Abstract: A remote control unit for use with an in-home audio player adapted to play pre-recorded music stored on a semiconductor music chip storage medium. In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention, the remote unit is a battery powered, hand held device which enables customized music selection to be made at the audio player from a distant position. The remote control unit includes an LCD display, a series of control buttons and an infrared communication interface for transmitting and receiving data from the audio player. A docking port is included in the audio player for mating with the remote control in order to download general information stored in memory of the audio player regarding each of the music chips which it has loaded. A processor within the remote control guides the user through a menu driven software routine for making music selection at the player. A user scrolls through the various menus by use of a navigation pointer.

Abstract: A telephone message system overcomes the problems and limitations of presently available systems that seek to enhance inter-and intra-premises communications. The system advantageously comprises a controller unit with Caller ID capabilities and one or more adjunct units that are bridged onto a single wire-pair at a user's residential location in a parallel electrical connection. These customer installable units are merely plugged into any telephone jack and share a telephone wire-pair with existing telephone extensions without interference. Such operation is possible since communication between the controller unit and the adjunct units is limited to a frequency band different from the audio frequency band used by the existing telephone extensions on the single wire-pair. The controller unit, in one configuration, operates as an answering machine with multiple mailboxes. This functionality is advantageously combined with Caller ID, intercom and speakerphone capabilities.

Abstract: A telephone message system overcomes the problems and limitations of presently available systems that seek to enhance inter-and intra-premises communications. The system comprises a controller unit with Caller ID capabilities and one or more adjunct units that are all bridged onto a single wire-pair at a user's residential location in a parallel electrical connection. For facilitating a message routing capability, a mailbox of groups of telephone numbers are associated with a particular party at the residence. These telephone numbers are preprogrammed into the controller unit so that upon receipt of an incoming call from one of these telephone numbers, identified through caller ID, the incoming call is associated with the particular called party and the controller unit routes the incoming call directly to the called party's mail box where the calling party is able to leave a message.