Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: gil@limbic.uucp (Gil Kloepfer, Jr.)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Proposal: An Answering Machine I'd Love to Have
Message-ID: <4745@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 5 Mar 90 06:04:24 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 145, Message 4 of 6


X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 141, Message 1 of 7

In article <4689@accuvax.nwu.edu> coleman@twinsun.com (Mike Coleman) writes:

>Here is a proposal for the "Answering Machine I'd Love to Have":
   [...]
>Over half the phone calls I get are "junk".  [...]
>2)  Answering machine picks up.  Plays user message: "You have the
>Froboz household.  Please enter your password now.  If you don't have
>one and you really need to talk to us, you may stay on the line for 90
>seconds, after which you may leave a message with your number and we
>will call back as soon as possible."

I have a similar problem, which I plan on solving in the near future
with an AT&T Voice Power card in a 3B1 computer.

I currently use the Voice Power board and computer as my answering
machine-- I wrote a software program which effectively simulates a
Phone Mate answering machine, with a few extra features.  I'm
considering updating the software to handle calls using the following
scenario:

1.  Phone rings

2.  Message is played, "You have reached the Widget residence.  If you
are calling from a touch tone telephone, press the '1' key now."

3.  If '1' is pressed now or during step 4, go to step # 7

4.  "We do not accept any calls from solicitors or sales people of any
kind.  If you are one of these individuals, please hang up now.  If
you are not a solicitor and still wish to contact me, please say 'YES'
now."

5.  If 'YES' is detected by voice recognition software within 10 seconds,
go to step # 10

6.  Hang up on caller (no valid response)

7.  "We do not accept any calls from solicitors or sales people of any
kind.  If you are one of these individuals, please hang up now.  If
you are not a solicitor and still wish to contact me enter your code
number or press the '9' key on your phone now"

8.  If the '9' key is pressed within 10 seconds, go to step # 10
    If a password is entered, handle it as a special case of '9', or
    with some kind of voice mail.

9.  Hang up on caller (no response)

10. If 'at home' flag is set on the computer system, signal a 'ring' in
    some undetermined way (note- the 3B1 has no means of providing ring
    voltage, so something will have to be hacked-up to do this)

11. If 'at home' flag is not set, take a standard answering machine message
in the usual way.

If a solicitor or salesperson does complete the call, you may take
down information about the person or yell obscenities at him/her for
being stupid or inconsiderate.

This is only a preliminary dialogue, by the way .. it seems a bit on
the cumbersome side to me, and I'll probably trim it down, but this
one gets the general idea across.

If I do make the software, I will post the program in unix-pc.general.
Those interested in the 'plain 'ole answering machine' program should
note that I'm planning to post the source in unix-pc.general in the
next week or so.


Gil Kloepfer, Jr.  ...!ames!limbic!gil  |  gil%limbic@ames.arc.nasa.gov
ICUS Software Systems -- Western Development Center
P.O. Box 1    Islip Terrace, NY  11752