JPH06164703A - Automatic answering telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively utilize a storage means by storing sequentially an input message to the storage means, erasing the stored message individually, and allowing a shift control means to pack a succeeding message to an erased message area through shift copying. CONSTITUTION:A recording start/recording end address by a message input means is stored in a management table of a storage means and a corresponding voice message is stored in a message area. When a desired message is erased via an erasure means, a message having been stored in an area succeeding to the erased message area is packed to the erased message area through shift copying. Thus, no useless area is caused in a storage means of the automatic answering telephone set and the storage means is effectively utilized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an answering machine which is constructed to store voice data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional answering machine, when recording a message, the message is sequentially stored in a semiconductor memory. Therefore, when playing, the messages can be played in the order in which they were recorded. Also, when multiple messages are stored, each message can be individually erased.

[0003]

However, once the data is recorded on the semiconductor memory, the position of the voice data area is determined, and when a plurality of messages are being recorded, the messages in the middle are erased. There is a problem that a blank area is created on the semiconductor memory. If this blank area is used as it is, the size of the semiconductor memory area is limited, so the memory becomes full immediately, and it becomes necessary to erase even the message to be saved. This blank area will be located between messages until the message behind it is erased. If a blank area formed between messages is managed by using addresses as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-85950, the order of recording can be managed but only the length of the blank area can be used. You can limit the length of.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an answering machine which can be effectively used without creating a useless area on a storage means.

[0005]

To achieve this object, the answering machine of the present invention stores a message input means for instructing the start of recording a message and a message input by the input means, as shown in FIG. Storage means,
An erasing means for individually erasing the stored messages, and a shift for sequentially copying the messages after the erasing instructed message in the erasing means to the erased message area when the erasing means issues an erasing instruction. And a control means.

[0006]

According to the answering machine of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, when the message inputting means starts recording the message, the inputted message is stored in the storing means. The stored messages are individually erased by the erasing means, and the shift control means shift-copy and pack the messages following the message into the area of the voice data instructed to be erased.

[0007]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical construction of an answering machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A microprocessor 2 configured to operate according to the flow chart shown in FIG. 4, and a ROM storing a program for operating the microprocessor 2.
3, a RAM 4 having a work message management table area and a work area shown in FIG. 3 is provided. The voice recording / playback integrated circuit 8 is supplied with an analog voice signal, converts the supplied analog signal into voice data, and stores the voice data in the message area RAM5.
It is an integrated circuit for voice recording / reproduction including a voice information conversion circuit for converting voice data read out from an analog voice signal and outputting the analog voice signal. The RAM 6 stores the voice data of the response message, and the voice recording integrated circuit 8 also stores the RAM.
The audio data read from 6 is converted into an analog audio signal and output. The voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 has a read instruction signal (R), a write instruction signal (W) output from the microprocessor 2, a chip enable signal (CE) for activating the voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 and a RAM.
5 for addressing data (D0 to D3).

The message message management table area of the RAM 4 stores at least the start address and end address of each recorded message message. When the message is not recorded, the message message management table area is cleared. FIG. 3 schematically shows a storage state when three message messages are recorded.

The keyboard 9 is provided with a message recording instruction for supplying a voice signal from the microphone 10 to the voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 for storage in the response message area RAM 6, and for storing the message when deleting the message. You can select the message that you want to delete from the message that you want to delete, delete message to delete the message, play instruction to play the message, and the standby state as an answering machine. It is equipped with a key.

Output from keyboard 9 and network controller 1
The output from the photocoupler 12a forming a part of 2 is supplied to the microprocessor 2, and according to the output, the microprocessor 2 opens and closes the switch 12c that connects the line and the line transformer 12b, and the signal input from the line. The switch 13 that selectively guides the signal to one of the facsimile device 16 and the switch 11, the mode of the facsimile device 16, and the reproduced analog voice signal from the voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 from the line transformer 12b and the speaker 1.
The switches 15 and 14 selectively control the switching of the switches 15.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention constructed as above will be described.

By pressing a key on the keyboard 9 for instructing a standby state as an answering machine, a standby state is set, and the switch 11 is switched to a switch 13 side contact and the switch 15 is switched to a network control section 12 side contact. Wait for an incoming call (step S0).

When an incoming call is received, the incoming call is detected by the output through the photocoupler 12a, the switch 12 ₃ is controlled to the ON state and connected to the line. Therefore, it is checked whether or not the message is stored in all the message areas (that is, whether the message area is full) (step S1).

The check in step S1 is that when the number of message messages that can be recorded is determined, all the data corresponding to the number of message messages is stored in the recording start address and recording end address storage areas of the message message management table of FIG. This is done by checking if it is stored. When the number of message messages is not determined, the difference between the last address of the message message area and the recording end address of the last message message recorded is the minimum time of the message message to be recorded next. This is done by checking whether the address can be secured.

When it is determined in step S1 that no message is stored in the entire message area, the voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 waits for the ringing of the incoming call for a predetermined number of times, and then the response message The voice signal is read from the RAM 6, converted into an analog voice signal, and then sent through the line transformer 12b to the line until the voice signal of the response message is completed (step S2).

Following step S2, a beep tone is sent to notify the caller of the end of sending the response message (step S3).

Subsequently, the recording end address of the last message stored in the message management table is read, and the address obtained by adding +1 to the address is set as the recording start address of the message to be recorded next. The recording start address is stored in the area next to the final message stored in the message management table (step S10).

The address determined in step S10 is designated to the voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 (step S11).

Following step S11, a recording instruction is issued,
The voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 is driven to record (step S12). The input message message is converted into voice data and stored in the message message area of the RAM 5.

The output of the message end recording instruction is checked during recording, and the recording is continued until the recording end instruction is output or the message storage area is full (steps S13 and S14).

If there is an instruction to end recording in steps S13 and S14, or if the voice message recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8 is continuously driven after recording up to the full message area, the voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit is used. The circuit 8 is instructed to end the recording to end the recording operation. Read the address at the end and use it as the recording end address of this message. This recording end address is stored in the area next to the recording start address of the message management table (step S15).

When the recording of the message is completed, the switch 13 is switched to the facsimile device 16 side, the transmission information transmitted to the facsimile device 16 is received (step S18), and the switch 12c is opened upon completion of the reception, The connection to the line is released (step S1)
6).

In step S16, the system waits for the next incoming call again to return to the standby state. If it is not transmitted to the facsimile device 16, the connection with the line is released after a lapse of a predetermined period (step S17).

The message is recorded as described above.

If it is determined in step S1 that the message is already stored in the entire message area, the facsimile mode is set, the switch 13 is switched to the facsimile device 16, and step S17 is performed.
The subsequent operations will be performed.

Next, the operation of reproducing the message in the standby state will be described.

Whether or not the message message is recorded depending on whether or not the recording start address and the recording end address are stored in the message message management table by pressing the key for instructing the reproduction of the message message on the keyboard 9. Check whether (step S20).
When no message is recorded, the pressing of the reproduction instruction key is rejected and the operation returns to the standby state. If the message is recorded, the switch 15 is switched to the speaker 14 side so that the speaker 14 outputs an analog audio signal (step S21). The recorded message start address and recorded end address are read one by one from the beginning of the message message management table, and are designated as the reproduction start address and the reproduction end address in the voice recording / reproducing integrated circuit 8, respectively. Is reproduced (steps S22 and S24). This is sequentially performed for the messages stored in the message management table (step S25).

It is checked whether or not an instruction to delete the message is issued during reproduction of the message (step S2).
3).

When it is checked in step S23 that a deletion instruction has been issued during reproduction of the message, the message being reproduced is deleted.

The erase operation will be described.

When deleting a message, the recording end address and the recording start address of the message to be deleted are read from the message management table, and the recording start address is subtracted from the recording end address to delete the message. (Step S3
0).

Next, for example, 0 data is written in order to erase the recording start address area and the recording end address area of the message to be erased stored in the message management table (step S31).

When a message exists in the area behind the deleted message, the subsequent recording start address and recording end address are sequentially read from the message management table. From the recording start address to the recording end address, voice data is read from the message area RAM 5, and the size of the address obtained in step S30 is written to the previous address. That is, the erased addresses from the recording start address to the recording end address are packed and shift copied (step S32).

Then, the recording start address and the recording end address are subtracted by the size of the address obtained in step S30 to newly set the recording start address and the recording end address, respectively, one message before in the message management table. It is stored in the erased area (step S33).

In order to erase the area next to the location where the shift copy is made in the message management table (that is, the area where the previous recording start address and recording end address of the message to be shift copied were stored) For example, 0 data is written (step S34).

This is performed for all messages recorded after the message to be deleted. This is to check if the recording start address and recording end address exist in the area next to the message message management table when the message message management table is erased in step S34, and the recording start address and recording end address are stored. If so, it can be realized by returning to step S32 and similarly performing shift copying. (Step S35). By individually erasing a message by shifting and copying the message area, no unnecessary message area is created by erasing. The next time you make a new recording, it will be recorded in the area behind the previously recorded message. The messages are located earlier in address than those recorded earlier, in the order of the time they were recorded.

When this erasing operation (steps S30 to S35) is completed, reproduction is started from the message next to the deleted message.

[0040]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, even if a message is individually erased, all areas can be effectively used without creating an unnecessary area in the message area. Also, when reproducing, it is possible to reproduce in the order of recording.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an answering machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a message message management table in the answering machine.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the answering machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Microcomputer 2 Microprocessor 3 ROM 4 RAM 5 Voice data RAM 8 Voice recording / playback integrated circuit 9 Keyboard 10 Microphone 14 Speaker

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A message input means for instructing to start recording a message, a storage means for storing the message input by the input means, an erasing means for individually erasing the stored message, and the erasing. An answering machine including: shift control means for sequentially shifting and copying the messages after the message instructed to be erased in the storage means to the message area instructed to be erased when the means issues an erase instruction.