JPH0212065B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention provides automatic answering telephone equipment, more specifically, for calls when the subscriber is absent.
This invention relates to an automatic answering telephone device that automatically answers and sends out a preset absence message by a subscriber who is absent. Conventional answering machines use tape recorders to send out messages when automatically answering incoming calls when the subscriber is absent. ) Users (subscribers) can re-record messages as necessary. Among these, (a) is that the message content is unique, so the amount of information in the message content is limited, and it is difficult to change the message content when the message is absent, and (b) is that each time the message content is changed. However, the disadvantage was that the user's real voice had to be recorded, which placed a large operational burden and psychological burden on the user. The present invention uses a voice synthesizer in place of a tape recorder in an automatic answering telephone device such as an answering machine, so that message content can be freely set within a certain range with simple button operations. The purpose of the present invention is to enable messages to be changed without imposing any operational or psychological burden on the user. Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a keyboard for setting a missed message, 2 is a keyboard interface, 3 is a controller, and 4 is a control random access memory (hereinafter referred to as control RAM). ), 5 is the line interface, 6 is the telephone interface, 7 is the telephone, 8
9 is read-only memory for audio parameters (hereinafter referred to as ROM for audio parameters), 9 is read-only memory for control (hereinafter referred to as control ROM), 1
0 is a speech synthesizer, and 11 is a line. In this embodiment, Table 1 shows an example of the absence message sent after the automatic response.

[Table] Here, in this example, example sentences after automatic response
It is assumed that the messages shown in Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are sent one after another as absent messages. In addition, the reason for the absence should be written in part A in example No. 1, and the reason for the absence in example No. 1.
Parts B and C in 2 should indicate the period of absence, and example sentence No.
A contact telephone number is inserted into the D part in 3, and the information to be inserted is entered from the absent message setting keyboard 1. As shown in the figure, the absent message setting keyboard 1 has keys KA ₁ to KA ₄ , KB, KC, KD and numeric keys KN ₀ to KN _{9 corresponding to numbers 0 to 9} . Here keys KA ₁ to _{KA 4} are sentence example numbers.
Reason for absence in part A in 1, e.g. “meeting”
Used to insert any one word such as "business trip". The keys KB and KC are used to specify parts B and C in sentence example No. 2. After pressing the key KB or KC, press the desired number key KN ₀ to _{KN 9} to select “What time (month)? )” and “Minutes (days)”. The key KD is used to specify the D part in sentence example No. 3. After pressing the key KD, a contact telephone number is set using the numeric keys KN ₀ to _{KN 9} . This information is provided by Keyboard Interface 2.
is sent to controller 3 via
The information insertion position (A,
The address of the control ROM 9 where the information is stored is the starting address of the audio parameter ROM 8 where the audio parameter corresponding to the word of the specified information is stored at the address set corresponding to B, C, D). It is retained by writing . Next, the operation of this illustrated embodiment will be explained. First, when a subscriber is absent, this subscriber must first use the absent message setting keyboard 1.
Therefore, the reason for absence (A in example No. 1), period of absence (B and C in example No. 2), and contact phone number (example No. 2)
Enter No.3 D). The information is sent to the controller 3 via the keyboard interface 2 and further stored in the control RAM 4. Also, at this time, the keyboard 1 for setting the absent message
A signal indicating the absent state is sent to the control RAM 4 and stored there. Next, the operation when receiving a call will be explained. The line interface 5 also operates as a switch or a selector, and under normal conditions, the line 11 is controlled by the controller 3.
and is cut off from the voice synthesizer 10. Immediately after receiving an incoming call, an incoming signal is sent to the controller 3 via the line interface 5. The controller 3 checks whether the signal indicating the absence state has already been sent to the control RAM 4 and stored there. If a signal indicating the absence status has not yet been sent, a calling signal is sent to the telephone 7 via the telephone interface 6, and the telephone 7 thereafter operates as a normal telephone. On the other hand, if the controller 3 checks the control RAM 4 and detects that a signal indicating an absent state has already been sent and stored there, it controls the line interface 5 to
A loop is created in the line 11 to set it in a response state, and the line 11
(call line) from controller 3 to speech synthesizer 1
Switch to 0. Then, the set absence message is sent to the line 11 in the following procedure. First, the controller 3 obtains from the control ROM 9 the starting address in the voice parameter ROM 8 where the voice parameter corresponding to the first "I'm home" in sentence example No. 1 in Table 1 is stored, and specifies the address. to drive the voice synthesizer 10. The speech synthesizer 10 accesses the above specified address of the speech parameter ROM 8, obtains the speech parameter corresponding to "I'm home", and synthesizes the speech signal "I'm home". The synthesized audio signal is sent to the line 11 via the line interface 5. When the synthesis of the voice "I'm home" is completed, a voice completion signal is sent from the voice synthesizer 10 to the controller 3.
sent to. After the controller 3 detects the end-of-voice signal, the controller 3 specifies to insert the message, such as "meeting" or "business trip," as the reason for absence into part A of sentence example No. 1 in Table 1.
The starting address of the audio parameter ROM 8 in which the audio parameter corresponding to one word of
The first address is obtained from the ROM 9 and is specified to drive the speech synthesizer 10. The speech synthesizer 10 accesses the speech parameter ROM 8 and outputs "I'm home".
Similarly, a word indicating the reason for absence is inserted into the A part of sentence example No. 1 and sent to the line 11. Following these, an audio signal saying "I am absent due to reasons" is sent out in the same manner, and the sending of the message (message example No. 1) indicating the reason for the absence is completed. Thereafter, in the same manner, the period of absence and the contact telephone number are successively sent in the format as shown in Example Sentences No. 2 and No. 3 in Table 1. After sending out this absent message once or several times, the controller 3 controls the line interface 5 to cut off the connection with the line (exchange) and restore the normal state. When the connection is disconnected, the track interface 5 detects this, releases the track 11 side, and notifies the controller 3 of this, and upon receiving this, the controller 3 can be configured to restore the normal state. can. The absentee message can be set by operating keys (not shown) on the absentee message setting keyboard 1.
It is also possible not to send any one or two of sentence examples No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 in Table 1. Note that the sentence examples in Table 1 and the words to be inserted at required locations (A, B, C, D, etc.) are merely examples, and any words can be set. In the illustrated embodiment, means for directly switching the telephone machine 7 to the line 11 may be provided.
As a result, when necessary, for example, when a subscriber is present, the telephone 7 and the line 11 can be directly connected and used in the same way as a normal telephone. As explained above, according to the automatic answering telephone according to the present invention, for example, the reason for absence, the period of absence, and contact information can be sent by simple button operation rather than fixed messages without the psychological burden of recording the real voice. This has the effect of being able to edit and set an absentee message that includes information such as the previous phone number.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an automatic answering telephone device according to the present invention. 1...Keyboard for setting absent message, 2...Keyboard interface, 3...Controller, 4
...Control RAM, 5...Line interface, 6...
Telephone interface, 7...Telephone, 8...ROM for voice parameters, 9...ROM for control, 10...Speech synthesizer, 11...Line.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An absent message setting keyboard for specifying information to be inserted into a predetermined part of the absent message information, and a voice parameter memory storing word-by-word voice information; It is equipped with a speech synthesizer that synthesizes a voice message from the inserted absentee message information, a controller that controls them, and a line interface that switches the line to either the controller or the voice synthesizer under the control of the controller. An automatic answering telephone device characterized by automatically answering an incoming call, switching the line to a voice synthesizer, and transmitting a synthesized voice message.