JP2956371B2 - Telephone - 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 a storage unit composed of an electronic memory for storing a voice message or the like from a calling side, that is, a so-called answering machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a telephone answering machine is provided with a backup power supply composed of a dry cell so that a voice message stored in a storage unit composed of an electronic memory is not erased even when a power failure occurs. Then, a display device for performing a display operation when the voltage of the dry battery is reduced is provided, and the replacement of the dry battery is prompted when the voltage is lowered.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional display device automatically displays an image when the voltage of the dry battery drops, regardless of whether the power is supplied or a power failure occurs. Therefore, when the voltage drop is displayed at the time of the power failure, if the user of the telephone does not recognize the power failure state,
There was a possibility that the dry battery, which was originally used as a backup during a power failure, would be removed for replacement. For this reason, if the power failure and the battery replacement overlap, an irreparable situation occurs in which the voice message stored and held in the storage unit is deleted. When an incoming call is detected, a voice response message is first transmitted to the transmitting side. This voice response message is recorded in advance by the user and stored in the storage unit. Therefore, as described above, when the power failure and the battery replacement overlap, the voice response message is also deleted, and it is necessary to newly record the message.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to prevent a backup power supply from being removed at the time of a power outage, and to erroneously delete a voice message or the like in a storage unit. There is no phone to offer.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a storage unit composed of an electronic memory for storing a voice message or the like from a caller and a storage operation of the storage unit at the time of a power failure are backed up. And a control means for controlling the display unit when the voltage of the power supply is reduced and displaying the state of the voltage decrease, wherein the display unit is configured to stop operating at the time of a power failure. It is configured.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the present invention, when the power supply from the outside is stopped and a power failure occurs, the operation of the display unit is stopped. Therefore, even when the voltage of the backup power supply drops, the control of the display unit is not performed at the time of the power failure, and the voltage drop state is not displayed. Therefore, there is no possibility that the backup power supply is removed for replacement at the time of power failure.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which a telephone according to the present invention is embodied in a facsimile apparatus with an answering machine function will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the facsimile apparatus 1 has a facsimile apparatus main body 2, an attached telephone 3 provided with a recording device 6, and an NCU (network control unit) 5. Facsimile machine body 2
Performs transmission and reception of image data with the other party, that is, facsimile operation. The recording device 6 performs a recording operation of a voice message from the caller. The NCU 5 controls connection with the telephone line 4. The power supply to the facsimile machine 1 is performed via the telephone line 4.

Here, the facsimile apparatus main body 2 will be described. The facsimile machine body 2 has a CP
U (central processing unit) 7, modem 8, reading unit 9, recording unit 1
0 and a start key (not shown) for starting a facsimile operation. CPU 7
The operation of the entire facsimile machine body 2 and the operation of the NCU 5 are controlled. The modem 8 modulates and demodulates transmission and reception data. The reading unit 9 reads an image on a document. The recording unit 10 performs printing on recording paper based on the received image data and the like. Although not shown, the modem 8 is provided with a tone generation circuit and a tone detection circuit for generating and detecting various tone signals used in facsimile communication. Further, the CPU 7 is connected to a buzzer 15 for generating a buzzer sound after an incoming call and notifying the operator of the incoming call from the calling side.

Next, the attached telephone 3 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the attached telephone 3 is provided with a dial CPU 11 for controlling the operation of the entire telephone 3 except for the recording device 6. Dial C
The PU 11 is connected with a dial key 12 for inputting a telephone number and the like. A handset 13 is connected to the attached telephone 3.

The recording device 6 is provided with a CPU 16 as control means for controlling the operation of the entire recording device 6, and the operation related to the absence recording of the attached telephone 3
Controlled by PU16. The CPU 16 is connected to the dial CPU 11 via a photocoupler 17 and the CP of the facsimile apparatus main body 2 via a bus (serial bus) 18 for performing serial communication.
Connected to U7. Then, the CPU 1 of the recording device 6
6, serial communication is performed between the dial CPU 11 of the attached telephone 3 and the CPU 7 of the facsimile apparatus body 2.

DSP (Digital Signal Processor)
19 is for digitally processing the audio signal,
The CP via the address bus 20 and the data bus 21
Connected to U16. The DSP 19 has a RAM 22 as a storage unit composed of an electronic memory for storing audio data in an encoded state, and an encoding / decoding circuit 23 for encoding and decoding audio data.

A battery 24 serving as a backup power supply is connected to the DSP 19, so that a voice response message stored in the RAM 22 and voice data of a voice message from the calling side are not erased during a power failure.
Back up the memory operation of The battery monitoring circuit 25 is for monitoring the voltage drop of the battery 24,
When the voltage of the recording device 4 becomes lower than a predetermined value, a detection signal is output to the CPU 16 of the recording device 6. Note that the predetermined value is
This is the lower limit voltage value at which the storage operation of the RAM 22 can be backed up.

The CPU 16 of the recording device 6 has L
A display lamp 26 as a display unit made of an ED is connected. Then, the CPU 16 controls the battery monitoring circuit 25
When the detection signal is input from the controller and the voltage of the battery 24 is recognized to be low, the display lamp 26 is turned on and off. Furthermore, this C
The PU 16 is connected to an answering key 27 for setting and canceling the answering mode, a playback key (not shown) for playing back recorded audio data, and the like.

The CPU 16 of the recording device 6 is operated based on an external power supply via the telephone line 4, and its operation is not backed up by the battery 24 at the time of a power failure. Therefore, when the power supply from the outside is stopped and a power failure occurs, the operation of the CPU 16 is stopped.

Next, the NCU 5 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the CML relay 31 connects the telephone line 4 to the modem 8 side of the facsimile
It is provided for selectively connecting to the two sides. still,
As this telephone, in addition to the accessory telephone 3 provided integrally with the facsimile apparatus 1, a sub telephone 32 connectable to the facsimile apparatus 1 via a cable (not shown) is provided. And the CML relay 31 is a
When switched to the contact side, the telephone line 4 is connected to the telephones 3 and 32. On the other hand, the CML relay 31
When switched to the contact side, the telephone line 4 is connected to the modem 8 via the transformer 33.

The incoming call detection circuit 34 is connected to the CML relay 31.
And outputs a 16-Hz calling signal transmitted from the transmitting side via the telephone line 4 to the CPU 7 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2 as digital data.
The first and second off-hook detection circuits 35 and 36 are connected to the auxiliary telephone 3 and the sub telephone 32, respectively.
The facsimile apparatus main body 2 detects an off-hook state of 32 (a state in which the handset is picked up) and outputs the detection result to the CPU 7 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2. The detection result from the first off-hook detection circuit 35 of the attached telephone 3 is also output to the dial CPU 11 of the attached telephone 3.

The DC voltage generating circuit 37 includes the telephones 3 and 32
To supply a predetermined current to the telephones 3 and 32 in order to detect the off-hook of the
24V is applied. That is, when the telephones 3 and 32 are off-hook, a change in the current supplied to the telephones 3 and 32 is detected by the off-hook detection circuits 35 and 36. Then, based on the current detection by the off-hook detection circuits 35 and 36, the CP of the facsimile
U7 and the dial CPU 11 of the attached telephone 3 recognize the off-hook state.

The DC voltage generating circuit 37 connects the telephones 3 and 32 to the telephone line 4 via a TEL relay 38.
And are switchably connected. And TEL relay 3
When the telephone 8 is connected to the contact a, the telephones 3 and 32 are connected to the telephone line 4. When the TEL relay 38 is connected to the contact b, the telephones 3 and 32 are connected to the DC voltage generating circuit 37. Is done. Transformer 39 is telephone 3,3
2 and the output side is connected to the modem 8.

As described above, the facsimile machine 1
Then, by operating the answering key 27, setting of the answering mode,
Release is performed. That is, when a calling signal is transmitted from the calling side in the absence mode setting, the CPU 7 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2 transmits the calling signal to the incoming call detection circuit 3.
4 to detect. When the CPU 7 detects the call signal a predetermined number of times (two times in this embodiment), the CPU 7 outputs an incoming call instruction signal to the CPU 16 of the recording device 6 and
16 is notified of the incoming call. Then, the CPU 1 of the recording device 6
6 operates the DSP 19 to read out the voice response message data recorded and stored in the RAM 22 in advance. Then, the DSP 19 decodes the data of the voice response message by the encoding / decoding circuit 23 and sends out the data to the telephone line 4 via the NCU 5.

Thereafter, when the reading of the voice response message is completed, the CPU 16 of the recording device 6 causes the DSP 19 to start the recording operation. Then, when the voice message is transmitted from the transmitting side, the DSP 19 encodes the data of the voice message by the encoding / decoding circuit 23,
It is stored in the RAM 22.

When a facsimile signal such as a CNG signal is transmitted from the transmitting side after an incoming call, the CPU 7 of the facsimile apparatus main body 2 stops the recording operation of the voice message by the recording device 6. Then, the CPU 7 starts a facsimile operation according to a predetermined facsimile procedure.

Now, in the facsimile apparatus with the absence recording function configured as described above, the CP of the recording apparatus 6
Under the control of U16, an operation as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is performed. It is assumed that power is supplied to the facsimile apparatus 1 from the outside via the telephone line 4.

The battery monitoring circuit 25 monitors the voltage drop of the battery 24 (step S1). If the voltage drop is not detected, the display lamp 26 is not blinked and is kept off (step S2). When the voltage drop is detected, the display lamp 26 blinks to prompt the replacement of the battery 24 (step S3).

That is, if the voltage of the battery 24 decreases while power is supplied from the outside via the telephone line 4, C
Under the control of the PU 16, the display lamp 26 flashes,
The replacement of the battery 24 is prompted. Therefore, when the display lamp 26 flashes, the battery 24 can be removed and replaced with a new one. At this time, since the storage operation of the RAM 22 is performed by external power supply, even if the battery 24 is removed, the voice response message stored in the RAM 22 and the voice data of the voice message from the caller are deleted. Nothing.

However, external power supply is stopped,
When a power failure occurs, the operation of the CPU 16 of the recording device 6 is stopped, and the above-described program of FIG. 3 is not executed. Therefore, in the event of a power failure, the battery monitoring circuit 25 uses the battery 24
Even if the voltage drop is detected, the CPU 16 does not control the blinking of the display lamp 26, and the display lamp 26 is kept off.

As described above, even if the battery monitoring circuit 25 detects a drop in the voltage of the battery 24, the indicator lamp 26 does not blink in the event of a power failure, and the battery 24 may be removed for replacement in a power failure state. There is no. Further, even if a voltage drop of the battery 24 is detected at the time of the power failure, a voltage that can back up the storage operation of the RAM 22 remains in the battery 24.

Therefore, even when the power failure and the voltage drop of the battery 24 overlap, the voice response message stored in the RAM 22 and the voice data of the voice message from the transmitting side are not erased. As a result, the voice response message is deleted, and it is necessary to re-record the message, or the voice message from the caller is deleted, making it impossible to confirm the caller during the absence. I never do.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, when a voltage drop of the battery 24 is detected, the display lamp 26 may be continuously turned on instead of blinking, or a liquid crystal display may be used as a display unit. Such as to display the voltage drop by characters,
The configuration of each unit can be arbitrarily changed and embodied without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0030]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, there is no possibility that the backup power supply is removed at the time of a power failure,
This provides an excellent effect that a voice message or the like in the storage unit is not erased by mistake.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing one embodiment in which a telephone according to the present invention is embodied in a facsimile apparatus with an answering machine.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing an attached telephone and a recording device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the facsimile machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

16: CPU as control means, 22: RAM as storage unit, 24: battery as backup power supply, 25 ...
Battery monitoring circuit, 26 ... Indicator lamp as display unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04M 1/00 H04M 1/24 H04M 1/58-1/65

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage unit comprising an electronic memory for storing a voice message or the like from a caller, a power supply for backing up a storage operation of the storage unit at the time of a power failure, and displaying when a voltage of the power supply drops. Control means for controlling the unit to display the voltage drop state,
The telephone, wherein the display unit is configured to stop operating when a power failure occurs.