JP2904382B2 - Telephone equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus for making a voice response .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a case where a small business office or the like does not have a staff member who can answer an outside line immediately, for example, when most of the staff members are absent and a small number of people answer calls.
Many callers were uncomfortable with the delayed response.

For this reason, recently, a key telephone has been provided with a voice recording / reproducing apparatus, which responds promptly to an incoming call, sends a message, and informs the user that he / she wants to wait.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, once the voice recording / reproducing apparatus is set to operate, even if the answering party can immediately answer the call, it automatically answers the incoming call. As a result, the caller has to wait for a long time after hearing the voice message, and is still uncomfortable. Also, the sent message was always the same content, which sometimes caused discomfort.

[0005] On the other hand, the operator cannot determine how long a caller who is waiting while listening to a voice message is waiting. In some cases, giving the caller even more unpleasant thoughts.

According to the present invention , when an incoming call is received ,
Appropriate among multiple messages depending on the circumstances of the operator
Messages can be selected.
A message is displayed to indicate that the call is being answered.
When the operator talks directly to the caller,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a telephone device capable of appropriately responding to whether or not a response has been made.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a voice response to an incoming call.
One of multiple messages to be answered
Selection means selected by the operator during operation, and
Voice for sending the selected message to the incoming call
Response means and any of the above messages
Display means for displaying whether a response is being made
It is characterized by.

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a key telephone apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The key telephone apparatus is a dedicated extension telephone 1
01, 102, and extension interface 103,
External line interface 105 accommodating lines 106 and 107 from the public network, time-division communication path 104 for time-divisionally controlling the communication path between each extension and external line, voice recording / reproducing device 108 having a recording / reproducing function, and overall system , A timer clock unit 111, and a memory 110 for storing a control program and various data in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an operation unit of the dedicated extension telephone. In addition, each dedicated extension telephone 101, 10
2 has a common configuration, and shows only one of them.

The dedicated extension telephone has a receiver 202 for making a call and a display unit 2 such as an LCD for displaying a telephone number and the like.
03, a function button 204 with an LED or the like to which various functions can be assigned, a dial button 209 for inputting a telephone number, etc., a shortcut button 210 to be pressed when a speed dial is transmitted, and a call holding function. , And a speaker button 212 used when the receiver 202 is put in an off-hook state without being lifted.

The function buttons 204 include function buttons 205 and 206 used as outside line buttons 1 and 2 and function buttons 207 and 208 used as voice response buttons 1 and 2 in this embodiment. Have been.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example in which the state of an incoming call outside line is displayed on the display unit 203.

The upper part of FIG. 3 shows that a call is already being made with an outside line.
'3m10s' indicates that 3 minutes and 10 seconds have elapsed, and '20 yen' indicates that the call charge is 2
It is shown that it is 0 yen.

The lower part of FIG. 3 shows a response to the incoming external line, indicating that a call is being answered by a message. The external line 02 'has the external line accommodation position of 2 and the 0m2
0s 'indicates that the voice response state has continued for 20 seconds, and' mes. 1 'is the first message of a plurality of voice response messages, indicating that a response is being made.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control program according to this embodiment.

First, when an incoming call from an outside line is detected (S4)
01), and waits for a response button 207 or 208 to be pressed (S402).

Here, when it is detected that the response button 207 is pressed, the display unit 203 of the dedicated extension telephone which has pressed the response button 207 is pressed.
(S403). The operator can perform this operation even when the user is already in a call, and, for example, the upper part of the display example shown in FIG. 3 is displayed.

When the response button 207 is pressed, an instruction is given to display the response as shown in the example shown in the lower part of FIG. However, the display indicating the time of the voice response state is “0m0s”.
Instruct to become. As another display means, an LED of the outside line button 205 or 206 corresponding to the incoming outside line is used.
The display may be in a voice response state.

Next, a reproduction request is instructed to the voice recording / reproducing device 108 (S404). A plurality of response messages are recorded in the voice recording / reproducing device 108 corresponding to the response buttons. Here, the message corresponding to the response button 207 is selected.

For example, if the user plays "XX company. Please wait as it is", it is possible to inform that a response can be made immediately. Alternatively, the message corresponding to the response button 208 is, for example, "XX company. We are crowded, but please wait as it is." it can.

Next, a response is made to the received outside line (S40).
5) Instruct the communication path unit 104 to connect a communication path to an external line responded by the voice recording / reproducing device 108 (S40).
6).

Further, in order to update the status time during the voice response, the timer timer 111 is activated so that a timeout signal can be generated in, for example, 10 seconds. Timer timing unit 1
When a time-out signal is received from No. 11, “0m0s” in the lower display shown in FIG. 3 is updated to “0m10s” (S407).

Next, the pressing of the outside line button is detected (S4).
08). Here, it is assumed that a newly received outside line is currently in voice response, and an outside line button corresponding to the outside line is pressed. Then, the outside line that has been in use until now is disconnected (S409). Note that this process is not performed if there is no call that was being made.

In S410, the display in FIG. 3 is updated. In this process, the display that is currently in a call is extinguished, and the outside line that is in a voice response is displayed as a call. Here, the voice response state time is displayed while being updated. The corresponding outside line button is also displayed during a call.

Next, the message is stopped (S411).
The dedicated extension telephone whose external line button is pressed is connected to the two-way communication path of the external line that was in voice response (S412). After that, a normal call is made.

If the answer button is not pressed in S402 and the outside line button is pressed in order to make a normal response to the incoming call (S415), the call that has been talking until now is disconnected (S416). This process is not performed if there is no active call.

In the display process, the current call display is temporarily erased, and a call display corresponding to a new incoming call is performed (S4).
17). Next, a new incoming call is answered (S418), and a communication channel is connected (S419).

As another embodiment, one of a plurality of messages is "XX company. I'm sorry, but I'm very crowded. I'm sorry to trouble you, but please give me your name and phone number. We will prepare to play back, and at the time of this message, a recording request may be made.

It is also possible to send a special tone to a dedicated extension telephone via a communication path when a predetermined time elapses or every time the predetermined time elapses while waiting for a voice response. Further, when the dedicated extension telephone has a tone generating means, the tone generating instruction may be given after the above-mentioned time elapses, and the special tone may be generated.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the present onset Akira,
If there is an incoming call, depending on the circumstances of the operator on the receiving side,
Select an appropriate message from a number of messages.
And which message is being answered.
Display, allowing the operator to communicate directly with the caller after voice response.
When speaking, it depends on which message you answered.
This has the effect of being able to respond quickly .

[0034]

[0035]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a key telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an operation unit of the dedicated extension telephone in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an incoming call outside line state display on a display unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control program of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101, 102: dedicated extension telephone, 103: extension interface, 104: time-division communication path, 105: external line interface, 106, 107: line, 108: voice recording / reproducing device, 109: CPU, 110: memory, 111: timer Unit, 202: handset, 203: display unit, 204 to 208: function button, 209: dial button, 210: reduction button, 211: hold button, 212: speaker button.

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04M 3/42-3/64 H04Q 3/58-3/62

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of messages for voice response to an incoming call.
Selection by the operator during the above-mentioned incoming call
Means and the message selected by the selecting means
Voice response means to send out to any of the above messages
Display means for displaying whether there is a telephone set.