Computer controlled telephone answering system

Claim 1

A computer operated telephone answering system for answering the telephones of a substantial number of subscribers comprising: (a) a plurality of operator positions numbering a fraction of the number of subscribers, each of said operator positions including telephone receiving and transmitting means for answering calls; (b) visual data display means at each of said operator positions for displaying alphanumeric data pertaining to an individual subscriber; (c) data entry keyboard means also at each of said operator positions for recording for later display alphanumeric messages for transmittal to a subscriber; (d) a plurality of incoming telephone lines; (e) coupling means for coupling the signal from a selected telephone line to a selected operator position; (f) computer control means coupled to the visual display means and data entry keyboard means of each of said operator positions; (g) line scanning means for scanning each of said incoming telephone lines for a predetermined number of rings to determine whether the line should be answered; (h) subscriber recognizing means for recognizing the subscriber related to an incoming call reaching said predetermined number of rings for answering the line; (i) operator selecting means included in said computer control means for selecting one of said operator positions available for use; (j) coupling control means included in said computer control means for controlling coupling of the signal of said line to be answered to a selected operator position; and (k) data storage means included in said computer control means for storing and recalling data relative to said call to be answered; (l) whereby said computer control means selects and transmits to the visual display means of said selected operator position data from said storage means which is relative to the subscriber associated with said call to permit the selected operator to answer the call.

Claim 13

A method of controlling a telephone answering system for a plurality of subscribers comprising the steps of: determining the presence of an incoming call along one of a plurality of incoming telephone lines; identifying said one incoming telephone line; switching said incoming call by computer means to one of a plurality of operator stations; displaying by said computer means, on a display screen at said operator station, first alphanumeric subscriber information relative to said identified incoming telephone line, which information is stored in memory of said computer means; answering said call; keying, into a keyboard at said operation station, other alphanumeric information relative to said call; and transferring by said computer means said other alphanumeric information to the memory of said computer means for later recall by said computer means.

Claim 14

A method of controlling a telephone answering system for a plurality of subscribers comprising the steps of: determining the presence of an incoming call along one of a plurality of incoming telephone lines; identifying said one incoming telephone line; switching said incoming call by computer means to one of a plurality of operator stations; displaying by said computer means, on a display screen at said operator station, first alphanumeric subscriber information relative to said identified incoming telephone line, which information is stored in memory of said computer means; answering said call; keying, into a keyboard at said operation station, other alphanumeric information relative to said call; and transferring by said computer means said other alphanumeric information to the memory of said computer means for later recall by said computer means.

Claim 19

A method of controlling a telephone answering system comprising the steps of: determining the presence of an incoming call along one of a plurality of incoming telephone lines; identifying said one incoming telephone line; switching said incoming call to one of a plurality of operator stations using computer means having a memory; displaying by said computer means, on a display screen at said operator station, alphanumeric subscriber information previously stored in the memory relative to said identified incoming telephone line; and answering said call.

Claim 20

A method of controlling a telephone answering system comprising the steps of: determining the presence of an incoming call along one of a plurality of incoming telephone lines; identifying said one incoming telephone line; switching said incoming call to one of a plurality of operator stations using computer means having a memory; displaying by said computer means, on a display screen at said operator station, alphanumeric subscriber information previously stored in the memory relative to said identified incoming telephone line; and answering said call.