Telephone answering machine display system

A message management and display system for use in a telephone answering machine having a memory for recording messages, comprising:

• a display system for visually indicating on a message by message basis whether one or more messages are available for playback, said display system including a plurality of visual display modules corresponding to banks within said memory adapted for holding separate messages and each of which includes a means for generating light of a first color and, alternatively, light of a second color in response to different logic states assumed by a control signal;
• microprocessor means operative for providing control signals formed to assume one logic state if the memory bank operationally corresponding to the display module to which the control signal is supplied is empty and another logic state if the memory bank operationally corresponding to the display module to which the control signal is supplied contains a message, and operative for selecting any of the messages indicated by any of said display modules as recorded in the memory of said machine for playback by randomly accessing said messages in response to input commands provided through an input device by an operator of said machine.

A display system for use in a telephone answering machine having memory banks for recording separate messages, said system for indicating when messages are available for playback, said system comprising:

• a plurality of display module means operationally corresponding to said memory banks for emitting display signals in the form of light of either a first color, a second color or, alternately, a third color in response to control signals from a microprocessor means;
• and
• microprocessor means for generating said control signals by tracking the utilization status of the memory banks within said machine and forming control signals which regulate the display module means to emit light of said first color when a message is present in a memory bank corresponding to the display module means, light of said second color when a locally recorded memo-message is present in said memory bank or light of a third color when said memory bank is empty.