JP2954677B2 - Terminal network controller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an in-home telephone when a terminal network control device that communicates information of devices such as meters and sensors to a center via a general telephone line makes a call. The present invention relates to preventing a call from being disabled due to abnormal use of a call.

<Prior Art> A conventional technique will be described with reference to FIG. When the terminal network controller (T-NCU) 60 attempts to make a call, the home telephone 6
The off-hook detection circuit 62 detects whether 1 is in use.
That is, if the home telephone 61 is in use (the telephone is off-hook), the switch SW1 is turned on, so that current flows through the LED 63a of the photocoupler PH1 in the off-hook detection circuit 62, and the transistor 63b is turned on. It can be detected when the X point becomes "H" level.

However, some people leave the handset off-hook (off-hook) throughout the night because the ringing of the home telephone 61 rings at night.

As described above, if the receiver is disconnected (off-hook) or the telephone fee is not paid, the telephone line is disconnected at the central office, and the line voltage of 48V becomes 0V.

Then, no voltage is applied to the telephone line connection terminals L1 and L2 of the terminal network control device shown in FIG. 5, so that even if the handset is off-hook (off-hook), no current flows through the LED 63a and the off-hook (receiver) Removal) cannot be detected.

In FIG. 5, the off-hook detection circuit 62 includes a temporary circuit 62a and a secondary circuit 62b, and is switched by a switching circuit 64.

<Problem to be Solved by the Invention> When the T-NCU 60 tries to make a call for some reason when the telephone line is in a no-voltage state and the receiver is off-hook, the T-NCU 60 Coupler PH1
Since no current flows through the LED 63a, it is determined that the home telephone 61 is in an unused state, and a call is made as usual, but since the telephone line is disconnected, it cannot be connected to the center device.

Then, the T-NCU 60 enters a prescribed retry operation (a normal retry of "dial is performed twice within three minutes" prescribed by law), and the retry is completed in a short time (for example, 20 minutes). There was a problem of being unable to call.

To solve this problem, there is a method of simply detecting no-voltage of the line.However, in this method, the telephone is temporarily stopped due to construction work or the telephone is stopped due to delinquent telephone charges. There is a case where no voltage is applied, and there is a problem that it is difficult to distinguish between these cases and the above-mentioned "handset off-hook".

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal network control device capable of preventing a call from being disabled even when a user leaves a receiver.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a terminal network control device capable of preventing wasteful battery consumption by abandoning a call when an off-hook state continues for a long time exceeding a time limit. .

<Means for Solving the Problem> As shown in FIG. 1, the problem solving means according to the first aspect of the present invention transmits security information, meter reading information, and the like to a center device via a general telephone line and a home telephone 9. In the terminal network control device connected to, in order to detect whether or not the home telephone is off-hook or the voltage of the telephone line is no voltage, the terminal calling means 41 for calling toward the center device, Off-hook detection means 32 for detecting the presence or absence of a current flowing through the telephone line and the hook state of the home telephone 9, and the home telephone 9 is off-hook by the off-hook detection means and the voltage of the telephone line is zero. In this case, the call originating operation by the terminal originating means 4 toward the center device is postponed on the basis of the output signal, and is longer than the normal retry period. A call waiting means 43 for intermittently monitoring the state at regular intervals and waiting until the telephone line has a voltage and the home telephone is on-hook to a normal state (hereinafter, simply referred to as "normal state"). It is characterized by the following.

Means for solving the problems according to claim 2 is, in addition to the above means,
It has a limiting means for setting a time limit for waiting for a call operation until the telephone line is in a normal state, and for controlling the terminal calling means 41 to abandon the call when the time limit is reached. It is assumed that.

<Operation> In the above-mentioned problem solving means, off-hook etc. detecting means 32
If no current is flowing through the LED of the photo coupler,
The switching circuit 31 switches the home telephone 9 to the secondary circuit 32b, and the secondary circuit 32b monitors off-hook of the receiver.

If the telephone is off-hook, it does not enter the dialing operation, suspends the calling operation toward the center device, monitors the state intermittently at a period longer than the normal retry period, and returns the telephone line to the normal state. Wait until it becomes.

Then, a time limit for waiting for a call operation until the telephone line is in a normal state is set, and when the time limit is reached, the call is abandoned.

Therefore, even if the user leaves the handset off, the call is not disabled, which is very convenient.
Further, since the state monitoring cycle is long, the battery consumption is low and it is very convenient. Further, if such a state continues for a long time, such as exceeding the time limit without paying the fee, the call is abandoned, and wasteful battery consumption is prevented, which is very economical.

<Embodiment> An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1A is a functional block diagram of a terminal network controller according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a system configuration diagram of a data communication system including the terminal network controller of the present invention.

In FIG. 1 (b), 1 is a host computer,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a center-side network controller (C-NCU), 3 denotes an exchange (LS) connected to the center, and 4 denotes an exchange (LS) connected to the terminal. Reference numeral 5 denotes a no-ringing trunk used in a conventional no-ringing system.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a terminal network control device (T-NCU), 7 and 8 denote meter sensors, and 9 denotes a home telephone.

11,15 are connection lines, 12,14 are telephone lines, 13 is inter-office trunk lines,
16, 17 are interface lines between the exchange and the no-ringing trunk.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of the terminal network control device. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes a reciprocity detection circuit, 21 is a rectifier circuit, 22 is an off-hook control circuit, 23 is a PB transmission / reception circuit, 24 is a main control device, 25 and 26 are interface circuits, 27 is a reset circuit, and 28 is a transmission circuit. Circuit, 29 is a power supply circuit, 30 is a modem, and 31 is a connection switching circuit.

Reference numeral 32 denotes an off-hook detection circuit. The detection circuit 32 includes a temporary circuit 32a and a secondary circuit 32b. The internal circuit configuration is the same as that of the conventional circuit shown in FIG.

In the terminal network control device 6, in the case of a terminal call communication in which a call request is issued from the terminal devices such as meters and sensors 7, 8, the call request is transmitted to the interface circuit 2 of the T-NCU 6.
The main controller 24 receives the current through the telephone lines 5 and 26, and determines whether or not a current is flowing through the telephone line 14 by the primary side circuit 32a of the off-hook etc. detecting circuit 32 using the photocoupler PH1 (see FIG. 5). To detect.

Here, if a current flows through the primary side circuit 32a, it is understood that the telephone line has a voltage and the home telephone 9 is off-hook. On the other hand, when no current is flowing, the cause may be that the home telephone is on-hook or that there is no voltage on the telephone line 14.

Then, main controller 24 switches connection of home telephone 9 to secondary circuit 32b by connection switching circuit 31 in order to detect whether the receiver is off-hook. As a result, if the off-hook of the handset is detected, it is already detected that the current is not flowing by the primary side circuit 32a, so that it is known that the telephone line 14 is off-hook with no voltage, which will be described later. The "handset off-call" processing procedure shown in FIG. 4 is executed.

If the off-hook of the handset is not detected, the off-hook control circuit 22 is set to “O” if the selection signal is a dial pulse.
N "," OFF ", and when the selection signal is a PB signal, a selection signal for selecting the C-NCU 2 via the main controller 24, the PB transmission / reception circuit 23, the off-hook control circuit 22, and the rectification circuit 21 is output. It is sent to the telephone line 14. A line link is established by this selection signal and connected to the center-side device, and then via the modem 30 between the terminal network controller (T-NCU) 6 and the center-side device. As a result, data communication is started in a start-stop synchronization system.

FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of a main control unit 24 in the T-NCU 6, and the main control unit 24 includes a central control unit CP
U34, a timer counter 35 for inputting the signal of the transmission circuit 28 and timing, a program memory 36 for instructing the CPU 34 to control, rewritable data to be held in the T-NCU 6, and temporary data generated internally. , And an I / O 38 with which the main controller 24 interfaces with the outside.

All the procedures shown in FIG. 4 are programmed in the program memory 36 in the main control unit 24. The main control unit 24 controls each block in the T-NCU and executes the procedure. It is supposed to.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), the terminal network control device according to the present invention comprises a terminal calling means 41 for calling toward the center device, the home telephone 9 being off-hook, or the telephone line voltage being lower. In order to detect whether or not there is no voltage, an off-hook detection means 32 for detecting the presence or absence of a current flowing through the telephone line and a hook state of the home telephone 9, and the home telephone 9 is turned off-hook by the off-hook detection means 32. And, based on the signal output when the voltage of the telephone line is at no voltage, the call origination operation toward the center unit by the terminal originating means 41 is postponed, and the intermittent operation is performed at a period longer than a normal retry period. Call waiting means 43 for monitoring the state of the telephone line and waiting until the telephone line is in a normal state;
A limit time for setting a time limit for waiting for a call operation until the telephone line becomes normal, and a limit means 44 for controlling the terminal call means 41 to abandon the call when the time limit is reached. I have. The terminal calling means 41, the call waiting means 43, and the limiting means 44 are constituted by the main controller 24.

FIG. 4 shows the "handset off" processing procedure when the telephone line is at no voltage and the off-hook of the handset is detected. First, a limit value (for example, 48) is loaded into the counter N (step I). Next, a period time (for example, 30 minutes) longer than the normal retry period (average 2 minute period) is loaded into the timer T (step 2). Then, it waits for the timer T to expire (step 3). During this time, the main control device 24 is almost in a standby state and does not consume power. If the time is up, the secondary side off-hook etc. detection circuit 32b
Then, it is checked whether the user is off-hook (step 4). If it is off-hook, 1 is subtracted from N of the counter (step 5), and it is checked whether it is 0 (step 6). If it is not 0, the process returns to step 2. If it is 0, it means that the time limit has been exceeded, and the call is abandoned by the limiting means 44, and the process returns to the standby mode.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that many modifications and changes can be made to the above-described embodiment within the scope of the present invention.

<Effect of the Invention> As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the home telephone is off-hook by the off-hook detection means,
In addition, based on the signal output when the voltage of the telephone line is at zero voltage, the calling operation of the terminal calling means toward the center device is postponed, and intermittently at a period longer than a normal retry period. It is equipped with a call waiting means that monitors the state and waits until the telephone line becomes normal, so that the call is not disabled even if the user leaves the handset, Since the state monitoring cycle is long, the battery consumption is low and it is very convenient.

In addition, since the limiting means is provided, when such a state continues for a long time exceeding the time limit, there is an excellent effect that it is very economical to prevent wasteful consumption of the battery for making a call.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 (a) is a functional block diagram of a terminal network controller according to the present invention, FIG. 1 (b) is a system configuration diagram of a data communication system including the terminal network controller of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of a main control device in the terminal network control device, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a case where an off-hook of the handset is detected.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a procedure for "handset hang-up" processing. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional circuit for detecting a use state of a home telephone. 1: Host computer, 2: Center side network controller, 3: Center side exchange (LS), 4: Terminal side exchange (LS), 5: No ringing trunk, 6: Terminal network controller, 7,8: Terminal devices such as meters and sensors, 9: home telephones, 11,15: connection lines, 12, 14: telephone lines, 13: interoffice trunk lines, 16, 17: interface lines, 20: pole detection circuits, 21: Rectifier circuit, 22: Off-hook control circuit, 23: PB transmission / reception circuit, 24: Main controller, 25, 26: Interface circuit, 27: Reset circuit, 28: Transmission circuit, 29: Power supply circuit, 30: Modem, 31: Connection Switching circuit, 32a, 32b: Off hook detection circuit, 34: CPU, 35: Timer counter, 36: Program memory, 37: Data memory, 38: I / O, 41: Terminal calling means, 43: Call waiting means , 44: Limiting means.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-64-39858 (JP, A) JP-A-61-88642 (JP, A) JP-A-62-298898 (JP, A) JP-A-62-29898 139460 (JP, A) JP-A-62-213457 (JP, A) JP-A-62-114369 (JP, A) JP-A-2-104053 (JP, A) JP-A-63-40441 (JP, A) JP-A-64-17548 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04M 11/00-11/10

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A terminal calling means for transmitting security information, meter reading information, and the like to a center device via a general telephone line, and calling a center device in a terminal network control device connected to a home telephone. Off-hook detecting means for detecting whether the home telephone is off-hook or whether the voltage of the telephone line is zero or not, for detecting the presence or absence of current flowing in the telephone line and the hook state of the home telephone, The home phone is off-hook by the off-hook or the like detection means, and the calling operation toward the center device by the terminal calling means is suspended based on a signal output when the voltage of the telephone line is at no voltage, Monitors the status intermittently at a longer cycle than the normal retry cycle. Terminal for network control apparatus being characterized in that a call waiting means for waiting until the normal state. 2. A terminal network control device according to claim 1, wherein a time limit is set for waiting for a calling operation until the telephone line returns to a normal state, and when the time limit is reached, the call is abandoned. A terminal control means for controlling the terminal calling means.