CA2112951A1 - Telephone station apparatus and method of providing voice announcement of a calling party - Google Patents
Telephone station apparatus and method of providing voice announcement of a calling partyInfo
- Publication number
- CA2112951A1 CA2112951A1 CA 2112951 CA2112951A CA2112951A1 CA 2112951 A1 CA2112951 A1 CA 2112951A1 CA 2112951 CA2112951 CA 2112951 CA 2112951 A CA2112951 A CA 2112951A CA 2112951 A1 CA2112951 A1 CA 2112951A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- voice
- information
- calling party
- telephone
- telephone number
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
- H04M1/57—Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set
- H04M1/575—Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
- H04M1/578—Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party associated with a synthesized vocal announcement
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
Abstract
A telephone station apparatus has a data memory for storing telephone numbers and associated subscriber names which are entered by the telephone user via the keypad of the telephone station apparatus. A
voice memory records user voice utterances of the name voice messages which correspond to the entered subscriber names. When called, the telephone station apparatus selects the telephone number stored in the data memory which matches the telephone number of a calling party received from a switching facility. The name voice message is picked up from the voice memory with reference to the matched telephone number and the name is announced from the handsfree speaker of the telephone station apparatus. When there is no matched telephone number in the data memory, the telephone number received from the switching facility is announced. Also, with a translator of an ASCII character to speech, the calling party's name or telephone number information is converted into the speech signal of the name or telephone number. The name or telephone number is announced based on the converted speech signal.
With the announcement of the name or telephone number of the calling party, the called party is audibly alerted as to who is calling, before going off-hook. Also, an audible message may be provided in an off-hook condition, as for example in response to a call waiting event.
voice memory records user voice utterances of the name voice messages which correspond to the entered subscriber names. When called, the telephone station apparatus selects the telephone number stored in the data memory which matches the telephone number of a calling party received from a switching facility. The name voice message is picked up from the voice memory with reference to the matched telephone number and the name is announced from the handsfree speaker of the telephone station apparatus. When there is no matched telephone number in the data memory, the telephone number received from the switching facility is announced. Also, with a translator of an ASCII character to speech, the calling party's name or telephone number information is converted into the speech signal of the name or telephone number. The name or telephone number is announced based on the converted speech signal.
With the announcement of the name or telephone number of the calling party, the called party is audibly alerted as to who is calling, before going off-hook. Also, an audible message may be provided in an off-hook condition, as for example in response to a call waiting event.
Description
TELEPHONE STATION APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PROVIDING
VOICE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CALLING PARTY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus, and in particular, to a telephone station apparatus which is responsive to a telephone call by providing a voice announcement.
Most telephone operating companies have been offering calling line identification service in which the information of a calling party's telephone number and/or name is sent from a local central office to the called party's telephone station apparatus, if the called party is a subscriber of that service. Early proposed versions of this service may be found in U.S. patent numbers 3,727,003 and 3,812,296 to Paraskevakos, as well as in U.S. patent number 3,787,626 to Subieta. ~ A more recent scheme for providing this service is discussed in U.S. patent Re. 31,789 to Hashimoto.
20 In these patents, the directory number of a calling party is coded as digitalpulse trains and is transmitted from the originating central office to the terminating office and sent to the called party's telephone station apparatus either before an alerting signal such as ringing is sent or during the silent interval between the first and second ringing signals. In these patents, the 25 called party's telephone station apparatus must be equipped with receiving circuitry for decoding the digital pulse trains as well as a display device to indicate the identity of the calling party. The called party is then placed in the position of being given the opportunity to answer the call or ignore it.
Also, U.S. patent number 5,263,084 to Chaput et al discloses a 30 method and a telephone station apparatus of displaying an identification of a third calling party.
However, such visible identification of the calling party's telephone number or name is not advantageous for vision impaired people. Nor is visible identification convenient for identifying the calling party, in a case where the called party is away from the telephone station apparatus which displays a calling party's telephone number in an on-hook condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a telephone station apparatus or method which provides an audible 10 identification of a calling party.
- According to the most general aspect of the present invention, a telephone station apparatus for connection to a switching facility, comprises: means for receiving calling party information from the switching facility; messAge construction means being responsive to reception of the calling party information for constructing a voice message signal related to the calling party information; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
In an example, the message construction means comprises a memory for storing a list of voice informations, which are associated with 20 digits include numbers 0 through 9. The voice information which matches the calling party's telephone number is selected. A voice message signal including a series of digital numbers corresponding to the calling party's telephone number is constructed from the selected voice information. As the calling party's telephone number is announced, the 25 called party may hear and be aware of who is calling.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a telephone station apparatus which receives a calling party's name information from a switching facility, comprises: response means responsive to reception of the calling party's name information for 30 constructing a voice message signal including the calling party's name; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
~112951 In another example, the response means comprises a memory for storing a list of voice information of subscriber names. The voice information stored in the memory is pre-recorded voice message information listing subscriber names, which were pre-recorded by the telephone user through the microphone or handset transmitter of the telephone station apparatus. When a telephone call is received, the pre-recorded voice message information of a subscriber name is selected from the memory, said pre-recorded voice message information matching the calling party information received from the switching facility. The o selected pre-recorded message information is used to construct an audible voice message announcing the calling party's name, so that the called party may hear who is calling.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a telephone station apparatus for receiving a calling party's telephone number from a switching facility while the telephone station apparatus is in an on-hook condition, comprises: a memory for storing a list of telephone numbers associated with subscriber names; telephone number detection means for detecting the calling party's telephone number received from the switching facility after a ring signal; telephone number matching means for selecting a subscriber telephone number in the list when said subscriber telephone number matches the detected calling party's telephone number; voice message construction means for constructing a voice message signal including information identifying the calling party; forwarding means for forwarding the information identifying the calling party from one of the memory and the switching facility to the voice message construction means; and audible means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal. With the voice message announcing the calling party's telephone number or name, the called party may hear who is calling.
Because the identification (the telephone number or name) of the calling party is announced, a vision impaired person is easily informed of the identity of the calling party. Furthermore, because the identification 2112~1 of the calling party is announced in an on-hook condition, the called party is made aware of who is calling, before going off-hook.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing an audible message from a telephone station apparatus for 5 identifying a calling party, comprises the steps of: generating a voice message signal identifying the calling party in response to calling party information received from a switching facility; and providing an audible message in response to the voice message signal. In one example, the step of generating a voice message signal comprises translating the calling o partrs information into a voice message signal.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing an audible message from a telephone station apparatus in an on-hook condition when the calling party information is received from a switching facility, said audible message for identifying a 15 calling party, said telephone station apparatus having a data memory for a telephone directory, said method comprises the steps of: registering the information of at least one pair of a subscriber telephone number and a subscriber name into the telephone directory of the data memory;
recording voice announcement message information in a voice recording 20 memory, said voice announcement message information relating to subscriber names registered in the telephone directory; storing voice information representative of digits O through 9 in a number recording memory; detecting a ring signal received from the switching facility;
detecting the calling party information received from the switching facility;
25 searching the telephone directory in order to select the subscriber's telephone number or name which matches the detected calling party information; playing back a voice message signal of a name from the recorded voice announcement message information in response to the detected telephone number or name which matches the calling party 30 information; in an event wherein the calling party information does not match any of the telephone number or name information registered in the telephone directory of the data memory, constructing a voice message 112~5~
signal of a series of numbers from the number recording memory; and providing an audible message in response to the played back or constructed voice message signal, whereby the audible message identifies the calling party.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example telephone station apparatus according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the telephone station apparatus shown in Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a block diagram of another example of a telephone station apparatus according to the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES
Referring to Figure 1, the telephone station apparatus is 20 connected to tip (T) and ring (R) leads of a telephone line which is connected to a switching facility, for example a central office (not shown).
As is conventional, the telephone station apparatus has a line protection circuit 10 connected to a hybrid circuit 12 via a hook switch 14.
The hybrid circuit 12 is connected to an audio circuit 16 via movable switch 2s contacts 18a and 18b which are operable to select a communication path or a voice path. The audio circuit 16 is connected to a handset 20 having a receiver 22 and a transmitter 24 and to a handsfree speaker 26 and a handsfree microphone 28. When the hook switch 14 is closed, the telephone station apparatus is in an off-hook condition. The 30 communication path is selected when both movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact stable switch contacts 30a and 30c, respectively. The voice path is selected when the movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact the stable switch contacts 30b and 30d, respectively. Hence, in the off-hook condition, a user can communicate via the telephone line, by way of the handset 20, or the handsfree speaker 26 and handsfree microphone 28.
The telephone station apparatus also has a ring detect circuit 32 5 which is responsive to a ringing signal on the telephone line, for providing an alerting signal audible to the user as well as a signal to a main controller 34, that a call has arrived. Incoming Frequency Shift Key (FSK) data of ASCII code identifying a calling party is demodulated by an FSK
demodulator 36 and the demodulated signal is provided to the main 10 controller 34. An LCD display unit 38 displays the identification of the calling party. A keypad 40 includes a dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) generator, for generating signalling which is sent to the telephone line via the line protection circuit 10.
The telephone station apparatus has a data memory 42, a voice 15 memory 44 and a digital signal processor 46 which are connected to the main controller 34 of a microprocessor. The data memory 42 is organized to have a telephone directory 48 and an incoming data area 50. The digital signal processor 46 is connected to a read only memory (ROM) 52 and a memory 54. The data memory 42, the voice memory 44 and the memory 20 54 are provided by nonvolatile memory such as a backed-up random access memory (RAM) or a flash memory.
The user can enter a plurality of telephone numbers and associated names into the telephone directory 48, under conditions of selection of the voice path, which occurs under control by the main 25 controller 34. The user pushes the keys (not shown) of the keypad 40 to enter a telephone/name pair and pushes a SAVE key (not shown). The entered telephone number/name pair (e.g., 111-111-1111: Kurdziel, Ryszard) is stored in the telephone directory 48 by the main controller 34.
The user speaks the name (e.g., Kurdziel, Ryszard) into the handsfree 30 microphone 28. The voice utterances of the name voice message are recorded into the voice memory 44 through the audio circuit 16 and the digital signal processor 46. In the same manner, other telephone 2112~51 number/name pairs are entered into the telephone directory 48 and other voice announcements of the corresponding names are recorded in the voice memory 44. While entries of the telephone number/name pairs, the main controller 34 sorts them in the alphabetical order of the name and stores them in the telephone directory 48. The voice announcements are recorded at sequential addresses in the order of name entry. A pointer number is assigned to each telephone number/name pair stored in the telephone directory 48. The assigned pointer number is fed to the digital signal processor 46 by the main controller 34. The address where the corresponding voice announcement is recorded is also fed to the digital signal processor 46. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a table in the memory 54 containing the pointer numbers and the corresponding addresses.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, when the hook switch 14 is open (i.e., on-hook condition), the main controller 34 makes-the movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact the stable switch contacts 30b and 30d, respectively. Hence, the receive terminal Rx of the audio circuit 16 is connected to the digital signal processor 46. The main controller 34 also makes the handsfree speaker 26 active.
When the user is called, the ring detect circuit 32 detects a ring signal (step 61). Upon completion of a predetermined number of ring cycles (usually only one), the FSK demodulator 36 receives incoming FSK
data of 1200 baud ASCII code containing a telephone number and/or a name identifying the calling party (step 62). The FSK demodulator 36 decodes the ASCII code of the incoming FSK data and the decoded ASCII
data is stored in the incoming data area 50 by the main controller 34. In a case where the stored data includes the decoded telephone number (e.g., 111-111-1111) (i.e., YES in step 63), the main controller 34 compares the decoded telephone number to the telephone numbers previously entered into the telephone directory 48 (step 64). If the decoded telephone number matches one of the entered telephone numbers (i.e., YES in step 64), the main controller 34 makes a linkage between the data memory 42 and the digital signal processor 46 (step 65). The pointer number (e.g., 3) associated with the matched telephone number is fed to the digital signal processor 46 by the main controller 34. The digital signal processor 46 picks up the address (e.g., 012) which corresponds to the pointer number, from the table 5 of the memory 54. In response to the picked up address, the digital signal processor 46 reads the voice announcement recorded at that address (e.g., 012) of the voice memory 44. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a voice message signal in response to the voice announcement (step 66).
The constructed voice message signal is supplied from the digital signal 10 processor 46 to the audio circuit 16. The audio signal volume of the voice message is adjusted by the audio circuit 16. The voice message signal is fed to the handsfree speaker 26 so that a voice message of the name (e.g., "RYSZARD KURDZIEL") is announced (step 67), and the called party may know the identity of the calling party. The name (e.g., KURDZIEL, 15 Ryszard) associated with the matched telephone number is also fed to the display unit 38 by the main controller 34. The display unit 38 displays the name of the calling party.
If the decoded telephone number does not match any of the previously entered telephone numbers (i.e., NO in step 64), the main 20 controller 34 feeds the decoded telephone number to the display unit 38 and the digital signal processor 46. The display unit 38 displays the calling party's telephone number only (e.g., "123-456-7890"). At the same time, the digital signal processor 46 selects the respective number voice announcement from the ROM 52 in response to each digit of the telephone 25 number. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a voice message signal which includes a series of all digits of the decoded telephone number (e.g., "one two three four five six seven eight nine zero) (step 68). The constructed voice message signal is fed to the audio circuit 16 from the digital signal processor 46. The handsfree speaker 26 announces a voice 30 message of the telephone number "123-456-7890" (step 69). At the same time, the digital signal processor 46 picks up a voice announcement of "unknown number" from the ROM 52 and constructs a voice ~1129~1 g announcement signal accordingly. That message is also announced by the handsfree speaker 26. The called party may know that somebody whose telephone number and name are not entered into the telephone directory 48 is calling and decide whether or not to respond to the call.
In a case where the incoming data includes only the name identifying the calling party (i.e., NO in step 63), the main controller 34 reads the decoded name of the data stored in the incoming data area 50 and compares the decoded name to the names previously entered into the telephone directory 48 (step 70). In a case where the decoded name matches one of the entered names (i.e., YES in step 70), the main controller 34 makes a linkage between the data memory 42 and the digital signal processor 46 (step 71). The matched name and the pointer information associated with the matched name are provided from the data memory 42 to the main controller 34. The matched name is further sent to the display unit 38 to be displayed. At the same time, the main controller 34 forwards the pointer number to the digital signal processor 46 which in turn picks up from the table of the memory 54 the address in response to the pointer number. The digital signal processor 46 reads the voice announcement of name recorded at the address of the voice memory 44. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a voice message signal in response to the voice announcement of name (step 72). The constructed voice message signal is supplied from the digital signal processor 46 to the audio circuit 16. The voice message signal is fed to the handsfree speaker 26 which announces an voice message of the name (step 67).
If the decoded name does not match any of the names entered into the telephone directory 48 (i.e., NO in step 70), the main controller 34 forwards the decoded name to the display unit 38. The calling party's name is displayed and the telephone station apparatus rings (step 73). The digital signal processor 46 picks up a voice announcement of "unknown number"
from the ROM 52. That message is announced by the handsfree speaker 26 and the called party is made aware that the name of the calling party is not ;~112951 present in the telephone directory 48. In this event, neither name nor telephone number is announced by the handsfree speaker 26.
When the called party picks up the handset 20 or pushes a HANDSFREE key (not shown), the hook switch 14 closes and the off-hook 5 condition is detected by the main controller 34 (i.e., YES in step 74). The main controller 34 makes the movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact the stable switch contacts 30a and 30c, respectively, to establish the communication path between the called party and the calling party (step 75).
The voice message of name or telephone number is repeatedly announced from the handsfree speaker 26 (step 67 or 69) or the ringing continues (step 73) until the called party goes off-hook. When the calling party goes on-hook before the called party goes off-hook, the main controller 34 of the called party's telephone station apparatus detects the absence of the ringing signal. The main controller 34 makes the digital signal processor 46 cease supplying the voice message signal.
The digital signal processor 46 may construct a "long distance"
announcement in an event wherein the FSK data indicates a telephone number in excess of seven digits.
As described above, the telephone station apparatus provides a voice announcement identifying the name or telephone number of the calling party (step 67 or 69) and therefore, vision impaired people can know the identify of the calling party before going off-hook. Also, the called party who is away from the telephone station apparatus is made aware of the identify of the calling party.
The telephone station apparatus shown in Figure 3 is different from that shown in Figure 1 in that it has a speech synthesizer 80, instead of the voice memory 44, the digital signal processor 46, the ROM 52 and the memory 54. The telephone station apparatus includes a data memory 82 having a telephone directory 84 and an incoming data area 86, somewhat similar to the data memory 42 in Figure 1.
~112951 In a manner somewhat similar to that described above, in the telephone station apparatus shown in Figure 3, a plurality of telephone number/name pairs are stored into the telephone directory 84. However, the telephone directory 84 has no pointer number. When the user is called 5 in an on-hook condition, the ring detect circuit 32 detects the ring signal.
The FSK demodulator 36 decodes incoming FSK data which contains the telephone number and/or name identifying the calling party. The decoded ASCII data is stored in the incoming data area 86.
The main controller 34 retrieves the ASCII data of the calling o party's telephone number from the incoming data area 86 and compares it to the telephone numbers previously entered into the telephone directory 84. If the retrieved telephone number matches one of the telephone numbers in the telephone directory 84, the name associated with the matched telephone number is read from the telephone directory 84 by the 15 main controller 34. The read name is a series of ASCII characters. The name is sent to the display unit 38 which in turn displays the name. At the same time, the main controller 34 forwards the read name to the speech synthesizer 80 which translates the read name into a voice announcement signal. The handsfree speaker 26 announces a voice message (e.g., 20 "RYSZARD KURDZIEL").
If the decoded telephone number is not the same as any of the telephone numbers in the telephone directory 84, the main controller 34 forwards the decoded telephone number (ASCII characters) to the display unit 38 and to the speech synthesizer 80. The display unit 38 displays the 25 calling party's telephone number only. At the same time, the speech synthesizer 80 translates the decoded telephone number into a voice announcement signal.
If the incoming FSK data signal contains the name of the calling party, the name data (ASCII characters) may be directly forwarded to the 3 o speech synthesizer 80 by the main controller 34. The speech synthesizer 80 translates the name data into a voice announcement signal and the handsfree speaker 26 provides a voice announcement.
~112951 Although the above examples of the telephone station apparatus are based on operation in the on-hook condition, the present invention may be applied to a calling party announcement in the off-hook condition, or for example when call waiting with calling party 5 identification is provided by the switching facility.
VOICE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CALLING PARTY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus, and in particular, to a telephone station apparatus which is responsive to a telephone call by providing a voice announcement.
Most telephone operating companies have been offering calling line identification service in which the information of a calling party's telephone number and/or name is sent from a local central office to the called party's telephone station apparatus, if the called party is a subscriber of that service. Early proposed versions of this service may be found in U.S. patent numbers 3,727,003 and 3,812,296 to Paraskevakos, as well as in U.S. patent number 3,787,626 to Subieta. ~ A more recent scheme for providing this service is discussed in U.S. patent Re. 31,789 to Hashimoto.
20 In these patents, the directory number of a calling party is coded as digitalpulse trains and is transmitted from the originating central office to the terminating office and sent to the called party's telephone station apparatus either before an alerting signal such as ringing is sent or during the silent interval between the first and second ringing signals. In these patents, the 25 called party's telephone station apparatus must be equipped with receiving circuitry for decoding the digital pulse trains as well as a display device to indicate the identity of the calling party. The called party is then placed in the position of being given the opportunity to answer the call or ignore it.
Also, U.S. patent number 5,263,084 to Chaput et al discloses a 30 method and a telephone station apparatus of displaying an identification of a third calling party.
However, such visible identification of the calling party's telephone number or name is not advantageous for vision impaired people. Nor is visible identification convenient for identifying the calling party, in a case where the called party is away from the telephone station apparatus which displays a calling party's telephone number in an on-hook condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a telephone station apparatus or method which provides an audible 10 identification of a calling party.
- According to the most general aspect of the present invention, a telephone station apparatus for connection to a switching facility, comprises: means for receiving calling party information from the switching facility; messAge construction means being responsive to reception of the calling party information for constructing a voice message signal related to the calling party information; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
In an example, the message construction means comprises a memory for storing a list of voice informations, which are associated with 20 digits include numbers 0 through 9. The voice information which matches the calling party's telephone number is selected. A voice message signal including a series of digital numbers corresponding to the calling party's telephone number is constructed from the selected voice information. As the calling party's telephone number is announced, the 25 called party may hear and be aware of who is calling.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a telephone station apparatus which receives a calling party's name information from a switching facility, comprises: response means responsive to reception of the calling party's name information for 30 constructing a voice message signal including the calling party's name; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
~112951 In another example, the response means comprises a memory for storing a list of voice information of subscriber names. The voice information stored in the memory is pre-recorded voice message information listing subscriber names, which were pre-recorded by the telephone user through the microphone or handset transmitter of the telephone station apparatus. When a telephone call is received, the pre-recorded voice message information of a subscriber name is selected from the memory, said pre-recorded voice message information matching the calling party information received from the switching facility. The o selected pre-recorded message information is used to construct an audible voice message announcing the calling party's name, so that the called party may hear who is calling.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a telephone station apparatus for receiving a calling party's telephone number from a switching facility while the telephone station apparatus is in an on-hook condition, comprises: a memory for storing a list of telephone numbers associated with subscriber names; telephone number detection means for detecting the calling party's telephone number received from the switching facility after a ring signal; telephone number matching means for selecting a subscriber telephone number in the list when said subscriber telephone number matches the detected calling party's telephone number; voice message construction means for constructing a voice message signal including information identifying the calling party; forwarding means for forwarding the information identifying the calling party from one of the memory and the switching facility to the voice message construction means; and audible means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal. With the voice message announcing the calling party's telephone number or name, the called party may hear who is calling.
Because the identification (the telephone number or name) of the calling party is announced, a vision impaired person is easily informed of the identity of the calling party. Furthermore, because the identification 2112~1 of the calling party is announced in an on-hook condition, the called party is made aware of who is calling, before going off-hook.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing an audible message from a telephone station apparatus for 5 identifying a calling party, comprises the steps of: generating a voice message signal identifying the calling party in response to calling party information received from a switching facility; and providing an audible message in response to the voice message signal. In one example, the step of generating a voice message signal comprises translating the calling o partrs information into a voice message signal.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of providing an audible message from a telephone station apparatus in an on-hook condition when the calling party information is received from a switching facility, said audible message for identifying a 15 calling party, said telephone station apparatus having a data memory for a telephone directory, said method comprises the steps of: registering the information of at least one pair of a subscriber telephone number and a subscriber name into the telephone directory of the data memory;
recording voice announcement message information in a voice recording 20 memory, said voice announcement message information relating to subscriber names registered in the telephone directory; storing voice information representative of digits O through 9 in a number recording memory; detecting a ring signal received from the switching facility;
detecting the calling party information received from the switching facility;
25 searching the telephone directory in order to select the subscriber's telephone number or name which matches the detected calling party information; playing back a voice message signal of a name from the recorded voice announcement message information in response to the detected telephone number or name which matches the calling party 30 information; in an event wherein the calling party information does not match any of the telephone number or name information registered in the telephone directory of the data memory, constructing a voice message 112~5~
signal of a series of numbers from the number recording memory; and providing an audible message in response to the played back or constructed voice message signal, whereby the audible message identifies the calling party.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example telephone station apparatus according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the telephone station apparatus shown in Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a block diagram of another example of a telephone station apparatus according to the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES
Referring to Figure 1, the telephone station apparatus is 20 connected to tip (T) and ring (R) leads of a telephone line which is connected to a switching facility, for example a central office (not shown).
As is conventional, the telephone station apparatus has a line protection circuit 10 connected to a hybrid circuit 12 via a hook switch 14.
The hybrid circuit 12 is connected to an audio circuit 16 via movable switch 2s contacts 18a and 18b which are operable to select a communication path or a voice path. The audio circuit 16 is connected to a handset 20 having a receiver 22 and a transmitter 24 and to a handsfree speaker 26 and a handsfree microphone 28. When the hook switch 14 is closed, the telephone station apparatus is in an off-hook condition. The 30 communication path is selected when both movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact stable switch contacts 30a and 30c, respectively. The voice path is selected when the movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact the stable switch contacts 30b and 30d, respectively. Hence, in the off-hook condition, a user can communicate via the telephone line, by way of the handset 20, or the handsfree speaker 26 and handsfree microphone 28.
The telephone station apparatus also has a ring detect circuit 32 5 which is responsive to a ringing signal on the telephone line, for providing an alerting signal audible to the user as well as a signal to a main controller 34, that a call has arrived. Incoming Frequency Shift Key (FSK) data of ASCII code identifying a calling party is demodulated by an FSK
demodulator 36 and the demodulated signal is provided to the main 10 controller 34. An LCD display unit 38 displays the identification of the calling party. A keypad 40 includes a dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) generator, for generating signalling which is sent to the telephone line via the line protection circuit 10.
The telephone station apparatus has a data memory 42, a voice 15 memory 44 and a digital signal processor 46 which are connected to the main controller 34 of a microprocessor. The data memory 42 is organized to have a telephone directory 48 and an incoming data area 50. The digital signal processor 46 is connected to a read only memory (ROM) 52 and a memory 54. The data memory 42, the voice memory 44 and the memory 20 54 are provided by nonvolatile memory such as a backed-up random access memory (RAM) or a flash memory.
The user can enter a plurality of telephone numbers and associated names into the telephone directory 48, under conditions of selection of the voice path, which occurs under control by the main 25 controller 34. The user pushes the keys (not shown) of the keypad 40 to enter a telephone/name pair and pushes a SAVE key (not shown). The entered telephone number/name pair (e.g., 111-111-1111: Kurdziel, Ryszard) is stored in the telephone directory 48 by the main controller 34.
The user speaks the name (e.g., Kurdziel, Ryszard) into the handsfree 30 microphone 28. The voice utterances of the name voice message are recorded into the voice memory 44 through the audio circuit 16 and the digital signal processor 46. In the same manner, other telephone 2112~51 number/name pairs are entered into the telephone directory 48 and other voice announcements of the corresponding names are recorded in the voice memory 44. While entries of the telephone number/name pairs, the main controller 34 sorts them in the alphabetical order of the name and stores them in the telephone directory 48. The voice announcements are recorded at sequential addresses in the order of name entry. A pointer number is assigned to each telephone number/name pair stored in the telephone directory 48. The assigned pointer number is fed to the digital signal processor 46 by the main controller 34. The address where the corresponding voice announcement is recorded is also fed to the digital signal processor 46. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a table in the memory 54 containing the pointer numbers and the corresponding addresses.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, when the hook switch 14 is open (i.e., on-hook condition), the main controller 34 makes-the movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact the stable switch contacts 30b and 30d, respectively. Hence, the receive terminal Rx of the audio circuit 16 is connected to the digital signal processor 46. The main controller 34 also makes the handsfree speaker 26 active.
When the user is called, the ring detect circuit 32 detects a ring signal (step 61). Upon completion of a predetermined number of ring cycles (usually only one), the FSK demodulator 36 receives incoming FSK
data of 1200 baud ASCII code containing a telephone number and/or a name identifying the calling party (step 62). The FSK demodulator 36 decodes the ASCII code of the incoming FSK data and the decoded ASCII
data is stored in the incoming data area 50 by the main controller 34. In a case where the stored data includes the decoded telephone number (e.g., 111-111-1111) (i.e., YES in step 63), the main controller 34 compares the decoded telephone number to the telephone numbers previously entered into the telephone directory 48 (step 64). If the decoded telephone number matches one of the entered telephone numbers (i.e., YES in step 64), the main controller 34 makes a linkage between the data memory 42 and the digital signal processor 46 (step 65). The pointer number (e.g., 3) associated with the matched telephone number is fed to the digital signal processor 46 by the main controller 34. The digital signal processor 46 picks up the address (e.g., 012) which corresponds to the pointer number, from the table 5 of the memory 54. In response to the picked up address, the digital signal processor 46 reads the voice announcement recorded at that address (e.g., 012) of the voice memory 44. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a voice message signal in response to the voice announcement (step 66).
The constructed voice message signal is supplied from the digital signal 10 processor 46 to the audio circuit 16. The audio signal volume of the voice message is adjusted by the audio circuit 16. The voice message signal is fed to the handsfree speaker 26 so that a voice message of the name (e.g., "RYSZARD KURDZIEL") is announced (step 67), and the called party may know the identity of the calling party. The name (e.g., KURDZIEL, 15 Ryszard) associated with the matched telephone number is also fed to the display unit 38 by the main controller 34. The display unit 38 displays the name of the calling party.
If the decoded telephone number does not match any of the previously entered telephone numbers (i.e., NO in step 64), the main 20 controller 34 feeds the decoded telephone number to the display unit 38 and the digital signal processor 46. The display unit 38 displays the calling party's telephone number only (e.g., "123-456-7890"). At the same time, the digital signal processor 46 selects the respective number voice announcement from the ROM 52 in response to each digit of the telephone 25 number. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a voice message signal which includes a series of all digits of the decoded telephone number (e.g., "one two three four five six seven eight nine zero) (step 68). The constructed voice message signal is fed to the audio circuit 16 from the digital signal processor 46. The handsfree speaker 26 announces a voice 30 message of the telephone number "123-456-7890" (step 69). At the same time, the digital signal processor 46 picks up a voice announcement of "unknown number" from the ROM 52 and constructs a voice ~1129~1 g announcement signal accordingly. That message is also announced by the handsfree speaker 26. The called party may know that somebody whose telephone number and name are not entered into the telephone directory 48 is calling and decide whether or not to respond to the call.
In a case where the incoming data includes only the name identifying the calling party (i.e., NO in step 63), the main controller 34 reads the decoded name of the data stored in the incoming data area 50 and compares the decoded name to the names previously entered into the telephone directory 48 (step 70). In a case where the decoded name matches one of the entered names (i.e., YES in step 70), the main controller 34 makes a linkage between the data memory 42 and the digital signal processor 46 (step 71). The matched name and the pointer information associated with the matched name are provided from the data memory 42 to the main controller 34. The matched name is further sent to the display unit 38 to be displayed. At the same time, the main controller 34 forwards the pointer number to the digital signal processor 46 which in turn picks up from the table of the memory 54 the address in response to the pointer number. The digital signal processor 46 reads the voice announcement of name recorded at the address of the voice memory 44. The digital signal processor 46 constructs a voice message signal in response to the voice announcement of name (step 72). The constructed voice message signal is supplied from the digital signal processor 46 to the audio circuit 16. The voice message signal is fed to the handsfree speaker 26 which announces an voice message of the name (step 67).
If the decoded name does not match any of the names entered into the telephone directory 48 (i.e., NO in step 70), the main controller 34 forwards the decoded name to the display unit 38. The calling party's name is displayed and the telephone station apparatus rings (step 73). The digital signal processor 46 picks up a voice announcement of "unknown number"
from the ROM 52. That message is announced by the handsfree speaker 26 and the called party is made aware that the name of the calling party is not ;~112951 present in the telephone directory 48. In this event, neither name nor telephone number is announced by the handsfree speaker 26.
When the called party picks up the handset 20 or pushes a HANDSFREE key (not shown), the hook switch 14 closes and the off-hook 5 condition is detected by the main controller 34 (i.e., YES in step 74). The main controller 34 makes the movable switch contacts 18a and 18b contact the stable switch contacts 30a and 30c, respectively, to establish the communication path between the called party and the calling party (step 75).
The voice message of name or telephone number is repeatedly announced from the handsfree speaker 26 (step 67 or 69) or the ringing continues (step 73) until the called party goes off-hook. When the calling party goes on-hook before the called party goes off-hook, the main controller 34 of the called party's telephone station apparatus detects the absence of the ringing signal. The main controller 34 makes the digital signal processor 46 cease supplying the voice message signal.
The digital signal processor 46 may construct a "long distance"
announcement in an event wherein the FSK data indicates a telephone number in excess of seven digits.
As described above, the telephone station apparatus provides a voice announcement identifying the name or telephone number of the calling party (step 67 or 69) and therefore, vision impaired people can know the identify of the calling party before going off-hook. Also, the called party who is away from the telephone station apparatus is made aware of the identify of the calling party.
The telephone station apparatus shown in Figure 3 is different from that shown in Figure 1 in that it has a speech synthesizer 80, instead of the voice memory 44, the digital signal processor 46, the ROM 52 and the memory 54. The telephone station apparatus includes a data memory 82 having a telephone directory 84 and an incoming data area 86, somewhat similar to the data memory 42 in Figure 1.
~112951 In a manner somewhat similar to that described above, in the telephone station apparatus shown in Figure 3, a plurality of telephone number/name pairs are stored into the telephone directory 84. However, the telephone directory 84 has no pointer number. When the user is called 5 in an on-hook condition, the ring detect circuit 32 detects the ring signal.
The FSK demodulator 36 decodes incoming FSK data which contains the telephone number and/or name identifying the calling party. The decoded ASCII data is stored in the incoming data area 86.
The main controller 34 retrieves the ASCII data of the calling o party's telephone number from the incoming data area 86 and compares it to the telephone numbers previously entered into the telephone directory 84. If the retrieved telephone number matches one of the telephone numbers in the telephone directory 84, the name associated with the matched telephone number is read from the telephone directory 84 by the 15 main controller 34. The read name is a series of ASCII characters. The name is sent to the display unit 38 which in turn displays the name. At the same time, the main controller 34 forwards the read name to the speech synthesizer 80 which translates the read name into a voice announcement signal. The handsfree speaker 26 announces a voice message (e.g., 20 "RYSZARD KURDZIEL").
If the decoded telephone number is not the same as any of the telephone numbers in the telephone directory 84, the main controller 34 forwards the decoded telephone number (ASCII characters) to the display unit 38 and to the speech synthesizer 80. The display unit 38 displays the 25 calling party's telephone number only. At the same time, the speech synthesizer 80 translates the decoded telephone number into a voice announcement signal.
If the incoming FSK data signal contains the name of the calling party, the name data (ASCII characters) may be directly forwarded to the 3 o speech synthesizer 80 by the main controller 34. The speech synthesizer 80 translates the name data into a voice announcement signal and the handsfree speaker 26 provides a voice announcement.
~112951 Although the above examples of the telephone station apparatus are based on operation in the on-hook condition, the present invention may be applied to a calling party announcement in the off-hook condition, or for example when call waiting with calling party 5 identification is provided by the switching facility.
Claims (23)
1. A telephone station apparatus for connection to a switching facility, comprising:
means for receiving calling party information from the switching facility;
message construction means being responsive to reception of the calling party information for constructing a voice message signal related to the calling party information; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
means for receiving calling party information from the switching facility;
message construction means being responsive to reception of the calling party information for constructing a voice message signal related to the calling party information; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
2. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the message construction means comprises:
a memory for storing a list of voice informations, each being associated with a digit;
searching means for selecting a sequence of the voice informations which correspond to a sequence of digits in the calling party's telephone number; and means for constructing the voice message signal from the selected sequence of voice informations.
a memory for storing a list of voice informations, each being associated with a digit;
searching means for selecting a sequence of the voice informations which correspond to a sequence of digits in the calling party's telephone number; and means for constructing the voice message signal from the selected sequence of voice informations.
3. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the digits include numbers 0 through 9.
4. A telephone station apparatus which receives a calling party's name information from a switching facility, comprising:
response means responsive to reception of the calling party's name information for constructing a voice message signal including the calling party's name; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
response means responsive to reception of the calling party's name information for constructing a voice message signal including the calling party's name; and means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
5. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the response means comprises:
a memory for storing a list of voice information of subscriber names;
searching means for selecting the voice information which matches the calling party's name information; and message construction means for constructing the voice message signal from the selected voice information.
a memory for storing a list of voice information of subscriber names;
searching means for selecting the voice information which matches the calling party's name information; and message construction means for constructing the voice message signal from the selected voice information.
6. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein the voice information stored in the memory is pre-recorded voice message information.
7. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein:
the voice information stored in the memory is alphanumerically prescribed message information;
the searching means comprises means for selecting the alphanumerically prescribed message information of the subscriber name from the memory; and the message construction means comprises means for translating the selected alphanumerically prescribed message information into the subscriber name, whereby the voice information of the translated subscriber name is forwarded to the means for providing an audible message signal.
the voice information stored in the memory is alphanumerically prescribed message information;
the searching means comprises means for selecting the alphanumerically prescribed message information of the subscriber name from the memory; and the message construction means comprises means for translating the selected alphanumerically prescribed message information into the subscriber name, whereby the voice information of the translated subscriber name is forwarded to the means for providing an audible message signal.
8. A telephone station apparatus for receiving a calling party's telephone number from a switching facility, comprising:
a first memory for storing a list of subscriber telephone numbers in association with subscriber names;
telephone number matching means for identifying a listed subscriber telephone number which matches a calling party's telephone number;
voice message construction means for constructing a voice message signal including information associated with the calling party based on the identified subscriber telephone number; and audible means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
a first memory for storing a list of subscriber telephone numbers in association with subscriber names;
telephone number matching means for identifying a listed subscriber telephone number which matches a calling party's telephone number;
voice message construction means for constructing a voice message signal including information associated with the calling party based on the identified subscriber telephone number; and audible means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
9. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 8, which further comprises a second memory for storing a list of voice information of the subscriber names.
10. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein the voice information stored in the second memory comprises pre-recorded voice message information of the subscriber names.
11. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein:
the voice information stored in the second memory is alphanumerically prescribed text message information of the subscriber names;
the voice message construction means comprises means for selecting the alphanumerically prescribed text message information of the subscriber name from the second memory; and the voice message construction means comprises speech synthesizer means for translating the selected alphanumerically prescribed text message information into speech signals representative of the subscriber names.
the voice information stored in the second memory is alphanumerically prescribed text message information of the subscriber names;
the voice message construction means comprises means for selecting the alphanumerically prescribed text message information of the subscriber name from the second memory; and the voice message construction means comprises speech synthesizer means for translating the selected alphanumerically prescribed text message information into speech signals representative of the subscriber names.
12. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 10 or 11, which further comprises:
means for forwarding the telephone number information of the calling party received from the switching facility to the voice message construction means, in an event wherein the telephone number matching means fails to select a subscriber telephone number in the list;
a third memory for storing a list of voice information associated with digits;
means for selecting a sequence of the voice information stored in the third memory in accordance with the calling party's telephone number; and means for constructing the voice message signal from the selected voice information, whereby the voice message signal constructed by the voice message construction means includes the telephone number of the calling party.
means for forwarding the telephone number information of the calling party received from the switching facility to the voice message construction means, in an event wherein the telephone number matching means fails to select a subscriber telephone number in the list;
a third memory for storing a list of voice information associated with digits;
means for selecting a sequence of the voice information stored in the third memory in accordance with the calling party's telephone number; and means for constructing the voice message signal from the selected voice information, whereby the voice message signal constructed by the voice message construction means includes the telephone number of the calling party.
13. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the digits include numbers 0 through 9.
14. A telephone station apparatus for receiving a calling party's telephone number from a switching facility while the telephone station apparatus is in an on-hook condition, comprising:
a memory for storing a list of telephone numbers associated with subscriber names;
telephone number detection means for detecting the calling party's telephone number received from the switching facility after a ring signal;
telephone number matching means for selecting a subscriber telephone number in the list when said subscriber telephone number matches the detected calling party's telephone number;
voice message construction means for constructing a voice message signal including information identifying the calling party;
forwarding means for forwarding the information identifying the calling party from one of the memory and the switching facility to the voice message construction means; and audible means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
a memory for storing a list of telephone numbers associated with subscriber names;
telephone number detection means for detecting the calling party's telephone number received from the switching facility after a ring signal;
telephone number matching means for selecting a subscriber telephone number in the list when said subscriber telephone number matches the detected calling party's telephone number;
voice message construction means for constructing a voice message signal including information identifying the calling party;
forwarding means for forwarding the information identifying the calling party from one of the memory and the switching facility to the voice message construction means; and audible means for providing an audible message from the voice message signal.
15. A telephone station apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the forwarding means includes means for forwarding the telephone number information of the calling party received from the switching facility to the voice message construction means, in an event wherein the telephone number matching means fails to select a subscriber telephone number in the list, whereby the voice message signal constructed by the voice message construction means includes the telephone number identifying the calling party.
16. A method of providing an audible message from a telephone station apparatus for identifying a calling party, comprising the steps of:
generating a voice message signal identifying the calling party in response to calling party information received from a switching facility;
and providing an audible message in response to the voice message signal.
generating a voice message signal identifying the calling party in response to calling party information received from a switching facility;
and providing an audible message in response to the voice message signal.
17. A method as defined in claim 16, wherein the step of generating a voice message signal comprises translating the calling party information into a voice message signal.
18. A method as defined in claim 16, which further comprises the steps of:
registering the information of at least one pair of subscriber's telephone number and name into a telephone directory of a data memory in the telephone station apparatus; and searching the telephone directory in order to select either the subscriber's telephone number or the subscriber's name whichever matches the calling party information.
registering the information of at least one pair of subscriber's telephone number and name into a telephone directory of a data memory in the telephone station apparatus; and searching the telephone directory in order to select either the subscriber's telephone number or the subscriber's name whichever matches the calling party information.
19. A method as defined in claim 18, wherein the step of generating a voice message signal comprises the step of translating the information of the selected telephone number or name into a voice message signal.
20. A method as defined in claim 18, which further comprises the steps of:
storing voice information relating to the subscribers' telephone numbers and/or names in voice information storing means; and constructing a voice message signal from the stored voice information in response to the telephone number or name which matches the calling party information.
storing voice information relating to the subscribers' telephone numbers and/or names in voice information storing means; and constructing a voice message signal from the stored voice information in response to the telephone number or name which matches the calling party information.
21. A method as defined in claim 20, wherein the step of storing voice information comprises the step of recording voice announcement message information in a voice recording memory, said voice announcement message information relating to subscriber names registered in the telephone directory of the data memory.
22. A method as defined in claim 18, which further comprises the steps of:
recording voice announcement message information in a voice recording memory, said voice announcement message information relating to subscriber names registered in the telephone directory of the data memory;
storing voice information representative of digits 0 through 9;
playing back a voice message signal of the calling party name from the recorded voice announcement message information in response to the information of the detected telephone number or name whichever matches the calling party information; and constructing a voice message signal of a series of numbers from said stored voice information, when the calling party's information does not match any of the telephone number or name information registered in the telephone directory of the data memory, whereby the played back or constructed voice message signal of the name or number is used for providing the audible message for identifying the calling party.
recording voice announcement message information in a voice recording memory, said voice announcement message information relating to subscriber names registered in the telephone directory of the data memory;
storing voice information representative of digits 0 through 9;
playing back a voice message signal of the calling party name from the recorded voice announcement message information in response to the information of the detected telephone number or name whichever matches the calling party information; and constructing a voice message signal of a series of numbers from said stored voice information, when the calling party's information does not match any of the telephone number or name information registered in the telephone directory of the data memory, whereby the played back or constructed voice message signal of the name or number is used for providing the audible message for identifying the calling party.
23. A method of providing an audible message from a telephone station apparatus in an on-hook condition when the calling party information is received from a switching facility, said audible message for identifying a calling party, said telephone station apparatus having a data memory for a telephone directory, said method comprising the steps of:
registering the information of at least one pair of a subscriber telephone number and a subscriber name into the telephone directory of the data memory;
recording voice announcement message information in a voice recording memory, said voice announcement message information relating to subscriber names registered in the telephone directory;
storing voice information representative of digits 0 through 9 in a number recording memory;
detecting a ring signal received from the switching facility;
detecting the calling party information received from the switching facility;
searching the telephone directory in order to select the subscriber's telephone number or name which matches the detected calling party information;
playing back a voice message signal of a name from the recorded voice announcement message information in response to the detected telephone number or name which matches the calling party information;
in an event wherein the calling party information does not match any of the telephone number or name information registered in the telephone directory of the data memory, constructing a voice message signal of a series of numbers from the number recording memory; and providing an audible message in response to the played back or constructed voice message signal, whereby the audible message identifies the calling party.
registering the information of at least one pair of a subscriber telephone number and a subscriber name into the telephone directory of the data memory;
recording voice announcement message information in a voice recording memory, said voice announcement message information relating to subscriber names registered in the telephone directory;
storing voice information representative of digits 0 through 9 in a number recording memory;
detecting a ring signal received from the switching facility;
detecting the calling party information received from the switching facility;
searching the telephone directory in order to select the subscriber's telephone number or name which matches the detected calling party information;
playing back a voice message signal of a name from the recorded voice announcement message information in response to the detected telephone number or name which matches the calling party information;
in an event wherein the calling party information does not match any of the telephone number or name information registered in the telephone directory of the data memory, constructing a voice message signal of a series of numbers from the number recording memory; and providing an audible message in response to the played back or constructed voice message signal, whereby the audible message identifies the calling party.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2112951 CA2112951A1 (en) | 1994-01-06 | 1994-01-06 | Telephone station apparatus and method of providing voice announcement of a calling party |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2112951 CA2112951A1 (en) | 1994-01-06 | 1994-01-06 | Telephone station apparatus and method of providing voice announcement of a calling party |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2112951A1 true CA2112951A1 (en) | 1995-07-07 |
Family
ID=28679838
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2112951 Abandoned CA2112951A1 (en) | 1994-01-06 | 1994-01-06 | Telephone station apparatus and method of providing voice announcement of a calling party |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2112951A1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5903628A (en) * | 1996-11-12 | 1999-05-11 | Northern Telecom Limited | Caller information (CLID) controlled automatic answer feature for telephone |
-
1994
- 1994-01-06 CA CA 2112951 patent/CA2112951A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5903628A (en) * | 1996-11-12 | 1999-05-11 | Northern Telecom Limited | Caller information (CLID) controlled automatic answer feature for telephone |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US5602908A (en) | Calling party identifying apparatus and method therefor | |
| US6353664B1 (en) | Caller ID equipment which displays location of caller | |
| US5903628A (en) | Caller information (CLID) controlled automatic answer feature for telephone | |
| US7206572B2 (en) | Calling party announcement apparatus | |
| US6072859A (en) | Apparatus and method of generating voice message of caller's number in case of incoming call in telephone | |
| US20030190025A1 (en) | Communication apparatus, information display method, incoming call display method, incoming call history display method, programs for implementing the methods, and storage medium in which the program is stored | |
| US5109220A (en) | Selective call controller | |
| US5909647A (en) | Portable telephone system with telephone answering device | |
| CA2112951A1 (en) | Telephone station apparatus and method of providing voice announcement of a calling party | |
| JPH10276257A (en) | Telephone system | |
| CN1097367C (en) | Portable temenal | |
| JPS62243452A (en) | Incoming display system | |
| JPS6268332A (en) | Radio calling receiver with automatic dialing transmission function | |
| US6574479B1 (en) | Method and apparatus for sending a message to a pager using a subscriber telephone number | |
| KR200193157Y1 (en) | Automatic dialing call system with sound detection function | |
| JP3695147B2 (en) | Communication terminal device | |
| EP0957622A2 (en) | apparatus and method for selecting an outgoing greeting message based on call related information | |
| JP3339830B2 (en) | Communication terminal device | |
| CA2098356A1 (en) | Calling party identifying apparatus | |
| GB2107153A (en) | Telephone autodialler | |
| KR20010051591A (en) | Telephone number storing method and mobile communication terminal | |
| JPH0723091A (en) | Radio telephone system | |
| JPH0923265A (en) | Incoming call display system for telephone set | |
| JPH11308323A (en) | Telephone set | |
| KR20020036290A (en) | Method and apparatus for processing a call at a telephone used in a caller information display service |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Dead |