JP3111983B2 - Telephone system using telephone device and computer - 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 capable of automatically responding to a calling party by voice when a user at a called party is absent, and more particularly to a telephone apparatus which can be connected to a computer and provides an absence message from the computer. And a key telephone system having the computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some telephones automatically transmit the voice of an absence message to a calling party when a user is absent. Most answering machines have such a function. On the other hand, in a recent telephone system, a calling party (an exchange on the calling party or a calling party telephone) notifies a called party of a calling number (or called a calling number or calling number). Is possible. It is possible to notify the caller number even in a call using the ISDN line.

A telephone which uses the notified caller number to notify a different absence message for each caller is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei.
168854, JP-A-5-292176 and JP-A-8-214056, respectively.

The telephones described in any of the patent publications detect a caller number from a line at the time of an incoming call, read out an absence message stored in advance in accordance with the caller number, and provide the caller with a message. By notifying, a specific caller is notified of a specific absence message.

[0005] On the other hand, there is a telephone system in which a telephone and a personal computer (PC) are arranged on a desk, and the telephone and the PC are connected to communicate via a computer. In such a telephone system, an automatic response to a call received from a caller when the user is away is performed by returning a uniform response message by voice mail generated by a PC, regardless of the caller, and then making a call. The message from the other party is simply left in the memory of the telephone.

In this type of conventional telephone system, even if the caller's number can be received by the telephone, the voice mail as a response is uniformly created on the PC. Different voices could not be transmitted depending on the calling number.

[0007]

As described above, the conventional telephone system using a PC has a drawback that no matter who the caller is, only a unified absence message can be transmitted in the absence.

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide a telephone device capable of giving a detailed response to an out-of-office message set on a PC for each person who makes a call.

[0009]

A telephone apparatus according to the present invention is a telephone apparatus (3 in FIG. 2) capable of automatically answering by voice to a calling party when the called party is absent. When an incoming call arrives at a telephone in which the user is absent, the calling party is identified, communication is performed with a computer corresponding to the telephone, and data of an absence message corresponding to the identified calling party is received from the computer, and the absence is identified. It is characterized in that the data of the message is converted into a voice signal and returned to the calling side.

Specifically, the telephone device (3 in FIG. 2) of the present invention comprises a telephone interface (24 in FIG. 2) for connecting an extension telephone, a line interface (22 in FIG. 2) for connecting a line, Identifying means (33 and 29 in FIG. 2) for identifying the calling side when there is an incoming call, and means (29 in FIG. 2) for detecting whether the extension telephone at the destination connected to the telephone interface is absent. And 30) communicate with the computer corresponding to the extension telephone when the extension telephone at the destination is absent, and receive from the computer the data of the absence message corresponding to the calling side specified by the specifying means. Computer interface means (27 and 29 in FIG. 2), and means for converting the data of the received absence message into a voice signal and returning it to the calling side (FIG. 2). 26, 23) and a.

According to the present invention, when the calling side is a line connected to a public network, the calling side is identified by detecting the calling number from the line, and the absence message data corresponding to the calling number is identified. Is received from the computer.

In the present invention, when the calling side is an extension telephone connected to an extension, the calling side is specified by the number of the extension telephone, and the absence message data corresponding to the extension telephone is received from the computer.

The data of the absentee message is preferably text data.

As described above, according to the present invention, a different absence message can be returned for each caller number notified from the line and for each extension number of the extension telephone when receiving an incoming call from the extension telephone.

In the present invention, a general absence message may be returned even when the caller is unknown.

Further, according to the present invention, the voice synthesizing function is not required on the PC side, and the absence message is simply input and stored as text data by the PC, so that the absence message can be easily input and changed, and voice synthesis is not performed. Therefore, the processing load on the PC can be reduced. Furthermore, since the data is not stored by voice, there is also an effect that the memory amount is reduced.

Further, the telephone system of the present invention is a telephone system including a telephone device capable of automatically answering by voice to a calling side when the called side is absent, and a computer connected to the telephone device, Upon receiving an incoming call from the calling side to the user-absent telephone, the telephone device identifies the calling side, communicates with the computer corresponding to the telephone, and transmits the absence message data corresponding to the identified calling side. The computer receives the absence message data, converts the absence message data into a voice signal, and returns the voice signal to the calling side.The computer searches for the absence message data corresponding to the specified calling side and sends the data to the telephone device. It is characterized by transmitting.

More specifically, the computer stores the absence message storage means (44 in FIG. 3) for storing data of a plurality of absence messages corresponding to the calling side, and stores the absence message corresponding to the specified calling side. The system includes means for controlling reading from the absence message storage means (41 in FIG. 3) and communication means for transmitting the read absence message to the telephone device (40 in FIG. 3).

The control means has a degree of freedom in rewriting by rewriting the contents of the absentee message storage means in accordance with an instruction.

[0020] In particular, the instruction to the control means is instruction information received from the communication means, and after receiving the instruction information, the control means stores the absentee message in accordance with the message information received from the communication means. By rewriting the means, external rewriting is made possible using a communication line of a computer.

[0021]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a telephone system using a telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a key telephone device used in the telephone system of FIG.

In FIG. 1, a caller's telephone 1 is connected to a public network 2. The public network 2 has a function of notifying a called party of a calling party number in response to a call from the calling party. Of course, the calling party number may be transmitted from the calling party's telephone 1 and transmitted to the called party. Such a public network line is an ISDN line, an analog line corresponding to calling number display, or the like.

The key telephone apparatus 3 is connected to a line 21 of the public network 2.
Connected to. The key telephone device 3 is connected to personal computers (PCs) 4 and 5 via a local area network (LAN) 8, and accommodates extension telephones 6 and 7, respectively. Here, in the case of the present embodiment, the PC 4 and the extension telephone 6 are used one-to-one,
It is assumed that C5 and extension telephone 7 are used one-to-one. The number of extension telephones and PCs connected to the key telephone device 3 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 1, but the description here assumes the configuration shown in FIG.

The key telephone apparatus 3 is a switch for forming a communication path for enabling a telephone call between the extension telephones of a plurality of extension telephones 6 and 7 and a telephone call between the line 21 of the public network 2 and the extension telephone. It has a circuit part. In FIG.
The switch circuit unit 23 is such a circuit. In the communication path formation control in the switch circuit unit 23, time division multiplex switching for switching voice paths by time division multiplex is performed.

In FIG. 2, the key telephone apparatus 3
Has an interface (hereinafter referred to as I / F) for connecting a plurality of PCs and extension telephones, and has a one-to-one correspondence between a plurality of PCs and telephones such as a PC 4 and an extension telephone 6 and a PC 5 and an extension telephone 7. The correspondence is set in the memory unit 30 in advance.

As shown in FIG. 4, the memory unit 30 stores, for each extension telephone, the extension number of the extension telephone, the absence data or flag indicating whether the telephone is set to be absent, and the extension telephone. An address for designating the PC is stored. This stored content is used for control when receiving an absentee message set in each PC.

In FIG. 3, the line I / F 22 is an ISD
An I / F corresponding to the N line or the analog line 21 corresponding to the calling number display. The I / F includes a circuit for capturing the line, a dial signal sending circuit and an incoming call detecting circuit. I
In the case of the SDN line, it has an S interface function.

The calling number detecting unit 33 detects the calling number from the line 21 and notifies the main control unit 29 of the detected number.

The telephone I / F unit 24 includes extension telephones 6 and 7
The telephone interface circuit is connected to the telephone interface circuit. In the telephone I / F unit 24, various control information received from the extension telephones 4 and 5 is transferred to the main control unit 29, and information for controlling the extension telephones 4 and 5 is received from the main control unit 29. , Sent to the extension telephone.

A LAN I / F unit 27 connects a plurality of personal computers 4 and 5 via a LAN 28 and
It controls the LAN communication protocol and applications between C4 and C4.

The voice synthesizing circuit 26 includes a LAN I / F unit 2
7 is a circuit for converting text data of an absent message notified from the PC 4 or 5 via the PC 7 into voice data. The voice signal of the absence message generated here is transmitted to the caller side via the switch circuit unit 23.

The main control unit 29 includes a line I / F unit 22, a caller number detection unit 33, a telephone I / F unit 24, and a voice synthesis unit 2.
6. Bus 31 to LAN I / F 27 and memory 30
Are connected via the, and control each part.

In this case, the control for transmitting a message when the user is absent and the operation of the switch circuit 2 will be described.
3 includes communication path formation control, transmission and reception control, and LAN communication control. The state of the incoming call from the line 21 is notified from the line I / F unit 22 to the main control unit 29, and the call control and the call state of each of the extension telephones 6 and 7 are notified to the main control unit 29 as control information. To perform telephone communication. Control for the LAN communication protocol with the PC is executed for the LAN I / F unit 27.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the PC 4 or 5 in FIG. In the figure, LAN I / F
Reference numeral 40 is connected to the LAN 8, and transmits and receives data by executing a LAN communication protocol. CPU 41 is a ROM
Various controls are executed based on a program stored in advance in. The ROM 42 contains an application program for creating text data of the absence message, selecting the text data, and transmitting the text data to the LAN 8. This ROM may be a hard disk. The work memory 43 is a data storage area memory used during the operation of the CPU 41, and the absence message storage memory 44 stores a plurality of absence messages in text format. The input unit 45 is a keyboard or the like, and the display unit 46
Is a display such as a CRT or a liquid crystal.

In the telephone system shown in FIG.
5 stores a plurality of absence messages. The operation for the storage will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 5 shows the C of PCs 4 and 5 when the absence message is stored.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation of a PU 41.

Under the control of the application program mounted on the ROM 42 of FIG. 3, the PCs 4 and 5 are provided in text format for each caller number, for each extension number, or in the case of an unknown party in individual units such as general use. The absence message is input from the input unit 45 and stored in the absentee message storage memory 44.

In FIGS. 3 and 5, when an input of an absence message is performed by the input unit 45 (step S1),
The absence message input mode is set. Here, when the caller number is designated (step S2), the absence message corresponding to the caller number is input from the input section 45 and stored in the absence message storage memory 44 as text data (step S3). In this step 33, individual absence messages can be stored for a plurality of caller numbers.

When the extension number is designated (step S4), the absence message corresponding to the extension number of the extension telephone 6, 7 is input from the input section 45 and stored in the absence message storage memory 44 as text data (step S4).
5). In this step 33, individual absence messages can be stored for a plurality of extension numbers.

In the case of designation of unknown partner (step S6), a general absence message is input from the input unit 45, and
It is stored in the absence message storage memory 44 as text data (step S7).

When the designation is completed (step S8), the absence message input mode is released.

Therefore, the message is set as a text on the PC used by the user, so that the message can be easily changed by key input.

Here, the instruction to input the absentee message in step S1 can be made from outside the home, and the content of the absentee message can be rewritten by communication to the LAN 8. In this case, the LAN I / F unit 40 receives a request for rewriting the absence message (for example, a specific number or character information) from the communication device at the destination, and thereby executes steps S2 to S8 under the control of the CPU 41. The content of the absence message storage memory 44 is rewritten by the same procedure as described above. The absence message is sent from LA
The message information of the character information is received from N8, and the message information is stored as text data of the absence message. This further increases the degree of freedom in rewriting the absence message.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 6, the operation of storing the absence state in the memory unit 30 of the key telephone apparatus 3 and the operation of transmitting the absence message at the time of incoming call will be described. FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing a control operation by the main control unit 29.

When the user of a particular extension telephone (assuming the extension telephone 6) sets the absence setting on his / her telephone 6 or PC 4 (step S11), the main control unit 2
9 is a telephone I / F unit 24 or a LAN I / F unit 2
7 is detected (step S12), and the absence state is stored in the memory unit 30 at the position shown in FIG. 4 (step S13). Here, when the user sets the absence setting with the PC 4, the absence status code is set to the LAN I / O in FIG.
Sent from the F section 40 to the LAN 8 and sent to the LAN I / F section 2
7 and notified to the main control unit 29, the memory 30
May be stored as the absence state of the extension telephone 6.

Next, it is detected whether or not there is an incoming call to the extension telephone 6 set to be absent (step S14). If there is an incoming call from the line 21, the main control unit 29 detects the calling party number from the calling party number detecting unit 33 and temporarily stores it inside.

Further, the absence setting of the extension telephone 6 of the destination is confirmed from the memory unit 30 (step S15), and if it is not absent, the extension telephone 6 is called (step S17).

In the absence state (step S16),
The address of the PC 4 corresponding to the extension number of the extension telephone 6 is acquired via the memory unit 30 (step S18). This address corresponds to the LAN address of PC4. Next, the main control unit 29 controls the LAN I / F unit 27 and instructs to call the PC 4 of the obtained address (step S19).

Thereafter, the main control unit 29 notifies the PC 4 of the calling party number via the LAN I / F unit 27 (step S20). After that, the application on the PC 4 waits for the absence message from the PC 4 to be received.

If there is an incoming call from the extension telephone 7 in step S14, the extension number of the extension telephone 7 is notified to the PC 4 in step S20. Step S14
In step S20, if there is an incoming call due to a call from the line side and the caller number is not notified, specific information indicating no number is notified to the PC 4 instead of the caller number in step S20.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the application on the PC side in step S21 of FIG.

3 and 7, the application of the PC 4 first detects a call from the key telephone device 3 (step S31). This is the reception of the designation by the LAN address in step S19 in FIG. Next, specific information indicating the calling party number, extension number or no number by executing step S20 in FIG. 6 is received (step S32).

Thus, the CPU 41 stores the absence message of the text data corresponding to the specific information indicating the caller number, extension number or no number in the absence message storage memory 4.
4 (step S33). The read out-of-office message is in a text data format.
It is sent to the main control unit 29 of the key telephone device 3 via the / F unit 27 (step S34).

Referring again to FIG. 6, the main control unit 29
4 is received (step S21),
The text data input to the voice synthesis unit 26 is also converted into a voice signal (step S22).

Here, the main control unit 29 determines where the calling party is, and in the case of the line 21, the main control unit 29 switches the voice path of the voice synthesis unit 26 and the line I / F unit 22 to the switch circuit unit 2.
3 is controlled and connected. In the case of the extension telephone 7, the voice synthesis section 26 and the voice path of the extension telephone 7 are connected by controlling the switch circuit section 23. Thereby, the voice of the absence message is transmitted to the caller (step S2).
3).

As a result, it is possible to return a message set for each caller who calls when the user is absent.

After sending the absence message, the call may be disconnected as it is (step S24), or the control may be shifted to the recording of the message of the caller. In this case, the message is stored in the internal recording memory under the control of the main control unit 29.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, a different absence message is returned for each caller number notified from the line and for each extension number of the extension telephone when receiving an incoming call from the extension telephone. be able to. Further, even when the caller is unknown, a general absence message can be returned.

Further, the voice synthesizing function is not required on the PC side, and the absence message is merely input and stored as text data by the PC. Therefore, the input and change of the absence message are easy, and the voice processing is not performed. The burden of is also reduced. Furthermore, since the data is not stored by voice, there is also an effect that the memory amount is reduced.

Further, the PC receives a request for rewriting the absence message (for example, a specific numeral or character information) from the communication device at the destination, and thereby, under the control of the CPU 41, performs the same steps S2 to S8. Since the contents of the absence message storage memory 44 can be easily rewritten by a simple procedure, the absence message can be rewritten whenever necessary.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, although a different absence message is returned for each extension telephone on the caller side, a common absence message may be transmitted when the caller is an extension telephone.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The voice response when you are absent or when you can not answer the phone can automatically respond to the other party with the best message instead of returning the same message, for example, "I am out now" It becomes possible.

Since the telephone device does not require a memory for recording a plurality of absence messages, the capacity of the telephone device is reduced.

Further, the message is set as a text sentence on the PC used by the user, so that the message can be easily changed, and the content can be rewritten by communication from outside. In addition, there is an advantage that the amount of memory to be used is remarkably reduced as compared with the case of recording with a real voice.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an entire telephone system using a telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a personal computer (PC) in the telephone system of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing stored contents of a memory unit of the telephone device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control operation for storing an absence message by the CPU of the PC in FIG. 3;

6 is a flowchart showing a control operation for returning an absence message by a main control unit of the telephone device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control operation for transmitting an absence message by the CPU of the PC in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Caller-side telephone 2 Public network 3 Button telephone 4 Personal computer (PC) 5 Personal computer (PC) 6 Telephone 7 Telephone 8 LAN 21 Line 22 Line I / F 23 Switch circuit 24 Telephone I / F 26 Voice synthesis unit 27 LAN I / F unit 29 Main control unit 30 Memory unit 31 Bus 33 Caller number detection unit

Claims (14)

(57) [Claims] 1. A telephone device capable of automatically answering by voice to a calling party when a user of a called telephone is not present. Identify and communicate with the computer corresponding to the telephone, receive data of the absence message corresponding to the identified calling party from the computer, convert the data of the absence message into a voice signal and make the call. A telephone device, which is returned to the user. 2. In the case of an incoming call from a line connected to a public network, the calling side is identified by detecting a calling party number from the line, and the absence message according to the calling party number is identified. 2. The telephone device according to claim 1, wherein said telephone device receives said data from said computer. 3. In the case where the calling side is an extension telephone connected to an extension, the calling side is specified by the number of the extension telephone, and the data of the absence message corresponding to the extension telephone is received from the computer. The telephone device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. The telephone device according to claim 1, wherein the data of the absentee message is text data. 5. A telephone device capable of automatic voice response to a calling party when the called party is absent, comprising: a telephone interface for connecting an extension telephone; a line interface for connecting a line; Specifying means for specifying a calling side; means for detecting whether a destination extension telephone connected to the telephone interface is absent; and corresponding to the extension telephone when the destination extension telephone is absent. A computer interface unit that communicates with a computer and receives data of an absence message corresponding to the calling side specified by the specifying unit from the computer; and converts the received data of the absence message into a voice signal and Means for returning to the calling party. 6. The telephone device according to claim 5, wherein said specifying means specifies the calling side by detecting a calling number when there is an incoming call from said line. 7. The telephone device according to claim 5, wherein said specifying means specifies the number of the extension telephone when there is an incoming call from said extension telephone. 8. The computer interface means receives predetermined absence message data from the computer when the identification means cannot detect a caller number when there is an incoming call from the line. The telephone device according to claim 6. 9. The telephone interface connects a plurality of extension telephones, the computer interface means connects a computer communication line connecting to a plurality of computers, and a one-to-one computer corresponding to each extension telephone.
The computer interface means reads the storage means when the destination extension telephone is absent, searches for a computer corresponding to the extension telephone, and stores the computer in the computer. 9. The communication method according to claim 5, wherein communication is performed via a communication line, and data of an absence message corresponding to the calling side specified by the specifying unit is received from the computer. Telephone equipment. 10. A telephone system including a telephone device capable of automatically responding to a caller by voice when a callee is absent, and a computer connected to the telephone device. When an incoming call arrives at a telephone in which the user is absent, the calling party is identified, communication is performed with a computer corresponding to the telephone, and data of an absence message corresponding to the identified calling party is received from the computer, and the absence is identified. The data of the message is converted to a voice signal and returned to the calling side, and the computer retrieves the data of the absence message according to the specified calling side and transmits the data to the telephone device. Telephone equipment. 11. The absence message storage means for storing a plurality of absence message data corresponding to a calling party, and the absence message corresponding to the specified calling party are read from the absence message storage means. The telephone system according to claim 10, further comprising: means for controlling the telephone call; and communication means for transmitting the read out-of-office message to the telephone device. 12. The telephone system according to claim 11, wherein said control means rewrites the contents of said absentee message storage means according to an instruction. 13. The instruction to the control means is instruction information received from the communication means, and the control means, after receiving the instruction information, uses the message information received from the communication means to output the absence. 13. The telephone system according to claim 12, wherein said message storage means is rewritten. 14. The telephone device, comprising: a telephone interface for connecting an extension telephone; a line interface for connecting a line; specifying means for specifying a calling side when a call is received; Means for detecting whether the previous extension telephone is absent, and communicating with the computer corresponding to the extension telephone when the destination extension telephone is absent, to the calling side specified by the specifying means. A computer interface means for receiving data of the absence message corresponding to the absence message from the computer, and means for converting the received data of the absence message into a voice signal and returning the voice signal to the calling side. The telephone system described in 10, 11, 12, or 13.