JPH06121053A - Key telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a caller from getting uncomfortable because to a line wire incoming call as it is or a voice answer to it. CONSTITUTION:This system is provided with a time division channel 104 for time division controlling channels between respective extensions and line wires, voice recording and reproducing device 108 provided with a recording and reproducing function, and CPU 109 for controlling the entire system. When calls are incoming from line wires 106 and 107 while extension telephone sets 101 and 102 normally used by operators are set in any states excepting for standby, a voice answering means is provided for the operators to instruct voice answer, and a voice answering means is provided to send voice messages to the line wires 106 and 107. Accordingly, when any new call is incoming to the line wire even while the operator is under speaking, the voice message is sent to the line wire corresponding to the condition of speaking. Therefore, the voice recording and reproducing device 108 can properly respond to the call corresponding to the condition of speaking.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key telephone device equipped with a voice recording / reproducing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, when a small business office has most of the staff absent and a small number of people are available to answer telephone calls, when an external line call cannot be answered immediately,
Many callers were uncomfortable with the delay in response.

For this reason, recently, a voice recording / reproducing apparatus has been provided in a key telephone, and in response to an incoming call, a message is promptly responded to and a message is transmitted, and a message indicating that the user wants to wait as it is has been given.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, once the voice recording / reproducing apparatus is set to operate, the caller automatically answers the incoming call even if the respondent can immediately answer. Therefore, the caller is left uncomfortable for a long time after being asked to hear the voice message, which is still uncomfortable. In addition, the sent message is always the same content, which may cause discomfort.

On the other hand, the operator cannot determine how long the caller who is waiting while listening to the voice message is kept waiting. Therefore, whether the operator waits for 1 minute or 10 seconds, a response at the time of response is received. There was a case where the caller became uniform and gave the caller more unpleasant feeling.

[0006] The present invention provides a key telephone device which can appropriately respond to an incoming call from an outside line while the operator is in a call by using a voice recording / playback device in accordance with the situation of the call. To aim.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a button telephone apparatus which accommodates a plurality of internal lines and external lines and is equipped with a voice recording / reproducing device, when the state of the extension telephone which the operator always uses is other than standby. Even if there is an incoming call from an outside line, a voice response instructing means for the operator to instruct a voice response, and a voice response means for transmitting a voice message to the outside line based on the instruction by the instructing means. By having the above, even when the operator is in a call or the like, when a new incoming call is received on the outside line, a voice message is sent to the outside line according to the situation of the call.

Further, according to the present invention, when a voice response is instructed, a means for selecting one from a plurality of messages is provided so that the message can be changed at the operator's discretion each time. .

The present invention further comprises means for activating a timer / timer when a voice response is instructed, means for indicating that a voice response is being made, and means for receiving a time-out signal from the timer / timer. The time display of the voice response state can be updated by the time-out signal.

[0010]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a key telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This key telephone device is a private extension telephone 1
An extension interface 103 that accommodates 01 and 102;
An external line interface 105 that accommodates lines 106 and 107 from the public network, a time-division call path 104 that time-divisionally controls a call path between each extension line and an external line, a voice recording / reproducing device 108 having a recording / reproducing function, and the entire system. It has a CPU 109 for controlling the CPU, a timer / timer 111, and a memory 110 for storing the control program and various data in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the operation section of the above-mentioned dedicated extension telephone set. The dedicated extension telephones 101, 10
2 has a common configuration, and only one is shown.

The dedicated extension telephone has a receiver 202 for making a call and a display unit 2 such as an LCD for displaying a telephone number and the like.
03, a function button 204 with an LED or the like to which various functions can be assigned, a dial button 209 for inputting a telephone number or the like, a speed button 210 to be pressed when making a speed dial call, and for holding a call. The hold button 211 and the speaker button 212 used when the handset 202 is put into the off-hook state without being lifted are provided.

The function buttons 204 include function buttons 205 and 206 used as the outside line buttons 1 and 2 and function buttons 207 and 208 used as the voice response buttons 1 and 2 particularly in the present embodiment. Has been.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example in which the state of an incoming line is displayed on the display unit 203.

The upper part of FIG. 3 shows that a telephone call is already being made with an outside line, and the "outside line 01" indicates that the accommodating position of the outside line during call is 1
"3m10s" indicates that the call time has passed 3 minutes and 10 seconds, and "20 yen" indicates that the call charge is 2
This shows that it is 0 yen.

Further, the lower part of FIG. 3 is a display showing that the external line 02'is being answered and is being answered by a message, and the external line 02 'is also the external line accommodating position 2 and' 0 m2.
0s' indicates that the state during voice response continues for 20 seconds, and'mes. 1'indicates that the first message of a plurality of voice response messages is being received.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the control program of this embodiment.

First, when an incoming call from an outside line is detected (S4
01), and waits whether the response button 207 or 208 is pressed (S402).

When it is detected that the response button 207 has been pressed, the display unit 203 of the pressed private extension telephone set is detected.
Is displayed (S403). The operator can perform this operation even during a call, for example, the one shown in the upper part of the display example shown in FIG. 3 is displayed.

When the response button 207 is pressed, the display is instructed as in the example shown in the lower part of FIG. However, the display showing the time during the voice response state is "0m0s".
Instruct. As another display means, the LED of the outside line button 205 or 206 corresponding to the incoming outside line
The display may be in a voice response state.

Next, a voice playback request is issued to the voice recording / playback device 108 (S404). A plurality of response messages corresponding to the response button are recorded in the voice recording / reproducing device 108, and the message corresponding to the response button 207 is selected here.

For example, by playing back "This is an XX company. Please wait as it is.", It is possible to tell that it is possible to respond immediately. Alternatively, the message corresponding to the response button 208 is, for example, "XX company. It is busy right now, but please wait as it is." it can.

Next, respond to the received outside line (S40
5) Instruct the call path unit 104 to connect the call path to the outside line responded from the voice recording / reproducing device 108 (S40).
6).

Further, in order to update the voice response in-progress state time, the timer clock unit 111 is activated so that a timeout signal can be generated in, for example, 10 seconds. Timer clock section 1
When the time-out signal is received from 11, the lower display "0m0s" shown in FIG. 3 is updated to "0m10s" (S407).

Next, the pressing of the outside line button is detected (S4).
08). Here, it is assumed that the newly received outside line is currently making a voice response and the outside line button corresponding to the outside line is pressed. Then, the outside line that has been used for communication is disconnected (S409). Note that this process is not performed if there is no call in progress.

In S410, the display in FIG. 3 is updated. In this processing, the display during the call is erased, and the outside line during the voice response is displayed as the call. The voice response status time is displayed as it is updated. In addition, the corresponding outside line button is also displayed during a call.

Next, the message is stopped (S411),
The telephone line in both directions of the outside line that was in the voice response is connected to the dedicated extension telephone that pressed the outside line button (S412). After that, a normal call is in progress.

When the response button is not pressed in S402 and the outside line button is pressed to give a normal response to an incoming call (S415), the call that has been in the call until now is disconnected (S416). If there is no call in progress, this process is not performed.

In the display processing, the display during call is erased once and the display during call corresponding to a new incoming call is performed (S4).
17). Then, it responds to the new incoming call (S418) and connects the communication path (S419).

[0031] As another example, one of a plurality of messages is displayed as "XX company. I am very sorry, but it is very crowded right now. Please give me your name and telephone number. I will call you back again. "You may arrange to make a request for recording at the time of this message.

It is also possible to send a special tone to the dedicated extension telephone set via the communication path when a certain period of time elapses or every time a certain period of time elapses while waiting for a voice response. Further, when the dedicated extension telephone has a tone generating means, the tone generation instruction may be given after a lapse of time as described above to generate the special tone.

[0033]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention.
According to this, it is possible to select whether to respond to an incoming call from an outside line as it is or to make a voice response. Therefore, there is an effect that the caller is not made uncomfortable by various response methods.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, various messages can be selected by the operator's judgment at the time of voice response, and there is an effect that the caller is not made uncomfortable.

Further, according to claim 3 of the present invention, it is possible to know how long the caller is kept waiting at the time of voice response, and the response at the time of response can be changed according to the situation.
The effect is that the caller is not made uncomfortable.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an operation unit of the private extension telephone in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an incoming line status display on the display unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control program of the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference numerals 101, 102 ... Dedicated extension telephones, 103 ... Extension interfaces, 104 ... Time division speech paths, 105 ... Outer line interfaces, 106, 107 ... Lines, 108 ... Voice recording / reproducing devices, 109 ... CPU, 110 ... Memory, 111 ... Timer clock Part, 202 ... Receiver, 203 ... Display part, 204-208 ... Function button, 209 ... Dial button, 210 ... Short button, 211 ... Hold button, 212 ... Speaker button.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a button telephone device accommodating a plurality of extension lines and outside lines and equipped with a voice recording / reproducing device, even if the extension telephone set that is always used by the operator is in a state other than standby When an incoming call is received, the operator has a voice response instructing means for instructing a voice response, and a voice response means for transmitting a voice message to the outside line based on an instruction by the instructing means. Button telephone device. 2. The button telephone device according to claim 1, wherein the voice response instruction means has a function of selecting one from a plurality of messages recorded in the voice recording / reproducing device. 3. The timer activation means for activating a timer timing unit when the operator gives an audio response, and the timeout detection unit for receiving a timeout signal from the timer timing unit according to claim 1.
A key telephone device, comprising: a display unit for displaying that a voice response is being made, and sequentially updating and displaying a time display of the voice response state by the time-out signal.