JPH0137021B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present application relates to modification of a remote listening answering machine.

When a so-called answering machine receives an incoming call and records a message, if the user wants to listen to the message from a remote location, the receiving tape records the number of messages received so far. It would be convenient if we could know this before playing. Based on this idea, for example, the Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-5486 or the Japanese Patent Application No. 1983-
Previous examples such as No. 92673 have already been disclosed.

However, these are still inconvenient, especially when the owner hears them from a remote location, since they can only be known by the number of beeps or the like.

The purpose of the present invention is to modify these known prior examples so that when a user operates the device from a remote location,
The purpose is to notify the number of incoming calls by voice.

A second object of the present invention is that when counting the above-mentioned incoming calls, when the caller hangs up while listening to the response words, the number of incoming calls is not counted as a valid number of incoming calls.

A third object of the present invention is to ensure that when the device switches from the answering tape to the receiving tape, the caller immediately disconnects the call, without counting it as a valid number of incoming calls, and at least within a few seconds. The purpose is to make it possible to count a valid call only when a signal is received.

A fourth object of the present invention is to enable the voice synthesis circuit to send out response terms when the response tape is not set, and to count the effective number of incoming calls by the voice synthesis circuit during remote control. The purpose is to let people know.

The structural function will be explained in detail below.

In Figure 1, L1 and L2 are telephone lines, LT is a line transformer, CPU is a microprocessor such as 8748 (8048), and 1 is a response tape T-1 (not shown) and a receiver. a keyboard for controlling the tape T-2 (not shown) or switching to automatic operation (AUTO); 2 is an incoming call detection circuit for detecting a ringing signal; 3 is the above-mentioned receiving tape; A rotary switch for detecting the start and end points of T-2, 4 an end point detection circuit for detecting the end point (start point) of the response tape T-1, 5 an amplification circuit, 6 a caller's A VOX circuit for detecting voice, 7 a remote control signal detection circuit for detecting a remote control signal sent by a caller, and 8 a T- circuit for detecting whether the response tape T-1 is attached. 1 Cassette switch 9 is a speech synthesis circuit. After setting the address terminals A0 to A3 shown in the figure as shown in Fig. 2, and applying one pulse to the terminal ST, the sentence shown in Fig. 2 is output by speech synthesis. And during this output, the terminal
It is designed to output an H level signal from BUSY. Also, IC-1 is an or gate, IC-2~
IC-6 is a drive circuit, M is a motor, SD-1 is a solenoid for driving the above response tape T-1, SD-
2 is a solenoid for normal feeding of the receiving tape T-2, and SDR is a solenoid for rewinding.
Moreover, Y-1 is a loop relay, and the contact point y ₁ - ₁
has.

This device is composed of the above-mentioned parts and functions as described below. Incidentally, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation described below. First, by pressing keyboard 1, the flow of the program is switched to automatic operation (AUTO). Next, in order to clear the number of incoming calls, the program sets a register in the CPU, for example R7, to "00" and then sets the device to a standby state. When a calling signal arrives here, this calling signal is detected by the incoming call detection circuit 2,
Further, when the test terminal T1 of the CPU becomes H level via the OR gate IC-1, the next operation is started. That is, by setting terminal P24, which is an output port, to H level, loop relay Y-1 is maintained in an operating state via drive circuit IC-6, and its contact point is
_y1-1 forms a loop via the primary side _of the line transformer LT. Next, the program allows T-1
Test whether the cassette switch 8 is turned on via the input port P16. P1 when response tape T-1 (not shown) is attached.
6 is L level, P when T-1 is not installed
16 is H level. When T-1 is installed, a response message is recorded in advance via keyboard 1, and the program turns on motor M and solenoid SD-1 via output ports P20 and P21 for the above response. Tape T-1
(not shown) and transmits the response message to the telephone line by means of an amplification circuit (not shown). When the response tape T-1 reaches the end point, the output port P21 is set to L level and the solenoid
Turn off SD-1 and release the drive of response tape T-1. Subsequently, the beep tone created by the program is amplified by the amplification circuit 5 through the output port P25, and then sent to the telephone line. Next, turn on the solenoid SD-2 and use the receiving tape T-2.
(not shown) and turns on a recording circuit (not shown since it is well known) to start recording the message from the caller onto the receiving tape T-2. The voice from the caller is VOX circuit 6, input port P1
First, as described above, a test is performed to see if the caller's voice is received within 4 seconds immediately after the receiving tape starts running. When the caller's voice comes in within 4 seconds, it is assumed that the caller is willing to speak, and this is treated as a valid incoming call, register R7 in the CPU is incremented by +1, and the call is received. Number of times 1
After the caller's message is stored on the receiving tape, the VOX operation described above is continued and the message from the caller is recorded on the receiving tape.

The caller hangs up and the above VOX circuit has no input,
Or, if the input of busy tone or dial tone continues for 8 seconds, motor M, solenoid
SD-2 is turned off, the receiving tape T-2 stops running, the recording circuit is turned off, relay Y-1 is turned off, the loop is opened, and the standby state is restored. As mentioned above, every time a voice arrives within 4 seconds after the receiving tape T-2 starts running, the register R7 is incremented, and the number of incoming calls is stored in R7. If the above-mentioned voice does not arrive within 4 seconds, it is assumed that the caller has no intention of speaking, and the apparatus is restored to the standby state without incrementing the register R7.

On the other hand, the aforementioned response tape T-1 (not shown)
is not installed, and the T-1 cassette switch 8
is off, data bus terminals DB0 to DB3 are "0" (L level) after the loop due to the above-mentioned incoming call, that is, A0 to A3 in Fig. 2 are in the state of "0".
By applying a high-level pulse from DB4 to the start terminal ST of the speech synthesis circuit 9, speech synthesis will produce, for example, "PLEASE LEAVE YOUR
MESSAGE" is output from output terminal 0, amplified by amplification circuit 5, and sent to telephone lines L1 and L2.

The end of this response message is determined by testing the output of the terminal BUSY via the input port P17 by a program, and when the response message is completed, the receiving tape T-2 is driven in the same manner as described above.
The message from the calling party is recorded, and after the recording is completed, the register R7 is incremented by +1 to store the number of incoming calls, and then the standby state is restored. Incidentally, the timing at which R7 is incremented can be set at any time between the loop and the recovery.

Next, the operation of the remote control according to the present application will be described. Figure 4 is a flowchart for remote control operation. The caller can send out a remote control signal both during sending of response tape T-1 (not shown) and while recording of receiving tape T-2 (not shown). This remote control signal is detected via the remote control signal detection circuit 7 and the test terminal T0 of the CPU. Alternatively, the interrupt terminal INT may be used. This remote control signal causes the solenoid to
Turn off SD-1 or SD-2 and stop the running tape. At this time, the recording circuit (not shown) may be set to the operating state, so program it so that it will be in the playback state in either case. put. Next, the program jumps the values of the data buses DB0 to DB3 of the CPU according to the value of the register R7, which stores the number of incoming calls, according to the table shown in FIG. For example, if the number of incoming calls is "9", DB0=H, DB1=L, DB2=
Set L, DB3=H, and in this state, send one pulse from DB4 to the start terminal of the speech synthesis circuit 9.
When added to ST, the speech synthesis circuit 9 utters "Nine" as shown in FIG. 2, and the amplification circuit 5 amplifies this before transmitting it to the telephone lines L1 and L2. As a result, after the caller confirms the number of incoming calls using voice synthesis, the device side uses the program to connect the terminal BUSY of the voice synthesis circuit 9 and the input port P1.
After detecting the end of the audio through P23
The solenoid SDR connected to is turned on to start rewinding the receiving tape T-2. When it is rewound to the starting point, the output of the rotary switch 3 linked to T-2 above turns off the solenoid SDR by a program via IC-1 and the test terminal T1 to cancel the rewound, and then the solenoid SD connected to P22 is turned off. -2 is turned on, and the message recorded on the receiving tape T-2 is reproduced and sent to the telephone line as described above. When you finish listening to this message, send the remote control signal again to clear the register R7 that stores the number of incoming calls, turn off the solenoid SD-2, and then turn off the receiving tape T.
-2 stops running, and solenoid SD-1 is turned on again to drive response tape T-1. If the T-1 is not attached at this time, it will send out the response message by voice synthesis described above. After listening to this response message and confirming that the remote control operation has been canceled, hang up the call. On the device side, after completing the cue of the response tape, the device returns to the standby state.
Note that when the number of incoming calls mentioned above is in two digits, for example, when the number of incoming calls is 15, the speech synthesis circuit 9 is programmed to utter "one five five". In other words, if the number of incoming calls is 0 to 9, the upper digit is ``0'', so if it is ``0'', no sound is made, so immediately test how many lower digits there are, and then Say the voice that corresponds to the number. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the number of incoming calls is stored in 8-bit register R7 in decimal notation, so the maximum value is "99", but if the number of incoming calls is stored in hexadecimal, the maximum value is "255". ”.
However, this would complicate the program, and since a maximum of 99 calls would be sufficient, this method is more practical.

The present invention uses a voice synthesis circuit to transmit the effective number of incoming calls that the answering machine has received up to that point and recorded received messages to the caller during remote operation. If you receive a call when the answering tape is not loaded in the main answering machine, the voice synthesis circuit will send out a response term, so if you forget to load the answering tape,
This is useful when there is no need to send response terms that contain so much information as to be sent on a response tape. In particular, it is difficult to memorize various special response terms in the speech synthesis circuit, so a response tape is used when transmitting response terms with a large amount of information, and other than that, response terms created for general use are voiced. It only needs to be sent out from the synthesis circuit, increasing the range of ways the user can choose to use it.

Furthermore, in the present invention, only when a telephone call is received, the caller's voice is switched to the recording state, and the caller speaks within a predetermined time is counted as a valid call. When you hang up after listening to the call, or when you receive a call without recording any message, it is not counted, but only the number of calls with a recorded message is counted as a valid call, and the caller is notified by voice during remote control. The number of recorded messages can be known with certainty.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram of the main operating part of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a speech terminology corresponding to the address setting of the speech synthesis circuit, Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the normal operation of the present invention, and Fig. 4 is a diagram of the present invention. It is a flowchart when operating the remote control of the invention.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An incoming call detection circuit for detecting incoming telephone calls; means for configuring the above-mentioned post-detection closing circuit; tape loading detection means for detecting loading of a response tape on which response terms are recorded; A voice synthesis circuit that uses voice synthesis to send out the response term and number of calls received, a voice switch circuit that detects voice on the telephone line to control recording time, and a detection output from the tape loading detection means after the telephone line is closed. means for transmitting a response term from a response tape if there is a detection output; and means for transmitting a response term from a speech synthesis circuit if there is no detection output; and means for switching to a recording state after transmitting the response term to record the caller's voice; means for incrementing a counter for counting the number of incoming calls by one step when voice is detected by the voice switch circuit within a predetermined time after switching to a recording state; means for detecting a remote control signal issued by a caller; and a remote control. An answering machine that transmits the number of incoming calls by the voice synthesis circuit, comprising: control means for transmitting the number of incoming calls counted by the counter as voice by the voice synthesis circuit when a signal is detected.