JP2000041111A - Transmitter for service call system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the transmitter for the service call system which enables the setting as to whether or not a notice tone is to be outputted depending on applications, without addition of a setting switch that leads to cost increase. SOLUTION: The transmitter 1 of the service call system, where a call signal is outputted for every operation of a call switch and displayed on a display section of a receiver receiving the call signal, transits to a notice tone mode when a power supply to a call switch 11 is applied without operating the call switch 11 or transits to a silence mode when the power supply to the call switch 11 is applied while operating the call switch 11. A notice tone is outputted for every operation of the call switch 11 in the notice tone mode, and no notice tone is outputted in the silence mode even when the call switch 11 is operated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transmitter used in a service call system for notifying a clerk of a call from a customer or a reading from a kitchen in a restaurant or a coffee shop.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a window of a restaurant or a coffee shop, a transmitter is installed at each table or each room, and a call switch including a push button switch provided on the transmitter when a customer requests a service or the like. There is known a service call system in which a table number or a room number is displayed on a display unit of a receiver installed at a place where a clerk waits when a key is pressed.

[0003] This type of service call system operates a transmitter installed in a kitchen to notify a clerk of the completion of a dish or drink, or to notify the kitchen that the clerk has received the completed dish or drink. Alternatively, it can be used to notify another clerk that the service requested by the customer has been completed.

[0004] As a form of transmitting a signal from a transmitter to a receiver, there are a wired system and a wireless system.
In the case of installing a transmitter (about 00 units), wiring is troublesome in a wired system, and a wireless system using radio waves or light as a transmission medium is expected to be promising. The service call system described above is described in detail in JP-A-3-49435, JP-A-4-57192 and the like.

In a transmitter of this type of service call system, when a call switch is pressed, a signal is transmitted and a notification sound is output in order to notify the person who performed the call operation of the signal. There is something to do. In addition, there is also a device that does not output the notification sound even if the call switch is pressed. Further, some of the transmitters include a setting switch for setting whether or not to output a notification sound when a call switch is pressed and operated, depending on the purpose of use of the transmitter.

[0006]

However, in the transmitter of the service call system configured as described above,
In the case of notifying the notification sound, it is not possible to set the presence or absence of the notification sound according to the use, so that the versatility is poor, and the one provided with the setting switch increases the cost due to having the configuration. There was a problem that.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to output a notification sound according to the intended use without adding a setting switch which leads to an increase in cost. An object of the present invention is to provide a service call system transmitter that can set whether or not the service call is to be made.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
When the call switch is turned on without operating the call switch in the transmitter of the service call system that outputs a call signal each time the call switch is operated and displays the fact on the display of the receiver that received the call signal Shifts to the notification sound mode, shifts to the mute mode when the power of the call switch is turned on while operating the call switch, and thereafter, in the notification sound mode, the notification is performed every time the call switch is operated. A sound is output, and in the mute mode, a notification sound is not output even if the call switch is operated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the transmitter of the first aspect, the transmitter of the service call system further includes a mode notifying section, and the mode is notified when the mode shifts to the alert mode and the mute mode. The notification method in the section is changed.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a service call system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the service call system according to the present invention.

The communication between the transmitter 1 and the receiver 2 may be a wire transmission or a wireless transmission. Hereinafter, a case where the wireless transmission is used will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transmitter 1 has a call switch 11 composed of a push button switch. When the call switch 11 is pressed, an interrupt is input to a signal processing section 10 composed of a microcomputer. The signal processing unit 10 is connected to an identification data storage unit 12 composed of an EEPROM in which identification data for identifying the transmitter 1 is stored. Then, the identification data is read from the identification data storage unit 12. Signal processing unit 10
Creates transmission data having a predetermined format including the read identification data, and the wireless transmission unit 13 outputs a wireless signal modulated by the transmission data and outputs the wireless signal to the transmission antenna 1.
4 to output as radio waves. The carrier used by the wireless transmission unit 13 is input from the PLL control unit 15. Although the FSK modulation method is adopted as the modulation method, ASK modulation,
There is no particular limitation as long as it is a modulation method generally used for digital transmission such as PWM modulation.

A notification / display unit for sounding a piezoelectric buzzer or turning on a light emitting diode is provided in the transmitter 1 for notifying that an interrupt input has been made to the signal processing unit 10 by pressing the call switch 11. 16 is also provided.

The notification method using the piezoelectric buzzer may not always be necessary for the purpose of using the transmitter 1. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the power of the transmitter 1 is turned on while pressing the call switch 11, the mode is shifted to the mute mode. In the mute mode, even if the call switch 11 is pressed, a notification sound by the piezoelectric buzzer is not generated. On the other hand, when the power of the transmitter 1 is turned on without pressing the call switch 11, the mode shifts to the notification sound mode, and a notification sound is generated every time the call switch 11 is pressed.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to arbitrarily switch between the notification sound mode and the mute mode without providing a setting switch or the like, so that the presence or absence of the notification sound can be set according to the purpose of use. A possible transmitter can be produced at low cost. In the present embodiment,
Although the mode is switched depending on whether or not the call switch 11 is pressed, the switch used for mode switching is not limited to the call switch 11 and may be another switch. Also, transmitter 1
Is supplied by the battery 17, so that the operation may be shifted to the mute mode by inserting the battery into the transmitter 1 while pressing and operating the call switch 11.

The transmission data transmitted from the transmitter 1 includes a start bit for synchronization, the identification data described above,
This includes blinking data for instructing whether or not to turn on the display of the receiver 2, which will be described later, and position data for supporting which of the plurality of display windows provided in the receiver 2 should be turned off. I have. As the identification data, a serial number or the like is used so that different identification data is set for each of the transmitters 15. In the transmitter 1, the call switch 11
Only one set of transmission data is transmitted for each push operation. That is, even if the call switch 11 is kept pressed, the wireless signal is not continuously transmitted, and a series of transmission data is transmitted even if the time for pressing the call switch 11 is short.

When the receiver 2 receives a radio signal from the transmitter 1 by the receiving antenna 21, the radio receiver 22 performs processing such as amplification and frequency conversion, demodulates it by the demodulator 23, and then demodulates it by the waveform shaping unit 24. The transmission data is extracted by waveform shaping. A local oscillation signal used for frequency conversion in the wireless receiving unit 22 is provided from the PLL control unit 25.

The transmission data is input to the display processing unit 20, and identification data and other data are extracted. The identification data extracted by the display processing unit 20 is collated with data stored in a symbol storage unit 26 composed of an EEPROM. An identification symbol corresponding to the identification data is stored in the symbol storage unit 26 in advance, and the display processing unit 20 stores the identification data matching the identification data extracted from the transmission data in the symbol storage unit 2.
6, the identification code associated with the identification data is read out. Numerals, alphabets, various figures, and the like are used as identification symbols. The identification symbol read from the symbol storage unit 26 based on the identification data is displayed on the display unit 27. Also,
When the identification symbol is displayed on the display unit 27, a notification sound is simultaneously generated from a notification unit 28 including a piezoelectric buzzer or the like.

Next, the operation of the service call system will be described. Now, every time a radio signal is received from the transmitter 1, an identification symbol associated with the identification data of the transmitter 1 is read from the symbol storage unit 26 and displayed on the display unit 27. For example,
It is assumed that the transmitter 1 corresponding to the identification code “3” is in the mute mode. When the call switch 11 of the transmitter 1 is pressed and operated, a radio signal is output to the receiver 2 without outputting a notification sound. In the receiver 2 which has received the radio signal from the transmitter 1, "3" is displayed on the display window 31 shown in FIG. On the other hand, it is assumed that the transmitter 1 corresponding to the identification code “8” is in the notification sound mode. When the call switch 11 of the transmitter 1 is pressed and operated, a notification sound is output and a radio signal is output to the receiver 2. The receiver 2 that has received the radio signal from the transmitter 1 displays "8" on the display window 31. Note that the display processing unit 20 is provided with a latch circuit that holds the identification signal being displayed.

After turning on the display of the identification symbol in response to the service request from the customer, it is necessary to erase the display of the identification symbol when the service is completed. The operation of deleting the identification symbol displayed on the display unit 27 includes, for example, a method of instructing to delete the display from an erasing transmitter provided separately from the transmitter 1 installed in a table, a room, or the like. A method of providing an erasure switch separately from the call switch 11 in the device 1 and giving an instruction to erase the display of the identification symbol with this switch;
A method of automatically turning off the display after a certain period of time has elapsed since the display was made by pressing and operating the call switch 11 of the transmitter 1, turning on the light by pressing the call switch 11 of the transmitter 1 once, and turning on the call switch of the transmitter 1 again. There is a method of turning off the display when the user presses the button 11 and the like.

When switching between the notification sound mode and the mute mode, the notification / display unit 16 notifies the user when the mode is switched to the mute mode so that it is clear which mode has been set. The sound may be emitted twice in succession, and when the mode shifts to the alarm mode, the alarm may not be emitted at the time of the shift.
In addition, when the mode shifts to the mute mode, the notification / display unit 16 may blink for a while, and when the mode shifts to the notification sound mode, nothing may be lit. As a result, it is possible to visually and audibly check which mode has been set at the time of mode setting, and it is possible to avoid an unstable state in which it is not known which mode has been set.

[0022]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a service that outputs a transmission signal every time the call switch is operated and displays the fact on the display unit of the receiver that has received the transmission signal. When the power of the call switch is turned on without operating the call switch in the call system transmitter, the mode shifts to the notification sound mode, and when the power of the call switch is turned on while operating the call switch, the mode shifts to the mute mode. After that, in the notification sound mode, a notification sound is output every time the call switch is operated, and in the mute mode, the notification sound is not output even if the call switch is operated. Despite avoiding the cost increase associated with the addition of a setting switch to determine the presence / absence of sound, it is now possible to set whether to output the notification sound according to the application An effect that it is possible to provide a transmitter of that service call system.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first aspect.
In the transmitter of the service call system described in the above, a mode notification unit is provided, and when the mode is switched to the notification sound mode and when the mode is switched to the mute mode, the notification method in the mode notification unit is changed. This has the effect that it is sometimes possible to visually and audibly check which mode has been set.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a service call system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a service call system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 transmitter 2 receiver 11 call switch 16 notification / display unit (mode notification unit) 27 display unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Fumiyoshi Mukaiyama 1048, Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture F-term in Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. 5K067 AA41 BB23 BB43 EE02 EE12 EE22 FF02 FF23 FF27 FF33 GG01

Claims (2)

[Claims] In a transmitter of a service call system for outputting a transmission signal each time a call switch is operated and displaying the fact on a display unit of a receiver having received the transmission signal, the call switch is operated without operating the call switch. When the power is turned on, the mode shifts to the notification sound mode, and when the power of the call switch is turned on while operating the call switch, the mode shifts to the mute mode. A service call system which outputs an annunciation sound each time the user operates the e-mail, and does not output an annunciation sound in the mute mode even if the call switch is operated. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a mode notifying unit, wherein a mode of the mode notifying unit is changed when the mode shifts to the alert mode and when the mode shifts to the mute mode. Service call system transmitter.