Abstract: The invention disclosed is a system for receiving, storing and retransmitting voice messages. The system includes a plurality of digital computers operating independently in parallel to supervise the system's operation. The system also includes a conversion subsystem to which a plurality of telephone lines may be connected. The subsystem converts between analog telephone signals and digital data which the system uses for message storage. The conversion subsystem includes a plurality of semi-autonomous sub-subsystems, one per telephone line connected to the system. Each sub-subsystem includes a microprocessor and a random access memory for storing the microprocessor's program and for temporarily storing the digitized voice data. The microprocessor monitors the status of the telephone line and controls the operation of the sub-subsystem's conversion of signals between analog telephone signals and the digital data stored within the system.

Abstract: Tone detection apparatus and a corresponding method is disclosed. The improved tone detector and method is for use in a preferred embodiment in a voice message answering system to provide for improved dual tone multi-frequency tone detection where an outgoing analog voice signal is connected to a telephone line. When an incoming call is detected, the tone detector looks at the incoming analog signal and if a dual tone control signal is detected, a filter is switched to filter the outgoing analog signal so that the DTMF tone signal now being detected is filtered out of the outgoing signal. If the incoming signal still detects a tone, the improved tone detector cuts off or disconnects the outgoing signal completely for approximately 20 milliseconds. If a dual tone control signal is still detected, it is determined that it is an incoming control signal and consequently access is required into the voice message system.