JPH07212458A - Automatic answering telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an automatic answering telephone set capable of preventing a problem that howling is generated at the time of recording a business message and utilizing a telephone set provided adjacently together in the same line without communication faults. CONSTITUTION:This automatic anwering telephone set for recording the business messages transmitted through a telephone circuit 1 in a recording part 10 and emitting the business message from a speaker 14 in synchronism with the start of the recording is provided with a branch detection part 16 for detecting a voltage drop generated when the telephone set provided together and connected to the telephone circuit 1 is off-hooked and outputting branch detection signals and a control part 20 for performing control for stopping the sound emitting operation of the speaker 14 when the branch detection signals are transmitted from the branch detection part 16 at the time of the input of the business message.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an answering machine having a function of emitting a sound to the outside when recording a message from the other party, and particularly to preventing a communication failure of a telephone installed in the same line. Answering machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, answering machines and the like have become cordless with the widespread use of cordless phones. Along with this answering machine, a multifunctional telephone having various functions tends to be used in general households.

In a popular cordless answering machine, a master unit equipped with a tape recorder and a slave unit are connected to each other by a wireless line, and the master unit receives an incoming signal from the telephone line at an input unit. It is equipped with an incoming call detection circuit and a hook switch for detecting.

A call circuit for transmitting and receiving signals between the telephone line and the internal circuit is connected to the hook switch. An antenna is connected to the communication circuit via a transmission / reception circuit, and a response message sending circuit, the tape recorder, etc. are connected. Also,
A speaker is connected to the tape recorder via an amplifier.

[0005] Note that, like the general-purpose cordless telephone, the slave unit is provided with a communication circuit and the like as well as a transmitting / receiving circuit and an antenna for transmitting / receiving signals to / from the master unit.

This cordless answering machine can of course make a call from a distant place by using a cordless handset, but when a call signal is received, a response message is sent from a response message sending circuit to a calling party via a call circuit. The message message sent from the other party according to the response message can be recorded on the tape recorder. At this time, since the message of interest is amplified by the amplifier and is emitted to the outside from the speaker, it is possible to hear the voice of the other party when the user is near the base unit.

[0007]

By the way, when the above-mentioned conventional cordless answering machine and a popular type (with a cord) telephone or a multi-function telephone are installed side by side, it is attempted to use the side phone when recording a message. , There was a problem that howling occurred and it became impossible to call.

That is, when a large number of telephones are installed in a general home or the like, they are usually connected to the same telephone line in order to prevent an increase in the number of telephone lines, but an answering machine and a popular type (with a cord) telephone are used. Are often provided close to each other because they have different uses. At this time, in the cordless answering machine, when a message is received while the cordless handset is placed in the next room, etc., it is recorded on the tape recorder and at the same time the speaker emits a sound. When a telephone (phone with a cord) is used for off-hook to make a call, a voice from the speaker enters the transmitter of the telephone.

Then, since this voice is sent to the telephone line, it goes around to the operating answering machine and is emitted from this speaker, so-called howling occurs and the telephone set is disabled. There was a problem that it could not be used.

The present invention was devised in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to prevent a problem of howling at the time of recording a message of a business and to provide an attached telephone installed close to the same line without a call failure. It is to provide an answering machine that can be used.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention records a message message sent out through a telephone line in a recording section, and synchronizes with the start of recording the message message. In a telephone answering machine that emits a sound from a speaker, a branch detection unit that outputs a branch detection signal by detecting a voltage drop that occurs when an attached telephone connected to the telephone line is off-hook, and the input of the message At the time, when a branch detection signal is sent from the branch detection unit, a control unit is provided for controlling to stop the sound emission operation of the speaker.

[0012]

According to the above construction, when a message of interest is inputted through the telephone line, the operation of recording the message of interest in the recording unit is started. At this time, when the branch detection signal is sent from the branch detection unit, the control unit stops the sound emitting operation of the speaker. In this way, even if a message is input to the own telephone, when the attached telephone goes off-hook, no sound is output to the outside from the speaker. Therefore, the own telephone, which is an answering machine, and the general spread type attached telephone. In the case where they are placed close to each other, the voice message of the other party will not be input to this side-phone.

[0013]

DETAILED 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 an electrical configuration of an answering machine according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an answering machine and an attached telephone connected to a telephone line.

The answering machine 2 includes a master unit 2A and a slave unit 2.
It is applied to a cordless answering machine in which B and B are connected by a wireless line, and a base unit 2 is connected to a telephone line 1 via a connector 1a.
A is connected, and a general-purpose type (with cord) multi-function telephone is connected in the vicinity of the base unit 2A via a connector 1b, and is used as an auxiliary telephone 3.

The master unit 2A is provided with a numeric keypad 2a and a liquid crystal display unit 2b on the upper surface of the main body, and also forms a slave unit accommodating section for accommodating and accommodating the slave unit 2B. Further, the tape recorder 10 and an operation unit (not shown) for operating the tape recorder 10 are also provided on the upper surface of the main body.

As shown in FIG. 1, the base unit 2A has a hook switch 4, an incoming call detection circuit 5 and a branch detection circuit 6 connected to a telephone line 1. The hook switch 4 is bidirectionally connected to the call circuit 7, and the incoming call detection unit 15
The external line is closed or opened by the switching signal from. Further, the incoming call detection circuit 5 is provided with an output to the incoming call detection unit 15, detects an incoming call such as a ringing signal, and detects the incoming call detection signal a.
Is sent.

The branch detection circuit 6 detects a voltage drop that occurs when a telephone connected to the same telephone line goes off-hook, and sends a branch detection signal b to the branch detection section 16. That is, the branch detection circuit 6 is off-hook when a plurality of telephones (in this example, the answering machine 2 and the auxiliary telephone 3) are connected to the station line to which the constant voltage is supplied from the telephone exchange. The branch detection signal is output by detecting a slight voltage fluctuation when the line voltage drops due to the current flowing through the other side-mounted telephone 3.

The call circuit 7 mixes and separates a transmission signal and a reception signal, and a transmission / reception circuit 8, a tape recorder 10 and a voice synthesis analysis circuit 11 are bidirectionally connected. The transmission / reception circuit 8 is connected to the antenna 9 and transmits / receives signals to / from the slave unit 2B.

Although not shown in the drawings, the child device 2B is the same as a general-purpose cordless telephone, but the parent device 2A.
A communication circuit and the like are provided as well as an antenna and a transmission / reception circuit for transmitting / receiving a signal to / from.

The output of the tape recorder 10 is connected to the speaker 14 via the amplifier 13 and is bidirectionally connected to the message recording / playback unit 17. The tape recorder 10 sequentially records the message messages sent from the other party of the call in the answering machine mode, and sends the message messages to the amplifier 13 side. In the reproduction mode, the recorded voice message of the tape recorder 10 is reproduced and a voice signal is sent to the amplifier 13 side.

The amplifier 13 includes a speaker driving section 18
Is supplied to the speaker 14 side, and the supply of the audio signal is stopped by the OFF operation.

The voice synthesis analysis circuit 11 is a D-RAM (D
acoustic Random Access Memo
ry) 12 and the message recording / playback unit 17 are bidirectionally connected. The voice synthesis analysis circuit 11 receives the output signal from the message recording / playback unit 17 in the answering machine mode, reads the response message stored in the D-RAM 12, and the caller circuit 7 sends the response message via the telephone line 1. It is designed to be sent to.

The control unit 20 includes a CPU, ROM, RA
A microcomputer including an M and a timer, to which the incoming call detection unit 15, the branch detection unit 16, the message recording / playback unit 17, and the speaker drive unit 18 are connected. The control unit 20 controls the operation of the entire base unit 2A, receives the incoming call detection signal from the incoming call detection unit 15 to determine the content of the incoming call, and when the calling signal is input, the remote unit 2B.
When does not respond, the answering mode program is executed and a recording start control signal is sent to the message recording / playback unit 17.

When the branch detection signal is sent from the branch detection unit 16 during the absence recording, the off operation control signal c is sent to the speaker drive unit 18 and the input time of the branch detection signal is input by the timer. Is counted and compared with a preset reference time.

This reference time is set as a criterion for judging off-hook or momentary voltage drop of the telephone set 3 (within 1 second in this example), and when the input time of the branch detection signal is shorter than this reference time. It is determined that the control unit 20 is not off-hook, and when it is long, it is determined that there is off-hook. The control unit 20 starts or continues the recording operation by the tape recorder 10 when the input time of the branch detection signal is short, and when the input time is long, disconnects the line connection between the telephone line 1 and the own telephone set 2 for recording. Performs control to stop the operation.

However, in this cordless answering machine, when the call signal is received when the slave unit 2B is placed in a place apart from the master unit 2A, for example, in the adjacent room, the user does not immediately respond. It will shift to answering machine mode. In this answering mode, the voice synthesis analysis circuit 11 sends a response message to the telephone line 1 to the other party of the call, and when the other party receiving the response message sends a message, the recording mode is set. Transition.

Next, the recording mode will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this recording mode, first, it is determined whether or not the branch detection signal b is input (step S11), and while the branch detection signal is not input, the message recording / playback unit 17 causes the message recording / playback unit 17 to record the message at the time of input of the message. The recorder 10 is activated for recording, and the speaker drive unit 18 activates the amplifier 13 (step S12).

Therefore, since the message of interest is recorded on the tape recorder 10 and is emitted to the outside from the speaker 14, it is possible for the user to hear the voice of the other party when the user is near the base unit. .

On the other hand, when the branch detection signal is sent from the branch detection unit 16, the control unit 20 causes the speaker 14 to operate.
While stopping the sound emitting operation of (step S13),
Set the timer and start counting (step S1
4) And, the input time of the branch detection signal is compared with a preset reference time. Here, when the time-out occurs (step S15) and the input time of the branch detection signal is instantaneous, that is, when the input time of the branch detection signal is shorter than the reference time, there is no problem and the recording operation is continued.

On the other hand, when the input time of the branch detection signal is long, it is determined that the handset of the telephone set 3 is picked up, and the hook switch 4 is opened to disconnect the line connection between the telephone line 1 and the master unit 2A. To stop the recording operation (step S16).

As a result, the off-hook telephone 3
Can enter the call as it is. At this time, since the speaker 14 is muted in step S13, no sound is emitted from the speaker 14 of the master device 2A to the outside, so howling is avoided. Particularly, in this example, the own telephone, which is the answering machine 2, and the popular type telephone 3 are arranged close to each other. However, the sound emitted from the speaker 14 is transmitted by the telephone 3 as in the conventional case. Since there is no problem of causing howling due to voice coupling, the call is transmitted without any trouble.

[0032]

The answering machine according to the present invention stops the sound emitting operation of the speaker of the own telephone when the message attached to the same telephone line goes off-hook when the message of interest is input to the own telephone. Therefore, when the own telephone and the auxiliary telephone are placed close to each other, the voice message of the other party is not input to the auxiliary telephone, so that the problem of causing a call failure due to howling is avoided. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a connection state between an answering machine and an auxiliary telephone.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of a recording mode in answering machine recording.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Telephone line 2 Answering machine 3 Adjunct telephone 10 Recording section 14 Speaker 16 Branch detection section 20 Control section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An answering machine for recording a message message sent out through a telephone line in a recording unit and outputting the message message from a speaker in synchronization with the start of recording, in the telephone line. A branch detection unit that outputs a branch detection signal by detecting a voltage drop that occurs when the connected telephone set is off-hook, and a branch detection signal is transmitted from the branch detection unit when the message is input. At this time, the answering machine is provided with a control unit for controlling to stop the sound emission operation of the speaker.