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:
Mar. 13, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 20, 1995
James Pearce Hamley, Mill Creek, WA (US);
Six Sigma, Ltd., Mill Creek, WA (US);
Abstract
A telephone control unit,allows the calling party to optionally select either a standard telephone call or a voice-mail transmission. If a voice-mail message is selected, the system allows the user to dictate the message which is then analog-to-digital converted and stored in memory. Once the user selects the receiving party's telephone number, the system dials the number and sends a header signal to the receiving unit indicating that a voice-mail transmission is desired. If the receiving unit detects the voice-mail header, it sends an acknowledgment signal, whereby the transmitting unit digitally compresses the stored voice-mail message and transmits the compressed message through the telephone network to the receiving site. The receiving site then flashes an indicator to the user that voice-mail is waiting. Upon a user replaying a voice-mail signal, the receiving site decompresses and digital to analog converts the signal for reproduction by the user.