Abstract: An automated administration system for providing state-based control of soft-labeled keys (SLKs) in a wireless terminal or other type of communication system terminal. In an illustrative embodiment, the automated administration system uses a set of operations to generate information representative of a state machine for controlling labels for the SLKs. The operations process input received from a given user, e.g., a form specifying desired features, layout and language, and generate a state transition table or other suitable representation of a corresponding state machine. Other information generated by the automated administration system may include a control table and a label table. The control table associates a different set of SLK label identifiers with each state in a set of states of the terminal. Each of the label identifiers specifies a label to be associated with a given one of the SLKs in at least one of the states.

Abstract: A wireless terminal or other type of user terminal in a communication system is configured so as to be permitted to enter an enhanced feature access mode based at least in part on a communication of designated information between the user terminal and a corresponding switch of the system. The designated information may comprise, e.g., a feature access code associated with the enhanced feature access mode and entered by a user at the user terminal, or a pre-specified signal transmitted from the user terminal to the switch of the system. When in the enhanced feature access mode, the user terminal is provided with navigation and activation mechanisms which utilize a keypad of the user terminal in conjunction with a display of the user terminal to provide access to features of the communication system from the user terminal. For example, the navigation and activation mechanisms may each utilize disjoint subsets of a given set of keys on a terminal keypad, e.g., an otherwise conventional 12-key keypad.

Abstract: The invention provides techniques for selecting, on a dynamic basis, an interworking function (IWF) that can modify a communication protocol to a particular format required by bridged terminal equipment in a communication system. The IWF can be selected to ensure compatibility between transmission bandwidth, coding and other format parameters of a call and the corresponding parameters of its destination terminal in the system. An IWF in accordance with the invention may be utilized to allow a user to bind to different terminals having different capabilities over the duration of a given call. An IWF in accordance with the invention may also be used to insert additional data, retrieved from a database of the switch, into a reverse portion of the call directed from the destination terminal to the source terminal. The invention can thus be used to ensure that the established bandwidth between the destination terminal and the source terminal is substantially bidirectionally symmetric.

Abstract: The invention provides dynamic binding and bridging between a mobile terminal and other more complex terminals in a communication system. In an illustrative embodiment, a temporary association is established, in a memory of a system switch, between the mobile and at least one other system terminal. While the mobile is “registered” in this manner to the other terminal, the mobile user can request permission to utilize the functions of the other terminal in order to, for example, receive incoming calls or place outgoing calls. The temporary association may be established based on a determination of the proximity of the mobile to the other terminal, such that the mobile registers to different complex system terminals as it moves between different cells of the system. The invention also provides techniques which allow users to access a user-defined profile for one terminal at another terminal of the system.

Abstract: The invention in an illustrative embodiment provides binding and bridging between a mobile terminal and other more complex terminals in a communication system. The binding is based on a determination of the proximity of the mobile to the other terminal, such that the mobile registers to different complex system terminals as it moves between different cells of the system. In accordance with the invention, a proximity-based temporary association is established, in a memory of a system switch, between the mobile and at least one other system terminal. While the mobile is “registered” in this manner to the other terminal, the mobile user can request permission to utilize the functions of the other terminal in order to, for example, receive incoming calls or place outgoing calls.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for automatically reconnecting wireless call(s) to a wireless terminal user when a communications link carrying the call is disconnected. In one illustrative embodiment, the wireless communications system maintains and updates call information associated with the wireless terminal when the communications link between the wireless communications system and the wireless terminal is disconnected. The present invention then automatically determines whether the wireless terminal is available for communications in the wireless communications system. If the wireless terminal is available, then the wireless communications system reestablishes communications between the wireless terminal and all other parties on all calls, and restores the updated call information associated with all calls at the wireless terminal.