JP3519960B2 - Phone - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone having an answering machine function, and more particularly to reproduction control of an answering machine message.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A telephone with an answering machine records a message of a calling user (caller) when the called user is absent. Then, according to the reproduction instruction from the user on the receiving side, the messages recorded in the reception order (or the reverse order of the reception order) are reproduced.

[0003]

By the way, if the sender is
After sending a message, you may call back to convey the message and related messages. In that case, it may happen that many other caller's messages are recorded between the first recording and the next recording. If the user on the called side plays back the messages recorded in this way in the order in which they were recorded, other messages will be played between the two related messages. The problem of taking time arises.

For example, if the first recorded message is a notification of the start time of the conference and the next recorded message is a notification of the change of the start time of the conference, a notification of the change of the start time of another conference is sent in the meantime. If there was a message of
It may be unclear which meeting is to be changed due to the change in time, and in some cases, it may be mistaken for the change notification of the last message.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a telephone that suppresses misunderstanding about the sender and the contents of the message when an answering machine message is reproduced by utilizing the sender identification information notification service. And

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned object, a telephone set according to the present invention is provided with a caller identification information notification service and has a voice mail function. The sent message is stored in association with the sender identification information, and each message is stored.
In addition, the identification flag of 1 or 0 indicating whether it has been reproduced or not is recorded.
The above-mentioned reproduction includes an answering machine configured to memorize and a reproduction means for continuously reproducing a message having the same sender identification information under a reproduction instruction from an operator as a start condition.
The means is one of the messages stored by the answering machine.
The first replay to identify the message and play it
Ikube and a call corresponding to the one specified message
Other messages corresponding to the same sender identification information as the sender identification information
Search the sage from the above-mentioned answering machine and search for the searched message.
A second reproducing unit for continuously reproducing the message,
Whether the first playback unit is a message stored by the above-mentioned answering machine
The identification flag indicates that the first stored
The specific part that identifies the message and the identified one message
The message playback section that plays the message and the one message that was played.
Setting to set the identification flag corresponding to sage to played
And a second reproducing unit stores the message recording means.
From the specified message to the specified one message
Supports the same sender identification information as the corresponding sender identification information
And another message indicating that the identification flag has not been played.
Play the search section to search and other searched messages.
Message playback section and other played messages.
And a setting unit that sets the corresponding identification flag to “reproduced” .

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A telephone according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a telephone 10 according to the present embodiment.
It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 0. The telephone 100 has a function of continuously playing back recorded messages for each caller by pressing a predetermined key by the user (that is, operator) on the called side, and the data demodulation unit 11 and the incoming call detection unit. 1
2, hook control unit 13, voice analysis unit 14, voice synthesis unit 1
5, the amplification unit 16, the handset unit 17, the display unit 18, the operation unit 19, the storage unit 20, and the control unit 21.

The data demodulation unit 11 demodulates the telephone number of the caller from the data transmitted during the pause period between the call signals transmitted via the telephone line and outputs the demodulated telephone number to the control unit 21. Here, "continuously" means "continuation of individual messages from the same sender" and means elimination of reproduction of messages from other senders on the way.

The incoming call detecting section 12 detects a calling signal from a signal transmitted from an exchange (not shown) via a telephone line. The hook control unit 13 controls connection / disconnection of the telephone line according to off-hook or on-hook of the handset unit 17. The above exchange supports the "caller identification information notification service" or the "caller telephone number notification service", and transmits data including the caller telephone number during the suspension period of the calling signal.

Here, "caller identification information notification service"
Is a service provided by the telephone company for the called user.
One of the services is "Caller phone number notification service"
"Pass the caller's telephone number, caller's name, etc. to the called user.
"Know service". It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the description will be mainly given on the premise of the "caller telephone number notification service".

The voice analysis unit 14 extracts the message transmitted from the sender from the received signal and outputs it to the control unit 21. In response to an instruction from the control unit 21, the voice synthesis unit 15 converts the recorded message or response message data 20b input via the control unit 21 into a voice signal, and outputs the voice signal to the amplification unit 16. The amplification unit 16 amplifies the voice signal output from the voice synthesis unit 15, and outputs the amplified voice signal to the handset unit 17. The display unit 18 is, for example, a liquid crystal display (LC
D) It is composed of a panel, etc., and displays the caller's telephone number and the like.

The operation unit 19 accepts an operation input of the play button A or the play button B from the user on the receiving side when playing the recorded message. In this device 100, when the playback button A is accepted from the user on the receiving side, the recorded messages are collectively played by the same sender. On the other hand, when the reproduction button B is accepted from the user on the receiving side, the messages are reproduced in the recorded order.

The storage unit 20 is instructed by the control unit 21,
The caller telephone number corresponding to each message number, the data for the recorded message, the recorded date and time, and the initial value of the reproduction identification flag (that is, "0") are stored in the internal recorded message table 20a in the order of arrival. The reproduction identification flag is a flag that is set to "1" by the control unit 21 when the message is reproduced. The storage unit 20 also stores response message data 20b, which is data for synthesizing a message to be sent to the caller at the time of answering an answering machine.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the structure and contents of the recorded message table 20a in the storage unit 20. As shown in FIG. 2, in this table 20a, a message number 201, a caller telephone number 202, an answering message data 203, an answering date and time 204, and a reproduction identification flag 205 are stored in association with each other. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the message numbers 1, 4, and 5 are the same caller telephone numbers and have already been reproduced (that is, "1" is set in each reproduction identification flag 204). Is shown.

The control unit 21 is realized by a microcomputer, for example, and stores a control program for controlling the entire telephone 100 in a built-in ROM. Control unit 21
Realizes the following two functions by executing the control program. The first function is to output from the caller telephone number demodulated by the data demodulation unit 11 and the voice analysis unit 14 when a message from the caller is received after receiving an answering machine instruction from the user on the receiving side. The recorded message of the sender, the recorded message date and time, and the initial value of the reproduction identification flag are associated with each other, and the message number 201 indicating the order of arrival is associated with the recorded message table 20 of the storage unit 20.
This is a function of sequentially writing to a. The second function is a function of accepting a reproduction instruction from the user on the receiving side, sequentially extracting messages of the same caller from the storage unit 20, and continuously outputting the messages to the voice synthesis unit 15.

The above functions of the control unit 21 will be described in detail below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4. The process shown in FIG. 3 is activated by the user on the receiving side pressing the "answering machine button". FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the above-mentioned first function. As a variable in this processing, there is a message number variable “n” indicating the order of incoming messages at the time of absence recording.

First, the control unit 21 initializes the message number variable "n" (step S301), and then waits for an incoming call through the incoming call detection unit 12 (step S30).
2) Alternatively, the user on the receiving side waits for the pressing of the play button (step S303). In this case, the state of waiting for an incoming call or pressing the play button is in "standby mode"
Called.

Next, the control unit 21 transmits a response message after receiving the caller telephone number (step S304). After that, the control unit 21 associates the caller telephone number, the message of the caller, the recorded message time, and the reproduction identification flag with each other, sets a message number, and stores the message number in the recorded message table 20a of the storage unit 20. (Step S305
-Step S311). After that, the above processing is repeated.

In the "standby mode", when it is detected that the user on the receiving side presses either the play button A or the play button B, the control section 21 shifts to the processing of FIG. 4 (step S303). ). In this case, the message number variable “n” indicates the total number of messages recorded. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the above-mentioned second function. As a constant in this processing, there is the total number "n" of messages recorded. Further, as variables in this processing, among the currently unreproduced messages, "k" indicating the message number of the earliest message, variable "l" indicating the message number of the message to be reproduced next, "C", which is the caller telephone number of the message with message number variable "m" and message number "k" in processing
There is a reproduction identification flag “F (m)” corresponding to the “K” and the message number variable “m”.

Here, "CID (m)" indicates the caller telephone number corresponding to the message number m. Also, the variable "l" is
When a message different from the caller telephone number corresponding to the message with the message number “k” is detected, the message number of the message to be reproduced next is shown. First, the control unit 21 controls the recorded message table 20 of the storage unit 20.
The content of a is checked (step S401), and if there is no message recorded, the "standby mode" in FIG.
Return to. When there is a message that has been recorded and the user on the receiving side presses the play button A (step S
401, step S402), the control unit 21 executes an initialization process (step S404), and in the initialization process, the message number 1 is set and the reproduction identification flag is "unreproduced (=
0) ”and the earliest (that is, earliest recorded) message number, and instructs the voice synthesizing unit 15 to reproduce an answering message corresponding to message number 1 (step S405). ), "Replayed (= 1)" is set to the playback identification flag corresponding to this message (step S40).
6).

Next, the control unit 21 updates the value of the message number variable m (step S408), and the reproduction identification flag corresponding to the updated message number is "unreproduced" (step S40).
9) And when the caller telephone number corresponding to the updated message number and the caller telephone number of message number 1 are the same (step S410), the recorded message corresponding to the updated message number The voice synthesis unit 15 is instructed to reproduce the message, and the reproduction identification flag is set to "reproduced" (steps S405 and S406). In this case, the control unit 21 repeats the above-described reproduction instruction and flag setting when the reproduction identification flag and the caller telephone number corresponding to the message number variable m to be updated satisfy the conditions of steps S409 and S410. By the above processing, the message corresponding to the same caller telephone number as the caller telephone number corresponding to the message number 1 can be continuously reproduced.

On the other hand, if the reproduction identification flag corresponding to the updated message number is "reproduced" (step S40).
9), the control unit 21 further updates the message number variable m,
The process of determining whether or not the reproduction identification flag is “reproduced” is repeated (steps S407 to S409). Further, the control unit 21 detects the message number corresponding to the caller telephone number that is not the same as the caller telephone number corresponding to the message number 1 and the reproduction identification flag is "unreproduced" (step S409). In this case (step S410), if the message number corresponding to the next caller telephone number has not been determined (step S411), the message number is stored (step S412). As for the stored message number, the reproduction identification flag specified next to the message number 1 is “not set (=
0) "and is the earliest message number (step S41).
4, step S415). As a result, the control unit 21
With respect to the stored message number, the same process as the process related to the message number 1 is executed (steps S405 to S415).

As described above, the control unit 21 repeats the message reproduction instruction and the reproduction identification flag setting for each same caller telephone number for all the recorded messages. Finally, when reproduction of all the recorded messages is completed (step S413), the process returns to the "standby mode" in FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 4, of the messages whose reproduction identification flag is "unreproduced", the earliest recorded message is identified and reproduced, and the reproduction identification flag corresponding to this message is set to "reproduced". The process up to corresponds to the "first reproducing unit" in the claims (step S404 to step S406, or step S411 to step S415, step S405, step S406). In addition, in the flowchart of FIG. 4, among the messages whose reproduction identification flag is “unreproduced”,
The message corresponding to the same caller telephone number as the caller telephone number of the message reproduced by the above-mentioned "first reproducing unit" is searched and reproduced, and the reproduction identification flag corresponding to this message is set to "reproduced". The process up to setting corresponds to the "second reproducing unit" in the claims (step S41).
0, step S405, step S406).

As described above, according to the telephone 100 according to the present embodiment, the "caller telephone number notification service" is used and the message is continuously reproduced for each same caller. It is possible to prevent misunderstanding about the content. Note that the control unit 21 may be configured to separately create an order list in which the message numbers are rearranged for each same caller telephone number, and reproduce the message according to the message numbers in this list. Figure 5
6 is a flowchart showing processing when the control unit 21 creates an order list for controlling the reproduction order and reproduces the messages in the order of the message numbers of the list. This process is different from the process of FIG. 4 in that the message having the earliest arrival order is given priority, and the order number is sequentially set for each caller telephone number (step S501) to create the order list. , The message recording messages are collectively reproduced according to the order of the message numbers shown in the order list (step S5).
08) point. Further, the present processing is different from the reproduction identification flag in FIG. 4 in that a “selection identification flag” indicating whether or not the message is selected in the order list is used (steps S502 to S507).

Further, in the "caller identification information notification service", when data including the caller's name is transmitted from an exchange or the like, the caller's telephone number 202 in the recorded message table 20a is stored in place of the caller's name. Then, in the flowchart of FIG. 4, the caller telephone number (step S41
0, step S411, step S415) is configured to execute the processing by replacing the sender name with the sender name, and it is also possible to collectively reproduce the recorded messages for each sender name.

Further, a database for identifying the voice of the caller is provided in the storage unit 20, and the voice of the voice message in the voice analysis unit 14 is analyzed to identify the caller and specify the name of the caller. It can also be configured.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the telephone according to the present invention is provided with the caller identification information notification service, has a voice mail function, and is transmitted from the caller. The recording device includes an answering machine that stores a message in association with the sender identification information, and a reproducing device that continuously reproduces the messages having the same sender identification information under a reproduction instruction from the operator as a start condition. As a result, the recorded message is continuously reproduced for each same caller identification information, and messages from other callers do not coexist, so it is possible to prevent misunderstandings about callers and message contents. be able to.

Further, the reproducing means specifies one message from the messages stored in the answering machine, reproduces the message, and a sender identification corresponding to the specified one message. It is also possible to provide another message corresponding to the same sender identification information as the information from the above-mentioned recorded message means, and a second reproducing section for continuously reproducing the searched message.
As a result, since the message corresponding to the same sender identification information as the specified sender identification information of one message is searched, it is possible to continuously reproduce these messages.

Further, the message recording means stores, for each message, an identification flag indicating whether the message has been reproduced or not, and the first reproducing section identifies the message stored by the message recording means. The flag indicates that the message has not been reproduced, the identification unit that identifies the first stored message, the message reproduction unit that reproduces the identified one message, and the identification flag corresponding to the reproduced one message have been reproduced. The second reproduction unit corresponds to the same caller identification information as the caller identification information corresponding to the specified one message, from the message stored by the answering machine. And a message retrieving unit for retrieving another message whose identification flag indicates that it has not been replayed, a message replaying unit for replaying the other retrieved message, and another message replayed It may be configured to include a setting section for setting a different flag to already reproduced. As a result, the identification flag is set to "played" each time each message is played back, so that an unplayed message can be easily specified from the recorded messages.

The caller identification information may be a caller telephone number. As a result, since the recorded message is continuously reproduced for each caller telephone number, it is possible to prevent misunderstandings about the caller and message contents.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a telephone 100.

FIG. 2 is an example of a configuration and contents of an answering machine message table 20a.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when recording a message.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when a message is reproduced.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing according to another embodiment when reproducing a message.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Data demodulator 12 Incoming call detector 13 Hook controller 14 Speech analysis section 15 Speech synthesizer 16 Amplifier 17 Handset part 18 Display 19 Operation part 20 memory 20a Answering message table 20b Response message data 21 Control unit 100 telephones

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-6-169339 (JP, A) JP-A-3-53740 (JP, A) JP-A-5-83357 (JP, A) JP-A-9- 214595 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 1/65

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A telephone which is provided with a caller identification information notification service and has an answering machine function, which stores a message sent from a caller in association with the caller identification information and stores each message. Play for each message
It stores a 1 or 0 identification flag that indicates whether it has been played or not.
The message recording means configured as described above and the reproducing means for continuously reproducing the messages having the same sender identification information under the reproduction condition from the operator as a start condition are provided. Memorized message
To identify one message and play the message.
Corresponding to the first playback unit and the specified one message
Corresponds to the same sender identification information as
Search for other messages from the voice mail, and search
A second reproducing unit for continuously reproducing the received message.
E, the first reproducing unit is a message stored by the answering machine.
From the one stored in the earliest, indicating that the identification flag has not been played.
Of the specified message and the specified message
The message playback unit that plays the sage and the one that was played
Set the identification flag corresponding to the message to played
A setting unit, and the second reproducing unit is configured to store the message stored by the answering machine.
From the message corresponding to the specified one message
It corresponds to the same sender identification information as the
Search to find other messages with another flag indicating unplayed
Message to play the department and other messages found
The playback section and the identification code corresponding to the other played message.
A telephone set comprising: a setting unit for setting the lag to be played . 2. The telephone according to claim 1, wherein the caller identification information is a caller telephone number.