The Telephone's New Tricks

About 30 years ago there was a businessman who had to make frequent calls to clients in Kaohsiung. At that time it was necessary to go through an operator for such calls, but despite this small inconvenience the businessman never complained. This probably has something to do with the fact that the operator who connected all those calls for him is now his wife. Such a method of finding a wife is not recommended nowadays, however, since that seductive voice coming over the phone may just be a passionless recording.

Although the telephone was invented less than 100 years ago, today it would be hard to imagine living without it. According to statistics of the Directorate General of Telecommunications, last year on average 66 million phone calls were made each day on Taiwan; and by this May, there were 5.8 million telephones on the island, or more than one for every four people.

Two years ago last April the Ministry of Communications' Telecommunication Laboratories began an experimental "diala-joke" service. The response exceeded all expectations: each line received 800 calls per hour during the first two days, and later, people who were unable to get through complained angrily to the telephone department. It was decided that, since coming up with new jokes was difficult anyway, the service would be best discontinued. The purpose of offering this service was after all not to tell jokes, but to do research on voice synthesis.

Voice synthesis technology involves storing the characteristics of speech in a computer. These characteristics are then assembled into the required sounds and speech patterns. Because only the characteristics of speech are stored, and not complete voice patches, the reproduction is not a perfect copy of the original voice, but comes off rather stiff and unnatural.

That advantage of this method over storing voice patches is that it saves memory space. Hence, voice synthesis can give many kinds of information, not just say such things as "this number has been changed to 312-3369."

Soon, voice synthesis technology will also be doing the young women at "information" a big favor. The Telecommunication Laboratories recently developed an automatic information answering system which is now being used on an experimental basis. This system can not only answer calls, but can also say such things as "please spell that name," "excuse me," and "you're welcome." It also gives out the number at the push of a button, which saves these young women, who must answer one call every 7.5 seconds at peaks hours, a lot of trouble.

This technology can also be used by private consumers as an answering service, or "voice mail" system. Anyone who calls a telephone with such a system can leave a message, which will be converted digitally into ones and zeros and stored in the memory bank. The device can relay the message to another number if the owner is not present; or the user can call at any time to see if there's any "news," and after listening to the messages leave his own for callers. This system is scheduled to be set up in Hsinchu during October or November, and will soon be available throughout the island.

A computer and telephone working together can also help people watch over their homes, or even call the police. Three years ago a telephone company in Atlantic City, New Jersey, began offering a telephone receiver with a small electronic sensor attached to it. When leaving home the owner just had to dial a central computer bank number, and the sensor would begin measuring the air for smoke particles and movement. In case of a fire or an intruder, the computer would automatically call the fire department or the police.

Matsushita Electric (Taiwan), Tecom, and the Industrial Technology Research Institute have independently developed similar equipment. Another new development is the "fax" machine. These are really no more than copy machines, except that the copy and reproduction parts of the machine are at opposite ends of a telephone line. In the last two years these machines have become very popular in all types of businesses, especially those dealing in trade between the ROC and Japan.

Another new technology is videotext. The biggest difference between videotext and teletext is that the transmitted information in a videotext system has to appear on a fluorescent screen. Since the videotext system was introduced on a trial basis last year, the number of customers has grown to about 160, most of them in the stock trading and produce trade businesses.

The telephone that Alexander Graham Bell invented was of the "one-to-one" variety; that is, each receiver could connect with only one other receiver. Later the idea of connecting lines with a switching system came into being. This enabled each telephone to be part of an extensive network of lines. Using a manual switching system to connect calls is however both timeconsuming and error-prone. Thus, the automatic switching system was invented.

The advent of the electronic computer switching system has broadened the telephone's capabilities beyond single-party calls, bringing such functions as three-party calls, wake-up calls, and direct dialing into play. The problem is, how can the switching system know which function the owner wants to use? The answer lies in its use of the telephone's two function pushbuttons, "*" and "#." Either of these can be used to indicate a different function; for example, "*77#" means the switching system should transfer calls to another specified number. However, the owner must have paid for the use of such a function; otherwise the switching system's computer will ignore the request.

A consumer's phone must of course be compatible with the telephone department's equipment. Presently, only 20 percent of the switchboards at the department are electronic; only about 6 percent of the pushbutton phones on the island have been standardized. This situation will improve with the modernization of the department's equipment in 1990, which will increase the number of digital switchboards by 2.23 million. In this way, not only will the scope of telephone service increase, but the digitalization of the telephone network will advance one more step towards being an Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN). In the ISDN of the year 2000, the telephone will function as one part of a communications system. The deputy director of Telecommunication Laboratories, Lu Shyue-chin, says, "The future telecommunications office will be an integrated workplace, with telephones, fax machines, and terminals all operating together. In such an office, if you're not happy with what you see, you will be able to switch it to sound at the push of a button."

[Picture Caption]

(Above) The Taipei area alone has over 2 million telephones. Pushbutton phones are both attractive and multifunctional.

(Below) A "retired" manual crank telephone has the appearance of an old weathered face. (photo by Chung Yung-ho)

Playing with bamboo telephones is a common children's game. (photo by Arthur Jeng)

The Directorate General of Telecommunications hopes to have all telephones changed over to the pushbutton type by 1990.

As its efficiency increases, electronic information transmittal is gradually replacing the telegraph and post.

A telefax consists of a positive and a negative. The negative are often used by news agencies to transmit news photos.

(Above) A receiver especially for the hearing-impaired. The black button on top vibrates against the bone behind the ear, transmitting soundwaves directly to the inner ear.

(Below) The pushbuttons on this phone are raised to facilitate dialing by blind people.

After five years of research by the Data Communications Institute, video text services began operating last year.

（Below） A "retired" manual crank telephone has the appearance of an old weathered face. （photo by Chung Yung-ho）

Playing with bamboo telephones is a common children's game. （photo by Arthur Jeng）

The Directorate General of Telecommunications hopes to have all telephones changed over to the pushbutton type by 1990.

As its efficiency increases, electronic information transmittal is gradually replacing the telegraph and post.

A telefax consists of a positive and a negative. The negative are often used by news agencies to transmit news photos.

A telefax consists of a positive and a negative. The negative are often used by news agencies to transmit news photos.