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Answering Machine
An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), is used for answering telephone calls and recording callers' messages. When a telephone rings a set number of times predetermined by the call's recipient the answering machine will activate and play either a generic announcement or a customized greeting created by the recipient. Unlike voicemail, an answering machine is placed at the user's premises alongside—or incorporated within—the user's landline telephone, and unlike operator messaging, the caller does not talk to a human. As landlines become less important due to the shift to cell phone technology, and as unified communications evolve, the installed base of TADs is shrinking. History Most 20th-century answering machines used magnetic recording, which Valdemar Poulsen invent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazuo Hashimoto
was a Japanese inventor who registered over 1,000 patents throughout the world, including patents for a Caller-ID system and telephone answering machines. He filed for his first telephone answering machine patent, what would become the Ansa Fone, in Japan in 1958, followed by the United States in 1963, granted in the United States in 1968. Bell's monopoly over telephony in the United States combined with the recent Hush-A-Phone and Carterfone decisions required that all telephone answering machines be connected through strictly mechanical means. This is evidenced through the mechanical arms used to pick up the telephone handset and the lack of any electrical connections with the telephone device itself. He patented Caller-ID in Japan in 1976, and received a United States patent in 1980. In 1983 he invented a digital telephone answering device. He was a recipient of Japan's Medal of Honour, the Yellow Ribbon, and was designated as a Living National Treasure. Hashimoto wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microcassette
The Microcassette (often written generically as microcassette) is an audio storage medium, introduced by Olympus in 1969. It has the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a cassette roughly one quarter the size. By using thinner tape and half or a quarter the tape speed, microcassettes can offer comparable recording time to the compact cassette but in a smaller package. History Microcassettes have mostly been used for recording voice. In particular, they are commonly used in dictation machines and answering machines. Microcassettes have also been used in computer data storage and to record music. For the latter purpose, devices for recording in stereo were produced in 1982 and, for higher fidelity, microcassettes using Type IV ("metal", i.e. coated with pure metal particles rather than oxide) tape were sold. This was an attempt by Olympus to cash in on the burgeoning Walkman market; one model, the Olympus SR-11, had a built-in radio and offered a ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On-hook
In telephony, on-hook and off-hook are two states of a communication circuit. On subscriber telephones the states are produced by placing the handset onto or off the hookswitch. Placing the circuit into the off-hook state is also called ''seizing the line''. ''Off-hook'' originally referred to the condition that prevailed when telephones had a separate earpiece (''receiver''), which hung from its switchhook until the user initiated a telephone call by removing it. When off hook the weight of the receiver no longer depresses the spring-loaded switchhook, thereby connecting the instrument to the telephone line. Off-hook The term off-hook has the following meanings: * The condition that exists when a telephone or other User (telecommunications), user instrument is in use, i.e., during Dialling (telephony), dialing or communicating. * A general description of one of two possible Signaling (telecommunications), signaling states at an interface between telecommunications systems, such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ringback Tone
Ringing tone (audible ringing, also ringback tone) is a signaling tone in telecommunication that is heard by the originator of a telephone call while the destination terminal is alerting the receiving party. The tone is typically a repeated cadence similar to a traditional power ringing signal (''ringtone''), but is usually not played synchronously. Various telecommunication groups, such as the Bell System and the General Post Office (GPO) developed standards, in part taken over by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and other standards bodies. With modern cell phone and smartphone technology ringing tone can be customized and even used for advertising. Purpose and description When a telephone user initiates a telephone call, typically by dialing or selecting a telephone number on a telephone, the progress or status of the call attempt is indicated to the user audibly by several types of call progress tones. For example, during the period of routing the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terminal Equipment
In telecommunications, the term terminal equipment has the following meanings: * Communications equipment at either end of a communications link, used to permit the stations involved to accomplish the mission for which the link was established. * In radio- relay systems, equipment used at points where data are inserted or derived, as distinct from equipment used only to relay a reconstituted signal. * Telephone and telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ... switchboards and other centrally located equipment at which communications circuits are terminated. See also * Customer-premises equipment * Data terminal equipment, an end instrument that converts user information into signals for transmission or reconverts the received signals into user information Referen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Off-hook
In telephony, on-hook and off-hook are two states of a communication circuit. On subscriber telephones the states are produced by placing the handset onto or off the hookswitch. Placing the circuit into the off-hook state is also called ''seizing the line''. ''Off-hook'' originally referred to the condition that prevailed when telephones had a separate earpiece (''receiver''), which hung from its switchhook until the user initiated a telephone call by removing it. When off hook the weight of the receiver no longer depresses the spring-loaded switchhook, thereby connecting the instrument to the telephone line. Off-hook The term off-hook has the following meanings: * The condition that exists when a telephone or other user instrument is in use, i.e., during dialing or communicating. * A general description of one of two possible signaling states at an interface between telecommunications systems, such as tone or no tone and ground connection versus battery connection. Note th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Call Screening
Call screening is the process of evaluating the characteristics of a telephone call before deciding how or whether to answer it. Some methods may include: * listening to the message being recorded on an answering machine or voice mail. * checking a caller ID display to see who or where the call is from. * checking the time or date which a call or message was received. * prescreening callers to a request line at a radio station or call-in talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ... before they are allowed on the air In addition, in the US and Canada, Call Screen is a calling feature offered by the telephone companies that allows a customer to establish a list of numbers; anyone calling the customer from those numbers will receive an automatic message indicatin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Telephone & Telegraph
AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. During the Bell System's long history, AT&T was at times the world's largest telecommunications company, the world's largest cable television operator, and a regulated monopoly. At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, it employed one million people and its revenue ranged between US$3 billion in 1950 ($ in present-day terms) and $12 billion in 1966 ($ in present-day terms). In 2005, AT&T was acquired by "Regional Bell Operating Company, Baby Bell" and former subsidiary SBC Communications for more than $16 billion ($ in present-day terms). SBC then changed its name to AT&T, AT&T Inc., with AT&T Corporation continuing to exist as a long-distance calling subsidiary until its dissolution o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released in August 1963. Compact Cassettes come in two forms, either containing content as a prerecorded cassette (''Musicassette''), or as a fully recordable "blank" cassette. Both forms have two sides and are reversible by the user. Although other tape cassette formats have also existed—for example the Microcassette—the generic term ''cassette tape'' is normally used to refer to the Compact Cassette because of its ubiquity. From 1983 to 1991 the cassette tape was the most popular audio format for new music sales in the United States. Compact Cassettes contain two miniature spools, between which the magnetically coated, polyester-type plastic film (magnetic tape) is passed and wound—essentia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
