JPH01155751A - Automatic answering telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost and to increase the storage capacity considerably by providing a disk recording device where a coded digital signal is stored on a disk and a reproducing output device outputting again an analog voice signal from the recorded digital signal. CONSTITUTION:A signal subject to PCM processing by a digital processing device 3 is inputted to a disk recorder 4 and recorded on a disk. In case of a magnetic disk, for example, it is formed by coating a magnetic material on the surface of a disk whose diameter is several inches made of glass or a synthetic resin as a raw material and it is used in a high speed rotating state such as 3600rpm in general as a computer digital data storage medium and several tens of MB(mega bytes) of digital signals are stored on the concentric recording tracks. In case of reproduction, the signal recorded on the disk of the disk recorder 4 is extracted by a magnetic head, inputted to a reproducing processing device 5, decoded into the original analog voice signal and outputted from the speaker.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an answering machine that records voice information of calls received from outside when the user is away from home.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, answering machines have been known that record and reproduce voice information via a telephone even when there is no recipient. Answering machines used tape recorders in the early stages of the development of this type of device, but in recent years, with the development of semiconductor memory devices, semiconductor memory devices have been used instead of tape recorders. An answering machine has now been proposed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, although the tape recorders used in conventional answering machines have a large storage capacity, when you select a specific part for playback, it is difficult to select a specific part for playback. It has the disadvantage of slow access, which means it takes too much time.

On the other hand, with semiconductor storage devices, it is not possible to use a sufficient amount of expensive semiconductor devices as storage media, mainly due to cost considerations, and therefore, although access is extremely fast, the storage capacity is limited. There is a problem in that it is small and can only store a small amount of audio information, for example, about one minute.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above problems, an answering machine according to the present invention includes a telephone and a recording device for recording voice information received by the telephone.
A digital processing device that digitalizes and encodes analog audio information, a disk recording device that records this encoded digital signal on a disk, and a playback output that outputs an analog audio signal again from this recorded digital signal. It is characterized by being equipped with a device.

In this way, the present invention provides a record of the conventional answering machine.
A tape recorder, which is commonly used as a recording device,
Alternatively, instead of recent semiconductor storage devices, a disk storage device using a disk as a storage medium is used.

[For production]

According to the above configuration, when there is an incoming call from outside while the user is away, the external signal input starts the answering machine on standby, and the analog voice signal is input to the digital processing device, where it is sampled and quantized. , digital processing such as encoding, that is, PCM (Pulse Code Mo
duration) is processed. The pcM signals are sequentially input to the disk recording device and recorded on the disk, and when the external signal is turned off, the answering machine returns to the standby state. Then, each time a call arrives, this operation is repeated.

In the case of playback, the PCM recorded on the disk of the recording device
The signal is input to a reproduction processing device and can be reproduced and listened to again as the original analog audio signal.

Because disks are extremely quickly accessible, many recorded messages that need to be listened to multiple times can be retrieved and played instantly.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on FIG.

In FIG. 1, when an analog voice signal from a telephone line 1 arrives at a telephone 2 when the user is away, this voice signal is input to a digital processing device 3 via a switch (not shown) that has been previously switched to an answering machine. Ru.

In the digital processing device 3, the input analog audio signal is converted into so-called PCM through digital processing processes such as sampling, quantization, and encoding. Such PCM technology is currently used for CD (Compact Disc)
Although it has already been established as a digitalization technology for other audio systems, especially high quality sound is not required for telephone calls.
It is possible to appropriately compress the amount of information during the digitization process to the extent that a sound quality that does not cause any practical problems during playback can be obtained, and thereby the recording time can be increased. Although such compression techniques are also well established, more efficient methods are being developed in areas such as speech synthesis, which are required to digitize a given length of analog audio signal. The number of bits has decreased significantly, e.g.
Techniques have been developed that allow practically sufficient sound quality to be obtained at a bit rate of 10 kilobits per second or less.

As described above, the signal converted into PCM by the digital processing device 3 is input to the disk recording device 4 and recorded on the disk. For example, a magnetic disk is a disc made of glass or synthetic resin with a diameter of several inches coated with a magnetic material.
Generally, it is used as a digital data storage medium for a computer at a high rotation speed of 3600 rpm or more, and can store several tens of MB (megabytes) of digital signals on a concentric recording trunk.

For an answering machine, high-speed rotation as described above is not necessary, for example, it may be less than 100 revolutions per minute, and if the width of the magnetic head is about 10 μm, a recording time of about 20 minutes can be obtained.

During playback, the signal recorded on the disk of the disk recording device 4 is extracted by a magnetic head, input to the playback processing device 5, restored to the original analog audio signal, and output from the speaker.

A disk-type recording medium has the characteristic that the signal detector can be quickly moved to any point on the disk.
In the case of magnetic disk drives, information at any point can be quickly accessed by moving the magnetic head a short distance.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the answering machine according to the present invention includes a telephone and a recording device for recording voice information received by the telephone, and includes digital processing for digitizing and encoding analog voice information. This configuration includes a device, a disk recording device that records the encoded digital signal on a disk, and a reproduction output device that outputs an analog audio signal again from the recorded digital signal. That is, the analog voice signal of the answering machine is converted into PCM by a digital processing device, and this PCM is
The CM digital signal is recorded on a disk recording device, and during playback, the digitized audio signal recorded on the disk is guided to a playback processing device, where it is restored and played back into an analog audio signal.

As a result, not only can the access time be significantly shortened compared to an answering machine using a conventional tape recorder, but also the access time can be significantly shortened compared to an answering machine using a semiconductor memory device.
This has the effect of reducing costs and significantly increasing recording capacity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention, and is a configuration explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an answering machine. 1 is a telephone line, 2 is a telephone, 3 is a digital processing device,
4 is a disk recording device, and 5 is a reproduction processing device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An answering machine equipped with a telephone and a recording device for recording voice information received by the telephone, comprising: a digital processing device for digitizing and encoding analog voice information; and a digital processing device for digitizing and encoding analog voice information; What is claimed is: 1. An answering machine comprising: a disk recording device that records a recorded digital signal on a disk; and a playback output device that outputs an analog audio signal again from the recorded digital signal.