JPH11220527A - Telephone set having automatic answering function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To notify a user of a portable telephone set of its incoming, to miniaturize a record medium and to improve the portability of the telephone set by outputting the voices, which are recorded on the voice track of a record medium that is previously operated and selected by the user after the reproduction of those voices, when the telephone set detects its incoming. SOLUTION: A telephone system 1 detects its incoming and outputs an incoming detection notification signal to a controller 4. The controller 4 controls an acoustic device 2, and the device 2 discontinues its working as long as the voices received from a recording medium are being reproduced. Then the device 2 reproduces the voices recorded on the voice track of the recording medium that has selected beforehand by an input means 7 and outputs the reproduced voices to a switch circuit 3. The circuit 3 outputs the received voices to a loudspeaker 5 as incoming tones. It is also preferable to have recorded beforehand one or more automatic answering messages on the recording medium, to connect a telephone circuit when a user does not answer the incoming of telephone for a fixed time or longer and to make the user transmit a message that has been previously selected by him.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a combined telephone and sound device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional telephone, a sound selected by a user can be reproduced as a ring tone by providing a sound reproducing device. The sounds that can be reproduced include simple sounds such as an electronic bell sound and a melody sound.

Further, by providing a microphone and a recording / reproducing device, a voice recorded by a user can be reproduced as an answering machine response message. When it is desired to switch a plurality of answering messages of the answering machine, for example, if an audio cassette tape dedicated to answering messages is used, two different answering messages can be recorded on the side A and the side B and turned over so that the two answering messages can be switched.

[0004] In addition, by providing a device for recording the business of the other party, it functions as an answering machine. Some carriers provide an answering machine function on the network side.

[0005] As a general form of transport of a portable telephone, it is often put in a bag or in a car. In such a case, the user may leave the bag or go out of the car to shop while leaving the bag, and the user may go away from the mobile phone, and the user may not notice the incoming call. . Even if the user is wearing a mobile phone, if the user is in a business meeting or is in a place where quietness is required, such as in a theater, he cannot answer the phone when he notices an incoming call.

[0006] In a conventional multifunction peripheral of a portable telephone and an audio device, an incoming call can be notified only to the user by outputting a ringtone of the telephone to only the earphone. If you set to, when you stop using the audio device and remove the earphone, you may forget to switch to the setting to output the ringtone to the speaker, and you will not hear the ringtone of the phone, so the user will notice the incoming call Can not.

For example, a mini-disc (sometimes abbreviated as MD) is used as a randomly accessible recording medium. The recording area can be divided into several audio tracks, and a new audio track can be created in an empty area. It is easy to delete or delete existing audio tracks. In recent years, a device that records and reproduces sound on a randomly accessible recording medium such as a card-type hard disk device or a semiconductor memory card has also been put into practical use, and has the same characteristics as a minidisk in creating and deleting an audio track.

In general, the capacity of a recording medium of an audio device is not completely used up, and there is often an empty area.

[0009]

As described above, in a conventional telephone, only a simple voice that can be reproduced as a telephone ring tone is reproduced, and a voice having a length of several minutes desired by a user is reproduced. If you want to explain the reason why you cannot answer the call and why you can not answer the call, for example, during a meeting or sleeping or driving a car, use a cassette tape to switch among many answering machine answering messages. You need to prepare a large number of mobile phones or re-record each time you switch the answering message. Mobile phones are not always worn or cannot respond to incoming calls depending on the location. Frequently, especially in the case of a multifunction device with a mobile phone and an audio device, setting the ringtone to be output only to the earphone When you remove the earphones, you will not hear the ringtone when you remove the earphones, so you will not be able to notice the incoming call. Unless such a recording medium is prepared, there is a problem that a sound of a sufficient length cannot be reproduced and the device becomes large.

An object of the present invention is to provide a means for reproducing a part selected by a user as a ringtone of a telephone from a recording medium in which one or more voices desired by the user are recorded. Providing a means for playing back the part selected by the user as an answering machine response message from a recording medium in which one or more desired voices are recorded and transmitting it over a telephone line; By sharing the recording medium for recording the voice of the other party and recording the voice of the other party and reducing the size of the entire device, a portable telephone with high portability even if the telephone has an answering machine function It is to realize.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a telephone device, an audio device using a recording medium that can be randomly accessed, a speaker for outputting sound, and a user operation. When a telephone is provided with an input means, a switch circuit for voice exchanged between the telephone device, the audio device, and the speaker, and a controller for controlling the telephone device, the audio device, and the switch circuit, the user operates in advance when an incoming call is detected. The audio recorded on the audio track on the recording medium selected by the input means is reproduced and output to the speaker, and the elapsed time from the detection of the incoming call is measured by a timer. The user plays back the sound recorded on the sound track on the recording medium selected by the operation input means in advance, transmits the sound to the telephone line, and connects the telephone line. So as to record voice received from the line to free space on the recording medium.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a telephone device, 2 is an audio device using a randomly accessible recording medium, 5
Is a speaker, 7 is an operation input means from the user, 3 is a switch circuit for voice exchanged between the telephone device 1, the audio device 2, and the speaker 5, 4 is a telephone device 1, the audio device 2, and the switch circuit 3. And 6 is a timer for measuring the time since the call was received.

In the above-described configuration, an event occurring on the telephone device 1 is, for example, a signal indicating an incoming call detection or disconnection of a line, or an event occurring on the audio device 2 is, for example, a signal indicating an end of audio reproduction on an audio track. And a signal indicating an operation input from the operation input means 7 and a time output signal from the timer 6 are input to the controller 4, and control signals output from the controller 4 are transmitted to the telephone device 1, the audio device 2, and the switch circuit 3. Is entered. Also from the telephone device 1 and the audio device 2
Are output to the switch circuit 3 and are synthesized or switched and output to the speaker 5. The switch circuit 3 outputs a voice input from the telephone device 1 to the audio device 2 or outputs a voice input from the audio device 2 to the telephone device 1 according to the input control signal.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the operation of the telephone at the time of an incoming call. When the telephone device 1 detects an incoming call, it outputs an incoming call detection notification signal to the controller 4, and the controller 4 controls the audio device 2. If the audio device 2 is reproducing sound from a recording medium, the operation is interrupted. 7 reproduces the sound recorded on the sound track on the recording medium selected in advance and outputs the sound to the switch circuit 3, and the switch circuit 3 outputs the sound to the speaker 5, that is, the sound becomes a ring tone.

At this time, if a recording medium that can be randomly accessed is used, even if the recording medium for recording music or the like and the recording medium for recording the ringtone are the same, for example, the sound can be reproduced. Search for the audio track where the ringtone is recorded by interrupting the playback, start playback, and search for the audio track that contains the ringtone selected by the user when multiple ringtones have been recorded The operation for starting reproduction is performed faster than when a recording medium for sequential access is used.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the operation at the time of answering the answering machine. When the telephone device 1 detects an incoming call, the telephone device 1 outputs an incoming call detection notification signal to the controller 4, and the controller 4 starts reading time from the timer 6. Even if there is no response operation from the operation input means 7, the telephone device 1 Controller 4 controls the telephone device 1 to connect the line, controls the audio device 2, and controls the audio device 2.
If the audio is being reproduced from the recording medium, the operation is interrupted and the operation input means 7 reproduces the audio recorded on the audio track previously selected on the recording medium, outputs the audio to the switch circuit 3, and outputs this audio. The switch circuit 3 outputs the voice to the telephone device 1, and the voice is transmitted to the telephone line by the telephone device 1, that is, the voice becomes a response message.

At this time, if a recording medium that can be randomly accessed is used, even if the recording medium on which the ring tone is recorded and the recording medium on which the answering machine response message is recorded are the same, the ring tone is not changed. When playback is interrupted, the voice track containing the answering machine message is searched for, the playback is started, and when multiple answering machine messages have been recorded, the answering machine message selected by the user is recorded. Search for the recorded audio track,
The operation of starting reproduction is performed more quickly than when using a recording medium that is sequentially accessed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the operation at the time of recording an answering machine. When the telephone is not in a call, the sound reproduced by the audio device 2 is output to the speaker 5 through the switch circuit 3, and the controller 4 sends a line connection notification signal from the telephone device 1 or a response message end notification from the audio device 2. The audio device 2 is controlled by a signal, the telephone device 1 outputs a voice received on the telephone line to the switch circuit 3, and the switch circuit 3 outputs the voice to the audio device 2, and the voice device 2 outputs the voice to the recording medium. Record in an empty area.

When there is no more free space in the recording medium, the audio device 2 interrupts the sound recording and notifies the controller 4 that there is no free space.
And the telephone device 1 and the switch circuit 3 so that the voice recorded on the voice track on the recording medium previously selected by the operation input means 7 is used as an answering machine response message for when there is no free space. Send to phone line.

At this time, if a recording medium that can be randomly accessed is used, even if the recording medium on which the answering machine response message is recorded and the recording medium on which the answering machine message is recorded are the same, the answering machine can be used. At the end of the reproduction of the response message, the operation of searching for an empty area of the recording medium and starting to record the message of the answering machine is performed more quickly than when using a recording medium that is sequentially accessed.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a case where a telephone device performing wireless communication is used as the telephone device 1.
At this time, since the earphone is provided in place of the speaker, the ringtone cannot be heard by anyone other than the user. Therefore, even if a call is received when going out, the ringtone does not disturb other people. When the user removes the earphones, no ringtone is heard, but the function described in FIGS. 3 and 4 functions as an answering machine, and the sound device described in each of FIGS. By also using the device, the entire telephone can be reduced in size and weight, and can be easily carried by the user.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible for a user to reproduce an arbitrary sound as a ringtone in the limitation of a recording medium for an audio apparatus, and to record a plurality of sounds on one recording medium. You can switch the ringtone by switching the voice track designation and explain why you can not answer the call, for example, during a meeting or sleeping or driving a car, with the answering message of the answering machine In this case, you can record multiple sounds on one recording medium and switch the response message by switching the audio track designation. Since the telephone itself can be equipped with an answering machine function and use a recording medium that can be accessed randomly, music and ringtones for normal listening can be used. Can be left to record on one of the recording medium the business of answering machine response message and phone partner,
Search and play back audio tracks faster than recording media accessed sequentially, and use recording media that can be used with other audio devices, making it easy to edit ringtones and answering machines that users want Thus, the entire telephone is more compact and more portable than when different recording media are prepared. In addition, a telephone that can be easily used for secondary use, such as editing, retransmitting, and saving a message received and recorded from a telephone line using another audio device, can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a ring tone output operation of the telephone according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating an operation of answering machine response message output according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram illustrating a task recording operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an entire telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Telephone device, 2 ... Sound device, 3 ... Voice switch circuit, 4 ... Controller, 5 ... Speaker, 6 ... Timer,
7 ... Operation input means from the user.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A telephone equipped with an audio device using a recording medium that is randomly accessible and removable by a user, wherein one or more ring tones are recorded on one of the recording media, and a telephone call is received. A telephone with an answering machine function that occasionally reproduces and outputs the ringtone selected by the user. 2. A telephone equipped with an audio device using a recording medium that is randomly accessible and removable by a user, wherein one or more answering machine answering messages are recorded on one of the recording media. A telephone with an answering machine function that connects to a telephone line when the user does not respond to an incoming call for a certain period of time and transmits an answering machine response message selected by the user through the telephone line. 3. A telephone equipped with an audio device using a recording medium which is randomly accessible and which can be removed by a user, wherein a sound for normal listening is received from a telephone line in a vacant portion of said recording medium. A telephone with an answering machine that records voice. 4. A telephone with an answering machine function according to claim 1, wherein the same recording medium is shared. 5. A telephone with an answering machine function according to claim 1, wherein the telephone is a portable telephone for performing wireless communication.