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:
Nov. 09, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 26, 1995
Hiroshi Miyamoto, Chiba, JP;
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Messages can be exchanged between two callers with ease by using an automatic telephone answering apparatus without calling the automatic telephone answering apparatus repeatedly. An automatic telephone answering apparatus which can automatically answer an incoming call includes a recording/reproducing unit (6) for recording an incoming call which the apparatus automatically answers, a call sound identifying circuit (8) for identifying a call sound contained in the incoming call signal, an identifying circuit (7) for identifying a predetermined control signal contained in the incoming call signal, and a flash switch (9) for temporarily opening a telephone line when the identifying circuits (7), (8) identify the call sound or the predetermined control signal. When the flash switch (9) temporarily opens the telephone line on the basis of identified results supplied thereto from the identifying circuits (7) and (8), the recording/reproducing unit (6) reproduces the incoming call signal recorded last. After the recording/reproducing unit (6) has reproduced the incoming call signal recorded last, the recording/reproducing unit (6) records an incoming call signal until the control signal identifying circuit (7) identifies the predetermined control signal.