JP3402804B2 - 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.
Particularly, it relates to an answering machine connected to a telephone line to which the identification information of the caller is sent by the "caller telephone number sending service".

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional answering machine, when a call is made during an absence, an answering message is answered and then a message of the caller is sequentially recorded on a magnetic tape or the like. Then, when the number of incoming calls during the absence exceeds the recording capacity of the answering machine, the answering machine is not operated, or the line is disconnected only by transmitting a response message after the incoming call processing.

[0003]

However, in the conventional answering machine, as described above, no information is recorded for incoming calls after the number of calls exceeds a certain number. Therefore, the memory of the answering machine is stored. After the club was full, I didn't even know the name of the caller, or even whether there was an incoming call. This is like if you were out for a long time,
When the number of incoming calls during absence is large, it is not only very inconvenient, but it also causes trouble to the caller who tries to call while away. By the way, in Japan, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is currently playing a central role in examining issues such as privacy in order to implement the "caller telephone number sending service," which is one of the additional telephone services, in the near future. .

According to this service, information such as the caller's telephone number is sent from the telephone exchange while receiving a call signal after receiving a call. Already, this service is being implemented by some US and Canadian telephone companies.
During the dwell time between the second ringing signal and the second ringing signal,
At a communication speed of 1200 bits per second, in addition to the telephone number, the time when the call arrived and the name of the sender (hereinafter referred to as "sender identification information")
Say. ) Is sent. Therefore, the present invention is applied to an answering machine because the number of incoming calls that have not been received exceeds a certain number while being connected to a telephone line that can use the above "caller telephone number sending service". It is an object to provide a convenient answering machine that can record caller identification information such as a caller name for subsequent incoming calls even after the message cannot be stored. To do.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the answering machine according to claim 1 is connected to a telephone line to which caller identification information is sent by "caller telephone number sending service". An answering machine, an incoming call detection means, a caller identification information extraction means for extracting caller identification information while receiving a call signal, and a caller identification information storage means for storing the extracted caller identification information. A response message sending means for sending a response message to a telephone line after detecting an incoming call, and a message storage means for storing a message message received after sending the response message in association with caller identification information extracted during reception of a ringing signal. And a search means for searching for specific sender identification information from the sender identification information stored in the sender identification information storage means, and a search for the sender identification information And an operation means for instructing the reproduction of the message, a reproducing means for reproducing the message, and a message storing means for storing the message corresponding to the sender identification information searched by the searching means. And a reproduction control unit for reproducing through the reproduction unit, and the sender identification information storage unit can store a larger number of caller identification information than the maximum number of messages that the message storage unit can store. If the storage capacity of the message storage means exceeds the preset capacity, the message storage means stops the message storage in the message storage means, and at least the sender identification information. By remembering, you can know the person who could not remember the message. The telephone answering device, wherein the door.

The answering machine according to claim 2 is the answering machine according to claim 1, further comprising caller identification information relating to an incoming call during absence after the record in the message storage means is full. Is provided with a display means capable of displaying.

[0007]

According to the answering machine according to the first aspect of the present invention, when an incoming call is received during the absence, the incoming call detecting means firstly detects that fact. Then, during reception of the subsequent calling signal, the caller identification information transmitted through the telephone line is extracted by the caller identification information extracting means,
It is stored in the sender identification information storage means. Then, after sending the response message to the telephone line, the message is received. The received message is stored in the message storage means in association with the sender identification information extracted immediately before.

When the free space of the message storage means is exhausted, no message is recorded. That is, with respect to incoming calls thereafter, only the sender identification information is stored in the sender identification information storage means, and the message is not recorded. The sender identification information stored in the sender identification information storage means can be searched by the operation means. Further, it is possible to read the message message corresponding to the retrieved caller identification information from the message message storage means and reproduce it. However, for an incoming call after the record in the message storage means is full, the sender identification information can only be searched and confirmed, and the message is not reproduced.

Therefore, with respect to the incoming call information recorded while the user is out of the office, the operator can specify the caller up to a certain number and listen to the message. In addition, for the number of incoming calls exceeding a certain number, only the sender identification information can be known. According to the answering machine of claim 2,
Further, since the display means for displaying the sender identification information is provided, all the sender identification information stored in the sender identification information storage means can be confirmed by the display means. Therefore, the caller identification information such as the caller's name can be viewed even for an incoming call that is on the absence after the record in the message storage means is full.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing its embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an answering machine according to the present invention. This device
The incoming call detection unit 7, the caller identification information demodulation unit 8, the hook control unit 1, the voice detection unit 2, the voice connected to the telephone line 17 to which the caller identification information is sent by the "caller telephone number sending service" It has a sending unit 3 and a voice monitor unit 4, and further comprises a voice recording AD converter 5, a voice reproducing DA converter 6, an operation unit 10, a display unit 11, and a storage unit 15 centering on a control unit 9. Has been done. The telephone 16 is drawn for convenience of description, and is not included in the configuration of the answering machine according to the present invention.

The incoming call detecting section 7 detects an incoming call which is not present,
This is to start the subsequent series of control, and when there is an incoming call, the control section 9 is notified of that fact. The caller identification information demodulation unit 8 receives the first call signal and the second call signal after the incoming call.
The caller identification information sent during the down time between the calling signals for the second time is extracted and demodulated. Caller identification information such as the demodulated telephone number, incoming time, name of the caller, etc. is written to the caller identification information storage unit 12 in the storage unit 15 via the control unit 9. The hook control unit 1 is composed of an electromagnetic relay or the like, and performs an off-hook or on-hook state according to an instruction from the control unit 9 to perform line supplementing or line disconnection processing.

The voice detection unit 2 detects that the sender is transmitting a message, and after extracting the message, the message is AD for voice recording.
Send to converter 5. The voice recording AD converter 5 samples the voice signal of the message that is analog information and converts it into digital information, and then sends the digitized voice information to the control unit 9. The DA converter 6 for audio reproduction is
The digital information of the message and the response message sent from the control unit 9 is reproduced and converted into an audio signal of analog information and sent to the audio sending unit 3.

The voice sending unit 3 is composed of a power amplifier or the like, and has a function of sending the voice signal sent from the voice reproduction DA converter 6 to the telephone line 17 or the voice monitor unit 4 after power amplification. The voice monitor unit 4 includes an amplifier and a speaker, and allows the operator to hear a voice signal transmitted through the telephone line 17 or a voice signal of a message message or a response message transmitted from the voice transmitting unit 3. Output as a sound that can be made. The control unit 9 is composed of a microprocessor, a timer (not shown), and the like. The control unit 9 takes timing such as when recording a message of interest, inputs and outputs data to and from the storage unit 15, and further digitizes it. It also performs signal processing such as data compression of the audio information.

The storage unit 15 is a read-only memory (R
OM) and a random access memory (RAM), which mainly constitute the sender identification information storage unit 12, the message message storage unit 13, and the response message storage unit 14. In addition, the operation procedure of the control unit 9 (FIG. (2, FIG. 3) and temporary data to be processed by the control unit 9 are also stored. Sender identification information storage unit 12
In addition to the caller identification information such as the caller's telephone number, caller's name, and arrival time, the recording start address in the message message storage unit 13 in which the corresponding message is recorded is also stored. To be done. These pieces of information form one set of data corresponding to one incoming call, and are stored and stored in the order of incoming calls by the number of sets corresponding to the number of incoming calls. The message message storage unit 13 stores and stores the message messages from the caller detected by the voice detection unit 2 in the order of arrival.

Here, the storage capacity of the sender identification information storage unit 12 is designed so that a larger number of sender identification information items than the maximum message number that can be stored in the message storage unit 13 can be stored. Specifically, assuming that the shortest message is continuous, in that case, the maximum number of messages that can be stored in the message storage unit 13 is calculated, and the caller identification information in a number exceeding the maximum number of messages is calculated. The storage capacity of the sender identification information storage unit 12 required for storage is calculated. The response message storage unit 14 stores a response message for answering an absence, such as one's own telephone number, name, and absence. This response message can be freely recorded and updated by the operator through a voice microphone (not shown).

Here, the message and the response message are written in the storage unit 15 after data compression processing is performed in the control unit 9. As a result, the storage capacity of the storage unit 15 is effectively utilized. On the other hand, at the time of reproducing these messages, the message data read by the control unit 9 is sent to the audio reproduction DA converter 6 after being subjected to data expansion processing in the control unit 9. The display unit 11 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display device or the like, and displays the sender information such as the name of the sender stored in the sender identification information storage unit 12 when the incoming call information is reproduced. Although not shown, the operation unit 10 includes a push button for activating reproduction of recorded information, a forward button for sequentially sending caller information to be displayed on the display unit 11, and a display unit 11. The voice monitor unit 4 has a voice reproduction button for reproducing and outputting the message message corresponding to the displayed caller. When those buttons are pressed, the internal circuit of the operation unit 10 sends an instruction corresponding to the button to the control unit 9.

Next, the operation of the recording process of the answering machine having the above-mentioned structure when a call is received while the user is absent will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure. First, when there is an incoming call during absence, the incoming call detection unit 7 detects that fact (step 201). When it is detected that there is an incoming call, the control unit 9 determines whether or not the caller identification information storage unit 12 has a free storage capacity required to store the caller identification information of one incoming call. A judgment is made (step 202). If the result of determination is that the sender identification information storage unit 12 does not have free storage capacity, control returns to step 201 without performing any processing, but if it has free storage capacity, it continues. Caller identification information demodulation unit 8
Extracts and demodulates the caller identification information transmitted from the telephone line 17 (step 203).

The demodulated caller identification information is written in the caller identification information storage section 12 through the control section 9 (step 204). Here, in the information written in the sender identification information storage unit 12, not only the sender identification information such as the sender's telephone number and the sender's name, but also the message message that is transmitted subsequently is the message message. The recording start address in the message storage unit 13 for recording in the storage unit 13 is also included. Next, the control unit 9 determines whether or not the message storage unit 13 has a free storage capacity required to store a message message for one incoming call (step 205). As a result of the determination, when the message storage unit 13 does not have the free storage capacity, the recording process for one incoming call is completed, and the control is returned to step 201 to prepare for the next incoming call again.

Therefore, even if the storage in the message storage unit 13 is already full, the sender identification information is stored in the sender identification information storage unit 12. On the other hand, when the message storage unit 13 has a free space, the following process is continuously performed to record the message from the sender. First, the hook control unit 1
However, in response to an instruction from the control unit 9, the telephone line 17 is captured by off-hook processing (step 206). Then, the response message stored in the response message storage unit 14 is transmitted to the telephone line 17 through the control unit 9, the voice reproduction DA converter 6 and the voice transmission unit 3 (step 207). As a result, the caller who knows that he / she is absent sends a message, but the message is extracted by the voice detection unit 2 and is further stored in the storage unit through the voice recording AD converter 5 and the control unit 9. It is written in the message storage unit 13 of 15 (step 20).
8).

When the caller disconnects the telephone line 17 without transmitting any message, only the information indicating that is written in the message storage unit 13.
Here, the address in the message storage unit 13 to which the message is written is the same as the recording start address already stored in the sender identification information storage unit 12 in step 204. Finally, after the control unit 9 confirms the end of the transmission of the message, the hook control unit 1 performs an on-hook process according to an instruction from the control unit 9, so that the telephone line 17
Is disconnected (step 209).

Here, the judgment of the end of transmission of the message is made by the control unit 9 detecting that the silent state has continued for 5 seconds, for example. When the processing of step 209 is finished, the recording processing of the caller identification information and the message of one incoming call is finished, but the control is returned to step 201 again to prepare for the next incoming call. Although not shown in the flowchart, the caller identification information and the message of interest are stored in the caller identification information storage unit 12 and the message of interest message storage unit 13 for each incoming call so as to be sequentially recorded. The recording start address of is updated for each incoming call processing.

Next, the operation of the reproducing process of the information recorded by the present apparatus while the user is away will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure. First, when the reproduction process of the present apparatus is activated by an instruction from the operation unit 10, the control unit 9 initializes the called number counter n (step 3).
01). Here, the called number counter n is a numerical value indicating the order of incoming calls that were on the absence. Although not shown in FIG. 1, it is temporarily stored in the storage unit 15. is there. Next, caller identification information corresponding to the incoming call number counter n is read from the caller identification information storage unit 12 and displayed on the display unit 11 (step 302).

Subsequently, the control unit 9 controls the called number counter n.
Determines whether the number exceeds the number of messages recorded in the message storage unit 13 (step 30).
3). This is for incoming calls on the incoming counter n
It is determined whether only the sender identification information is recorded, or whether the required message is also recorded together with the sender identification information. As a result of the judgment, when the incoming counter n exceeds the number of recorded message messages, that is, when the message message is not recorded,
There is no need to play the message, so step 30
Go to 6. On the other hand, if the incoming message counter n does not exceed the number of recorded message messages, that is, if the message message is recorded, the following processing (steps) is performed in order to reproduce the message message as necessary. 304-30
Perform 5).

First, it is determined whether or not the voice reproduction button provided on the operation unit 10 has been pressed (step 30).
4). When the voice reproduction button is pressed, the control unit 9
Reads the message message corresponding to the caller displayed on the display unit 11 from the message message storage unit 13,
After passing through the audio reproduction DA converter 6 and the audio transmission unit 3, the audio monitor unit 4 reproduces and outputs the audio (step 305). Message storage unit 1 at that time
As the read address from 3, the recording start address stored in the sender identification information storage unit 12 together with the sender identification information is used. On the other hand, when the audio reproduction button is not pressed, the above audio reproduction is not performed.

Next, it is determined whether or not the forward button provided on the operation unit 10 has been pressed (step 30).
6). If the forward button is not pressed, the control procedure returns to step 303 so that the same message can be reproduced and output again. On the other hand, when the forward button is pressed, the called number counter n is incremented by 1 (step 307). Then, the called number counter n
Is determined to exceed the number of incoming calls recorded in the sender identification information storage unit 12 (step 308). When the incoming number counter n does not exceed the number of incoming calls recorded in the calling party identification information storage section 12, the calling party identification information for the next incoming call is updated and displayed on the display section 11 (step 3).
02), processing similar to the above (steps 303 to 308)
repeat.

On the other hand, when the incoming number counter n exceeds the number of incoming calls recorded in this device, this reproducing process is terminated. Through the above reproduction processing, the operator quickly and sequentially views only the caller identification information such as the caller name from the incoming call information recorded and accumulated during absence by pressing the forward button. be able to. Here, the caller identification information is recorded in the caller identification information storage unit 12 even if the incoming call comes after the message storage unit 13 is full unless the caller identification information storage unit 12 is full. Therefore, the operator can know at least the caller identification information such as the caller name of all the incoming calls recorded during the absence, regardless of whether or not the message is recorded together. Further, for an incoming call in which a message message is recorded together with the caller identification information, the message message of the caller can be heard by specifying the caller and pressing the voice reproduction button.

Although the answering machine according to the present invention has been described above based on the embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. That is, (1) The answering machine in this embodiment has a configuration independent of the telephone 16 as shown in FIG. 1, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, as an external configuration, it is integrated with the telephone 16 and the telephone 1
The device may be incorporated in the device 6. (2) The sender identification information storage unit 12, the message message storage unit 13, and the response message storage unit 14 in this embodiment.
Are all composed of semiconductor memory elements such as ROM and RAM, but are not limited to these types.
For example, the message storage unit 13 and the response message storage unit 14 may be magnetic tape devices to form an inexpensive message storage unit having a large storage capacity. (3) Only the caller identification information for one incoming call is displayed on the display unit 11 in the present embodiment, but the display method is not limited to this. For example, caller identification information for five incoming calls may be displayed at one time, and a selection button may be provided on the operation unit 10 so that the operator can select one caller from among them.

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, in the answering machine according to the present invention, the caller identification information storage unit has a number larger than the maximum number of messages that the message storage unit can store . It has a storage capacity that can record sender identification information. Therefore, even after the message cannot be stored in the answering machine due to the number of incoming calls exceeding a certain number being received, the caller identification such as the caller name is still recognized for the subsequent incoming calls. Information is recorded. This eliminates the inconvenience of the conventional answering machine, in which it is not possible to know not only the caller's name but also whether there is an incoming call when the number of incoming calls exceeds a certain number.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a recording process at the time of an incoming call during absence in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a reproduction process of information recorded during absence in the embodiment.

[Simple explanation of symbols]

1 Hook controller 2 Voice detector 3 Audio transmission section 4 Voice monitor 5 AD converter for voice recording 6 Audio playback DA converter 7 Incoming call detector 8 Transmitter identification information demodulator 9 control unit 10 Operation part 11 Display 12 Sender identification information storage unit 13 message storage 14 Response message storage 15 memory

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-53740 (JP, A) JP-A-4-320141 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 1/65 H04M 1/57

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An answering machine connected to a telephone line to which caller identification information is sent by a "caller telephone number sending service", which comprises an incoming call detection means and a caller identification during reception of a calling signal. Caller identification information extraction means for extracting information, caller identification information storage means for storing the extracted caller identification information, response message sending means for sending a response message to the telephone line after detection of an incoming call, and after sending a response message A message message storage means for storing the message to be received in association with the caller identification information extracted during reception of the call signal; and a specific sender from the caller identification information stored in the caller identification information storage means. Retrieval means for retrieving identification information, operation means for instructing the operation of the answering machine, replay means for replaying a message, and the retrieving hand. And a reproduction control unit that reads out a message message corresponding to the caller identification information retrieved by the stage from the message message storage unit and reproduces the message message through the reproduction unit, and the caller identification information storage unit is a message message storage unit. The means has a storage capacity capable of storing a larger number of caller identification information than the maximum number of messages that can be stored, and when the storage capacity of the message storage means exceeds a preset capacity, By storing the message in the message storage means and storing at least the caller identification information, it is possible to know the other party who could not store the message. . 2. An answering machine according to claim 1, further comprising display means capable of displaying caller identification information for an incoming call which is on the absence after the record in the message storage means is full. An answering machine that is equipped with.