Telephone answering machine with digital storage of announcements and messages

• US 4,782,510 A
• Filed: 01/12/1987
• Issued: 11/01/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/1985
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aspect Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Melita Electronic Labs Incorporated
• Inventors: Szlam, Aleksander
• Primary Examiner(s): Dwyer, James L.
• Application Number:
  US07/002,691
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88, 379/210, 379/211, 379/212, 379/213, 379/214, 379/202, 379/204, 379/205, 379/201, 379/76, 379/77
• US Class Current: 379/88.24
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/652 Means for playing back the recorded messages by remote control over a telephone line H04M1/658 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/654 Telephone line monitoring circuits therefor, e.g. ring detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308

Abstract

A telephone answering machine with digital storage of announcements and messages and enhanced message playback features. When an incoming call is detected the line is seized and a predetermined outgoing message is placed upon the telephone line. The outgoing message prompts the calling party to provide a telephone number, a priority code, or other information which can be input via a telephone DTMF keypad. The DTMF tones sent by the calling party are decoded and stored in a memory. When recalled by the user, the numbers corresponding to the DTMF tones are presented to the user as spoken words via a voice synthesizer. In addition, the machine is responsive to a set of commands which allows the user to play back the messages in chronological order or by a selected priority code, advance or backup to a particular message, and record a new outgoing message.

Claims

1. In a telephone automatic answering device of the type which is connected to a telephone subscriber line, including means providing seizure of said subscriber line in response to an incoming call, and means for providing an outgoing audio message onto said subscriber line subsequent to said seizure, the improvement comprising in combination:

tone decoder means connected to said subscriber line and responsive to predetermined tone signals on said subscriber line for providing digital output signals corresponding to each said predetermined tone signal on said subscriber line subsequent to said seizure, said predetermined tone signals and said digital output signals representing a set of commands and a set of calling party data;

control means, responsive to said digital output signals corresponding to said set of commands and to the absence of digital output signals corresponding to said set of commands, for providing read and write signals to a storage means and for providing a first enabling signal to a voice generator means and a second enabling signal to said telephone automatic answering device;

storage means responsive to said read and write signals and connected to said tone decoder means for storing and recalling said digital output signals corresponding to said set of calling party data as a stored digital word, said storage means having a sufficient capacity for storing a plurality of sets of said calling party data; and

voice generator means responsive to said first enabling signal and to said stored digital word for providing to said subscriber line a vocal audio signal corresponding to said predetermined tone signal for each said stored digital word;

wherein said control means is responsive to said digital output signals corresponding to said set of commands only if a predetermined sequence of said tone signals is present on said subscriber line within a predetermined period of time after said seizure and, otherwise, upon termination of said predetermined period of time, enables said storage means to provide a predetermined set of said digital output signals to said voice generator means and enables said voice generator means to be responsive to said predetermined set of said digital output signals and place said vocal audio signals on said subscriber line; and

wherein said set of commands comprises a first command to play back said calling party data by a selected priority code, said calling party data comprising a telephone number for a calling party and said priority code, a second command to play back said calling party data by chronological sequence, a third command to advance to another said set of said calling party data, a fourth command to go back to a prior said set of said calling party data, a fifth command to erase a said set of said calling party data, a sixth command to record a new said outgoing audio message on said telephone automatic answering device, and a seventh command to change said predetermined sequence of audio signals.

2. In a telephone automatic answering device of the type which is connected to a telephone subscriber line, including means providing seizure of said subscriber line in response to an incoming call, and means for providing an outgoing audio message onto said subscriber line subsequent to said seizure, the improvement comprising in combination:

tone decoder means connected to said subscriber line and responsive to predetermined tone signals on said subscriber line for providing digital output signals corresponding to each said predetermined tone signal on said subscriber line subsequent to said seizure, said predetermined tone signals and said digital output signals representing a set of commands and a set of calling party data;

control means, responsive to said digital output signals corresponding to said set of commands and to the absence of digital output signals corresponding to said set of commands, for providing read and write signals to a storage means and for providing a first enabling signal to a voice generator means and a second enabling signal to said telephone automatic answering device;

storage means responsive to said read and write signals and connected to said tone decoder means for storing and recalling said digital output signals corresponding to said set of calling party data as a stored digital word, said storage means having a sufficient capacity for storing a plurality of sets of said calling party data; and

voice generator means responsive to said first enabling signal and to said stored digital word for providing to said subscriber line a vocal audio signal corresponding to said predetermined tone signal for each said stored digital word;

wherein said set of commands comprises a first command to play back said calling party data by a selected priority code, said calling party data comprising a telephone number for a calling party and said priority code, a second command to play back said calling party data by chronological sequence, a third command to advance to another said set of said calling party data, a fourth command to go back to a prior set of said calling party data, a fifth command to erase a said set of said calling party data, and a sixth command to record a new said outgoing audio message on said telephone automatic answering device.