JPH04326845A - Automatic incoming call response system for telephone - 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]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic telephone answering system used in a terminal section of a telephone network, etc., and more particularly to an automatic telephone answering system for receiving calls incorporated into a private branch exchange system, etc. It is.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when a telephone receives a call from another caller during a telephone conversation, it simply sends out a busy signal to the other caller to indicate that the telephone is busy.

[0003] In the private branch exchange system of the telephone network, as a service for incoming calls such as various reservations and telephone shopping, when a call is received from the line, the reception desk (called party) on the extension side receives the call. Some devices automatically answer the incoming line and output a waiting message such as "Please wait for a while" until the call is answered.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] If a busy signal is returned when a call is in progress, there is no need for call charges, but the calling party cannot see the status of the called party at a glance.

[0005] Furthermore, in an automatic call answering system that outputs a waiting message at the time of automatic answering, the caller simply hears the waiting message and does not know how much longer he has to wait. This can lead to caller irritation and poor service to the caller, such as a customer.

The present invention has been made by focusing on the above-mentioned problems in conventional telephones and automatic call answering systems, and provides a comprehensive automatic answering service to callers, and allows callers to receive calls by automatic answering. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic incoming call answering system for telephones that does not irritate callers.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, it is possible to construct a database regarding the average talking time of each calling party based on the talking time with each calling party, and to Automatically answers incoming calls, reads the average call time of the other party from the database,
Estimate the end time of the current call based on the difference between the time from the start of the call to the time the call is received by another caller during this call and the average call time, and based on this estimate, send a voice message regarding the estimated end time of the call. This is achieved by an automatic call answering system for telephones, which outputs to the incoming call line of the other caller.

[0008]

[Operation] According to the automatic call answering system for telephones as described above, when an incoming call is automatically answered for another caller during a call, the estimated call end time is estimated according to the other party who is currently talking. A voice message regarding the call is output to the other caller so that the other caller clearly knows how long he or she has to wait before the call can be made.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a telephone communication system including an automatic telephone answering system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a digital private branch exchange, and a plurality of telephones 2 for incoming telephone service are connected to the private branch exchange 1.

[0011] In the private branch exchange 1, a computer 3 has an RS-
They are interconnected by a serial interface such as 232C. The computer 3 may be similar to a personal computer, and is connected to a hard disk unit 4 that stores a database as a file.

The private branch exchange 1 is connected to a public telephone network 5, and selectively connects telephones 2 within the premises to telephones 6 of a plurality of external customers via the public telephone network 5 by automatic dialing.

The database of the hard disk unit 4 has data on an average call time for each call party, which is calculated from a predetermined number of past call times for each call party. The average call time for each call party is updated by incorporating the latest call time when a call is made with that call party.

[0014] When all of the telephones 2 connected to the private branch exchange 1 are busy, or when the telephones 2 cannot answer, the private branch exchange 1 automatically answers the incoming call, and indicates that each telephone 2 is currently on a call. The computer 3 searches the database of the hard disk unit 4 to read out the average call time of the communication partner, and calculates the difference between the time from the start of the call on each telephone 2 to the automatic answering of the incoming call and the average call time. The end time of the current call on each phone 2
Based on this estimation, a voice message regarding the estimated call end time is output to the incoming call line of the automatic incoming call response. In this case, the voice message regarding the estimated call end time may be sent based on the average value of the call end times estimated for each telephone 2 or the shortest of the call end times.

Next, an example of the operation of the automatic telephone answering system according to the present invention will be explained in detail using the flowchart shown in FIG.

The private branch exchange 1 monitors whether or not an incoming call is detected (step 10), and when an incoming call is detected, it then checks whether there is currently an empty telephone 2 at the reception desk in the premises. A determination is made (step 20).

If there is an idle telephone 10, an incoming call notification signal is sent to the idle telephone 2 based on the incoming call equal distribution function (step 30), and then a response signal is waited for from the idle telephone 10 (step 30). Step 40). The private branch exchange 1 is
When a response signal is received from the corresponding idle telephone 2, measurement of the call time is started (step 50). After this, line disconnection is monitored (step 60), and when line disconnection is detected, call time measurement is stopped, and the average call time is recalculated by incorporating this newly measured call time. The data on the average call time of the corresponding call partner in the database of unit 4 is updated.

On the other hand, when there is no free telephone 2, the average call time of the other party of the telephone 2 in use is read from the database of the hard disk unit 4, and the average time of the other party from the start of the call to the time when an incoming call is detected is calculated. The end time of this call is estimated by subtracting it from the call time (step 80).

Next, it is determined whether the estimated call end time is a predetermined value, for example, about 1 minute or more (step 9).
0), if the estimated call end time is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, a voice message indicating that it will take time to end the call is sent to the incoming line (step 100); in contrast, if the estimated call end time is not greater than the predetermined value If so, a voice message indicating that the call will end soon is sent to the incoming line (step 110).

After sending the voice message as described above, line disconnection is monitored (step 120), and voice guidance continues unless the line is disconnected, and when the line is disconnected, voice message transmission is stopped. (Step 130).

[0021] In this embodiment, two types of voice messages are sent depending on whether the estimated call end time is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. This may be done in more detail, and the voice message may be the estimated call end time itself.

[0022]

Effects of the Invention As can be understood from the above explanation, according to the automatic call answering system for telephones according to the present invention, when an incoming call is automatically answered for another caller during a call, the caller who is currently talking Accordingly, an estimated call end time is estimated and an audio message regarding this is output to the other caller, so that the other caller clearly knows how long he or she has to wait before the call can be made; As a result, it is possible to avoid irritating the caller due to automatic response or increasing the burden of call charges against the caller's wishes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a telephone communication system including an automatic telephone answering system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the control flow of the automatic telephone answering system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Private branch exchange 2 Telephone for incoming calls 3 Computer 4 Hard disk unit 5 Public telephone network 6. Customer's phone

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A database regarding the average call time of each caller is constructed based on the call time with each caller, and incoming calls from other callers during the call are automatically answered;
The average call time of the other party is read from the database, and the end time of the current call is estimated based on the difference between the average call time and the time from the start of the call to the time the call is received by another caller during the call. An automatic call answering system for a telephone, characterized in that, based on this, a voice message regarding the estimated call end time is output to the incoming call line of the other caller.