JPH11239208A - Automatic answering telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow an automatic answering telephone set to inform a caller of a reason why the automatic answering mode is set, thereby saving a troublesome operation by the user. SOLUTION: When an incoming call/end of call detection circuit 6 detects an incoming call signal received from a telephone line 1, a main control section 15 controls a hook switch 3 to acquire the telephone line 1 connecting with a line interface 2 and to form a speech path by a speech circuit 4 thereby making a speech. Furthermore, the main control section 15 control a voice memory 11 to read a reply message and allows a voice superimposing circuit 14 to transmit the message and activates a microphone 12 to give a voice signal to a voice superimposing section 13. The voice superimposing section 13 superimposes the reply message read from the voice memory 11 on the voice signal from the microphone 12 adjusted by a voice adjustment circuit 13 and the superimposed signal is given to the speech circuit 4. The speech circuit 4 sends the superimposed signal to an opposite telephone set by using the speech path.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an answering machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, as an answering machine, when an incoming call signal is received, a communication line with a calling side is automatically made by automatically capturing a communication line, and a response message registered in advance in the calling side. And then record a message sent from the calling party.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the reasons for setting the answering machine mode (for example, you cannot answer a call because you answer another phone, cannot talk because you are away from your desk, or talk because you are watching a movie) If you want to tell the caller that you can't talk, you can't talk on the train, or you can't talk on the phone while driving, you need to create a response message that tells you why you've set the answering machine mode according to your situation There is a problem that a complicated operation is required for the user.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an answering machine that can inform a caller of the reason for setting the answering machine mode without requiring a complicated operation by the user.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an answering machine for automatically enabling a telephone call when an incoming call is received and transmitting a pre-registered response message to the calling side. , A microphone for collecting sounds around the device body, and control means for transmitting the sound collected by the microphone to the transmitting side when the response message is transmitted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, the control means superimposes the sound collected by the microphone on the response message to transmit the sound to the transmitting side. Is what you do.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first or second aspect, an adjusting means for adjusting the volume of the sound collected by the microphone is provided.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when an incoming call is received, the line is automatically captured and the telephone is ready for communication, and the response message registered in advance and the sound of the device body collected by the microphone are collected. The surrounding sound is transmitted to the transmitting side under the control of the control means, so that the transmitting side can be notified of the surrounding situation of the receiving side.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when an incoming call is received, the line is automatically caught and the telephone becomes communicable, and a response message in which sounds around the device main body collected by the microphone are superimposed. Is transmitted to the transmitting side under the control of the control means, so that the transmitting side can be notified of the situation around the receiving side.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when an incoming call is received, the line is automatically caught and the telephone becomes communicable, the sound is collected by the pre-registered response message and the microphone, and the volume is adjusted by the adjusting means. The surrounding sound of the device itself is transmitted to the calling side under the control of the control means, so that the calling side can be notified of the surrounding situation of the called side and the degree of the surrounding situation to be notified can be arbitrarily determined. Can be set to

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an answering machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view showing an external configuration of the answering machine, and FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement control at the time.

An answering machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a telephone line connected to the other party's telephone via an exchange (not shown), reference numeral 2 denotes a line interface to which the telephone line 1 is connected, and reference numeral 3 denotes a telephone line connected to the line interface 2. Capture of line 1 /
A hook switch for releasing the call, a communication circuit for forming a communication path with the other telephone through the telephone line captured by the hook switch, and a communication circuit with the other telephone using the communication path formed by the communication circuit. This is a handset that makes calls.

Reference numeral 6 denotes an incoming / end detecting circuit for detecting an incoming signal or an end signal coming from the telephone line 1 connected to the line interface 2. A ring tone generating circuit that generates a sound,
Reference numeral 8 denotes a speaker that emits a ring tone generated by the ring tone generating circuit 7 to the outside, 9 denotes a function key for instructing start / stop of an answering machine mode or a response message superimposing mode, and a volume adjustment operation of superimposed voice, a telephone number, and the like. Is an operation unit composed of numeric keys and the like for inputting characters.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a recording circuit for storing, in an audio memory 11, which will be described later, a message sent from the other party's telephone and a response message input to the handset 5 using the communication path formed by the communication circuit 4. Is a voice memory for storing message messages and response messages processed by the recording circuit 10, 12 is a microphone that collects sounds around the device body and converts them into electric signals, and 13 is a microphone collected by the microphone 12. An audio adjusting circuit 14 for adjusting the volume of the audio signal is an audio superimposing circuit for superimposing the audio signal adjusted by the audio circuit 13 on the response message read from the audio memory 11. The voice signal is transmitted to the other party's telephone using the communication path formed by the communication circuit 4.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a line capture / release control in the hook switch 3 based on a detection signal from the incoming / outgoing call detection circuit 6 and various instruction signals from the operation unit 9, a control for forming a communication path in the communication circuit 4, and an incoming call. Ring tone generation control in the sound generation circuit 7, recording control in the recording circuit 10, write / read control in the voice memory 11, voice control circuit 13
Is a main control unit that performs audio adjustment control and the audio superimposition control in the audio superimposition circuit 14.

The operation of the answering machine configured as described above when receiving a call will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the user operates the operation unit 9 to activate the answering machine mode and the response message superimposing mode, and the volume of the superimposed voice is adjusted, an incoming signal arrives from the telephone line 1 and the incoming signal arrives. When the incoming call signal detected by the incoming / end detection circuit 6 is detected (step F1), and the number of arrivals of the incoming signal reaches a predetermined number of times (step F2), the process shifts to an answering operation, and The control unit 15 controls the hook switch 3 to capture the telephone line 1 connected to the line interface 2 and to form a communication path by the communication circuit 4 to make a communication possible state (step F3), and the voice memory 11 To read the response message and send it to the voice superimposing circuit 14 (step F4).

It should be noted that after the incoming signal coming from the telephone line 1 is detected by the incoming / end-of-call detection circuit 6, the main control unit 1 operates until the number of incoming signals reaches a predetermined number.
Reference numeral 5 controls a ring tone generation circuit 7 to generate a ring tone and emit it to the outside from the speaker 8.

On the other hand, at the time of reading the response message, the main control unit 15 activates the microphone 12 (step F5), and converts the audio signal from the microphone 12 to the volume desired by the user by the audio adjustment circuit 13. The audio message is adjusted and transmitted to the audio superimposing unit 13 (step F8). In the audio superimposing unit 13, the response message read from the audio memory 11 and the audio signal from the microphone 12 adjusted by the audio adjusting circuit 13 are superimposed ( In step F9), by sending the call to the call circuit 4, the call is sent to the other party's telephone using the call path formed by the call circuit 4 (step F10).

When the reading of the response message from the voice memory 11 is completed while the response message is being sent to the other party's telephone (step F6),
The main controller 15 controls the recording circuit 10 to store a message from the other party's telephone, which is transmitted using the communication path formed by the communication circuit 4, in the voice memory 11 (step F7).

In the state where the answering message is being sent to the other party's telephone, if the incoming / outgoing call detection circuit 6 detects the incoming call end signal coming from the telephone line 1 (step F11), this answering machine is not available. The answering operation is ended to return to the original standby state, and when the handset 5 is picked up and off-hook (step F12), the answering operation is ended and the state shifts to the talking state.

Therefore, according to the above operation control, a response message which can cope with any situation, such as "I cannot answer the telephone now" is stored in the voice memory 11 so that Since such a response message and the sound around the answering machine at the called party are sent to the telephone, the surroundings of the called party can be notified to the other party. You can know at the same time that you can't go out and why.

That is, for example, if the caller cannot answer the call because he or she is answering another phone or talking with a nearby person, the calling party may say, "I cannot answer the phone right now." Because the contents of the other phone call or the conversation with the surrounding people are transmitted at the same time as the message,
The calling party can recognize that they are not answering the phone because they are answering another phone or talking to a nearby person, and they cannot answer the phone because they are out of their seats. , The caller is notified that the surrounding area is quiet at the same time as a message such as "I can't answer the phone right now", so the caller must recognize that she is out of her seat and cannot answer the call Can be.

In the above-described embodiment, the sound around the device body is superimposed on the pre-registered response message and transmitted. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The sound around the device body may be transmitted before or after the operation. However, if the sound around the device is sent before or after the pre-registered response message, the calling party may misunderstand that it can talk to the called party or listen to the response message only when calling. Since the call may be cut off, it may not be possible to correctly communicate the reason for the absence setting, so the sound around the device itself is superimposed on the pre-registered response message and sent out, and the caller cannot be answered. It is best to let them know the reason at the same time.

In the above embodiment, a wired telephone in which a telephone line is directly connected by a wire has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a wireless telephone connected wirelessly through a base station is similarly provided. When applied to a wireless telephone in this way, it is not possible to make a call because you are watching a movie, you cannot make a call because you are on a train, you cannot make a call while driving, etc. , The caller can be notified.

[0028]

As described above, according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, when a response message is transmitted in response to an incoming call, the sound around the device body is also transmitted to the transmitting side. Allows the calling party to know the situation around the called party, so that the caller can be notified of the reason for setting the answering machine mode without relying on a response message, and accordingly, the reason for setting the answering machine mode It is not necessary to change the response message every time the number changes, so that complicated operations by the user can be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first or second aspect of the present invention, the degree of the surrounding situation to be notified to the calling side on the receiving side can be arbitrarily set. Usability can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an answering machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing an external configuration of the answering machine.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing operation control at the time of an incoming call in the answering machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Telephone line 2 Line interface 3 Hook switch 4 Communication circuit 5 Handset 6 Incoming / outgoing call detection circuit 7 Ring tone generation circuit 8 Speaker 9 Operation part 10 Recording circuit 11 Voice memory 12 Microphone 13 Voice adjustment circuit 14 Voice superposition circuit 15 Main control Department

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An answering machine for automatically enabling a call when an incoming call is received and transmitting a pre-registered response message to a calling side, a microphone for collecting sounds around the device body, and transmitting the response message An answering machine provided with control means for causing the sound collected by the microphone to be transmitted to the transmitting side. 2. The answering machine according to claim 1, wherein the control unit superimposes the sound collected by the microphone on the response message and sends the response message to the caller. 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising adjusting means for adjusting the volume of the sound collected by said microphone.
Or an answering machine according to claim 2.