Single line telephone answering system with access security features

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A telephone system coupled to receive telephone signals including a high voltage ringing signal issued to signal an incoming telephone call, and issue telephone signals through a telephone line, said telephone system comprising:

at least one peripheral utility device coupled to the telephone line;

at least one telephone comprising a telephone handset, said handset comprising a receiver, said telephone coupled to the peripheral utility device;

a base unit coupled to the telephone line, said base unit comprising;

memory for storing a list of at least one authorized telephone number, said list stored in memory identifying telephone numbers of callers authorized to contact a called party,

means for answering the incoming telephone call from a caller,

means for prompting the caller of the answered incoming telephone call to input a telephone number of the caller,

means for comparing the telephone number input by the caller to the list stored in memory to determine whether the caller is authorized to contact the called party,

means for issuing a low voltage DTMF ringing signal on the telephone line to the at least one peripheral utility device, said means for issuing responsive to the means for comparing, and issues the low voltage DTMF ringing signal if the caller is authorized to contact the called party, said low voltage DTMF ringing signal at a voltage lower than the high voltage ringing signal, and

means for connecting the caller of the answered incoming telephone call via the telephone line and the peripheral utility device to the telephone if the handset is picked up by the called party to answer; said peripheral utility device comprising;

means for blocking the incoming high voltage ringing signal from reaching the telephone by preventing the high voltage ringing signal from reaching the telephone, and

means for detecting the low voltage DTMF ringing signal on the telephone line and causing a low voltage ringing sound to be generated at a location of the peripheral utility device to notify the called party of the answered incoming telephone call;

wherein the called party is only notified of the answered incoming telephone call if the answered incoming telephone call is an authorized incoming call.

2. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said base unit further comprises:

a base unit telephone comprising a receiver and a handset; and

a switching means to selectively switch the high voltage ringing signal of the incoming telephone call directly to the base unit telephone, such that when the switching means is in a first state, the base unit answers the incoming telephone call and issues the low voltage DTMF ringing signal only if the caller is authorized to contact the called party, and when the switching means is in a second state, the high voltage ringing signal of the incoming telephone call is routed to the base unit telephone, said base unit telephone generating ringing sounds responsive to the high voltage ringing signal, wherein the called party can answer the incoming telephone call by picking up the handset of the base unit telephone.

3. The telephone system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the switching means is in the second state when the base unit is in a power off state.

4. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, said base unit further comprising a personal access code stored in the memory, said personal access code enabling the caller to be authorized by the system to contact the called party such that the called party is notified of the answered incoming telephone call; said means for comparing further comprising means for comparing a caller personal access code entered by the caller to the personal access code stored in the memory to determine whether the caller is authorized to contact the called party.

5. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, said base unit further comprising a remote access code stored in the memory, said remote access code enabling a caller to be remotely authorized by the system to access the system such that the remotely authorized caller can access the base unit and perform certain functions related to system operation; said means for comparing further comprising means for comparing a caller remote access code entered by the remotely authorized caller to the remote access code stored in the memory to determine whether the remotely authorized caller is remotely authorized by the system to access the system.

6. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said prompting means comprises voice storage means for storing at least one voice message and voice playback means to play back the at least one voice message.

7. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said base unit further comprises a message recording means which records caller messages.

8. The telephone system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said message recording means records a message from the caller when the caller is not authorized to contact the called party, said base unit further comprising message switching means to switch the answered incoming telephone call to the message recording means if the caller is not authorized to contact the called party, said message recording means further comprising a message prompting means to prompt the caller of the answered incoming telephone call to leave a message.

9. The telephone system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said message recording means records a message from the caller when the called party does not answer, said message recording means further comprising a message switching means to switch the answered incoming telephone call to the message recording means if the called party does not answer, said message recording means further comprising a message prompting means to prompt the caller to leave a message.

10. The telephone system as set forth in claim 7, said base unit further comprising a message transfer means comprising:

at least one transfer telephone number stored in memory;

a telephone calling means to contact the called party at the at least one transfer telephone number and notify the called party that at least one message has been left for the called party.

11. The telephone system as set forth in claim 10, wherein said message transfer means further comprises message access means for the called party to access the at least one message when the called party is notified that the at least one message has been left for the called party.

12. The telephone system as set forth in claim 10, wherein said at least one transfer telephone number comprises a pager telephone number, said telephone calling means further generating tones required by a paging system to notify the called party of at least one message.

13. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the list stored in memory of at least one authorized telephone number further comprises a priority code to identify certain authorized telephone numbers as priority telephone numbers.

14. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

said means for issuing the low voltage DTMF ringing signal further comprises means for issuing a first type of internal ringing signal if the authorized telephone number of the caller is a priority telephone number and a second type of internal ringing signal for other authorized telephone numbers; and

said means for detecting the low voltage DTMF ringing signal further comprising means for issuing a first signal causing the peripheral utility device to generate a first type of ringing sound if the first type of internal ringing signal is detected, and means for issuing a second signal causing the peripheral utility device to generate a second type of ringing sound if the second type of internal ringing signal is detected;

such that the called party can audibly distinguish priority incoming calls.

15. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said base unit further comprises limited incoming call timing means that inhibits any authorized and unauthorized incoming telephone calls during specified hours, such that the called party is not notified of an incoming telephone call during the specified hours.

16. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the base unit further comprises:

means for determining if the incoming telephone call is a priority call; and

limited incoming call timing means that permits access to the telephone system during predetermined hours only if the incoming telephone call is a priority call.

17. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the list stored in memory of at least one authorized telephone number comprises at least one caller access code identifying a caller authorized to contact the called party, said means for comparing comprises:

means for deriving a derived caller access code from the telephone number input by the caller;

means for accessing the caller access code from the list stored in memory of at least one authorized telephone number;

means for comparing the caller access code to the derived caller access code to determine whether the caller is authorized to contact the called party, wherein if the derived caller access code and the caller access code match, the caller is authorized to contact the called party.

18. The telephone system as set forth in claim 17, wherein the derived caller access code is stored in the list stored in memory of at least one authorized telephone number with a corresponding telephone number from which the derived caller access code was derived.

19. The telephone system as set forth in claim 17, wherein the derived caller access code comprises a substring of the telephone number input by the caller.

20. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, said base unit further comprising a display means for displaying information regarding operation of the base unit.

21. The telephone system as set forth in claim 20, wherein information displayed comprises telephone numbers of incoming and outgoing calls.

22. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said base unit further comprises a user operation interface means enabling a user to modify operation of the telephone system.

23. The telephone system as set forth in claim 22, wherein said user operation interface means comprises means for modifying the list stored in memory of authorized telephone numbers.

24. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a page or intercom means, the base unit and peripheral utility device, collectively referred to herein as stations, each station further comprising:

a station identification to uniquely identify the station;

means for issuing a page or intercom signal across the telephone line by issuing a page or intercom signal comprising the station identification;

means for detecting the issuance of a page or intercom signal comprising means for determining if the station identification issued with the page or intercom signal matches the station identification of the station; and

means for generating an alerting signal at the station to notify a paged party of the page or intercom if the station identification issued with the page or intercom signal matches the station identification of the station.

25. The telephone system as set forth in claim 24, wherein said page or intercom means further comprises a means for establishing communication between the station which issued the page or intercom signal and the station identified by the station identification of the issued page or intercom signal.

26. The telephone system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said at least one telephone includes a plurality of telephones and the at least one peripheral utility device includes a plurality of peripheral utility devices, each peripheral utility device coupled to a telephone of the plurality of telephones, said telephone system further comprising a privacy means comprising:

means for activating a privacy feature to inhibit all but a designated telephone of the plurality of telephones from connecting to a call on the telephone line; and

each of said plurality of peripheral utility devices further comprising;

means for detecting an activated privacy feature; and

means for preventing the plurality of telephones other than the designated telephone from connecting to the telephone line.

27. In a telephone system coupled to a telephone line for receipt and transmission of telephone calls, said telephone system receiving a high voltage ringing signal indicative of an incoming telephone call, said system comprising at least one telephone comprising a handset and a receiver, said telephone coupled through an interface device to the telephone line, a method for providing an automated call screening process of an answered incoming telephone cab for limiting access to the telephone system to authorized callers authorized to contact a called party, said method comprising the steps of:

preventing the high voltage ringing signal generated by the incoming telephone call from reaching the telephone;

automatically answering the incoming telephone call;

prompting a caller of the answered incoming telephone call to input a telephone number input by the caller;

deriving a derived code from the telephone number of the caller;

comparing the derived code to at least one authorization code from a list of at least one authorization code;

issuing a low voltage DTMF ringing signal on the telephone line if the derived code matches the authorization code from the list of at least one authorization code, said low voltage DTMF ringing signal at a voltage lower than the high voltage ringing signal;

generating a ringing sound at the interface device to the telephone in response to the low voltage DTMF ringing signal issued to notify the called party that the answered incoming telephone call is an authorized incoming telephone call;

transferring the authorized incoming telephone call across the telephone line to the telephone when the handset is picked up by the called party to answer the authorized incoming telephone call;

wherein the called party is only notified of the incoming telephone call if the caller is authorized to contact the called party.