Ring delay override for telephone answering system

摘要

A telephone answering system which may be set to respond only after a predetermined number of rings have been received and which is automatically set to respond only after a greater number of rings are received in the event the message tape is full or broken. The system is controlled by a microcomputer, and includes circuitry such that the microcomputer responds to an indication that the message tape is not operational automatically to set the system to respond to a greater number of rings. This causes the casual caller to hang up, which is desired since the message tape is no longer capable of recording his message, but it still enables the owner to remote the system and have it read back the messages on the message tape.