JPH04262655A - Cordless automatic answering telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow only a master set to the automatic answering state or only a slave set to the automatic answering state to monitor a message set in the automatic answering mode. CONSTITUTION:A master set is provided with an automatic answering setting memory section 15 storing by which of the master set or a slave set the automatic answering mode is set and a control circuit 13 which controls to sound a message from an internal speaker 9 when the automatic answering mode is set by the master set and which controls the transmission of the message to the slave set by which the automatic answering mode is set when the automatic answering mode is set by the slave set based on the storage content of the automatic answering setting memory section 15, and the slave set is provided with a control means which controls the message sent from the master set in the automatic answering mode to be sounded from its internal speaker.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a cordless answering machine comprising a base unit connected to a telephone line and having an answering machine function, and at least one slave unit connected to the base unit via a wireless line. In more detail, this is a cordless system that allows only the base unit that is set to be away or the handset that is set to be away to monitor business messages sent from the other party during answering mode. Regarding answering machines.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, cordless answering telephones have been provided which consist of a base unit connected to a telephone line and having an answering machine function, and at least one slave unit connected to the base unit via a wireless line. ing.

[0003] In this cordless answering machine,
There is a type that allows you to constantly monitor business messages sent from the other party while in answering mode.

[0004] In other words, the base unit is designed to record message messages sent from the other party when in answering mode on an internal magnetic tape, etc. At this time, the message being recorded is recorded on the slave unit. The device transmits the sound to the device, and the sound is emitted from the internal speaker on the handset side.

[0005] Another type of cordless answering machine records the message sent from the other party on an internal magnetic tape when in answering machine mode, and the user does not have to operate any buttons during this recording. This allows the message being recorded to be transmitted to the handset, and the sound is emitted from the internal speaker on the handset.

[0006]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, with the former cordless answering machine, in which the handset always monitors the message while the message is being recorded, when there are multiple handsets, all The message will be emitted from the handset. At this time, if multiple handsets pick up the phone at the same time in an attempt to make a call to the other party who is on the answering machine, multiple handsets simultaneously send commands (
This resulted in problems such as the base unit being unable to receive commands from the handset, and the handset being unable to answer calls due to interference between the two devices' commands. .

[0007] Furthermore, in the latter type of cordless answering machine, in which the user operates a button during recording to monitor the message on the handset side, some button must be pressed in order to monitor the message. This required manual operation, which was cumbersome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to monitor business messages sent from the other party during the answering mode only on the base unit that has set the answering machine, or to monitor the message sent from the other party during the answering mode. To provide a cordless answering machine that eliminates the above-mentioned problems by allowing the user to perform the call only on the handset side.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the cordless answering machine of the present invention includes a base unit having an answering machine function connected to a telephone line, and a base unit connected to the base unit by a wireless line. at least one handset, each of the base device and the handset is provided with a mode setting means for setting an answering mode;
The base device includes a storage means for storing whether the answering mode set by the mode setting means is set on the base device side or on the slave device side; Based on the memory contents of the device, if the answering mode is set on the base unit, it records the message sent from the other party during the answering mode, and also records the message being recorded internally. The sound is emitted from the speaker, and if the answering mode is set on the handset, it records the message sent from the other party during the answering mode, and also records the message being recorded. A control means is provided for controlling the transmission of the message to the slave unit that has been set, and the slave unit is provided with a control unit that causes the slave unit to emit a sound from an internal speaker when the message is transmitted from the base unit during the answering mode. The device is equipped with a control means to perform the operation.

0010

[Operation] When the mode setting means on the base unit sets the answering mode, the storage means stores the setting on the base unit.

[0011] In this answering mode, when a business message is sent from the other party, the control means of the base unit records the business message on a magnetic tape using an internal tape recording/reproducing circuit, and also records the message on a magnetic tape. The message inside is emitted from the internal speaker, and the message is monitored. At this time, the control means does not transmit the business message to the handset side.

[0012] This makes it possible to monitor only the base unit that has set the user to be away. On the other hand, when the mode setting means on the handset side sets the answering mode, the storage means stores the setting on the handset side.

In this answering mode, when a business message is sent from the other party, the control means of the base unit records this message on a magnetic tape using an internal tape recording/reproducing circuit, and also records the message on a magnetic tape. Control is performed to send the message in the message to the wireless circuit and send it to the handset that has been set to be away.

[0014] The control means on the handset side that has set the mode performs control to cause the wireless circuit to receive the business message sent from the parent device and to emit a sound from the internal speaker.

[0015] This makes it possible to monitor only the handset that has been set to be away, and only that handset can pick up the phone and talk to the other party who is responding to the call.

[0016] By the way, when the mode setting means on the main unit side sets the answering mode, when a message is sent from the other party, the control means on the main unit sends this message as described above. The internally provided tape recording/reproducing circuit records the message on a magnetic tape, and the message being recorded is emitted from the internal speaker to monitor the message.

[0017] In this case, when there are a plurality of slave units, the control means of the base unit establishes a wireless connection to all slave units, and
The handset side is informed that the base unit is responding by turning on a lamp (or flashing), making a sound, etc. At the same time, the base unit sequentially sends a command indicating the timing at which commands can be sent to each slave unit, so that each slave unit does not send commands to the base unit at the same time. There is.

[0018] In other words, when any handset picks up the phone (that is, goes off-hook), when the handset is ready to transmit, it sends a wireless connection command to the base, so multiple Even if the handsets pick up the phone at the same time, only the handset that is able to transmit first will transmit. This makes it possible to take calls from any handset without interference.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the base unit of the cordless answering machine of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the slave unit of the cordless answering machine of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a telephone line 1 is connected to an incoming call detection circuit 2 for detecting an incoming signal, and a line capture circuit 3 for capturing the telephone line.
A communication circuit 4 for switching audio signals and the like is bidirectionally connected to the terminal.

The telephone call circuit 4 is connected to the output of a voice synthesis circuit 5 for synthesizing a response message and the output of a radio circuit 12 for receiving voice signals etc. transmitted from the handset side. The output of 4 is connected to a wireless circuit 12 and a speaker 9 via an audio signal sending circuit 11.

The audio signal sending circuit 11 switches its internal connection to either the wireless circuit 12 or the speaker 9 so that the audio signal from the communication circuit 4 is output to either the wireless circuit 12 or the speaker 9. It has become.

Furthermore, the communication circuit 4 and the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6 are connected bidirectionally, and the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6 has a
A recording/reproducing head 7 for recording on and reproducing from the magnetic tape 8 is connected.

On the other hand, the output of the incoming call detection circuit 2 is connected to a control circuit 13 that controls the operation of the entire base unit.

The control circuit 13 is bidirectionally connected to the radio circuit 12, and based on the control signal from the radio circuit 12, the incoming call detection signal from the incoming call detection circuit 2, etc. Control signals are output to the circuit 5, the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6, the audio signal sending circuit 11, and the mechanical drive circuit 10 that drives the magnetic tape 8 at respective timings. In addition, the control circuit 13 is connected to the output of an answering setting button 14 for setting the answering mode, and also determines whether the answering mode is set on the base unit side or on the slave unit side. An absentee setting memory unit 15 that stores information on whether the user is away or not is bidirectionally connected.

In FIG. 2, a communication circuit 22 for switching audio signals, etc. is bidirectionally connected to a wireless circuit 21 for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from a base unit.
are connected to the output of the microphone 24 and the input of the speaker 23, respectively.

Further, a control circuit 25 that controls the operation of the entire slave device is bidirectionally connected to the radio circuit 21. The control circuit 25 is connected to the output of the absence setting button 26 and the output of the telephone button 27, respectively.
The control circuit 25 outputs control signals to the communication circuit 22 and the lamp 28 at respective timings.

Next, the operation of the cordless answering machine with the above configuration is as follows: (1) When the answering machine is set on the base unit side, (
2) We will explain separately the case where the handset is set to be away.

(1) When the absence setting is made on the base unit side. When the absence setting button 14 of the base unit is pressed, the control circuit 13
sets the main unit to the answering mode, and also stores in the answering setting memory unit 15 that the setting of the answering mode has been performed by the operation on the main unit.

[0031] In this answering mode, telephone line 1
When there is an incoming call from the other party's terminal via the incoming call detection circuit 2
detects this incoming call signal and sends the incoming call detection signal to the control circuit 13.
Send to. The control circuit 13 counts the number of incoming call detection signals, and when a preset number of calls is received, starts an answering operation.

That is, the control circuit 13 first outputs a control signal to the line acquisition circuit 3 to cause the line acquisition circuit 3 to acquire the line, and then outputs a control signal to the voice synthesis circuit 5 to perform voice synthesis. Drive circuit 5. As a result, a response message is synthesized by the voice synthesis circuit 5, and a response message is synthesized by the speech synthesis circuit 5.
, is output to the telephone line 1 via the line acquisition circuit 3.

The control circuit 13 also includes a tape recording/reproducing circuit 6.
and the mechanical drive circuit 10, respectively, to put the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6 into a recording operation state, and drive the mechanical drive circuit 10 to run the magnetic tape 8 in a recording mode.

[0034] As a result, when a business message is sent from the other party in response to the response message, this business message is guided to the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6 via the communication circuit 4 and is read by the recording/reproducing head 7. Recorded on magnetic tape 8.

The control circuit 13 also reads out the information in the absence setting memory section 15, recognizes that the absence response operation has been set on the base unit side, and executes the next operation.

That is, the control circuit 13 outputs a switching control signal to the audio signal sending circuit 11 to switch the internal connection of the audio signal sending circuit 11 to the speaker 9 side.

[0037] As a result, the business message sent from the other party is also guided to the internal speaker 9 via the communication circuit 4 and the audio signal sending circuit 11, and the business message is emitted from the speaker 9. That will happen.

Furthermore, the control circuit 13 outputs a connection request signal to the wireless circuit 12 to connect all slave devices to wireless lines.

In response to this connection request signal, the wireless circuit 12 connects wireless lines to all slave units via the control channel, and also sends a command indicating the timing at which each slave unit can send a command for connection. is sent to each child device in turn.

The slave unit receives this command through the wireless circuit 21 and sends it to the control circuit 25. Upon receiving this command, the control circuit 25 drives the lamp 28 to turn on (or blink) to notify that the base unit is responding to an absence. Also, at this time, the control circuit 2
5 puts the communication circuit 22 into a non-operating state.

In this state, the telephone button 27 of the handset is pressed.
When pressed, the control circuit 25 waits for the wireless circuit 21 to receive a command indicating that it is time for the control circuit 25 to output a command. When the control circuit 25 receives a command indicating that it is the output timing, the control circuit 25 transmits a connection request command to the base device. Thereafter, the control circuit 25 puts the telephone call circuit 22 into operation.

The connection request command sent from the slave unit is received by the wireless circuit 12 of the base unit, and is sent to the control circuit 13.
will be sent to. Upon receiving this command, the control circuit 13 cancels the answering operation and connects the handset to the outside line.

That is, the control circuit 13 outputs a switching control signal to the audio signal sending circuit 11 to switch the internal connection of the audio signal sending circuit 11 to the wireless circuit 12 side.

The control circuit 13 also includes a tape recording/reproducing circuit 6.
A control signal is output to the mechanical drive circuit 10 to stop its operation.

[0045] As a result, from now on, the audio signal sent from the other party is guided to the radio circuit 12 via the communication circuit 4 and the audio signal sending circuit 11, and is transmitted to the handset side via the communication channel. . The audio signal received by the radio circuit 21 on the handset side is transmitted to the speaker 2 via the communication circuit 22.
Output from 3.

On the other hand, the user's voice signal inputted from the microphone 24 is guided to the radio circuit 21 via the communication circuit 22, and is transmitted to the base unit via the communication channel. The audio signal received by the wireless circuit 12 on the base unit side is
The signal is output to the other party via the telephone call circuit 4, line capture circuit 3, and telephone line 1. In this way, it becomes possible to make a call between the handset and an outside line.

(2) When the handset is set to be away. When the handset's absence setting button 26 is pressed, the control circuit 25
controls the wireless circuit 21, and transmits a command for setting the answering machine to the base unit from the wireless circuit 21.

The wireless circuit 12 of the base unit receives this command and outputs it to the control circuit 13. Upon receiving this command, the control circuit 13 sets the base unit to the answering mode, and causes the answering setting memory unit 15 to store the fact that the setting of the answering mode was performed by the operation of the slave unit. A code for identifying each handset is added to this command, and information including this identification code is stored in the absence setting memory section 15.

[0049] In this answering mode, telephone line 1
When there is an incoming call from the other party's terminal via the incoming call detection circuit 2
detects this incoming call signal and sends the incoming call detection signal to the control circuit 13.
Send to. The control circuit 13 counts the number of incoming call detection signals, and when a preset number of calls is received, starts an answering operation.

That is, the control circuit 13 first outputs a control signal to the line acquisition circuit 3 to cause the line acquisition circuit 3 to acquire the line, and then outputs a control signal to the voice synthesis circuit 5 to perform voice synthesis. Drive circuit 5. As a result, a response message is synthesized by the voice synthesis circuit 5, and a response message is synthesized by the speech synthesis circuit 5.
, is output to the telephone line 1 via the line acquisition circuit 3.

The control circuit 13 also controls the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6.
and the mechanical drive circuit 10, respectively, to put the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6 into a recording operation state, and drive the mechanical drive circuit 10 to run the magnetic tape 8 in a recording mode.

[0052] As a result, when a business message is sent from the other party in response to the response message, this business message is guided to the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6 via the communication circuit 4 and is read by the recording/reproducing head 7. Recorded on magnetic tape 8.

Furthermore, the control circuit 13 reads out the information in the absence setting memory section 15, recognizes that the absence response operation has been set on the handset side, and executes the next operation.

That is, the control circuit 13 outputs a switching control signal to the audio signal sending circuit 11 to switch the internal connection of the audio signal sending circuit 11 to the wireless circuit 12 side.

Furthermore, the control circuit 13 outputs a connection request signal to the wireless circuit 12 so as to establish a wireless connection only with the handset that has been set to be away. Based on this connection request signal, the wireless circuit 12 sends and receives control signals to and from the handset that has been set to be away via the control channel, and sets a call channel.

[0056] As a result, the business message sent from the other party is guided to the radio circuit 12 via the call circuit 4 and the audio signal sending circuit 11, and sent to the handset that has been set to be away via the call channel. Sent. The business message received by the radio circuit 21 on the handset side is transmitted to the communication circuit 2
The signal is output from the speaker 23 via the terminal 2, and becomes ready for monitoring by the slave unit.

In this state, when the phone button 27 of the handset being monitored is pressed, the control circuit 25
1 and sends a command to request a call connection to the base unit. A call connection request command sent from the slave device is received by the wireless circuit 12 of the base device, and is sent to the control circuit 13.
sent to.

Upon receiving this command, the control circuit 13 cancels the answering operation and connects the handset to the outside line.

That is, the control circuit 13 outputs a control signal to the tape recording/reproducing circuit 6 and the mechanical drive circuit 10 to stop their operations.

[0060] As a result, from now on, the voice signal sent from the other party is guided to the radio circuit 12 via the call circuit 4 and the voice signal sending circuit 11, and sent to the handset that has been set to be away via the call channel. sent to the side. The audio signal received by the radio circuit 21 on the handset side is output from the speaker 23 via the communication circuit 22.

On the other hand, the user's voice signal inputted from the microphone 24 is guided to the radio circuit 21 via the communication circuit 22, and is transmitted to the base unit via the communication channel. The audio signal received by the wireless circuit 12 on the base unit side is
The signal is output to the other party via the telephone call circuit 4, line capture circuit 3, and telephone line 1. In this way, it becomes possible to make a call between the handset and an outside line.

[0062]

Effects of the Invention The cordless answering machine of the present invention can monitor business messages sent from the other party when in answering mode, and when the answering machine is set to the base unit, only the base unit can monitor the message sent from the other party. When this is done on the handset side, it is configured so that it can be done only on the handset that has set the answering machine, so it can always be monitored on either the base phone or the handset, and it can also be used on cordless answering machines with multiple handsets. This has the effect of preventing interference caused by each handset simultaneously picking up a call that is not answered.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a base unit of a cordless answering machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a handset of the cordless answering machine of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1　Telephone line 4 Call circuit 5 Speech synthesis circuit 6 Tape recording and reproducing circuit 9 Speaker 11 Audio signal transmission circuit 12 Wireless circuit 14 Absence setting button 15. Absence setting memory section 13 Control circuit 21 Wireless circuit 22 Call circuit 23 Speaker 25 Control circuit 26 Absence setting button

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1. A cordless answering machine comprising a base unit having an answering machine function connected to a telephone line, and at least one slave unit connected to the base unit via a wireless line, wherein the base unit and Each of the slave units is provided with a mode setting means for setting the answering mode, and the base unit is configured to determine whether the answering mode set by the mode setting means was set on the base unit side, or Based on the storage means that remembers whether the setting was made on the handset side and the memory contents of this storage means,
When the answering mode is set on the base unit, the message sent from the other party during the answering mode is recorded, the message being recorded is played from the internal speaker, and When the answering mode is set on the handset, the message sent from the other party during the answering mode is recorded, and the message being recorded is recorded on the handset that has set the answering machine. The handset is further provided with a control means that controls the handset to emit a sound from an internal speaker when the handset is in an answering mode, and the message sent from the base unit is emitted from the internal speaker. A cordless answering machine characterized by: