VOICE MAIL SYSTEM ON AUDIO TAPE

摘要

The present invention is a magnetic tape-based "voice mail" multi-user message system. The invention uses a novel method of partitioning the tape and distributing a number of mailboxes on the tape in such a way as to minimize the average access time to individual mailboxes. This provides the advantages of a truly random access multi-user disk-based system at a small fraction of the cost. Incoming messages are recorded in random cells on a plurality of tracks on a tape. A memory stores the location of the nearest available cell to the next position of the play/record head. When an incoming message is received, the system directs the play/record head to the nearest cell in order to record a message. When a user calls in to leave a message, after accessing the system, he inputs a DTMF code indicating that he desires to leave a message, and another code indicating the mailbox address. After recording the message in the nearest cell, the system stores the location of the cell in the directory in association with the designated mailbox address.