Telephone answering device linking displayed data with recorded audio message

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A telephone message system coupled to a telephone line for automatically answering incoming telephone calls and storing and retrieving information from the incoming telephone calls, comprising:

(a) a telephone answering device, which comprises:

means for receiving first signals from said telephone line, each of said first signals specifying a particular one of a plurality of callers;

means for receiving and storing voice messages, each voice message corresponding to a particular one of said plurality of callers;

means for linking each of said first signals with a corresponding one of said voice messages;

means for transmitting said first signals to a user remote access device for assisting in the selective retrieval of at least one of said stored voice messages;

means for transmitting to a user of said user remote access device at least one of said voice messages linked to a corresponding one of said first signals; and

(b) a user remote access device, which comprises:

means for receiving said first signals from said telephone answering device such that said first signals are available upon user demand;

means for providing caller identities related to said first signals;

means for displaying caller identities associated with said stored voice messages;

user actuable preprogrammed means for automatically establishing communication with said telephone answering device by calling said telephone answering device and automatically transmitting a user code

selection means associated with said displaying means for allowing selection of the displayed caller identities; and

means for controlling said telephone answering device, said means for controlling being operatively connected with said selection means for transmitting a second signal to said telephone answering device to cause said telephone answering device to play back a selected stored voice message in response to the selection of a displayed caller identity.

2. A remote access device according to claim 1, wherein said user actuable preprogammed means includes a key.

3. A method of automatically answering incoming telephone calls and storing and retrieving information from the incoming telephone calls with a telephone answering device having a memory and being coupled to a telephone, comprising the steps of:

receiving first signals specifying each caller of each incoming call;

receiving a voice message from each caller and storing each said received voice message as a stored voice message in said memory;

linking each of said received first signals with a corresponding voice message;

transmitting said received first signals to a user remote access device such that said first signals are available upon user demand for assisting in the selective retrieval of at least one of said stored voice messages using displayed first signals; and

transmitting to a user remote access device at least one specific voice message linked to a specific one of said received first signals in response to selection of said at least one of said stored voice messages.

4. The method of automatically answering incoming telephone calls according to claim 3, said method further using a user remote access device and comprising the steps of:

receiving at said user remote access device said first signals specifying the caller of each incoming call, said first signals being transmitted from said telephone answering device to said user remote access device;

displaying at said user remote access device caller identities related to said first signals, said caller identities being associated with said stored voice messages for user selection of at least one of said caller identities; and

controlling said telephone answering device by transmitting a second signal from said user remote access device to said telephone answering device to cause said telephone answering device to play back a selected stored voice message in response to the selection of a specific caller identity from among the displayed caller identities.

5. A telephone message system coupled to a telephone line for automatically storing and later retrieving information from incoming telephone calls, comprising:

(a) a telephone answering device, which comprises:

means for receiving and storing first signals from said telephone line, each of said first signals specifying a particular one of a plurality of callers;

means for receiving and storing voice messages, each voice message corresponding to a particular one of said plurality of callers on said telephone line;

means for linking each of said first signals with a corresponding one of said voice messages;

means for transmitting said first signals to a user remote access device for assisting in the selective retrieval of at least one of said stored voice messages; and

(b) a remote access device, which comprises:

means for storing a predetermined list of names and associated stored identifying information;

means for receiving said first signals from said telephone answering device, said first signals specifying the identities of said plurality of callers;

means for comparing said first signals with said predetermined list;

means for displaying a respective caller's name if the comparing means matches said first signals with any stored identifying information in said list; and

means for selectively receiving, using at least one of said first signals and said respective caller name, at least one specific voice message linked to a specific transmitted first signal.

6. A remote access device communicating with a telephone answering device for the selective retrieval of stored voice messages on said telephone answering device each of said messages being vocalized by a caller, comprising:

means for receiving first signals from said telephone answering device, such that said first signals are available upon user demand and said first signals identifying the callers of said stored messages;

means for displaying the caller identities for said stored messages;

selection means associated with said display means for allowing selection of the displayed identities;

user actuable preprogrammed means for automatically establishing communication with said telephone answering device by calling said telephone answering device and automatically transmitting a user code; and

means for controlling said telephone answering device, said means for controlling being operatively connected with said selection means, for transmitting a second signal to said telephone answering device to cause said telephone answering device to play back a selected stored voice message in response to the selection of a displayed identity.

7. A remote access device according to claim 6, wherein said user actuable preprogrammed means includes a key.

8. A remote access device according to claim 6, wherein the remote access device is provided as part of a mobile telephone.

9. A remote access device communicating with a telephone answering device for assisting in the selective retrieval of stored voice messages from each respective caller on said telephone answering device, each of said caller messages being recorded by said answering device, comprising:

means for receiving at least one signal from said telephone answering device, such that said signal is available upon user demand and each of said at least one signal indicating a respective caller of at least one of said stored messages;

means for displaying the caller identity for at least one of said stored voice messages in a predetermined order corresponding to the chronological order in which said at least one stored voice messages were stored in said answering device, whereby the position of each selected caller identity within the predetermined order allows a user to retrieve the stored voice message corresponding to each selected caller identity; and

user actuable preprogrammed means for automatically establishing communication with said telephone answering device by calling said telephone answering device and automatically transmitting a user code.

10. A remote access device according to claim 9, wherein the means for displaying the caller identity displays the caller identity for at least two of said stored voice messages in a predetermined order corresponding to the chronological order in which said voice messages were stored in said answering device, whereby the position of each selected caller identity within the predetermined order allows the user to retrieve the stored voice message corresponding to the selected caller identity.

11. A remote access device according to claim 9, wherein said user actuable peprogrammed means includes a key.

12. A remote access device according to claim 9, wherein the remote access device is provided as part of a mobile telephone.

13. A remote access device for retrieving at least one recorded voice message left by at least one of a plurality of callers on a base telephone answering machine, comprising:

means for storing a predetermined list of names and associated stored identifying information;

means for transferring information between said remote access device and said base answering machine;

means for receiving identifying information from the base answering machine identifying said at least one of a plurality of callers;

means for comparing the received identifying information with said predetermined list;

means for displaying the respective caller's name if the comparing means matches the received identifying information with any stored identifying information in said list; and

means for displaying the caller identity for each stored voice message in a predetermined order corresponding to the chronological order in which each voice message was stored in said answering device, whereby the position of a selected caller identity allows the user to retrieve the stored voice message corresponding to the selected caller identity.

14. A mobile telephone for retrieving at least one recorded voice message left by at least one of a plurality of callers on a base telephone answering device, comprising:

means for storing a predetermined list of names and associated stored identifying information;

means for transferring information between said mobile telephone and said base answering device;

means for receiving identifying information from the base answering device identifying said at least one of a plurality of callers;

means for comparing the received identifying information with said predetermined list;

means for displaying the respective caller's name if the comparing means matches the received identifying information with any stored identifying information in said list; and

means for displaying the caller identity for each stored voice message in a predetermined order corresponding to the chronological order in which each voice message was stored in said answering device, whereby the position of a selected caller identity from among the predetermined order allows the user to retrieve the stored voice messages corresponding to the selected caller identity.

15. A mobile telephone for use with a telephone answering device which receives and stores voice messages, each voice message corresponding to a particular one of a plurality of callers, said mobile telephone comprising:

means for receiving first signals from said telephone answering device, each of said first signals specifying a particular one of a plurality of callers;

means for providing caller identities related to said first signals;

means for displaying caller identities associated with said stored voice messages;

user actuable preprogrammed means for automatically establishing communication with said telephone answering device by calling said telephone answering device and automatically transmitting a user code;

selection means associated with said displaying means for allowing selection of the displayed caller identities; and

means for controlling said telephone answering device, said means for controlling being operatively connected with said selection means for transmitting a second signal to said telephone answering device to cause said telephone answering device to play back a selected stored voice message in response to the selection of a displayed caller identity.

16. A mobile telephone according to claim 15, wherein said user actuable preprogrammed means includes a key.

17. A telephone answering device coupled to a telephone line for automatically answering incoming telephone calls and storing and retrieving information from the incoming telephone calls comprising:

means for storing a predetermined list of names and associated stored identifying information;

means for receiving identifying information from said telephone line, each received identifying information specifying a particular one of a plurality of callers;

means for receiving a voice message from each of said callers on said telephone line and storing each said voice message;

means for linking each received identifying information with a corresponding one of said voice messages;

means for comparing each received identifying information with said predetermined list;

means cooperating with said comparing means for simultaneously displaying a plurality of caller's names whose respective received identifying information matches stored identifying information in said list; and

means for allowing a user to select any one of the plurality of simultaneously displayed callers names from said display means, said selecting means also automatically directly audibly retrieving the voice message associated with the selected caller's name without scrolling individually through either the displayed names or the voice messages.

18. A method of automatically answering incoming telephone calls and storing and retrieving information from the incoming telephone calls with a telephone answering device, said telephone answering device having a memory and being coupled to a telephone, said method comprising the steps of:

storing a predetermined list of names and associated stored identifying information in said memory;

receiving identifying in