Automatic telephone answering and message recording device

Abstract

An automatic telephone answering device employs a single magnetic tape and a single driving mechanism for driving the magnetic tape. Whenever an incoming call is received, a control circuit of the device sets the driving mechanism into a playback mode to play to the calling party an outgoing message recorded at the beginning of a track on the single magnetic tape. Then, if there have been no previously recorded incoming messages, the device records the calling party's incoming message on the same track after detecting the end of the recorded outgoing message. However, if any incoming messages have been recorded previously on the same track of the single magnetic tape, the tape is advanced at high speed to a point beyond the last of these previously recorded incoming messages. Then, the present incoming message is recorded. As soon as the incoming call is terminated and the recording of the incoming message is ended, the device is set into a rewind mode. When the beginning of the recorded outgoing message is detected, the driving mechanism is stopped, and the device is set into a standby mode to greet the next incoming call with the recorded outgoing message. In a preferred embodiment, a microcomputer is used to control the operation of the device. Also, in a preferred embodiment, a low-frequency (30 Hz) control signal is recorded with the outgoing message and with the incoming messages, and the recorded messages are separated by silent regions free of any recorded control signal.