Patent Document ID: 5390236
Application ID: 07881949
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A telephone message system for use with a telephone line for automatically storing and later retrieving information from incoming telephone calls, comprising: (a) a telephone answering device coupled to a telephone line, which comprises: means for receiving and storing first signals from said telephone line, each of said first signals specifying a caller; means for receiving and storing a voice message from each caller on said telephone line; means for converting each received first signal into received identifying information; means for linking each received identifying information with the corresponding stored voice message; means for transmitting said received identifying information to a user of said telephone message system for assisting in the selective retrieval of at least one of said stored messages; and (b) a remote access device, which comprises: means for storing a predetermined list of names and associated stored identifying information; means for receiving from said telephone answering device the received identifying information specifying the identities of the callers; means for comparing the received identifying information with said predetermined list of stored identifying information; means for displaying one or more respective caller names if the comparing means matches one or more received identifying information with any stored identifying information in said list.