TELEPHONE MULTILINE AUTOMATIC VOICE ANSWER SYSTEM

摘要

TELEPHONE MULTILINE AUTOMATIC VOICE ANSWER SYSTEM A telephone multiline inquiry voice answer system is realized by employing a minicomputer system. Predetermined voice signals are digitally encoded and stored in a disk memory. In response to requests from one or more of the telephone lines the computer central processor determines which digital words are required from the disk to form a desired response message. The digital words are read from the disk to word buffers in dedicated storage stages in one or more storage units in a random access memory. Each storage units is assigned to a "fixed" number of output lines while each storage stage is assigned to a particular output line. A direct memory access output multiplexer is employed to read the digital words from loaded word buffers in the storage stages to corresponding output lines without substantial processor control. To this end, the multiplexer includes output modules in conjunction with a common control module to effect the desired transfer. Each output module monitors address signals transmitted in the computer system when digital words are transferred from the disk memory to the word buffers in a particular storage units to detect which ones of the storage stage include buffers that have been loaded with digital words. Then control signals are generated by the multiplexer which are employed - i to effect reading the digital words from the buffers in a prescribed sequence of read intervals to corresponding requesting lines without programmed intervention of the processor. Efficiency of the multiplexer is enhanced by employing multiple words transfers during each read interval which may vary in numbers from interval to interval in reading the digital words from loaded ones of the buffers in the random access memory storage stages read intervals.