Telephone answering service with integrated voice and textual message storage

• US 5,469,491 A
• Filed: 02/02/1994
• Issued: 11/21/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Tel-A-Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: American Tel-A-Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Morley, Jr., John F., Anderson, Kent D.
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, THOMAS
• Application Number:
  US08/190,603
• Time in Patent Office: 657 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67, 379/84, 379/88, 379/89, 379/94, 379/96, 379/97, 379/202, 379/213, 379/214, 379/218, 379/269, 379/284
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53 Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages , i.e. mailbox systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components

Abstract

A telephone answering system for providing textual messages and voice messages generated by telephone answering of telephones of persons having telephone calls answered by the system. A system memory stores textual and voice messages. A voice message recording system controls recording of voice messages of answered telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system. A textual message recording system controls recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having their telephones answered by the telephone answering system. A programmed computer program implements the voice message recording system and the textual message recording system by execution of a program. The computer decodes a telephone number of each telephone call answered by the telephone answering system, determines a program service option to be performed in answering each telephone call based upon the decoded telephone number, causes the voice message recording system to record a voice message in the system memory if the service option is specified to be answering telephone calls by the voice message recording system, initiates ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer the telephone call and causes the textual message recording system to record textual messages in the system memory if the service option is specified to use an operator to record textual messages. The recording systems function to permit selective playback of individual recorded messages by the placing of a telephone call to the answering system.

Claims

1. A telephone answering system for providing textual messages and voice messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing textual and voice messages;

a voice message recording system for controlling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a textual message recording system for controlling recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system through the matrix; and

a programmed controller for controlling the operation of the switch matrix and the voice message recording system and the textual message recording system by execution of a control program, the programmed controller decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system, determining a programmed service option to be performed in answering each telephone call to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system based upon the decoded telephone number, causing the voice message recording system to record a voice message in the system memory if the service option is specified to be answering telephone calls by the voice message recording system, initiating ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer the telephone call and causing the textual message recording system to record a textual message in the system memory if the service option is specified to use an operator to record a textual message in the system memory; and

wherein

the recording systems under the control of the programmed controller reproduce individual recorded messages recorded by the recording systems.

2. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

3. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

the programmed controller is programmed with a single control program.

4. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 3 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

5. A telephone answering system for providing textual messages and voice messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing textual and voice messages;

a voice message recording system for controlling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a textual message recording system for controlling recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system through the matrix; and

a programmed personal computer, the voice message recording system and the textual message recording system being program implemented within a program executed by the personal computer, the programmed personal computer controlling operation of the switch matrix, decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system, determining a programmed service option to be performed in answering each telephone call to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system based upon the decoded telephone number, the voice message recording system controlling the recording of a voice message in the system memory if the service option is specified to answer telephone calls by the voice message recording system, the programmed computer initiating ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer the telephone call to the person having telephone calls answered by the answering system and the textual message recording system controlling the recording of a textual message in the system memory if the service option is specified to use an operator to record a textual message on the textual message recording system, the programmed personal computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded voice messages are transmitted under the control of the voice message recording system to the system memory for recording and on which digitally encoded textual messages are transmitted under control of the textual message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the recording systems under the control of the programmed personal computer reproduce individual recorded messages recorded by the recording systems.

6. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 5 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

7. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 5 wherein:

the programmed personal computer is programmed with a single control program.

8. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 7 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

9. A telephone answering system for providing textual messages and voice messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing textual and voice messages;

a voice message recording system for controlling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a textual message recording system for controlling recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system through the matrix; and

a programmed computer for controlling the operation of the switch matrix and the voice message recording and the textual message recording systems by execution of a control program controlling the recording systems, causing the voice message recording system to control recording of a voice message in the system memory if a person has specified that telephone calls be answered by the voice message recording system, initiating ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer a telephone call and causing the textual message recording system to control the recording of a textual message in the system memory if a person has specified that an operator record a textual message in the system memory in answering telephone calls, the programmed computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded voice messages are transmitted under the control of the voice message recording system to the system memory for recording and on which digitally encoded textual messages are transmitted under control of the textual message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the recording systems under the control of the programmed computer reproduce individual messages recorded by the recording systems.

10. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 9 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

11. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 9 wherein:

the programmed computer is programmed with a single control program.

12. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 11 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

13. A telephone answering system for providing textual messages and voice messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing textual and voice messages;

a voice message recording system for controlling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a textual message recording system for controlling recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system through the matrix; and

a programmed computer, the voice message recording and the textual message recording systems being program implemented within a program executed by the programmed computer, the voice message recording system controlling recording of voice messages in the system memory if a person has specified that telephone calls be answered by the voice message recording system, the programmed computer controlling operation of the switch matrix, initiating ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer a telephone call and the textual message recording system controlling the recording of a textual message in the system memory if a person has specified that an operator record a textual message in the system memory in answering telephone calls, the programmed computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded voice messages are transmitted under the control of the voice message recording system to the system memory for recording and on which digitally encoded textual messages are transmitted under control of the textual message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the recording systems under the control of the programmed computer, reproduce individual recorded messages.

14. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 13 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

15. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 13 wherein:

the programmed computer is programmed with a single control program.

16. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 15 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

17. A telephone answering system for providing textual messages and voice messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a voice message recording system for recording voice messages provided by a caller to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in response to the answering of a telephone call by the telephone answering system;

a textual message recording system for recording textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system through the matrix; and

a controller controlling operation of the switch matrix, decoding telephone calls to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in an answering system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at the operator station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, controlling the recording of messages by the telephone answering system and controlling reproduction of the recorded messages to provide direct caller access to messages recorded by the voice message recording system and access through an operator to messages recorded by the textual message recording system under the control of a single control program.

18. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

19. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the characteristic is information used for composing a voice sequence by the operator in answering the telephone call at the operator station.

20. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the characteristic is an indication that the telephone call has occurred in response to reproduction of a voice message stored in the answering system memory.

21. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the characteristic is that the telephone call is a check-in telephone call when an emergency message has been recorded and any attempt to reach a person whose telephone is being answered by the answering system to deliver the emergency message has been unsuccessful.

22. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the characteristic is that the telephone call is a check-in telephone call.

23. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the controller provides a voice synthesized message summarizing textual and voice messages stored in the answering system memory.

24. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the controller provides a synthesized message after a caller requesting a summary has provided a security code which enables the playing of the synthesized message.

25. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the controller provides a caller with the choice of playing back individual voice messages.

26. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 23 wherein:

the controller provides a caller with a choice of requesting an operator to read back individual textual messages.

27. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the decoding of the telephone call to be answered comprises decoding of digits of a number called by the telephone call, which digits function as a pointer to a file in the system memory storing the characteristic.

28. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the controller is a computer.

29. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 28 wherein:

the computer is a PC.

30. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

31. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein:

communications between the recording systems and the controller are over a digital bus of a computer.

32. A telephone answering system for providing messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded voice messages from the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed controller for controlling the operation of the switch matrix and the textual message recording system by execution of a control program, the programmed controller decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operation station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone number to initiate ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and causing the textual message recording system in response to a textual message provided by the operator to record a textual message to the person in the system memory; and

wherein

the textual message recording system under the control of the programmed controller reproduces individual recorded textual messages recorded by the textual message recording system.

33. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 32 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

34. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 32 wherein:

the programmed controller is programmed with a single control program.

35. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 34 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

36. A telephone answering system for providing messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operator station at which an operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone call to initiate ringing of the operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and recording a textual message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded textual messages from the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed controller for controlling the operation of the switch matrix and the voice message recording system by execution of a control program, the programmed controller decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system and using the decoded telephone number to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory; and

wherein

the voice message recording system under the control of the programmed controller reproduces individual recorded voice messages recorded by the voice message. recording system.

37. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 36 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

38. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 36 wherein:

the programmed controller is programmed with a single control program.

39. A telephone answering system for providing messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded voice messages from the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed personal computer, and the textual message recording system being program implemented by the personal computer, the programmed personal computer controlling operation of the switch matrix, decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operation station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone number to initiate ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer the telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the textual message recording system and the textual message recording system controlling the recording of a textual message in the system memory, the programmed personal computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded textual messages are transmitted under control of the textual message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the textual message recording system under the control of the programmed personal computer reproduces individual recorded textual messages recorded by the textual message recording system.

40. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 39 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

41. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 39 wherein:

the programmed personal computer is programmed with a single control program.

42. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 41 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

43. A telephone answering system for providing messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operator station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone call to initiate ringing of the operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and recording textual message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded textual messages from the system memory;

a voice message recording system for controlling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed personal computer, the voice message recording system being program implemented within a program executed by the programmed personal computer, the programmed personal computer controlling operation of the switch matrix, decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system, and using the decoded telephone number to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message in the system memory, the programmed personal computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded voice messages are transmitted under the control of the voice message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the voice message recording system under the control of the programmed personal computer reproduces individual recorded voice messages recorded by the voice message recording system.

44. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 43 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

45. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 43 wherein:

the programmed personal computer is programmed with a single control program.

46. A telephone answering system for providing messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded voice messages from the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed computer for controlling the operation of the switch matrix and the textual message recording system by execution of a control program, the programmed computer decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operation station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, initiating ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer a telephone call and causing the textual message recording system to control the recording of a textual message in the system memory if a person having a telephone answered by the telephone answering system has specified that an operator record a textual message in the system memory in answering telephone calls, the programmed computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded textual messages are transmitted under control of the textual message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the textual message recording system under the control of the programmed computer reproduces individual textual messages recorded by the textual message recording system.

47. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 46 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

48. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 46 wherein:

the programmed computer is programmed with a single control program.

49. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 48 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

50. A telephone answering system for providing messages generated by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by the operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operator station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone call to initiate ringing of the operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and recording a textual message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded textual messages from the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed computer for controlling the operation of the switch matrix and the voice message recording system by execution of a control program, the programmed computer decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to persons having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system and using the decoded telephone number to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message in the system memory if a person having a telephone answered by the voice message recording system has specified that telephone calls be answered by the voice message recording system, the programmed computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded voice messages are transmitted under the control of the voice message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the voice recording system under the control of the programmed computer reproduces individual voice messages recorded by the voice message recording system.

51. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 50 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

52. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 50 wherein:

the programmed computer is programmed with a single control program.

53. A telephone answering system for providing messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded voice messages from the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed computer, the textual message recording system being program implemented by a program executed by the programmed computer, the programmed computer controlling operation of the switch matrix and the textual message recording system, decoding a telephone number of telephone calls to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operation station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, initiating ringing of the operator to cause the operator to answer a telephone call and the textual message recording system controlling the recording of a textual message in the system memory if a person having a telephone answered by the telephone answering system has specified that an operator record a textual message in the system memory in answering telephone calls, the programmed computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded textual messages are transmitted under control of the textual message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the textual message recording system under the control of the programmed computer, reproduces individual recorded textual messages.

54. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 53 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

55. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 53 wherein:

the programmed computer is programmed with a single control program.

56. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 55 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

57. A telephone answering system for providing messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operator station at which an operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone call to initiate ringing of the operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and recording a textual message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded textual messages from the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a programmed computer, the voice message recording system being program implemented within a program executed by the programmed computer, the voice message recording system controlling recording of voice messages in the system memory if a person having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system has specified that telephone calls be answered by the voice message recording system, the programmed computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encoded voice messages are transmitted under the control of the voice message recording system to the system memory for recording; and

wherein

the textual recording system under the control of the programmed computer, reproduces individual recorded textual messages recorded by the textual message recording system.

58. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 57 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

59. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 57 wherein:

the programmed computer is programmed with a single control program.

60. A telephone answering system for providing messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded voice messages from the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a controller controlling operation of the switch matrix, decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in an answering system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at the operator station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, controlling the recording of messages by the textual message recording system and controlling reproduction of the recorded textual messages by the textual message recording system to provide access to textual messages recorded by the textual message recording system under the control of a single control program.

61. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

62. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the characteristic is information used for composing a voice sequence by the operator in answering the telephone call at the operator station.

63. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the characteristic is an indication that the telephone call has occurred in response to reproduction of a voice message stored in the answering system memory.

64. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the characteristic is that the telephone call is a check-in telephone call when an emergency message has been recorded and any attempt to reach a person whose telephone is being answered by the answering system to deliver the emergency message has been unsuccessful.

65. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the characteristic is that the telephone call is a check-in telephone call.

66. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the controller provides a voice synthesized message summarizing textual messages stored in the answering system memory.

67. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the controller provides a synthesized message after a caller requesting a summary has provided a security code which enables the playing of the synthesized message.

68. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 66 wherein:

the controller provides a caller with a choice of requesting an operator to read back individual textual messages.

69. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the decoding of the telephone call to be answered comprises decoding of digits of a number called by the telephone call, which digits function as a pointer to a file in the system memory storing the characteristic.

70. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the controller is a computer.

71. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 70 wherein:

the computer is a PC.

72. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

the single program is a real time multitasking program supporting multiple operators at multiple operator stations.

73. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 60 wherein:

communications between the recording system and the controller are over a digital data bus of a computer.

74. A telephone answering system for providing messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operator station at which an operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone number to initiate ringing of the operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and causing the textual message recording system in response to a textual message provided by the operator to record a textual message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded textual messages from the system memory;

a voice message recording system for recording voice messages provided by a caller to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in response to decoding of a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by the voice message recording system;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a controller controlling operation of the switch matrix, controlling the recording of messages by the voice message recording system and controlling reproduction of the recorded messages by the voice message recording system to provide access to messages recorded by the voice message recording system under the control of a single control program.

75. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 74 wherein:

the switch matrix functions to connect operators to incoming telephone calls on DID trunks which receive telephone calls to the telephone answering system.

76. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 74 wherein:

the controller provides a voice synthesized message summarizing voice messages stored in the answering system memory.

77. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 74 wherein:

the controller provides a synthesized message summarizing voice messages after a caller has provided a security code which enables the playing of the synthesized message.

78. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 74 wherein:

the controller provides a caller with the choice of playing back individual voice messages.

79. A telephone answering system for providing messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a textual message recording system for recording textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system;

a voice message recording system for recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded voice messages from the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a controller controlling operation of the switch matrix, decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in an answering system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at the operator station at which the operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone calls to initiate ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and controlling the recording of the textual messages by the textual message recording system in the system memory and controlling reproduction of the recorded textual messages to provide access to textual messages recorded by the textual message recording system.

80. A telephone answering system for providing messages produced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system comprising:

a system memory for storing messages;

a voice message recording system for recording voice messages provided by a caller to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in response to the answering of a telephone call by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered by the voice message recording system to cause the voice message recording system to record a voice message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded voice messages from the system memory;

a textual message recording system for recording textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory including decoding a telephone number of each telephone to be answered by an operator to identify a characteristic to be used in answering a telephone call stored in the system memory, causing the identified characteristic to be displayed by a display device at an operator station at which an operator answers the telephone call to provide the operator answering the telephone call with the characteristic for use in answering the telephone call at the operator station, using the decoded telephone call to initiate ringing of the operator to cause the operator to answer each telephone call and causing recording of a textual message to the person in the system memory and for reproducing the recorded textual messages from the system memory;

a switch matrix connected to a plurality of lines, the switch matrix functioning to selectively connect the lines to telephone calls coupled to the telephone answering system; and

a controller controlling operation of the switch matrix, controlling the recording of voice messages by the voice message recording system and controlling reproduction of the recorded voice messages by the voice message recording system to provide access to voice messages recorded by the voice message recording system.