CA2193268A1 - Caller identification and called persons sought annunciation signaling phone unit - Google Patents
Caller identification and called persons sought annunciation signaling phone unitInfo
- Publication number
- CA2193268A1 CA2193268A1 CA002193268A CA2193268A CA2193268A1 CA 2193268 A1 CA2193268 A1 CA 2193268A1 CA 002193268 A CA002193268 A CA 002193268A CA 2193268 A CA2193268 A CA 2193268A CA 2193268 A1 CA2193268 A1 CA 2193268A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- caller
- reply
- ring
- user
- unit
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
- H04M1/64—Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations
- H04M1/65—Recording arrangements for recording a message from the calling party
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
- H04M1/57—Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
- H04M1/64—Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations
- H04M1/65—Recording arrangements for recording a message from the calling party
- H04M1/6505—Recording arrangements for recording a message from the calling party storing speech in digital form
Abstract
A Caller Identification and Persons Sought Annunciation Signaling Phone Unit that delivers a first outgoing message to a caller identifying a request for the caller to state one's name and to whom one wishes to speak to. Once the caller records the information, stating one's name and who the caller wishes to speak to, a predetermined ring and playback sequence is generated at the other end. Ultimately to indicate to the called party the identity of the caller and to whom the caller is seeking. The users of the unit may preprogram the preferred ring and playback sequence to best suit their desires.
The unit may be in part controlled at a Central Switching Office by a mainframe computer programmed to activate a corresponding subscribers phone number.
Whereupon the information recorded and stored in the mainframe computer at the Central Switching Office is sent to activate a ring and reply playback sequence to a compatible phone unit at the called party end.
The unit may be in part controlled at a Central Switching Office by a mainframe computer programmed to activate a corresponding subscribers phone number.
Whereupon the information recorded and stored in the mainframe computer at the Central Switching Office is sent to activate a ring and reply playback sequence to a compatible phone unit at the called party end.
Description
2 1 932~8 Caller Idenffficaffon and Called Persons Son~ht Annunciaffon ._ Signalin~ Phone Unit Background Of The Invenffon ,_ 1. Field of the invenffon As a sllbstitute for a telephones standard repe~lcd ring signal which o~ly allows the called party to be aware of an incoming call, The present invention relates to a phone unit that embodies a ringing system that lcpedledly playsback or "rings" a recorded spoken name of the caller as well as the name of whom the caller wishes to speak to.
Whereby, the phone first sends out an outgoing message to the caller requesting the caller to state ones name and the name of the persons sought. The phone records the reply to the request made by the caller and then r~edledly anmlnci~tes the recorded reply as a substitute for a st~dard ring. Ultimately this allows a subscriber to know who is calling ._ and for whom the call is for. Also, the ~nmlnci~tecl reply may be used in co~junction with a standard ring.. Another option which may be offered instead of a phone is a se~le phone unit that att~ es to regular phones as an accç~ory and would have the recorded, person calling and person sought identification "ring" or ~nmln~i~tion/playback function. Additionally the ring system can also be provided as a service by a phone Co~llp~y, whereby the phone cO~ y (Central s~vilclling station), ffler s~n~ g out the elccor~ed message to the caller, rcccives and records the reply by the caller and then _ sends that reply to a phone speaker unit that acts as a ring or ~nnnnri~tion a~a,~lus. This ~nmmci~tion system may at first incorporate a single or more standard rings in order to alert the ho~ hold of an incoming call. After the initial alert ring, the unit playsback the recorded reply allowing the housPllol(l to know who is cAlling and for whom the call is for. The phone cnntimles to ring and playback the recorded message until the phone hAn-l~et is picked up or until the call is l~ ,.,inAIed by the caller.
Description Of The Prior Art As a substitute for a telephones stand rd lepealed ring signal which o~ly allows the holl~hokl to be aware of an incoming call. The present invention relates to a phone unit that embodies a ringing system that first sends out a prerecorded request from the hon~hold to the caller. Whereby the caller is r~pe-;led to state one's name and the name of the p~ ol~s sought by the caller. The phone unit after having alerted the household by ._ a st~dar~ ring or rings then playsback the recorded st~ to the hollse~lol(l The ring and playback are le~aled until the phone h~n-l~et is lifted or until the call is le~ "~in~lecl by the caller. Ultim~tely~ when a caller calls a subscriber who has the Caller Identification and Persons Sought .AnnllnGi~tion Sign~ling Phone Unit, they will know from the playback reply who the caller is and who the caller wishes to speak to. A
standard ring is first sounded by the phone unit in order to get the attention of the hou~ l And the number of times the phone rings before it playsback the recorded reply of the caller can be prog,~"""~ble such that the phone can be programmed to ring once then playback the caller's reply and then ring again and then again playback the reply, or it may be programmed to ring three times first and then playback the reply, or whatever sequence suits the user. Another option which may be offered is a unit that 2 1 932~8 ~tt~h~s to regular telephones where the unit has the special ring and voiced reply _ playback function. This would allow for a standard phone to signal the household more efficiently allowing them to know the idPntifiMtion of the caller and the person sought by the caller. Moreover this ring/~ ling system can also be provided as a service from a Central Swil~ g Station. Whereby, the Phone Co~ y sends out the prerecorded ,_ request made by the subscriber to the caller, after li~t~ning to the request a tone is sounded and the caller states one's name and the name of the persons sought. Th,e Central Swil~l~illg Station records the reply by the caller and then sends that reply to the sllbs~ihers phone speaker unit that acts as a ring and playback app~lus. This service allows for the brunt of the operations to be done at the Central Swilcl~ g Station and thus the subs~iher would only require a simple speaker att~r,hment to the p,hone that would be used to ring and playback the reply sent from the Central Swil~ g Station.
Also, in this system the number of rings and playback comhin~tions can be progra_med by the subscriber. In this case however, the recorded request and ring/playback sequence is programmed into the Central Swit~ g Station's main co",~ulel.
U.S. Patent No. 3,506,791, issued April 14, 1970 to J. Halaby discloses a Telephone System For Directing Calls To Persons Instead Of Stations in which an inco_ing call received by a central station causes the wireless tr~n~mis~ion of a signal identifying the person being called. The person identified wears a Ll~sceivel which _ alerts the person to the fact that he/she is being called. That person then goes to any of a number of special t~l~phones which are act l~ted by the person's ll~sceiver to control a selector to connect the incoming call to the telephone thusly approached. The incoming ._ t~ hnne call ach~qt~ the ll~sceiver to alert the person receiving the ca,ll of the 2 1 932~P~
inco_ing call, rather than act~l~ting the telephone to ring with a distinctive ring for each of a number of persons lcceiving calls.
U.S. Patent No. 3,936,617, issued February 3, 1976 to Duane Ridgely Bolgiano discloses a Code-Controlled Ringer ~tt~hm~nt For TeleI hnnes which selectively dea.iLiv~lcs a telephone bell on a t~lephone il~sl~ el~l such that when a telephone number is called, an an~iliary system autom~tic~lly cuts in to prevent ringing of the bell until a predet~rmin~d code is initi~tell by the calling station, at which ti_e the telePhone bell is ~ te~ This particular invention is used to screen calls by rejecting any calls which are received for which the caller does no input a predet~rmin~ code to allow the call to be received by the receiving telephone U.S. Patent No. 3,943,289, issued March 9, 1976 to Norman A. Shel~on et al.
discloses an Automatic Telephone Caller where a plclccolded message is supplied to a plurality of t~le~phone subscriber numbers automatically called in sequence from a local station.
U.S. Patent No. 4,006,316, issued February 1, 1977 to Duane Ridgely Bolgiano discloses a Code-Controlled Detection And Function ~ct lating system which screens out undesired signals from desired signals via selective prog.~ g of the system through programmed codes. This system also has means to utilize the desired signals to effect the performance of a selected function such as the sounding of a ~ign~ling means to indicate . _ the tr~n~mi~sion of the desired signals, the activation or deactivation of electrically -- controlled devices, or the actuation of a reprog.,.. il-g means, the system being especially adapted to utili7~tion in a telephone system for screening out undesirable calls and ~ L~ g desirable calls to effect activation of the select functions. This system may be used 5imnlt~neously with all phone instruments on a given line and provides system that can be programmed either m~ml~lly or by remote control throughout the o~ dial or touch-call appa~lus. The system will also effect complete silence or actuate any other type of signal, such as a busy signal or the like, when the correct code is not dialed or touch-called, so that there is no indication whether there is anyone at the number being called or not, thus providing protection against possible burglaries. This system can also be programmed for a plurality of different codes so that if a ce~tain code refers to a certain party, it can be det~rmined that such party has called if the phone is not answ~led. This system may also be utilized to remotely control the functions or monitor _ the functions of various electrically-op~l~led devices such as lamps, heaters, air-con-lition~s, ovens and the like.
U.S. Patent No. 4,850,013, issued July 18, 1989 to H. Barry Rose discloses a Telephone Call Screening Apparatus to be connected in combination with a co~lvelllional t~l~hone ~ceivel and its circuit which pl~vellls the telephone receiver from being a~;liv~led until a preselected code is supplied into the telephone circuit by t~e calling party.
U.S. Patent No. 4,866,766, issued September 12, 1989 to James E. Mitzlaff ~iscloses a Telephone Device Having Cl~;slO..Ii~ Ring C~p~bility incorporates a telephone set with a conve~-lional keypad to allow the user to program a custom ring tone and p<~ ..c into the telephone set. After such prog-t..,....il-p is est~hli~h~l, when the telephone set detects a ring signal from the central ~wilching station, a ringer is activated and dea~;livaled accordil~g to the programmed ringing parameters so as to provide a truly ~;ustoll~i;Ged ring signal to the user.
21 93~68 U.S. Patent No. 4,982,420, issued January 1, 1991 to Peter F. Theis discloses a Recording System With Response Categori7~1ion which ~ese~ls a user with a sequence of prompt messages and stores user responses to at least selected ones of these prompt messages, classifies the stored user l~,~onscs in a first CalegOl~r when the user responds to a first one of the prompt messages and not to a second one of the prompt messages, and classifies the stored user responses in a second calegoly when the user responds to both the first and second prompt messages. In adtlition~ this system ç~ ifies the stored user l~onses in a third category when the response inchl~es any one of a plllrality of code words, and in a fourth category when the user response inclndes none of these code words. An ~lt~rn~te embodiment cl~sifies stored user respol-ses in accordance with the duration of the response to a selected prompt message. A first feature of this invention relates to a system which prese~l~ a user with a sequence of prompt messages and acts upon the responses to selected prompt messages to classify the user les~onses in a first category when the user responds to one of the prompt messages and not to the other, and a second category when the user responds to both of the prompt messages. Al~ I;vely, the stored user leS~OnSCS can be Gl~ifi~d based on the length of the user response to a selected prompt message. This feature of the invention can be used to store user ~s~nses from completed calls in a first storage sector and to store user respo~ses from uncompleted calls, in which the user did not respond to all of the prompt messages, in a second storage sector. An opelalor can then retrieve the user responses in the first Caleg(jly from the first storage sector first for transcription and action. The uncompleted calls of the second category can be h~dled with lower priority. Simil~rly, Calls with exce~ively long or excessively short resi)onses to a particular prompt message can b ;~1 932~8 calegoli~ed for high priority retrieval. According to â second feature of this invention, â
system of the type that ~l~s~ a user with at least one prompt message and records at least a portion of the user voice leSpOnSe iS provided with at least first and second e.,~ ion recognition means for generating first and second signals when a ~ser voice respollse includes first and second c,~ ions, respectively. The user response is classified in a first category when either one of the first and second signals is generated, and the user response is c~ ified in a second calegoly when neither of the first and second signals is generated. This second feature of the invention utilizes a probabilistic ap~l~ach to categorize the user voice re~onse. If the user response incln~es any one of a plurality of selected ~Al)lessions or words, the response is classified in a first category.
For ç~mrlç, if it is desired to segregate user responses relating to sales orders form user responses relating to other topics, the word recognition means should be adapted to detect words char~cteri~tically used in placing a sales order. If the user uses any one of these words, it is likely that the topic of the call is a sales order.
U.S. Patent No. 4,998,272, issued March 5, 1991 to James R. Hawkins, Jr. et al.
discloses a Personal Voice Mail System adapted to be connected to a standard touch tone telel hon~ This system allows a subs~iher to pltileconled a message to be delivered to one or more called parties at a particular time. Additionally, the system can be made secure by requiring the called party to provide a confi~ l code before the message is relayed.
U.S. Patent No. 5,031,205, issued July 9, 1991 to Stephen Pillips discloses an Auto Response Phone System that allows a user to ~ulolllaLically screen calls and respond without even talking into â tele~h~ne l~eceiver. In one embodiment of the invention the 21 ~3268 system is built into a collv~ ;on~l t~l5rhon~. In an ~lt~n~tive embodiment the system is built into a s~a,~le case and opel~les as an accessory. The system stores several messages in non-volatile electronic format. The user picks up the phone when called to identify the caller. The user can then speak to the caller or i1ulo."~ically send ane of the pre-recorded messages. A special night button aulolllalically gives a night time message and disables the telephone ringer. If the caller sends a pre~ ",i"ed sequence of touch tones the user's ringer is reactivated to permit emergency calls to be a~,veled. A
monitor capability allows the user to monitor all telephone transactions.
U.S. Patent No. 5,172,404, issued December 15, 1992 to Kazuo ~him~to discloses a System For Coupling Telephone Al~sw~, "-g Device And Voice Mail Apparatus Together. In this invention, a system comhin~s a telephone a~s~/vt;l~g device installed at each s~lhssriher's premises and a voice mail center station. When ~legl~led chip memory is used as recording media of the telephone alls~,v~ g device to record messages from a calling party, the memory becomes full to its capacity shortly, and the telephone a~sw~ -g device cannot fulfill its function. To prevent this, a voice mail side is set to a message-l~ceivmg mode and an incoming message is transferred from the telephone a~s~v~ling device side to the voice mail side by calling the voice mail side and receiving a particular signal from the telephone al,s~ g device ?? side. I~hen, the tel~ll~ ne a~s~,vtl~-~g device re~lores its function and becomes capable of recording new incoming messages. It was a common usage of the voice mail center that a calling party directly record ~I~CO~ g messages in the voice mail center. In this system, however, an incoming message stored in the voice mail center can be transferred to the telephone acs~v~ling device by controlling from the t~leph-)nP- a~sw~ g device as occasion 2t 932~8 .
~em~nl1s, and the incoming message can be stored in the telephone a~sw~ g device.
This system makes possible a new combination wherein a telephone all.,w~l~ug device and a voice mail center, previously independent appal~li, can control each other.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
Summary Of The Inven~on A Caller Tcl~ntific~tion and Persons Sought ~nmln~i~tion SiP.n~lin~ Phone Unit of the present invention allows users to program into the phone a plt;l~colded message to be sent out to the caller as to request the caller to state one's name and whom the caller wishes to speak to. The recorded reply by the caller is then played back through a speaker in the phone so as to indicate the identity of the caller and to identity the person sought by the caller. In this manner the user knows who the caller is and for whom the call is for, even before a~w~ g the phone. The system also allows people to screen calls, whereby, the user may decide not to answer the phone should the caller's call prove to be undesirable. A dynamic random access memory chip is used by the phone to record and playback both the users outgoing message as well as the reply made by the caller. It can also be used to control the ring sequence. As for the serviced based system the users message and the recorded reply would be stored digitally on a mainframe co~ ul~l at the Central Swilcl~ g Station. In the event of a call being placed for a particular s~lbs~iber of the service, the colll~ul~r would activate the outgoing message and would record the callers identification and persons sought reply made by the caller.
-Upon which the COLU~UIe1 would relay the information to the phone speaker u~it of the ._ subscriber. The speaker unit would then ring to in-lir~te an incoming call followed by the broadcast of the caller stating the callers identity and persons sought by the caller.
For either a p~l~ol-al h~u~eb~ed system or Central Swilcl~ g Offlce based system, the I rincip~l objective is the same. Tmm~ tely following the reception of the incoming call, the caller is provided with a first outgoing message, requesting the caller to state one's name and who the caller wishes to speak to. After a tone indicating that the unit is recording, the caller then proceeds to state ones name and the name of th~e person the caller wishes to speak to. For ~Y~mrle the first outgoing message maybe, "H~, you -have reached the Suzuki resid~nt~, please state your name and who you wish to speak to after the beep, thank you." a beep will sound indic~ting that recoldillg is in progress upon which the caller will be given ample time in which to respond. The caller may then reply by saying "George Keen for Miho please.". A specific programed number of alert rings is broadcast via a built in speaker of the phone unit followed by the recorded braadcast of the reply made by the caller. Eve~ ~one in the vicinity of the phone unit will be able to _ hear the recorded announcement by the caller and thus will be able to act accordingly, allowing for the particular individual being sought to answer the phone.
Accordingly it is a principle object of the invention to provide a called party with an announcement by the caller as to indicate who the caller is and for whom the call is for.
-- UlL;~ y another object by which the above principle object is achieved is by providing the caller a message to hear the request to state ones identity and identity of ons sought and the means to record the callers les~ se.
It is a further object of the invention that the above system of Caller Identification and Persons Sought Anmmti~tinn Si~ling Phone Unit may be provided as a service by a phone Colllp~y or Central Swilclli~g Station.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arra~gements thereof in an a~p~alus for the purposes described which is ine~ellsive, dependable and fully effective in acco",pli~hin~ its int~ntlecl purpose.
-B~ef Description Of Drawings Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the Caller Identification and Persons Sought AnmlnGi~tion Sign~ling Phone Unit in accor~ce with a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 4A and 4B is a flow chart of the main op~ g program for Caller -Identification and Persons Sought Anmmti~tion Sign~lin~ Phone Unit of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the Caller T 1~n~ifiç~tion and Persons Sought ~nmmci~tion Sign~ling Phone Unit in accordance with a second embodime~t of the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the Caller Td~ntific~tion and Persons Sought ~nmmci~tion Sigr~ling Phone Unit/Service in accol~ce with a third embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5A and 5B is a flow chart of the main o~l~ g program of the service based Caller Identification and Persons Sought Anmlnci~tion Si,~n~ling Phone Unit of the present invention.
-- Similar reference characters denote coll~,~ol-ding fea~ s cn~ t~,ntly throughout the attached drawings.
Det~ile~l Description Of The Preferred Embodiments -- A Caller Tdçntific~tion and Persons Sought Anmmei~tion Sip,n~ling Pho~e Unit of the present invention, as illusl,~led in Fig. 1 inchldes a telephone line connection 2 for connecting to t~ phone lines from a central office. Ring detector circuit 3 is used to detect the presence of an incoming call across the telephone line connection 2. The ring signal detector 3 is designed to detect the standard ring signal produced by the central office to infli~te the presence of an incommg call. A line seizure circuit 4 is co~nected to -the telephone line connection 2 so as to provide a line seizure in-lic~tion to the central -- office. Upon seizing the line, the line seizure circuit 4 also col~necl~ a seized line connection 5 to the t~ phone line col~neclion 2.
A microprocessor controller 6 is used to receive an output of the ring (letect(~r 3 via port connection 7. The controller 6 incllldes a port connection 8 for controlling the line seizure circuit 4 to seize or release the telephone line. The microprocessor controller -6 incl~ldes sorlwalc to p~,rOl.,l its controller function. The main opcl~ g program algo,illl--, is illu~t~lcd in Fig. 4A. After initi~ in~ various parameters as will be described below. The controller 6 mcnitors for an incoming ring signal (steps 101 and 102) and seizes the t~-le~h~ ne in the event of an incoming call (step 103). Ontoff hook detector 9 is co~ecled across the telephnne line connection 2 so as to produce an on-hook indication to the microprocessor controller 6 via a port connection 10 should the caller hang up. In this manner, should the caller hang up during any operation of the telephone unit 1, on/off hook detector 9 provides an on-hook indication to port connection 10, and the controller 6 causes the line seizure circuit 4 to release the telephone line and disco"li-,ue its main opc,~ g program.
As stated above, the main op~ g program causes the phone unit 1 to continue mo~ Q,;,lg the port co~e~;lion 7 until the ring detector 3 indicates the presence of an incollling call. Once an incoming call is detected and after the telephone line has been seized, the microprocessor controller 6 sends out an outgoing message to the caller (steplO4) while it relays an initial ring to the called party in (step 105). Solid state random access memory (RAM) 11 is used to store the outgoing message in a portion thereof. After issuing a co~ d to seize the telephone line, the microprocessor 6 reproduces the outgoing message (OGM 1) by reading the portion of ~he RAM 11 on which outgoing message is stored and transferring the digitally stored outgoing message to digital to analog CO~lvcllcr (D/A) 12 via port connection 13 (see step 103). The COI1YC1lC1 12 is connected to the seized telephone line connection 5 so as to canvert the digitally stored data provided by port col~l-eclion 13 to an analog signal. In ~his manner, the initial outgoing message is produced onto the telephone line. The initial outgoing -message indicates to the caller the request for the caller to state one's name and persons sought after. The caller replies after hearing a tone indicating the unit is reco~ g.(step 107,108) After the caller has made a reply, the reply is recorded on to the RAM 11 through the A/D converter 30 . After having allowed for a progl~ed number of alert rings (if any at all) broadcast by the speaker 21 (step 110). The recorded digital information transforms from digital to analogue through the D/A conv~lL~l 18 and the l~essage is broadcast out of the speaker 21 and is heard in the vicinitv of the household.
The playback and ring sequence, programmed by the user input switches 28, is repeated until the h~nt1~et 24 is picked up (steps 111 - 113) or until the call is l~ ecl by the caller (step 115) or until the ring and playback sequence times out (step 116).
The time out timer is a software timer routine within the software of the microprocessor controller 6. Microprocessor 6 then monitors to determine whether or not the person sought by the caller has picked up the phone (step 113).
The telephone unit 1 incllldes a h~n~et 24 having a hook switch 25 associated therewith. If the h~n~set 24 is lifted to answer the phone, the hook switch 25 closes to connect the h~n-lcet 24 to the seized telephone line connection 5 as well as provides an indication that the telephone is off-hook via port connection 26. Once the h~nl1~et 24 is hung-up, the hook switch 25 is opened again to release the h~nll~et 24 from th~e seized telephone line connection 5 as well as to provide an indication to the microprocessor that the h~n~1~et is hung-up.
Should the h~ndset 24 be picked up, as determined is step 113, the main ope~ g program is l~ le;l The port conne-;Lion 26 is a vectored input port connection as is .
well-known in the microprocessor art, and will t~. ",i~ e the main opGl~ling program no matter what set of the main opc,~ g program is being performed. The microprocessor also IllA;~ e the line seizure circuit 4 closed so as to connect the h~ndeet to the telephone line as long as the h~n~leet 24 is lifted and the hook switch 25 is closed. Port connection 10 is also a vectored input port to microprocessor 6, and will t~rmin~te the main opGl~ g program no matter what step is being pelrolllled thereby if the caller hangs up. Once the main opGl~ling program is t~. ",i~ l if the telephone ~S~/vGlll~g mode, as will be described below, the main opGl~ling program branches to the start and rçiniti~li7ee the parameters used by the microprocessor before monil~;"~ for another incoming call (steps 100 and 101 of Fig. 4A).
If it is determin~d that the h~n~set 24 has not been picked up as detçrmined in step 113, the ring and playback sequence continlles 114. The ringer and speaker are m~int~ined active via a port connection to the ringer circuit 22 and speaker via port col~l~e~lion 19 to the microprocessor.
After step 114, the main OpGl~ g program determines whether or not the software timer, opGl~ing COI1~;W1Gn~1Y therewith, has timed out (step 116). If the timer has timed out as det~rmined is step 116, the main opGla~ g program branches ta step 100 and reiniti~li7çs the parameters used by the microprocessor before mol,ilo, ;l~g far another incoming call.
The microprocessor controller 6 incl~ldes user input subroutine software for allowing the user control over various aspects of the operation of the telephone unit 1.
The subroutines are initi~ted in response to various user inputs received by ~ser input control switches 28. For example, the user may wish to record the outgoing message on the RAM 11. This is accompli~h~1 by initi~ting the apl)ropliate user inputs and then speaking into a built in microphone 29 which is connected to analog to digital converter 14 to convert the OGM into a digital form before the microprocessor stores the OGM in the app~ ,l,liate portion therein. In a like matter the incoming reply by the caller may be stored within the RAM 11, each one is stored in a sepal~le location of the RAl\~ 1 1 so as to be selectively retrieved by the microprocessor controller 6. The incoming reply would likewise come through telephone connection 2 connected to A/D analog to digital collv~lL~r 30 to convert the incoming reply into a digital form before the microprocessor stores the incoming reply into the RAM chip 11. Other functions such as varying the number of rings and playbacks before going off-hook, the ring and playback sequence, speaker phone and, memo r~ordhlg, may also be controlled by the user via user input switches 28.
In an ~ltPrn~te embodiment, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the telephone unit 2 is identical to the telephone unit 1, except that the unit is attached to an ~Yi~ti~g phone instead of incln-ling its own h~n-lset Instead of a hook switch 25, the telephone unit 2 incl~ldes a line seizure switch 31 which is controlled by the microprocessor 6 to connect to or disconnect the phone from the seized telephone line connection 5. The li~e seizure switch 31 is cormected to the phone via a phone connection 32. Also connected to the phone 32 is on/off hook detector 33 which detects when the phone goes off-hook or on-hook. Should the on/off hook detector 33 detect that the phone has gone off-hook as a user picks up the h~n~lset thereof, the detector 33 sends a control signal to port 26 of microprocessor 6 so as to halt the operation of the main op~raling program and to close 2 1 932b8 the line seizure circuit 4 as well as the line seizure switch 31, thereby connecting the phone to the t~ql~hone line via tel~hone line connection 2.
Further, the telephone unit 2 does not include the optional ringer circuit 22 and ringer 23 since the phone incllldes its own ringer circuit 22 and ringer 23. Upon eceivi~-g an illCO~i~g call the ring signal generator may be activated by the microprocessor 6 to produce an aleIt ring or rings across phone connection 32.
Following the aleIt rings or ring the microprocessor would switch the signal ge~erator off in order to broadcast the caller's recorded reply stored in RAM 11 through D/A converter 18 and out of the speaker 21. This sequence of rings and reply of the caller would be repeated, as programmed by the user.
Furth~rmore in an ~1t~rn~te embo-liment as illustrated in Fig. 3. The unit performs the same purpose except that the main operations are performed by a ma;~l~e co,.l~ul~l 35 at a Central Swilcllil~g Station (Fig. 5A steps 117 - 124). The Central Swil~ g Stations co",~uler 35 is programmed to initi~li7e the called party's number and to send to the caller the called party's outgoing message (step 120). The caller listens to the message and a tone is sounded indicating the system is recording (steps 121 - 122). The caller reply is recorded into the Central Swilclling Stations ~inrr;~e CO~ )Ul~l 35. The recorded reply is transformed from digital to analog form and sent to the s~lbs~ibers phone unit. Furthermore the users unit is the same to embollim~nt~ units 1 and 2 except that the RAM is replaced by the Central Swild~ g Stations ",ainfi~e colu~ulcl 35 whereby the outgoing messages and incoming reply are stored in the Illai~l~e co~ ulel 35. As well, the mic 29 A/D 14 and user input switches 28 are not r~uiled wlle~nel~y lhe user may record message through a h~ntl~et 24 1~ 2193268 -to the mainframe 35 directly. Using regular touch-tone signals generated by the telephone the user may program the desired ring and playback sequence, thus eljmin~ting the need for user input switches 28. However, like in embodiment unit 2, the ring signal generator 34 is still required to generate the ring signal on the attached telephone at the proper times. Likewise the ringer 23 and ringer CKT are also not required. Ultimately, the mainframe computer 35 controls the ring and playback sequence to the phone unit (see Fig. 5B steps 132-134). Furthermore as in embodiment unit 2 a line seizure switch 31 is utilized in the same manner as described for embodiment unit 2.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the sole embodim~ntc described above, but encomp~ses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
i
Whereby, the phone first sends out an outgoing message to the caller requesting the caller to state ones name and the name of the persons sought. The phone records the reply to the request made by the caller and then r~edledly anmlnci~tes the recorded reply as a substitute for a st~dard ring. Ultimately this allows a subscriber to know who is calling ._ and for whom the call is for. Also, the ~nmlnci~tecl reply may be used in co~junction with a standard ring.. Another option which may be offered instead of a phone is a se~le phone unit that att~ es to regular phones as an accç~ory and would have the recorded, person calling and person sought identification "ring" or ~nmln~i~tion/playback function. Additionally the ring system can also be provided as a service by a phone Co~llp~y, whereby the phone cO~ y (Central s~vilclling station), ffler s~n~ g out the elccor~ed message to the caller, rcccives and records the reply by the caller and then _ sends that reply to a phone speaker unit that acts as a ring or ~nnnnri~tion a~a,~lus. This ~nmmci~tion system may at first incorporate a single or more standard rings in order to alert the ho~ hold of an incoming call. After the initial alert ring, the unit playsback the recorded reply allowing the housPllol(l to know who is cAlling and for whom the call is for. The phone cnntimles to ring and playback the recorded message until the phone hAn-l~et is picked up or until the call is l~ ,.,inAIed by the caller.
Description Of The Prior Art As a substitute for a telephones stand rd lepealed ring signal which o~ly allows the holl~hokl to be aware of an incoming call. The present invention relates to a phone unit that embodies a ringing system that first sends out a prerecorded request from the hon~hold to the caller. Whereby the caller is r~pe-;led to state one's name and the name of the p~ ol~s sought by the caller. The phone unit after having alerted the household by ._ a st~dar~ ring or rings then playsback the recorded st~ to the hollse~lol(l The ring and playback are le~aled until the phone h~n-l~et is lifted or until the call is le~ "~in~lecl by the caller. Ultim~tely~ when a caller calls a subscriber who has the Caller Identification and Persons Sought .AnnllnGi~tion Sign~ling Phone Unit, they will know from the playback reply who the caller is and who the caller wishes to speak to. A
standard ring is first sounded by the phone unit in order to get the attention of the hou~ l And the number of times the phone rings before it playsback the recorded reply of the caller can be prog,~"""~ble such that the phone can be programmed to ring once then playback the caller's reply and then ring again and then again playback the reply, or it may be programmed to ring three times first and then playback the reply, or whatever sequence suits the user. Another option which may be offered is a unit that 2 1 932~8 ~tt~h~s to regular telephones where the unit has the special ring and voiced reply _ playback function. This would allow for a standard phone to signal the household more efficiently allowing them to know the idPntifiMtion of the caller and the person sought by the caller. Moreover this ring/~ ling system can also be provided as a service from a Central Swil~ g Station. Whereby, the Phone Co~ y sends out the prerecorded ,_ request made by the subscriber to the caller, after li~t~ning to the request a tone is sounded and the caller states one's name and the name of the persons sought. Th,e Central Swil~l~illg Station records the reply by the caller and then sends that reply to the sllbs~ihers phone speaker unit that acts as a ring and playback app~lus. This service allows for the brunt of the operations to be done at the Central Swilcl~ g Station and thus the subs~iher would only require a simple speaker att~r,hment to the p,hone that would be used to ring and playback the reply sent from the Central Swil~ g Station.
Also, in this system the number of rings and playback comhin~tions can be progra_med by the subscriber. In this case however, the recorded request and ring/playback sequence is programmed into the Central Swit~ g Station's main co",~ulel.
U.S. Patent No. 3,506,791, issued April 14, 1970 to J. Halaby discloses a Telephone System For Directing Calls To Persons Instead Of Stations in which an inco_ing call received by a central station causes the wireless tr~n~mis~ion of a signal identifying the person being called. The person identified wears a Ll~sceivel which _ alerts the person to the fact that he/she is being called. That person then goes to any of a number of special t~l~phones which are act l~ted by the person's ll~sceiver to control a selector to connect the incoming call to the telephone thusly approached. The incoming ._ t~ hnne call ach~qt~ the ll~sceiver to alert the person receiving the ca,ll of the 2 1 932~P~
inco_ing call, rather than act~l~ting the telephone to ring with a distinctive ring for each of a number of persons lcceiving calls.
U.S. Patent No. 3,936,617, issued February 3, 1976 to Duane Ridgely Bolgiano discloses a Code-Controlled Ringer ~tt~hm~nt For TeleI hnnes which selectively dea.iLiv~lcs a telephone bell on a t~lephone il~sl~ el~l such that when a telephone number is called, an an~iliary system autom~tic~lly cuts in to prevent ringing of the bell until a predet~rmin~d code is initi~tell by the calling station, at which ti_e the telePhone bell is ~ te~ This particular invention is used to screen calls by rejecting any calls which are received for which the caller does no input a predet~rmin~ code to allow the call to be received by the receiving telephone U.S. Patent No. 3,943,289, issued March 9, 1976 to Norman A. Shel~on et al.
discloses an Automatic Telephone Caller where a plclccolded message is supplied to a plurality of t~le~phone subscriber numbers automatically called in sequence from a local station.
U.S. Patent No. 4,006,316, issued February 1, 1977 to Duane Ridgely Bolgiano discloses a Code-Controlled Detection And Function ~ct lating system which screens out undesired signals from desired signals via selective prog.~ g of the system through programmed codes. This system also has means to utilize the desired signals to effect the performance of a selected function such as the sounding of a ~ign~ling means to indicate . _ the tr~n~mi~sion of the desired signals, the activation or deactivation of electrically -- controlled devices, or the actuation of a reprog.,.. il-g means, the system being especially adapted to utili7~tion in a telephone system for screening out undesirable calls and ~ L~ g desirable calls to effect activation of the select functions. This system may be used 5imnlt~neously with all phone instruments on a given line and provides system that can be programmed either m~ml~lly or by remote control throughout the o~ dial or touch-call appa~lus. The system will also effect complete silence or actuate any other type of signal, such as a busy signal or the like, when the correct code is not dialed or touch-called, so that there is no indication whether there is anyone at the number being called or not, thus providing protection against possible burglaries. This system can also be programmed for a plurality of different codes so that if a ce~tain code refers to a certain party, it can be det~rmined that such party has called if the phone is not answ~led. This system may also be utilized to remotely control the functions or monitor _ the functions of various electrically-op~l~led devices such as lamps, heaters, air-con-lition~s, ovens and the like.
U.S. Patent No. 4,850,013, issued July 18, 1989 to H. Barry Rose discloses a Telephone Call Screening Apparatus to be connected in combination with a co~lvelllional t~l~hone ~ceivel and its circuit which pl~vellls the telephone receiver from being a~;liv~led until a preselected code is supplied into the telephone circuit by t~e calling party.
U.S. Patent No. 4,866,766, issued September 12, 1989 to James E. Mitzlaff ~iscloses a Telephone Device Having Cl~;slO..Ii~ Ring C~p~bility incorporates a telephone set with a conve~-lional keypad to allow the user to program a custom ring tone and p<~ ..c into the telephone set. After such prog-t..,....il-p is est~hli~h~l, when the telephone set detects a ring signal from the central ~wilching station, a ringer is activated and dea~;livaled accordil~g to the programmed ringing parameters so as to provide a truly ~;ustoll~i;Ged ring signal to the user.
21 93~68 U.S. Patent No. 4,982,420, issued January 1, 1991 to Peter F. Theis discloses a Recording System With Response Categori7~1ion which ~ese~ls a user with a sequence of prompt messages and stores user responses to at least selected ones of these prompt messages, classifies the stored user l~,~onscs in a first CalegOl~r when the user responds to a first one of the prompt messages and not to a second one of the prompt messages, and classifies the stored user responses in a second calegoly when the user responds to both the first and second prompt messages. In adtlition~ this system ç~ ifies the stored user l~onses in a third category when the response inchl~es any one of a plllrality of code words, and in a fourth category when the user response inclndes none of these code words. An ~lt~rn~te embodiment cl~sifies stored user respol-ses in accordance with the duration of the response to a selected prompt message. A first feature of this invention relates to a system which prese~l~ a user with a sequence of prompt messages and acts upon the responses to selected prompt messages to classify the user les~onses in a first category when the user responds to one of the prompt messages and not to the other, and a second category when the user responds to both of the prompt messages. Al~ I;vely, the stored user leS~OnSCS can be Gl~ifi~d based on the length of the user response to a selected prompt message. This feature of the invention can be used to store user ~s~nses from completed calls in a first storage sector and to store user respo~ses from uncompleted calls, in which the user did not respond to all of the prompt messages, in a second storage sector. An opelalor can then retrieve the user responses in the first Caleg(jly from the first storage sector first for transcription and action. The uncompleted calls of the second category can be h~dled with lower priority. Simil~rly, Calls with exce~ively long or excessively short resi)onses to a particular prompt message can b ;~1 932~8 calegoli~ed for high priority retrieval. According to â second feature of this invention, â
system of the type that ~l~s~ a user with at least one prompt message and records at least a portion of the user voice leSpOnSe iS provided with at least first and second e.,~ ion recognition means for generating first and second signals when a ~ser voice respollse includes first and second c,~ ions, respectively. The user response is classified in a first category when either one of the first and second signals is generated, and the user response is c~ ified in a second calegoly when neither of the first and second signals is generated. This second feature of the invention utilizes a probabilistic ap~l~ach to categorize the user voice re~onse. If the user response incln~es any one of a plurality of selected ~Al)lessions or words, the response is classified in a first category.
For ç~mrlç, if it is desired to segregate user responses relating to sales orders form user responses relating to other topics, the word recognition means should be adapted to detect words char~cteri~tically used in placing a sales order. If the user uses any one of these words, it is likely that the topic of the call is a sales order.
U.S. Patent No. 4,998,272, issued March 5, 1991 to James R. Hawkins, Jr. et al.
discloses a Personal Voice Mail System adapted to be connected to a standard touch tone telel hon~ This system allows a subs~iher to pltileconled a message to be delivered to one or more called parties at a particular time. Additionally, the system can be made secure by requiring the called party to provide a confi~ l code before the message is relayed.
U.S. Patent No. 5,031,205, issued July 9, 1991 to Stephen Pillips discloses an Auto Response Phone System that allows a user to ~ulolllaLically screen calls and respond without even talking into â tele~h~ne l~eceiver. In one embodiment of the invention the 21 ~3268 system is built into a collv~ ;on~l t~l5rhon~. In an ~lt~n~tive embodiment the system is built into a s~a,~le case and opel~les as an accessory. The system stores several messages in non-volatile electronic format. The user picks up the phone when called to identify the caller. The user can then speak to the caller or i1ulo."~ically send ane of the pre-recorded messages. A special night button aulolllalically gives a night time message and disables the telephone ringer. If the caller sends a pre~ ",i"ed sequence of touch tones the user's ringer is reactivated to permit emergency calls to be a~,veled. A
monitor capability allows the user to monitor all telephone transactions.
U.S. Patent No. 5,172,404, issued December 15, 1992 to Kazuo ~him~to discloses a System For Coupling Telephone Al~sw~, "-g Device And Voice Mail Apparatus Together. In this invention, a system comhin~s a telephone a~s~/vt;l~g device installed at each s~lhssriher's premises and a voice mail center station. When ~legl~led chip memory is used as recording media of the telephone alls~,v~ g device to record messages from a calling party, the memory becomes full to its capacity shortly, and the telephone a~sw~ -g device cannot fulfill its function. To prevent this, a voice mail side is set to a message-l~ceivmg mode and an incoming message is transferred from the telephone a~s~v~ling device side to the voice mail side by calling the voice mail side and receiving a particular signal from the telephone al,s~ g device ?? side. I~hen, the tel~ll~ ne a~s~,vtl~-~g device re~lores its function and becomes capable of recording new incoming messages. It was a common usage of the voice mail center that a calling party directly record ~I~CO~ g messages in the voice mail center. In this system, however, an incoming message stored in the voice mail center can be transferred to the telephone acs~v~ling device by controlling from the t~leph-)nP- a~sw~ g device as occasion 2t 932~8 .
~em~nl1s, and the incoming message can be stored in the telephone a~sw~ g device.
This system makes possible a new combination wherein a telephone all.,w~l~ug device and a voice mail center, previously independent appal~li, can control each other.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
Summary Of The Inven~on A Caller Tcl~ntific~tion and Persons Sought ~nmln~i~tion SiP.n~lin~ Phone Unit of the present invention allows users to program into the phone a plt;l~colded message to be sent out to the caller as to request the caller to state one's name and whom the caller wishes to speak to. The recorded reply by the caller is then played back through a speaker in the phone so as to indicate the identity of the caller and to identity the person sought by the caller. In this manner the user knows who the caller is and for whom the call is for, even before a~w~ g the phone. The system also allows people to screen calls, whereby, the user may decide not to answer the phone should the caller's call prove to be undesirable. A dynamic random access memory chip is used by the phone to record and playback both the users outgoing message as well as the reply made by the caller. It can also be used to control the ring sequence. As for the serviced based system the users message and the recorded reply would be stored digitally on a mainframe co~ ul~l at the Central Swilcl~ g Station. In the event of a call being placed for a particular s~lbs~iber of the service, the colll~ul~r would activate the outgoing message and would record the callers identification and persons sought reply made by the caller.
-Upon which the COLU~UIe1 would relay the information to the phone speaker u~it of the ._ subscriber. The speaker unit would then ring to in-lir~te an incoming call followed by the broadcast of the caller stating the callers identity and persons sought by the caller.
For either a p~l~ol-al h~u~eb~ed system or Central Swilcl~ g Offlce based system, the I rincip~l objective is the same. Tmm~ tely following the reception of the incoming call, the caller is provided with a first outgoing message, requesting the caller to state one's name and who the caller wishes to speak to. After a tone indicating that the unit is recording, the caller then proceeds to state ones name and the name of th~e person the caller wishes to speak to. For ~Y~mrle the first outgoing message maybe, "H~, you -have reached the Suzuki resid~nt~, please state your name and who you wish to speak to after the beep, thank you." a beep will sound indic~ting that recoldillg is in progress upon which the caller will be given ample time in which to respond. The caller may then reply by saying "George Keen for Miho please.". A specific programed number of alert rings is broadcast via a built in speaker of the phone unit followed by the recorded braadcast of the reply made by the caller. Eve~ ~one in the vicinity of the phone unit will be able to _ hear the recorded announcement by the caller and thus will be able to act accordingly, allowing for the particular individual being sought to answer the phone.
Accordingly it is a principle object of the invention to provide a called party with an announcement by the caller as to indicate who the caller is and for whom the call is for.
-- UlL;~ y another object by which the above principle object is achieved is by providing the caller a message to hear the request to state ones identity and identity of ons sought and the means to record the callers les~ se.
It is a further object of the invention that the above system of Caller Identification and Persons Sought Anmmti~tinn Si~ling Phone Unit may be provided as a service by a phone Colllp~y or Central Swilclli~g Station.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arra~gements thereof in an a~p~alus for the purposes described which is ine~ellsive, dependable and fully effective in acco",pli~hin~ its int~ntlecl purpose.
-B~ef Description Of Drawings Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the Caller Identification and Persons Sought AnmlnGi~tion Sign~ling Phone Unit in accor~ce with a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 4A and 4B is a flow chart of the main op~ g program for Caller -Identification and Persons Sought Anmmti~tion Sign~lin~ Phone Unit of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the Caller T 1~n~ifiç~tion and Persons Sought ~nmmci~tion Sign~ling Phone Unit in accordance with a second embodime~t of the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the Caller Td~ntific~tion and Persons Sought ~nmmci~tion Sigr~ling Phone Unit/Service in accol~ce with a third embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5A and 5B is a flow chart of the main o~l~ g program of the service based Caller Identification and Persons Sought Anmlnci~tion Si,~n~ling Phone Unit of the present invention.
-- Similar reference characters denote coll~,~ol-ding fea~ s cn~ t~,ntly throughout the attached drawings.
Det~ile~l Description Of The Preferred Embodiments -- A Caller Tdçntific~tion and Persons Sought Anmmei~tion Sip,n~ling Pho~e Unit of the present invention, as illusl,~led in Fig. 1 inchldes a telephone line connection 2 for connecting to t~ phone lines from a central office. Ring detector circuit 3 is used to detect the presence of an incoming call across the telephone line connection 2. The ring signal detector 3 is designed to detect the standard ring signal produced by the central office to infli~te the presence of an incommg call. A line seizure circuit 4 is co~nected to -the telephone line connection 2 so as to provide a line seizure in-lic~tion to the central -- office. Upon seizing the line, the line seizure circuit 4 also col~necl~ a seized line connection 5 to the t~ phone line col~neclion 2.
A microprocessor controller 6 is used to receive an output of the ring (letect(~r 3 via port connection 7. The controller 6 incllldes a port connection 8 for controlling the line seizure circuit 4 to seize or release the telephone line. The microprocessor controller -6 incl~ldes sorlwalc to p~,rOl.,l its controller function. The main opcl~ g program algo,illl--, is illu~t~lcd in Fig. 4A. After initi~ in~ various parameters as will be described below. The controller 6 mcnitors for an incoming ring signal (steps 101 and 102) and seizes the t~-le~h~ ne in the event of an incoming call (step 103). Ontoff hook detector 9 is co~ecled across the telephnne line connection 2 so as to produce an on-hook indication to the microprocessor controller 6 via a port connection 10 should the caller hang up. In this manner, should the caller hang up during any operation of the telephone unit 1, on/off hook detector 9 provides an on-hook indication to port connection 10, and the controller 6 causes the line seizure circuit 4 to release the telephone line and disco"li-,ue its main opc,~ g program.
As stated above, the main op~ g program causes the phone unit 1 to continue mo~ Q,;,lg the port co~e~;lion 7 until the ring detector 3 indicates the presence of an incollling call. Once an incoming call is detected and after the telephone line has been seized, the microprocessor controller 6 sends out an outgoing message to the caller (steplO4) while it relays an initial ring to the called party in (step 105). Solid state random access memory (RAM) 11 is used to store the outgoing message in a portion thereof. After issuing a co~ d to seize the telephone line, the microprocessor 6 reproduces the outgoing message (OGM 1) by reading the portion of ~he RAM 11 on which outgoing message is stored and transferring the digitally stored outgoing message to digital to analog CO~lvcllcr (D/A) 12 via port connection 13 (see step 103). The COI1YC1lC1 12 is connected to the seized telephone line connection 5 so as to canvert the digitally stored data provided by port col~l-eclion 13 to an analog signal. In ~his manner, the initial outgoing message is produced onto the telephone line. The initial outgoing -message indicates to the caller the request for the caller to state one's name and persons sought after. The caller replies after hearing a tone indicating the unit is reco~ g.(step 107,108) After the caller has made a reply, the reply is recorded on to the RAM 11 through the A/D converter 30 . After having allowed for a progl~ed number of alert rings (if any at all) broadcast by the speaker 21 (step 110). The recorded digital information transforms from digital to analogue through the D/A conv~lL~l 18 and the l~essage is broadcast out of the speaker 21 and is heard in the vicinitv of the household.
The playback and ring sequence, programmed by the user input switches 28, is repeated until the h~nt1~et 24 is picked up (steps 111 - 113) or until the call is l~ ecl by the caller (step 115) or until the ring and playback sequence times out (step 116).
The time out timer is a software timer routine within the software of the microprocessor controller 6. Microprocessor 6 then monitors to determine whether or not the person sought by the caller has picked up the phone (step 113).
The telephone unit 1 incllldes a h~n~et 24 having a hook switch 25 associated therewith. If the h~n~set 24 is lifted to answer the phone, the hook switch 25 closes to connect the h~n-lcet 24 to the seized telephone line connection 5 as well as provides an indication that the telephone is off-hook via port connection 26. Once the h~nl1~et 24 is hung-up, the hook switch 25 is opened again to release the h~nll~et 24 from th~e seized telephone line connection 5 as well as to provide an indication to the microprocessor that the h~n~1~et is hung-up.
Should the h~ndset 24 be picked up, as determined is step 113, the main ope~ g program is l~ le;l The port conne-;Lion 26 is a vectored input port connection as is .
well-known in the microprocessor art, and will t~. ",i~ e the main opGl~ling program no matter what set of the main opc,~ g program is being performed. The microprocessor also IllA;~ e the line seizure circuit 4 closed so as to connect the h~ndeet to the telephone line as long as the h~n~leet 24 is lifted and the hook switch 25 is closed. Port connection 10 is also a vectored input port to microprocessor 6, and will t~rmin~te the main opGl~ g program no matter what step is being pelrolllled thereby if the caller hangs up. Once the main opGl~ling program is t~. ",i~ l if the telephone ~S~/vGlll~g mode, as will be described below, the main opGl~ling program branches to the start and rçiniti~li7ee the parameters used by the microprocessor before monil~;"~ for another incoming call (steps 100 and 101 of Fig. 4A).
If it is determin~d that the h~n~set 24 has not been picked up as detçrmined in step 113, the ring and playback sequence continlles 114. The ringer and speaker are m~int~ined active via a port connection to the ringer circuit 22 and speaker via port col~l~e~lion 19 to the microprocessor.
After step 114, the main OpGl~ g program determines whether or not the software timer, opGl~ing COI1~;W1Gn~1Y therewith, has timed out (step 116). If the timer has timed out as det~rmined is step 116, the main opGla~ g program branches ta step 100 and reiniti~li7çs the parameters used by the microprocessor before mol,ilo, ;l~g far another incoming call.
The microprocessor controller 6 incl~ldes user input subroutine software for allowing the user control over various aspects of the operation of the telephone unit 1.
The subroutines are initi~ted in response to various user inputs received by ~ser input control switches 28. For example, the user may wish to record the outgoing message on the RAM 11. This is accompli~h~1 by initi~ting the apl)ropliate user inputs and then speaking into a built in microphone 29 which is connected to analog to digital converter 14 to convert the OGM into a digital form before the microprocessor stores the OGM in the app~ ,l,liate portion therein. In a like matter the incoming reply by the caller may be stored within the RAM 11, each one is stored in a sepal~le location of the RAl\~ 1 1 so as to be selectively retrieved by the microprocessor controller 6. The incoming reply would likewise come through telephone connection 2 connected to A/D analog to digital collv~lL~r 30 to convert the incoming reply into a digital form before the microprocessor stores the incoming reply into the RAM chip 11. Other functions such as varying the number of rings and playbacks before going off-hook, the ring and playback sequence, speaker phone and, memo r~ordhlg, may also be controlled by the user via user input switches 28.
In an ~ltPrn~te embodiment, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the telephone unit 2 is identical to the telephone unit 1, except that the unit is attached to an ~Yi~ti~g phone instead of incln-ling its own h~n-lset Instead of a hook switch 25, the telephone unit 2 incl~ldes a line seizure switch 31 which is controlled by the microprocessor 6 to connect to or disconnect the phone from the seized telephone line connection 5. The li~e seizure switch 31 is cormected to the phone via a phone connection 32. Also connected to the phone 32 is on/off hook detector 33 which detects when the phone goes off-hook or on-hook. Should the on/off hook detector 33 detect that the phone has gone off-hook as a user picks up the h~n~lset thereof, the detector 33 sends a control signal to port 26 of microprocessor 6 so as to halt the operation of the main op~raling program and to close 2 1 932b8 the line seizure circuit 4 as well as the line seizure switch 31, thereby connecting the phone to the t~ql~hone line via tel~hone line connection 2.
Further, the telephone unit 2 does not include the optional ringer circuit 22 and ringer 23 since the phone incllldes its own ringer circuit 22 and ringer 23. Upon eceivi~-g an illCO~i~g call the ring signal generator may be activated by the microprocessor 6 to produce an aleIt ring or rings across phone connection 32.
Following the aleIt rings or ring the microprocessor would switch the signal ge~erator off in order to broadcast the caller's recorded reply stored in RAM 11 through D/A converter 18 and out of the speaker 21. This sequence of rings and reply of the caller would be repeated, as programmed by the user.
Furth~rmore in an ~1t~rn~te embo-liment as illustrated in Fig. 3. The unit performs the same purpose except that the main operations are performed by a ma;~l~e co,.l~ul~l 35 at a Central Swilcllil~g Station (Fig. 5A steps 117 - 124). The Central Swil~ g Stations co",~uler 35 is programmed to initi~li7e the called party's number and to send to the caller the called party's outgoing message (step 120). The caller listens to the message and a tone is sounded indicating the system is recording (steps 121 - 122). The caller reply is recorded into the Central Swilclling Stations ~inrr;~e CO~ )Ul~l 35. The recorded reply is transformed from digital to analog form and sent to the s~lbs~ibers phone unit. Furthermore the users unit is the same to embollim~nt~ units 1 and 2 except that the RAM is replaced by the Central Swild~ g Stations ",ainfi~e colu~ulcl 35 whereby the outgoing messages and incoming reply are stored in the Illai~l~e co~ ulel 35. As well, the mic 29 A/D 14 and user input switches 28 are not r~uiled wlle~nel~y lhe user may record message through a h~ntl~et 24 1~ 2193268 -to the mainframe 35 directly. Using regular touch-tone signals generated by the telephone the user may program the desired ring and playback sequence, thus eljmin~ting the need for user input switches 28. However, like in embodiment unit 2, the ring signal generator 34 is still required to generate the ring signal on the attached telephone at the proper times. Likewise the ringer 23 and ringer CKT are also not required. Ultimately, the mainframe computer 35 controls the ring and playback sequence to the phone unit (see Fig. 5B steps 132-134). Furthermore as in embodiment unit 2 a line seizure switch 31 is utilized in the same manner as described for embodiment unit 2.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the sole embodim~ntc described above, but encomp~ses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
i
Claims (4)
1. Caller Identification and Persons Sought Annunciation Signaling Phone Unit, including:
a telephone line connection for receiving a telephone line connection from a central switching office;
a ring detector for detecting an incoming call across said telephone line connection and providing an incoming call indication signal at an output thereof upon detecting the incoming call;
line seizure circuitry for providing an off-hook indication across said telephone line connection upon receiving an off-hook command signal at an input thereof, and, at the same time, connecting said telephone line connection to a seized telephone line connection;
First outgoing message delivery means for delivering a first outgoing message across said seized telephone line connection when activated;
First controller means for producing said off-hook command signal at the input of said line seizure circuitry in response to said incoming call indication signal produced at the output of said ring detector and for activating said first outgoing message delivery means after producing said off-hook command signal;
A means for receiving and recording a callers reply across said telephone line connection and means for a standard ring followed by an output to reproduce said callers reply, whereby the said caller's reply indicates the identity of the caller and the identity of the persons sought by a caller.
A speaker for producing an audio acoustic signal in response to an audio electrical signal received at an input thereof;
Annunciation storage means for storing users audio messages and for storing incoming callers replies, whereby the audio message from called user party indicates to the caller a request for the caller to state ones name and for whom the caller is seeking, and whereby the audio reply from the caller to the called party indicates the identity of the caller and who is sought.
Second controller means responsive to said callers reply produced at said output of said recording of caller means for providing an audio reply at said input of said speaker, wherein the indication of the caller and the indication of the identity of the person sought by the caller as determined by the recorded spoken reply of the caller.
a telephone line connection for receiving a telephone line connection from a central switching office;
a ring detector for detecting an incoming call across said telephone line connection and providing an incoming call indication signal at an output thereof upon detecting the incoming call;
line seizure circuitry for providing an off-hook indication across said telephone line connection upon receiving an off-hook command signal at an input thereof, and, at the same time, connecting said telephone line connection to a seized telephone line connection;
First outgoing message delivery means for delivering a first outgoing message across said seized telephone line connection when activated;
First controller means for producing said off-hook command signal at the input of said line seizure circuitry in response to said incoming call indication signal produced at the output of said ring detector and for activating said first outgoing message delivery means after producing said off-hook command signal;
A means for receiving and recording a callers reply across said telephone line connection and means for a standard ring followed by an output to reproduce said callers reply, whereby the said caller's reply indicates the identity of the caller and the identity of the persons sought by a caller.
A speaker for producing an audio acoustic signal in response to an audio electrical signal received at an input thereof;
Annunciation storage means for storing users audio messages and for storing incoming callers replies, whereby the audio message from called user party indicates to the caller a request for the caller to state ones name and for whom the caller is seeking, and whereby the audio reply from the caller to the called party indicates the identity of the caller and who is sought.
Second controller means responsive to said callers reply produced at said output of said recording of caller means for providing an audio reply at said input of said speaker, wherein the indication of the caller and the indication of the identity of the person sought by the caller as determined by the recorded spoken reply of the caller.
2 A Caller Identification and Persons Sought Annunciation Signaling Phone Unit as claimed in claim 1, further comprising.
An incoming reply recording unit having a first input connected across said seized telephone line connected, and a second input for receiving an incoming recorded reply, said incoming reply recording unit operating to start recording at end of outgoing message.
First message completion detection means for detecting the end of said first outgoing message; and.
Third controller means for generating said incoming reply upon the detection end of the first outgoing message by said first message completion detection means.
An incoming reply recording unit having a first input connected across said seized telephone line connected, and a second input for receiving an incoming recorded reply, said incoming reply recording unit operating to start recording at end of outgoing message.
First message completion detection means for detecting the end of said first outgoing message; and.
Third controller means for generating said incoming reply upon the detection end of the first outgoing message by said first message completion detection means.
3. A Caller Identification and Persons Sought Annunciation Signaling Phone Unit, further comprising:
A microphone for recording an audio acoustic message and producing an audio electric signal at output in response to a seized telephone line.
User input means for allowing a user control over the ring and recorded reply playback, said user input means further including an outgoing message record switch and a incoming reply playback switch;
Fourth controller means responsive to the activation of the alert ring signal and said callers reply playback sequence, in accordance to the preprogrammed sequence as determined by the user through said user input switches.
A microphone for recording an audio acoustic message and producing an audio electric signal at output in response to a seized telephone line.
User input means for allowing a user control over the ring and recorded reply playback, said user input means further including an outgoing message record switch and a incoming reply playback switch;
Fourth controller means responsive to the activation of the alert ring signal and said callers reply playback sequence, in accordance to the preprogrammed sequence as determined by the user through said user input switches.
4. A Caller Identification and Persons Sought Annunciation Signaling Phone Unit further comprising:
A Central Switching Office utilized to perform specific operations described in claims 1 through 3 thereby.
The Central Switching Office undertaking the means of storing said outgoing user message and incoming caller reply.
Second controller means to send the said ring and playback sequence from the Central Switching Office to a compatible user's unit through said seized phone line.
A compatible unit able to perform said functions of said phone unit to alert the subscribers of the identity of a caller and who the caller wishes to speak to through the said recorded callers reply.
A Central Switching Office utilized to perform specific operations described in claims 1 through 3 thereby.
The Central Switching Office undertaking the means of storing said outgoing user message and incoming caller reply.
Second controller means to send the said ring and playback sequence from the Central Switching Office to a compatible user's unit through said seized phone line.
A compatible unit able to perform said functions of said phone unit to alert the subscribers of the identity of a caller and who the caller wishes to speak to through the said recorded callers reply.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002193268A CA2193268A1 (en) | 1996-12-18 | 1996-12-18 | Caller identification and called persons sought annunciation signaling phone unit |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002193268A CA2193268A1 (en) | 1996-12-18 | 1996-12-18 | Caller identification and called persons sought annunciation signaling phone unit |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2193268A1 true CA2193268A1 (en) | 1998-06-18 |
Family
ID=4159473
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002193268A Abandoned CA2193268A1 (en) | 1996-12-18 | 1996-12-18 | Caller identification and called persons sought annunciation signaling phone unit |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2193268A1 (en) |
-
1996
- 1996-12-18 CA CA002193268A patent/CA2193268A1/en not_active Abandoned
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Discontinued |