CA1294080C - Multiple language telephone answering machine - Google Patents
Multiple language telephone answering machineInfo
- Publication number
- CA1294080C CA1294080C CA000576328A CA576328A CA1294080C CA 1294080 C CA1294080 C CA 1294080C CA 000576328 A CA000576328 A CA 000576328A CA 576328 A CA576328 A CA 576328A CA 1294080 C CA1294080 C CA 1294080C
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- calling party
- voice
- language
- outgoing message
- telephone
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
- H04M1/64—Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
- G06F40/20—Natural language analysis
- G06F40/263—Language identification
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
- H04M1/64—Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations
- H04M1/65—Recording arrangements for recording a message from the calling party
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
- G06F40/20—Natural language analysis
- G06F40/279—Recognition of textual entities
- G06F40/289—Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
- G06F40/40—Processing or translation of natural language
- G06F40/58—Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M2250/00—Details of telephonic subscriber devices
- H04M2250/58—Details of telephonic subscriber devices including a multilanguage function
Abstract
ABSTRACT
In response to a first outgoing message from a telephone answering device in an original language, such as English, if a calling party from a country speaks in doubt or he cannot answer it quickly, his voice is analyzed to determine what language it is in order to send him a second outgoing message in his own language, or else a second outgoing message in the original language is sent out promptly to prevent the calling party from hanging up.
The foreign calling party thus can understand the second outgoing message and leave his message on an incoming message tape. It is possible to use the present invention not only in a telephone answering device, but also in a general banking system or in question and answer telephone equipment.
In response to a first outgoing message from a telephone answering device in an original language, such as English, if a calling party from a country speaks in doubt or he cannot answer it quickly, his voice is analyzed to determine what language it is in order to send him a second outgoing message in his own language, or else a second outgoing message in the original language is sent out promptly to prevent the calling party from hanging up.
The foreign calling party thus can understand the second outgoing message and leave his message on an incoming message tape. It is possible to use the present invention not only in a telephone answering device, but also in a general banking system or in question and answer telephone equipment.
Description
~U_TlPLE LANGUAGE TELEPHONE A~ISWERING MACHINE
2 BAC~.~GROUND OF THE INV~NTION
3 The present invention relates to a telephone 4 answering device operable us ng several different languages.
6 In a conventional telephone answering device, 7 outgoing messages are sent out in response to an incoming 8 call to a caller. A beep tone is transmitt~d after said 9 outsoing ~essage and then an incoming message by the calling party is recorded if he leaves his message.
11 However, it is impossible to know previously from 12 which coun ry ~he incoming call is received and in which 13 language the call ng party speaXs when the telephone 14 answering de~ice is operated. So, the conventional telephone answering device was not useful for the 16 foreigner, because the forelgn calling party cannot 17 understand the outgoins message from the telephone 18 answering device.
SU~R~ OF TH~ INV~NTION
21 It is a first object of the present invention to 22 provide a telephone answering device, wherein a 23 prerecorded outgoing message in an original language, for 24 instance, ~This is Hashimoto Corporation. Who is speaking, please?~' is sent out to a calling party, and 26 wherein the calling party's voice in response to said 27 first outgoing message is analyzed by a voice analyzer to 28 decide which language it is when the calling party speaks 29 in a foreign language, for instance, ~Hello", Hallo", Allo", "A~r~-O" or "Oigame", in order to send a most 31 suitable second outgoing message in accordance with said 32 calling part~s language.
1 It is a second object of the present invention to ; 2 provide a tele~hone answering device, wherein if the 3 calling party responds in the same language, for instance 4 in English to the English outgoing message "who is speaking, please?~ as described in the first object, a ~; 6 ne~t outgoing message in the original language can be 7 immediately sent out to the calling party without the ne~t 8 step of anal-zins the callins party's voice and deciding 9 which languas2 i~ is.
It is a third object of the present invention to 11 provide a telephone answering device, wherein immediately 12 af~er the calling party's voice in a foreigr. language, for 13 ir.stance, ~Allo, allo~ is spok-~n, ~wait a minute~, "just - 14 a moment~ or the like is sent G~t to the calling part~f, in order to prevent the calling par--~ from hanging up, so - 16 that the time required for the ope~ation of the device for 17 analyzing the calllng party's voice or transla-ting a next 18 outgoing message can be delayec 19 S~ill other objects and adv2ntages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in 21 this art from the following detailed description, wherein 22 only the preferred embodiment of the invention are showr.
23 and described, simply by way of illustration of the bes~
24 mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and 26 different embodiments, and its several details are capable 27 of modifications in various obvious respects, all without 28 departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawing 29 and description are to be regarded as illustrative in ~' 30 nature, and not as restrictive.
32 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DR~WINGS
33 Figure 1 is a bloc~ diagram which shows a principle 34 of the present invention;
:
1 Figure 2 is a diagram which shows the recording 2 conditions of the outgoing message on the tape;
3 Figure 3 is a flow chart wh_ch shows the operation 4 of the telephone answering device; and Figure 4 is a flow chart which shows the operation 6 at the time of automatic translating.
8 DESC~IPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
9 The arrangement and operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to the 11 block diagram Figure 1 and the flow charts Figures 3 and 12 4.
13 Referring to Figure 1, referê.~ce symbols Ll and L2 14 denote telephone lines. Reference symbol Lt denotes a line transformer for connectlng the telephone lines to the 16 present device. Reference numeral 1 denotes a one chip 17 mic~oprocessor (hereinafter called as C?U) having a ROM
18 (not shown) wherein t:~e program is incorporated.
19 Refersnce numeral 2 denotes an operation switch section including some keys, for instance, a recording key for 21 recording an outgoing message (hereinafter called as OG~) 22 and a beep tone on an OG~ recording/playback section 5 23 described later, a playback key for playing back said OG~., 24 an "AUTO~' key for setting the device in an automatic answering/recording mode, and a key for playing back an 26 incoming message (hereinafter called an IC~) from the 27 calling party recorded on an ICM tape. The data showing 28 which key is pushed is entered into an input port 1-3 of 29 said CPU, and the signal showing that any key is being pushed are appIied to an interrupt terminal INT of said 31 C U through a NOR gate described later.
32 Reference numeral 3 denotes line monitoring 33 circuitry for detecting the ringing signal and the voltage 34 change of telephone line when the calling party hangs up (on-hook)~ Rererence numerai ~ denot^s a NOR gate; 5 ,' :
l denotes a solid-state OG~ recording/playback section 2 compr sing ~n LSI and memory DRAM; 6 denotes a microphone 3 for recording the OGM; and 7 denotes a beep tone detecting 4 section for detecting a beep tone reproduced from said OGM
recording/playback section 5. When said beep tone is 6 being detected, the calling party's voice is inputted and 7 amplified, as described later. Reference numerals 8 and 8 9 denote amplifiers. Reference numeral 10 deno~es an ICM
9 recording/playback section for recording and playing back the IC~ from the calling party. In the present 11 embodiment, as a recording medium, a tape (IC~ tape) is 12 used, but as is needless to say, a disc, an IC chip or the 13 llke can be used.
14 Reference numeral 11 denotes an analos switch which is turned on while the calling party~s voice is being 16 inputted and amplified as described above; 12 denotes an 17 amplifier; 12~ denotes a loudspeaker and 13 denotes a 18 solid-state recording/playbacX section compr slng LSI and 19 solid-state memory.
Reference numeral 14 denotes a voice recognizing 21 section. While said calling party's voice is being 22 inputted and amplified, said voice is introduced into the 23 voice recognizing section. Then the voice recognizing 24 section 14 compares said voice with foreign language words registered into a foreign language pattern registering 26 section described later, and outputs the code for deciding 27 which language said voice is. Reference numeral 15 28 denotes a foreign language pattern registering section, 29 wherein main words that are supposed to be mostly spoken by the calling party when he accepts calling, for example, 31 ~Hello, this is" or ~Mr. 'I in English, are pattern 32 registered in some major foreign languages.
33 Reference numeral 16 denotes a personal computer 34 and 17 denotes a hard disc device wherein the translation prcgram for each language is stored.
,~
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Reference numera:L 1~ denotes a voice encoder for transforming a Japanese or othsr OGM ~oice that is to be translated into the character code for making input sentences for said translation program. Voice recognition and language translation circuitry are known in the prior art, such as in U.S. patent 4,507,750.
Figure 2 shows schematically the recording conditions of the OGM and the beep tone recorded on said OGM recording/playback section 5. In Figure 2, OGM-1 is a first OGM, for instance, "This is Hashimoto Corporation. Who is speaking, please?". The beep tone recorded between tl and t2 (for a couple of seconds) is sent out to the calling party for about 0.5 second before said beep tone is detected. While said beep tone for the rest period that is continuously sent out is being detected by said beep tone detecting section, the calling party's voice is inputted into the device for voice recognition described later and is amplified to be heard by the people around the device so that the calling party may be identified.
Further, OGM~2, for example, "The person in charge is not here right now. Please leave your name, telephone number and message. ---", is recorded.
Operations will now be described with reference to the flow charts, Figures 3 and 4.
When the ringing signal comes into the telephone lines L1 and L2 in Figure 1, said ringing signal is detected by the line monitoring circuitry 3, whose output t is applied to an input terminal TEST-1 of the CPU 1.
When it is determined to be a ringing signal in step 20 of the flow chart Figure 3, a relay Y-l is maintained energized by output of an output port 0-6 and the telephone line is engaged through a contact Yl-1 of the relay Y-l (step 21).
In step 22, according to the command from an output port 0-3, the OGM-l in Figure 2 recorded on the OGM
:
':
~L~,9~
1 recording/playback section 5 is played back ~nd sent out 2 to the calling party through the amplifier 8 and the line 3 transformer LT.
4 After sending out said OGM-1, the playbac~ of the beep tone in Figure 2 sta-ts and the beep tone is detected 6 by the beep tone detecting section. It takes about 0.5 7 second to detect it to be a beep tone. And after sending 8 the beep tone for 0.5 seconc to the c~lling party (s~ep 9 22), the bias voltage of the ampli-Le_ 8 is removed by output of an output port 0-9 to disable amp ifier 8.
11 Accordingly, the calling party can hear only said beep 12 tone for 0.5 second, and not the beep tone that is 13 continuouslv being activated.
14 In case of a Japanese calling party in Japan, after he speaXs his name in response to said OGM-l, his voice is 16 amplified a-ound the device through the line transformer 17 LT, the ampllfier 9, the analog switch 11 turned on by the 18 command o. an out?ut port 0-1, the a.~pl-fie~ 12 and the 19 loudspeaker 12' (steps 23 and 24). ~t this time, the person in charge can direc~ly respond to the calling party 21 through the telephone set TEL.
22 Now, said calling party~s voice is simultaneously 23 inputted to the voice recognizing section 14 from said 24 analog switch 11 through the solid-state recording/playback section 13. Said inpu~ is limited to ~ 26 the period of amplification when the bee? tone of Figure 2 ;~ 27 is being played back, as shown in steps 25, 26 and 27.
28 Accordingly, in the case of a Japanese calling party in 29 Japan, his name is inputted into the voice recognizing section 14 responsive to OGM-l, and in case of another ` 31 calling party in a different language, his voice spoken, 32 for instance in English, ~Hello, I am Mr. /l or the 33 like, is inputted into the voice recognizing section 14.
34 The voice inputted into said voice recognizing section 14 is ignored if it is, for instance, in Japanese '-~'~
... . .
~ .:
.
1 which is not regis_ered into the foreign languag~s 2 pattern registering section 15 in Japan. The interrupt 3 described later is not effected. The program proceeds 4 from step 27 to step 28. The amplifier 8 is activated again and the OG~-2 in ~igure 2 is sent out to the calling 6 party. As th-s step is done at high speed, said OG~-2 is 7 sent out without giving any unnatural impression to the 8 calling party.
9 After sending of said OG~-2, the ICM from the calling party is recorded on an IC~ tape (not shown) of 11 the IC~ recordi.ng/playbac~ section 10 through the line 12 trans~ormer Lm and the ampllfier 9. Then the telephone 13 line is d sengased and the device returns to the standby 14 mode (steps 29 and 30).
In the event that said voice inputted into the voice recognizing section 14 is in a foreign language 17 o~her than ~aD2nese and coincides with one of the 18 registered pa~erns in the foreign langu2ge~s pattern 19 registering section lS, a predetermined code, for instance, a pat~ern registration number, is output. Said 21 code is inputted into the personal computer 16 , and in 22 accordance w-th said code, the personal computer 16 23 decides what language the calling party's voice is (steps 24 31 to 36 in Figure 4).
In case of the calling party's voice in ~nglish 26 according to said recognition, an interrupt request is 27 supplied to the CPU 1 from the personal computer 16 28 through the NOR gate 4 at step 37. Although not shown in 29 the flow charts, the program in the CPU l applies the second Japanese OGM-2 recorded on the OG~
31 recording/playback section to the voice type-,riter 18 32 through the analog switch l9 and the solid-state 33 recording/playbac~ section 13, so that said Japanese OG~-2 34 is transformed into the character code and inputted in the personal computer 16.
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1 While the CPU 1 operates as described above in 2 response to the command by the personal computer 16, at 3 step 38 the parsonal computer 16 makes the correspondin~
4 tr~nslation program load~d from the hard disc 17 to start ~he translation. As the OG~ is in a relatively simple 6 style and the translation program itself has a learning 7 function, the translation is completed at a relatively 8 high speed. The translate_ second OG`~ (digital signal) is g applied tc a D~A converter of the CG~ recording/playbac~
section 5 thr~ugh an input port I-4 and an output port 0-3 ll of the CPU 1. Said second OG~ is transformed into the 12 analog signal OG.~ and then sent out to the calling party.
13 Ic the translated OG~ is output as a character code, it is 14 t-ansCormed into the analog signal OG`~ by a voice synthesizing circuit not shown.
16 If the OG.~ is long and it taXes much time to 17 translate it, the time for sencing OUt the CG~ is stored 18 to send out bv voice synthesizing a messace a moment 19 which means wait a minute and most foreigners can understand, so that some time can be accrued in order to 21 prevent the calling party fro.~ hanging up.
22 Further, it can be arranged bO star~ translating 23 into a predetermined foreign language, if the calling 24 party sends a predetermined code as a tone (DTMF) of a push-button telephone to be recogni7ed by the voice 26 recognizing section 14 as audible frequency band in the 27 same way as voice. And it can be also arranged to send 28 out the second OG~ in the original language if the calling 29 party doesn~t speak for more than a predetermined period of time, because the interruption is not activated and 31 operation is as shown in the flow chart of Figure 3 32 without the calling party~s voice. In this case, the 33 original language~s second OG~ is sent out at step 28.
34 After the translation is completed, the personal computer 16 stops operating, whereas in the CPU 1, after '~, ~' :
. .
1 the translated second OG~ is sent out, the IC~ from the - 2 c211 `' ng party is recorded as described above and ther. ~he 3 device returns to the standby mode.
4 In the above description, each time the incoming call from the forsigner arrives, the second OG~ is 6 translated into the corresponding foreign language.
7 However, complicated operation is always _equired. So, it ~ 8 may be also arranged to in_tall a ~ey for automa~ic ; 9 translating on the operation switch sec~ion. In this case, when said key is pushed after Japanese OG~
ll recording, the Japanese OG~ is translated by the 12 t-anslation ?rogram into English, Russian, French, Spanish 13 and German automatically. These translation data are 14 stored in respective predetermined addresses of the memory ~ in the personal computer 16. When the incoming call 16 from the foreigner arrives, the corresponding address of 17 RA~ is specified by voice r2cognition and the 18 corresponding t_anslated OG~ is sent out.
19 The detalled ope-ation will now be described.
~` 20 It is assumed that the translation program for said 21 every language is stored in the hard disc device 17. When 22 said key ~or automatic translating is pushed, interrupt 23 request is supplied to the CPU 1 through the NOR gate 4 24 and the interrupt terminal INT. According to the code applied to an input terminal I-3, the CPU 1 recognizes 26 that said key for automatic translating is pushed. Then 27 the program in the C7u 1 operates as follows.
28 A predetermined code is output from an output port 29 0-4 and inputted into the personal computer 16 through the voice recognizing section 14. Or, said predetermined code 31 may be inputted into the personal computer 16 through 32 another output port, for instance, 0-10 (not shown), 33 without passing through the voice recognizing section 14.
34 This code, for instance, corresponds to the pattern regist-ation number which is registered into the foreign 1 language~s pattern registering section 15 described above.
2 In order to begin with automatic translating into English, 3 the code which corresponds to said pattern registration 4 number for English is inputted into the personal computer 16. The second OG.~ is now translated into English in the 6 sa.~e way as in the above case of the incoming call from 7 the foreigne-. The translated second OG~ is stored into 8 said memory R~. ~fter said translation is completed, the 9 C?~ 1 recognlzes a translation completion signal from the personal computer 16 through the NOR gate 4. The next 11 code for another foreign language to be translated next 12 time, for ir.stance, the code for Russi~n, is output from 13 the out?ut oor~ 0-4 to translate the second OG`~ into 14 Russian and to store it into said memory R~ as described 15 above.
16 Said ope-ations may be repeated and it is possible 17 to automaticall~ t_anslate according to the translation 18 program fo- e~re-y foreign language which is stored in the 19 hard disc ce~tice 17.
F~rther, as the second OG~ transl2ted into each 21 foreign languase is now in the form of digi~al signals, it 22 can be saved in the hard disc device 17 as it is. And it 23 is possible to load said second OG~ into the personal 24 computer 16 in each case of operations of the telephone answering device. Accordingly, in this case, it is 26 possible to eliminate the operation in ste3s 38,41...... 61 27 for 102ding the translation program to translate, which 28 requires much time, so that quic~ access is possible.
29 In a conventional telephone answering device, only the original language~s OG~ is recorded as custom. Even 31 if the foreign language~s OG~, for instance, the English 32 OG~, is recorded after said original language's OG~, every 33 calling party has to listen to the English OG~ reproduced 34 after the original language's OG~ and it is a waste of time and causes inconvenience for the calling party who ~, '` .
' 1 does not need the English OG~. However, according to the 2 present invention, it is possible to recognize the calling 3 party's voice in foreign languages, for instance, "Hello'', 4 ~Allo~ or the like in response to the first OG~ in original language, for instance, "Who is speaking, 6 Please?~', to select the foreign lang~age's OG`~ that is 7 most suitable for said calling party and to send it to 8 him. There~ore, the present invention is very 9 advantageous in practical use, in view of the future when the telephone answering device will make continuous ; 11progress together with the telephone set and the world-12 wide automatic direct dialing will be possible.
13Although a certain preferred embodiment has been 14 shown and described, it should be understood that many changes are modifications may be made therein without 16 departing from the scope of the invention. For instance, 17 it can be used for not onlv a tele?hone answering device 18 but also 2 telephone banking system or an answer and 19 question telephone equipment, etc.
~ .
6 In a conventional telephone answering device, 7 outgoing messages are sent out in response to an incoming 8 call to a caller. A beep tone is transmitt~d after said 9 outsoing ~essage and then an incoming message by the calling party is recorded if he leaves his message.
11 However, it is impossible to know previously from 12 which coun ry ~he incoming call is received and in which 13 language the call ng party speaXs when the telephone 14 answering de~ice is operated. So, the conventional telephone answering device was not useful for the 16 foreigner, because the forelgn calling party cannot 17 understand the outgoins message from the telephone 18 answering device.
SU~R~ OF TH~ INV~NTION
21 It is a first object of the present invention to 22 provide a telephone answering device, wherein a 23 prerecorded outgoing message in an original language, for 24 instance, ~This is Hashimoto Corporation. Who is speaking, please?~' is sent out to a calling party, and 26 wherein the calling party's voice in response to said 27 first outgoing message is analyzed by a voice analyzer to 28 decide which language it is when the calling party speaks 29 in a foreign language, for instance, ~Hello", Hallo", Allo", "A~r~-O" or "Oigame", in order to send a most 31 suitable second outgoing message in accordance with said 32 calling part~s language.
1 It is a second object of the present invention to ; 2 provide a tele~hone answering device, wherein if the 3 calling party responds in the same language, for instance 4 in English to the English outgoing message "who is speaking, please?~ as described in the first object, a ~; 6 ne~t outgoing message in the original language can be 7 immediately sent out to the calling party without the ne~t 8 step of anal-zins the callins party's voice and deciding 9 which languas2 i~ is.
It is a third object of the present invention to 11 provide a telephone answering device, wherein immediately 12 af~er the calling party's voice in a foreigr. language, for 13 ir.stance, ~Allo, allo~ is spok-~n, ~wait a minute~, "just - 14 a moment~ or the like is sent G~t to the calling part~f, in order to prevent the calling par--~ from hanging up, so - 16 that the time required for the ope~ation of the device for 17 analyzing the calllng party's voice or transla-ting a next 18 outgoing message can be delayec 19 S~ill other objects and adv2ntages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in 21 this art from the following detailed description, wherein 22 only the preferred embodiment of the invention are showr.
23 and described, simply by way of illustration of the bes~
24 mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and 26 different embodiments, and its several details are capable 27 of modifications in various obvious respects, all without 28 departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawing 29 and description are to be regarded as illustrative in ~' 30 nature, and not as restrictive.
32 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DR~WINGS
33 Figure 1 is a bloc~ diagram which shows a principle 34 of the present invention;
:
1 Figure 2 is a diagram which shows the recording 2 conditions of the outgoing message on the tape;
3 Figure 3 is a flow chart wh_ch shows the operation 4 of the telephone answering device; and Figure 4 is a flow chart which shows the operation 6 at the time of automatic translating.
8 DESC~IPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
9 The arrangement and operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to the 11 block diagram Figure 1 and the flow charts Figures 3 and 12 4.
13 Referring to Figure 1, referê.~ce symbols Ll and L2 14 denote telephone lines. Reference symbol Lt denotes a line transformer for connectlng the telephone lines to the 16 present device. Reference numeral 1 denotes a one chip 17 mic~oprocessor (hereinafter called as C?U) having a ROM
18 (not shown) wherein t:~e program is incorporated.
19 Refersnce numeral 2 denotes an operation switch section including some keys, for instance, a recording key for 21 recording an outgoing message (hereinafter called as OG~) 22 and a beep tone on an OG~ recording/playback section 5 23 described later, a playback key for playing back said OG~., 24 an "AUTO~' key for setting the device in an automatic answering/recording mode, and a key for playing back an 26 incoming message (hereinafter called an IC~) from the 27 calling party recorded on an ICM tape. The data showing 28 which key is pushed is entered into an input port 1-3 of 29 said CPU, and the signal showing that any key is being pushed are appIied to an interrupt terminal INT of said 31 C U through a NOR gate described later.
32 Reference numeral 3 denotes line monitoring 33 circuitry for detecting the ringing signal and the voltage 34 change of telephone line when the calling party hangs up (on-hook)~ Rererence numerai ~ denot^s a NOR gate; 5 ,' :
l denotes a solid-state OG~ recording/playback section 2 compr sing ~n LSI and memory DRAM; 6 denotes a microphone 3 for recording the OGM; and 7 denotes a beep tone detecting 4 section for detecting a beep tone reproduced from said OGM
recording/playback section 5. When said beep tone is 6 being detected, the calling party's voice is inputted and 7 amplified, as described later. Reference numerals 8 and 8 9 denote amplifiers. Reference numeral 10 deno~es an ICM
9 recording/playback section for recording and playing back the IC~ from the calling party. In the present 11 embodiment, as a recording medium, a tape (IC~ tape) is 12 used, but as is needless to say, a disc, an IC chip or the 13 llke can be used.
14 Reference numeral 11 denotes an analos switch which is turned on while the calling party~s voice is being 16 inputted and amplified as described above; 12 denotes an 17 amplifier; 12~ denotes a loudspeaker and 13 denotes a 18 solid-state recording/playbacX section compr slng LSI and 19 solid-state memory.
Reference numeral 14 denotes a voice recognizing 21 section. While said calling party's voice is being 22 inputted and amplified, said voice is introduced into the 23 voice recognizing section. Then the voice recognizing 24 section 14 compares said voice with foreign language words registered into a foreign language pattern registering 26 section described later, and outputs the code for deciding 27 which language said voice is. Reference numeral 15 28 denotes a foreign language pattern registering section, 29 wherein main words that are supposed to be mostly spoken by the calling party when he accepts calling, for example, 31 ~Hello, this is" or ~Mr. 'I in English, are pattern 32 registered in some major foreign languages.
33 Reference numeral 16 denotes a personal computer 34 and 17 denotes a hard disc device wherein the translation prcgram for each language is stored.
,~
~ ~ZI~
Reference numera:L 1~ denotes a voice encoder for transforming a Japanese or othsr OGM ~oice that is to be translated into the character code for making input sentences for said translation program. Voice recognition and language translation circuitry are known in the prior art, such as in U.S. patent 4,507,750.
Figure 2 shows schematically the recording conditions of the OGM and the beep tone recorded on said OGM recording/playback section 5. In Figure 2, OGM-1 is a first OGM, for instance, "This is Hashimoto Corporation. Who is speaking, please?". The beep tone recorded between tl and t2 (for a couple of seconds) is sent out to the calling party for about 0.5 second before said beep tone is detected. While said beep tone for the rest period that is continuously sent out is being detected by said beep tone detecting section, the calling party's voice is inputted into the device for voice recognition described later and is amplified to be heard by the people around the device so that the calling party may be identified.
Further, OGM~2, for example, "The person in charge is not here right now. Please leave your name, telephone number and message. ---", is recorded.
Operations will now be described with reference to the flow charts, Figures 3 and 4.
When the ringing signal comes into the telephone lines L1 and L2 in Figure 1, said ringing signal is detected by the line monitoring circuitry 3, whose output t is applied to an input terminal TEST-1 of the CPU 1.
When it is determined to be a ringing signal in step 20 of the flow chart Figure 3, a relay Y-l is maintained energized by output of an output port 0-6 and the telephone line is engaged through a contact Yl-1 of the relay Y-l (step 21).
In step 22, according to the command from an output port 0-3, the OGM-l in Figure 2 recorded on the OGM
:
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~L~,9~
1 recording/playback section 5 is played back ~nd sent out 2 to the calling party through the amplifier 8 and the line 3 transformer LT.
4 After sending out said OGM-1, the playbac~ of the beep tone in Figure 2 sta-ts and the beep tone is detected 6 by the beep tone detecting section. It takes about 0.5 7 second to detect it to be a beep tone. And after sending 8 the beep tone for 0.5 seconc to the c~lling party (s~ep 9 22), the bias voltage of the ampli-Le_ 8 is removed by output of an output port 0-9 to disable amp ifier 8.
11 Accordingly, the calling party can hear only said beep 12 tone for 0.5 second, and not the beep tone that is 13 continuouslv being activated.
14 In case of a Japanese calling party in Japan, after he speaXs his name in response to said OGM-l, his voice is 16 amplified a-ound the device through the line transformer 17 LT, the ampllfier 9, the analog switch 11 turned on by the 18 command o. an out?ut port 0-1, the a.~pl-fie~ 12 and the 19 loudspeaker 12' (steps 23 and 24). ~t this time, the person in charge can direc~ly respond to the calling party 21 through the telephone set TEL.
22 Now, said calling party~s voice is simultaneously 23 inputted to the voice recognizing section 14 from said 24 analog switch 11 through the solid-state recording/playback section 13. Said inpu~ is limited to ~ 26 the period of amplification when the bee? tone of Figure 2 ;~ 27 is being played back, as shown in steps 25, 26 and 27.
28 Accordingly, in the case of a Japanese calling party in 29 Japan, his name is inputted into the voice recognizing section 14 responsive to OGM-l, and in case of another ` 31 calling party in a different language, his voice spoken, 32 for instance in English, ~Hello, I am Mr. /l or the 33 like, is inputted into the voice recognizing section 14.
34 The voice inputted into said voice recognizing section 14 is ignored if it is, for instance, in Japanese '-~'~
... . .
~ .:
.
1 which is not regis_ered into the foreign languag~s 2 pattern registering section 15 in Japan. The interrupt 3 described later is not effected. The program proceeds 4 from step 27 to step 28. The amplifier 8 is activated again and the OG~-2 in ~igure 2 is sent out to the calling 6 party. As th-s step is done at high speed, said OG~-2 is 7 sent out without giving any unnatural impression to the 8 calling party.
9 After sending of said OG~-2, the ICM from the calling party is recorded on an IC~ tape (not shown) of 11 the IC~ recordi.ng/playbac~ section 10 through the line 12 trans~ormer Lm and the ampllfier 9. Then the telephone 13 line is d sengased and the device returns to the standby 14 mode (steps 29 and 30).
In the event that said voice inputted into the voice recognizing section 14 is in a foreign language 17 o~her than ~aD2nese and coincides with one of the 18 registered pa~erns in the foreign langu2ge~s pattern 19 registering section lS, a predetermined code, for instance, a pat~ern registration number, is output. Said 21 code is inputted into the personal computer 16 , and in 22 accordance w-th said code, the personal computer 16 23 decides what language the calling party's voice is (steps 24 31 to 36 in Figure 4).
In case of the calling party's voice in ~nglish 26 according to said recognition, an interrupt request is 27 supplied to the CPU 1 from the personal computer 16 28 through the NOR gate 4 at step 37. Although not shown in 29 the flow charts, the program in the CPU l applies the second Japanese OGM-2 recorded on the OG~
31 recording/playback section to the voice type-,riter 18 32 through the analog switch l9 and the solid-state 33 recording/playbac~ section 13, so that said Japanese OG~-2 34 is transformed into the character code and inputted in the personal computer 16.
~?J~
1 While the CPU 1 operates as described above in 2 response to the command by the personal computer 16, at 3 step 38 the parsonal computer 16 makes the correspondin~
4 tr~nslation program load~d from the hard disc 17 to start ~he translation. As the OG~ is in a relatively simple 6 style and the translation program itself has a learning 7 function, the translation is completed at a relatively 8 high speed. The translate_ second OG`~ (digital signal) is g applied tc a D~A converter of the CG~ recording/playbac~
section 5 thr~ugh an input port I-4 and an output port 0-3 ll of the CPU 1. Said second OG~ is transformed into the 12 analog signal OG.~ and then sent out to the calling party.
13 Ic the translated OG~ is output as a character code, it is 14 t-ansCormed into the analog signal OG`~ by a voice synthesizing circuit not shown.
16 If the OG.~ is long and it taXes much time to 17 translate it, the time for sencing OUt the CG~ is stored 18 to send out bv voice synthesizing a messace a moment 19 which means wait a minute and most foreigners can understand, so that some time can be accrued in order to 21 prevent the calling party fro.~ hanging up.
22 Further, it can be arranged bO star~ translating 23 into a predetermined foreign language, if the calling 24 party sends a predetermined code as a tone (DTMF) of a push-button telephone to be recogni7ed by the voice 26 recognizing section 14 as audible frequency band in the 27 same way as voice. And it can be also arranged to send 28 out the second OG~ in the original language if the calling 29 party doesn~t speak for more than a predetermined period of time, because the interruption is not activated and 31 operation is as shown in the flow chart of Figure 3 32 without the calling party~s voice. In this case, the 33 original language~s second OG~ is sent out at step 28.
34 After the translation is completed, the personal computer 16 stops operating, whereas in the CPU 1, after '~, ~' :
. .
1 the translated second OG~ is sent out, the IC~ from the - 2 c211 `' ng party is recorded as described above and ther. ~he 3 device returns to the standby mode.
4 In the above description, each time the incoming call from the forsigner arrives, the second OG~ is 6 translated into the corresponding foreign language.
7 However, complicated operation is always _equired. So, it ~ 8 may be also arranged to in_tall a ~ey for automa~ic ; 9 translating on the operation switch sec~ion. In this case, when said key is pushed after Japanese OG~
ll recording, the Japanese OG~ is translated by the 12 t-anslation ?rogram into English, Russian, French, Spanish 13 and German automatically. These translation data are 14 stored in respective predetermined addresses of the memory ~ in the personal computer 16. When the incoming call 16 from the foreigner arrives, the corresponding address of 17 RA~ is specified by voice r2cognition and the 18 corresponding t_anslated OG~ is sent out.
19 The detalled ope-ation will now be described.
~` 20 It is assumed that the translation program for said 21 every language is stored in the hard disc device 17. When 22 said key ~or automatic translating is pushed, interrupt 23 request is supplied to the CPU 1 through the NOR gate 4 24 and the interrupt terminal INT. According to the code applied to an input terminal I-3, the CPU 1 recognizes 26 that said key for automatic translating is pushed. Then 27 the program in the C7u 1 operates as follows.
28 A predetermined code is output from an output port 29 0-4 and inputted into the personal computer 16 through the voice recognizing section 14. Or, said predetermined code 31 may be inputted into the personal computer 16 through 32 another output port, for instance, 0-10 (not shown), 33 without passing through the voice recognizing section 14.
34 This code, for instance, corresponds to the pattern regist-ation number which is registered into the foreign 1 language~s pattern registering section 15 described above.
2 In order to begin with automatic translating into English, 3 the code which corresponds to said pattern registration 4 number for English is inputted into the personal computer 16. The second OG.~ is now translated into English in the 6 sa.~e way as in the above case of the incoming call from 7 the foreigne-. The translated second OG~ is stored into 8 said memory R~. ~fter said translation is completed, the 9 C?~ 1 recognlzes a translation completion signal from the personal computer 16 through the NOR gate 4. The next 11 code for another foreign language to be translated next 12 time, for ir.stance, the code for Russi~n, is output from 13 the out?ut oor~ 0-4 to translate the second OG`~ into 14 Russian and to store it into said memory R~ as described 15 above.
16 Said ope-ations may be repeated and it is possible 17 to automaticall~ t_anslate according to the translation 18 program fo- e~re-y foreign language which is stored in the 19 hard disc ce~tice 17.
F~rther, as the second OG~ transl2ted into each 21 foreign languase is now in the form of digi~al signals, it 22 can be saved in the hard disc device 17 as it is. And it 23 is possible to load said second OG~ into the personal 24 computer 16 in each case of operations of the telephone answering device. Accordingly, in this case, it is 26 possible to eliminate the operation in ste3s 38,41...... 61 27 for 102ding the translation program to translate, which 28 requires much time, so that quic~ access is possible.
29 In a conventional telephone answering device, only the original language~s OG~ is recorded as custom. Even 31 if the foreign language~s OG~, for instance, the English 32 OG~, is recorded after said original language's OG~, every 33 calling party has to listen to the English OG~ reproduced 34 after the original language's OG~ and it is a waste of time and causes inconvenience for the calling party who ~, '` .
' 1 does not need the English OG~. However, according to the 2 present invention, it is possible to recognize the calling 3 party's voice in foreign languages, for instance, "Hello'', 4 ~Allo~ or the like in response to the first OG~ in original language, for instance, "Who is speaking, 6 Please?~', to select the foreign lang~age's OG`~ that is 7 most suitable for said calling party and to send it to 8 him. There~ore, the present invention is very 9 advantageous in practical use, in view of the future when the telephone answering device will make continuous ; 11progress together with the telephone set and the world-12 wide automatic direct dialing will be possible.
13Although a certain preferred embodiment has been 14 shown and described, it should be understood that many changes are modifications may be made therein without 16 departing from the scope of the invention. For instance, 17 it can be used for not onlv a tele?hone answering device 18 but also 2 telephone banking system or an answer and 19 question telephone equipment, etc.
~ .
Claims (4)
1. A telephone answering device for answering an incoming telephone call and afterwards recording a calling party's voice, comprising:
means for sending out at least an outgoing message such as "Who is speaking, please?";
means for amplifying or recording the calling party's voice in response to said outgoing message;
means for voice analyzing said calling party's voice and deciding which language the calling party speaks;
means for selecting a most suitable foreign language for the calling party in response to said analyzing means; and means for sending out the outgoing message from the device in said most suitable foreign language.
means for sending out at least an outgoing message such as "Who is speaking, please?";
means for amplifying or recording the calling party's voice in response to said outgoing message;
means for voice analyzing said calling party's voice and deciding which language the calling party speaks;
means for selecting a most suitable foreign language for the calling party in response to said analyzing means; and means for sending out the outgoing message from the device in said most suitable foreign language.
2. A telephone answering device, according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said outgoing messages are predetermined and pre-translated in every language to be selected in the device.
3. A telephone answering device, according to claim 1, wherein an outgoing message in an original language, for example, Japanese, is translated into the selected language by a built-in translation device in the telephone answering device each time the calling party's voice is analyzed, to send out said translated outgoing message.
4. In a telephone answering device for automatically answering an incoming call and recording a calling party's voice, a method comprising the steps of:
sending out at least a first outgoing message such as "Who is speaking, please?" upon reception of incoming call from the calling party;
voice analyzing the calling party's voice in response to said first outgoing message;
selecting a most suitable foreign language from a store of outgoing messages for the calling party; and sending out the outgoing message in said most suitable foreign language to the caller.
sending out at least a first outgoing message such as "Who is speaking, please?" upon reception of incoming call from the calling party;
voice analyzing the calling party's voice in response to said first outgoing message;
selecting a most suitable foreign language from a store of outgoing messages for the calling party; and sending out the outgoing message in said most suitable foreign language to the caller.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP62-227729 | 1987-09-11 | ||
| JP62227729A JPS6471254A (en) | 1987-09-11 | 1987-09-11 | Automatic answering telephone system |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1294080C true CA1294080C (en) | 1992-01-07 |
Family
ID=16865441
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000576328A Expired - Lifetime CA1294080C (en) | 1987-09-11 | 1988-09-01 | Multiple language telephone answering machine |
Country Status (9)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US4866755A (en) |
| EP (1) | EP0307137B1 (en) |
| JP (1) | JPS6471254A (en) |
| KR (1) | KR960014222B1 (en) |
| CN (1) | CN2063321U (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1294080C (en) |
| DE (1) | DE3883117T2 (en) |
| HK (1) | HK1000360A1 (en) |
| RU (1) | RU2061997C1 (en) |
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| US5077804A (en) * | 1990-12-11 | 1991-12-31 | Richard Dnaiel D | Telecommunications device and related method |
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| US5189692A (en) * | 1991-04-26 | 1993-02-23 | George Ferrara | Telephone operator simulator |
| US5388146A (en) * | 1991-11-12 | 1995-02-07 | Microlog Corporation | Automated telephone system using multiple languages |
| US5481589A (en) * | 1991-11-12 | 1996-01-02 | Microlog Corporation | Detection of TDD signals in an automated telephone system |
| US5577104A (en) * | 1992-02-05 | 1996-11-19 | Casio Phonemate, Inc. | Method for system and message activation based on distinctive ringing |
| JPH06188967A (en) * | 1992-12-22 | 1994-07-08 | Canon Inc | Communication equipment |
| US5625676A (en) * | 1993-09-13 | 1997-04-29 | Active Voice Corporation | Method and apparatus for monitoring a caller's name while using a telephone |
| US5568540A (en) * | 1993-09-13 | 1996-10-22 | Active Voice Corporation | Method and apparatus for selecting and playing a voice mail message |
| US5434906A (en) * | 1993-09-13 | 1995-07-18 | Robinson; Michael J. | Method and apparatus for processing an incoming call in a communication system |
| US5509060A (en) * | 1993-11-19 | 1996-04-16 | At&T Corp. | Network-accessible intelligent telephone service |
| US5724406A (en) * | 1994-03-22 | 1998-03-03 | Ericsson Messaging Systems, Inc. | Call processing system and method for providing a variety of messaging services |
| DE4430991C2 (en) * | 1994-08-31 | 1996-10-02 | Siemens Ag | Method for providing announcements in certain languages for the calling subscribers of a communication network |
| DE4446520A1 (en) * | 1994-12-24 | 1996-06-27 | Sel Alcatel Ag | Method for issuing an announcement in one of several languages and apparatus therefor |
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| FI104677B (en) * | 1996-12-04 | 2000-04-14 | Nokia Networks Oy | A method of transmitting audio messages to a subscriber |
| US6041114A (en) | 1997-03-27 | 2000-03-21 | Active Voice Corporation | Telecommute server |
| US5924070A (en) * | 1997-06-06 | 1999-07-13 | International Business Machines Corporation | Corporate voice dialing with shared directories |
| US5897616A (en) | 1997-06-11 | 1999-04-27 | International Business Machines Corporation | Apparatus and methods for speaker verification/identification/classification employing non-acoustic and/or acoustic models and databases |
| CA2242065C (en) * | 1997-07-03 | 2004-12-14 | Henry C.A. Hyde-Thomson | Unified messaging system with automatic language identification for text-to-speech conversion |
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| EP0954149A1 (en) * | 1998-04-30 | 1999-11-03 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | Access language selection for the menu of the basestation of a cordless phone |
| US6341161B1 (en) | 1998-07-24 | 2002-01-22 | Teresa Farias Latter | Method and system for providing enhanced caller identification information including tailored announcements |
| EP1346342A1 (en) * | 2000-12-20 | 2003-09-24 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | Speechdriven setting of a language of interaction |
| US7117159B1 (en) * | 2001-09-26 | 2006-10-03 | Sprint Spectrum L.P. | Method and system for dynamic control over modes of operation of voice-processing in a voice command platform |
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-
1987
- 1987-09-11 JP JP62227729A patent/JPS6471254A/en active Granted
-
1988
- 1988-09-01 CA CA000576328A patent/CA1294080C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1988-09-01 EP EP88308115A patent/EP0307137B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1988-09-01 DE DE88308115T patent/DE3883117T2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1988-09-09 RU SU884356855A patent/RU2061997C1/en active
- 1988-09-10 CN CN88215000U patent/CN2063321U/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1988-09-12 KR KR1019880011755A patent/KR960014222B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1988-09-12 US US07/243,390 patent/US4866755A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1997
- 1997-10-14 HK HK97101914A patent/HK1000360A1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| EP0307137A2 (en) | 1989-03-15 |
| HK1000360A1 (en) | 1998-03-06 |
| DE3883117T2 (en) | 1994-03-31 |
| CN2063321U (en) | 1990-10-03 |
| KR890006025A (en) | 1989-05-18 |
| KR960014222B1 (en) | 1996-10-14 |
| DE3883117D1 (en) | 1993-09-16 |
| EP0307137A3 (en) | 1989-09-06 |
| JPH0423463B2 (en) | 1992-04-22 |
| RU2061997C1 (en) | 1996-06-10 |
| JPS6471254A (en) | 1989-03-16 |
| US4866755A (en) | 1989-09-12 |
| EP0307137B1 (en) | 1993-08-11 |
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