JPH1168927A - Automatic answering telephone equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic answering telephone set allowing a call originator to easily recognize an opposite party he calls to and improving convenience at the time of setting a response message by a user. SOLUTION: This automatic answering telephone set 1 is provided with a line interface part 3 connected to a telephone line 2, a handset 4, a read only memory 5 storing a fixed message such as 'We are outing now' and a one-letter speech composing data such as 'su' 'zu' 'ki'..., etc., a speech composing processing part 6 combining the speech composing data to process to be 'This is SuZuKi. We are outing now.', etc., a business recording part 7 recording a business from a call originating destination, a reproducing part 8, a speaker 9, a control part 10, a controlling memory 11 storing a user's name, etc., an operation part 12 and a display part 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an answering machine capable of recording and reproducing a message received from a destination, and more particularly, to an answering machine having an improved method of sending a response message when a call is received from the destination. It relates to a telephone device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been an answering machine as a method for saving a message when a user cannot answer a call received from a call destination. The answering message of the answering machine is provided by a method of reproducing a response message by the voice of the user stored in the storage means after the purchase of the answering machine, and a fixed response by a voice synthesis sound stored in the storing means at the time of purchase. There is a way to play the message.

[0003] In the former case, since the voice of the user is reproduced as a response message, it is convenient for the caller to recognize that the intended party has been called. However, when it is troublesome for a user to record the response message by himself or when it is not preferable for crime prevention due to a woman living alone, the latter is selected. In the latter case, it is difficult for the caller to identify the user who made the call because it is not possible to give the name of the user simply by playing the fixed response message, and it is difficult for the caller to talk about the business There is such a problem.

In order to solve such a problem, the telephone number of the user is registered in advance, and when answering the answering machine, together with a fixed response message, for example, "Hi, here is 1234-5678. An answering machine has been developed and released that has the function of saying, "Please send a message after the dial tone."
However, even in such an answering machine, it is difficult for the caller to intuitively recognize the called party because only the phone number is pronounced.

Further, as another method of reproducing the response message, the name of the user is registered in advance, and when answering the answering machine, together with a fixed response message, for example, "Hi, this is" Suzuki "(this part) An answering machine has been developed that has the function of saying, "Only the voice recorded by the user." In this case, the name of the user can be given, but it is not a measure for improving the user who does not want to respond with his / her own voice.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a conventional method for reproducing a response message in an answering machine, in which a caller identifies a user who made a call. It is an object of the present invention to provide a telephone answering machine which can solve the problem that the caller cannot make a call, can easily recognize the caller of the caller, and can improve the convenience in setting and reproducing the response message.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve such a problem, an answering machine according to the present invention provides a fixed response message (hereinafter, referred to as a message) indicating that an incoming call cannot be answered when a call is received from a destination. In an answering machine having an answering machine function of sending out a fixed message) by voice synthesis sound, "A", "I", "U"
Storage means for storing one-character information such as "e" and "o" (individual character information or, of course, alphabetic characters); registration means for pre-registering user identification information such as the name of the user of the answering machine; When the answering machine function of the telephone device is operating, the one-character information stored in the storage means is read and
Control means that generates user names such as "Zu" and "Ki" and combines them with fixed messages to send them to the line as "Yes, Suzuki. I am out now. Please talk after the dial tone." Is provided.

[0008] Further, as a specific configuration of the answering machine of the present invention, when an incoming call is received from a destination, an answering machine having an answering machine function of sending out a fixed message indicating that the incoming call cannot be answered by a voice synthesis sound. "A", "I", "U", "E"
Storage means for storing one-character information such as "O" by voice synthesis data, registration means (control memory or the like) for registering in advance user identification information such as the name of the user of the answering machine;
The control means for controlling the answering machine and the registering means, and when the answering machine function of the answering machine is operating, the voice synthesis data stored in the storage means is read out and synthesized, so that "su""zu""ki" Voice (signal) of user name such as
, A voice (signal) "Suzuki" of the user name generated by the voice synthesis means, and fixed messages such as "Yes" and "I'm out of the office" stored in the storage means. It is characterized by having line interface means for sending out to the line such as "Yes, Suzuki. I am out now. Please talk after the dial tone."

In the answering machine of the present invention, when the answering machine function of the answering machine operates, the user name and the like registered in advance together with the fixed message are transmitted to the line by voice (signal) synthesized by the voice synthesizing means. Therefore, the user of the answering machine can give the user's name without any troublesome operation such as recording a response message. As a result, the caller can easily identify the user who made the call, and the convenience of the answering machine is improved. Further, since all the response messages in the answering machine are given by voice synthesis sounds, the privacy of the user can be protected.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the circuit configuration of the answering machine of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing an example of the answering machine of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a telephone answering machine 1 according to the present invention comprises a line interface unit 3 connected in parallel with a telephone line 2, a handset 4 connected to the line interface unit 3, and a telephone handset 4 according to the present invention. Characteristic items include fixed messages (fixed response messages such as "I'm out of the office") and "A", "I", "U", "E", "O"
A read-only memory 5 for storing voice-synthesized data of one character (individual character information); a voice-synthesizing processor 6 for processing the voice-synthesized data; It is composed of a message recording unit 7 for recording the message, a playback unit 8, and a speaker 9 connected to the playback unit 8. Further, a control unit 1 composed of a microprocessor for controlling the entire answering machine 1
0, a control memory 11 for storing a control program and a user name, which will be described later, an operation unit 12 such as a dial button connected to the control unit 10, and a display unit 13 such as a liquid crystal display for displaying various information. It is provided with.

The schematic operation of the answering machine of the present invention having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the synthesized sound stored in the read-only memory.

The line interface unit 3 establishes a communication path between the telephone line 2 and the handset 4 during a telephone call, and establishes a communication path between the telephone line 2 and the voice synthesis processing unit 6 during an absence response. Is established. In the handset 4, a call is made via the telephone line 2 by a transmitter and a receiver (not shown). As shown in FIG. 2, the read-only memory 5 includes fixed messages such as "Yes" at address 001 and "I'm out of the office" at address 002, etc. , The voice synthesis data of one character from the address "400", the address "401", etc. are stored.

The voice synthesis processing section 6 processes individual voice synthesis data based on the address information and converts it into a voice signal in accordance with a control command from the control section 10. The voice signal converted by the voice synthesis processing unit 6 is transmitted to the telephone line 2 via the line interface unit 3.

In the operation unit 12, a telephone operation of the answering machine 1, registration of a user name (own name) at the time of the answering machine function, and setting / cancellation of the answering machine in the answering machine function are performed by a dial button or the like (not shown). And so on. The display unit 13 displays the telephone number of the other party when making a call, the name of the user at the time of registering the response message, and the status of absence.

The control section 10 executes the telephone operation and the answering machine function of the answering machine 1 based on a control program. The control memory 11 is provided with a program area for operating the control unit 10 and an answering machine function area for storing a user name and the like. The answering machine function area sets and cancels the user name and the answering machine. Such registration data is stored.

The specific operation of the control unit 10 is as follows. When an incoming call is received from an exchange or a telephone office (not shown), the answering machine 1 of the present invention is operated by the line interface unit 3 having an incoming call detecting function. In addition to detecting an incoming call to the telephone device 1, a predetermined sound (for example, a beep sound) is emitted from the speaker 9 to notify the user of an incoming call.

If the answering machine is set to the answering machine 1 by the user, or if it is determined by the line interface unit 3 that the user does not perform the off-hook operation for a few seconds, the answering machine function operation is performed and storage is performed. The caller is notified of the response message being sent and prompts the caller to enter a message. When the message from the caller is input, recording is started by the message recording unit 7, and when the message input from the caller is completed and the on-hook operation is performed, the line interface unit 3 terminates the communicable state. Then, the connected telephone line 2 is released.

Next, the operation of reproducing a response message in the answering machine of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of reproducing the response message of the answering machine of the present invention.

The operation of reproducing the response message in the answering machine 1 of the present invention starts with the registration of the response message to the answering machine 1 of the present invention by the user. That is, in step SP1, the user operates the dial button or the JOG dial of the operation unit 12 to register his / her name in the control memory 11 (in the same manner as the telephone directory data registration operation of the telephone directory function).

More specifically, after setting the input mode of the answering machine 1 to katakana, the user operates the dial buttons of the operation unit 12 to input "S", "Z" and "K". that time,
Input characters are sequentially displayed on the display unit 13 in accordance with character input by button operation. Next, when a memory button or the like of the operation unit 12 is operated, the input own name is determined and registered as the user name of the response message. In addition,
User identification information such as a user name registered in the control memory 11 can be arbitrarily changed (added / deleted).

At step SP2, it is assumed that the user sets the absence of the answering machine 1 and goes out. When an incoming call to the answering machine 1 is made while the user is away, the line is automatically closed (automatic response) in step SP3.
In step SP4, the voice synthesis data of the fixed message in the read-only memory 5 is processed by the voice synthesis processing unit 6, and a voice signal "Yes" is transmitted to the line. Step SP
In step 5, the character data of the name registered in the control memory 11 is detected, the corresponding voice synthesis data is read out from the read-only memory 5, and the voice signals "su", "zu" and "ki" are transmitted to the line.

In step SP6, the voice synthesis data of the fixed message in the read-only memory 5 is processed again, and a voice signal "I'm out of the office. Please speak after the dial tone" is sent to the line. In step SP7, the operation shifts to an operation of recording the other party's message in the message recording unit 7. In step SP8, when the input of the message is completed and the on-hook operation is performed, or when the recording time ends, the line is released to be in a standby state, and the reproduction operation of the response message is ended. As a result, when the response message is reproduced, the user name is pronounced by a synthesized voice together with the fixed message, so that the caller can easily identify the called party and respond with his / her own voice. It is possible to improve the convenience of the user who does not want to.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described by exemplifying a telephone answering machine, the present invention is not limited to the shape and system of the telephone answering machine, but is limited to a car telephone and future development. It is also applicable to personal digital assistants (PDAs) having an answering machine function, which is expected to have a telephone answering machine function. It goes without saying that the present invention can be developed into various forms within the scope of the technical idea.

[0026]

According to the above-described answering machine of the present invention, when a response message is reproduced, a user name registered in advance together with a fixed response message is transmitted to the line by voice synthesis sound. The user can give his / her name without having to perform a troublesome operation such as recording a response message. As a result, the caller can easily identify the user who made the call, which has the effect of improving the convenience of the answering machine. Further, since all the response messages in the answering machine are generated by speech synthesis sounds, the privacy of the user can be protected, which is beneficial.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing an example of an answering machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a synthesized sound stored in a read-only memory.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a response message reproducing operation of the answering machine of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Answering machine, 2 ... Telephone line, 3 ... Line interface part, 4 ... Handset, 5 ... Read-only memory, 6
... Speech synthesis processing section, 7 ... Message recording section, 8 ... Playback section, 9 ...
Speakers, 10 ... Control unit, 11 ... Control memory, 12 ...
Operation unit, 13 ... Display unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An answering machine having an answering machine function for sending out a fixed response message by voice synthesis sound when an incoming call is received from a call destination, the message being fixed. Storage means for storing one-character information together with the response message; registration means for pre-registering user identification information of the answering machine; and, when the answering machine function of the answering machine is operated, the one-character information stored in the storage means. An answering machine, comprising: control means for reading and generating the user identification information and transmitting the generated information in combination with the fixed response message. 2. An answering machine having an answering machine function for sending out a fixed response message by voice synthesis sound when an incoming call is received from a call destination. Storage means for storing one-character information together with a response message by voice synthesis data; registration means for pre-registering user identification information of the answering machine; control means for controlling the registration means and the answering machine; Voice-synthesizing means for reading voice-synthesized data stored in the storage means and generating a voice signal of the user identification information when the voice-mailing function of the answering machine is operating; voice signals of the user-specific information; Answering machine, comprising: line interface means for sending a combined response message to a line Story apparatus.