Improved mailbox for gathering voice messages from the public

The present invention provides an improvement to letterboxes so that the public can deposit there, in a simple and secure manner, voice messages in addition to or in substitution for written messages, while reserving access to these voice messages to authorized persons.

It is particularly intended for organizations that use mailboxes to collect ideas, opinions, suggestions or requests for information from the public or their employees.

Many organizations place letter boxes in reception areas, in transit areas, at the entrance or inside certain premises, in order to collect opinions and suggestions from people passing nearby. , complaints, questions or requests for information. These boxes are generally provided with a slot into which one introduces the documents or the written messages which one wishes to deposit therein. The documents and messages posted are collected on certain dates and times by authorized managers who have the means to open these boxes.

These mailboxes do not always perform well in collecting information from the public, as many people have difficulty expressing themselves in writing, or do not have the time or inclination to write. , or do not have the necessary material to write something down as they pass these mailboxes. For some of these people, it is easier to express themselves orally.

We can therefore imagine that it would be interesting to provide traditional letterboxes with voice recording possibilities, all the more so as the use of telephone answering machines, tape recorders and dictaphones has spread widely and has trivialized the 3 5 talking to a machine. However, so that these mailboxes can actually be used to collect voice messages in an environment open to any public, it is necessary, on the one hand, for the controls of the recording means to be extremely simple to operate, on the other hand, that access to recording media be protected and reserved for authorized persons, so as to protect these recordings from destruction or from being listened to by unauthorized persons.

The present invention solves these problems and makes it possible to produce letter boxes capable of collecting voice messages from a large audience.

It is characterized in that it includes:

- a box, letterbox type, provided with opening and closing means, and possibly a slot to receive written messages

- a means of locking the closure of this box preventing its opening without tools, without a code or without a key suitable for this locking means

- a microphone arranged to capture the voice of the public located near the box

- a recorder connected to the microphone, which stores the voice messages collected by this microphone on recording media housed in the box or in a storage unit located at a distance from the box,

a means of controlling the recorder, activating the operation of this recorder in recording mode only, by means of a contact actuated by the public or triggered automatically by the voice or the presence of the public.

According to particular embodiments, the device may further include means:

- record images of the public or alphanumeric data complementary to voice messages,

- issue voice or visual messages to the audience and simulate a dialogue with them

- operate these mailboxes from a remote site, read the recordings remotely or transfer them to a remote site.

Figure 1 gives a representation of the device in the closed cabinet position. Figure 2 shows a view of the device in the open cabinet position. Figure 3 shows the functional elements of the part of the device performing the recording of voice messages and various other functions. Figure 4 shows a solution for locking the cabinet.

The box (1) which makes up the device is, for example, a traditional letterbox made of wood, metal or resistant plastic. This box comprises a fixed part (IA) and an opening movable part (IB) connected to the fixed part by a hinge (IC) or by any other means making it possible to secure this movable part to the fixed part. The fixed part (IA) can be fixed to the wall or to a base by means of screws (ID) which are concealed and therefore inaccessible to the public when the box is closed. On the front face of this box, you may or may not have a slot (1E) to collect written messages.

This box is locked by means making it possible to block the movable part on the fixed part. An example of a locking means is shown in Figures 2 and 4. This is a particular embodiment, given by way of example, which does not exclude other embodiments according to known techniques. This locking is obtained by sliding, from top to bottom, a sliding bolt (2A), the width of the box, which comes between elements of the opening part (2B) and an element of the fixed part (2C) thus preventing them from deviating from each other. The opening is carried out by means of a special tool (2D), in the form of a comb with two teeth, making it possible to push the bolt upwards by acting simultaneously at two points located on either side of the sliding guide. (2E). If necessary, the movement of this bolt can be blocked by means of a key lock which covers part of the bolt (2F) and thus prevent its upward movement. This locking has the advantage of exhibiting great resistance to tearing since it links the movable part to the fixed part over the entire width of the cabinet.

The microphone (3), making it possible to capture the voice of the public who presents themselves in front of the box, can either be integrated into the recording means itself as shown in Figures 1 and 2, or placed on the box and connected by means of recording by a wired or wireless link. To improve the passage of sound when the microphone is placed inside the cabinet, perforations are made in the wall of the cabinet under which the microphone is located or an opening is drilled which is covered with a grid or a membrane.

The recording means (4) can be a dictaphone, a tape recorder, a recorder of the telephone recorder type or any other analogue or digital voice recording means of known technology.

The recording media (12) are cassettes, floppy disks, optical or magnetic discs, or other types of recordable mass memories.

The control means is either a user actuated push button type contact (5) or an automated control means such as a voice trigger system or a presence sensitive detector (11) or movement, of the infrared detector, radar wave, photoelectric cell, magnetic field variation or other known detection technology type. This automated control means is provided with a time delay which automatically releases the control after a predetermined time at the end of detection, by virtue of an electronic assembly carrying out this time delay. So that the

- 5 public using the device can neither erase the recordings, nor listen to them, the activation of the control means only triggers the recording operation only. One of the embodiments consists in making the controls (4A) of the recorder inaccessible to the public by placing them inside the box, in permanently blocking these controls in the recording position and in not having the operator control. publicly accessible control means other than switching on the recorder.

A light device of the diode or electronic display type (6) can usefully be integrated into this box indicating to the user that a recording is in progress when the recording means are active. One of the embodiments consists in using the recording indicator integrated into the recording means and in providing an opening in the wall of the cabinet, above this indicator, to make it visible from the outside.

FIG. 3 shows in the form of a functional diagram the various elements placed in the box to carry out the recording and their connections as well as the complementary components which can be added to it to increase its functions.

The recording control means (5 or 11) controls the recorder (4) which picks up by means of a microphone (3) the voice of the user audience. This recorder stores the recorded messages on media or in memories (12) which can be read later by a reading device of a technology similar to that of the recorder.

Various additions can be made to enhance the functionality of these mailboxes equipped with voice mail.

A first complement consists in adding to the voice recording means means which make it possible to associate with the voice recordings alphanumeric and visual recordings relating to the person who appears in front of the letter box. This first type of improvement makes it possible to use the voice data with more reliability and allows this voice information to be crossed with certain visible characteristics of the person or entered manually by the latter, such as his age, sex, etc.

It is in particular possible to add a video camera (7) which takes images, in the form of photos or video sequences, of the person present in front of the mailbox, and to connect this camera to a recording means (4A) which stores these. images on recording media (12) which can be used with voice recordings. One of the possible embodiments of the voice recording means combined with a video recording means consists in using a sound video camera, of the camcorder type, and in using the microphone (3) and the sound recording means of this camcorder to simultaneously record voice and images of the person. Another embodiment consists in using a microcomputer provided with a sound card, video recording means and software for capturing the voice and the image.

It is also possible to add an element for entering alphanumeric data (8) of the keyboard, pushbuttons or touch screen type, which allows the person present in front of the letterbox to manually enter additional data. This unit is itself connected to a processing unit (4B) which makes it possible to record the data thus entered.

Another complement consists in adding to the voice recording means and to the input devices indicated above sound and light emission devices for

- 7 challenge the public and guide them in the use of the letterbox.

A first output device consists of an amplifier provided with a loudspeaker (9) connected to a device for reading messages or prerecorded music or to a device for generating messages by voice synthesis (13). This member is connected to a control (14) which is actuated either by a contact triggered by the public present in front of the mailbox, or by a presence detector - which may be the same as that fitted to the recording means. voice (11) - either by starting or stopping the voice recording means, or by the three types of command at the same time. The .messages emitted are multiple and depend on the control means which caused the sound emission. This may in particular be a welcome message upon detection of the passage of a person in front of the mailbox, an additional informative message when the person presses the manual control means (14), and a message of thank you when stopping the voice recording.

Another output member consists of an electronic display unit (10), of the light newspaper or video screen type, controlled by a processing unit (13A) which generates text or images, or which projects pre-recorded images. This display unit is connected to a control similar or identical to that of the sound emission control (14).

The operation of these sound and light emission members can be improved by connecting them to the voice recording device by means of a voice recognition unit and a message processor in order to simulate a dialogue with the person present in front of the device. the mailbox. This improvement is carried out by means of a microcomputer (15) equipped with a sound card connected to the microphone (3), voice recognition software and software analyzing the messages and controlling the messages.

- 8 sound and light emissions according to the words emitted by the person and recognized by the system in order to establish an automated dialogue with this person.

Another type of complement provided to these letterboxes consists in providing them with means allowing the operation from a remote site of the recording devices, and possibly of the sound and light emission devices.

A first embodiment allowing remote operation at the lowest cost consists in transferring the voice recording means and possibly the sound emission means to an answering machine-recorder (16) located remotely and connected to the mailbox by a telephone connection, wireless or by means of telephone pairs (16A), or to transfer these recording means to a PBX or a microcomputer equipped with a voice mail (16). In these two cases, the voice recording means placed on the box or in this box only comprises the microphone (3), the recording control means (5), the speaker (9) s' there is one and the possible recording witness (6). The remote triggering of the answering machine-recorder or of the pager or microcomputer (16) is then effected by means of an electronic switching device (17), placed in the box, which automatically establishes communication when the means of voice recording control (5) is activated.

A variant of this embodiment consists in placing in the box a telephone answering machine equipped with a memo function and using this memo function to record the messages, then using the remote operation functions with which some are provided. answering machines for remote playback of recorded messages and for resetting recording media.

A third embodiment allowing remote operation consists in using a microcomputer equipped with acquisition cards and suitable software to perform all the recording and transmission operations and in equipping this computer with a modem, or network cards, and software supporting standard communication protocols such as Ethernet or TCP / IP and providing services such as file transfer and resource sharing.

A final improvement consists in including in the unit used to establish the remote connection (17) telephone switching means allowing the direct connection of an operator with the public placed in front of the mailbox when the latter activates the mailboxes. recording means (5 or 11).