JPS61228766A - Answering equipment for fixed form phrase - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a customer service by recording plural fixed-formed response phrases on a voice recording LSI, detecting and supervising the interface signal between an NCU and a modem and between the modem and a communication control unit at the time of a receiving, and extracting and sending out the phrase to be responded. CONSTITUTION:A unit is constituted as to discriminate the state of a computer system from the point of a hardware when receiving and to select and extract the phrase corresponded with the state among the plural types of the phrases recorded in advance and to send the phrase to a line and after the sending, to switch and connect the line to a computer unit etc. or to turn-off the connection. For example, the unit consists of line branching/switching parts BN and BM, a line branching/switching control part LC, a state discrimination part CD, a voice selecting part VS, a voice recording part VM and a voice reproducing/sending part VR. And at a telephone line side, an automatic incoming type NCU is connected with a communication line and a switching control line. A computer system side is connected to a communication control device CCP. Furthermore, a modem M is connected between the BN and the BM.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a voice response device installed between a public telephone line and a computer system, and in particular, the present invention relates to a voice response device installed between a public telephone line and a computer system. The present invention relates to a voice response device suitable for selecting and transmitting to a line.

[Background of the invention]

Conventionally, this type of device that responds by voice to a telephone network is based on the assumption that the host computer is functioning normally, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-20045. This involves selecting and responding to various states of the computer system, including congestion, suspension, and stoppage, and connecting the line to the computer, etc., according to the state after the response is complete. No consideration was given to whether or not to do so.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to immediately select and extract a response wording suitable for the state of the computer device etc. at the time of incoming call and send it to the line, regardless of whether the connected computer system is operating normally or not. and to provide a function to connect the line to a computer device or the like to continue the service or to disconnect the line after the transmission is completed.

[Summary of the invention]

For the above purpose, the present invention audio-records a plurality of stylized response phrases and records them in the SI. When a call arrives, it detects and monitors the interface signals between the NCU and the modem, and between the modem and the communication control device, judges the reaction of the computer, selects and extracts the text to be responded to, and sends it to the line. Furthermore, it connects or disconnects lines depending on the situation.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

This device includes a BN, BM (line branch switching unit), LC (line branch switching control unit), and CD (state determination unit).

It consists of a VS (audio selection section), a VM (audio recording section), and a VR (audio reproduction and transmission section).

When using this device, the telephone line side is connected to an automatic call receiving type NCU using a communication line and a switching control line. The computer system side is connected to a CCP (communication control unit). Furthermore, a modem is connected between the BN and 8M.

The functions and operations of each part are as follows.

○ BN branches or switches the NCU interface signal to each direction of NCU, modem, CD, and VR.

□　BM is the modem interface signal to the modem.

Switches in each direction of CCP and CD.

○ CD is the CI (call display) of the NCU interface or SODM interface when a call arrives.

By monitoring the response of the computer system over time using CML (line connection command), 118R (equipment preparation light), and power-on signals, the status can be determined as normal operation, processing congestion, standstill/stop, etc. Discern. The determination result is communicated to VS and LC.

○ LC receives instructions from CD, controls BN and BM, and performs VR
The telephone line is then switched and connected to the CCP via the modem after the response is completed.

○ The vS receives a signal for determining the status of the cooperator system from the CD and outputs a signal to the VM for selectively extracting the required text to be responded to.

○ The VM reads out a specified phrase from the VS from among a plurality of pre-recorded fixed phrases and passes it to the VR.

○ VR plays the text from VM into audio and sends it to the line.

Next, the operation of this device will be explained step by step.

■ When a call is received from the telephone line, NCU, BN, modem, B
It can be accessed by CCP through M.

■ The response from the CCP to the incoming call is transmitted to the line side, but it is branched at the BM and also transmitted to the C'D.

■ In C'D, signals from NCU interface, modem interface and signals from CCP (CI, CML,
The state of the computer system is determined by monitoring the time (ER, Pa, etc.).

■ Discrimination of the CD is based on whether the response signal from the CCP comes within the specified time, whether it comes late, or whether there is no response. It becomes Iruka etc.

■ The determination result is sent from the CD to the VS for selecting a response voice in order to make a response appropriate to the situation.

■ At the same time, Cl) is used for signal line branching and switching control.
The determination result is also communicated to I and C.

・4・■ LC controls BN and BM so that the response voice from VR can be sent to the line.

(2) On the other hand, upon receiving the determination result from the CD, the vS selects a message to be responded to from among the messages not previously recorded in the VM and transmits it to the VM. , ■ The VM extracts the unspecified text from the vS and passes it to the vrt.

(b) The VR plays the audio and sends the response audio to the line through the BN.

■ After sending the response voice to the line, the LC controls the BN and BM according to the state and connects the line to the CCP via the modem.
connection to enable communication for the service, or disconnect the line if the service is not required.

As described above, when a call is received from a telephone line, the state of the computer is immediately determined, and a response wording that matches this is immediately returned. Moreover, the computer status is normally operating, processing is busy, or paused.

This is possible regardless of whether it is after the stop or the like.

Furthermore, since it is a fixed recording (non-rotating, non-running) system using LSI in the audio recording section and audio playback/transmission section, it achieves immediate selection responsiveness, low cost, and compactness and weight, which was difficult to achieve with magnetic tape cassette systems.

Longer life is possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In order for a device such as a convoter on the calling side to communicate with a center computer on the receiving side, a line must first be connected. If this line connection procedure is performed by a human,
We have to deal with a computer system that operates only on coded signals, but humans cannot understand coded signals.

Therefore, responding with a human-understandable voice is very kind and gives a sense of security, and also allows the line connection procedure to proceed smoothly. From the perspective of customer service, the fact that this device can independently make a determination and return a response when the computer system is unable to respond due to poor weather conditions, etc., is a ``further improvement in service quality.''

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a fixed phrase response device according to an embodiment of the present invention and connections with other related devices. 1...NCU: Network control device, 2...(M): Variation/distribution device, 5...CCP: Communication control device, 4...
BN, BM: line branch switching unit, 5...LC: line branch switching control unit, 6...CD: status determination unit, 7...vS: voice selection unit, 8...vM: Audio recording section, 9......vR: Audio reproduction and transmission section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. This is a voice response device that connects to public telephone lines, and when a call is received, it judges the state of the computer system using hardware, and selects a word that matches the condition from among several kinds of words recorded in advance. A fixed-form message response device characterized in that it selects and extracts, sends out to a line, and after the sending is finished, switches the line to a computer device or the like or disconnects the line.