JPH08111712A - Automatic telephone answering system with called-subscriber's schedule confirming function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To indicates the current schedule of a called subscriber in voice to a calling subscriber by automatically answering to an incoming telephone call in the absence of the called subscriber. CONSTITUTION: The automatic telephone answering system with the called subscriber's schedule confirming function consists of a telephone line control means 1, a date and time counting means 2, a called subscriber's schedule storage means 3, a system speech output means 4, a system speech information storage means 5, an answering timing storage means 6, a system parameter management part 7, an interface circuit 8, and a control means 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for automatically answering a call received by a called party when the called party does not answer due to the absence of the called party.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional system for automatically answering a call from a calling party when the called party does not answer the call from the calling party, an answering machine or an answering machine is available.
PBX system with absent response and transfer service function,
There was a voice mail system etc.

However, in these systems, the called party needs to directly instruct the calling method, and the system does not check the called party's schedule and automatically respond.

[0004]

However, in the above various conventional systems, for example, even when the called party is attending a meeting and is absent, even when the called party is temporarily away from the seat, the incoming call is received. After that, the system is configured to automatically answer if the calling bell rings a preset number of times.

As described above, if the call bell rings a certain number of times and then automatically answers, the caller, when the called party is absent, wants the system to automatically answer at an early point. Also, it is desirable to call a long time when there is no schedule, and to allow the called party to answer when the called party is in a short distance.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention not only automatically answers the caller's message as in the conventional answering machine, but also records the caller's message and sets the callee's own schedule. The purpose is to avoid making unnecessary telephone calls while you are out.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention counts and stores the current date and time, and date / time counting means, and the start date and start time of the called party's schedule. , Called date schedule storing means for storing the ending date, ending time, etc. as schedule contents, and the shortest and longest incoming calls that the system automatically answers when the called party receives a call. A response timing storage means for storing the number of calls and a system parameter management means for registering, confirming, and canceling the called party schedule, response timing, and setting the current time are provided, and the call from the caller is made. When the incoming call arrives, if the called party is absent and the called party's schedule is entered in the called party schedule storage means, the called party's schedule is automatically called with the shortest number of calls. In response, the If there is no schedule, the called party to be able to respond with a margin increase the number of calls.

[0008]

According to the present invention, since it is configured as described above, when a call is received from the calling party to the called party, the called party has a schedule and the schedule is registered in advance. The caller can automatically understand the reason for the absence of the called party by sending a message with a schedule corresponding to the time when there is an incoming call. Can be announced, and if the ringing time of the ringing bell is long, it is possible to wait for a response as if the person is present.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 is a system functional configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a process flow chart of the system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Reference numeral 1 is a telephone line control means for detecting an incoming call to the called party, connecting the system to the calling party, detecting the on-hook of the calling party, and disconnecting the line.

Reference numeral 2 is a date / time counting means that has a timer inside and counts the current date and time.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a called party schedule storage means for storing the schedule of the called party, such as the contents of the schedule for which the schedule is fixed, for example, the start date, start time, end date, end time, and the like.

Table 1 shows an example of contents stored in the called party schedule storage means.

[0015]

[Table 1]

In Table 1, the first row shows the normal attendance time of the called party. The called party usually arrives at 8 o'clock and leaves at 19 o'clock. The second line is that there is a meeting from 10:00 to 12:00 on August 22, 1994,
The third line shows that I was on a business trip for one day on August 23, 1994.

The fourth line takes a day off on August 24, 1994, and the fifth line on August 25, 1994,
It is shown that, unlike the normal attendance time, the employee will come to work at 10:00 and leave the office at 19:00. The 6th line shows that there is a meeting from 10:00 to 12:00 on August 25, 1994, and the 7th line shows that they are on a business trip from 13:00 to 17:00 on August 25, 1994. There is.

Reference numeral 4 in FIG. 1 is a system voice output means for reproducing a system message, and outputs a system message voice by reproducing a previously recorded file or text voice synthesis.

Reference numeral 5 is a system voice information storage means for storing a system message to be reproduced. When the system voice output means 4 is a recorded file, the recorded file is used, and the system voice output means 4 is used. In the case of text-to-speech synthesis, text is stored. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, when text composition is used, a text template created according to the called party name and called party schedule is used as the text information input by the called party.

Reference numeral 6 is a response timing storage means for storing the number of times the system calls the shortest and longest incoming calls when the called party receives a call.

Reference numeral 7 is a system parameter managing means for registering, confirming, and canceling the present time, the called party schedule, the response timing, and the system message.

Reference numeral 8 is an interface circuit with external input / output means for inputting / outputting data relating to the current time, the called party schedule, the response timing, and the system message.

The system parameter management means 7 registers, confirms, and cancels the contents instructed via the external interface circuit 8, the date / time counting means 2, the called party schedule storage means 3, and the system voice information storage. The means 5 and the response timing storage means 6 are executed, and the result is sent to the known input / output means outside the system of the present invention through the external interface circuit 8 (the description of the known input / output means is omitted. To).

Reference numeral 9 controls each of the above-mentioned means 1 to 8,
It is a control means that determines the timing of answering the call according to the called party's schedule and changes the message when the call is automatically answered.

When the control means 9 receives a signal from the telephone line control means 1 indicating that an incoming call to the called party has been detected (S1 in FIG. 2), the date / time counting means 2 gives the current date and time. Is obtained (S3 in FIG. 2), and subsequently, the stored contents of the called party schedule storage means 3 is searched for whether the schedule of the called party is entered at this date and time (S4 in FIG. 2).

If the result of the search is that the schedule is included, the telephone line control means 1 is reached when the shortest number of incoming calls stored in the response timing storage means 6 is exceeded.
Indicates the connection between the system and the telephone line (S in FIG. 2)
6, S7, S8, S9) If, as a result of the search, the schedule of the called party is not entered, the telephone line control means is reached when the longest number of incoming call calls stored in the response timing storage means 5 is exceeded. 1. Connect the system to the telephone line. (S6 in FIG. 2
S7, S8, S9) Next, referring to the called party name in the system voice information storage means 5, a message corresponding to the contents of the schedule is sent to the calling party via the system voice output means 4 (Fig. Two
A10).

Table 2 shows an example of the message corresponding to the schedule stored in the called party schedule storage means 3 stored in the system voice information storage means 5.

[0028]

[Table 2]

Explaining Table 2, for example, the name of the called party stored in the system voice information storage means 5 is "Suzuki", the day is August 25, 1994, and the call from the calling party is made. If the incoming call arrives at 11:30, the message "Suzuki is currently in a meeting and scheduled for 12:00" will be sent first.

[0030]

According to the present invention, when the called party has a schedule, the automatic call answering system automatically answers the calling party with the shortest number of calls and sends the called party's schedule. However, since the caller is notified, the caller is prevented from repeatedly making useless telephone calls thereafter, which improves the work efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system functional configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system process flow chart of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Telephone line control means 2 Date / time counting means 3 Called party schedule storage means 4 System voice output means 5 System voice information storage means 6 Response timing storage means 7 System parameter management means 8 Interface circuit 9 Control means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic telephone answering system for automatically answering a call when a called party is not available and does not answer the call, and sends a message of the called party, transfers the call, and records a message of the calling party. , Telephone line control means for detecting incoming calls to the called party, connecting the system to the calling party, detecting the on-hook of the calling party, disconnecting the line, and counting and storing the current date and time Date / time counting means, called party schedule storage means for storing the called party's schedule as start date, starting time, ending date, and ending time as schedule contents, and system voice output means for reproducing system messages, A system voice information storage means for storing voice information of a system message to be played back, and a predetermined minimum and maximum for the system to automatically answer on behalf of the called party when the call is received by the called party. Response timing storage means for storing the number of times a long incoming call is made, system parameter management means for registering, confirming and canceling the current time, called party schedule, response timing, system message, said current time, called party Schedule, response timing,
An interface circuit with external input / output means for inputting / outputting data relating to system messages, and the current date and time from the date / time counting means when the telephone line control means detects an incoming call to the called party. Is obtained, and the stored contents of the called party schedule storage means are searched for whether the schedule of the called party is stored at this date and time. If the schedule is stored, it is stored in the response timing storage means. The telephone line control means is caused to connect the system to the telephone line when the number of times of the minimum number of incoming calls is exceeded, and when the schedule is not entered, it is stored in the response timing storage means. When the maximum number of incoming calls is exceeded, the telephone line control means is caused to connect the system and the telephone line, and the callee's schedule And a control means for starting a service of the automatic answering system by outputting a message corresponding to a task from the system voice output means.