Can a Propeller talk to a cell phone?

iQuit

I've got a project in the concept stage, and was wondering if it might be better to use a Propeller instead
of a BS2.

I want to connect a uC to a cell phone, call in commands to the cell phone that are interpreted by
the uC, which in turn executes the command. Also, the uC will call out using the attached cell phone during
an alarm condition. Using the BS2 requires an external IC (DTMF decoder MT8880).
Can the Propeller interpret the incoming DTMF tones without the external IC? Is there a better way of doing this?

I want to use the DTMF tones because I wish to be able to use any phone to send commands to the
cell phone/uC set up.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

rjo_

Yes,

There have been a couple of threads ...· don't have them· in front of me.··I'm sure the guys will chime in with direct links....·a couple of guys have hacked certain available cell phones for exactly this purpose.· Generally, this requires the ability to hack into an existing serial port and use it to send AT commands.· This approach is by far the·cheapest and if you can get the right cell phone, it·would be the bananas and I would go in that direction.· I could never seem to find the right cell phone at the moment I was looking. So, I followed a different path.

I have posted example code which allows the Prop to control a telit module... available from Sparkfun.... again, only a direct serial connection is required.· When you do this, you are building a PropPhone.· You use your prop to send AT commands.··My demo code includes using text messaging·(or email)·to send commands and to post data from your bot.· The Prop can hand this without breaking a sweat.· I'm slowly building a robot around it.· For me this is part of a serious·hobby application,· but even I don't have the link.· If you decide on the Prop and are interested in the code, let me know and I will post the code again here.· If you need help, I'd be happy to help you out but I'm in and out of the forum .... so you might have to wait. This is a fairly pricey approach... but it is pretty simple and gets you going on a path that is certain to be successful if you just stick with it.

Up until I got the TSL1401, mating a telit module to the Prop was as much fun as I've had working on a project.· The TSL gives us the ability to do ranging and all kinds of interesting imaging... under very remote control, using a "PropPhone."

I have not found anything that the Prop cannot do... I have found a few things that you would have to be nuts to do with a Prop... because there would be better and cheaper ways to do it.· But if you ask a question.... "could I do 'this' with one or more Props?"· The answer is nearly always "yes."·· That is a fairly compelling reason to jump in.· I think you have chosen exactly the right project to get your feet wet.



Rich·



·

ElectricAye

I don't know any details about these but you might have a look:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=744931



http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=756456

good luck,

iQuit

Thank you for the links, but I mostly need to send tones to the uC/cell phone unit. I need DTMF tones because I want to
be able to send simple commands using any phone i.e. pay phone, another cell phone etc. The project you linked to
mostly goes the other direction.

Would the Say It module found here

http://www.parallax.com/StoreSearchResults/tabid/768/List/0/SortField/4/ProductID/589/Default.aspx?txtSearch=voice+recognition

recognize a DTMF tone as a "spoken" word? Seems to me that once you teach it that a DTMF tone was a word, that it
should recognize it as such. Only draw back is its price.

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

localroger

iQuit -- we just had a thread recently about DTMF decoding, I think the consensus was that the Prop should be able to do it but nobody has actually put code together for that particular purpose. There are dedicated DTMF decoder chips that are very easy to use but they're kind of 1980's/90's technology and so getting hard to find. You could probably hack a wired headset to get the tone data to the decoder chip, detect ring (possibly by rectifying raw audio level when the phone is on-hook), answer and hang up the phone (by "pressing" the remote answer button with a relay), and send tones or other info back through the phone either with Prop tone generating software or with a serially controlled MP3 module like Daisy or Rogue Robotics uMP3.

iQuit

localroder,
I agree about using the dedicated IC, but since this is a one-off device, I can live with it. If using a Prop would be quicker,
I would go that route. I would even take the time to learn Spin.

If someone does have knowledge about Spin code that could decode the DTMF tones, then I would probably go the Prop
route just to keep the project neat and expandable.

Thanks for the input

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

rjo_

It won't take much to learn Spin... it is the most natural language for microcontrollers you will ever find. Look at Phil's posts. I don't know anything about DTMF, but Phil does[noparse]:)[/noparse]

iQuit

Phil who? I'm new to this form, so I don't know him.
I do know Basic as it applies to the Stamp uC.

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

ElectricAye

rjo_ said...
....Look at Phil's posts. I don't know anything about DTMF, but Phil does[noparse]:)[/noparse]

I think he means Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi). He's one of the gurus here and he's the brains behind some of the cool new sensors, etc. that Parallax is offering these days:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=789451

localroger

iQuit -- You won't be able to do DTMF detection on the Prop in Spin, it will require PASM and likely some interesting math. In your situation I'd go with the specialty chip since you don't have to worry about sourcing 10,000 of them once you get it working.

And yeah, that probably means you could do your project with a Stamp. Don't get me wrong, I love Stamps, used 'em for years, but I'll probably never touch another one now that I'm Propellered. It's not just that the Prop is more powerful, unless what you're doing can be handled by a BS1 it's also probably cheaper as well as way more powerful.

iQuit

Thanks to everyone who has helped me answer this question. From the research that i've done, it looks as though I'll have
to Spin my next project. However, I refuse to assemble ever again. [noparse];)[/noparse]

D

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

D,

Here's a link to my Goertzel object. It includes the skeleton of a DTMF decoder:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=838268

(I really should finish this and post it to the OBEX.)

-Phil

iQuit

I'm looking into this Spin phenomena, and I think I'm going to like it.

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"She may not be very pretty now, but she was somebody's baby once." Bugs Bunny