Importance

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Abstract

An automatic microcomputer controlled telephone answering machine which uses a single magnetic tape for both the outgoing message (OGM) and the incoming messages (ICM). The OGM is pre-recorded on the tape near the origin position of the tape. Then, whenever an incoming telephone call is received, the machine is first set to a playback mode and the OGM is sent to the calling party over the telephone line. The tape is then advanced at high speed past any previously recorded ICM's to the first vacant location on the tape. The ICM from the caller is then recorded at that location. When the call is completed, the machine rewinds the tape back to the origin position and awaits the next call. The tape includes a data section at the origin position which precedes the start of the OGM. This section contains recorded binary coded data which is sensed and fed to the microcomputer, and which enables the microcomputer to determine, inter alia, the location of the end of the OGM section on the tape, and the location of the end of the last ICM previously recorded on the tape. This enables the microcomputer appropriately to control the machine.

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First Claim