JPH03159351A - Voice storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a voice storage device that is connected to an analog or digital telephone line and records and plays back voice messages via the telephone line.

2. Description of the Related Art Traditionally, there has been an answering machine as a voice storage device using an analog telephone line, but as the amount of information has increased in recent years, the demand as a means for storing information has increased rapidly. moreover,
The development of a voice mail device that improves the efficiency of communication and reduces the troublesome work associated with telephone calls by accumulating and comprehensively managing messages sent via telephones in the office is progressing, and the device is already in the practical stage. It's in.

A conventional voice mail device connected to an analog line will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional voice mail device.
2 is a line interface unit that is connected to an analog line and performs line control and input/output separation; 2 is a line interface unit that converts the analog electrical signal output from line interface unit 1 into digital data, and further compresses the information as necessary. A coding section 3 outputs a digital signal; a decoding section 3 returns the digital signal to an analog signal and outputs it to the line interface section 1; and 4 temporarily converts the digital signal output from the coding section 2 during audio recording. 5 is a buffer address control unit that controls the read/write address of the audio buffer 4, and 6 is a telephone. DT that detects a two-frequency tone signal (hereinafter abbreviated as DTMF signal) sent via a line
MF detection unit; 7 is a line control unit that controls the line interface unit 1 to manage audio input/output and line control; 8 is a line control unit that controls the line interface unit 1 in response to commands from the line control unit 7;
This is a DTMF output unit that outputs a DTMF signal to the 1-line audio processing unit 17. Reference numeral 9 denotes a voice message storage section for storing the voice data stored in the voice buffer 4, which is allocated to each subscriber. Reference numeral 10 denotes a voice guidance storage section for storing previously recorded voice guidance, and 11 reads out digital signals from the voice message storage section 9 or the voice guidance storage section 10, and inputs digital signals to the voice message storage section 9. 12 is a channel selection unit that selects a line for audio input/output from a plurality of lines and connects the audio buffer 4 to the audio data control unit 11; 13 is an audio processing unit 17 for each line; a central control unit that selects an appropriate audio storage unit and records/plays audio data while exchanging information; 14 is a voice message management unit that manages storage locations of recording/replay messages and information accompanying the messages; 15 is a voice guidance management unit that manages the storage location of voice guidance, and 16 is a command interface unit that relays commands and status between the central control unit 13 and the line control unit 7 of each line. Part 18 will be on guard.

The operation of the voice mail device configured as described above will be briefly described below.

First, when a subscriber calls the voice mail device and records a message, the line interface section 1 detects a ring tone, takes the line off-hook, and notifies the line control section 7. The line control unit 7 notifies the central control unit l3 of the incoming call via the command interface 16, and the central control unit 13 responds to the voice guidance management unit 15.
is controlled to cause the voice guidance storage section 10 to output voice guidance informing that the device is a voice mail device.

At this time, the corresponding line is connected to the audio data control unit 11 by the channel selection unit 12, the digital audio signal of the guidance is stored in the audio buffer 4, and the command interface 1 indicates that the audio data has been read.
At the end of the 6th episode, the tlJ control section 7 will be notified. In response to this, the line control section 7 outputs a reproduction start command to the buffer address control section 5, and the buffer address control section 5 sequentially outputs the digital audio signals from the audio buffer 4 while advancing the address. 3, the signal is converted back to an analog signal, inputted to the line interface section 1, and a voice guidance such as "This is the message center. Please enter the box number manually" is output to the telephone line. When the subscriber hears the above message, he or she presses the key on the touch-tone telephone to enter the other party's box number, e.g.
Enter 12J. Then, the box number is inputted as a DTMF signal to the D-TMF detection unit 6 via the line interface unit 1, converted into a code of a number string representing the box number, and output from the line control unit 7 and the command interface 16. It reaches the central control unit l3. central control unit l3
selects the voice message storage unit corresponding to the box number, for example 9a, and causes the voice message management unit 14 to search for the message storage location.

After this, if the remaining capacity of the voice message storage section is greater than or equal to the set value, the central control 13 again operates the voice guidance management section l5.
The voice guidance storage section 10 outputs voice guidance urging recording, and the voice data control section 11, voice buffer 4, and decoding section 3 output the line interface section 1.
An analog voice signal, for example, a voice saying "I will record a message in box 1312, please leave your message." is input into the field. When the subscriber speaks a message through this guidance, the voice signal is input to the encoding unit 2 via the line interface unit 1, and after being encoded into a digital signal, the buffer address control of the voice buffer 4 is performed. It is stored at the address specified by section 5. audio buffer 4
When a predetermined amount of data is stored in the buffer address controller 5, the buffer address controller 5 notifies the central controller 13 of this via the line controller 7, and in response, the central controller 13 sends a notification. Selecting a line by the channel selection unit 12,
The data in the audio buffer 4 is stored in the storage location specified by the audio message management unit 14. When the subscriber finishes speaking, he presses a key to notify the end, and the DTMF detection section 6 detects this and notifies the buffer address control section 5 and the line control section 7.
is the audio buffer 4 until the time when DTMF is input manually.
The line control unit 7 returns the write address of , and notifies the central control unit 13 that the end key has been pressed.

Upon receiving the end command, the central control section 13 requests the voice message management section 14 to store the message, stores the data on the voice buffer 4 without the DTMF sound, and ends the recording.

However, if the remaining capacity of the voice message storage unit 9a manually selected by the box number is below the set value, the central control unit 13 controls the voice guidance management unit 15 to send voice guidance to the voice message indicating that recording is not possible. Output from storage unit 10, audio data control unit 1
1, an audio buffer 4, and a decoding unit 3, the analog audio signal is sent to the line interface unit 1 via the
cannot currently be recorded. ” and does not accept recordings.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional voice mail device, when the remaining capacity of the selected voice message storage section becomes less than a set value,
Until the subscriber to whom the voice message storage unit is allocated deletes messages and increases the remaining capacity, other subscriber b cannot record new messages for the subscriber, and the subscriber This has the problem that it is impossible to know that someone has tried to leave a message.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a clock section that outputs a signal indicating the current time, an incoming call history storage section that records a signal indicating the subscriber name and time, and a voice recorder. If there is an instruction to record a message when the remaining capacity of the message storage section is less than the set value, the incoming call history storage section stores the name of the subscriber who issued the recording instruction and the time information output from the clock section at that time. This system is equipped with a central control unit that controls the data to be stored.

Function: With this configuration, when the remaining capacity of the voice message storage section is below the set value, the name information of the subscriber who attempted to record a message and the time information at that time are stored in the incoming call history storage section, and the ownership of the voice message storage section is stored. The owner can be notified when someone accesses the audio storage device.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a voice mail device in an embodiment of the present invention.

In Fig. 1, l is a line interface section, 2 is an encoding section, 3 is a decoding section, 4 is an audio buffer, and 6 is a DTMF
Detection unit, 7 is a line control unit, 8 is a DTMF output unit, 9 is a voice message storage unit, 10 is a voice guidance storage unit, 1
1 is a voice data control unit, 12 is a channel selection unit, 13 is a central control unit, 14 is a voice message management unit, 5 is a voice guidance management unit, 16 is a command interface unit, and 17 is a voice processing unit. is the same as the conventional voice mail device. What is different from the conventional example is an incoming call history storage section 19 that stores the incoming call history, a clock section 20 that outputs the current time, and a clock section 20 that outputs the name of the subscriber who attempted to leave a message and the information that is output from the clock section 20 at that time. The central processing unit 18 is provided with an incoming call history management unit 21 that manages reading and writing to the incoming call history storage unit 19 at the time.

The operation of the voice mail device configured as described above will be explained below.

When subscriber a calls the voice mail device and records a message in the box of subscriber b whose remaining capacity is already below the specified value, when subscriber a calls the voice mail device, the message is recorded as in the conventional example. The line interface unit 1 then takes the line off-hook, and a voice guidance is output to notify that the device is a voice mail device. When subscriber a manually inputs a box number, the box number is converted into a number string by the DTMF detection unit 6, and a voice message storage unit (for example, 9b) in the central processing unit 18 is selected. Since the remaining capacity is below the set value, the central processing unit l8 will issue a full notification voice guidance (for example, ``Box number 1312 is currently unavailable. We will only inform you that we have been contacted, so please enter your box number.''") is output and when subscriber a inputs his own subscriber number (for example '1234J), the incoming call history management section 21 outputs the subscriber a's subscriber number (rl234") and the current value read from the clock section 20. Time (e.g. "8:05 on the 27th"
5 minutes") is stored in the incoming call history storage unit (for example, 19b) assigned to subscriber b. Thereafter, when subscriber b accesses this voice mail device, the incoming call history management unit 2l
reads the name and time of the subscriber who attempted to leave a message from the incoming call history management section 19b assigned to subscriber b,
The central control unit 13 is notified via the voice message management unit 14. Based on the subscriber name and time, the central control unit 13 synthesizes the corresponding voice data using the voice guidance management unit 15 and sends an incoming call history message (for example, “We received a message from subscriber 1234 at 8:55 on the 27th. However, recording could not be performed because the box was full.'' is output.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention provides a conventional voice mail device with a clock section and an incoming call history storage section, thereby preventing a user from attempting to record a message when the remaining capacity of the voice message storage section is less than a specified value. The user's name and time can be notified to the owner of the voice message storage section when the owner of the voice message storage section accesses the voice storage device, and the remaining capacity of the voice message storage section is low and voice messages cannot be stored. Even in such a case, the owner of the voice message storage section can at least know who attempted to store voice messages and when. This allows the owner of the voice message storage section to estimate to some extent the importance of voice messages that could not be stored, and to contact the person to whom the voice message was intended to be sent.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a voice mail device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional voice mail device. 1... Line interface section 2... Encoding section 3... Decoding section 4... Audio buffer 5...
Buffer address control section 6... DTMF detection section 7... Line control section 8.
...DTMF output section 9...Voice message storage section O...Voice guidance storage section l...Voice data control section 2...Channel selection section 13...Central control section 4.
...Voice message management section 5...Voice guidance management section 6...Command interface section 7...Voice processing section 18...Central processing section 9...
Incoming call history storage section 20... Clock section 1... Incoming call history management section

Claims (1)

[Claims] A clock that is connected to a telephone line and includes a line control unit that closes and opens the telephone line, and a voice message storage unit that stores voice messages sent from the telephone line, and that outputs a signal indicating the current time. an incoming call history storage section for recording signals indicating the subscriber name and time; and an incoming call history storage section for recording signals indicating subscriber names and times; a central control unit that controls the voice message storage unit, the clock unit, the line control unit, and the incoming call history storage unit so that the subscriber name information and the time information output from the clock unit at that time are stored in the incoming call history storage unit; A voice storage device characterized by being provided with.