Telephone answering machine in paging systems with automatic number identification based message operations

An automatic telephone answering device employing an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) decoder to selectively perform operations on a telephone call is described. The device may perform such operations as to selectively not respond, end, record or forward a telephone call wherein the selection is dependent upon the ANI signal associated with the telephone call, and the operations are determined prior to the reception of the telephone call. In using the automatic answering device in a paging system, a method of selectively forwarding a telephone message to a paging device and ultimately to a pager is described, wherein the selection is dependent upon the ANI signal associated with the telephone call. Additionally, a way to selectively distribute message storage between a telephone answering machine and a pager is described.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to the field of telephone message 
answering devices, and in particular, to telephone message answering 
devices with automatic number identification (ANI) capability. The ANI 
capability is used to selectively operate the answering device in response 
to an identified telephone message. This invention also relates to the 
field of selectively directing messages to paging devices in which the 
messages are received from a telephone network and the messages are 
selectively operated on and transmitted to a pager based upon the ANI 
signal. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Telephone answering devices are well known and widely used as consumer 
products. These devices include the ability to answer a telephone call, 
play a predetermined message, and record a message from the telephone 
caller. There are many other additional features which are available. Some 
devices allow messages to be played back over the telephone network via 
remote command from the caller. Additionally, other telephone answering 
devices have the capability to dial a predetermined telephone number and 
play back a recorded message to that telephone number. Other telephone 
answering devices use a prerecorded voice message to request the caller to 
enter data over the telephone by using a 12-button keypad. This data is 
then stored and forwarded to a paging type transmitter and ultimately 
received and displayed by a paging receiver. 
None of these answering machines has been capable of selectively operating 
on a message based on the source of the call, with the source of the call 
being determined by an ANI signal generated by the telephone network. 
Although some answering devices are capable of selectively performing 
operations, they do so only at the prompt of the caller. Thus, the caller 
must enter additional information to identify himself or the steps he 
desires the answering device to perform. In this implementation, it is the 
caller who controls the operation of the answering device. The prior art 
shows no solution for executing a variety of predetermined operation based 
on the source of the call without caller intervention. 
New paging receivers will be capable of recording and storing voice 
messages. The messages are sent to the pagers in an analog form, then 
digitized by the pager and stored in a Random Access Memory (RAM) 
contained within the pager. An example of such a device may be found in 
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/06,682 to Bennett, et al. entitled 
"Digitized Stored Voice Paging Receiver" and assigned to the assignee of 
the present invention, which is hereby incorporated by reference. In 
general, the amount of RAM required to store voice message is large 
compared to the amount of RAM normally required by paging devices. This 
RAM is costly and draws large amounts of current, thereby increasing the 
cost and reducing the battery life of a pager. Therefore, it is desirable 
to limit the amount of RAM required by the pager and further to limit its 
use, thereby reducing the cost and current drain of the pager. This can be 
done by selectively forwarding messages to the pager based upon a 
selection made by a telephone answering device and that selection is based 
upon the source of the telephone call. 
The U.S. telephone network is evolving, and the evolution is to an 
integrated services digital network (ISDN) system. The ISDN system 
addresses the telecommunications issues of the future and will allow high 
speed computer-to-computer interfacing and voice message services over the 
telephone network as well as several other services, all on a standardized 
protocol. The aspects of the ISDN proposed systems are too broad to be 
addressed in this application, but one important aspect of the system is 
the automatic number identification (ANI) that will be included with each 
telephone message. The ISDN system already in place in several areas sends 
an ANI signal indicative of the telephone number of the origin of the 
telephone call. Thus, when the ISDN system is operational nationwide, it 
will be possible to determine the source of the telephone call prior to 
answering the telephone call. Currently, such ANI signals are commonly 
used in PBX systems and within the existing telephone network to route 
calls and handle billing charges. ANI signalling is also widely used in 
the "911" emergency telephone system. However, at this time, these ANI 
signals are generally not available at the receiving telephone call. 
Implementation of the full ISDN network will make these ANI signals 
generally available to the receiving telephone and/or telephone answering 
devices. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to have a telephone 
answering device with the capability of decoding an ANI signal with 
further processing of a message based upon the decoded ANI signal. The 
several responsive operations of the telephone answering device may 
include terminating a telephone call, recording a telephone call, making a 
second connection on the telephone network to a second telephone number 
and forwarding the telephone call to the second telephone number, 
recording the call and playing the recorded telephone message back to a 
second telephone number, or connecting the telephone line to another 
device such as a personal computer or security system. In all cases, the 
selected operation will be made based upon the decoded ANI signal received 
with the telephone call. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for a system and 
method of selectively forwarding telephone messages to paging receivers, 
the selection being based upon the ANI signal and made by a telephone 
answering device. The telephone answering device is additionally capable 
of recording a message and/or recording a message and forwarding it to a 
paging receiver. The telephone answering device is further capable of 
terminating the call or making a second connection over the telephone 
network to the pager for relaying the telephone message directly to the 
paging terminal and ultimately the pager. 
It is yet an additional object of the present invention to provide for a 
system and method for distributing the recording of a telephone message 
between a telephone answering device and a paging device, wherein the 
distribution is based upon the received ANI signal within the telephone 
message.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 shows a telephone network with an ANI encoding capability 2. Such 
networks are well known to those familiar with the art and are in 
operation in several geographic areas in the United States. The telephone 
network transmits a telephone message from a calling telephone connected 
somewhere to the telephone network to a receiving telephone line 4. The 
ANI encoding is a function performed by the network which identifies the 
originating phone number of the message delivered to the received 
telephone line. ANI encoding is currently used in "911" information 
systems and many private PBX exchange systems. As previously stated, ANI 
will generally become available to receiving telephone lines with the 
advent of the nationwide ISDN system. 
The receiving telephone line is connected to a telephone answering device 6 
shown enclosed by a broken line. The telephone answering device is shown 
to comprise an ANI decoder 8, a controller 10, a block of telephone 
answering machine functions 12, and a switching means 14. The telephone 
answering device provides additional interface capability to external 
devices such as a personal computer 16 or other devices 18 which may be 
connected to a telephone line for information transfer. Other such devices 
may include items such as a paging terminal, a home security system, an 
energy monitoring device, and the like. Additionally, the telephone 
answering machine may connect back into network 2 through a second 
telephone line 20. The second telephone line allows the answering machine 
to make a second connection back to the telephone network for transferring 
the incoming call to a second predetermined phone number connected 
elsewhere to the telephone network. 
Turning now to FIG. 2 which shows a detailed functional block diagram of 
telephone answering device 6, many of the functions of the telephone 
answering device 6 are well known to those familiar with the art. 
Telephone line one designated as 4 is used for receiving an incoming 
telephone call as well as an ANI signal generated by the telephone 
network. ANI decoder 8 decodes the ANI signal generated by the telephone 
network, thereby identifying the source telephone number of the calling 
telephone. Call answering device 22 is a circuit for accepting and ending 
a telephone call from the telephone network. Memory means 24 contains a 
table of predetermined source telephone numbers and corresponding 
operational sequences to be performed upon reception of a telephone call 
from that number. The contents of memory means 24 may be programmed by a 
programmer device 25 whose operation is not necessary for the description 
of this invention and is well known to those skilled in the art. Message 
player 26 contains a plurality of predetermined messages. A predetermined 
message is played on telephone line 4 in response to a signal from the 
controller. Construction of a message playing device capable of playing a 
plurality of messages are well known to those familiar with the art. 
Controller 10 is typically a microprocessor-based controller. Any one of a 
number of microcomputers may be used in this application, but the 
preferable microcomputer is the MC68HC05C4 microcomputer manufactured by 
Motorola, Inc. One of the functions of the controller is to compare the 
source telephone number decoded by the ANI decoder 8 with the contents of 
the memory 24 and to determine the operational sequence to be performed by 
the telephone answering device. The controller acts to switch on or off 
various functions of the telephone answering device based upon the 
operational sequence. 
Switch one designated as 27 is a switch that is opened or closed in 
response to a signal from controller 10. Switch 27 connects or disconnects 
telephone line 4 to an intermediate telephone line 38. The record and 
playback device 30 is used for recording a telephone message from the 
intermediate telephone line 38 and playing a telephone message back on the 
intermediate telephone line. Playback button 37 allows for the user 
activation of a playback of a recorded message by the answering device. 
Playback button 37 generates a signal to the controller in response to 
which the controller generates a signal causing the record and playback 
device to play back a message through audio amplifier 34 and speaker 36, 
allowing the message to be heard at the telephone answering device. 
Telephone dialer 28 dials telephone numbers recognized by the telephone 
network 2 in a manner well known to those familiar with the art, thus 
allowing the telephone answering device to place outgoing calls. The 
telephone dialer dials a phone number in response to a signal from 
controller 10. 
Telephone switch two designated as 32 allows connection of several devices 
to the intermediate telephone line 38. Switch 32 allows the intermediate 
telephone line 38 to be connected through an interface A designated as 40, 
to a second telephone line 20. Switch 32 also allows connection through an 
interface B designated as 42 to a second device B designated as 44 
interfaceable to the telephone line. Device 44 may be a personal computer 
for which interface B is a modem and the interface protocol is known as 
RS232. In such an event, the modem of interface B and personal computer of 
device 44 are well known to those familiar with the art. It can be 
appreciated that many kinds of devices may be connected to a telephone 
line. Consequently, there may be a number of N interfaces and devices may 
be connected. The Nth interface designated as 46 is the last interface and 
device N designated as 48 is the last device connectable to the telephone 
line. 
It will be appreciated that with controller 10 taking input and output 
signals from the various devices and enabling and disabling these devices 
to and from a first or second or intermediate telephone line that the 
combination of the controller and the devices form a switching circuit, 
the switching circuit being responsive to the operational sequence 
contained within memory 24 and correspondingly the operational sequence is 
dependent upon the source telephone number contained within the received 
ANI signal. 
Turning now to FIG. 3A which shows the partial contents of memory 24, the 
memory arrangement shows a source telephone number and a corresponding 
operational sequence. The operational sequence comprises a sequence of 
steps to be performed upon receiving a call from a predetermined source 
telephone number. It can be appreciated that a large number of 
predetermined source telephone numbers may be stored in the memory means, 
each source telephone number possibly having a unique operational 
sequence. In operation, when a message is received and the ANI portion 
decoded, controller 10 accesses memory 24 to cause the correct 
corresponding operational sequence to be accessed for further processing 
of the message. Additionally, it is possible to specify a common operation 
for a group of source telephone numbers by specifying variable digits in 
the predetermined telephone number. An incoming telephone number need only 
match the predetermined digits and not the variable digits in the 
predetermined telephone number. It should be appreciated that the range of 
a variable digit may be specified. Additionally, an operational sequence 
for all source telephone numbers not particularly specified is shown. 
FIG. 3B is a table showing the possible operations performed by each of the 
functions of the preferred embodiment for the answering device. Referring 
to FIG. 3B, each function may have an output signal to controller 10 or an 
input signal from controller 10 and these are described with the name and 
function. Many of the functions of the answering device are known and the 
following is a listing of the description of the several functions. 
Output signals coming from the ANI decoder 8 to controller 10 are CALL 
DETECT and SOURCE. CALL DETECT indicates the presence of an incoming call 
and establishes decoding of the SOURCE of the ANI decoded signal. The 
SOURCE information contains the source telephone number of the calling 
telephone call. 
An input signal to the call answering device 22 from controller 10 is 
ANSWER which causes device 22 to "answer" the telephone call. A second 
input signal END causes the answering device 22 to "end" the telephone 
call. An output signal from the answering device to the controller is HANG 
UP. The HANG UP signal indicates that the calling telephone has hung up. 
The message player 26 has a PLAY X input signal from the controller 10 
which commands the message player to play a predetermined message, X. 
Since the message player may contain a number of playable messages, a 
command to PLAY 3 would cause message player 26 play message 3 in its 
entirety. 
Input signals to switch 27 from controller 10 are OPEN 1 and CLOSE 1. The 
signal OPEN 1 opens switch one, thereby isolating telephone line 4 from 
intermediate line 38. The signal CLOSE 1 closes switch one, thereby 
connecting telephone line 4 to intermediate line 38. 
A signal from controller 10 to telephone dialer 28 is DIAL followed by a 
phone number. The phone number may be any sequence of digits necessary to 
dial a predetermined phone number. Telephone dialer 28 has three output 
signals to the controller which detects, after the telephone number was 
dialed, if the telephone is BUSY, if the telephone is ANSWERED, or if the 
telephone is not answered within a predetermined time, NO ANSWER signal. 
The controller uses these outputs as conditions for subsequent operational 
sequences. 
The record and playback device 30 accepts a RECORD signal and a PLAYBACK 
signal from controller 10. The RECORD signal causes the record and 
playback device to record messages from the intermediate telephone line 
38. The PLAYBACK command instructs the recorder and playback device to 
play back a recorded message on intermediate telephone line 38. 
Switch 32 acts as a single pole multiple throw switch having N positions. A 
signal from controller 10 indicates which of the N devices to connect to 
intermediate line 38. A second signal instructs switch two to open the 
connection between line 38 and any of the interface devices currently 
connected. The operation of switch 32 combined with switch 27 allows any 
of the telephone interfaceable devices 20, 44 or 48 to interface with 
answering machine functions 8, 22, 26, 28, or 30 under control of 
controller 10. Additionally, through the operation of switch 32 and switch 
27, telephone line may be ultimately connected to telephone line 20, 
allowing direct transfer of a telephone message, or telephone line 4 may 
be ultimately interfaceable to device 44 or 48 under control of controller 
10 for communication with that device. 
Turning now to FIGS. 4B and 4C which in combination, depict a flow chart 
showing possible operational sequences of the telephone answering device, 
this flow chart may be implemented in microcode contained in the program 
ROM of controller 10. The program enters at a start location 100 which 
initializes the microcomputer and I/O functions necessary to run the 
answering machine. These operations are well known to those familiar with 
the art. Step 105 includes CLOSE 1 which connects telephone line 4 to 
intermediate line 38 and OPEN ALL which disconnects intermediate line 38 
from any external device. The program then proceeds to step 110 to check 
for a CALL DETECT signal from the ANI decoder 8. If no CALL DETECT is 
received, the program proceeds back to step 105. If a CALL DETECT is 
received, the program proceeds to check the decoded SOURCE telephone 
number from ANI signal in step 115. If the SOURCE is a number such as 
305-555-1111 which corresponds to a predetermined number for lock out, the 
program proceeds to step 120 to check for a HANG UP signal from call 
answering device 22. If no HANG UP signal is received, the program loops 
back to step 120, thereby continuously checking for the HANG UP signal. If 
a HANG UP signal is received, the program proceeds back to step 105. In 
this operational sequence, the source telephone number causes the 
answering device to allow the telephone call to ring indefinitely, thus 
the answering device responds as if no answering device is present. 
Referring back to step 115, if the SOURCE did not correspond to the phone 
number, the program proceeds to step 125 to check if the SOURCE 
corresponds to a phone number of 305-555-2222. If the SOURCE corresponds, 
then the controller instructs the answering device 22 to ANSWER the 
telephone call, step 130. Upon answering the telephone call, controller 10 
instructs the answering device 22 to END the telephone call, step 135. 
Upon completion of step 135, the program proceeds back to step 105, the 
start of the flow chart. This operational sequence instructs the answering 
machine to effectively terminate a telephone call from 305555-222. wherein 
the call is answered and immediately hung up, thereby inhibiting or 
locking out any type of phone call from this number. This operational 
sequence may be directed to a source of nuisance telephone calls. 
Referring back to step 125, if the SOURCE did not match, the program 
proceeds to step 140 to check if the SOURCE equals 202-XXX-XXXX, where "X" 
indicates a variable digit. In this event, only the area code of a phone 
number is specified, and the remainder of the phone number is a variable. 
In this event, all calls originating from area code 202 will proceed to 
step 145 where controller 10 instructs the answering device to ANSWER the 
telephone call. The controller then instructs message player 26 to PLAY 1 
which causes the message player to play message one, step 150. Upon 
playing message one, the program proceeds to step 135 where the controller 
instructs the call answering device 22 to END the telephone call. The 
program proceeds back to the start. In the event that the telephone call 
originates from anywhere within area code 202, this operational sequence 
plays a predetermined message to the telephone caller and ends the call. 
This message may contain information pertinent to any expected calls 
originating from that area code. 
Referring back to step 140, if the SOURCE does not equal the number 
specified, the program proceeds to step 155 to check if the SOURCE equals 
305-555XXX, 3XXX, where "X" indicates a variable digit. The last three 
digits of the telephone number being variable may indicate a call from a 
certain trunk line belonging to a factory or large office complex. In this 
event, the program proceeds to step 160 wherein the controller instructs 
call answering device 22 to ANSWER the telephone call. The program then 
proceeds to step 165 at which controller 10 instructs message player 26 to 
PLAY 2 wherein message player plays a predetermined message two on the 
telephone line 4. Upon completion of message two, the controller instructs 
the record and playback device to RECORD, step 170, to record the message 
on the telephone line 4. Note that since switch one, 127, was closed in 
step 105 of the program, intermediate line 38 is connected to telephone 
line one 4, thereby allowing the record and playback device to record a 
message from telephone line 4. 
Upon completion of recording the message, the program proceeds to step 175 
at which controller 10 instructs the answering device to END the telephone 
call. The program then proceeds to step 180 at which controller 10 
instructs the telephone dialer 28 to DIAL 555-1212, a predetermined phone 
number. At step 185, the program delays until a signal is returned from 
the record and playback device indicating whether the dial telephone call 
was busy, answered, or no answer. If the telephone dialer returns a BUSY 
or a NO ANSWER signal, the program proceeds back to step 175 to END the 
telephone call, whereupon the program proceeds to redial the telephone 
number, step 180, and then goes to step 185. This loop is continued until 
the telephone call is answered. 
In step 185, when the record and playback device returns an ANSWER signal, 
the program proceeds to step 190 at which the controller instructs the 
record and playback device 30 to PLAY BACK the message previously recorded 
in step 170. Upon completion of playing back the record message, the 
program proceeds to step 135 at which the outgoing telephone call is 
ended. The program then proceeds back to step 105 where the process is 
restarted. 
To summarize, this partial operational sequence beginning at step 155, in 
the event a telephone call is received from a source of 305-5553XXX, the 
telephone call is answered, a unique message for the set of numbers is 
played to the caller, and the caller recites a message which is recorded 
within the answering machine. The answering machine then ends the incoming 
call and attempts to dial a second phone number 555-1212, and upon 
successful answering of the dialed phone number, plays back the recorded 
message to the telephone number. Upon completion of the playback, the 
answering machine ends the call and restarts its answering sequence. It 
can be appreciated that the telephone number 555-1212 may be to a number 
of possible destinations including a paging terminal and ultimately a 
pager. 
If in step 155 the SOURCE was not within the numbers specified, the program 
proceeds to step 200 to check if the SOURCE equals 305-555-4444. If the 
SOURCE matches, the program proceeds to step 205 at which the controller 
instructs the answering device 22 to ANSWER the telephone call. The 
controller then instructs message player 26 to PLAY 3, step 210. Playing 
message 3 plays a unique message particular to the source of step 200. The 
program then proceeds to step 215 at which controller 10 sends an OPEN 1 
signal to switch one 27. In doing so, telephone line 4 is disconnected 
from intermediate line 38. The controller then sends a CONNECT A signal to 
switch two 32 in step 220. In doing so, intermediate line 38 is now 
connected through switch two to interface A, 40 and telephone line two 20. 
The controller then sends a DIAL 555-2323 signal to telephone dialer 28 in 
step 225. This causes the telephone number 555-2323 to be dialed on 
telephone line two. After dialing the phone number, the program proceeds 
to step 230 wherein the controller sends a CLOSE 1 signal to switch one. 
The switch one 27 and switch two 32 now allows for the connection between 
telephone line one and telephone line two, effectively transferring the 
calling telephone to the telephone number 555-2323. The program then 
proceeds to step 235 to wait for a HANG UP signal from call answering 
device 22. Upon detection of the HANG UP signal, the program proceeds to 
step 135 at which the telephone call is ended. The program then proceeds 
back to step 105 at which switch one is initialized to the closed position 
and switch two is reopened. To briefly summarize the partial operational 
sequence beginning at step 200, if the phone number was originated from a 
source of 305-555-4444, the call is transferred to a second phone number 
555-2323 on a second telephone line, thereby allowing the incoming call to 
be connected transparently to a second telephone. 
Referring back to step 200, if the SOURCE did not equal the number 
specified, the program proceeds to step 240 to check if the SOURCE equals 
305-555-5555. If in step 240 the SOURCE matches, the program proceeds to 
step 245 at which controller 10 instructs the call answering device 22 to 
ANSWER the telephone call. The program then proceeds to step 250 at which 
the controller sends a signal to switch two 32 to CONNECT B, resulting in 
intermediate line 38 being connected to Interface B 42. The program then 
proceeds to step 255 at which the HANG UP DETECT signal is expected from 
call answering device 22. The connection is maintained until the HANG UP 
signal is detected. Upon detection of the HANG UP signal, the program 
proceeds back to step 135 at which the call is ended and the program then 
proceeds back to the start, step 105, where switch one and switch two are 
reinitialized. To summarize this partial operational sequence beginning at 
step 240, a call originating from 305-555-5555 is answered and immediately 
connected to an interface B 42 which eventually connects the telephone 
line to device B 44. This kind of interface is useful where device B is a 
personal computer and the SOURCE from step 240 is a call from another 
computer device. This operational sequence effectively directly connects 
the calling computer to another personal computer and the call is 
maintained until a HANG UP is detected. 
Referring back to step 240, if the SOURCE did not match, the program 
proceeds to step 260, at which controller 10 instructs the call answering 
device 22 to ANSWER the call. The program then proceeds to step 265 at 
which controller 10 sends a PLAY 4 signal to message player 26, thereby 
causing message player 26 to play message 4 on the telephone line. The 
program then proceeds to step 270 at which controller 10 sends a RECORD 
signal to the record and playback device 30. Upon completion of recording 
the message, the program proceeds to step 135 where the phone call is 
ended and the program then proceeds back to step 105. To summarize this 
operational sequence beginning at step 260 which is performed on all 
non-specified source telephone numbers, the sequence causes the answering 
machine to answer the telephone call, play a unique predetermined message, 
and then record any message from the telephone call. After recording the 
message, the answering machine proceeds back to the start. 
To summarize, FIGS. 4B and 4C show a plurality of possible operational 
sequences performed by the telephone answering device of the present 
invention. The operational sequences perform various operations on a 
telephone call where an operational sequence is selected from a plurality 
of predetermined operational sequences and the selection is based upon the 
source telephone number of the telephone call. It can be appreciated that 
numerous variations of the operational sequences described may be 
implemented with the elements described within the telephone answering 
machine thereby realizing various modifications to the operational 
sequences. 
Additionally, it should be appreciated by those familiar with the art that 
both voice and data transmissions are possible on a telephone line, and 
the contents of any message may be voice or digital in nature. Therefore, 
not only may the telephone message be of voice or digital content, but the 
contents of messages stored in message player 26 and record and playback 
device 30 may also be voice or digital in nature. Since the telephone 
answering device operates upon a message independent of the content, the 
operations on a data message will be performed equally as well as if the 
message contained voice information. 
Referring now to FIG. 5, a block diagram for a system comprising a 
telephone answering device of the present invention and a paging system is 
illustrated. FIG. 5 shows a calling telephone 400 which corresponds to the 
source of the telephone call. The call enters into a telephone network 405 
with automatic number generation. The automatic number identification 
automatically generates a signal indicative of the source telephone 
number. This signal is transmitted to an automatic telephone answering 
device 410 of the present invention when the telephone number of the 
device is dialed by the calling telephone. The telephone answering device 
410 is functionally equivalent to the device shown in FIG. 2, and it 
contains an ANI decoder, message storage and playback functions as well as 
a plurality of other functions necessary to handle telephone messaging. In 
one implementation, the telephone answering device is capable of 
interfacing to a paging terminal 415 through telephone network 405. In 
this implementation, the paging terminal 415 may be one of several types, 
however, the Modax paging terminal manufactured by Motorola, Inc. is 
preferable. The interface from the telephone answering machine to the 
paging terminal may be through a 1 or 2 telephone line interface, a one 
telephone line interface allowing a message stored in the telephone 
answering device to be relayed to the paging terminal, and a two telephone 
line answering device being capable of connecting the message source with 
the paging terminal in which the operational sequence of either is 
dependent upon the source of the telephone call. The interconnection to 
such a paging terminal and the terminal's subsequent operation are well 
known in the art. As an example, the Motorola publication 68P81000B55 
bearing the date 9/86 ; entitled "Modax 100 Installation and User's Guide" 
provides a detailed operational description of the paging terminal. Paging 
terminal 415 transmits to a paging receiver 420 which is capable of 
receiving and decoding paging signals modulated by the paging terminal in 
a radio frequency manner. The paging receiver also has the capability to 
store a message and to play back a message. An example of paging receiver 
420 is described by U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/068,682 to 
Bennett, et al. entitled "Digitized Stored Voice Paging Receiver" which is 
a continuation of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 07/068,682, now 
abandoned. The continuation application 07/323,056 is assigned to the 
assignee of the present invention and is hereby incorporated by reference. 
In general, the paging terminal operation would be substantially the same 
for the incoming call, whether it is from an answering machine of the 
present invention or a prior art line caller. 
In an alternate implementation for FIG. 5, the telephone answering device 
may be directly connected to a paging terminal, thereby eliminating the 
necessity for a second connection to the telephone network. The interface 
would be performed through an interface 46 and the paging terminal would 
be device 48 of FIG. 2. This implementation is shown by the broken line 
between answering device 410 and paging terminal 415 of FIG. 5. In this 
alternate implementation, the paging terminal could be a "People Finder" 
paging terminal manufactured by Motorola, Inc. The interfacing with and 
subsequent operation of such a paging terminal are well known in the art. 
As an example, the Motorola publication 68P81000B20 bearing the date 12/86 
entitled "People Finder" On Site Communications System" provides a 
detailed operational description of the "People Finder" paging terminal. 
The operational sequence is similar to steps 240 through 255 of FIG. 4C 
for accessing the paging terminal. It can be appreciated that other 
operational sequences may exist that would allow access to the paging 
terminal 415, wherein the access is permitted based upon the source 
telephone number. Again, paging receiver 420 could be as previously 
described. 
Answering machine 410 provides a device for limiting telephone message 
reception in a paging receiver by selectively directing the telephone 
message to paging transmitter, either directly or through the telephone 
network, and ultimately to the paging receiver. The message originates 
from message source or calling telephone 400, and telephone answering 
machine 410 determines the source of the message and, based on a 
predetermined set of operations, selectively forwards the message to the 
paging terminal 415. Pager 420 may then receive the message, but that 
reception is dependent upon the source of the message. 
Similarly, since the telephone answering machine 410 is capable of storing 
messages and paging receiver 420 is also capable of storing messages, it 
is possible to selectively direct a message storage from a message source 
400 to either telephone answering machine 410 message storage or paging 
receiver 420 message storage. Thus, messages may be distributed throughout 
the system. The storage decision is based upon the source telephone number 
of the message or calling telephone 400. This is accomplished through an 
operational sequence shown in FIG. 4B. Referring to steps 155 through 190 
of FIG. 4B, the process is implemented on a single line telephone 
answering machine when the telephone number dialed by the telephone 
answering device of step 180 corresponds to a telephone number of the 
pager assigned by paging terminal 415. In this case, telephone answering 
machine will answer the telephone call, record a message, dial the paging 
telephone number 555-1212 and then play back the message to the paging 
terminal. The paging terminal subsequently transmits the message to the 
pager for storage. Similarly, on a two-line interface, the process is 
completed by steps 200 through 235. For example, if the phone number 
555-2323 of step 225 corresponds to paging receiver 420's telephone number 
assigned by the paging terminal, the telephone call is received and 
answered, a connection is made through two-line interface to the telephone 
network 405 between the message source 400 and paging terminal 415. The 
message is directly transmitted to the paging terminal and ultimately to 
paging receiver 420 for storage. 
Similarly, on a paging terminal directly connected to the telephone 
answering device, the process is described by steps 240 through 255. If 
the ANI determines that the call should be forwarded, the caller is 
directly connected to the paging terminal and a page is entered and then 
received by paging receiver 420 for storage. 
Messages received by telephone answering machine 410 will not be directed 
to paging receiver 420 if the calling telephone number does not correspond 
to those of a predetermined origin as shown in FIG. 4C. This sequence is 
shown in steps 260 through 270 of FIG. 4C where a telephone message is 
recorded by the telephone answering device and the call is ended. The 
telephone message is not forwarded to the paging receiver 420 in this 
case. Thus, it has been shown that a message originating at a source 400 
may be either directed to the message storage function of the telephone 
answering machine 410 or may be directed to the paging receiver 420 for 
storage with the decision based upon the source of the message. It can be 
appreciated that in a similar manner, a message may be played at either 
answering device 410 or paging receiver 420 if the message storage 
function is either inhibited or not present in the respective devices. 
Although a preferred embodiment has been disclosed in detail, it should be 
understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations may be 
made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention.