JP3130378B2 - Telephone - 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 having a telephone number shortening registration function and an answering machine response function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Telephones capable of registering a telephone number in association with an arbitrary abbreviated number and calling the other party only by dialing the abbreviated number when making a call are widely used today. FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of this type of telephone.

The conventional telephone 2 shown in FIG. 1 includes a diode bridge 3, a speech network 4, a dialer 5, and a keypad 6. The dialer 5 is connected to the external line L via the diode bridge 3 and the speech network 4. The dialer 5 has a function of storing a telephone number and an abbreviated number in association with each other.

[0004] That is, by performing a predetermined registration operation using the keypad 6 in advance, the telephone number and the abbreviated number are stored in a memory built in the dialer 5 in association with each other. After this registration, any external line telephone can be called whether the telephone number or the abbreviated number is entered from the keypad 6. If you enter an abbreviated number,
The operation of the keypad 6 is easier than when a telephone number is input. In the case of dialing an outside line by inputting the abbreviated number, dialer 5 outputs the telephone number corresponding to the abbreviated number to speech network 4 as a DTMF signal or dial pulse in response to the input of the abbreviated number from keypad 6. .

[0005]

However, a user who regularly uses a telephone having such a function often stores the telephone number in the form of a shortened number and does not store the telephone number itself. Therefore, when such a user makes a telephone call while away from home, the telephone number may not be known.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to know a necessary telephone number from outside while utilizing an answering machine. Aim.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a method in which a command to search for a telephone number by specifying an abbreviated number from an outside line is provided.
Means for giving this abbreviated number to the dialer and outputting a signal indicating the corresponding telephone number; and
Means for synthesizing a voice signal indicating a telephone number based on a signal output from the dialer and transmitting the synthesized signal to an outside line.

In a second aspect, when a command to search for a telephone number by designating an abbreviated number from an outside line is given, the abbreviated number is given to the dialer to output a signal indicating the corresponding telephone number. And means for generating a facsimile signal indicating a telephone number based on a signal output from the dialer and sending it to an outside line when the command is issued. Claims 1 and 2 are that the command is a return destination.
With the designation of the telephone or facsimile number,
Is a means to temporarily store the facsimile number,
Prior to sending these voice or facsimile signals to the outside line
Temporarily store the return phone or facsimile number
After ringing or receiving a call, a voice signal or
Means for transmitting an external line of a facsimile signal.
It is characterized by the following.

[0009] Then, claim 3, wherein the command is accompanied by reception of the identification number, means for storing a security code, personal identification number entered with the command matches the personal identification number stored Means for permitting transmission of a voice signal or a facsimile signal indicating a telephone number to an outside line only in such a case.

[0010]

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a command to search for a telephone number by designating an abbreviated number from an outside line is issued, the telephone number is returned in response to the command. That is, when the dialer operates in response to this command and a signal indicating a telephone number is obtained, a voice signal is synthesized based on the signal and transmitted to an outside line. Therefore, according to the present invention, by applying the answering machine response function, the telephone number can be searched from the outside using the abbreviated number as a key, and the reply of the telephone number can be given in a synthetic voice that is easy for the user to understand. Usability increases. Since the signal indicating the telephone number output from the dialer is used for synthesizing voice, it may be data stored in a memory, a DTMF signal, or the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a facsimile signal is generated in response to a similar command and transmitted to an external line. Therefore, the reply of the telephone number can be given as a facsimile image which is also easy for the user to understand,
Usability increases. In this case, it is easy to return a comparison table of the shortened number and the telephone number.

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention , the retrieval
Telephone or telephone different from facsimile machine
Alternatively, a reply can be returned to the facsimile machine.
According to the third aspect, the reply of the telephone number can be given only when the collation of the password is established, and the confidentiality is improved.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same components as those in the conventional example shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a telephone 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, a voice synthesizer 8, a DTMF receiver 9, and a CPU 10 are shown in addition to the components shown in the conventional example. The features of the present embodiment are a telephone number search function realized by the CPU 10 and a speech synthesizer 8 that outputs a synthesized speech of the search result. In other words, when the abbreviated number is registered in advance in the memory built in the dialer 5 by the same registration operation as the conventional example, the corresponding telephone number can be known by voice by giving the abbreviated number from outside. It is possible.

Next, this feature will be described along the flow of a telephone number search operation.

First, it is assumed that an abbreviated number is registered in a memory built in the dialer 5 in advance. A user who normally uses the telephone 1 calls an outside line using the abbreviated number when at home because of the simplicity. If this user goes out and tries to make a call while on the go, there is no problem as long as the user can dial the number if he remembers the phone number, but if he only remembers the abbreviated number, I can't make calls. The telephone number search function according to the feature of the present embodiment is a function used in such a situation.

In such a situation, a regular user of the telephone 1 of the present embodiment must first call the telephone 1 using the external telephone 7. The telephone 1 responds to this call in the same way as a normal answering machine. The regular user of the telephone 1 who called the telephone 1 from the external telephone 7 transmits a mode setting signal after receiving the call by operating the push button of the external telephone 7.

When this mode setting signal is received by the DTMF receiver 9 via the speech network 4,
The CPU 10 activates the dialer 5 and the speech synthesizer 8 according to the content of this signal. The CPU 10 transmits a DTMF indicating “signal reception” from the dialer 5 or the voice synthesizer 8.
A signal or a voice signal is output, whereby the external telephone 7 is notified that the mode setting has been completed.

A regular user of the telephone 1 calling the telephone 1 from the external telephone 7 pushes the abbreviated number in response to a DTMF signal or a voice signal indicating "signal reception". The DTMF receiver 9 receives the DTMF signal corresponding to the shortened number,
The CPU 10 supplies this to the dialer 5 as data indicating the abbreviated number. The dialer 5 outputs the telephone number corresponding to the abbreviated number to the speech synthesizer 8 as data or a DTMF signal with reference to the built-in memory. At this time, the DTM from the dialer 5 to the speech network 4
The output of the F signal is prohibited by the CPU 10. The voice synthesizer 8 synthesizes a voice signal based on the data or the DTMF signal, and sends out the voice signal to the outside line L via the speech network 4.

A regular user of the telephone 1 calling the telephone 1 from the external telephone 7 can know a necessary telephone number by listening to the synthesized voice generated in this manner. That is, according to the telephone 1 having the above configuration, the telephone number registered in the dialer 5 in association with the abbreviated number can be heard by inputting a command and an abbreviated number from the external telephone 7. In other words, if the user can only remember the abbreviated number that he or she normally uses, he can call his / her own telephone 1 from outside to check the necessary telephone number.

Incidentally, in such an operation, an unspecified number of people who know the operation method can check the telephone number. To regulate this may be configured to use the security code. In other words, so as to transmit a personal identification number together with the command, the memory 1 for storing the security code
1, the memory 11 may be referred to when receiving a command, and a telephone number may be answered only when the collation is established. In this way, it is possible to restrict an unspecified number of persons from checking the telephone number registered in the telephone 1.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a telephone 1A according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment has a configuration in which a facsimile signal generator 12 is added to the first embodiment. The facsimile signal generation device 12 includes a dialer 5
Converts the phone number signal output by to a facsimile signal,
It is sent to the outside line L via the speech network 4.

In this embodiment, the user first calls the telephone 1 from the telephone 7 or the handset of the facsimile machine 13, and pushes a mode setting command after receiving the call. The DTMF receiver receives this. CPU1
If the received command is a command to reply the telephone number to the telephone 7, the same operation as in the first embodiment is executed. If the received command is a command to reply the telephone number to the facsimile machine 13, the CPU 10
Is "signal received" by dialer 5 or voice synthesizer 8.
Is sent to the outside line L, and a short number from the telephone 7 is waited for. After confirming the receipt of the command, the user who has called the telephone 1 with the telephone 7 may go on-hook once and wait for the facsimile apparatus 13 to send a document indicating the telephone number. The CPU 10 calls the facsimile number 13 that is input with or after the command after the connection of the outside line L is cut off, or the facsimile device 13 related to the facsimile number on the built-in memory, and calls the dialer 5 after receiving the call. A facsimile signal is generated by the facsimile signal generation device 12 based on the obtained telephone number, and the facsimile signal is sent to the facsimile device 13.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the reply destination of the telephone number can be selectively set to either the telephone 7 or the facsimile machine 13 under the operation of the user and the control of the CPU 10. As a result, the telephone number can be known by facsimile if necessary.

In the first embodiment, the second embodiment is also used.
And similarly, the telephone 7 which returns the telephone number may be a telephone set 7 that requested the response different phone.
Further, in the second embodiment, when replying to the facsimile machine 13, not only one telephone number but also a list can be sent according to a command. Also, the first
The telephone 1 in the embodiment can be configured as a facsimile machine. The transmitted voice signal or facsimile signal may include the user name of the telephone or the like associated with the telephone number or the like.

Although the first and second embodiments are examples in which the line is a push line, the present invention can be applied to a dial line.

[0028]

As described above, claim 1 of the present invention is provided.
According to the above, when a command to search for a telephone number by designating an abbreviated number from an outside line is received, the telephone number is returned as a synthesized voice in accordance with this instruction, so that the telephone number In addition to being able to search for the number from a place away from home, it is possible to provide a reply to the telephone number in a synthetic voice that is easy for the user to understand, thereby improving usability.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a facsimile signal is generated in response to the same command and transmitted to an outside line, so that a reply of the telephone number can be given as a facsimile image which is easy for the user to understand. Usability increases. Because you respond in writing, it is easy to respond in a list. According to claims 1 and 2 of the present invention
Is different from the telephone or facsimile
Reply to telephone or facsimile machine
become.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a reply of the telephone number is given only when the collation of the password is established, so that the confidentiality is improved.

[0031]

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

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

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a telephone according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1A telephone 4 speech network 5 dialer 7 external telephone 8 voice synthesizer 9 DTMF receiver 10 CPU 11 memory 12 facsimile signal generator 13 facsimile device L external line

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-171353 (JP, A) JP-A-2-111145 (JP, A) JP-A-2-151159 (JP, A) JP-A-3-151 35647 (JP, A) JP-A-63-87847 (JP, A) JP-A-64-90653 (JP, A) JP-A-2-253754 (JP, A) JP-A-5-83512 (JP, A) JP-A-1-117457 (JP, A) JP-A-3-55946 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 1/652 H04M 1/56 H04M 3/42 H04Q 3/58

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A telephone equipped with a dialer for storing abbreviated numbers and telephone numbers in association with each other and outputting a signal indicating the telephone number in response to the input of the abbreviated numbers. Means for giving the abbreviated number to the dialer when there is a command to search, and outputting a signal indicating the corresponding telephone number, and for receiving the command, telephone based on the signal output from the dialer means for delivering to the outside line by synthesizing the speech signal indicating the number, the command designation of the return destination telephone or facsimile number Ban
Return the designated return phone or facsimile number
Means for temporarily storing an audio signal from the dialer,
Call the return phone or facsimile number
After receiving an incoming call, send an external voice signal from the dialer
A telephone. 2. A telephone equipped with a dialer for storing an abbreviated number and a telephone number in association with each other and outputting a signal indicating the telephone number in response to the input of the abbreviated number. Means for giving the abbreviated number to the dialer when there is a command to search, and outputting a signal indicating the corresponding telephone number, and for receiving the command, telephone based on the signal output from the dialer Means for generating a facsimile signal indicating a number and sending the signal to an outside line; and wherein the instruction accompanies designation of a return telephone or a facsimile number.
Return the designated return phone or facsimile number
Means for temporarily storing the facsimile signal from the dialer before sending it to the outside line.
Call the stored return phone or facsimile number
Facsimile signal from dialer after calling out and receiving a call
Means for transmitting an outside line of the telephone set. 3. A telephone set according to claim 1 or 2, wherein accompanied by input of the instruction code number, means for storing the security code, and the personal identification number PIN entered along with the instruction is stored Means for permitting the transmission of a voice signal or a facsimile signal indicating a telephone number to an outside line only when they match.