Telephone answering device with improved pager access feature
First Claim
1. A telephone answering device comprising:
- a line interface circuit coupled to a telephone line;
a dual tone multi-frequency generator coupled to the line interface circuit for generating dual tone multi-frequency signals to the telephone line;
a record and playback unit coupled to the line interface circuit for recording and playing back at least a caller'"'"'s message;
a VOX circuit coupled to the telephone line for automatically detecting a presence of audible signals on the telephone line;
a memory for storing at least numeric information and at least one identifier representing a detection of the presence of audible signals on the telephone line by the VOX circuit; and
a controller for controlling the line interface circuit to seize the telephone line in response to a message being recorded on the record and playback unit, for subsequently controlling the dual tone multi-frequency generator to dial a predetermined telephone number that is stored in the memory, and for then controlling the dual tone multi-frequency generator to transmit at least numeric information over the telephone lineswherein transmission of the numeric information by the controller is paused until the VOX circuit ceases to detect the presence of audible signals on the telephone line for a predetermined period of time each time the at least one identifier is detected.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A telephone answering device, having an automatic page feature for automatically paging a user after a message has been recorded thereon, is programmed to dial the telephone number of a paging service to which the user subscribes each time a message is recorded, and to transmit at least numeric information that will ultimately be displayed on a portable pager. The numeric information can include the number of messages recorded on the telephone answering device, a caller'"'"'s telephone number or a special predetermined code that lets the user know that the device is paging him. The telephone answering device is designed so as to be compatible with a wide variety of paging services and can be re-programmed if the user changes paging services. The device includes a memory that stores the digits of the paging service telephone number and automatically stores information representing the pauses and audible activity that are present between key presses during the programming process. The telephone answering device also has a test mode that allows the user to test the device, after completion of the programming process, to insure that the paging service telephone number has been stored correctly. The automatic page feature can still further be selectively enabled and disabled by the user.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A telephone answering device comprising:
-
a line interface circuit coupled to a telephone line; a dual tone multi-frequency generator coupled to the line interface circuit for generating dual tone multi-frequency signals to the telephone line; a record and playback unit coupled to the line interface circuit for recording and playing back at least a caller'"'"'s message; a VOX circuit coupled to the telephone line for automatically detecting a presence of audible signals on the telephone line; a memory for storing at least numeric information and at least one identifier representing a detection of the presence of audible signals on the telephone line by the VOX circuit; and a controller for controlling the line interface circuit to seize the telephone line in response to a message being recorded on the record and playback unit, for subsequently controlling the dual tone multi-frequency generator to dial a predetermined telephone number that is stored in the memory, and for then controlling the dual tone multi-frequency generator to transmit at least numeric information over the telephone lines wherein transmission of the numeric information by the controller is paused until the VOX circuit ceases to detect the presence of audible signals on the telephone line for a predetermined period of time each time the at least one identifier is detected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method of programming a telephone answering device to dial a predetermined telephone number in response to a message being recorded on the telephone answering device, and to subsequently transmit at least numeric information over a telephone line, the method comprising the steps of:
-
detecting actuation of a user actuated key for instructing programming to begin; detecting digits entered on a touch tone key pad; storing the detected digits in a memory; dialing the detected digits; automatically detecting a presence of audible activity on the telephone line; storing information representing the automatically detected presence audible activity; pausing until the presence of audible activity is no longer detected on the line for a predetermined period of time; detecting at least an additional digit that is entered on the touch tone key pad; dialing at least the additional digit; determining if an end series of digits entered on the touch tone key pad is equal to a predetermined end series of digits; and ending programming if the end series of digits is equal to the predetermined end series of digits. - View Dependent Claims (13)
-
-
14. A method of testing a telephone answering device programmed to dial a predetermined telephone number in response to a message being recorded on the telephone answering device to determine if the predetermined telephone number has been stored correctly, the method comprising the steps of:
-
detecting actuation of a user actuated key for instructing testing to begin; dialing the predetermined telephone number; automatically detecting information representing a presence of audible activity; automatically responding to a detection of information representing the presence of audible activity by pausing until the presence of audible activity is no longer detected on the line for a predetermined period of time; dialing a predetermined test series of digits to be transmitted over the telephone line; and ending testing after the predetermined test series of digits has been dialed. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
-
-
17. A method of dialing a predetermined telephone number in response to a message being recorded on a telephone answering device, and subsequently transmitting at least numeric information over a telephone line, the method comprising the steps of:
-
dialing the predetermined telephone number; automatically detecting information representing a presence of audible activity; automatically responding to a detection of information representing the presence of audible activity by pausing until the presence of audible activity is no longer detected on the line for a predetermined period of time; dialing a series of digits representing the at least numeric information to be transmitted over the telephone line. - View Dependent Claims (18)
-
Specification