Car telephone apparatus having operational control program replacing function

Claim 1

In a car telephone apparatus, a combination comprising: a) an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM) for storing at least an operational control program which is used to control operation of the apparatus; b) a central processing unit (CPU) for controlling operation of the apparatus by executing the operational control program stored in the EEPROM; c) operational control program replacing means for controlling writing and erasing operations of the EEPROM: 1) to write into the EEPROM, when no operational control program is stored in the EEPROM, an operational control program transferred from an external source, and 2) to replace, when an operational control program is stored in the EEPROM, the operational control program with a new operational control program, without removing the EEPROM from the apparatus, in accordance with an operational control program writing command transferred from the external source; d) activating means for first activating, when a power supply of the apparatus is turned on, the operational control program replacing means to inquire (1) whether or not any operational control program is stored in the EEPROM and (2) whether or not an operational control program writing command has been received from the external source; e) means for executing the operational control program when (1) the operational control program is stored in the EEPROM and (2) no operational control program writing command has been received; f) means for causing the operational control program replacing means to wait for any operational control program writing command to be transferred from the external source, when no operational control program is stored in the EEPROM; and g) means for causing the operational control program replacing means to write the new operational control program into the EEPROM, when the operational control program writing command has been transferred from the external source.