JP2002368867A - Automatic telephone message recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic telephone message recorder that can prevent malfunction due to a momentary change in a surrounding sound volume in the case of automatic setting and release of an automatic telephone message recorder function. SOLUTION: A surrounding sound volume sensor 7 in the automatic telephone message recorder 1 reads a surrounding sound for each prescribed time (e.g. once per 3 minutes), transmits the read sound to a central control section 2 as surround sound volume data, when the surround sound volume data are smaller than preset border sound volume data, the central control section 2 judges it to be silent, instructs a counter 8 to increment its counts by one, when the count of the counter 8 reaches a prescribed value (10 in this embodiment), the central control section 2 instructs an automatic telephone message recorder function section 5 to set the automatic telephone message recorder function.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an answering machine, and more particularly to an answering machine for automatically setting an answering machine function according to the presence of a resident or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional answering machine, when a user goes out, the user presses an answering machine function setting button provided on the answering machine to set the function. In other words, the user does not set the answering machine function unless he / she presses the answering machine function setting button when going out.If the user forgets to press the answering machine setting button and goes out, he / she will stay home until he returns home. Unable to set telephone function or D from public telephone
The answering machine had to be set remotely by remotely controlling the answering machine according to the TMF signal.

As a technique for making this conventional answering machine more convenient, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-056507.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an answering machine described in JP-A-10-056507.

The answering machine has a volume detector for detecting the volume around the telephone, an operation unit for outputting the operation by a user, a peripheral volume signal output from the volume detector, and an operation signal output from the operation unit. And a control unit that outputs a control signal for setting the answering machine function by inputting the answering machine function and outputs a state signal indicating the mode state and the like, and the mode state of the answering machine based on the state signal from the control unit. A status display unit for displaying is provided. Further, the control unit has a short-term storage unit that stores a boundary volume for comparison with the peripheral volume signal.

The operation unit manually selects one of the answering mode and the home mode by operating the answering machine user, converts the mode information into a digital amount, and outputs the digital information to the control unit as an operation signal. . The control unit determines whether it is in the absence mode or the home mode based on the operation signal output from the operation unit, and sets each of the determined modes. That is, the operation unit is where a general manual answering machine function is set.

[0007] On the other hand, the volume detector always detects the volume around the answering machine through a microphone, converts the detected volume into a digital amount, and outputs it to the controller as a peripheral volume signal. The control unit sets a boundary sound volume that is a boundary of each mode by a mathematical method, and stores the boundary sound volume in the short-term storage unit. When there is no input of an operation signal from the operation unit, the peripheral volume signal output from the volume detection unit is constantly compared with the boundary volume stored in the short-term storage unit, and when the peripheral volume is larger than the boundary volume, The answering machine function is set to the home mode through the control signal, and when the surrounding volume is lower than the boundary volume, the answering mode is set, and information such as the currently set mode and the peripheral volume signal and the boundary volume is used as a status signal. Output to the status output unit.
The status output unit displays the current mode status on the liquid crystal display unit or the like attached to the answering machine using characters and graphics based on the status signal from the control unit.

[0008]

The above-mentioned conventional answering machine can automatically set and automatically cancel the answering machine function, but since the surrounding volume is constantly detected and compared,
An instantaneous change in the surrounding volume may cause a malfunction such that the answering machine function is set at home or the answering machine function is canceled during absence.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an answering machine which can prevent a malfunction due to an instantaneous change in the surrounding volume in automatic setting and automatic cancellation of the answering machine function.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an answering machine having an answering machine function, comprising: a peripheral volume sensor for detecting a peripheral volume; a peripheral volume sensor detected by the peripheral volume sensor; A central control unit for comparing the set boundary volume with the counter, and a counter for updating the count value according to an instruction from the central control unit. Is given a count instruction, and when the count value of the counter reaches a predetermined value, the answering machine function is set, and the central control unit compares the peripheral volume and the boundary volume every predetermined time.

On the other hand, if the peripheral volume is higher than the boundary volume, the central control unit instructs the counter to reset and releases the set answering machine function when the peripheral volume is higher than the boundary volume.

The answering machine has a speaker for outputting a ringing tone when there is an incoming call, and a blocking means for blocking detection of the surrounding sound sensor by an instruction of the central control unit. It is desirable to instruct the first-term blocking means to block the detection of the first-half peripheral sound sensor while the first-tone speaker outputs the ringing tone.

As another means, in an answering machine having an answering machine function, there is provided a central control section for setting the answering machine function, and a ring tone counter for counting the number of times the call is not answered. Means that the count value of the ringing counter reaches a predetermined value, and the central control unit resets the ringing counter and releases the set answering machine function when there is a response to the incoming call. And

[0014]

Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, an answering machine 1 of the present invention comprises a central control unit 2 for controlling the answering machine,
A line interface 3 for connecting to an office line, a communication circuit unit 4 for making a call, and a message recorded by the other party after sending a pre-recorded message to the other party making the call; Answering function unit 5 having a function of reproducing and listening to the message of the user, a microphone 6 for sensing the surrounding sound of the answering machine 1, and transmitting the surrounding sound detected by the microphone 6 to the central control unit 2 as surrounding sound data. And a counter 8 that counts according to an instruction from the central control unit 2.

Although not shown, the central control unit 2 sets the boundary volume data in advance and outputs a count instruction to the counter 8 based on the result of comparison with the peripheral sound data from the peripheral volume sensor 7. Has become.

In the answering machine 1, the peripheral volume sensor 7 reads the peripheral sound input from the microphone 6 at regular intervals (for example, once every three minutes) and transmits it to the central control unit 2 as peripheral volume data. The central control unit 2 compares the received peripheral volume data with the preset boundary volume data, and if the peripheral volume data is smaller than the boundary volume data, determines that there is no sound and instructs the counter 8 to increment by one. In this way, the counter 8 is counted up,
When the counter 8 reaches a predetermined value (10 in this embodiment), it instructs the answering machine function unit 5 to set the answering machine function.

Even after the answering machine function is set, the peripheral volume data and the boundary volume data are compared in the same manner as described above. If the peripheral volume data is smaller than the boundary volume data, the counter 8 is instructed to count up. Until the setting is released, the value of the counter 8 remains at 10.

When the peripheral volume data becomes larger than the environmental volume data, the value of the counter 8 is reset to 0 and the answering machine function is released. In the case of canceling, similarly to the setting, a counter for counting the number of times that the surrounding volume data is detected to be larger than the environment volume data is provided, and when the counter reaches a predetermined value, the answering machine function is canceled. It is also conceivable to do so.

Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Answering machine 9 according to the second embodiment
Since the basic configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. As a configuration different from that in FIG. 1, a speaker 10 that outputs a ringing tone when an incoming call is received, and a ringing tone counter 11 that counts the number of times that the ringing tone is output is provided.

When there is an incoming call to the answering machine 9, the call circuit 4 causes the speaker 10 to output a ringing tone. At this time, if the incoming call is disconnected without anyone answering, the central control unit 2
Instructs the ringer counter 11 to increment the counter value by one. The ringing tone counter 11 is counted up as described above, and when the ringing tone counter 11 reaches a predetermined value (10 in this embodiment), the answering machine function unit 5 is instructed to set the answering machine function. .

Even after the answering machine function is set, if there is an incoming call in the same manner as described above, the ringing counter 8 is instructed to count up, but the value of the ringing counter 8 remains 10 until the setting is released. And

On the other hand, when there is a response to the incoming call, the count value of the peripheral sound counter 11 is reset to zero.

After the answering machine function is set, if there is a response to the incoming call, the count value of the peripheral sound counter 11 is reset and the answering machine function is released.

Next, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Answering machine 12 according to the third embodiment
Since the basic configuration is the same as in the first and second embodiments, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. 1 and 2, a switch 13 is provided to prevent a peripheral sound sensed by the microphone 6 from being input to the peripheral volume sensor 7.

The answering machine 12 outputs a ringing tone from the speaker 10 when there is an incoming call. However, since there is no means for distinguishing the ringing tone from the surrounding tone, the surrounding volume sensor 7 detects the ringing tone detected by the microphone 6. By outputting to the central control unit 2 as the peripheral volume data, there is an erroneous operation that the answering machine function is not set in spite of the absence, and is canceled even if it is set.

Therefore, while the central processing unit 2 is outputting a ringing tone from the speaker 10 due to an incoming call, the central processing unit 2 operates the switch 13.
Is activated so that the ringing tone detected by the microphone 8 is not output to the peripheral volume sensor 7.

When the ringing tone ends, the central control unit 2 disables the switch 13 and outputs the peripheral sound sensed by the microphone 6 to the peripheral volume sensor, whereby the answering machine according to the first or second embodiment Function can be set and canceled automatically.

[0031]

As described above, according to the answering machine according to the present invention, the answering machine function is automatically set and canceled automatically based on the surrounding sound volume of the answering machine. Since the function is set only when the peripheral sound volume is continuously lower than the boundary sound volume, incorrect setting and misunderstanding can be suppressed by an instantaneous change in the peripheral sound volume.

Further, by counting the ringing tone when there is no answer to the incoming call, the automatic setting and automatic canceling can be reliably performed without being affected by the surrounding acoustic state.

Further, when the surrounding volume is compared with the boundary volume, disconnection of the input to the surrounding volume sensor when the answering machine outputs the ringing sound may cause the ringing sound to be erroneously sensed as the surrounding sound. Since it is no longer possible, missetting and misunderstanding can be further suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a conventional answering machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 9, 12 Answering Machine 2 Central Control Unit 3 Line Interface Unit 4 Communication Circuit Unit 5 Answering Machine Function Unit 6 Microphone 7 Peripheral Volume Sensor 8 Counter 10 Speaker 11 Ringtone Counter 13 Switch

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An answering machine having an answering machine function, a peripheral volume sensor for detecting a peripheral volume, a central control unit for comparing the peripheral volume detected by the peripheral volume sensor with a preset boundary volume, A counter for updating the count value in response to an instruction from the central control unit, wherein the central control unit gives a count instruction to the previous period counter when the peripheral volume is lower than the boundary volume, and the count value of the counter becomes a predetermined value. An answering machine characterized by setting the answering machine function when it reaches. 2. The answering machine according to claim 1, wherein the central control unit compares the peripheral volume and the boundary volume at predetermined time intervals. 3. The first period central control unit, when the peripheral volume is higher than the boundary volume, instructs the first period counter to reset and cancels the set answering machine function. Answering machine. 4. An answering machine according to claim 1, wherein said answering machine has a speaker for outputting a ringing tone when an incoming call is received, and blocking means for blocking detection of said surrounding sound sensor by an instruction of said central control unit.
4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first-stage central control unit instructs the first-stage blocking means to block the detection of the first-stage peripheral sound sensor while outputting the ringing tone from the first-stage speaker. Answering machine. 5. An answering machine having an answering machine function, comprising: a central control section for setting the answering machine function; and a ring tone counter for counting the number of times the call is not answered. An answering machine, wherein an answering machine function is set when the count value of the ring tone counter reaches a predetermined value. 6. The first period central control unit resets the first period ringing counter when there is a response to the incoming call,
The answering machine according to claim 4, wherein the set answering machine function is canceled.