Method and apparatus for vocally communicating to a caller at a remote telephone station synthesized speech of stored special service information

• US 5,289,530 A
• Filed: 07/23/1991
• Issued: 02/22/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Morris Reese
• Original Assignee: Morris Reese
• Inventors: Reese, Morris
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, THOMAS
• Application Number:
  US07/732,781
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142, 379/88, 379/67, 379/201, 379/82, 379/79, 379/70, 379/77
• US Class Current: 379/88.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/578 associated with a synthesized vocal announcement

Abstract

A telephone system is disclosed for remotely obtaining from a selected local telephone station audible synthesized speech representative of directory telephone numbers and/or names of previous callers stored digitally or alphanumerically in a data memory of a Caller ID interface unit at the local telephone station. The stored directory telephone numbers and/or names were previously sent to the local telephone station from terminating central office Stored Program Controlled Switching (SPCS) equipment responsively to the telephone line of the local telephone station having Caller ID service and/or other Custom Local Area Signalling System (CLASS) services which discloses a calling party directory telephone number and/or name to a called party. An apparatus, such as a telephone station set or a separate stand-alone unit connected to the telephone station set, and method are also disclosed for recalling the stored directory telephone numbers and/or names from the data memory of the Caller ID interface unit and converting the directory telephone numbers and/or names into a form which can be processed by a speech generator, for receiving the directory telephone numbers and/or names to the speech generator which converts logic signals of the directory telephone numbers and/or names into sounds to audible synthesized speech, and for communicating the audible speech to a calling customer at a remote telephone station, in response to a predetermined command code keyed-in on the remote telephone station keypad by the calling customer.

Claims

1. A method for vocally communicating to a caller at a remote telephone station from a local telephone station synthesized speech of stored special service information of previous callers previously sent from terminating central office equipment to said local telephone station, comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a ringing signal representative of an incoming call from said caller at said remote telephone station;

(b) responsive to the detection of said ringing signal, counting a preselected number of rings;

(c) determining whether said preselected number of rings has expired;

(d) initiating an off-hook condition at the local telephone station if the preselected number of said rings has expired;

(e) generating an audible tone;

(f) detecting a command code keyed-in on a telephone keypad by the caller at the remote telephone station in response to said audible tone;

(g) responsive to the detection of said command code, monitoring the telephone line to which said local telephone station is connected to detect any dial tone that may appear thereon;

(h) recalling stored data of said special service information from the data memory of a Caller Identification interface unit at the local telephone station and converting said stored data of the special service information into a form which can be processed to produce speech if said dial tone is not detected; and

(i) converting logic signals of the stored data of said special service information to synthesized speech and communicating the synthesized speech to said caller at said remote telephone station.

2. Apparatus for vocally communicating to a caller at a remote telephone station from a local telephone station synthesized speech of stored special service information of previous callers previously sent from terminating central office equipment to said local telephone station, said apparatus comprising:

(a) means for detecting a ringing signal representative of an incoming call from said caller at said remote telephone station;

(b) means responsive to the detection of said ringing signal for counting a preselected number of rings;

(c) means for determining whether said preselected number of rings has expired;

(d) means for initiating an off-hook condition at the local telephone station if the preselected number of said rings has expired;

(e) means for generating an audible tone;

(f) means for detecting a command code keyed-in on a telephone keypad by the caller at the remote telephone station in response to said audible tone;

(g) means responsive to the detection of said command code for monitoring the telephone line to which said local telephone station is connected to detect any dial tone that may appear thereon;

(h) means for recalling stored data of said special service information from the data memory of a Caller Identification interface unit at the local telephone station and converting said stored data of the special service information into a form which can be processed to produce speech if said dial tone is not detected; and

(i) means for converting logic signals of the stored data of said special service information to synthesized speech and communicating the synthesized speech to said caller at said remote telephone station.

3. A method for vocally communicating to a caller at a remote telephone station synthesized speech of stored directory telephone numbers and names of previously missed callers from a local telephone station, comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a ringing signal representative of an incoming call from said caller at said remote telephone station;

(b) responsive to the detection of said ringing signal, counting a preselected number of rings;

(c) determining whether said preselected number of rings has expired;

(d) initiating an off-hook condition at said local telephone station if the preselected number of said rings has expired, and permitting an answering machine to answer said incoming call from the caller at the remote telephone station;

(e) detecting an off-hook condition at the local telephone station if one occurs;

(f) detecting a command code keyed-in on a telephone keypad by said caller at said remote telephone station in response to an audible tone communicated from said answering machine if said off-hook condition is not detected at said local telephone station;

(g) responsive to the detection of said command code, monitoring the telephone line to which the local telephone station is connected to detect any dial tone that may appear thereon;

(h) recalling stored data of said directory telephone numbers and names from the memory of a Caller Identification interface unit and converting said stored data into a form which can be processed to produce speech if said dial tone is not detected on said telephone line to which said local telephone station is connected; and

(i) converting logic signals of the stored data representative of the directory telephone numbers and names to synthesized speech and communicating the synthesized speech to the caller at the remote telephone station.

4. Apparatus for vocally communicating to a caller at a remote telephone station synthesized speech of stored directory telephone numbers and names of previously missed callers from a local telephone station, said apparatus comprising:

(a) means for detecting a ringing signal representative of an incoming call from said caller at the remote telephone station;

(b) means responsive to the detection of said ringing signal for counting a preselected number of rings;

(c) means for determining whether said preselected number of rings has expired;

(d) means for initiating an off-hook condition at said local telephone station if the preselected number of said rings has expired, and permitting an answering machine to answer said incoming call from the caller at the remote telephone station;

(e) means for detecting an off-hook condition at the local telephone station if one occurs;

(f) means for detecting a command code keyed-in on a telephone keypad by said caller at said remote telephone station in response to an audible tone communicated from said answering machine if said off-hook condition is not detected at said local telephone station;

(g) means responsive to the detection of said command code for monitoring the telephone line to which the local telephone station is connected to detect any dial tone that may appear thereon;

(h) means for recalling stored data of said directory telephone numbers and names from the memory of a Caller Identification interface unit at said local telephone station and converting said stored data into a form which can be processed to produce speech if said dial tone is not detected; and

(i) means for converting logic signals of the stored data representative of the directory telephone numbers and names to synthesized speech and communicating the synthesized speech to the caller at the remote telephone station.

5. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4, further comprising:

(a) means for continuously recalling said stored data of the directory telephone numbers and names from said memory of said Caller Identification interface unit and converting the stored data into a form which can be processed to produce said speech if the dial tone is not detected; and

(b) means for continuously converting said logic signals of said stored data representative of said directory telephone numbers and names to synthesized speech and communicating the synthesized speech to said caller at said remote telephone station.

6. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4, further comprising means for initiating an on-hook condition at the local telephone station if said dial tone is detected on said telephone line to which said local telephone station is connected.

7. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4, further comprising means for resetting all counter, registers and timers of the apparatus at the local telephone station to a starting state if said off-hook condition is detected.