JPH01265645A - Automatic answering telephone set with automatic setting and release function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain setting/release of the automatic answering function automatically by providing a timer start means bringing the state of a communication terminal equipment into the absence state and a reply presence setting means or the like bringing the state of the communication terminal equipment into the presence state. CONSTITUTION:In the case of the presence state of the communication terminal equipment, if no reply comes even when an incoming notice circuit 2 is operated for a predetermined time in the presence of a call, a timer start means 31 operates an automatic reply/sound-recording circuit 6 to bring the state of the communication terminal equipment into the absence state and starts an absence timer 4. When a call comes within an expected absence time, a control circuit 3 supervises whether or not a telephone set is hooked off within a prescribed time. When the telephone set is hooked off during the time, a hook switch 4n is thrown to the position of a receiver 5 to attain talking. Then a reply absence setting means 34 restores the state into the presence state to stop the absence timer 4.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention provides an automatic answer to an incoming call in a communication system such as a telephone when the user of the terminal is absent. The present invention relates to an answering machine with an automatic setting/cancellation function, such as a terminal device having a function of notifying the user of a certain situation, or an exchange that realizes an equivalent function.

[Prior Art] Recently, many types of so-called "answering machines" have been released for residential or business use, which notify the caller that the user is absent.

Conventional answering machines require users to set the answering machine function when they go out and to cancel it after returning home. If you forget to set it up when you go out, you will not be able to use the answering machine function for calls you receive while you are out. Therefore, even if the answering function is not set on some models,
If the call continues for a sufficiently long time (for example, 3 minutes), some devices automatically answer the call, play a guidance notification of absence, and record a message. In some cases, after the automatic response, the answering machine function can be set from outside by entering a series of numbers, including a preset password, using the numeric keypad of the bushing type telephone.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in order to do this, the user must realize that he/she has forgotten the settings, call his/her own phone from outside, wait a long time, and enter a multi-digit code. It must be entered without errors.

On the other hand, if the user forgets to cancel the answering machine function when the user returns from outside, there is a problem that the device will automatically answer the incoming call (normally, if the answering machine function is set However, when I receive a call on my device, I ring the ring from 1 to 1.
(The phone will ring about three times and then switch to automatic response.)

In this way, with conventional answering machines, you can set
It is essential to cancel the setting when returning home, but elderly people may not be able to understand the operation, and if they forget to set and cancel the settings, they will not be able to use the function effectively.

This invention was made to eliminate these drawbacks, and even if the user forgets to set or cancel the settings,
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an answering machine communication device with an automatic setting/cancellation function that can automatically set/cancel the answering function by estimating whether the user is home or absent.

Means for Solving Problem C] The answering machine with automatic setting and recording function according to the present invention is provided with an out-of-home timer, and has a timer starting means 1 in the control circuit.
The apparatus is equipped with a time home setting means, a timer restart means, a response home setting means, and a calling home setting means.

[Effect]

In this invention, when the communication terminal status is "at home", the timer starting means determines that there is no response even if there is an incoming call and activates the incoming call notification circuit for a predetermined period of time, and The recording circuit is activated, the status of the communication terminal is set to "away", and an out-of-home timer is started.

Further, the time-at-home setting means determines that a certain period of time has elapsed since the going-out timer started, and sets the state of the communication terminal to "at-home".

Furthermore, the timer restart means is set to "Away" when the communication terminal status is "Away".
In this case, it is determined that there is no response even if there is an incoming call and the incoming communication circuit is activated for a certain period of time, the automatic answering/recording circuit is activated, and the going out timer is restarted.

Further, when the status of the communication terminal is "absent", the response home setting means determines that there is an incoming call and a response is received while the incoming call notification circuit is activated, and activates the communication circuit. In addition to making it possible to communicate with the calling terminal via
The state of the communication terminal is set to "at home".

Furthermore, the calling home setting means determines that the state of the communication terminal is "
If the communication terminal is "away from home," it is determined that there has been a call operation from the communication terminal, and the state of the communication terminal is set to "at home."

〔Example) First, the present invention will be explained in detail.

If there is a person near the target phone and it is possible to answer the incoming call, it is "home", and if not, it is "home".
Defined as "absentee." The purpose of this invention is to estimate the probabilities of being "at home" and "not at home," set the answering function when the probability of being "at home" is high, and cancel it when the probability of "being at home" is high.

In general, the following holds true.

- The probability of being at home and the probability of being away equals 1.

- If someone is away at a certain time, there is a very high probability that he will be away immediately after that, but the probability that he will be away decreases as time passes.

・If you are home at a certain time, the probability that you will be home immediately after that is very high, but the probability that you will be home decreases as time passes.

Furthermore, we make the following assumptions.

- If observed over a sufficiently long period of time, the probability of being at home becomes a constant value. (po)・The probability of going from being away to being home at a certain time is constant.
(μi)・The probability that a person will be away from home at a certain time is constant. (μ2) The above relationship is shown in FIG.

In steady state, Pa　　μ2　　=qOμ鳳 However, qo=IP.

It is. Note that p (t) is the probability of being at home, q (1)
represents the probability that the person is away.

Figure 4 shows the probability p(t) of being at home and the probability q of being away.
(t) schematically shows the change over time.

When it is known that you are at home at time to, the probability that you will be at home after that, p (t), has an exponential distribution, and is expressed as follows.

However, 20◆q0-1 When it is known that the person is away at time t0, the probability of being away after that q (t) is similarly 1 μm (t-to) q (t) = po /J te ”Q .

Therefore, after finding out that he is absent at time to, q
The time T required for (t) to decrease and reach qth is as follows.

Here, T is a constant determined when μt + 9th+ Qo is given, and corresponds to the expected value of the time it takes for a person who has gone out to return home.

Additionally, the following items can be used to determine whether the person is at home or away.

- If your phone goes off-hook, who is there? In other words, he is at home.

・If you ring the bell and answer it, there will be someone there.

In other words, at home.

・If you ring the bell for a long time and there is no answer, the person is away. However, in this case, there may be cases where the person does not want to answer the phone (he is away) or is unable to answer the phone (infants, people with disabilities), but these will also be treated as being away.

In order to realize this method, the control circuit 13 performs control as shown in FIG.

First, when this device receives a call while its status is "at home," it changes to the "calling when at home" state and rings the call bell of the terminal. In this case, if a human responds (off-footer), the state becomes "talking", and if the terminal is then turned on-hook, the state of the terminal returns to the "home" state.

However, even if a call is received, it will take a certain amount of time (response time when at home T)
If there is no response during step 1), the state shifts to "automatic response/recording" and then shifts to "absent" state.

On the other hand, if the terminal receives an incoming call while in the "Away" state, it will also shift to the "Away Call Tanaka" state, and if the terminal is not off-hook during the "fixed time" (Away Ring Time T2), the "Away Call Tanaka" state will occur. The state will change to "Automatic Answer/Recording" and then return to the "Away" state.

If the terminal is off-hook between the time the call is received and the time T2 has elapsed when the user is away, the state shifts to a "talk" state.

Furthermore, when the terminal is off-hook while in the "away" state, or if there is no incoming call or off-footer until a certain period of time (expected out-of-home time TO) has elapsed, the terminal shifts to the "at home" state.

Here, TO corresponds to the expected time until a person who has gone out returns home, and is determined by the method explained in FIG. 3. T
1 is a time for determining that there is no one around the terminal who can answer the call, and is set to a value of several tens of seconds to several minutes. T2 is for notifying that there is an incoming call when the terminal status is "absent". If someone in the vicinity goes off-hook during this time, you can make a call. At this time, the configuration may be such that even if the user goes off-hook after transitioning to the automatic answering/recording state, the process can be interrupted and the transition can be made to the talking state.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention based on the above principle is applied to an answering machine.

In this figure, 1 is an incoming call detection circuit, 2 is an incoming notification circuit such as a bell circuit, and 3 is a control circuit, which has the function of maintaining one of two different states, home and away, as well as timer starting means 3.
11 Time setting means 32. Timer restart means 33. A response home setting means 341 and a calling home setting means 35 are provided. 4 is an out-of-home timer for measuring time; 5 is a telephone receiver; 6 is an automatic answer recording circuit; h is a hook switch; a is a switch switched by the control circuit 3; L is a telephone line;
EX indicates an exchange.

First, the operation when this answering machine receives a call via the telephone line will be explained. Ringing signal from the exchange (I
R) is manually input to the incoming call detection circuit 1 via the hook switch h and the switch a. The incoming call detection circuit 1 activates the incoming call notification circuit 2 and notifies the control circuit 3 of the arrival of the calling signal. The control circuit 3 measures the time since the arrival of the calling signal using the signal from the out-of-home timer 4.

At this time, the control circuit 3 maintains as an internal state whether this device is in a "home" state or an "absent" state, and operates differently depending on each state. However, in the initial state, the answering function is "at home".

j) When the state is "at home", the operation control circuit 3 determines whether the telephone is off-hook (hook switch h is closed) within a preset certain time (absence determination time) after detecting an incoming call. I'll monitor what's going on. If the telephone is off-hook during this time, the switch h is switched to the handset side, and the telephone becomes ready to talk.

On the other hand, if the telephone is not off-hook within the absence determination time, the control circuit 3 switches the switch a to the automatic answer recording circuit 6 side. The automatic answer recording circuit 6 automatically answers incoming calls and sends pre-stored voice guidance to the telephone line (normally, the voice guidance includes information such as the fact that the user is absent, contact information in case of an emergency, etc.). In addition, the message from the caller is recorded and saved. Next, the timer starting means 31 of the control circuit 3 sets the internal state to the "away state" and measures the time elapsed since this state setting is performed using the out-of-home timer 4.

if) When the status is "Away", the operation control circuit 3 monitors whether there is an incoming call or an off-footer from the telephone until the timer 4 has elapsed for a certain period of time (expected out-of-home time). During this time, if there is no incoming call or off-hook, the time-at-home setting means 32 returns the internal state to "at-home". If the call arrives during the expected out-of-home time, the control circuit 3 will keep the call for a certain period of time (ringing time when out of office).
Monitor whether the phone goes off-hook during the call.

Normally, the call time when the user is away is set to be sufficiently shorter than the absence determination time described above.

During this time, if the telephone is off-hook, the hook switch h is switched to the handset 5 side, and the telephone becomes ready to talk. The response at-home setting means 34 of the control circuit 3 returns the status to "at-home" and stops the out-of-home timer 4.

Also, if you are off-hook while in the "away" state,
The calling home setting means 35 returns the status to "home" and stops the going out timer 4.

On the other hand, if there is no telephone off-footer within the answering machine call time, the control circuit 3 switches the switch to the automatic answer recording circuit 6. The automatic answer recording circuit 6 automatically answers an incoming call and sends pre-stored voice guidance to the telephone line. It also records and saves messages from callers. Further, the timer restart means 3 of the control circuit 3
3 restarts the counting of the out-of-home timer (the status is "Away")
).

The automatic answer recording circuit 6 can be realized using technology that is already widely used as a function equivalent to that of a conventional answering machine. Various methods such as the method used can be applied.

In addition, the method of inputting the voice guidance stored in advance, the method of recording the message from the caller, and the method of playing and erasing it should be the same as those already applied to various products on the market. I can do it.

In the embodiments described so far, an example of application as an answering machine has been shown, but it can also be applied to a device that provides an absence notification in the same way as an answering machine in facilities such as public or private exchanges.

Such an embodiment is shown in FIG. In Figure 2, T, ,T
s is the receiving terminal (telephone) and the calling terminal (telephone), a
Lo 82 is a switch controlled by the control circuit 3, 7 is a transmission response detection circuit, and other symbols are the same as in FIG. In this embodiment, an incoming call notification signal is sent from the incoming call notification circuit 2 to the receiving terminal TR, and the incoming communication circuit (bell circuit) in the receiving terminal TR is made to ring. Furthermore, the sending of messages in the automatic response recording circuit 6 is not directly sent from the receiving terminal TR to the calling terminal T as shown in FIG. Although it is performed through a device, the operating principle is exactly the same. Furthermore, the outgoing call response detection circuit 7 detects the outgoing call operation of the receiving terminal TI and the response to the incoming call.

It should be noted that the same can be achieved in digital exchanges and digital telephones by simply replacing the calling signal sending (detection) circuit and the like.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to telephone terminals, and can be applied to communication terminals that handle various data.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the present invention determines whether the user is home or away and automatically switches the internal state, so the user does not have to set or cancel the answering machine, You can effectively use functions such as Message Recording and Message Recording. Of course, it will be more accurate to operate the device if a person manually sets and cancels the settings when going out or returning home, but with this invention, automatic settings and cancellations can be performed even if the user forgets to do the operation, so it is possible for users who are not familiar with the operation to perform the settings and cancellations automatically. It has the advantage that users can also use it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of this invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of this invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram explaining the transition of the probability of being at home and being away, and Fig. 4 5 is a diagram illustrating the change over time in the probability of being at home, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the control circuit of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an incoming call detection circuit, 2 is an incoming call notification circuit, 3 is a control circuit, 4 is an out-of-home timer, 5 is a receiver, 6 is an automatic answer recording circuit, and 7 is an outgoing answer detection circuit. Figure 3 Figure 5 Expected time out

Claims (1)

[Claims] There is an incoming call detection circuit that detects an incoming call, an incoming call notification circuit that notifies the user that there is an incoming call, and an incoming call notification circuit that notifies the user that there is an incoming call. After responding to the request and sending the pre-stored absence notification information to the calling terminal via the communication line,
Time is measured in an answering machine that has an automatic answering/recording circuit that records and stores messages from a calling terminal, and a control circuit that has the function of maintaining one of two different states: home and away. An out-of-home timer is provided, and the control circuit determines that when the status of the communication terminal is "at home", there is no response even if there is an incoming call and the incoming call notification circuit is activated for a predetermined period of time; Activates the automatic response/recording circuit and changes the status of the communication terminal to "Away"
and timer starting means for starting the going out timer; time home setting means for determining that a certain period of time has elapsed since the going out timer started, and setting the state of the communication terminal to "home"; Communication terminal status is "Away"
In this case, the timer restart means determines that there is no response even if there is an incoming call and activates the incoming call communication circuit for a certain period of time, activates the automatic answering/recording circuit, and restarts the out-of-home timer. and when the status of the communication terminal is "absent", it is determined that there is an incoming call and there is a response while the incoming call notification circuit is activated, and communication with the calling terminal is possible via the communication circuit. and a response home setting means for setting the status of the communication terminal to "at home", and determining that there has been a call operation from the communication terminal when the status of the communication terminal is "at home". An answering machine with an automatic setting/recording function, characterized in that it is equipped with a call home setting means for setting the status of the communication terminal to "home".