Telephone answering apparatus with call-screening capabilities
First Claim
1. A telephone answering apparatus comprising:
- electronic interface means adapted to be operably coupled to a first telephone and subject to being operably coupled to a second telephone remote from the first telephone when the remote telephone is operated so as to place a telephone call to said first telephone, said electronic interface means includingmeans for sensing an incoming telephone call from the remote telephone to said first telephone and coupling said electronic interface means into an initial incoming connection with the remote telephone but without completing the incoming telephone call to said first telephone even when said first telephone is otherwise occupied with a prior telephone call;
input/output message communication means operably coupled to said first telephone and operable to communicate a selected message to the remote telephone and to receive a message from the remote telephone intended for said first telephone, said input/output message communication means includingmemory means storing digital speech data including a plurality of reference templates representative of key codes, andspeech analysis means operably coupled to said memory means and to said electronic interface means for receiving as an input from an incoming telephone call analog speech signals representative of spoken speech, said speech analysis means including comparator means for comparing an input analog speech signal from the remote telephone with the plurality of reference templates stored in said memory means to determine whether a match exists between the input analog speech signal and a particular one of said plurality of reference templates representative of a specific key code;
control means operably coupled to said memory means and said speech analysis means, said control means being responsive to the detection of an incoming telephone call from a remote telephone by said sensing means for activating said input/output message communication means to provide a selected message to the remote telephone; and
said control means being responsive to the output from said comparator means of said speech analysis means for completing the connection of the remote telephone to said first telephone provided that the input analog speech signal is matched to a particular reference template of said memory means representative of a specific key code.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic telephone answering apparatus which receives a connection from a remote telephone and reacts according to signals from the remote telephone. In one embodiment of the invention, the answering apparatus suppresses the connection between the remote telephone and the local telephone receiver until a predetermined condition is met by the remote telephone. This predetermined condition may include staying on the line a predetermined amount of time after a message has been communicated to the remote telephone, or communicating a selected key word for connection to the local telephone, such as "emergency". This embodiment allows for the selective connection of emergency or high priority calls when the operator of the local telephone does not wish to be interrupted except for these high priority calls. In another embodiment of the invention, an incoming message is speech recognized and stored in a memory. The recognized speech is matched to a list of key words, which are input by the operator of the local telephone, for selective later retrieval when the operator of the telephone desires. This embodiment allows for the storage of key words by the operator so that at a later time, the operator is able to retrieve selective groups of messages in their operator perceived priority and therefore handle more important messages prior to addressing lower priority messages.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A telephone answering apparatus comprising:
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electronic interface means adapted to be operably coupled to a first telephone and subject to being operably coupled to a second telephone remote from the first telephone when the remote telephone is operated so as to place a telephone call to said first telephone, said electronic interface means including means for sensing an incoming telephone call from the remote telephone to said first telephone and coupling said electronic interface means into an initial incoming connection with the remote telephone but without completing the incoming telephone call to said first telephone even when said first telephone is otherwise occupied with a prior telephone call; input/output message communication means operably coupled to said first telephone and operable to communicate a selected message to the remote telephone and to receive a message from the remote telephone intended for said first telephone, said input/output message communication means including memory means storing digital speech data including a plurality of reference templates representative of key codes, and speech analysis means operably coupled to said memory means and to said electronic interface means for receiving as an input from an incoming telephone call analog speech signals representative of spoken speech, said speech analysis means including comparator means for comparing an input analog speech signal from the remote telephone with the plurality of reference templates stored in said memory means to determine whether a match exists between the input analog speech signal and a particular one of said plurality of reference templates representative of a specific key code; control means operably coupled to said memory means and said speech analysis means, said control means being responsive to the detection of an incoming telephone call from a remote telephone by said sensing means for activating said input/output message communication means to provide a selected message to the remote telephone; and said control means being responsive to the output from said comparator means of said speech analysis means for completing the connection of the remote telephone to said first telephone provided that the input analog speech signal is matched to a particular reference template of said memory means representative of a specific key code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A telephone answering apparatus comprising:
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electronic interface means adapted to be operably coupled to a first telephone and subject to being operably coupled to a second telephone remote from the first telephone when the remote telephone is operated so as to place a telephone call to said first telephone, said electronic interface means including means for sensing an incoming telephone call from the remote telephone to said first telephone and coupling said electronic interface means into an initial incoming connection with the remote telephone but without completing the incoming telephone call to said first telephone even when said first telephone is otherwise occupied with a prior telephone call; input/output message communication means operably coupled to said first telephone and said electronic interface means and operable to communicate a selected message to the remote telephone and to receive a message from the remote telephone intended for said first telephone, said input/output message communication means including memory means storing digital speech data from which words, phrases, and sentences in synthesized speech may be derived and digital speech data including a plurality of reference templates representative of key codes, speech synthesizer means operably coupled to said memory means for selectively receiving digital speech data therefrom and generating an analog speech signal from which audible synthesized speech may be provided, and speech analysis means operably coupled to said memory means and to said electronic interface means for receiving as an input from an incoming telephone call analog speech signals representative of spoken speech, said speech analysis means including comparator means for comparing an input analog speech signal from the remote telephone with the plurality of reference templates stored in said memory means to determine whether a match exists between the input analog speech signal and a particular one of said plurality of reference templates representative of a specific key code; control means operably coupled to said memory means, said speech synthesizer means, and said speech analysis means, said control means being responsive to the detection of an incoming telephone call from a remote telephone by said sensing means for activating said input/output message communication means by selectively accessing digital speech data from said memory means for input to said speech synthesizer means; said speech synthesizer means generating an analog speech signal from the selectively accessed digital speech data representative of a selected message to be communicated to the remote telephone and from which audible synthesized speech may be provided; said control means further being responsive to the occurrence of a predetermined condition based upon the operation of the remote telephone for completing the connection of the remote telephone to said first telephone via said electronic interface means to provide direct communication therebetween; and said control means being responsive to the output from said comparator means of said speech analysis means for completing the connection of the remote telephone to said first telephone via said electronic interface means provided that the input analog speech signal is matched to a particular reference template of said memory means representative of a specific key code. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification