JPH04252545A - Telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow an opposite party to select whether or not the telephone set is to be set in the standby state when the subscriber leaves the telephone set in the holding state by sending a holding tone signal and a reply message explaining the recording operation to record a message of the opposite party. CONSTITUTION:When a called party sets the holding while leaving the telephone set during talking, a control circuit 11 sends a drive signal to a holding tone generating circuit 5 and a reply message output circuit 6 based on a holding signal to operate them alternately. Then a reply message for explanation of operation urging message recording is sent to the opposite party in succession to the holding tone signal. When the opposite party hearing the reply message implements operation according to the guidance of the message, a command signal for recording start is sent to a telephone line 2. The control circuit 11 receiving the command sends a release signal to the holding tone generating circuit 5 and sends a drive signal to a message recording and reproducing circuit 9. While the holding is released attended therewith, the message sent from the opposite party is recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone equipped with a hold function and an answering machine function, and more particularly to a telephone capable of recording a message from the other party while the caller is on hold.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In a telephone set equipped with a hold function, when a call is set to hold during a call, a melody sound signal is sent to the other party to temporarily put the call on hold. In addition, telephones with a recording/playback function (answering machine function) can record business messages sent from the other party if the user is set to be away. Now, telephones that have both the recording and playback function and the hold function are becoming popular.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, with such telephones that have both a recording and playback function and a hold function, messages sent from the other party cannot be recorded only when the telephone is set to answering machine mode. When the message is on hold, it is not possible to record the message. Therefore, if the person on the other end of the call puts the call on hold and leaves the phone, the person on standby has no choice but to wait until the other person returns, or if it takes a long time, unilaterally hang up the call.

[0004] In other words, if something urgent happens while you are on standby, you may end up hanging up without being able to notify the other party, and the call ends without sufficient communication between you and the other party. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a telephone that allows the recording of business messages from the waiting party even when the telephone is on hold.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the telephone set of the present invention temporarily suspends the call when a hold setting operation is performed during a call, and sends a hold sound signal to the other party from the hold sound generation circuit. The telephone is equipped with a response message output circuit that outputs a response message signal to explain the recording operation of the business message to the other party on the call, and an operation signal to start recording the business message sent from the other party who is on standby. an operation signal detection circuit that detects the message; a message recording/playback circuit that records the message sent from the other party;
Based on the hold setting signal output when setting hold, the hold tone generation circuit and the response message output circuit are driven alternately to control sending a hold tone signal and a response message signal to the other party, and the operation The apparatus is configured to include a control circuit that receives a detection signal from a signal detection circuit, operates the business record/playback circuit, and performs control to record a business message sent from a waiting partner.

[0007] This telephone also has a message recording circuit that can send a response message to the other party in response to a ringing signal, and then record a message sent from the other party in a message recording circuit. It has a functional configuration.

[0008]

[Operation] When the called party leaves the phone during a call and sets the call to hold, the control circuit sends a drive signal to the hold tone generation circuit and the response message output circuit based on the hold signal, and The response message output circuit is operated alternately.

[0009] Then, following the hold tone signal, a message explaining the operation prompting the other party to record the message, for example, ``Sorry to keep you waiting. If you are in a hurry, press the * key to record the message.'' A response message signal such as this is sent to the other party.

[0010] When the other party of the call hears this response message and performs an operation according to the instructions, a command signal to start recording is sent to the telephone line.

[0011] Upon receiving this command signal, the control circuit sends a release signal to the held tone generation circuit, and also sends a drive signal to the business recording/playback circuit. Along with this, the hold is released and the message sent from the other party is recorded.

[0012] Therefore, if an urgent matter arises while you are on hold, you can have the other party on standby record a message about the matter, so you can avoid being hung up on because of a long waiting time, or having to wait for a long time. There is no need to continue.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a telephone 1 according to the present invention. In the figure, a telephone line 2 connected to a telephone exchange (not shown) is connected to a network control circuit 3 via a tip and a ring.

The network control circuit 3 includes a pair of open/close switches 3a and 3b, and is connected to a speech network circuit 4 that performs 2-wire to 4-wire conversion to transmit and receive voice signals and the like. The network control circuit 3 also includes an output 17 of a network control section 17, which is a component of the control circuit 11, which will be described later.
a is being guided. The network control circuit 3 operates upon receiving a switching signal from the network control section 17, and connects the telephone line 2 and the speech network circuit 4 to form a DC loop.

Connected to the speech network circuit 4 is an output 5a of a melody sound generation circuit 5 which generates a melody sound signal in response to a drive signal from a melody sound control section 12, which is a component of the control circuit 11. , an operation explanation message prompting the other party to record the message based on the drive signal from the response message control unit 13, which is a component of the control circuit 11 (for example, ``Sorry to keep you waiting. If you are in a hurry, *Press the key to record the message."
) and a voice message prompting you to start recording the message (for example,
The output 6a of a response message output circuit 6 consisting of a speech synthesis and analysis circuit that outputs "We will start recording the business, so please speak.") is connected.

The output 4a of this speech network circuit 4 is also connected to an operation signal detection circuit 7 for detecting an operation signal to start recording a message sent from the other party, and to a telephone line 2.
Connected to a busy signal detection circuit 8 that detects a busy signal sent from the telephone exchange when the telephone is disconnected, and to a message recording and reproducing circuit 9 that has the function of recording and reproducing a message sent from the other party. has been done.

The output 10a of the hold switch 10 for temporarily putting a call in progress on hold is connected to a hold setting signal detection section 18, which is a component of the control circuit 11.

The control circuit 11 is equipped with a CPU (central processing unit), and includes a melody sound control unit 12, a response message control unit 13, an operation signal detection unit 14, a busy signal detection unit 15, and a message recording/playback control unit. 16, a network control section 17, a hold setting signal detection section 18, and a switch control section 19, and is configured to control the operation of the entire device, as well as control the holding operation during a call and the recording operation of the message. It has become.

The output 19a of the switch control section 19 is led to the melody sound control section 12, which receives a command signal and outputs a drive signal for operating the melody sound generation circuit 5.

The output 19b of the switch control section 19 is led to the response message control section 13, which receives the command signal and outputs a drive signal for operating the response message output circuit 6.

The output 7a of the operation signal detection circuit 7 is led to the operation signal detection section 14, which detects this signal as an operation signal when a tone signal* is sent from the other party's telephone, and generates a detection signal. is given to the switch control section 19.

The output 8a of the busy signal detection circuit 8 is led to the busy signal detection section 15, and when a busy signal output from the telephone exchange is detected, the switch control section 1
A detection signal is output for 1.

The output 19c of the switch control section 19 is led to the message recording and playback control section 16, which operates the message recording and playback circuit 9 in response to a command signal and receives a signal to start recording the message. or send a signal to terminate.

The output 10a of the hold switch 10 is led to the hold setting signal detection unit 18, which receives the hold setting signal and sends a detection signal to the switch control unit 19.

The switch control section 19 receives the detection signal from the hold setting signal detection section 18a and activates the melody sound control section 12.
command signals are alternately output to the response message control section 13 to control the response message output circuit 6 following the melody sound generation circuit 5, and when a detection signal from the operation signal detection section 14 is received, a melody sound is generated. Control is performed to stop the generation circuit 5 and operate the business record/playback circuit 9. The switch control unit 19 also controls the busy signal detection unit 15.
The open/close switch 3 of the network control circuit 3 receives the detection signal from the
a, 3b are turned off to perform control to disconnect the telephone line 2.

[0027] In the above configuration, the business record/playback circuit 9 records the business message that the telephone transmits to the other party in response to the ringing signal and subsequently sends from the other party. If the telephone is equipped with a message recording function, a message recording and reproducing circuit provided as the message recording function may be used.

Next, the operation of the telephone with the above configuration will be explained. When the telephone 1 is in a normal standby state, the open/close switches 3a and 3b of the network control circuit 3 are turned on. When a call signal arrives in this state and the user of the telephone answers, a conversation between the user of the telephone and the other party begins.

During the call, if the user of the telephone has urgent business and leaves the telephone, the hold switch 10 is turned on to temporarily put the phone on hold, and the hold setting signal is detected by the hold setting signal detection section of the control circuit 11. Sent on 18th.

Then, a detection signal is output from the hold setting signal detection section 18 to the switch control section 19, and the switch control section 19 controls the melody sound control section 12 based on this detection signal.
and the response message control unit 13, command signals are alternately sent out at predetermined time intervals.

Melody sound control unit 1 that receives this command signal
2 outputs a drive signal to operate the melody sound generation circuit 5. Subsequently, upon receiving the command signal, the response message control section 13 outputs a drive signal to the response message output circuit 6.
Activate.

As a result, the melody sound signal outputted from the melody sound generation circuit 5 is supplied to the telephone line 2 via the speech network 4 and the network control circuit 3, and then the response message outputted from the response message output circuit 6. is supplied to the telephone line 2 via the speech network 4 and the network control circuit 3. Therefore, the other party listens to the melody sound and the response message alternately.

[0033] Then, when the other party hears a melody followed by a response message that says, ``Sorry to keep you waiting. If you are in a hurry, press the * key to record your message.'' When the key is pressed in accordance with
, are guided to the operation signal detection circuit 7 via the speech network circuit 4, and sent to the operation signal detection section 14.

Then, a detection signal is output from the operation signal detection section 14 to the switch control section 19, and the switch control section 19
In response to this detection signal, outputs a stop command signal to the melody sound control section 12 to stop the operation of the melody sound generation circuit 5, while outputting a command signal to the response message control section 13, and outputs a command signal to the response message output circuit. 13 is activated again.

[0035] As a result, the transmission of the melody sound signal is stopped, and the response message output circuit 6 outputs a response message saying, "We will start recording your business, so please speak." 3 to the telephone line 2.

Further, the switch control section 19 outputs a command signal to the business record/playback control section 16 to put the business record/playback circuit 9 into operation. Thereafter, when the other party in response to the voice message inputs a business message, this message message signal is guided to the business record/playback circuit 9 via the telephone line 2, network control circuit 3, and speech network 4, Message recording begins.

When the other party who has finished transmitting the business message hangs up the telephone, a busy signal is output from the telephone exchange based on the transmission completion signal.

This busy signal is given to the busy signal detection circuit 8 via the telephone line 2, the network control circuit 3, and the speech network 4. Then, when the busy signal detection section 15 that receives the output signal of the busy signal detection circuit 8 sends a detection signal to the switch control section 19, the switch control section 19 issues a command to the message recording/playback control section 16. A signal is output to stop the business record/playback circuit 9.

Subsequently, the switch control unit 19 sends an OFF command signal to the network control circuit 3 to turn off the open/close switches 3a and 3b.

[0040] As a result, the telephone line 2 and the speech network circuit 4 are disconnected, and the message recording operation during the hold period is completed.

[0041]

[Effects of the Invention] When the telephone set of the present invention is set to hold during a call, it sends a hold tone signal and a response message explaining the recording operation of the business message to the other party based on the hold setting signal. When the caller sends a message in response to this, the message is recorded in the message recording and playback circuit, so if an urgent matter arises while the phone is on hold and you leave the phone, the caller will be on standby. It is possible to leave it to the other party's choice whether to continue or not, and if the other party wishes to tell the client what the business is, it is possible to record the business message. Therefore, conventional problems such as being left on hold and waiting for a long time, or being disconnected due to a unilateral hang-up, are resolved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a telephone according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Telephone 2 Telephone line 5 Hold tone generation circuit (melody sound generation circuit) 6 Response message output circuit 9 Message recording/playback circuit 11 Control circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] [Claim 1] In a telephone set that can temporarily interrupt the call and send a hold tone signal to the other party from a hold tone generation circuit when a hold setting operation is performed during a call, an operation for recording a business message to the other party of the call is provided. a response message output circuit that outputs a response message signal explaining the message; an operation signal detection circuit that detects an operation signal to start recording a message sent from a waiting partner; and an operation signal detection circuit that detects a message recording start signal sent from the other party The held tone generation circuit and the response message output circuit are alternately driven based on the recording and playback circuit for the business to be recorded and the hold setting signal outputted when the hold is set, and the held tone signal and the response message signal are sent to the other party. a control circuit that performs control to transmit the message, and receives a detection signal from the operation signal detection circuit to operate the message recording and reproducing circuit to record the message message sent from the waiting partner; A telephone characterized by being equipped with. [Claim 2] The telephone set according to claim 1 is capable of transmitting a response message to the other party in response to a ringing signal, and then recording a business message sent from the other party in a business recording circuit. A telephone characterized by having a function for recording business matters.