JP3223922B2 - Answering machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an answering machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a call is received during an absence, a paging receiver owned by the user whose calling number has been set in advance to the answering machine through a center device of a paging system. And an answering machine for notifying that there is a specific code sending telephone has been put to practical use.

[0003]

However, in the answering machine as described above, the paging receiver holder simply stops knowing that there was a call to the answering machine, and the message sent by telephone is stopped. It was not something I could know. For example, there is a telephone that requests a telephone call and informs the telephone number of the contact, and when the contents are recorded, the paging receiver cannot know the telephone number or the like of the contact. In order to know this, it is necessary to make an operation of calling the above answering machine at each time and notifying the telephone number or the like of the contact address recorded on the telephone by voice, which is extremely troublesome. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and does not recognize the contents of a message sent to a telephone answering machine and recording the presence of the recorded message each time the paging receiver notifies the user of the message. An object of the present invention is to provide an answering machine that does not need to call a telephone device.

[0004]

The transmitted message is a DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency).
When the call is made by a signal, the message is transmitted to the paging receiver when the paging receiver notifies that the call has been made.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described based on one embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration of the present embodiment. That is, this embodiment has a configuration in which another circuit unit is connected to the control unit 1 as a center. Control unit 1
Is a circuit for processing and sending the transmitted data and sending signals to each circuit to control them. The incoming call detection circuit 3 detects an incoming call signal (that is, a call signal) transmitted via a telephone line connected by the modular jack 2, and outputs the detected signal to the control unit 1.
Circuit. The bridge rectifier circuit 4 rectifies a signal sent via a telephone line by a rectifier circuit in which a diode is assembled in a bridge, sends the rectified signal to a speech circuit 8 via a switch circuit 7, and outputs the rectified signal from the speech circuit 8. Is sent to the exchange via the line when the signal is sent through the switch circuit 7. The pulse dialer 5 is a circuit that receives a signal from the control unit 1 (a signal related to the telephone number of the calling party), generates a corresponding dial pulse, and sends the dial pulse to the OR circuit 6. The OR circuit 6 supplies a dial pulse from the pulse dialer 5 and a signal from the control unit 1 to the switch circuit 7. The switch circuit 7 is turned off for a very short time every time a signal from the OR circuit 6 is supplied. It is a circuit which becomes. The speech circuit 8 converts the signal transmitted through the switch circuit 7 into a voice signal when the signal is related to voice, and transmits the voice signal to the receiving speaker 9 and the recording unit 13. In the case of a DTMF signal, the DTMF signal is used. Decoder 1
2 and further, when a voice signal is transmitted from the receiving speaker 9, the recording unit 13, and the response message storage unit 14, the voice signal is subjected to a certain process, and is passed through the switch circuit 7 and the bridge rectification circuit 4. Send to the telephone line side and DT
When a DTMF signal is sent from the MF signal encoder 11, the DTMF signal is sent to the switch circuit 7, the bridge rectifier circuit 4
This is a circuit for sending out to the telephone line side via the. The receiving speaker 9 is a circuit for converting a voice signal from the speech circuit 8 into voice. The transmission microphone 10 is a circuit that converts a voice into a voice signal and sends the voice signal to the speech circuit 8. The DTMF signal encoder 11 is a circuit that converts a digital signal from the control unit 1 into a DTMF signal and sends it to the speech circuit 8. The DTMF signal decoder 12 is a circuit that converts the DTMF signal from the speech circuit 8 into a corresponding digital signal and sends the digital signal to the control unit 1.

The recording section 13 is a circuit which receives a control signal from the control section 1, records an audio signal from the speech circuit 8, reads out the already recorded audio, and sends it to the speech circuit 8 as an audio signal. . The response message storage unit 14 is a circuit that receives a selection signal from the control unit 1 and sends one of the previously recorded voice signals relating to three response messages to be described later to the speech circuit 8. The display unit 15 is a circuit that includes a liquid crystal display panel and displays data from the control unit 1 thereon. The key input unit 16
There are 12 dial keys, an answering machine on / off key for selecting the answering machine mode in which the answering machine function is selected and another normal mode, and a telephone in the answering machine mode. 13 is provided with a transfer destination registration key or the like used for registering a transfer destination to which the received message is transferred, and when any of them is operated, a corresponding key input signal is transmitted to the control unit 1.
Circuit.

[0007] The pulse / DTMF switch 17 determines whether a dial pulse signal or a DTMF signal is used as a selection signal for sending the telephone number of the other party to the exchange when making a call (that is, a dial line contract or a push line contract). Is a switch for switching the selection signal in accordance with the setting. For example, when there is a telephone call requesting a telephone call in the answering machine mode and the telephone number or the like of the contact is transmitted by a DTMF signal, the reception data memory 18 transmits the telephone number or the like from the control unit 1. It is a memory that is acquired and stored. The transfer destination memory 19 stores the telephone number of the transfer destination telephone or the call number of the paging receiver in order to transfer the received message when there is a call during the absence. Is a memory for storing these when input. The hook switch 20 is a switch for transmitting a signal corresponding to the above-mentioned receiving / speaking speaker 9 and the transmitting / receiving microphone 10 to the control unit 1 when the receiver is raised and lowered, and for transmitting an off-hook signal or an on-hook signal. It is. The ringer sound speaker 21 is a speaker that receives a signal from the control unit 1 and generates a ringer sound, that is, a ringing sound when a call is made.

Next, the operation of the embodiment constructed as described above will be described. FIG. 2 is a general flowchart showing the outline of the operation of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the pager calling process (step S16) in FIG. 2 in detail. First, there is a call, and the incoming call detection circuit 3
When detecting this and sending a detection signal, it is determined in step S1 whether or not it is in the answering machine mode, and when in this mode, a signal is sent to the switch circuit 7 via the OR circuit 6. Then, the switch circuit 7 is turned off for a very short time to send an off-hook signal to the exchange (step S2). Thereafter, in step S3, the transfer destination memory 1
The transfer destination is determined from the storage contents of No. 9. That is, it is determined whether the transfer destination memory 19 stores the telephone number of the transfer destination, the pager call number, or neither of them (the telephone number and the call number of the pager are determined by calling the pager). Since the first half of the number is a fixed number for calling the relay station of the service company, the number is determined by the presence or absence of this number.) When the telephone number is stored, the transfer destination is the telephone of the telephone number If the call number of the pager is stored, it is determined that the transfer destination is the pager of the call number, and if nothing is stored, it is determined that there is no instruction of the transfer destination. Then, a predetermined signal is transmitted to the response message storage unit 14 in accordance with the result of the determination, and the predetermined response message is transmitted to the speech circuit 8 to output a corresponding voice signal from the speech circuit 8 to the telephone line side ( Steps S4 to S6).
That is, when the transfer destination is a telephone or a pager, the response message (1) is sent in step S4 or step S5, respectively.
Alternatively, if the transfer destination is not specified, the response message (3) is sent from the response message storage unit 14 to the speech circuit 8 in step S6. The response messages (1) and (3) are "I'm away now. If you hear a beep, please talk about your business." Response message (2) is "I'm away now. If you hear a beep, please tell us what you need to do. If you are in a hurry, enter your home phone number with the push button and finally press the # mark button. " When any one of the above-described steps S4 to S6 is completed, a signal is sent to the recording unit 13 so that the telephone line, the bridge rectifier circuit 4, the switch circuit 7,
The recording of the audio signal sent via the speech circuit 8 is started, and the timer in the control unit 1 is started to measure the elapse of a predetermined time (step S7). Thereafter, it is determined whether a DTMF signal has been transmitted (for example, whether the other party has input a home telephone number in response to the request for the response message (2)) (step S8), and the signal is transmitted. If not, it is determined whether or not there is an end signal sent from the exchange based on the on-hook of the other party (step S18). If there is no such signal, the timer further measures the elapse of a predetermined time and ends. It is determined whether or not the operation has been performed (step S19). If the certain time has not yet elapsed, the operation of returning to step S18 is repeated. When the end signal is present, the process proceeds from step S18 to step S20, in which the timer operation is stopped, the process proceeds to step S21, the recording operation of the recording unit 13 is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S14. If the above timer measures the elapse of a certain time before,
The process proceeds from step S19 to step S21 to execute the above-described recording stop operation, and then proceeds to step S14. On the other hand, D
When the TMF signal has been sent, the process proceeds from step S8 to step S9, in which the recording operation by the recording unit 13 and the operation of measuring the elapsed time by the timer are stopped, and the DTMF signal transmitted in step S10 is It is determined whether it is a control code for monitoring the answering machine or the telephone number of the other party's home. In the case of the former control code, the corresponding processing is performed and the operation associated with the current call is terminated (step S22). In the case of the latter telephone number, the end code (the above-described response message (2) is DTMF sent until the code sent in response to the operation of the button of the obtained # mark) is sent
The operation of sequentially storing the signal (that is, the telephone number of the other party's home) in the reception data memory 18 is repeated (steps S11 and S12).

If the end code has been sent, the process proceeds from step S12 to step S13, where the control unit 1
Is set to 1 and that the reception data memory 18 stores the telephone number of the home of the other party who has urgent business and seeks telephone communication. After the processing in step S13 or the processing in step S21 described above is completed, a signal is sent to the switch circuit 7 again via the OR circuit 6, and the switch circuit 7 is turned off for a short time to send an on-hook signal to the exchange ( Step S14). Thereafter, in step S15, the transfer destination is determined based on the contents stored in the transfer destination memory 19 in the same manner as the operation in step S3 described above. After sending the telephone number to the exchange, the telephone number is read from the transfer destination memory 19 and converted into a corresponding DTMF signal by the DTMF signal encoder 11 and transmitted to the exchange via the speech circuit 8, the switch circuit 7, and the bridge rectifier circuit 4. Call the telephone and then the recording unit 1
The received message recorded in 3 is sent to the speech circuit 8,
The telephone call processing to be transmitted via the switch circuit 7 and the bridge rectifier circuit 4 is executed (step S17). If the transfer destination is not stored in the transfer destination memory 19 in step S15 and transfer is not instructed, the current operation is completed. On the other hand, when the transfer destination is the pager receiver, the process proceeds to step S16, that is, the pager calling process of FIG. That is, in step S30, a signal is sent to the switch circuit 7 via the OR circuit 6, and an off-hook signal is sent to the exchange (step S30). Thereafter, the calling number of the pager to be called is read out from the transfer destination memory 19 and read. Is processed by the DTMF signal encoder 11 to send it to the exchange via the speech circuit 8, the switch circuit 7, and the bridge rectification circuit 4 as an DTMF signal to execute an automatic dial process (step S31).

After that, the system waits for the end of the response message prompting the input of the transmission message sent from the exchange (step S32). When this is completed, 1 is set to the flag in the control unit 1 described above. That is, it is determined whether the received data memory 18 stores a telephone number for which a telephone call is required (step S3).
3). When the flag is set to 1, the telephone number is read from the reception data memory 18 and is sent to the DTMF signal encoder 11 so that the
The MF signal is sent to the telephone line via the speech circuit 8, switch circuit 7, and bridge rectifier circuit 4, and the flag is set to 0 in preparation for the next call (step S34). On the other hand, when it is determined in step S33 that 1 is not set in the flag,
A specific code indicating that the message is recorded in the recording unit 13 is sent to the DTMF signal encoder 11 while the absence message is present, and the specific code is changed to a DTMF signal. , Switch circuit 7,
The data is transmitted to the telephone line via the bridge rectifier circuit 4 (step S35). Step S34 or step S3
After the processing of step 5, the on-hook signal is sent to the exchange in the same manner as described above (step S36), and a series of operations associated with the current call is completed.

The telephone number or the specific code sent to the service center of the pager as described above is wirelessly sent to the pager carried by the owner of the answering machine, and the portable person needs to contact the telephone. Then, the user makes a call to the telephone of the telephone number received and sent, or makes a call to the answering machine at home to listen to the message stored in the recording unit 13. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the received message is stored separately in the recording unit 13, and the telephone number of the contact is stored separately in the received data memory 18.
Both of them may be stored in a recording unit composed of a tape or an IC. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, when a call is made in answering machine mode, an off-hook signal and a response message are output. (Step S4
1), recording or recording of all incoming data is started by the recording unit, and measurement of elapsed time is started by a timer (step S42). It continues until the time is measured, and when there is an end code, a predetermined flag is set to 1 (steps S43 to S46), and then the recording and the timer operation are stopped, and an on-hook signal is transmitted (step S47). Then, the transfer operation of transferring the data of the recording unit according to the transfer destination set thereafter (steps S48 to S48).
50) may be performed.

[0012]

As described above in detail, the present invention is applied to a case where a paging receiver is called to notify that a call has been made when a transmitted message is based on a DTMF (dual tone multi-frequency) signal. Each time the paging receiver notifies the existence of a message that has been sent to the answering machine and recorded, it relates to an answering machine that sends the message to the paging receiver. I do not recognize,
It is possible to provide an answering machine that does not need to call the answering machine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a general flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a pager calling process in FIG. 2 (step S16);
Is a flowchart showing in detail.

FIG. 4 is a general flowchart showing an outline of an operation of an application modified example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Modular jack 3 Incoming detection circuit 4 Bridge rectifier circuit 5 Pulse dialer 6 OR circuit 7 Switch circuit 8 Speech circuit 9 Receiving speaker 10 Transmission microphone 11 DTMF signal encoder 12 DTMF signal decoder 13 Recording part 14 Response message storage part 15 Display unit 16 Key input unit 17 Pulse / DTMF switch 18 Received data memory 19 Transfer destination memory 20 Fuxit 21 Ringer sound speaker

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A 1-311748 (JP, A) JP-A 61-214646 (JP, A) JP-A 4-248742 (JP, A) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 1/64-1/658

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] An automatic response to a call to connect a line, and
Automatic response means for returning a response message to the caller;
From the caller received after the line connection by the automatic answering means
Of the message specified by the transfer destination setting means
Answering machine equipped with a forwarding means for forwarding to a destination
The automatic response means stores a plurality of types of response messages.
And when a call is received,
The above-mentioned multiple types of response messages are
Select the desired response message from the messages and select
Answering machine for returning a response message to a caller . 2. A line is connected by automatically answering a call, and
Automatic response means for returning a response message to the caller;
From the caller received after the line connection by the automatic answering means
Of the message specified by the transfer destination setting means
Answering machine equipped with a forwarding means for forwarding to a destination
Te, place the message from the caller is a voice message
In the case, the voice message is stored in the recording means, and
When the message from the caller is a data message
Stores the data message in the data storage means.
Receiving message storage control means, end detection means for detecting the end , and disconnection of the line when the end is detected by the end detection means.
Line disconnecting means, and after the line is disconnected by the line disconnecting means,
Transfer to determine the transfer destination set by the destination setting means
And a transfer destination determining means based on the determination result of the transfer destination determining means.
The voice message or the voice message recorded in the recording means.
Or the data message stored in the data storage means.
Select one of the messages and forward the selected message
Transfer to the transfer destination set by the destination setting means
Answering machine characterized by the following . 3. A line is connected by automatically answering a call, and
Automatic response means for returning a response message to the caller;
From the caller received after the line connection by the automatic answering means
Of the message specified by the transfer destination setting means
Answering machine equipped with a forwarding means for forwarding to a destination
The automatic response means stores a plurality of types of response messages.
Response message storage means
The destination set by the destination setting means.
Stored in the response message storage means based on the
Predetermined response message from multiple types of response messages
Select to return the selected response message to the caller
Means, wherein the answering machine further comprises a message from the caller.
If the message is a voice message,
The message from the caller.
If it is a data message, the data message
Message storage control for storing messages in data storage means
Means, end call detecting means for detecting an end call, and the end call detecting means
Line disconnection hand that disconnects the line when the end call is detected by the step
And the transfer after the line is disconnected by the line disconnecting means.
Transfer to determine the transfer destination set by the destination setting means
And a transfer destination determining means, wherein the transfer destination is determined by the transfer destination determining means.
When the transfer destination is a predetermined transfer destination, the data storage
Set the data message stored in the column to the destination
Transfer to the destination set by means
Telephone answering device to. 4. The data message is transmitted from the caller by D
Sent in TMF signal format, built-in DTMF signal decoding
Data is converted to digital data by the
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the information is stored in a stage.
Answering machine. 5. The transfer means includes a transfer destination setting means.
If the transfer destination is set to the phone,
Select the voice message recorded on the recording sound
Transfer and transfer set by the transfer destination setting means
If the destination is a pager, it is recorded in the data storage means.
Select and forward stored data messages
An answering machine according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that:
Talking device.