JP2002290578A - Interphone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To always ensure the flow rate of communication signals necessary for call, and to guarantee the sound quality of a stable call voice, without delaying or interrupting the voice. SOLUTION: This interphone system is provided with a universal network (a) in a multiple dwelling or a hospital, a centralized master device 4 set at the front door of the multiple dwelling or the nurse station of the hospital connected to the general-purpose network, a terminal hub 1 set at each terminal in a building connected to the universal network, a terminal interphone 3 set at each terminal of the building, and a router 2 to the outside of the building connected to the general-purpose network. The terminal hub is provided with a network-monitoring circuit 12 and a window size limiting circuit 11, and the router is provided with a network-monitoring circuit 22 and a window size limiting circuit 21. When the centralized master device and the terminal interphone start a call, or when the terminal interphone and the terminal interphone of the other terminal start a call, the network monitoring circuit of the router and the network monitoring circuit of the terminal hub detect the start of the call, and the window size limiting circuit of the router and the window size limiting circuit of the terminal hub are operated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an intercom system, and more particularly to a communication system in a building where an unspecified number of residents and patients are active in the same building, such as an apartment house and a hospital, using a network. The present invention relates to an intercom system for transmitting digital signals and using the same network for general purpose by each resident or patient.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of intercom system, an intercom system having a configuration shown in FIG. 7 has been proposed.

FIG. 1 shows an intercom system having a centralized master unit, which includes a terminal intercom 103 provided in each living room or patient bed, and a centralized master unit 104 provided at the entrance of a building. The two are connected by a general-purpose network a.

The general-purpose network a is also connected to a terminal hub 101 installed in each dwelling unit or bed for the purpose of using the Internet, and a router 102 outside the building as an Internet connection point to the outside. there.

The terminal intercom 103 includes a call answering / operation button 131, a microphone 134, and a speaker 135.
And a voice encoding / decoding circuit 133 which receives voice from the microphone 134, performs digitalization of the voice and converts a digital signal to the speaker 135 into a voice signal, and data and voice code from the ten-key and call button 131. A data transmitting / receiving circuit 132 that receives data from the encoding / decoding circuit 133 and transmits data to the general-purpose network a, and receives data from the general-purpose network a and transmits data to the voice encoding / decoding circuit 133. Have.

[0006] centralized base unit 104 includes a ten-key and call button 141, a microphone 144, a speaker 145,
Performs digital processing of the sound receiving audio from a microphone 144, a speech encoding / decoding circuit 143 for converting the digital signal to the speaker 145 to the audio signal, data and voice coded from the numeric keypad and call buttons 141 /
Transmits data to the general-purpose network a receive data from the decoding circuit 143, also includes a data transceiver circuit 142 to send the data to the speech encoding / decoding circuit 143 receives the data from the general network a I have.

[0007] The terminal hub 101 includes a main control circuit 111 for relaying a transmission signal.
The 1 is connected to connection line c, each dwelling unit or bed of generic Internet terminal is connected to the connection line c.

[0008] Router 102 to building outside is provided with a main control circuit 121 for relaying transmission signals, is connected to the wide area network b in the main control circuit 121, external Internet wide area network b Connected to.

In the intercom system configured as described above, in the case of a condominium, in order for a visitor to enter the entrance, the ten keys and the call button 14 of the centralized master unit 104 are required.
1 is operated to call the terminal intercom 103, and the called person makes a call.

Specifically, in order for the visitor to enter the entrance, the room number of the resident of the visitor is confirmed by any method, and the numeric keypad and the call button 141 of the centralized base unit 104 are checked.
To operate the, calling the terminal. At this time, the data transmission / reception circuit 142 that has received the key operation signal from the numeric keypad and the call button 141 sends the call data S101 to the data transmission / reception circuit 132 of the terminal intercom 103 via the general-purpose network a. The data transmission in this general-purpose T
Using the CP / IP protocol, a digital signal is divided into blocks each having a fixed length, and a plurality of blocks are transmitted together. At this time, a summary to the number of chunks that can be delivered at one time, called generally the window size. The data transmission / reception circuit 132 that has received the call data S101 sends the data to the voice encoding / decoding circuit 133, and the voice encoding / decoding circuit 133 generates a chime sound for the call and calls the speaker 135 of the terminal intercom 103. Send out audio. Terminal intercom 10
The terminal operator who has confirmed the call data in step 3 uses the call response / operation button 131 or performs a call operation by automatic answering.
By inputting sound from the microphone 134 of the third central unit, sound can be transmitted to the operator at the centralized master unit through the speaker 145 of the centralized master unit 104, and the operator of the centralized master unit can , Microphone 14 of centralized master unit 104
4 to input the voice from the terminal intercom 1
The voice can be transmitted to the terminal operator through the speaker 135 of No. 03. The call data S101 is also used for this data. At the time the call has been completed,
The terminal operator performs the call termination processing using the call response / operation button 131 of the terminal intercom 103, or the operator of the centralized master unit performs the call termination processing using the numeric keypad and the call button 141. , call data S10
It sends a call end signal using 1.

Further, in the case of hospitals, in order to nurse such calls patient manipulates the ten keys and call button 141 of the centralized base unit 104 calls the terminal intercom 103, that the called person is calling Become.

[0012] Specifically, in order to nurse such calls patient confirms the bed number of the callee patient in any way, numeric keys and call button 14 of the centralized base unit 104
Operate 1 to call the terminal. The subsequent operation is equivalent to that of the apartment house.

At this time, the call data S101 is transmitted using the general-purpose network a in the building, and since the general-purpose network a is commonly wired in the building, the terminal hub 1 and the router call data even 2 S10
1 is received, but if it is determined that the call data S101 is not data addressed to the terminal itself, no action is taken on the call data S101.

When a person in the building uses the Internet, a terminal (not shown) connected to the connection line c in the building is operated, and a general-purpose network a is connected from the terminal hub 101 to the outside of the building. , The digital signal S102 is transmitted and received through the wide area network b, and network communication can be performed. The above-mentioned TCP / IP protocol is also used for data transmission at this time.

[0015]

However, in the conventional intercom system, when the general-purpose network a is used for a purpose other than a telephone call, for example, an Internet terminal in a dwelling unit or a bed is externally or externally connected to a digital terminal. In the case where the signal S102 is transmitted and received, if the communication amount is too large compared to the line capacity, the line utilization rate of the general-purpose network a increases. When an audio signal is transmitted as an analog signal, the adverse effect of an increase in the line utilization rate only deteriorates the sound quality, but when the audio signal is digitized as in the above example, the line utilization rate increases. Then, the voice signal is delayed, and in the worst case, the voice signal is interrupted, and it becomes very difficult for the user to talk.

[0016] As a countermeasure against this, from conventional, call data S
When 101 occurs, all other digital signals S1
02 has been proposed, but this method impairs the convenience of other users, and further generates a large number of digital signals S102 for reconnection, thereby further reducing the traffic of the general-purpose network a. Potentially increased and poor utility.

[0017] The present invention has been made to solve the above drawbacks, by limiting the window size of the signals other than a call during a call, without completely blocking the signals other than a call, a stable audio signal and to provide a intercom system that can be transmitted and received.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned difficulties. By compressing a signal other than a call during a call, it is possible to stabilize a voice signal without completely blocking a signal other than the call. It is an object of the present invention to provide an intercom system capable of transmitting and receiving data.

Further, the present invention has been made to solve the above drawbacks, by blocking the only video signals during a call, without completely blocking the signal other than the call except movie, an audio signal It is an object of the present invention to provide an intercom system capable of performing stable transmission and reception.

[0020]

In order to achieve the above object, an intercom system according to the present invention comprises a housing,
General-purpose network for buildings where unspecified number of inhabitants and patients are active in the same building, such as hospitals, and centralized master units connected to general-purpose networks and installed at entrances of multi-family houses and nurse stations, A terminal hub connected to the network and installed on each bed of a dwelling unit or hospital in an apartment complex, a terminal intercom installed on a bed of each dwelling unit or hospital in an apartment complex, and a building connected to a general-purpose network It has a router for connecting to the wide area network going out, and the terminal hub and the router each have a main control circuit for controlling communication to the general-purpose network and a network monitoring circuit for monitoring communication to the general-purpose network, Terminal hubs and routers are used when the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom start a call or when the terminal intercom and other terminal intercoms Down network monitoring circuit network monitoring circuit and the terminal hub router at the time of starting the call detects the call start, by limiting operation of the window size in the main control circuit of the main control circuit and the terminal hub router operates By reducing the communication volume of all the networks that are not making a call, the flow rate of the communication signal necessary for the call is ensured, and the sound quality of the call voice between the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom is ensured.

Further, the terminal hub and the router are provided with a voice compression circuit for compressing call voice, respectively, and the terminal hub and the router operate the voice compression circuit by the main control circuit of the router and the main control circuit of the terminal hub. By lowering the voice transmission quality for calls other than intercom calls, reducing the traffic on all networks that are not making calls as interphones, securing the flow of communication signals required for interphone calls, This is to ensure sound quality.

Further, the terminal hub and the router determine that the moving image is being transmitted when the main control circuit of the router and the main control circuit of the terminal hub determine that the moving image is being transmitted by a method such as identifying the file name being transmitted. By performing the transmission stop operation, the communication volume of all the networks transmitting the moving image is reduced, so that the flow rate of the communication signal necessary for the call is ensured and the sound quality of the call voice is ensured.

The terminal hub and the router each include an image compression circuit for compressing an image communicated on a general-purpose network, and the terminal hub and the router include a main control circuit of the router and a main control circuit of the terminal hub. By operating the compression circuit, the communication volume of all the networks transmitting the image is reduced, thereby securing the flow rate of the communication signal necessary for the call and the sound quality of the call voice.

The terminal hub and the router are connected to the main control circuit of the router and the main unit of the terminal hub when the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom start talking or when the terminal interphone and the terminal intercom of another terminal start talking. The control circuit measures the amount of data being transmitted, and only when the amount of data exceeds a certain value or more, the window size limiting operation is activated, so that all networks that are not communicating are activated. by reducing the amount of communication, to ensure the flow rate of the communication signals necessary for the call, it is to ensure the quality of the call voice.

Also, the intercom system of the present invention
General-purpose network of buildings where unspecified number of residents and patients are active in the same building, such as apartment houses, hospitals, etc., and centralized master unit connected to the general-purpose network and installed at the entrance or nurse station of the apartment house A terminal hub connected to the general-purpose network and installed on each bed of each dwelling unit and hospital in the apartment complex, a terminal intercom installed on each dwelling unit and each bed of the hospital in the apartment complex, and connected to the general-purpose network A router for connecting to a wide area network outside the building, and a dedicated network monitoring terminal for instructing a communication method to a terminal hub and a router in a general-purpose network within the building; The main control circuit controls communication to the general-purpose network, and the network monitoring circuit monitors communication to the general-purpose network. The dedicated network monitoring terminal, the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom start talking, or when the terminal interphone and another terminal interphone start talking, the network monitoring circuit of the network monitoring dedicated terminal detects the call start, The main control circuit of the network monitoring terminal sends a window size restriction signal to the main control circuit of the router and the main control circuit of the terminal hub, thereby limiting the window size in the main control circuit and the main control circuit of the terminal hub. The operation is activated to reduce the traffic of all the networks that are not making a call, thereby securing the flow rate of communication signals necessary for the call and ensuring the sound quality of the call voice.

[0026] In addition, the intercom system of the present invention,
General-purpose network of buildings where unspecified number of inhabitants and patients are active in the same building, such as apartment houses, hospitals, etc., and a centralized master unit connected to the general-purpose network and installed at the entrance of a housing complex or a nurse station and, a terminal hub that is installed in each bed of each dwelling unit or hospital in the set housing is connected to the general-purpose network, and a terminal intercom that has been installed in each bed of each dwelling unit or hospital in the apartment house, is connected to the general-purpose network A router for connecting to a wide area network outside the building, and a central control unit having a main control circuit for instructing terminal hubs and routers in the general-purpose network of a communication method, and a main control circuit comprising: When the centralized base unit and the terminal intercom start talking, the main control circuit of the centralized base unit sends a signal to the main control circuit of the router and the main control circuit of the terminal hub. By sending Ndousaizu limit signal by limiting operation of the window size is actuated, to reduce the communication amount of all the networks that do not perform a call in the main control circuit of the main control circuit and the terminal hub,
Ensuring the flow rate of the communication signals necessary for the call, it is to ensure the quality of the call voice.

[0027] In addition, the intercom system of the present invention,
General-purpose network of buildings where unspecified number of inhabitants and patients are active in the same building, such as apartment houses, hospitals, etc., and a centralized master unit connected to the general-purpose network and installed at the entrance of a housing complex or a nurse station A terminal hub connected to a general-purpose network and installed on each bed of a dwelling unit or hospital in an apartment complex, a terminal intercom installed on each dwelling unit or a bed of a hospital in an apartment complex, and connected to a general-purpose network A router for connecting to a wide area network outside the building, and a main control circuit for instructing a terminal hub and a router in a general-purpose network in a terminal intercom, and a main control circuit for centralized communication. When the base unit and the terminal intercom start talking, or when the terminal interphone and another terminal intercom start talking, The main control circuit of the router sends a window size restriction signal to the main control circuit of the router and the main control circuit of the terminal hub, so that the operation of restricting the window size is activated in the main control circuit and the main control circuit of the terminal hub. ,
By reducing the traffic of all the networks that are not making a call, the flow rate of a communication signal necessary for the call is ensured, and the sound quality of the call voice is ensured.

In the intercom system configured as described above, when a single network is used for both intercom calls and other uses in a building, all general-purpose communications used for purposes other than calls are used. By reducing the amount of communication on the network, it is possible to secure a flow rate of a communication signal required for a call, and to guarantee a stable sound quality of a call voice without delay or interruption of the voice.

[0029]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments to which the intercom system of the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an intercom system installed in a building where an unspecified number of residents and patients are active in the same building, such as an apartment house having a common entrance or a hospital having a nurse station. FIG. 2 is a block diagram, and a terminal intercom 3 provided in each dwelling unit or bed and a centralized master unit 4 provided in the entrance of a multi-family house or a nurse station constitute an intercom communication system. An unspecified number of residents and patients, such as an apartment house and a hospital, are connected by a general-purpose network a of buildings in which the patients are active in the same building. The general-purpose network a is also connected to a terminal hub 1 installed at each terminal for the purpose of using the Internet and a router 2 outside the building as an Internet connection point to the outside.

The terminal hub 1 has a network monitoring circuit 12 for monitoring the communication status of the entire network, and receives signals from the network monitoring circuit 12 to limit the maximum value of the window size and relay transmission signals. And a control circuit 11.

The router 2 has a network monitoring circuit 22 for monitoring the communication status of the entire network, and a main unit for receiving a signal from the network monitoring circuit 22 to limit the maximum value of the window size and relay a transmission signal. And a control circuit 21.

The buildings for the terminal intercom 3 includes a call answer / operation buttons 31, a microphone 34, the speaker 35
An audio encoding / decoding circuit 33 for converting an audio signal from the microphone 34 into a digital signal, converting a digital signal from the general-purpose network a into an audio signal, and sending it to the speaker 35; The data transmission / reception circuit 32 transmits data from the voice encoding / decoding circuit 33 to the general-purpose network a and receives a signal from the general-purpose network a.

The centralized master unit 4 includes a numeric keypad and a call button 41, a microphone 44, a speaker 45, and a microphone 44.
, A voice encoding / decoding circuit 43 for converting a digital signal from the general-purpose network a into a voice signal and sending it out to the speaker 45, a numeric keypad / call button 41, and voice encoding / decoding. A data transmitting / receiving circuit 42 for transmitting data from the circuit 43 to the general-purpose network a and receiving a signal from the general-purpose network a is provided.

[0035] In the thus constructed intercom system, hereinafter, this operation will be described.

In order for the visitor to enter the entrance, the room number of the resident at the visit destination is confirmed by some method, and the centralized master unit 4 is checked.
Is operated to call the living room. At this time, the data transmission / reception circuit 42 that has received the key operation signal from the numeric keypad and the call button 41 sends the call data S1 to the data transmission / reception circuit 32 of the terminal intercom 3 via the general-purpose network a. For data transmission at this time, a general-purpose TCP / IP protocol is used as in the related art, the digital signal is divided into blocks of a predetermined length, and a plurality of blocks are transmitted together. Call data S
1, the data transmission / reception circuit 32 sends data to the voice encoding / decoding circuit 33, and the voice encoding / decoding circuit 33 generates a chime sound for calling,
A calling voice is transmitted to the speaker 35. The call data is confirmed on the terminal intercom 3, and the resident performs a call operation using the call answering / operation button 31. The resident inputs a voice from the microphone 34 of the terminal intercom 3 to thereby provide the centralized master unit. The sound can be transmitted to the visitor at the entrance hall through the speaker 45 of No. 4,
Also, the visitor inputs a voice from the microphone 44 of the centralized master unit 4 so that the speaker 3 of the terminal intercom 3
5, the voice can be transmitted to the resident. The call data S1 is also used for this data.
At the end of the call, the resident performs call termination processing using the call response / operation button 31 of the terminal intercom 3, and sends a call end signal using the call data S1.

In the case of a hospital, a nurse or the like operates the numeric keypad and the call button 41 of the centralized master unit 4 to call the terminal intercom 3 so that the called person can talk to the patient. Become.

[0038] Specifically, in order to nurse such calls patient confirms the bed number of the callee patient in any way, by operating the ten keys and call button 41 of the centralized base unit 4, the terminal call. For this subsequent operation, it is equivalent to the apartment.

At this time, the call data S1 is transmitted using the general-purpose network a in the building, and since the general-purpose network a is commonly wired in the building,
The terminal hub 1 and the router 2 also receive the call data S1.

Network monitoring circuit 12 of terminal hub 1
Is another device (in this case, the terminal intercom 3 of the own terminal).
When the call data S1 is received for all the devices in the common unit (not only the common device), a signal is sent to the main control circuit 11 to limit the window size.

At this time, if the terminal hub 1 is transmitting and receiving the digital signal S2, the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time decreases due to the window size restriction signal from the network monitoring circuit 12. Since the connection itself is not interrupted, the communication load of the general-purpose network a can be reduced without increasing the communication volume due to reconnection and reducing the convenience due to disconnection, and the transmission delay of the call data S1 is reduced. And the interruption of the audio signal can be prevented.

Also, when the router 2 transmits and receives the digital signal S2, the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time is reduced due to the window size restriction signal from the network monitoring circuit 22. it is possible to prevent the disruption.

Specifically, when the terminal operator uses the Internet, he operates a terminal (not shown) connected to the connection line c in the building, and from the terminal hub 1 the general-purpose network a and the outside of the building It is assumed that the router 2 sends and receives a digital signal S2 through the wide area network b to perform network communication. Header and footer total 5
If the data to be transmitted in 00 bytes and one packet is 1000 bytes, and the window size in the normal state is 4, 4000 bytes can be transmitted at a time in the normal state. The total data amount transmitted at this time is 4500 bytes including the header and the footer. If the window size is set to 1 when the window size is restricted, only 1000 bytes can be transmitted at a time at the time of the restriction, so the total data amount to be transmitted is 1500 bytes. When the data transmission intervals are the same, the time for the terminal used by the terminal hub 1 to use the line at the time of the restriction is reduced to one third as compared with the normal time, and the line utilization is reduced.

Network monitoring circuit 12 of terminal hub 1
When detecting that the call has ended based on the call data S1, the controller sends a signal for releasing the restriction on the window size to the main control circuit 11, and restores the window size before the start of the call. Similarly, when the network monitoring circuit 22 of the router 2 detects that the call is terminated by the call data S1, it sends a signal for releasing the restriction on the window size to the main control circuit 21 to restore the window size before the start of the call. Let it.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another intercom system. The router 2 has a voice compression circuit 23 in addition to the circuit of FIG. 1, and the terminal hub 1 has the same components as those of FIG. and a audio compressing circuit 13 Te. Other structures are exactly the same as FIG.

The operation of the intercom system configured as described above will be described below.

The flow of data when the operator of the centralized master operates the centralized master is exactly the same as in FIG.

Therefore, the call data S 1 is also received by the terminal hub 1 and the router 2.

Network monitoring circuit 12 of terminal hub 1
Is another device (in this case, the terminal intercom 3 of the own terminal).
When the call data S1 is received for all the devices in the common unit (not only the common device), the main control circuit 11 sends a signal to the voice compression circuit 13 to compress the voice signal.

[0050] If, at this time, the terminal hub 1 is transmitting a digital signal S2, and if the signal is a voice data, compresses the digital signal S2 the audio compression circuit 13 is trying to send a digital The signal S2 ′ (not shown) is transmitted in a state where the data amount is reduced. At this time, the sound quality is reduced by compressing the sound,
Not a problem for practical use. As a result, the amount of transmission signals transmitted at one time is reduced, but the connection itself is not interrupted. Therefore, without increasing the communication amount due to reconnection and reducing the convenience due to disconnection, the general network a Can be lightened, the transmission delay of the call data S1 can be eliminated, and the interruption of the voice signal can be prevented.

Also, when the router 2 has transmitted voice data as the digital signal S2, the amount of transmission signals transmitted at one time is reduced by the voice compression signal from the network monitoring circuit 22 in the same manner. The interruption of the audio signal in S1 can be prevented.

The network monitoring circuit 12 of the terminal hub 1
Detects that the call has ended based on the call data S 1, via the main control circuit 11,
, A signal for decompressing the voice is sent, and the voice quality before the start of the call is restored. Similarly, when the network monitoring circuit 22 of the router 2 detects that the call is terminated by the call data S1, it sends a signal for decompressing the voice to the voice compression circuit 23 via the main control circuit 21, Restore the voice quality before the call started.

In the same configuration of the intercom system of FIG. 1, the operation of the main control circuit 11 of the terminal hub 1 and the operation of the main control circuit 21 of the router 2 are partially changed, so that the quality of the call data S1 can be ensured in different ways. You can also.

Hereinafter, this operation will be described.

The data flow when the operator of the centralized master operates the centralized master is exactly the same as in FIG.

Therefore, the call data S1 is stored in the terminal hub 1
And the router 2 also receives it.

Network monitoring circuit 12 of terminal hub 1
Is another device (in this case, the terminal intercom 3 of the own terminal).
When the call data S1 is received for all the devices in the common unit (not only the common device), the main control circuit 11 sends a signal to the main control circuit 11 to stop the transmission of the moving image signal.

At this time, if the terminal hub 1 is transmitting and receiving the digital signal S2 and the signal is moving image data, the main control circuit 11 transmits the moving image portion of the digital signal S2 to be transmitted and received. Stop. At this time, by stopping the transmission of the video, who has obtained the video through the general network a is transmitted and received data temporarily becomes impossible, the moving image data is character data, audio data requires a great deal of communication data in comparison with, the transmission stopping the moving image, it is possible to dramatically reduce the communication load of the general network a, it eliminates the transmission delay of the call data S1, interruption of the speech signal Can be prevented.

[0059] Also when the router 2 has been sending the video data as a digital signal S2, the video stop signal from similarly network monitoring circuit 22, stops the transmission of the video signal, the audio signal of the call data S1 Disruption can be prevented.

The network monitoring circuit 12 of the terminal hub 1
When detecting that the call has ended based on the call data S1, it sends a signal to restart the transmission of the moving image to the main control circuit 11, and restores the moving image transmission before the start of the call. Similarly, when the network monitoring circuit 22 of the router 2 detects that the call has been terminated based on the call data S1, it sends a signal to the main control circuit 21 to restart the transmission of the moving image, and restores the moving image transmission before the start of the call. .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another intercom system. The router 2 has an image compression circuit 24 in addition to the circuit of FIG. 1, and the terminal hub 1 has the same components as those of FIG. And an image compression circuit 14. Other configurations are exactly the same as those in FIG.

The operation of the intercom system configured as described above will be described below.

The flow of data when the operator of the centralized master operates the centralized master is exactly the same as in FIG.

Therefore, the call data S1 is stored in the terminal hub 1
And the router 2 also receives it.

Network monitoring circuit 12 of terminal hub 1
The other devices (in this case, the own terminal device interphone 3
When the call data S1 is received for all the devices in the common unit (not only the common device), the main control circuit 11 sends a signal to the image compression circuit 14 to compress the image signal.

At this time, if the terminal hub 1 is transmitting the digital signal S2 and the signal is image data, the image compression circuit 14 compresses the digital signal S2 to be transmitted, and As S2 '(not shown), the data is transmitted with the data amount reduced. At this time, the image quality is reduced by compressing the image,
Especially for moving images, the compression of image data has a dramatic effect on alleviating congestion on communication lines. As a result, the amount of transmission signals transmitted at one time is reduced, but the connection itself is not interrupted. Therefore, without increasing the communication amount due to reconnection and reducing the convenience due to disconnection, the general network a Communication load of the call data S1 can be reduced.
The transmission delay of the audio signal is eliminated, and the interruption of the audio signal can be prevented.

Also, when the router 2 transmits image data as the digital signal S2, the amount of transmission signals transmitted at one time is reduced by the image compression signal from the network monitoring circuit 22, and the call data The interruption of the audio signal in S1 can be prevented.

The network monitoring circuit 12 of the terminal hub 1
Detects the end of the call based on the call data S 1, via the main control circuit 11, through the image compression circuit 14.
, A signal for decompressing the image is sent, and the voice quality before the start of the call is restored. Similarly, when the network monitoring circuit 22 of the router 2 detects that the call is terminated by the call data S1, it sends a signal for decompressing the image to the image compression circuit 24 via the main control circuit 21, to revive the call before the start of the voice quality.

[0069] Further, in the same configuration of the intercom system of Figure 1, by adding a portion the operation of the main control circuit 21 of the main control circuit 11 and router 2 in the terminal hub 1,
The operation of the present invention can be performed only when it is necessary to ensure the quality of the call data S1.

Hereinafter, this operation will be described.

The flow of data when the operator of the centralized master operates the centralized master is exactly the same as in FIG.

For this reason, the call data S 1 is also received by the terminal hub 1 and the router 2.

Network monitoring circuit 12 of terminal hub 1
Is another device (in this case, the terminal intercom 3 of the own terminal).
When the call data S1 is received for all devices in the common unit (not only the common device), the line utilization rate of the currently flowing data is measured. Only when the line utilization exceeds a certain threshold, the network monitoring circuit 12 sends a signal to the main control circuit 11 to limit the window size.

The main control circuit 11 is the network monitoring circuit 1
The amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time is reduced by the window size restriction signal from the second. Since the connection itself is not interrupted, the communication load of the general-purpose network a can be reduced without increasing the communication volume due to reconnection and reducing the convenience due to disconnection, and the transmission delay of the call data S1 is reduced. As a result, the interruption of the audio signal can be prevented, and when the line utilization is low, the transmission delay of other data can also be prevented.

Also, when the router 2 is transmitting and receiving the digital signal S2, similarly, only when the line utilization exceeds a certain threshold value, the router 2 receives the digital signal S2 at once by the window size restriction signal from the network monitoring circuit 22. The amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted can be reduced, and interruption of audio signals can be prevented.

[0076] The method of releasing the window size limit is exactly the same as that shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the structure of another intercom system. One intercom system is installed at an arbitrary position in a building and communicates with a terminal hub 1 and a router 2 in a general-purpose network a. A network monitoring dedicated terminal 5 for giving an instruction is provided. The network monitoring terminal 5 installed one at any location within the building and a main control circuit 51 and the network monitoring circuit 52. The router 2 has no network monitoring circuit 22, and the terminal hub 1 has no network monitoring circuit 12. Other configurations are exactly the same as those in FIG.

The operation of the intercom system thus configured will be described below.

The flow of data to devices other than the network monitoring terminal 5 when the operator of the centralized master operates the centralized master is exactly the same as in FIG.

The call data S 1 is received by the network monitoring terminal 5 in addition to the terminal hub 1 and the router 2.

When the network monitoring circuit 52 of the network monitoring terminal 5 receives the call data S1 for any device in the common unit, the network monitoring circuit 52 compresses the window size for all the terminals in the building through the main control circuit 51. and it sends a window size limit signal S3 for.

[0082] terminal hub 1 window size limit signal S
If the digital signal S2 has been transmitted and received at the time point when the number 3 is received, the main control circuit 11 reduces the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time. Since the connection itself is not interrupted, the communication load of the general-purpose network a can be reduced without increasing the communication volume due to reconnection and reducing the convenience due to disconnection, and the transmission delay of the call data S1 is reduced. no, it is possible to prevent the disruption of the audio signal.

When the digital signal S2 is transmitted and received when the router 2 receives the window size restriction signal S3, the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time is similarly reduced, and the Disruption can be prevented.

When the network monitoring circuit 52 of the network monitoring terminal 5 detects the end of the call based on the call data S1, it sends a window size restriction signal S3 to all terminals in the building via the main control circuit 51. Signal to cancel the call, and restore the voice quality before the start of the call. The main control circuit of the terminal hub 1 11 receives the release signal of the window size limit signal S3, to release the limitation of the window size. The main control circuit 21 of the router 2 also
Similarly, when receiving the release signal of the window size restriction signal S3, the restriction of the window size is released, and the voice quality before the start of the call is restored.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another intercom system. In addition to the conventional circuit, the centralized master unit 4 communicates with the terminal hub 1 and the router 2 in the general-purpose network a. Is provided. The terminal hub 1 has no network monitoring circuit 12, and the router 2 has no network monitoring circuit 12. Other configurations are exactly the same as those in FIG.

The operation of the intercom system configured as described above will be described below.

[0087] flow of data when the operator of the centralized master unit has operated a centralized master unit is exactly the same as in FIG. 1. When data transmission and reception circuit 42 of the centralized master station 4 sends out a call data S1 to the terminal interphone 3, window size limit signal to all terminals in the building from the main control circuit 46 at the same time through data transmission and reception circuit 42 Send S3.

The terminal hub 1 receives the window size restriction signal S
If the digital signal S2 has been transmitted and received at the time point when the number 3 is received, the main control circuit 11 reduces the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time. Since connection itself will not be interrupted, an increase in traffic due to reconnection, without a reduction in convenience due to a loss of connectivity can be lightly the communication load of the general-purpose network a, transmission delay of the call data S1 is And the interruption of the audio signal can be prevented.

When the digital signal S2 is transmitted and received when the router 2 receives the window size restriction signal S3, the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time is similarly reduced, and the Disruption can be prevented.

[0090] The main control circuit 46 of the centralized base unit 4 detects that a call by a signal from the data transmission and reception circuit 42 has been completed, the signal for releasing the window size limit signal S3 for all terminals in the building To restore the voice quality prior to the start of the call. Main control circuit 11 of terminal hub 1
Receives the release signal of the window size restriction signal S3, and releases the restriction on the window size. Router 2
The main control circuit 21 also receives the release signal of the window size limit signal S3 Similarly, to release the restriction of the window size, revive call start previous speech quality.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another intercom system. In addition to the conventional circuit, the terminal interphone 3 includes a terminal hub 1 in the general-purpose network a.
And a main control circuit 36 for instructing the router 2 on the communication method. The terminal hub 1 has no network monitoring circuit 12, and the router 2 has no network monitoring circuit 12. Other structures are exactly the same as FIG.

The operation of the intercom system thus configured will be described below.

The data flow when the operator of the centralized master unit operates the centralized master unit is exactly the same as in FIG.

[0094] The main control circuit 36 of the terminal intercom 3,
Receives the call data S1 through data transmission and reception circuit 32 recognizes that the data is addressed to its own terminal, and sends a window size limit signal S3 is transmitted to all terminals in the building.

[0095] terminal hub 1 window size limit signal S
If the digital signal S2 has been transmitted and received at the time point when the number 3 is received, the main control circuit 11 reduces the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time. Since connection itself will not be interrupted, an increase in traffic due to reconnection, without a reduction in convenience due to a loss of connectivity can be lightly the communication load of the general-purpose network a, transmission delay of the call data S1 is no, it is possible to prevent the disruption of the audio signal.

When the digital signal S2 is transmitted and received when the router 2 receives the window size restriction signal S3, the amount of transmission signals that can be transmitted at one time is similarly reduced, and the Disruption can be prevented.

The main control circuit 36 of the terminal intercom 3
When the signal from the data transmission / reception circuit 32 detects that the call has ended, a signal for releasing the window size restriction signal S3 is sent to all terminals in the building, and the voice quality before the start of the call is restored. When receiving the release signal of the window size restriction signal S3, the main control circuit 11 of the terminal hub 1 releases the restriction on the window size. The main control circuit 21 of the router 2 also receives a release signal of the window size limit signal S3 Similarly, to release the restriction of the window size, revive call start previous speech quality.

[0098]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the intercom system of the present invention, when a single network is used for both intercom calls and other uses in a building, the intercom system is used for other purposes. By reducing the traffic of all general-purpose networks used for
Ensuring the flow rate of the communication signal required for the call, the speech delay, disruption without, can guarantee the quality of the stable call voice.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an intercom system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an intercom system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an intercom system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an intercom system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an intercom system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an intercom system according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional intercom system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ..... terminal hub 2 ----- router 3 ----- terminal interphone 4 ----- centralized base unit 5 ----- network monitoring terminal 11 ..... main control Circuit 12 Network monitoring circuit 13 Audio compression circuit 14 Image compression circuit 21 Main control circuit 22 Network monitoring circuit 23 ··· Audio compression circuit 24 ······ Image compression circuit 31 ································· Data transmission / reception circuit 33 ········· Speech encoding / decoding circuit 34. ··· ... Microphone 35... Speaker 36... Main control circuit 41... Numeric keys and call button 42... Data transmission and reception circuit 43... Voice encoding / decoding circuit 44 ..... microphone 45 ..... spin Car 46 Main control circuit 51 Main control circuit 52 Network monitoring circuit S1 Call data S2 Digital signal S3 Window size limit signal

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A general-purpose network (a) for a building in which an unspecified number of residents and patients, such as an apartment house and a hospital, are active in the same building, and an entrance of the apartment house connected to the general-purpose network, A centralized master unit (4) installed at a nurse station; a terminal hub (1) connected to the general-purpose network and installed at each dwelling unit or hospital bed in the apartment house; An intercom system including a terminal intercom (3) installed in each bed of a dwelling unit or a hospital, and a router (2) for connecting to a wide area network (b) outside the building connected to the general-purpose network. A main control circuit (11, 21) for controlling communication to the general-purpose network in the terminal hub and the router;
And a network monitoring circuit (12, 22) for monitoring communication to the general-purpose network, wherein the terminal hub and the router are configured such that the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom start talking or the terminal intercom And when the other terminal intercom starts a call, the network monitoring circuit of the router and the network monitoring circuit of the terminal hub detect a call start, and the main control circuit of the router and the main control of the terminal hub. By controlling the window size in the control circuit, by reducing the traffic of all the networks that are not making a call, the flow rate of the communication signal required for the call is secured, and the centralized master unit An interphone for ensuring the sound quality of the voice of the call with the terminal intercom. Phone system. 2. The terminal hub and the router each include a voice compression circuit (13, 23) for compressing the call voice. The terminal hub and the router are configured to control the main control circuit of the router and the terminal. The main control circuit of the hub activates the voice compression circuit to reduce the voice transmission quality other than the voice call as the interphone, thereby reducing the communication volume of all the networks not performing the voice call as the interphone, 2. The intercom system according to claim 1, wherein a flow rate of a communication signal necessary for the call is secured, and a sound quality of the call voice is secured. 3. The moving picture is transmitted to the terminal hub and the router by a method in which the main control circuit of the router and the main control circuit of the terminal hub identify a file name being transmitted. By performing a moving image transmission stop operation when it is determined that the communication volume of all the networks transmitting moving images is reduced, a flow rate of a communication signal necessary for a call is secured, and the sound quality of the call voice is reduced. 2. The intercom system according to claim 1, wherein the intercom system is secured. 4. The terminal hub and the router each include an image compression circuit (14, 24) for compressing an image communicated on the general-purpose network. The main control circuit and the main control circuit of the terminal hub actuate the image compression circuit to reduce the amount of communication of all the networks transmitting images, thereby reducing the communication signal flow required for a call. 2. The intercom system according to claim 1, wherein the intercom system is adapted to ensure the sound quality of the call voice. 5. The terminal hub and the router, when the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom start talking, or when the terminal intercom and the terminal interphone of another terminal start talking, the router of the router is connected to the central hub and the terminal interphone. The main control circuit and the main control circuit of the terminal hub measure the amount of data being transmitted, and only when the data amount exceeds a certain value or more, the window size limiting operation is activated. , claim 1, by reducing the amount of communication all the networks that do not perform the call, to ensure the flow rate of the communication signals necessary for call and characterized in that to ensure the quality of the call voice The intercom system described. 6. Housing, hospitals, unspecified number of residents, the general-purpose network (a) of building the patient is active in the same building, Ya entrance of the apartment is connected to the general network A centralized master unit (4) installed at a nurse station; a terminal hub (1) connected to the general-purpose network and installed at each dwelling unit or hospital bed in the apartment house; and the installed terminal intercom to each bed of dwelling unit and hospital (3), interphone system comprising a router (2) for connection to a wide area network (b) to the connected building outside the general network A dedicated network monitoring terminal (5) for instructing a communication system to the terminal hub and the router in the general-purpose network in the building; The work monitoring dedicated terminal includes a main control circuit (51) for controlling communication to the general-purpose network and a network monitoring circuit (52) for monitoring communication to the general-purpose network. When the type master unit and the terminal intercom start talking, or when the terminal intercom and another terminal intercom start talking, the network monitoring circuit of the network monitoring dedicated terminal detects the start of the call and is dedicated to the network monitoring. the main control circuit of the terminal, by sending the window size limit signal (S3) to said main control circuit of the terminal hub to the main control circuit of the router, the said terminal hub and the main control circuit limiting operation of the window size is activated in the main control circuit, all not performed the call Intercom system of by reducing the traffic of the network, to ensure the flow rate of the communication signals necessary for call and characterized in that to ensure the quality of the call voice. 7. A general-purpose network (a) of a building in which an unspecified number of residents and patients such as an apartment house and a hospital are active in the same building, and an entrance of the apartment house connected to the general-purpose network, A centralized master unit (4) installed at a nurse station; a terminal hub (1) connected to the general-purpose network and installed at each dwelling unit or hospital bed in the apartment house; An intercom system including a terminal intercom (3) installed in each bed of a dwelling unit or a hospital, and a router (2) for connecting to a wide area network (b) outside the building connected to the general-purpose network. A main control circuit (46) for instructing the centralized master unit to communicate a communication method to the terminal hub and the router in the general-purpose network; When the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom start talking, the main control circuit of the centralized master unit sets a window size for the main control circuit of the router and the main control circuit of the terminal hub. By transmitting a restriction signal (S3), a window size restriction operation is activated by the main control circuit and the main control circuit of the terminal hub, thereby reducing the communication volume of all the networks that are not communicating. The intercom system according to claim 1, wherein a flow rate of a communication signal necessary for a call is secured, and a sound quality of a call voice is secured. 8. A general-purpose network (a) of a building in which an unspecified number of residents and patients such as an apartment house and a hospital are active in the same building, and an entrance of the apartment house connected to the general-purpose network and nurse station to the installed centralized base unit (4), and which is connected to the general-purpose network terminal hub installed in each bed in each dwelling unit or hospital in said housing complex (1), each of said housing An intercom system including a terminal intercom (3) installed in each bed of a dwelling unit or a hospital, and a router (2) for connecting to a wide area network (b) outside the building connected to the general-purpose network. there are, it said comprising a main control circuit for instructing the communication system to the terminal hub and the router in the generic network (36) to the terminal interphone, the main system The circuit is configured such that when the centralized master unit and the terminal intercom start talking, or when the terminal intercom and another terminal intercom start talking, the main control circuit of the terminal interphone controls the main control of the router. by sending a window size limit signal (S3) to said main control circuit of the the circuit terminal hub, limiting operation of the window size is actuated by the main control circuit of the terminal hub to the main control circuit, call The intercom system according to claim 1, wherein the communication volume of all the networks not performing the communication is reduced to secure the flow rate of the communication signal necessary for the telephone call and the sound quality of the telephone call voice.