JP2002271483A - Mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To automatically respond to an incoming call in answering machine mode in response to a pre-registered partner and a time zone. SOLUTION: A telephone number of a partner to be automatically answered and a group number obtained by grouping the partner are stored in a telephone number storage area 21, a response message and its message number are stored in a response message storage area 22, a time and a time number thereof. Is set in the time setting area 23, and a response setting area 20 in which a message number is associated with a set of a designated time zone and a group number designated using the time in the time setting area 23 is prepared. If there is an incoming call in answering machine mode,
The group number corresponding to the telephone number is read from the storage area 21, the incoming time fetched from the timing means and the message number corresponding to the read group number are read from the response setting area 20, and the response message corresponding to the message number is stored in the storage area 22. And send it to the called party.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile phone having an automatic answering function, and more particularly to a mobile phone having an automatic answering function capable of responding to a caller and an incoming time from the caller.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent portable telephones automatically send a message indicating that they cannot respond when they are in a car or when they cannot answer an incoming call during a meeting, etc. Recording function is provided. In addition, one that can select and send a response message according to the person who called, and improved usability,
For example, it is disclosed in JP-A-8-140146. In this prior art, a plurality of telephone numbers and a response message associated with each telephone number are stored in a storage means in advance, and when there is an incoming call in answering machine mode, the telephone number of the other party is notified. If this is the case, the telephone number is compared with each of the telephone numbers stored in the storage means, and if there is a matching telephone number, a response message corresponding to the telephone number is read from the storage means to respond.
In this way, if you receive an incoming call from a phone number that is not stored in the storage means, "I cannot answer the phone right now.
If you use a telephone number stored in the storage means,
"We're in a meeting now. It's going to end at 3:00 and we'll come back to you as soon as we're done."

[0003]

For example, Mr. A is the secretary of the softball tournament tomorrow, and 5: 00-
Assume that the team has promised to receive a weather check call at 5:30. I would like to send a message "Meet as scheduled today" to members who call between 5:00 and 5:30 in the morning. For other people who are not related to softball, I would like to have another message such as "I'm away now." Even members, 5: 30-7: 0
During 0, I want to send a message saying, "Today is a meeting as scheduled, but please buy juice as a cross with a delay in communication." It is difficult for Mr. A to answer such a call one by one, but it would be convenient if he could answer automatically. However, in the above-mentioned prior art, although the response message can be changed depending on the other party who made the call, a response message in consideration of the time cannot be selected, and improvement has been desired.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone with an automatic answering function which enables an automatic answering by selecting a response message according to not only the caller but also the incoming time.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a portable telephone having a function of automatically transmitting a response message to an incoming call in an answering machine mode. A first table in which the telephone numbers of the callees and the group numbers when the automatic answering parties are grouped are stored in association with each other, and the response message data and the message numbers assigned to the response messages are stored in association with each other. A third table storing, in association with each of the group numbers, one or a plurality of designated time zones and a message number of a response message to be transmitted when an incoming call is received during the designated time zone; And time acquisition means for reading the current time from the clock means, and when a call is received in answering machine mode, a call from the called party is a number notification. Determining means for determining whether the telephone number is an automatic answering party registered in the first table; and, when the telephone number is determined to be an automatic answering party, the telephone number of the called party from the first table when the automatic answering party is determined. Is read, and when the designated time zone corresponding to the read group number on the third table includes the time read by the time acquisition means, the group number and the designated time zone correspondence are read. Message number reading means for reading a message number from the third table, and response message data corresponding to the message number read by this means from the second table, and transmitting this as a response message to the called party A mobile phone comprising:

Further, according to the present invention, in the above-mentioned portable telephone, the first table indicates, for each telephone number, whether or not a response message has been transmitted to the telephone number, the initial value being OFF. A flag updating unit for setting a flag corresponding to a telephone number of a transmission destination when a response message is transmitted by the response message transmitting unit; and referring to the first table. And a response status checking means for reading a transmission status of a response message to the other party of the telephone number registered in the telephone number and displaying the response status on a screen.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a mobile phone with an automatic response function according to the present invention, and shows parts related to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the CPU 1
By executing a program stored in the ROM 6 using the RAM 7 as a work area, audio data via the wireless unit 3. It performs transmission and reception control and processing of control signals and the like, and controls various functions inside the mobile phone. The audio interface 8 performs conversion between an analog audio signal of the speaker SP and the microphone MIC and a digital audio signal of the CPU. The real-time clock 4 measures the time based on the quartz oscillator 5 and outputs the real time to the CPU 1. The non-volatile memory 2 is composed of, for example, an EEPROM, and includes a telephone number storage area 21, a response message storage area 22, a time setting area 23, and a response setting area 20, which are features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the telephone number storage area 21. In addition to the full name (the last name is omitted here, this may be the full name), a telephone number, a storage area for the group number of the registered person, and whether or not the message was sent to that person An area for storing a message end flag is provided. For example, members of a softball team are given a group number "2". The message end flags are all set to "OFF" at the time of initial setting.
FIG. 2 shows a case where the message has been completed for “B child”, “Mr. C”, and “Fro”, and the others have not reached the message.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the response message storage area 22. In this area, the response message itself and the message number assigned to it are stored correspondingly. The response message may be set by the user's voice input from the microphone MIC and digitized by the audio interface 8.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a time setting area 23 in which a time for designating time and its time number are stored in association with each other. FIG. 5 shows an example of the response setting area 20, which is a group of persons registered in the area 21.
3 is a table in which which response message registered in the area 22 is to be transmitted as an automatic response when the user arrives at which time period designated by the time registered in the group 3, the group, the response message, the start and end times of the designated time period Is
All are designated using the group number, message number, and time number used in the areas 21 to 23. In this figure, the time indicated by “*” means that a time zone is not specified, and that a response is always made with a corresponding message. The setting of each area in FIGS. 2 to 5 can be easily realized by the same function as the setting function usually used in the mobile phone.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a processing flow when the mobile phone of FIG. 1 receives an incoming call, which is executed by the CPU 1. First, when an incoming call is detected (Yes in step 601), the time at that time is captured from the real-time clock 4 (step 60).
2) Next, check whether or not the user is in the absence mode (step 60).
3). If it is not in the answering machine mode, the process proceeds to a normal ringing sound, a line connection or the like. If it is in the answering machine mode, it is checked whether the telephone number of the other party has been notified (step 60).
4) At the time of notification, check whether the telephone number is registered in the telephone number storage area 21 (step 605).
If registered, the process proceeds to step 606.

In step 606, a group number corresponding to the telephone number notified from the telephone number storage area 21 is obtained. Next, the time setting area 23 and the response setting area 20 are determined from the group number and the time taken in step 602. The corresponding message number is taken out by referring to it, and the response message corresponding to the taken out message number is taken out from the response message storage area 22 and transmitted as a message to the other party. For example, if there is an incoming call from Mr. B at 5:10, first, the incoming call is from Mr. B in the telephone number storage area 21, and the group number of Mr. B is "2". I understand. Next, the arrival time “5:10” is set in the response setting area 20.
Is in the designated time zone between the time numbers "2" and "3" shown second from the top, and since this designation is for the group number "2", the message number "5" Is read. Accordingly, the data of “Today is a set as scheduled” is read from the response message storage area 22 of FIG. 3 and transmitted. Note that even if the telephone number is notified and the telephone number is registered in the telephone number storage area 21, if there is no corresponding field in the response setting area 20, such as when receiving a call other than the designated time zone, a predetermined fixed message is set. Shall be transmitted.

When the message transmission in step 606 is completed, the message end flag of the transmission partner is set to “ON”, and the process proceeds to step 609. When the telephone number is not notified (NO in step 604) or when the incoming telephone number is not registered in the telephone number storage area 21 (NO in step 605), a fixed message determined in advance, for example, The message with the message number “1” in FIG. 3 is transmitted (step 608), and the process proceeds to step 609. Here, if there is a message from the other party, it is recorded (step 610), and if not, the incoming call processing is terminated.

As described above, according to the portable telephone shown in FIG. 1, a response message corresponding to both the combination of the called party and the arrival time can be selected and transmitted, and a detailed response function according to the situation can be realized. Further, if the message end flag shown in FIG. 2 is used, for example, the degree of contact with the members in the group can be determined and displayed. FIG. 7 shows an example of a processing flow for that, and FIG.
Is a display example of this processing result. First, a group number to be checked is selected and input (step 701). If there is a selected group (Yes in step 702), the total number of the group and the message end flag are set to "ON" and "ON" by referring to the telephone number storage area 21. The number of each "OFF" is determined (step 703), and this is displayed on the screen (step 7).
04). FIG. 8 shows a display example at this time, which shows that the total number of the group 2 was 35, the message was finished (message end flag ON) was 20, and the message was not reached (message end flag OFF) was 15. Further, when the user wants to confirm the name of the person who has not reached the message on this screen, he or she inputs key "1", and when it is finished, he inputs key "2" (step 706). When the key "1" is entered, the telephone number storage area 21 is referred to again,
The name of the person whose message end flag is "OFF" is read and displayed (step 707). In this way, the contact status can be easily confirmed.

Although <Softball Team> is displayed at the place of the group number in FIG. 8, in order to display the contents of the group number in this manner, the group number and a character string indicating the contents are required. It is necessary to set the corresponding name table. For example, group number “1” is “general”, group number “2” is “softball team”,
The group number “3” is a table such as “project team”. If such a name table is prepared, it is easier to check the contact status. Further, if the setting status of the response function of the present invention is displayed on the screen in an easy-to-understand form and can be confirmed by referring to the setting areas 20 to 23 and the name table as described above, the usability is further improved.

[0016]

According to the present invention, it is possible to select and send a detailed response message corresponding to the telephone number of the called party and the time of receiving by using the answering machine mode, and it is also easy to confirm the contact status of each group. There is an effect that can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a mobile phone with an automatic response function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a telephone number storage area.

FIG. 3 is an example of a response message storage area.

FIG. 4 is an example of a time setting area.

FIG. 5 is an example of a response setting area.

FIG. 6 is an example of an incoming call processing flow.

FIG. 7 is an example of a communication status confirmation processing flow.

FIG. 8 is an example of a contact status confirmation screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 Non-volatile memory 4 Real-time clock 20 Response setting area 21 Phone number storage area 22 Response message storage area 23 Time setting area

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 5K036 AA07 DD11 DD25 EE13 JJ03 JJ05 JJ16 5K039 BB04 BB05 CC01 DD01 JJ06 5K067 AA34 BB04 DD17 DD54 DD55 FF07 FF23 GG01 GG12 GG13 HH05 HH14 HH22 NN101 NN

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A mobile phone having a function of automatically transmitting a response message to an incoming call in an answering machine mode, wherein at least a telephone number of an automatic answering party and a group in which an automatic answering party are grouped. A first table in which numbers are stored in association with each other; a second table in which response message data is stored in association with message numbers assigned to the response messages; one or more designations for each of the group numbers A third table in which a time zone is associated with a message number of a response message to be transmitted when an incoming call is received within the designated time zone; time acquisition means for reading the current time from a clock means; When there is an incoming call, the call from the called party is a number notification and the telephone number is registered in the first table. A determination unit for determining whether or not the caller is a response partner; and a group number corresponding to the telephone number of the called partner is read from the first table when the automatic response partner is determined by the unit. A message number reading unit that reads, from the third table, a message number corresponding to the group number and the designated time zone when the designated time zone corresponding to the read group number includes the time read by the time acquisition unit; Response message transmitting means for reading response message data corresponding to the message number read by this means from the second table, and transmitting this as a response message to the called party. Mobile phones, 2. The mobile phone according to claim 1, wherein, in the first table, for each telephone number, a flag whose initial value is OFF, indicating whether a response message has been transmitted to the telephone number or not. And a flag updating unit for turning on the flag corresponding to the telephone number of the transmission destination when a response message is transmitted by the response message transmitting unit; and registering in the table with reference to the first table. Response status checking means for reading a transmission status of a response message to the other party of the specified telephone number and displaying the read status on a screen.