Voice activated dialing apparatus

For a telephone having a base, a handset, and a first transmission line having first and second ends, said first end of said first transmission line coupled to said base and said second end of said first transmission line coupled to said handset, a method for upgrading said telephone to include a voice activated dialing feature, comprising the steps of:

• disconnecting one end of said first transmission line from either said base or said handset;
• connecting said disconnected end of said first transmission line to a voice activated dialer;
• providing a second transmission line having first and second ends;
• connecting a first end of said second transmission line to said voice activated dialer;
• and
• connecting a second end of said second transmission line to said disconnected one of said base or said handset;
• wherein said voice activated dialer is configured to recognize a first audible sound detected by said handset and transmit a telephone number, associated with said recognizable audible sound, to telephone circuitry, within said base.

A voice activated dialer, comprising:

• means for maintaining a plurality of entries in a memory subsystem, each one of said plurality of entries comprised of a first data block which contains an audible identifier and a second data block which contains a tone sequence associated with said audible identifier;
• means for detecting a dial tone;
• means for generating a prompt in response to said detecting means detecting a dial tone;
• means for detecting an audibilization uttered by a user in response to said prompt;
• means for comparing said detected audibilization to said audible identifiers stored in said memory subsystem;
• means for generating, from a tone sequence associated with an audible identifier which matches said detected audibilization, a series of tones capable of causing telephone circuitry of establishing a call.