In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a business card for use as a telephone card, the business card comprising an identification means which is arranged to, when the

business card interacts with a telephone system as a telephone card, enable retrieval of information associated with the business card from a database means external of the card and accessible via the telephone system, and to enable provision of the information by way of the telephone system responsive to the provision of the identification means.

Accordingly, the utility of the business card is preferably not limited by data recorded thereon, i. e. data which cannot be altered/accessed readily by a person or business or organisation distributing the business card.

In one embodiment, the identification means comprises data stored in a storage means of the business card.

Preferably, the information comprises a telephone number and an amount of pre-paid calling time associated with the business card.

Accordingly, the person or company or organisation distributing the business cards may"update"a telephone number associated with the business card on the external database, thereby maintaining the"utility"of the business card where telephone numbers have changed.

Preferably, the identification means comprises a storage means for storing data.

In another embodiment, the data comprises an identification number for retrieving the information from the external database.

In one embodiment, the storage means comprises a magnetic stripe.

In another embodiment, the storage means comprises a printed chip.

Preferably, the data further comprises instructions to instruct, when used as a telephone card, a telephone to automatically dial the retrieved telephone number.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a telephone system comprising means for receiving data stored on a telephone card, the data comprising a first telephone number and an amount of pre-paid calling time; means for automatically dialling the first telephone number; and means for updating the amount of pre-paid calling time on the telephone card.

In one embodiment, the means for updating the amount of pre-paid calling time on the business card is arranged in a manner such as to not reduce the amount of pre-paid calling time for calls made to the first telephone number.

Preferably, the telephone system further comprises means for manually dialling a telephone number and switching means for switching from the means for automatically dialling the first telephone number to the means for manual dialling, whereby to enable a user to manually enter a telephone number of his choice.

In one embodiment, the data received further comprises information data, and the telephone system further comprises a user interface means for providing information corresponding to the information data to a user.

In another embodiment, the data received comprises an identification number, and the telephone system further comprises means for accessing information data stored in a database under the identification number; and a user interface means for providing information corresponding to the information data to a suer.

Preferably, the first telephone number is the identification number.

Advantageously, the interface means comprises a voice generating means.

In one preferred embodiment, the interface means comprises a display.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a telephone system comprising means for receiving data stored on a telephone card, the data comprising an identification number of the telephone card; means for accessing a database in which a first telephone number and an amount of pre-paid calling time are stored under the identification number; means for automatically dialling the first telephone number; and means for updating the amount of pre-paid calling time stored in the database.

In one embodiment, the means for updating the amount of pre-paid calling time in the data base is arranged in a manner such as to not reduce the amount of pre-paid calling time for calls made to the first telephone number.

Preferably, the telephone system further comprises means for manually dialling a telephone number and switching means for switching from the means for automatically dialling the first telephone number to the means for manual dialling, whereby to enable a user to manually enter a telephone number of his choice.

Advantageously, the means for accessing the database is further arranged to access information date stored in the database under the identification number; and the telephone system further comprises a user interface means for providing information corresponding to the information data to a user.

In one embodiment, the data received from the telephone card further comprises information data, and the telephone system further comprises a user interface means for providing information corresponding to the information data to a user.

In one embodiment, the interface means comprises a voice generating means.

In another embodiment, the interface means comprises a display.

The term"telephone system"used throughout the specification and in the claims may include a device with access to a network or the network itself.

In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a telephone card comprising identification means which in use identify an amount of pre-paid calling time and information data; wherein the information data in use enables a telephone to provide information to a user.

Accordingly, information about e. g. a company which has pre-paid the calling time can be provided to the user of the telephone card; i. e. the telephone card can be used as a marketing tool In accordance with a fifth aspect of the present invention there is provided a method providing telephone access comprising the steps of: -inputting names and telephone numbers of businesses which distribute business cards for use as telephone cards, each business card comprising identification means which in use identify a telephone number of the business associated with the business card and an amount of prep- paid calling time, into a database; -enabling a user to select a business from the database; and -making a telephonic connection to the selected business.

Accordingly, a telephone service provider maintains and uses a database to"direct"users to the businesses, thereby attracting businesses to issue business cards

which can be used a telephone cards with the service provider's network.

In accordance with a sixth aspect of the present invention there is provided a telephone card comprising identification means which in use identify a first telephone number and an amount of pre-paid calling time.

The invention may be more readily understood from a description of preferred forms of a business card a telephone card, and a telephone system given below with reference to the accompanying drawings, by way of example only.

Brief Description of the Drawings Figures 1A) and 1B) show a schematic drawing of a front view and a back view of a business card in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic drawing illustrating a telephone system for use with the business card of Figure 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic drawing illustrating a telephone system for use with a telephone card in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a telephone system in accordance with the one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a telephone system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments The business card 10 shown in Figures 1A and B) includes on its front face 12 the information 14 which is typically included on business cards. The back face 16 of

the business card 10 (see Figure 1B) includes a magnetic stripe 18 for storing data associated with the business card 10. The back face 16 further includes a chip 20.

The chip 20 may be what is sometimes referred to as a smart card chip and can include both data storage components and/or a central processor unit.

The back face 16 can further include an additional information area 22 where for example printed instructions or further details can be positioned.

Turning now to Figure 2, a recipient of the business card 10 can use the card 10 with a telephone set 30. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the telephone set 30 comprises an insertion slot 32 for receiving the business card 10. A card reading/writing device 34 can then access information stored on the business card 10. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the card reading/writing device 34 can be based on a variety of technologies, including a magnetic strip reading/writing device or an electronic interface for making contact to the chip 20 (see Figure 1) of the business card 10. In one embodiment, the card reading/writing device 34 may comprise a plurality of different types of technologies to enable the telephone set 30 to be used with a variety of different cards. Importantly, the card reading/writing device 34 may not be limited to its use with the business card 10 but rather may be designed such as to allow "normal card"-operation of the phone as commonly used in for example public pay phones. Conventional cards for use with card-operated telephones include telephone cards issued by the telephonic service provider or credit cards.

When the business card 10 is inserted into the insertion slot 32 while the hand set 36 is off-hook, the card reading/writing device 34 will receive data from the

business card 10. The data received includes a telephone number of a person or business associated with the business card and an amount of pre-paid calling time.

After completion of the data receiving, the telephone number is dialled automatically by the telephone set 30, without the need to input any digits via the key pad 38.

The call made to the telephone number, rather than being charged against the amount of pre-paid calling time, can be a reverse charge call or may be charged to an account of the person a business with a telephone service provider to which the telephone set 30 is connected.

Simultaneously, additional retrieved information stored on the business card 10 may be displayed on the display 40 of the telephone set 30. Such information may include a marketing message from the person or business associated with the business card 10, such as"Thank you for choosing to call Smith Pty Ltd". Rather than being retrieved from the business card 10, the additional information may alternatively be retrieved from a database of the telephone network of which the telephone set 30 is a part of.

If it is not desired by the user of the business card 10 to have the number of the business or person dialled automatically, but rather to use the pre-paid telephone card-feature of the business card 10, the user can cancel the auto dial function by pressing an appropriate key on the key pad 38. The information on which key to press may be printed on the business card 10 in the information area 22 (see Figure 1) or may be displayed automatically on the display 40.

After the auto-dial feature has been cancelled, the telephone set 30 will be put into a state of"normal"off- hook operation with the requirement to enter the desired

telephone number via the key pad 38. If a telephone link has been established to the selected number, the call will be charged against the pre-paid amount retrieved from the business card 10. The card reading/writing device 34 will update the remaining amount of pre-paid calling time on the business card 10 after the desired telephone calls have been made and the hand set 36 has been returned into an on-hook position.

The present invention can also be implemented utilising contactless smartcard technology. For example, in the telephone set 50 illustrated in Figure 3, there is included an electromagnetic transmitter/receiver unit 52.

A telephone card 54 comprises a transmitter/receiver unit 56 for cooperation with the transmitter/receiver unit 52 of the telephone set.

When the telephone card 54 is moved past the transmitter/receiver unit 52 of the telephone set 50 whilst the hand set 58 is in an off-hook position, the transmitter/receiver unit receives a digital identification number of the telephone card 54. The transmitter/receiver unit 52 comprises a processor unit (not shown) which accesses data stored in a database under the identification number of the telephone card 54. The database may be located at a remote data storage unit (not shown), which is accessed through the line connection 60 of the telephone set 50, making it part of a telephone network 62.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, the transmitter/receiver unit 52 retrieves a telephone number and an amount of pre-paid calling time from the database.

The telephone set 50 then automatically dials the telephone number by e. g. generating the appropriate DTMF (dual tone multiple frequency) signals. Similar to the

embodiment illustrated in Figure 2, a user of the telephone card 54 of Figure 3 may cancel the auto-dial feature by pressing an appropriate key of the key pad 64 of the telephone set 50. This will put the telephone set 50 into a normal"off-hook"status. The user can then dial a desired telephone number by inputting it via the key pad 64. In this status, electronic circuitry (not shown) of the telephone set 50 will monitor the elapsed calling time and calculate the appropriate call charges.

The accumulated call charges will be subtracted from the pre-paid amount associated with the telephone card 54 retrieved from the database under the identification number of the telephone card 54. While the telephone call is made, the electronic circuitry of the telephone set 50 is designed to notify the user should the pre-paid amount be reduced to zero. The user may be informed by displaying an appropriate message on the display 66 of the telephone set 50, which may ask the user to insert coins into the coin insertion slot 68 of the telephone set 50 if it is desired to continue with the call. If no coins are inserted, the telephonic link will be interrupted.

Alternatively, a message on the display 66 may inform the user that any further calling time will be charged against an account associated with the telephone set 50 to be billed to a person or company in which name the account is held.

It is noted that a telephone system in accordance with the present invention is not limited to public telephones. When used in a non-public environment, the telephone set may be arranged in a manner such that telephone calls made utilising a telephone card in accordance with the present invention will not be charged

to the account of the line connection of the telephone, until the pre-paid amount is used up.

Turning now to Figure 4, a flow chart explaining the use of a business card in accordance with the present invention will now be described.

Initially, the hand set of a telephone with which the business card is used is put into an off-hook position.

The business card is then for example inserted into a reading device of the telephone set. Next, the user may be asked to choose between being prompted via a display of the telephone set or via voice information. Depending on the selection, the user may be prompted to select between different prestored telephone numbers associated with the business card. For example, different telephone numbers may be associated with different departments of a company associated with the business card.

After a selection has been made by the user, the telephone will then automatically dial the selected number. After the telephone conversation to the automatically dialled number has been made, the user may decide to use a manual dialling function to make further calls to be charged against the amount of pre-paid calling time associated with the business card. Once the handset is put into an on-hook position, the amount of pre-paid calling time is updated if required, either on the business card itself or in a database under an identification number of the business card, and the card is ejected from the card reading/writing device.

In Figure 5, a telephone system 80 comprises a telephone set 82 and a central database 84. When a business card 86 is used in the telephone set 82 for making calls, information can be transferred between the telephone set 82 and the database 84, in which information

associated with the business card 86 is stored under an identification number read from the business card 86 in the telephone set 82. The telephone system 80 further comprises processor units 88,89 which can process information stored in the database 84 and information inputted by a user via a key pad (not shown) of the telephone set 82. With the telephone system 80 of Figure 5, a distributor of the business card 86 may alter the features of the business card by inputting appropriate data into the database 84 through either a separate telephone set 90 or by instructing the telephone service provider of the telephone system 80. Should, for example, the telephone numbers of the business change, already distributed business cards may still be utilised by updating the associated data in the database 84 to the new telephone number. Also, should new marketing messages be communicated to the user of the business card when using the card, appropriate messages can be stored in the database 84. In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the business card may still, comprise pre-stored marketing messages on it in addition to the identification number.

At the same time, the telephone service provider of the telephone system 80 can utilise the information stored in the database 84 to generate a directory of businesses which utilise business cards in conjunction with the telephone service provider. In that way, the telephone service provider may offer its customers easy access to businesses by prompting the user of a telephone set, e. g.

82 of the telephone system 80 to input for example the type of business to which the user would like to be connected. A choice of different businesses which have distributed business cards in conjunction with the telephone service provider may then be provided to the

user by for example automated voice information and depending upon the selection of the user, the appropriate telephone number can be dialled automatically.

By numbers associated with the telephone-or business card we do not mean only the business'telephone number.

For example, a telephone card in accordance with an embodiment of the invention may be issued by the organiser of an event which attracts a large number of visitors such as the Olympic Games. The organiser could then issue telephone cards which have useful telephone numbers preprogrammed on them and an amount of pre-paid telephone calls for use by the visitors. Those telephone numbers may include emergency telephone numbers such as Police or Ambulance services. The visitors, when using the telephone card, could be prompted to select between different telephone numbers for automatically dialling, or select to use the amount of pre-paid calling time to make calls to manually entered telephone numbers. The prompting may be performed in different languages for use by visitors from different countries. The telephone cards may further comprise prerecorded information that can be communicated to the visitor when using the telephone card.

It will also be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to wired telephone sets but rather it can be implemented e. g. also for mobile phones or computers/computer modems.

It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the present invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive.

In the claims that follow and in the summary of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising"is used in the sense of"including", i. e. the features specified may be associated with further features in various embodiments of the invention.