CN104580568B

CN104580568B - Porch telephone capable of switching and configuring interaction

Info

Publication number: CN104580568B
Application number: CN201310509535.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: T.齐; C.魏; L.刘; F.李
Original assignee: Honeywell International Inc
Current assignee: Honeywell International Inc
Priority date: 2013-10-25
Filing date: 2013-10-25
Publication date: 2020-01-03
Anticipated expiration: 2033-10-25
Also published as: CN104580568A

Abstract

The invention provides a porch telephone, comprising: a touch screen that can be switched between two modes, wherein in a first mode, a resident unit number is input through a numeric button displayed on the touch screen to select a resident to be called, and in a second mode, the resident to be called is selected by clicking a button including a resident mark displayed on the touch screen; and a switching key which is clicked to switch the touch screen between the two modes.

Description

Porch telephone capable of switching and configuring interaction

Technical Field

The invention relates to a porch telephone. In particular, the invention relates to a switchable and configurable porch telephone.

Background

Today, there are two types of User Interface (UI) modes on porch phones. A digital panel mode porch phone is generally composed of an input echo area, digital buttons, and function buttons. The advantages of the digital panel mode are: suitable for all types of buildings, with the disadvantages: it is inconvenient to operate. When calling a household, the user needs to enter several individual digits. The lobby phone of the dwelling unit mode consists of an echo zone and a button marked with a dwelling unit number. The advantages of the dwelling unit mode are: clicking a single button can call the resident, with the disadvantages: are not suitable for buildings with too many dwelling units and are costly to design and manufacture in different layouts to suit different buildings. In addition, different people enjoy different styles, and different buildings are suited to different styles. Thus, a porch phone that can support both modes and fit all types of buildings is necessarily attractive to future customers.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a porch phone comprising: a touch screen that can be switched between two modes, wherein in a first mode, a resident unit number is input through a numeric button displayed on the touch screen to select a resident to be called, and in a second mode, the resident to be called is selected by clicking a button including a resident mark displayed on the touch screen; and a switching key which is clicked to switch the touch screen between the two modes.

According to another aspect of the invention, the household indicia includes a household unit number, a household name, or both.

According to another aspect of the present invention, when the touch screen cannot contain all buttons, a sliding operation on the touch screen is supported.

According to another aspect of the invention, the touch screen is a capacitive touch panel.

According to another aspect of the invention, the size of the buttons, the indicia on the buttons, the style of the dwelling unit number are configured by the control software.

By clicking the switch button to switch between the two modes at any time, the porch phone of the present invention is suitable for both the digital panel mode and the dwelling unit mode, i.e. both advantages are included while avoiding both disadvantages.

Drawings

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a switchable and configurable porch phone according to one embodiment of the present invention;

figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a switchable and configurable porch telephone according to the present invention in a first mode; and

figures 3a-3c are schematic diagrams of a switchable and configurable porch phone according to the invention in a second mode.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the present invention are further described below by referring to the accompanying drawings and examples.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a switchable and configurable porch phone according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, a switchable User Interface (UI) porch phone may include a camera, a speaker, a microphone, and an electronic screen. In the present embodiment, the electronic screen may include a switchable region and a switching button. The electronic screen may be, for example, a large capacitive touch screen (CTP) screen, a resistive touch screen, or any other type of touch screen. The number buttons or dwelling unit buttons are located on the large CTP screen. Since the electronic screen is used, the buttons displayed on the electronic screen can be changed at any time by pressing the switch button.

In the switchable region, there are two types of button layouts that can be displayed. The first button layout is the numeric panel mode. The second type is a dwelling unit mode in which a sliding operation between room units is supported. Both types of button layout patterns will be described in detail later in fig. 2 and 3a-3 c.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a switchable User Interface (UI) porch phone in digital panel mode. As shown in fig. 2, in the digital panel mode, the switchable area of the electronic screen of the switchable UI porch phone displays the digital buttons, the function buttons, and the input echo area. In general, the digital panel mode is a static layout, i.e., the positions and sizes of the digital buttons, the function buttons, and the input echo regions in the switchable region are fixed. Typically, the numeric buttons include 0-9 and the function buttons include "+" and "#", among other buttons. When the user clicks the number button and the function button, the number and symbol represented by the clicked button are displayed in the echo area.

Figures 3a-3c show schematic diagrams of a switchable User Interface (UI) porch phone in a dwelling unit mode. In the dwelling unit mode, the switchable zones are configurable dwelling unit zones. The buttons in this mode may be configurable by the customer. Fig. 3a-3c show three examples, respectively. Fig. 3a is a dwelling unit number style showing the dwelling unit numbers "101", "102" … "601" and "602". FIG. 3b is a family name style showing "City Changni's Home" and "Laowang Home" …. And fig. 3c is a mixed style showing both a dwelling unit number, such as "601", and a family name "jungle home". The mixed style of fig. 3c applies to situations where a portion of the households are unwilling to disclose their family names. As shown in fig. 3a-3c, the floor number, the household number for each floor, the button size, the label text of the household unit button can be configured. These configurations may be accomplished by control software running on a PC. In the dwelling unit mode, when the screen cannot contain all buttons, a sliding operation on the screen is supported.

The switchable region of the UI shown in fig. 1 can be switched back and forth between the digital panel mode shown in fig. 2 and the dwelling unit mode shown in fig. 3 a-c. On the other hand, the switchable region of the UI shown in fig. 1 may also be switchable between different versions of the dwelling unit modes shown in fig. 3 a-c.

In one embodiment, the default mode of the switchable region is a digital panel mode. If the user does not want to call the resident using the digital panel mode, the user can click a switch button and the switchable area is switched from the digital panel mode to the resident unit mode. The customer calls the household using the household unit mode. Further, if the user does not know the house number of the resident but only the resident name, the user can switch the switchable region from the layout shown in fig. 2 to the home name style as shown in fig. 3b by clicking the switch button. If the default mode of the switchable region is the dwelling unit number style shown in fig. 3a and the customer does not know the house number of the dwelling, the customer switches the switchable region from the dwelling unit number style shown in fig. 3a to the home name style shown in fig. 3 b. The switching of the pattern may be different from the switching of the mode, for example by double clicking a switch button.

In another embodiment, the default mode of the switchable region is a dwelling unit mode. If the user does not want to call the resident using the dwelling unit mode, the user can click a switch button and the switchable area is switched from the dwelling unit mode to the digital panel mode. The customer calls the household using the digital panel mode. In addition, if the switchable region is currently in the home name style of fig. 3b, and the user does not know the name of the home to be called but only knows the home number, the user can select to switch to the number panel mode shown in fig. 2 or the home unit number style shown in fig. 3 a. The switching between modes may be the same as the switching between styles, for example, the mode switching may be by clicking a switch button, and the style switching may be by double clicking a switch button. In another embodiment, a switch button may be added, one for mode switching and another for style switching.

The invention has the advantages that: the customer can click on a "switch button" to switch between the two modes at any time. The dwelling unit may be configured by software which saves much of the customization expense for the manufacturer. And makes it easy to provide dwelling units under specific names (e.g., tomassas majordomo, lovely jeikeka, zhangjordomo). Large screens and active operation are also very fashionable and popular designs.

Software may be comprised of computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable medium such as a memory or other type of storage device. Further, such functions correspond to modules, which are software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. Multiple functions may be performed in one or more modules as desired, and the described embodiments are merely examples. The software may be executed on a digital signal processor, ASIC, microprocessor, or other type of processor that operates directly on a computer system, such as a personal computer, server, or other computer system.

The above disclosure is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is to be understood that such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A porch telephone comprising:

a touch screen that can be switched between two modes, wherein in a first mode, a resident unit number is input through a numeric button displayed on the touch screen to select a resident to be called, and in a second mode, the resident to be called is selected by clicking a button including a resident mark displayed on the touch screen; and

a switching key which is clicked to switch the touch screen between two modes and is double-clicked in a second mode to switch between different styles;

wherein the first mode is a digital panel mode; the second mode is a dwelling unit mode.

2. The porch phone as recited in claim 1, wherein the household indicia includes a household unit number, a household name, or both.

3. The porch telephone as claimed in claim 1, wherein a sliding operation on the touch screen is supported when the touch screen cannot contain all buttons.

4. The porch phone as recited in claim 1, wherein the touch screen is a capacitive touch panel.

5. A porch telephone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the size of the buttons, the indicia on the buttons, the style of the dwelling unit number are configured by the control software.