JPH09214596A - Automatic answering telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily identify whether or not a message is important by replying a call automatically depending on a time difference between a 1st call and a 2nd call when a received caller telephone number is coincident with any of caller telephone numbers stored in a memory. SOLUTION: Suppose that a caller having an important business makes two calls to a device 20 by using a telephone set, a 1st incoming call signal comes to the device 20, a CPU 1 drives a line control section 7 to close a DC loop on a line L. When a caller number ID2 of the telephone set sent from an exchange to the line L via a caller ID reception section 8 through the closed line L, the CPU 1 controls the line control section 7 to open the DC loop of the line L. Then the CPU 1 compares the received caller number ID2 with any of caller numbers stored in a memory 4 and when they are coincident and a 2nd call by the telephone set arises within a prescribed time from the preceding call, the CPU 1 replies the 2nd incoming call. Thus, whether or not a call has an important business is identified.

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 automatically answers an incoming call while an answering mode is set and records a message from a calling side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when an answering machine is set in an answering machine, when an incoming call arrives on a line, the answering machine automatically responds to the incoming call and sends a response message. After the sending of the response message, the calling side message that arrives on the line is input and recorded on a recording medium such as a tape or a memory. After that, when the user of the apparatus returns home to cancel the absence mode or operates the reproduction key, the messages on the calling side recorded on the recording medium are sequentially reproduced.

[0003]

As described above, since the conventional answering machine is to automatically answer an incoming call that arrives on the line while the user is away, the calling side has an important requirement. When a call is made, the caller's intended purpose can be achieved by automatically answering the call and causing the recording medium to record the important message. However, even if a caller who does not have an important message is called, the device automatically responds to this and sends a response message, so a caller who does not have an important message is called. In this case, it is often the case that the called party is judged to be absent and the call is immediately abandoned. Therefore, in such a case, the calling party cannot charge the called party (other party) at all and is charged. There is also a problem that the called party cannot confirm the called party.

Therefore, the present invention allows a call from a caller who has important requirements to be distinguished from a call from a caller who does not have important requirements, thereby charging the other party without transmitting the requirement. It is intended to solve the problem of being called and the problem of not being able to identify the other party who made a call during absence.

[0005]

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention is connected to an exchange which notifies a called party of a caller's telephone number based on a call made by the calling party, and transmits from the calling party when receiving a call. In an answering machine for recording a message to be recorded, a receiving means for receiving a caller telephone number transmitted from an exchange, a memory for storing the caller telephone number received by the receiving means together with a reception time, and a receiving means. When the caller phone number is received by, a match with the caller phone number in memory is detected, and when a match is detected and the time difference from the reception time of the caller phone number in memory is within a certain time Is provided with a control means for recording an incoming message in response to an incoming call.

Therefore, when the caller telephone number is received, it is stored in the memory together with the reception time, and when a match with the caller telephone number in the memory is detected, the time difference from the reception time of the caller telephone number is detected. If this time difference is within a certain time, the incoming call is automatically answered. As a result, it is possible to distinguish between a call from a caller who has important requirements and a call from a caller who does not have important requirements. While answering and recording the important message, it does not answer the call from a caller who does not have the important message and stores only the number, which prevents the caller from being charged. It Further, a display unit and a display control unit for reading out the caller number of the memory according to a predetermined operation and displaying it on the display unit are provided. As a result, the caller's telephone number is displayed by a predetermined operation during reproduction of the message, which makes it possible to easily identify the other party who has called while the user is away.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an answering machine according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is CP
U, 2 are operation units including dial keys, answering machine setting keys, playback keys, and the like, 3 is a display unit, 4 is a memory, and 5 is a call unit including a call circuit and the like. Further, 6 is an answering machine including a recording memory and a voice recording / reproducing circuit, 7 is a line control unit for closing and opening a DC loop of the line L, and 8 is a line L when a call comes from the line L. An outgoing call ID receiving unit including a modem or the like for receiving a caller number, an incoming call detecting unit 9 for detecting an incoming call coming to the line L, and a clock IC.

In the answering machine having the above arrangement, when an incoming signal arrives at the line L, the CPU
1 recognizes the arrival of an incoming call through the line control unit 7 and the incoming call detection unit 9. In this case, when the absence mode is set in the memory 4 of the device in advance by the operation of the absence setting key in the operation unit 2, the CPU 1 controls the line control unit 7 to close the DC loop of the line L and receive the incoming call. respond.

Then, the CPU 1 controls the absence function unit 6 to send a response message prerecorded in the internal recording memory to the line L side via the call unit 5 and the line control unit 7. In response to the sending of such a response message, the message message sent from the calling side to the line L is recorded in the message message area of the recording memory in the answering machine function unit 6 via the line control unit 7 and the call unit 5. In this way, the message message of the other party is sequentially recorded in each message message area of the recording memory in the answering machine function unit 6 when the answering mode is set in the device.

After that, when the user of the apparatus returns home and operates the reproduction key of the operation unit 2, the CPU 1 causes the answering machine function unit 6 to operate.
To sequentially reproduce the message messages recorded in the internal recording memory, and the speaker SP through the call unit 5.
To send from. As a result, the user can easily identify who made the call and what the message was while he / she was absent by listening to the message.

In such an answering machine, both a call from a caller who has an important message and a call from a caller who does not have an important message are automatically sent. respond. For this reason, callers who do not have significant communication requirements often abandon the call immediately upon determining that the called party is absent when the response message is sent out, and thus in such cases the caller Will not be able to convey the message to the called party (other party) and will be charged. Also, in this case, the called party cannot recognize who made the call. Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to solve the above problem by distinguishing a call from a caller who has important requirements and a call from a caller who does not have important requirements.

By the way, as is well known, the ISDN line has a function of notifying the called party of the caller's telephone number. In addition, even for an analog line, such a caller telephone number notification service is being started. The present invention
Focusing on such a caller telephone number notification service, the caller telephone number notified from the exchange side when receiving a call
The receiving unit 8 receives the data and stores it in the memory 4 so that the call from each caller who is out can be identified.

Here, the notification of the caller telephone number on the analog line is performed as follows. That is, first, when the caller makes a call, the first incoming call arrives from the exchange, the DC loop of the line L is closed, and the first call is answered (primary response). Sent by. On the called side, after the calling ID number is received by the calling ID receiving section 8, the DC loop of the closed line L is opened, and the second incoming call (call signal) comes from the exchange. Then, by responding to this second incoming call (secondary response), a call can be made with the caller side.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an answering machine operation of the present apparatus based on such an analog line caller telephone number notification service. The main operation of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to this sequence diagram. First, this answering machine 2
It is assumed that 0 is called by the telephone 30A in step S1. Then, the first incoming signal arrives at the line L connected to this apparatus, and the CPU 1 recognizes the arrival of the incoming call through the incoming call detection unit 9. In this case, the CPU 1 operates the line control unit 7 when the absence mode is set in the device.
To close the DC loop of the line L.

When the line L is closed, the caller telephone number which is the subscriber number of the telephone 30A, that is, the calling number ID1 is transmitted from the exchange side to the line L. In this case, C
PU1 inputs the calling party number ID1 received by the calling party ID receiving unit 8 and stores it in the memory 4. After that, the line control unit 7
To open the closed DC loop of the line L. Then, the exchange receives a second incoming call based on the call from the telephone 30A, but does not respond to this incoming call.
As a result, the call is abandoned on the side of the telephone 30A and the call is abandoned, so that no incoming signal arrives at the device 20. In this case, the telephone 30A is not charged.

Next, under these circumstances, step S
When a call is made to the device 20 by the telephone 30B at 2, the first incoming signal arrives at the device 20. Then, the CPU 1 drives the line control unit 7 to close the DC loop of the line L. Due to the closing of the line L, the calling number ID2 of the telephone 30B transmitted from the exchange side to the line L is issued.
It is input via the D reception unit 8 and stored in the memory 4. Then, the line controller 7 is controlled to open the DC loop of the line L. By opening this line L, the telephone set 3
A second incoming call based on the OB call comes, but in this case, the incoming call is not similarly answered. As a result, the call is abandoned on the side of the telephone 30B, and the incoming signal does not arrive at the device 20. In this case, the telephone 3
0B is not charged.

Next, at this time, when the telephone 30C makes a call to the device 20 in step S3, the first incoming signal arrives at the device 20. Then, the CPU 1 drives the line control unit 7 to close the DC loop of the line L. When the calling number ID3 of the telephone 30C transmitted from the exchange side to the line L by the closing of the line L is input through the calling ID receiving unit 8, it is also stored in the memory 4. Then, the line controller 7 is controlled to open the DC loop of the line L. Due to the opening of the line L, a second incoming call based on the call from the telephone 30C arrives from the exchange side, but in this case, the incoming call is not similarly answered. As a result, the call is abandoned on the side of the telephone 30C, and the incoming signal does not arrive at the device 20. In this case, the telephone 30C is not charged.

Here, it is assumed that a caller having an important requirement makes a second call to the device 20 by using the telephone 30B in step S4. Then, the first incoming signal arrives at the device 20, and the CPU 1 drives the line controller 7 to close the DC loop of the line L. When the calling number ID2 of the telephone set 30B transmitted from the exchange side to the line L by the closing of the line L is input through the calling ID receiving unit 8, the line control unit 7 is controlled to open the DC loop of the line L. . After that, the CPU 1 compares the input calling number ID2 with the calling number stored in the memory 4 for a match. If the calling numbers of both parties match, if the second call from the telephone 30B is within a certain time from the time of the previous call in step S2, the telephone number from the exchange side based on the call from the telephone 30B is set. Respond to the second incoming call in step S5.

That is, when the CPU 1 receives the calling number ID, the CPU 1 reads the time of the clock IC 10 and stores it in the memory 4 together with the calling number ID. If it is determined that the calling number has been received, the time difference between the time when the last calling number was received and the time when this time is received is calculated. If this time difference is within a certain time, this telephone 30B is processed in step S5.
From the telephone (that is, the telephone 30B in step S4)
The answering machine answering process is performed in response to the second incoming call based on the call. By performing such answering machine answering processing, the telephone 30B is kept until the line L is opened thereafter.
Will be charged.

Then, the answering machine function unit 6 is controlled to send a response message to the capturing line L, and at the same time as sending the response message, a step message message is sent from the telephone 30B to indicate the important transmission message of the calling party. In S6, recording is performed in the recording memory in the answering machine function unit 6. After that, when the recording of the message is completed, the CPU 1 executes step S7.
Then, the line control unit 7 is controlled to open the acquisition line L.

As described above, when a call is made from each telephone, the calling number ID of each telephone is stored in the memory 4 and the telephone number of the same telephone is changed based on the storage condition of the memory 4.
Only when there is a second call and when it is determined that this call is within a certain time from the previous call time, an answering message is sent and a message message from the other party's telephone is recorded.

Therefore, since the caller side having important requirements frequently makes calls to this device, a caller from a caller who has important requirements and a caller who does not have important requirements Can be identified as a call. As a result, in response to a call from a caller who has an important requirement, the important requirement is recorded, while for a call from a caller who does not have an important requirement, this is recorded. Since only the calling party number ID is stored without making a response, charging to the other party's telephone is prevented, and the stored calling party number ID is read out at the time of reproduction and displayed on the display unit 3, so that the user is out of service. You can easily identify the person who called you. In this embodiment, the example in which the line L is an analog line has been described.
In the case of the N line, the caller's telephone number is notified at the same time as the call control message indicating the incoming call. Therefore, by receiving this number, it is possible to perform the same processing as the analog line.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a caller's telephone number transmitted from the exchange at the time of incoming call is received, this number is stored in the memory together with the reception time, while the received caller is received. When the phone number matches the caller's phone number in the memory, the time difference from the receiving time of the caller's phone number in the memory is calculated, and if the time difference is within a certain time, the above incoming call is automatically answered. So
It is possible to easily distinguish a call from a caller who has important requirements and a call from a caller who does not have important requirements,
Record the important message in response to a call from a caller who has important message, but do not answer the call from a caller who has no important message Since only the number is stored in the telephone, it is possible to prevent the calling telephone from being charged. Further, since the display unit and the display control means for reading out the caller number of the memory according to a predetermined operation and displaying it on the display unit are provided, the caller telephone number can be displayed by a predetermined operation, so that the caller while not in the telephone can be called. You can easily identify the other party.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing a main part operation of an answering machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 2 ... Operation part, 3 ... Display part, 4 ... Memory, 6
... answering machine function section, 7 ... line control section, 8 ... calling ID receiving section,
9 ... Incoming call detection unit, 10 ... Clock IC, 20 ... Answering machine, 30, 30A, 30B, 30C ... Telephone.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An answering machine, which is connected to an exchange that notifies a caller's telephone number to a callee based on a call made by the caller, and records a message message transmitted from the caller when a call is received. Receiving means for receiving the caller telephone number, a memory for storing the caller telephone number received by the receiving means together with a reception time, and a memory for storing the caller telephone number in the memory when the caller telephone number is received by the receiving means. Control to detect a match with the caller's telephone number and record the message in response to the incoming call if a match is detected and the time difference from the time of receipt of the caller's telephone number in memory is within a certain time An answering machine having a means. 2. The answering machine according to claim 1, further comprising: a display unit; and a display control unit that reads out a caller telephone number of the memory according to a predetermined operation and displays the caller telephone number on the display unit. apparatus.