The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 24, 1997
Filed:
Oct. 06, 1993
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A communications system connected to a telephone network includes a facsimile machine and a telephone set. The telephone set includes a telephone for conducting voice communications over the telephone network and a telephone answering machine for automatically responding to calls received by the telephone set over the telephone network. One or more operational parameters of the answering machine are set to define how it automatically responds to calls. A switch connects either the facsimile machine or the telephone set to a telephone network. One or more operational parameters of the answering machine is initially detected and stored. A controller controls the switch to connect either the facsimile machine or the telephone set to a telephone network based on a comparison of the stored parameter(s) and subsequently detected operational parameter(s) detected when the answering machine responds to a call.