Multichannel interactive telephone answering apparatus

A multichannel interactive telephone answering apparatus (300) adapted for use with a captured telephone line (26) is responsive to the detection (318, 324, 326, 310, 328, 330) of designated arming signals transmitted by the calling party, such as from the keypad of a Touch-Tone phone, for enabling multiple and/or restricted messages to be provided and/or recorded and/or user and caller selectable screening and/or directing of calls. This can be used to direct or screen calls to a particular telephone extension in the home or to record and/or playback private messages. The apparatus (300) employs a multitrack playback apparatus (302, 304, 306) having a main channel (302) and at least one auxiliary channel (304) which are selected in response to detection of the appropriate arming signal which, when detected, activates the channel switching logic (310) to select the appropriate channel which, for example, thereafter provides prerecorded messages to the caller and/or tones to direct calls to the appropriate extension.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
The present invention relates to a telephone answering apparatus and 
particularly to such an apparatus capable of interactively providing 
caller-selectable multiple messages and/or user and caller selectable 
servicing and/or directing of an incoming call for individual telephones 
as well as multiple telephone extensions. 
BACKGROUND ART 
Telephone systems, such as Touch-Tone system or dial systems, are 
well-known and extend throughout the United States. Such systems have been 
used for normal telephone conversations and as Data Sets but have not, to 
applicant's knowledge, achieved their full utilization as a communications 
interface, such as achieved by the present invention and the invention 
described and claimed in my U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 97,687, 
filed Nov. 27, 1979 and entitled "Verbally Interactive Telephone 
Interrogation System" With Selectible Variable Decision Free, now U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,320,256, and Ser. No. 295,817, filed Aug. 24, 1981 and entitled 
"Interactive Telephone Answering System", now U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,656, in 
which the Touch-Tone type telephone is utilized to transmit unique signals 
over a captured telephone line to provide a verbally interactive telephone 
interrogation system, or to provide an interactive telephone answering 
system capable of caller selectable routing of an incoming call to a 
desired receiving telephone in accordance with a verbally interractive 
prerecorded decision tree format as in the aforementioned copending patent 
applications. Moreover, such telephone answering systems have previously 
employed telephone answering machines, such as in the home which are of 
severally limited capability and do not, to applicant's knowledge, readily 
and efficiently, allow the user to provide multiple information messages 
which can be remotely selected by a specified caller having knowledge of a 
selection code, or which readily allow a user to provide for selective 
call screening or directing via the telephone answering machine or 
apparatus to easily provide these sophisticated features for a simple home 
multiple telephone extension system merely through use of the telephone 
answering apparatus of the present invention. This is so despite the 
widespread knowledge of prior art interrogation systems, or multiple 
choice selectible response systems, such as examplified by the prior art 
cited in the aforementioned copending patent applications; namely U.S. 
Pat. Nos. 4,194,089; 3,947,972; 4,078,316; 3,950,618; 4,153,370; 
3,651,471; 4,008,369; 4,216,497; 4,107,735; 3,906,450; 2,674,512; 
3,744,712; 3,744,712; 3,776,453; 4,023,729; 3,974,335; 3,584,142; 
3,654,708; 3,668,312; 3,729,581; 2,777,901; 3,194,895; 3,245,157; 
3,273,260; 3,255,536; 3,284,923; 3,477,144; 3,484,950; 3,538,621; 
3,5646,791; 3,623,238; 3,665,615; 3,708,891; 3,763,577 and 3,774,316. The 
aforementioned systems also include broadcast audience poll systems such 
as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,674,512; 3,744,712; 3,776,453; 3,974,335; 
4,023,729 and 3,950,618. Moreover, automatic telephone answering systems 
employing multitrack prerecorded messages in a fixed format are known, 
such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,089, however such prior art 
systems are not truly interactive telephone answering systems capable of 
enabling caller selectable routing of an incoming call to a desired 
receiving telephone in accordance with a verbally interactive prerecorded 
decision tree format, merely providing for the recording of messages by 
the caller and the reception of prerecorded messages by that caller, and 
moreover do not provide a caller selectable multiple information message 
capability. Thus, for example, none of the prior art systems known to 
applicant is a verbally interactive telephone answering system enabling 
caller selectable routing of an incoming call to a desired receiving 
telephone in accordance with a verbally interactive prerecorded decision 
tree format, such as a system in which the caller may pass through a 
verbally interactive decision tree process before indicating which 
telephone extension the caller desires to be connected to, with this 
extension being automatically rung due to a prerecorded arming signal, or 
with the call being automatically forwarded due to prerecorded dialing 
codes located on the verbally interacitve multitrack tape. In addition, 
although conventional telephone answering machines enable the owner to 
listen to the incoming message as it is being recorded, there are no such 
systems known to applicant which enable call screening in a variable 
decision tree format such as utilized in the present invention. Moreover, 
although two-way communication systems have become popular for purposes of 
polling or interrogation, such as the cable TV system known as QUBE, these 
prior art systems are not individualized verbally interactive systems nor 
do they enable caller selectable routing of incoming calls in accordance 
with a verbally interactive prerecorded decision tree format. Moreover, 
although message routing networks are well known, such as for example, the 
systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,458,180; 1,556,727; 1,569,727; 
2,430,205; 3,300,771; and 3,686,630, these systems do not employ a 
telephone answering apparatus having the capabilities of the present 
invention for controlling interactive communication. 
These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention. 
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
A multichannel interactive telephone answering apparatus is provided which 
is adapted for use with a two-way telephone line after capture thereof for 
enabling interactive communication over the telephone line so as to enable 
the caller, providing the appropriate interactive response to prerecorded 
information messages, to select between multiple information channels of 
the answering apparatus thereby enabling such features as call directing 
or screening or multiple message selection and/or personalized message 
storage for user playback. In order to accomplish the above, a 
multichannel information storage means, such as a multitrack cassette or 
tape, is provided, which is capable of retrievably storing the information 
for enabling the aforementioned interactive communication. The 
multichannel storage means comprises at least a main information channel 
and auxiliary information channel, although more than one auxiliary 
information channel can be provided. A channel selection circuit is 
provided for selectively switching at least between the main information 
channel and the auxiliary information channel and includes signal 
detection means for detecting a designated arming signal, such as a 
Touch-Tone provided by the caller over the captured telephone line or a 
dial pulse code provided by the caller or a voice recognition signal 
provided by the caller or a particular designated frequency provided by 
the caller or any other desired type of uniquely recognizable signal 
provided by the caller over the captured telephone line. The channel 
selection circuit provides an enable signal in response to detection of 
the designated arming signal which enable signal is used to operate a 
swtich in response thereto for providing the aforementioned provided 
channel switch. The multichannel information storage means preferably 
comprises both playback and recording circuitry associated with each of 
the channels for providing selective playback of the information stored in 
the selected channel in response to the selection of a selected one of the 
channels as well as for providing selective recording of information by 
the user, such as screening or call directing information as well as for 
recording messages provided by the caller over the captured telephone 
line. The selected playback and recording cooperate to provide the 
interactive communication. The multichannel storage means preferably 
provides playback from the main information channel in the absence of the 
detection of the designated arming signal which may be varied at the will 
of the user. The aforementioned recording portion of the telephone 
answering apparatus of the persent invention perferably includes circuity 
for generating a different trigger signal to be stored on each of the main 
and auxiliary channels with the telephone answering apparatus including 
trigger signal detection circuitry for detecting the trigger signal and 
for generating a selective alert signal, such as a unique ringing signal, 
for the user only in response to detection of the trigger signal so as to 
provide call screening and/or directing for the user. Thus, in a multiple 
telephone extension situation, unique ringing signals may be provided for 
each of the different telephone extensions so that the user will know 
which extension is to be answered. This becomes particularly beneficial in 
the home where each extension can be associated with a particular desired 
recipient for the incoming call. By the use of the main channel and 
auxiliary channels, selectable different messages for playback to the user 
designated caller may be provided for such as by providing a unique code 
as the arming signal for selection of a particular message stored on a 
given auxiliary channel while allowing all callers to hear the messages 
stored on the main channel. In this matter, a particular designated caller 
can also leave responsive messages on a designated auxiliary channel 
thereby, in essence, providing a personalized telephone answering message 
channel for a caller or group of callers designated by the user which all 
other callers do not have access to. Thus, the telephone answering 
apparatus of the present invention may be used with any type of telephone 
system, providing appropriate modifications are made, such as a Touch-Tone 
system, or a conventional dial system or a system in which voice 
recognition is employed, by way of example. Moreover, such a telephone 
answering apparatus can be employed in the interactive telephone answering 
system described in my copending U.S. patent application Serial No. 
295,817, entitled "Interactive Telephone Answering System", filed Aug. 24, 
1981, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,656, of which this application is a 
continuation-in-part. 
For purposes of completeness, the interactive telephone answering system of 
my aforementioned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 295,817, now 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,656, shall also be described herein. This interactive 
telephone and answering system is connectable to a capturable telephone 
line and responsive to unique signals transmitted over the telephone line 
after capture thereof, such as from a conventional Touch-Tone telephone, 
for enabling caller selectable routing of an incoming call to a desired 
receiving telephone in accordance with a verbally interactive prerecorded 
decision tree format is provided. The system includes a line capture and 
release portion responsive to an incoming telephone call for initially 
capturing the telephone line and providing a message start signal to a 
multitrack message reproduction apparatus, such as one employing a 
continuous loop type cartridge, such as an endless loop cassette or an 
eight-track tape. The multitrack tape device is connectable to the line 
capture network for selectively transmitting prerecorded audio messages to 
the caller over the captured telephone line and is capable of providing a 
plurality of different selectable audio messages in a variable decision 
tree format, with at least one of the selectable tracks in the decision 
tree format comprising an arming signal, such as a ringing tone, 
associated with an ultimate branch of a caller selectable decision tree. 
Each of the caller selectable decision trees comprises a primary 
interrogatory audio message, such as one which is common to a plurality of 
different caller selectable decision trees having different ultimate 
branch responses, and a time related derivative ultimate branch response 
comprising the aforementioned arming signal. The ultimate branch response 
may be arrived at through a series of derivative secondary interrogatory 
messages comprising the various caller selectable decision trees with the 
derivative secondary interrogatory messages being chain linked in content 
to a particular primary interrogatory message or the previous derivative 
secondary interrogatory message for forming the caller selectable decision 
tree for ultimately directing the telephone caller to the ultimate branch 
on the selected decision tree. 
The continuous loop type cartridge preferably comprises a plurality of 
coextensive audio tracks having the various audio messages and ultimate 
branch responses stored thereon for selectable audio playback therefrom 
over the captured telephone line for the audio messages and for provision 
of the arming signal when the ultimate branch response is obtained Each of 
the plurality of tracks has a unique associated track selection signal 
corresponding to one of the unique signals transmitted over the captured 
telephone line. A signal discriminator and track selection network, such 
as one employing a tone decoder for converting the Touch-Tone signals into 
digital control signals, is operatively connected between the line capture 
network and the multitrack tape recorder for enabling reception of the 
unique signals or tones transmitted over the captured telephone line and 
selection of the appropriate one of the plurality of tracks for playback 
in response to reception and discrimination of the unique tone signal 
corresponding thereto. 
A telephone connection network, such as one employing relays, is 
operatively connected between the line capture and release network and the 
multitrack tape recorder for connecting the captured telephone line to the 
receiving telephone in response to detection of the arming signal 
associated with the ultimate caller selectable branch. As such, the 
telephone connection network releases the captured telephone line from the 
multitrack tape recorder to the receiving telephone in response to 
detection of the arming signal with the captured telephone line then being 
released when the receiving telephone is placed on hook. Call-forwarding 
may be accomplished in the present invention by prerecording the dialing 
code of the number to which the call is to be forwarded as the ultimate 
branch response, with the caller providing a unique signal corresponding 
to a dial tone prior to the prerecorded dialing code being provided to a 
conventional call forwarding dialer. The telephone connection network may 
include a plurality of relays with one relay being associated with each 
track or possible telephone extension so that the caller may, either 
through the decision tree of prerecorded messages or by knowledge of the 
particular arming signal associated with a given telephone extension, be 
directly connected to the telephone extension of the desired receiving 
party. Thus, for example, if an eight-track tape were employed, eight 
relays could be employed for enabling selective connection of up to eight 
different telephone extensions, with the associated tone signal being 
decoded by the tone decoder so as to provide a digital control signal for 
arming the associated relay. The receiving party could, if desired, 
provide a secure system for receiving calls by changing the code for 
activating the relay or ringing generator to a different combination of 
tones required to provide the necessary digital control signal to ring 
forward to the desired extension or receiving telephone. 
The owner of the telephone answering system can create interactive tone 
responsive telephone answering multitrack tapes on a multitrack continuous 
loop magnetic storage medium by recording each channel or track in a 
specially created timed-sequenced manner so as to make each information 
segment on each track coextensive and related in content, spatially in 
real time to the audio information segments recorded initially on the 
first recorded audio track in a decision tree format, with a ringing tone 
or arming signal being recorded at the end of each recorded audio message 
information segment for enabling ring tone generation upon selection of an 
ultimate branch in the decision tree. In addition, a call forwarding 
dialing code corresponding to a call forwarding telephone number could be 
recorded on one of the tracks in place of the ringing tone for enabling 
call forwarding to a remote telephone. 
Thus, a caller responsive verbally interactive telephone phone call routing 
system may be provided in which the caller, through a verbally interactive 
prerecorded decision tree, may either be connected to a desired telephone 
extension within the internal telephone system of the receiving party or 
may have the call ultimately forwarded to a remote telephone. In addition, 
a receiving party may establish a secure telephone system so as to 
prescreen, in a verbally interactive environment, all incoming calls.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
Referring now to the drawings in detail, FIGS. 13 and 14 refer to the 
presently preferred multichannel interactive telephone answering 
apparatus, generally referred to by the reference numeral 300, of the 
present invention which is adapted for use with a two-way telephone line 
26-46 after capture thereof so as to enable the caller, providing the 
appropriate interactive response to prerecorded information messages to 
select between multiple information channels of the answering apparatus 
300, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter. However, for 
completeness, before describing the presently preferred apparatus 300 of 
the present invention, the interactive telephone answering system, 
generally referred to by reference numeral 20, illustrated in FIGS. 1-12 
and described in my aforementioned copending U.S. patent application Ser. 
No. 295,817, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,656, shall be described in greater 
detail. 
Referring initially to FIG. 1, interactive telephone answering system 20 is 
shown. As shown and preferred in FIG. 1, telephone answering system 20 
includes a line capture circuit 22 and a line release circuit 24 which are 
operatively connected to the incoming telephone line 26, as will be 
explained in greater detail hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 2 and 9. 
The telephone answering system 20 also preferably includes a motor control 
circuit 28 which is connected to the line capture circuit 22 as well as to 
an end of tape sensing circuit 30, to be described in greater detail 
hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 3 and 9. 
As also shown and preferred in FIG. 1, the telephone answering system 20 
also preferably includes Touch-Tone detection and decoding circuitry 
comprising a conventional low group frequency filter 32 and conventional 
high group frequency filter 34, each having respective conventional 
limiters 36 and 38 coupled to the outputs thereof, and a tone decoder 40 
to be described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to FIG. 4, 
whose output is connected to a conventional binary to decimal decoder 42 
for providing a digital control signal output in accordance with the 
decoded tone provided from tone decoder 40, to be described in greater 
detail hereinafter with reference to FIG. 4. The output of the 
binary-to-decimal decoder 42 may be provided to call forward control 
circuitry 44, to be described in greater detail hereinafter with reference 
to FIGS. 8 and 9 for control of the outgoing telephone line 46, or to 
extension relay driver circuitry 48, to be described in greater detail 
hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 5 and 9, which controls the activation 
of a relay network 50 to effect connection of the calling party to a 
desired receiving telephone, as will be described in greater detail 
hereinafter. The digital control signal output of the binary-to-decimal 
decoder 42 also effects channel selection of the appropriate track in the 
decision tree via the channel selector circuitry 52 and the stepping 
circuitry 54 via timers 56 and a diode matrix 58. The audio playback 
circuitry of system 20 which is illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 6, 
is illustratively represented in FIG. 1 by playback head 60 and playback 
amplifier 62 connected to a hybrid network 64 whose output is connected to 
the incoming line 26. As shown and preferred in FIG. 1, the call forward 
control circuitry 44 and the low group and high group filters 32 and 34 
are also connected to the hybrid network 64. In addition, the power supply 
66 and the recording circuitry, represented by record phone circuit 68 
bias oscillator 70, erase head 72 and record head 74 are illustratively 
represented in FIG. 1. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, 
the track and channel selection function of the system of FIG. 1 will be 
described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 5 for selection of a 
typical channel, such as channel 1. With respect to the recording system, 
this shall be described in greater detail hereinafter with a reference to 
FIG. 7. 
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, when an incoming call 
is received via the incoming line 26, this call is automatically answered 
by the line capture circuit 22 which, in addition to capturing the line, 
starts the motor 28 on the multitrack tape deck which is preferably, by 
way of example, an eight-track continuous loop type cartridge having the 
information stored thereon in information segments which are related in 
content and spatially in real time to each other such as described in my 
aforementioned copending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 97,687 and 
295,817, now U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,320,256 and 4,420,656, respectively, which 
are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. A prerecorded 
message is then presented to the calling party through the playback 
amplifier 62 and the hybrid network 64, with this message initially 
confirming that the calling party has reached a desired receiving party 
station, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter. The message 
would then instruct the calling party on how to proceed through the 
prerecorded decision tree so as to reach the desired receiving party or 
function at that station. The calling party proceeds through the decision 
tree in a verbally interactive environment by use of the appropriate 
Touch-Tone buttons on the calling party's telephone on command of the 
prerecorded messages provided from the tape. When the Touch-Tone button or 
key is depressed on the calling party's telephone, this unique tone signal 
is routed to filters 32 and 34 and, via limiters 36 and 38, to the tone 
decoder 40. The tone decoder 40 output is preferably converted to a 
decimal format in the binary-to-decimal decoder 42 to provide a digital 
control signal which selects the next appropriate tape channel and track 
and also, where appropriate, activates the receiving telephone extension 
to which the calling party wishes to be connected, as will be described in 
greater detail hereinafter. Thus, when the calling party has passed 
through the decision tree process and indicates which telephone extension 
is desired, that extension is activated and connected to the ringing 
generator in response to detection of a ringing tone or arming signal 
associated with the ultimate branch of the decision tree selected by the 
caller. When the chosen telephone extension comes off hook, the calling 
party would then be directly connected to the desired receiving party 
while simultaneously, the line capture circuit 22 would be deenergized to 
turn control of the captured telephone line over to the selected telephone 
extension. When this telephone extension phone is placed back on hook, the 
incoming line 26 would be disconnected and the system 20 would be ready 
for the next call. Preferably, after the connection is made to the desired 
telephone extension, the prerecorded message would be concluded and the 
end-of-tape sensor 30 would generate a signal which would turn off the 
motor 28. 
Now referrng to FIG. 2, the line capture 22 and line release 24 circuitry 
of the system 20 shall now be described in greater detail. As shown and 
preferred in FIG. 2, line capture is initiated by the ringing signal of an 
incoming call provided via the incoming line 26. The line capture and line 
release circuitry 22-24 preferably includes an optical coupler 90 which is 
fired when the first negative-going cycle of the ringing signal provided 
via the incoming line 26. The line capture and line release circuitry 
22-24 preferably includes an optical coupler 90 which is fired when the 
first negative-going cycle of the ringing signal provided via the incoming 
line 26 exceeds a predetermined value, such as 75 volts by way of example. 
As shown and preferred in FIG. 2, the optical coupler 90 is conventional 
and includes a conventional LED or light emitting diode 92 optically 
coupled to a conventional photo-transistor 94. The light emitting diode 92 
is coupled to the incoming line 26 by means of a diode 96 and a resistor 
98 whose value is chosen such that light emitting diode 92 is fired when 
the aforementioned first negative-going cycle of the ringing signal 
exceeds the desired predetermined value, such as the aforementioned 75 
volts by way of example. When the light emitting diode 92 is fired, the 
illumination from light emitting diode 92 places the photo-transistor 94 
into the conducting state. This action preferably generates a positive 
pulse at the gate of an SCR 100 coupled to the collector of the 
phototransistor 94 via a diode 102 and a transistor 104, with a 
conventional relay 106 having its coil 106a coupled across diode 102 and 
its switch contact 106b connected between the incoming line 26 and a 
resistive impedance 108. Thus, when SCR 100 is turned on, relay 106 is 
energized and switch 106b is placed in the dotted position illustrated in 
FIG. 2 thereby placing resistor 108 across the incoming line. This 
stimulates an off-hook condition and causes capture of the line. If an 
extension phone 110 is subsequently answered, its circuit will be 
completed through another resistive impedance 112 to ground and 
transistors 114 and 116 will be turned on and the base of transistor 104 
will be made positive. This will cause transistor 104 to turn off and SCR 
100, relay 106 and resistive impedance 108 will be released, with switch 
106b opening. This will place the extension telephone 110 in control of 
the captured telephone line. Thus, when the conversation is concluded and 
the extension telephone 110 is again placed on-hook, the incoming line 26 
will automatically be released. The balance of the circuitry illustrated 
in FIG. 2 is conventional and will not be described in greater detail 
hereinafter. 
Referring now to FIG. 3, the motor control circuitry for controlling the 
operation of the motor 28 which controls the multitrack tape unit shall 
now be described in greater detail. As was previously mentioned, the 
ringing signal of an incoming call provided via the incoming line 
preferably fires the optical coupler 90 in the line capture and release 
circuitry 22-24. This also generates a positive trigger pulse to the gate 
of an SCR 120 located in the motor 28 control circuit. When this SCR 120 
is turned on, it provides a base drive current to a transistor 122 
connected to the motor 28 through transistor 124 and voltage is applied to 
the tape driving motor 28. As will be described in greater detail 
hereinafter, preferably the prerecorded multitrack tape includes a 
conducting tab at the end of the prerecorded tape which when sensed, 
preferably causes a positive voltage to be applied to the base of another 
transistor 126 from the end-of-tape sensor 30 thereby turning on 
transistor 126. Preferably, simultaneously with this, transistors 122 and 
124 and SCR 120 are turned off thereby removing the drive voltage from the 
tape driving motor 28. The balance of the circuitry illustrated in FIG. 3 
is conventional and will not be described in greater detail hereinafter. 
Referring now to FIG. 4, the tone detection circuitry which is employed in 
the system of FIG. 1 to generate the necessary digital control signals for 
operation of the various relays and track and channel selection in the 
system of FIG. 1 shall now be described in greater detail hereinafter. 
Assuming a conventional Touch-Tone telephone is employed in connection 
with the system 20 of FIG. 1, each Touch-Tone digit is composed of two 
discrete frequencies in accordance with the following conventional dialing 
matrix of Table 1. 
TABLE 1 
______________________________________ 
Hz 1209 1336 1477 
______________________________________ 
697 1 2 3 
770 4 5 6 
852 7 8 9 
941 * 0 # 
______________________________________ 
Each digit in the above table generates one tone from the low frequency 
group which is conventionally termed the range of 697 to 941 Hertz, and 
one tone from the high frequency group which is generally termed the range 
of 1209 to 1477 Hertz. This composite signal is generated or transmitted 
by the calling party in the system 20 in order to effect channel selection 
as well as telephone extension, as will be described in greater detail 
hereinafter. The transmitted tone signal provided via the captured 
telephone line 26 is preferably received by the low group filter 32 and 
the high group filter 34 which are preferably, by way of example, 
conventional sixth order elliptic band pass filters which provide a 40 dB 
separation between the high and low frequency groups. Further conventional 
conditioning of these received signals is preferably performed in limiters 
36 and 38 which are conventional limiters which limit the signal levels, 
by way of example, to approximately 1.2 volts peak-to-peak. These limited 
signals are then preferably provided to a conventional Touch-Tone detector 
and decoder such as an MK 5102 Touch-Tone detector and decoder whose 
output is the binary equivalent of the number of the digit dialed in 
four-bit binary code. This binary output of decoder 40 is preferably 
converted to decimal format in the binary-to-decimal decoder 42, such as a 
conventional one-of-sixteen binary-to-decimal decoder, such as an MC 
145f14 B one-of-sixteen binary-to-decimal decoder. The balance of the 
circuitry illustrated in FIG. 4 is conventional and will not be described 
in greater detail hereinafter. 
Referring now to FIG. 5, the track and channel selection circuitry of the 
interactive telephone answering system 20 shall now be described in 
greater detail with reference to a typical circuit operation for selection 
of channel 1, by way of example. The preferred actual overall circuitry is 
shown in detail in FIG. 9. With respect to track and channel selection, 
this is preferably controlled by digits 1 through 8 of the calling party 
Touch-Tone telephone. By way of example, in an eight track system, digits 
1 and 2 could be employed to activate track 1, digits 3 and 4 could be 
employed to activate track 2, digits 5 and 6 could be employed to activate 
track 3 and digits 7 and 8 could be employed to activate track 4 with the 
odd-numbered digits activating the left channel playback head and the even 
number digits activating the right channel playback head. However, it 
should be noted that the system need not employ eight-tracks and an eight 
track system is merely being described herein by way of example. As was 
previously mentioned, FIG. 5 illustrates a typical example of the circuit 
operation for selection of channel 1 in connection with the above example. 
It should be noted that the outputs of the binary-to-decimal decoder 42 
are normally high prior to activation. If, in the present example, digit 1 
is dialed or depressed on the calling party's Touch-Tone telephone, the 
output of binary-to-decimal decoder 42 corresponding thereto goes low 
which would turn transistor 130 coupled to the output of decoder 42 off. 
Since the collector of transistor 130 is coupled to the base of another 
transistor 132, transistor 132, will in turn, be turned on and provide a 
ground for a relay 134 coupled to the collector thereof which prepares 
extension 1 for connection. The tape deck stepper motor 54 then preferably 
conventionally selects the track to be employed since the stepper 54 is 
preferably a conventional ground-seeking system which continues to 
increment from channel to channel until it stops on a commutator segment 
which has no ground available. Thus, if channel 1 is desired, it is 
necessary to provide grounds on channels 2, 3 and 4 of a four channel 
system so that the head 60 will then stop in the proper position to 
playback the message on track 1. By way of example, this action occurs as 
follows. As the collector of transistor 132 goes to ground, a negative 
going pulse is preferably coupled to the trigger input of a conventional 
timer circuit 136, such as an MC 1455 timer, through a capacitor 138. The 
output of timer 136 is preferably normally low. Upon receipt of the 
negative trigger pulse, the output of timer 136 preferably goes high for a 
period of time which is determined by the time constant provided by the 
combination of a resistor 140 and a capacitor 142 connected thereto. This 
period is preferably set for approximately 30 seconds, by way of example, 
which is sufficient time for the stepper motor 54 to cycle through a 
maximum of 3 tracks in the above example. When the timer 56 output goes 
high, a pair of transistors 144 and 146 which are connected thereto are 
preferably turned on thereby providing a ground to commutator contacts 2, 
3 and 4 of the stepper motor 54 through the diode matrix 58. The stepper 
solenoid 54a then preferably increments the playback head 60 to the proper 
position by means of a conventional ratchet-and-pawl mechanism (not 
shown). 
It should be noted that channel selection is pfeferably accomplished in the 
system 20 as part of the track selection process. Thus, if in the above 
example, digit 2 is dialed or pushed on the calling party Touch-Tone 
telephone, then transistor 150 will be turned off. As the collector of 
transistor 150 goes high, a positive pulse is preferably coupled through a 
capacitor 152 to the gate of an SCR 154. A relay 156 is coupled to the SCR 
154 and, when the SCR 154 is turned on the relay 156 is energized thereby 
activating the right channel playback head 60. If, instead, digit 1 is 
dialed or pushed on the calling party Touch-Tone telephone, then 
transistor 130 is turned off, and a positive going pulse is coupled 
through a capacitor 158 to the base of a transistor 160 which is then 
turned off, as is the SCR 154, thereby releasing the relay 156 which 
reverts the system 20 back to the left channel playback head 60. After the 
calling party has selected the desired extension or, as will be described 
in greater detail hereinafter, has reached the ultimate branch in the 
selected decision tree, the multitrack tape will play a prerecorded arming 
signal or tone which is preferably recognized by a conventional tone 
decoder 162 (FIG. 9) such as an NE 567 Tone Decoder. Upon receiving 
in-band tone, the output of decoder 162 goes low turning on a transisor 
164 (FIG. 9) which energizes and connects the caller to the appropriate 
telephone extension relay, such as relay 166 for extension 1, relay 168 
for extension 2, relay 170 for extension 3, relay 172 for extension 4, 
relay 174 for extension 5, relay 176 for extension 6, relay 178 for 
extension 7 or relay 180 for extension 8, by way of example, in the above 
eight-track example, with each of the aformentioned relays having an 
associated switch 166a, 168a, 170a, 172a, 174a, 176a, 178a and 180a, 
respectively (FIG. 9). The balance of the circuitry of FIG. 5 is 
conventional and will not be described in greater detail hereinafter. 
Referring now to FIG. 6, a typical playback audio system circuit employable 
in the system 20 is shown. Preferably, signals from the prerecorded 
multitrack tape are applied to the playback amplifier 62 which, by way of 
example, may be a conventional 250 milliwatt power amplifier such as an MC 
1309 power amplifier, which includes gain control provided by a 
potentiometer 170. A conventional transformer 172, which is preferably 
coupled to the hybrid network 64, preferably provides impedance matching 
between the playback amplifier 62 output and the incoming line 26. The 
hybrid network 64 is preferably formed by a pair of transformers 174 and 
176 (FIG. 9) which provide two-way communication on a two-wire line and 
preferably prevent any spurious signals on the tape from entering the 
input of the tone decoder 40 and causing erroneous channel and track 
changes. In addition, hybrid network 64 also preferably prevents the 
loading down of incoming signals by the low output impedance of the 
playback amplifier 62. The balance of the circuitry of FIG. 6 is 
conventional and will not be described in greater detail hereinafter. 
Referring now to FIG. 7, a typical recording system employable in the 
interactive telephone answering system 20 is shown. Thus, the system 20 
also preferably includes the ability to record messages on the endless 
loop multitrack tape. If distortion free tape recording is desired, then 
preferably the conventional high frequency bias oscillator 70 is employed 
during the recording process. This oscilator 70 also provides the erasure 
of any previously recorded signals on the tape. The conventional bias 
oscillator 70 in FIG. 7, is preferably composed of transistors 180 and 182 
and transformer 184 and the various associated conventional components. 
The free running frequency of this oscillator 70 is preferably determined 
by a resistor 186, a capacitor 188, a resistor 190 and a capacitor 192. A 
conventional modular telephone jack 194 is preferably provided which 
accepts a standard telephone which may be used for the prerecording of 
tapes by the party possessing the telephone answering system 20 of the 
preseht invention, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter. The 
telephone and oscillator 70 are preferably powered by an internal power 
supply 66, with track and channel selection in the prerecording phase 
being accomplished by dialing of the appropriate Touch-Tone digits, as 
will be described in greater detail hereinafter. The telephone microphone 
is preferably employed in such an instance to record the desired message, 
with the audio signal modulating the bias oscillator 70 by injection into 
the primary of transformer 184. The balance of the circuitry of FIG. 7 is 
conventional and will not be described in greater detail hereinafter. 
Referring now to FIG. 8, the call forward control circuitry 44 of the 
system 20 shall now be described in greater detail. If desired, at the 
appropriate point in the prerecorded message on the multitrack tape, a 
calling party may have the incoming call forwarded to a different 
telephone number at which the ultimate receiving party is located. This is 
preferably accomplished by prerecording the Touch-Tone's signals or 
dialing code for the call-forward station on the tape. Prior to this point 
on the tape, the calling party would preferably be instructed to dial a 
particular code, such as the star digit on the calling party's Touch-Tone 
keypad. In such an instance, the output from the binary-to-decimal decoder 
42 would be a positive going signal which would turn on a pair of 
transistors 200 and 202 (FIG. 9) thereby activating a relay 204. This 
relay 204 would then disconnect the incoming line 26 from the Touch-Tone 
decoder 40 so as to prevent the prerecorded call-forward dialing code or 
Touch-Tones signals on the tape from activating the decoder 40. Relay 204 
also preferably captures the outgoing line 46 and connects it to the 
incoming line 26. The prerecorded dialing code or Touch-Tone signals are 
then presented to the outgoing line 46 through the playback amplifier 62 
and the call-forwarding number is automatically dialed. At the completion 
of the call, when both incoming and outgoing phones are placed on-hook, 
the system 20 is released and ready for the next call. The balance of the 
circuitry of FIG. 8 is conventional and will not be described in greater 
detail hereinafter. 
With respect to the balance of the circuit in FIG. 9, which is an overall 
system 20 schematic, the balance of the circuitry other than previously 
described, is conventional and will not be described in greater detail 
hereinafter. Suffice it to say that exemplary conventional components, 
where practical, are illustrated in FIG. 9 and will be readily understood 
by one of ordinary skill in the art without further explanation. 
With respect to the multitrack storage medium employable in the presently 
preferred system 20, as was previously mentioned, the tape medium is 
preferably a continuous loop type cartridge such as an endless loop 
cassette or, by way of example, an eight-track tape. However, as 
previously mentioned, the system 20 can be employed using two channels, 
four channels, eight channels, cassette, reel-to-reel, or any other type 
of multitrack medium and may contain as many tracks as desired. In 
addition, multiple multitrack storage devices may be connected together to 
increase the capacity of the system, such as by staggering the starting 
times of a plurality of multitrack record/playback devices so as to, 
theoretically, handle an unlimited number of calls at the same time. For 
example, ten such devices having staggered starting times could enable 
each and every call to be answered by the next ready playback device with 
all tracks being combined with a multicaller phone line. In addition, 
remote retrieval of messages may preferably be obtained by the use of user 
created codes which are secure and changeable by the user and which would 
cause playback of the messages left by various calling parties on the 
tape. In such an instance, the person seeking to obtain the calling 
party's messages need not have a separate transmitter but could use the 
Touch-Tone keypad at a remote location to dial in the appropriate code. 
With respect to the prerecorded multitrack tapes, as was previously 
mentioned, the decision tree format of these tapes is preferably 
substantially identical with that previously described in my copending 
U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 97,687 and 295,817, now U.S. Pat. Nos. 
4,320,256 and 4,420,656, respectively, of which this application is a 
continuation-in-part, and the contents of which are specifically 
incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. Thus, as fully 
explained in the aforementioned copending patent applications, any of the 
tracks may contain questions or interrogatory information with any of the 
other tracks containing responsive messages related in real time and 
content to a particular interrogatory message on a different track. 
Moreover, one track may contain a primary interrogatory message which is 
common to a plurality of different decision trees. Thus, the information 
is preferably stored on each track in a plurality of reproducible 
information segments with each of the segments preferably comprising a 
complete message reproducible directly in response to selective playback 
of the track upon which the segments are being stored. At least one of the 
tracks at a given time contains stored information which comprises a 
primary interrogatory message or messages and associated multiple choice 
selectible responses, such as derivative secondary interrogatory 
containing messages related in content to a particular primary 
interrogatory message so as to provide the caller selectible decision 
trees. In addition, at least a plurality of the other tracks at any given 
time preferably comprise messages related in real time and content to the 
aforementioned primary interrogatory message, such as derivative secondary 
interrogatory messages, which correspond to the multiple choice selectible 
derivative secondary interrogatory containing messages so as to provide 
the various branches of the caller selectible decision trees, with each of 
the plurality of other tracks, in such an instance, preferably comprising 
a different derivative secondary interrogatory containing message. Under 
such circumstances, the plurality of other tracks further comprise 
associated multiple choice selectible responsive messages related in real 
time and content to each of the plurality of derivative secondary 
interrogatory containing messages with, preferably, by way of example, 
only one of the plurality of other tracks preferably comprising a unique 
selectible responsive message to the particular one of the real time 
related derivative secondary messages which are preferably chain linked in 
content to a particular primary interrogatory message. Thus, preferably 
the stored primary and derivative secondary interrogatory messages 
contained on the multitrack storage medium and the associated stored 
responsive messages are spatially related to each other along the storage 
medium tracks in real time and further related in content to one another 
for providing a transitional derivative response or decision tree to the 
primary interrogatory message provided at a given time dependent on the 
track selected and the real time of selection, thereby providing an 
interactive conversational real time transitional environment. These 
multiple choice selectible different interrogatory messages may each 
comprise a different category of questions with each of the different 
categories of questions being associated with a different one of the 
plurality of other tracks and with the secondary derivative interrogatory 
messages corresponding to the different categories of questions, whereby a 
plurality of different interrogatories or decision trees may be 
simultaneously selectible. In such an instance, the associated responsive 
messages preferably comprise a common set of responsive messages for each 
of the different selectible secondary derivative interrogatory messages or 
decision trees. Each of the decision tree preferably has an ultimate 
branch and it is this ultimate branch which preferably has a prerecorded 
arming signal or tone at the completion of the ultimate branch message so 
as to connect the calling party to the desired extension obtained as a 
result of the decision tree process. Thus, as previously mentioned, when 
the calling party has passed through the decision tree process and 
indicated which extension is desired by selection of the ultimate branch, 
that extension would be activated and connected to the ringing generator 
(not shown) as a result of the detection of the arming tone or signal, and 
the captured telephone line would have control thereof turned over from 
the multitrack storage device to the selected extension telephone. 
The interactive telephone answering system 20 may have many uses, such as 
in the commercial/industrial area as well as in the home consumer market. 
As will be described by way of example, in the commercial/industrial area, 
the telephone answering system 20 can replace small switchboards, 
eliminate many of the current hold/buzzer type commercial telephone 
systems and can make larger switchboards more efficient. In addition, 
through the use of a simple memory module, (not shown) the telephone 
answering system 20 can calculate on a daily basis the number of branch 
calls received and the utilization rates of specialized clerks and 
operators. With respect to the home consumer area, the telephone answering 
system 20 can be employed to direct calls within a home automatically, 
screen calls, and forward calls automatically to another number once the 
calling party has met a series of conditions uniquely established by the 
receiving party. As will be described in examples below, the telephone 
answering system 20 is preferably employed with a Touch-Tone type of 
telephone system. However, the system may be conventionally modified, if 
desired, to enable employment with other types of telephone systems 
capable of generating unique signals corresponding to particular telephone 
digits. 
EXAMPLE 1 
In the first example, a calling party is verbally instructed to direct 
their own call through the use of the Touch-Tone button on their 
telephone. In this way, for example, a business of three to eight 
employees may replace a switchboard with the telephone answering system 
20. For example, the following decision tree may occur: 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: You have reached the law firm of Jones, Block, Smith, 
and Williams. If you desire Mr. Jones push 1, Mr. Block push 2, Mr. Smith 
push 3, or Mr. Williams push 4. 
(Assume caller then pushes button No. 4 on his Touch-Tone phone) 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: Thank you, please hold on. We are ringing through to 
Mr. Williams' office for you. 
It should be noted that the telephone answering system 20 may, if desired, 
enable a calling party familiar with the code of the telephone extension 
desired to interrupt the tape message by immediately dialing in the 
required code for that extension and then pushing a key or keys 
corresponding to the arming tone or signal, such as the hatch (#) button 
on the telephone. This would automatically interrupt the tape message in 
the above example and route the call immediately to the desired receiving 
party, such as Mr. Williams. 
EXAMPLE 2 
Another example of the use of the telephone answering system 20 is in the 
following decision tree. 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: Thank you for calling American Airlines. If you are 
calling about today's flights push 1, future flights push 2. 
(Assume calling party then pushes 2) 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: Input noted. If you require information on domestic 
flights push 1, international push 2. 
(Assume calling party then pushes 1) 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: Input noted. If you require arrival information push 
1, departure information push 2. 
(Assume calling party then pushes 2) 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: Thank you. An American Airlines representative 
specializing in domestic departures for future flights will be with you 
shortly. 
EXAMPLE 3 
Another examplary use of the telephone answering system 20 is to screen 
unwanted calls in the home. In order to do this, the receiving party would 
give out a prerecorded security code to the callers that the receiving 
party wishes to be connected with. Under such circumstances, only people 
who have been given the security code to actually ring through to the 
residence will be able to accomplish this and all others must leave a 
message. Of course, the code can be changed easily and frequently as 
desired. Thus, in this example, a prerecorded message such as the 
following may be provided: 
"You have reached the Smith residence. No one is available to answer right 
now. At the sound of the tone please leave your name, number and message." 
If Mr. Smith has given the calling party his security code, such as 1, 5, 
the calling party could then push the Touch-Tone buttons 1 and 5 at any 
time during the above message and security code would immediately cut off 
the recording and ring through to the Smith's telephone. 
Another manner in which this screening of calls could be employed might be 
in connection with late night calls in which instance the device could be 
put on a night mode. Again, when the Smith household is called, a 
prerecorded message would be provided such as 
"You have reached the Smith residence. Everyone is asleep right now, but if 
you deem this call to be sufficiently important push 6 on your Touch-Tone 
phone." 
When 6 were pushed, this would immediately cut off the recording and ring 
through to the Smith's phone. If desired, of course, this night mode 
situation could also be handled by a unique security code not provided in 
the prerecorded message so that only those callers who the receiving party 
wishes to have the capability of waking the receiving party up would 
posess this capability. 
EXAMPLE 4 
Another example of the use of the telephone answering system 20 is in 
connection with screening calls for call forwarding. An example of this 
decision tree is as follows: 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: You have reached the office of Dr. Michael Freeman. If 
this call concerns a medical matter push 1, a non-medical matter push 2. 
(Assume calling party then pushes 1.) 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: If you consider this a medical matter of importance 
push 3. If it can wait until tomorrow push 4. 
(Assume calling party then pushes 3.) PRERECORDED MESSAGE: Please hold on. 
Your call is being automatically forwarded to Dr. Freeman at another 
number. 
Of course, in connection with the above example, if desired, a security 
code could be required to initiate the call forward sequence. 
EXAMPLE 5 
Another exemplary use of the system is to selectively screen calls within 
the home, such as in the following decision tree example: 
PRERECORDED MESSAGE: You have reached the Barney residence. If this call is 
for our son Chuck, please push 1, all other calls please push 2. 
If calling party then pushes 1, Chuck's phone rings. If calling party then 
pushes 2, the downstairs house phone rings. 
There are many, many more possible uses of the interactive telephone 
answering system 20 which would readily occur to one of ordinary skill in 
the art, such as discriminating one message from another and giving the 
proper mesage to the proper calling party, such as for salesmen seeking to 
obtain specialized information from their office in an efficient and rapid 
manner, or for two people who communicated regularly such as an account 
representative and a repairman to leave messages for each other on 
particular reserved channels, or for a question and answer telephone 
recording machine in which the responses could be electronically scored in 
a simple memory, or many of the aforementioned capabilities could be 
combined such as screening, the requirement of a security code and then 
call forwarding. Thus, a dynamic multipurpose telephone answering system 
may be provided in accordance with the present invention. 
Of course, the tapes usable in the interactive telephone answering system 
20 may be prerecorded by the user so that the tapes may be specifically 
tailored to the user's needs and may contain special user assigned 
security codes as well as, of course, call forwarding numbers which may 
vary on a daily basis, for example. FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 illustrate three 
examples of typical conceptual decision trees which may be created by the 
user. Before describing these specific examples, the recording process 
which enabled the user to record each channel in a specially created time 
sequenced manner on a continuous loop type cartridge shall generally be 
described. Thus, to begin programming the multitrack tape for use in the 
interactive telephone answering system 20 the user would pick up the 
Touch-Tone telephone which has preferably been connected to the input jack 
194 of the recording system (FIG. 7) and would use the Touch-Tone 
telephone keypad to select each channel to be recorded. Pushing button 
number 1, for example, would bring the tape head 74 to channel number 1 
which would then be ready for recording. If desired, of course, separate 
channel selector buttons could be incorporated into the telephone 
answering system 20 in place of the use of the user's Touch-Tone telephone 
key pad. Once the proper channel were selected, the record button would 
conventionally be pushed activating the record circuit and starting the 
multitrack tape in motion from its beginning position. It should be noted 
that, preferably the tape should always cycle to its beginning position 
and automatically stop. With respect to endless loop cassettes, end tape 
tones are used to accomplish this and with respect to eight-track tapes, 
metal strips are used to accomplish this. The user would then record the 
first channel and the various segments that go on this channel taking care 
to note the time required to record each separate segment. The user would 
then allow the tape to recycle to its beginning position and would then 
push button 2 to select channel 2. Channel 2 would then be recorded in the 
same manner with its various segments with extreme care being taken to 
allot the same exact time as alloted on channel 1 to each parallel or 
coextensive segment. For example, if segment 1 on channel 1 takes 10 
seconds to record then segment 1 on channel 2 and all subsequent channels 
should also be 10 seconds in length so as to be coextensive. If segment 2 
on channel 1 takes 15 seconds to record then segment 2 on channel 2 and 
all subsequent channels should also take up 15 seconds of recording time. 
The only exceptions are the last segment of a channel or if no further 
related branch is required; since no further branch decisions would take 
place after these two events the timing would not be crucial. Once all of 
the recorded verbal message segments are completed an arming tone or 
signal, such as the hatch (#) tone is recorded on all channels by 
depressing the corresponding code, such as the hatch button, on the 
Touch-Tone telephone. This tone, or some other unique assigned arming 
tone, would activate an external ringing generator to ring through to the 
phone, phones, or phone system associated with the ultimate branch or 
final channel selected by the user at the end of the caller selected 
decision tree. For example, if the user completes the branching program or 
decision tree on channel 6, then this tone according to the example of 
FIG. 10 would ring through to the group of phones corresponding to clerks 
specializing in future, domestic, departing flights for Universal 
Airlines. Since the hatch (#) tone in the above example is used to 
activate the ring generation system, a calling party who knew the 
branching program by heart could interrupt the taped message and push 
button 6 and then the hatch button to immediately ring through to the 
desired phone or group. This would eliminate the need to listen to the 
entire taped message if the caller knew the proper buttons to select. Once 
the connection were made between the calling party and the ultimate phone 
or group, a final end-of-tape tone, or a metal strip, would preferably 
appear to automatically stop the endless loop tape so it would be in a 
position to either record the next channel or answer the next call. In 
other words, the end-of-tape tone, or the metal strip, would preferably 
appear directly after the ring generation tone or arming tone since at 
this point the tape would no longer be required. It should be noted that 
once the connection is made to the receiving party, and the multitrack 
tape goes off line, the tape preferably recycles to the beginning of the 
tape and waits for the next incoming call. 
Table 2 below corresponds to the example of FIG. 10 for prerecording a 
branching program using eight channels. 
Table 3 below corresponds to FIG. 11 and illustrates a branching program 
employing four channels. 
TABLE 3 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
ELAPSED 
TIME IN 
SECONDS CHANNEL 1 CHANNEL 2 CHANNEL 3 CHANNEL 4 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
1 SEGMENT 1 
You have reached 
SAME AS CH 1 
SAME AS CH 1 
SAME AS CH 1 
2 the residence of 
3 Michael Freeman. 
4 Everyone is as- 
5 leep right now 
6 but if you feel 
7 this call is suf- 
8 iciently impor- 
9 tant, then push 
10 number 4 on your 
11 touch tone phone 
12 
13 SEGMENT 2 
Thank you for not 
SAME AS CH 1 
SAME AS CH 1 
Hold on, we will 
14 distrubing us. ring through to 
15 Please call back the phone for 
16 Tomorrow. you. 
17 
18 "#" TONE 
19 END TAPE TONE 
END TAPE TONE 
END TAPE TONE 
END TAPE TONE 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Table 4 corresponds to FIG. 12 and illustrates another branching program 
using four channels and employs call forwarding. With respect to call 
forwarding pushing 9 or any other designated tone would be employed to 
bring the dial tone into the circuit prior to playback of the prerecorded 
dialing code corresponding to the call forward number. 
TABLE 4 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
ELAPSED 
TIME IN 
SECONDS CHANNEL 1 CHANNEL 2 CHANNEL 3 CHANNEL 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
4 
1 SEGMENT 1 
You have reached 
SAME AS CH 1 SAME AS CH 1 
SAME AS CH 1 
2 the office of Dr. 
3 Marcus Welby. If 
4 this call is a 
5 medical matter 
6 push 1, if not 
7 push 2 
8 SEGMENT 2 
Thank you. If this 
Non medical mat- 
You have made 
SAME AS CH 3 
9 medical matter is 
ters are being 
error. Please 
10 an emergency, push 
handled by taped 
hang up and dial 
11 number 1 on your 
message. At the 
again. 
12 touch tone phone. 
sound of the tone 
13 If not, please 
leave you name 
14 push number 3 and message.** 
15 
16 SEGMENT 3 
Hold on, your call 
TONE TO ACTIVATE 
Hold on we are 
You have made 
17 will be automati- 
SEATE TELE- 
ringing through 
an error. 
18 cally call-for- 
ANSWERING MACHINE 
to the service 
Please hang up 
19 warded to Dr. Wel- for you. and dial again 
20 by if you push # 
9 on your touch "#" TONE 
tone phone* 
CALL-FORWARD TONES 
END OF TAPE TONE 
END OF TAPE TONE 
END OF TAPE 
& END TAPE TONE TONE 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Referring now to FIGS. 13 and 14, the presently preferred multichannel 
interactive telephone answering apparatus 300 of the present invention 
shall now be described. Telephone answering apparatus 300, as will be 
readily apparent, is particularly adapted for use in the home consumer 
area, such as referred to above. Apparatus 300, by way of example, 
provides call screening, night call screening, direct calls within a home 
to various extensions, and provides multiple or alternate outgoing message 
capability in response to provision of designated codes by the caller. The 
telephone answering apparatus 300 of FIGS. 13 and 14 may preferably be 
employed in an interactive telephone answering system, such as described 
above. As shown and preferred in FIG. 13, the telephone answering 
apparatus 300 of the present invention, as was true with respect to the 
previous description of interactive telephone answering system 20, is a 
multichannel or multitrack system. As will be described in greater detail 
hereinafter, the apparatus 300 preferably includes a main channel which is 
the channel normally utilized if no switching occurs, and at least one 
auxiliary channel which, as will be described in greater detail 
hereinafter, is ultilized in conjunction with the main channel to provide 
the various functional capabilities of the presently preferred telephone 
answering apparatus 300 of the present invention, such as the 
aforementioned call screening, call directing and multiple or alternate 
message capabilities. Thus, as shown and preferred in the functional block 
diagram of FIG. 13, and as will be described in greater detail hereinafter 
with reference to the schemetic of FIG. 14, the main channel preferably 
includes a conventional record/playback head 302 for recording and playing 
back information from the main channel or track of a magnetic storage 
medium, such as a multitrack tape or cassette, and the auxiliary channel 
preferably includes a similar record/playback head 304 for recording and 
playing back information from the auxiliary channel of the magnetic 
storage medium. Of course, if desired, as previously described with 
respect to telephone answering system 20, a single multitrack 
record/playback head could be employed. In either event, conventional 
record/playback electronics 306 are employed with the record/playback 
heads 302 and 304 which are selected by means of a switch 308 controlled 
by channel switching logic 310 to be described in greater detail 
hereinafter. An internal speaker audio chain 312 including an internal 
microphone 314 is used to record main channel messages. In addition, an 
internal generator, to be described in greater detail hereinafter, is 
preferably used to place speaker trigger tones on the main channel. 
Speaker trigger tones are those tones which are placed on the outgoing 
message tape and which are used to effectively "turn-on" the speaker 
signalling tones which are the tones that are heard from the internal or 
external or auxiliary speaker. Such a trigger tone generator, such as for 
recording trigger tones on the auxiliary channel, may preferably be 
provided by a ring signal pulser 316 which is depressed to gate the 
trigger tones on to the magnetic storage medium auxiliary channel if the 
switch 308 is in the dotted line position shown in FIG. 13 and on to the 
main channel if the switch 308 is in the solid line position shown in FIG. 
13. The tones which are gated by the ring signal pulser 316 preferably 
come from tone generation and decoder circuitry 318 for the speaker 
trigger tones which tones are again selected via a switch 320 which is 
preferably controlled by the channel switching logic 310. The auxiliary 
channel may be selected by pushing an activate alternate channel switch 
322 which is normally open. A coded number decoder 324 is also provided 
which detects the presence of a special number or code so as to send a 
logic level signal to the channel switching logic 310 via gate 326 when 
the appropriate code is detected. As further shown and preferred in FIG. 
13, the telephone answering apparatus 300 also preferably includes a hash 
tone decoder 326 for detecting the presence of the hash tone. The 
circuitry also includes latching circuitry 328 for providing a latching 
signal after the first tone group, which latching signal is provided to 
the channel switching logic 310 via gate 326 and delay circuitry 330. The 
telephone answering apparatus 300 also preferably includes signalling 
sound generators and associated gain circuitry 332 and 334 for the main 
and auxiliary channels, respectively. As will be described in greater 
detail hereinafter, if the telephone answering apparatus 300 is on the 
main channel, the main channel decoder would be activated which would in 
turn activate the main channel signalling frequency via circuit 332 and 
summing network 336 to be heard from the internal speaker 314. If however, 
the telephone answering apparatus 300 is on the auxiliary channel, the 
auxiliary signalling frequency via circuit 334 would be heard from the 
main speaker 338. In addition, as further shown and preferred in FIG. 13, 
the recording circuitry also preferably includes a conventional erase head 
340 having an associated switch 342 which is controlled by the channel 
switching logic 310 so as to erase information stored on the magnetic 
storage medium. 
Referring now to FIG. 14, it should be noted that the telephone answering 
apparatus 300 of the present invention will preferably operate on the main 
outgoing channel unless the circuitry senses the presence of preselected 
designated arming signals generated by the caller such as by the use of 
preselected tone frequencies which are generated by the caller depressing 
the proper number on a Touch-Tone telephone pad. Of course, the designated 
arming signals can be provided by the use of dial pulses with appropriate 
decoding circuitry such as shown in FIG. 15, by other frequency generated 
signals with appropriate frequency detection circuitry or by voice 
recognition circuitry responsive to designated voice signals. For purposes 
of explanation, however, it shall be assumed that the designated arming 
signals are provided by preselected tone frequencies generated by the 
caller depressing the proper number on a Touch-Tone telephone pad. In this 
regard, the selection of the auxiliary channel by the use of the 
Touch-Tone telephone pad shall be described with reference to FIG. 14. 
Thus, Touch-Tone signals transmitted over the captured telephone line 26 
are sensed from the telephone line by tone decoder 318a and 318b. If the 
depressed Touch-Tone signal consists of the same frequencies which have 
been set by the user of the telephone answering apparatus 300 for the tone 
decoders 318a and 318b, the input of inverters 350 and 352, respectively, 
are preferably forced low. The center frequency of tone decoder 318a is 
preferably controlled by the setting of a bank of switches 354a through 
354d and associated resistors 356a through 356d and capacitor 358. 
Similiarly, the setting of the designated arming signal frequency for tone 
decoder 318b is set by the user through the use of switch bank 360a, 360b 
and 360c, resistors 362a, 362b and 362c, and capacitor 364. If the tone 
signals provided by the caller and decoded by decoder 318a and 318b which 
have been set via switches 360a, 360b, 360c and 354a, 354b, 354c and 354d 
and the associated resistors and capacitors, match, or are present, then 
inverters 350 and 352 convert these logic low signals into logic highs and 
present these logic high signals to the input of AND gate 366. AND gate 
366 also receives another input via line 368 from the power circuitry so 
as to prevent false signals from the tone decoders 318a and 318b providing 
a high output from gate 366 during power turn on, with the signal via line 
368 providing a delay on power turn on. When a logic high output signal is 
present at the output of gate 366, which occurs after power turn on and 
during the presence of logic high inputs from inverters 350 and 352, this 
provides a logic signal via gate 370 which turns on field effect 
transistor 372 which latches on via resistor 374, resistor 376 and the 
normally open contacts of relay 378. When the relay 378 operates, the 
auxiliary tape head 304 is preferably selected and the message on the 
auxiliary channel is preferably fed to the outgoing message electronics 
306. The tone or designated arming signal, generated by the caller is 
preferably sensed by conventional band pass filter 380, in conjunction 
with a rectifier and integrator which preferably clocks a conventional 
flip-flop 382 when the first tone is received over the captured telephone 
line 26. Flip-flop 382 in conjunction with AND gate 370 and an associated 
RC network 384-386 will preferably allow only one attempt for the caller 
to push the correct Touch-Tone number with a gating signal being provided 
from gate 370 only during the interval when the clocking signal is 
provided from the flip-flop 382 which clocking signal provides a "window" 
during which the logic output signal of gate 366 can be clocked to turn on 
transistor 372. Preferably, an auxiliary channel lamp indicator 390 and a 
main channel auxiliary lamp indicator 392 are provided which indicators 
are illuminated at the appropriate time. For example, the auxiliary 
channel indicator 390 is preferably illuminated if the correct tone is 
received by the telephone answering apparatus 300. If the correct tone is 
not received, or the caller does not depress any buttons, the outgoing 
message is then preferably provided from the main channel. As was 
previously referred to with reference to FIG. 13, when the user desires to 
record messages on the auxiliary channel, the activate auxiliary channel 
switch or button 322 is depressed. The depressing of this button 322 
preferably causes transistor 372 in the channel switching logic 310 to 
latch in the on state via relay 378 contacts and resistors 374 and 376 
thereby connecting the record playback electronics 306 to the auxiliary 
tape head 304 by means of moving switch 308a-308b to the dotted line 
position in FIG. 14. 
Now describing the function relating to the actuation of the internal 
speaker 312, this speaker is activated by signalling generators 400 and 
402, or 404 and 406 by the recorded trigger tone on the outgoing message 
tape or magnetic storage media. The caller is the one who dictates which 
signal tone is to be activated by either not depressing a Touch-Tone 
number in the above example or by depressing the correct number. If the 
correct Touch-Tone number is pressed, the prerecorded trigger tone on the 
outgoing message tape would be sensed by conventional tone decoders 410 
and 412. If the telephone answering apparatus 300 is on the main channel 
at that time and the tone recorded on the main channel consists of the 
same frequencies that are set for tone decoder 410, then the signalling 
frequency generated by signalling generators 400 and 402 is preferably 
passed to the internal speaker 312 via gate 336a. If, on the other hand, 
the caller depresses the correct number on the Touch-Tone pad, and the 
telephone answering apparatus 300 switches to the auxiliary channel, the 
prerecorded trigger tone on the auxiliary channel would be sensed or 
detected by tone decoder 412. If this tone consists of the same 
frequencies that are set for tone decoder 412, then the signalling 
frequency that developed by signalling generators 404 and 406 are passed 
via gate 336b to the internal speaker 312. 
The aforementioned speaker signalling tones which are the tones to trigger 
the speaker are preferably placed on the main and auxiliary channels 
during the announcement record mode using the same tone decoders 410 and 
412 that are used to sense their presence. In this manner, potential 
problems of calibration are minimized. In order to generate the speaker 
signalling tones, the ring signal pulser switch 316 is depressed. In the 
announcement record mode, tone decoders 410 and 412 are preferably 
continuously generating tones and their outputs are fed to conventional 
analog gates 420 and 422, respectively, whose outputs are in turn fed to 
another conventional analog gate 424. When speaker signalling tones are to 
be recorded on the main channel, analog gate 420 is enabled and when 
speaker signalling tones are to be recorded on the auxiliary channel, 
analog gate 422 is enabled. The ring signal pulser switch 316 in 
conjunction with analog gate 424 preferably turns the selected trigger 
tone on and off at the desired signalling pulse rate, with the output of 
analog gate 424 preferably feeding the record/playback electronics 306 
which input is summed with the announcement microphone 430 input. 
The presently preferred telephone answering apparatus 300 of the present 
invention, as shown and preferred in FIG. 14, also provides for aborting 
the answering mode such as when an extension phone or a phone not near the 
answering machine or apparatus 300 is picked up during the auto answer 
process. Normally, the user would either shut the apparatus 300 off, wait 
for the outgoing message and recording interval to end, or allow the 
conversation to be recorded. However, with the apparatus 300 of the 
present invention, if the extension is picked up at a point remote from 
the location of the answering apparatus 300 in the home, and the answering 
party wishes to terminate the auto answer mode, the answering party merely 
need depress the hash tone key on the extension phone. When this is done, 
the hash tone is sent by the hash tone decoder 326 which consists of tone 
decoders 326a and 326b. These hash tone decoders, after sensing the 
presence of the hash tone, provide a signal via inverters 450 and 452 and 
AND gate 454 to turn on field effect transistor 456 which in turn operates 
the hang-up relay 458 which, thereafter, causes the apparatus 300 to 
operate as if the telephone was hung up thereby terminating the auto 
answer mode and permitting the answering party to speak to the caller. 
In addition, as shown and preferred in FIG. 14, an auxiliary speaker 338 
may be provided which can be located remotely from the telephone answering 
apparatus 300. When this auxiliary speaker 338 is connected to the 
telephone answering apparatus 300 via field effect transistor 460, 
normally closed switch 462 is opened which prevents the auxiliary 
signalling tone from appearing at the output of the internal speaker 314. 
It should be noted that only signalling frequencies which are triggered by 
tones recorded on the auxiliary channel can be heard via the auxiliary 
speaker 338. 
By way of example, in tabular form, with the tables labeled A, B and C, I 
have illustrated the functional block activity for the multiple or 
alternate message capability of the answering apparatus 300 in table A, 
for the call screening capability of the apparatus 300 in Table B and for 
the night call screening capability of the apparatus 300 in Table C. 
3 TABLE A 
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK ACTIVITY FOR DIFFERENT ANSWERING MACHINE CAPABILITIES 
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK GENERATORS/DECODERS RECORD/PLAYBACK CODED 
NUMBER CHANNEL SWITCHING FOR SPEAKER TRIGGER SIGNALLING SOUND CAPABILITY 
MODE ELECTRONICS TONES DECODERS LOGIC TONES GENERATOR COMMENT 
Alternate Announcement record Internal microphone No action. Transfers 
record/ No action No action. Message process. is used to record 
playback electron- Caller can re- both main and alter- ics to feed 
auxil- ceive alternate nate messages. iary head. Switch message if he/ 
"Main" message is over signal is de- she depresses recorded first. 
veloped by pushing the predeter- "Actuate Alternate mined number 
Channel" button. during the out- Auto answer process. After receipt of 
Detects pressure of Switches input for No action. No action. going 
message ring, plays back special number if main to auxiliary period. 
main channel. If it is present. If channel. After re- special number 
is present, this block ceipt of special pressed by caller, sends logic 
level number if activated. unit plays back to channel switch- 
alternate message. ing logic. Main"Hello, you have reached the home of 
Kevin Jones. Nobody is available to answer right Channelnow, but if you 
leave you name and number, I'll get back to you as soon as possible." 
Auxiliary"Hi honey, listen your father called and he wants to meet us at 
the Terrace in the Park ChannelRestaurant for dinner at 8 P.M. instead 
of 7 P.M. Let me know if that's OK." Information on Outgoing Message 
Tape 
3 TABLE B 
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK ACTIVITY FOR DIFFERENT ANSWERING MACHINE CAPABILITIES 
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK GENERATORS/DECODERS RECORD/PLAYBACK CODED 
NUMBER CHANNEL SWITCHING FOR SPEAKER TRIGGER SIGNALLING SOUND CAPABILITY 
MODE ELECTRONICS TONES DECODERS LOGIC TONES GENERATOR COMMENT 
Call Screening Announcement Internal microphone No action. Directs 
signal to A sample of each of No action. Caller can record process. is 
used to record be recorded onto the two tone de- identify which main 
channel mes- either the main or coders is used to party he/she sage. 
One internal auxiliary channel. provide the trigger would like to 
generator is used Auxiliary channel tone. These tones speak to. One to 
place speaker is selected by push- are the center party is iden- 
trigger tones on ing the "Activate frequencies of the tified by one 
the main channel. Alternate Channel" same tone decoder type of signal- 
The other internal button. A signal used to determine ling tone from 
generator is used from the switching that a trigger tone the speaker, 
to generate speaker logic is used to is present. The the other by a 
trigger tones for select one of the "Ring Signal different sig- the 
alternate two different trig- Pulser" is depress- nalling tone 
channel. ger tones to be ed to gate the from the placed on the tape. 
trigger tones. speaker. Auto answer After receipt of Detects presence 
Input of record/ Decorders detect If unit is on the process. ring, 
plays back of special number playback electronics either the main main 
channel, the main channel. If if it is present. switches from main 
channel trigger main channel trig- special number is If present, this 
to auxiliary chan- tone or the ger decoder is pressed by caller, block 
sends a logic nel. After receipt auxiliary chan- activated which unit 
plays back level to the chan- of tones indicating nel trigger tone in 
turn activates alternate message. nel switching that the special 
depending on which the main channel logic. number was pressed channel 
is acti- signalling fre- on the caller's vated. quency is heard 
phone. from the internal speaker. If the unit is on the 
auxiliary channel the auxiliary signalling fre- 
quency is heard from the main speaker. Main"You have 
reached the home of Mary and Jim Simon. If this call is for Jim, please 
hold for a moment. ChannelIf this call is for Mary, push button #2 on 
your touch tone phone" . . . Speaker trigger signal for Jim's signalling 
tone . . . "I'm sorry Jim is not in right now. If you wish you may leave 
a message for Jim after the beep" . . . Beep tone. AuxiliarySpeaker 
trigger signal for Mary's signalling tone . . . I'm sorry Mary is not in 
right now but you can leave Channela message for her after you hear the 
beep" . . . Beep tone. 
Information on Outgoing Message Tape 
3 TABLE C 
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK ACTIVITY FOR DIFFERENT ANSWERING MACHINE CAPABILITIES 
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK GENERATORS/DECODERS RECORD/PLAYBACK CODED 
NUMBERS CHANNEL SWITCHING FOR SPEAKER TRIGGER SIGNALLING SOUND CAPABILITY 
MODE ELECTRONICS TONES DECODERS LOGIC TONES GENERATOR COMMENT 
Night Call Announcement record Internal microphone No action. Directs 
signal to A sample of the No action. Screening process. is used to 
record be recorded onto trigger tone No ring is main channel mes- 
either the main or generator of the heard by the sage. Internal 
auxiliary channel. alternate channel callee unless generator is used 
Auxiliary channel is recorded onto the caller de- to place speaker is 
selected by the auxiliary presses the trigger tones on pushing the 
"Acti- channel. The "Ring predetermined the activate vate Alternate 
Signal Pulser" is special number channel. Channel" button. depressed 
to gate on the touch A signal from the the trigger tones. tone pad. 
switching logic is used to select the trigger tones to be 
placed on the tape. Auto answer process. After receipt of Detects 
presence of Input of record/ Decoders detect the If the unit is on 
ring. plays back special number if playback electron- auxiliary channel 
the auxiliary main channel. If it is present. If ics switches from 
speaker trigger channel, the aux- special number is present, this 
block main to auxiliary tone. iliary signalling pressed by caller, 
sends a logic level channel. After frequency is heard unit plays back 
the to the channel receipt of tones from the main speaker trigger 
switching logic. indicating that the speaker. tone on the alter- 
special number was nate channel. pressed on the caller's phone. 
Main"You have reached the home of Donald Peters. I am asleep right now 
but if you indicate my security Channelcode, I will be awakened in order 
to answer this call" . . . "We are unable to ring through at this time. 
At the sound of the tone please leave your name and number". Beep . . . 
Beep tone. Auxiliary. . . Speaker trigger tones. . . . Beep tone. 
Channel 
Information on Outgoing Message Tape 
All of the above Tables A, B and C correspond to FIG. 13 and 14 with these 
Tables being more readily understood by reference to the functional block 
diagram of FIG. 13. 
It is to be understood that the above described embodiments of the 
invention are merely illustrative of the principles thereof and that 
numerous modifications and embodiments of the invention may be derived 
within the spirit and scope thereof.