TAD incorporated with VCR

Claim 2

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording system, comprising: picture/sound recording means for receiving a TV broadcast; and message recording means responsive to a telephone incoming call for recording an incoming message from a calling party; wherein the both of said employ a recording media of said picture/sound recording means.

Claim 3

A system according to claim 1, including means for controlling said picture/sound recording means and said message recording means to record the TV broadcast and the incoming message simultaneously on the common video tape.

Claim 4

A system according to claim 2, wherein said controlling means includes means for controlling said picture/sound recording means and said message recording means to record said broadcast and said incoming message selectively and independently on the common video tape.

Claim 5

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: storing means for storing therein start and stop positions of each incoming message recorded onto the video tape, respectively; and playback means for automatically discriminating message recording portions of the video tape from picture recording portions thereof in accordance with stored contents of said storing means to skip picture recording portions at a high speed and playback only the incoming messages.

Claim 6

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: means for storing start and end position of each picture/sound recording of telecasts on the video tape; and playback means for automatically discriminating picture recording portions of the video tape from message recording portions thereof in accordance with stored contents of said storing means to skip only message recording portions at a high speed and playback only the telecasts recordings.

Claim 7

A system according to claim 1, wherein said picture/sound recording means comprises a video tape recorder and said message recording means comprises a telephone answering device, said video tape recorder and said telephone answering device employing said recording media of said video tape recorder.

Claim 8

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device for recording both an incoming message from a calling party and a telecast onto a common video tape, comprising: ringing signal detecting means for detecting a ringing signal sent through a telephone line; engaging means for engaging the telephone line upon detection of said ringing signal; picture/sound recording means for effecting a picture/sound recording of the telecast; means for setting said picture/sound recording means in a ready mode for recording a telecast upon detection of said ringing signal; answering means for transmitting an outgoing message upon engagement of the telephone line; disengaging means for cancelling said ready mode upon completion of the transmission of the outgoing message; recording means for recording the incoming message onto said video tape after cancellation of said ready mode; and first restore means for detecting a completion of recordation of an incoming message, and in response, cancelling a recording operation of said recording means, and thereafter establishing a standby mode to receive a subsequent incoming call when the incoming message recording is completed.

Claim 9

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device for recording both an incoming message from a calling party and a telecast onto a common video tape, comprising: ringing signal detecting means for detecting a ringing signal sent through a telephone line; engaging means for engaging the telephone line upon detection of said ringing signal; picture/sound recording means for effecting a picture/sound recording of the telecast; means for setting said picture/sound recording means in a ready mode for recording a telecast upon detection of said ringing signal; answering means for transmitting an outgoing message upon engagement of the telephone line; disengaging means for cancelling said ready mode upon completion of the transmission of the outgoing message; recording means for recording the incoming message onto said video tape after cancellation of said ready mode; and first restore means for detecting a completion of recordation of an incoming message, and in response, cancelling a recording operation of said recording means, and thereafter establishing a standby mode to receive a subsequent incoming call when the incoming message recording is completed.

Claim 10

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device as claimed in claim 7, further comprising: detecting means for detecting whether or not a telecast is being recorded when the ringing signal is received; said recording means including means for recording the incoming message onto a predetermined sound track of the video tape while said telecast recording is being effected; and second restore means for disabling a message recording operation of said message recording means and setting said message recording means in the standby mode to be ready for reception of a subsequent incoming telephone call, and for permitting the telecast recording to continue, after completion of incoming message recording.

Claim 11

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device as claimed in claim 4, further comprising: detecting means for detecting whether or not said picture/sound recording means is operating while an incoming message from a calling party is being recorded; restarting means for restarting an operation of a picture/sound recording means when said detecting means detects that the picture/sound recording means is rendered disabled during recording of the incoming message by said message recording means, so as to continue the message recording; and third restore means for disabling the operation of the picture/sound recording means and establishing the standby mode to be ready for reception of a subsequent incoming telephone call, after completion of incoming message recording by said recording means.

Claim 12

A device according to claim 9, including means for selecting an unused television channel of the picture/sound recording device in a case wherein no recording of a telecast is effected during the incoming message recording.

Claim 13

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device as claimed in claim 7, further comprising: storing means for storing therein start and stop positions of each incoming message recorded onto the video tape, respectively; and playback means for automatically discriminating message recording portions of the video tape from picture recording portions thereof in accordance with stored contents of said storing means to skip picture recording portions at a high speed and playback only the incoming messages.

Claim 14

An automatic telephone answering picture/sound recording device as claimed in claim 4, further comprising: means for storing start and end positions of each picture/sound recording of telecasts on the video tape; and playback means for automatically discriminating picture recording portions of the video tape from message recording portions thereof in accordance with stored contents of said storing means to skip only message recording portions at a high speed and playback only the telecasts recordings.