JP6005593B2 - Intercom system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an interphone system including an interphone slave unit having a calling / calling function and a plurality of interphone master units having a calling function, and each device is connected via a communication network.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an interphone system that includes an interphone slave unit having a call / call function and a plurality of interphone master units having a call function, and each device is connected via a communication network such as a LAN (for example, a patent) Reference 1). As described above, in a system provided with a plurality of interphone master units, when calling a plurality of interphone master units at the same time, a multicast call that requires only the same video signal as the call signal is performed.
For multicast, there is a unicast call for transmitting a video signal to each interphone master unit, which has been implemented conventionally.

JP 2013-46233 A

Multicast calls can be made to multiple interphone master units with a single video signal, so even if there are a large number of interphone master units to be called, the video signal is not congested and the line is smooth. I was able to make a call.
However, when the interphone master unit of the call destination is connected to the communication network through the firewall from the viewpoint of security, the video signal by multicast may be blocked. As a countermeasure, if the transmission of the video signal for all calls is performed by unicast, it will not be blocked by the firewall, but since the video signal by unicast is a form in which the video signal is individually transmitted, there are many When calling interphone masters all at once, there is a problem that the line is congested due to the transmission of a large number of video signals, causing trouble to other users who share the transmission path.

  Therefore, in view of such problems, the present invention provides unicast to all nurse call master units even if there is a nurse call master unit that cannot perform data transmission by multicast in the interphone master unit that is called. It is an object of the present invention to provide an intercom system that can perform a call with a small number of video signals without performing data transmission according to the above.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, an invention of claim 1 is directed to an interphone in which an interphone slave unit having a calling / calling function and a plurality of interphone master units having a calling function are connected to each other via a communication network. The interphone slave unit has a call type storage unit that stores whether or not multicast data transmission is possible for each interphone base unit that is a call destination. The intercom master unit of the interphone master unit reads the availability of multicast, and the interphone master unit that is not capable of multicasting individually transmits the call signal and video signal by unicast. And a call control unit for transmitting the video signal.
According to this configuration, even when a firewall is provided in the middle of the transmission path and there is an interphone base unit that cannot be multicast, a video signal is transmitted by unicast to the interphone base unit that cannot be multicast. Therefore, the video signal is not blocked.
Unicast video signals are only used for nurse call master units that cannot transmit multicast data, and the number of video signals can be kept to a minimum. Useful.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first aspect, the call control unit transmits a multicast dummy video signal to the interphone master set as a call destination, and multicast data is transmitted depending on the presence / absence of a response signal. Whether or not transmission is possible is determined, and the determination result is stored in a call type storage unit.
According to this configuration, the worker only needs to perform a dummy video signal transmission operation, and does not require an operation for setting whether or not multicast data transmission is possible for each interphone master unit. Can be reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first or second aspect, when the number of interphone master units set for unicast data transmission reaches a predetermined number, the call control unit exceeds the call destination interphone parent. It is a feature that the addition of the machine is impossible.
According to this configuration, the number of video signals to be transmitted exceeds the communication capacity of the transmission path because a predetermined number is set in consideration of the communication capacity of the transmission path and registration of the interphone master unit beyond that is impossible. , Can prevent the congestion of the line.

According to the present invention, even when a firewall is provided in the middle of the transmission path and there is an interphone base unit that cannot be multicast, a video signal is transmitted by unicast to the interphone base unit that cannot be multicast. Therefore, the video signal is not blocked.
And unicast video signals are only used for nurse call master units that cannot transmit multicast data, and the number of video signals can be kept to a minimum. It is effective to prevent.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the intercom system which concerns on this invention, and has shown the main equipment with the circuit block diagram.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an intercom system according to the present invention, and shows main devices in a circuit block diagram. Reference numeral 1 is an interphone handset for calling a resident by a visitor having a calling / calling function (hereinafter simply referred to as “slave unit”), and 2 is a call function for responding to a call from the handset 1 Interphone master unit (hereinafter simply referred to as “master unit”), 3 is a firewall, 4 is a LAN, and each device is LAN-connected.

  In FIG. 1, four master units (first to fourth master units 2a to 2d) 2 are provided, and the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d are connected to the LAN 4 through the firewall 3. Has been. The firewall 3 has a function of blocking multicast signals. In FIG. 1, each device is connected to the LAN, but each device may be connected via a WAN such as the Internet.

  The handset 1 includes a call button 11 for calling a resident, an IP address of the base unit 2 to be called, a handset storage unit 12 for storing the availability of multicast data transmission to each base unit 2, and a microphone 13 for making a call. And a speaker 14, a slave CPU 15 that controls the slave 1, and a slave communication IF 16 that communicates with the master 2 via the LAN 4.

  The parent device 2 includes a call button 21 for responding to a call from the child device 1, a parent device display 22 for displaying caller information, a microphone 23 and a speaker 24 for calling, and a parent device for controlling the parent device 2. A CPU 25 and a base unit communication IF 26 for communicating with the handset 1 via the LAN 4 are provided.

The operation of the intercom system configured as described above is as follows. When the call button 11 is operated by the visitor and the call is made, the slave CPU 15 reads the IP address of the parent device 2 to be called and the multicast availability of each master device 2 from the slave storage unit 12. For example, in FIG. 1, when all of the four master units 2 (2a to 2d) are to be called, the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d are stored as multicast disabled, and this information is read out.
Based on this information, the slave CPU 15 transmits a call signal to the first to fourth master devices 2 by unicast, and uses one multicast video signal for the first master device 2a and the second master device 2b. Video data is transmitted, and unicast video signals are transmitted to the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d, respectively. That is, in this embodiment, three video signals are transmitted.

Thereafter, for example, when the call button 21 of the third parent device 2c is operated by the resident, the parent CPU 25 of the third parent device 2c generates a response signal and transmits it to the child device 1.
In the slave unit 1, a communication path is formed with the third master unit 2 c that receives the response signal and performs a response operation under the control of the slave unit CPU 15, and other master units (the first master unit 2 a, the second master unit 2 b, And the call end signal is transmitted to the fourth master unit 2d) 2. As a result, ringing of the ringing tone in the base unit 2 other than the third base unit 2c is stopped, and voice signals can be transmitted and received between the handset 1 and the third base unit 2c. That is, a call path is formed and a call can be made between a visitor and a resident.
Thereafter, when the call button 21 is operated again by the responding resident, the master CPU 25 transmits a call path blocking signal to the child machine 1 to block the call path.

In this way, even when the firewall 3 is provided in the middle of the transmission path and there is a base unit 2 that cannot be multicast, a video signal is transmitted to the base unit 2 that cannot be multicast by unicast. The video signal is not interrupted.
Since the unicast video signal is used only for the base unit 2 that cannot transmit the multicast data, the number of video signals can be kept to a minimum, and the line is congested by the transmission of a large number of video signals. Helps prevent the situation.

Next, a multicast / unicast setting method will be described. Registration in the child device storage unit 12 is performed by connecting a setting device (not shown) such as a personal computer to the child device 1. When the parent device 2 to be called by the child device 1 is set or when the parent device 2 is added, the IP address of the parent device 2 is registered in the child device 1 by the connected setting device.
In response to this registration operation, the slave CPU 15 registers the input IP address of the master device 2 in the slave device storage unit 12 and sends a first dummy video signal, which is a multicast signal, to the registered master device 2. Send. Here, since four master units 2 (2a to 2d) are set as call targets, the first dummy video signal is transmitted to the four master units (2a to 2d).
The dummy video signal is a test signal that the slave CPU 15 outputs without receiving the operation of the call button 11 in order to confirm the connection with the master 2. The master 2 that receives this signal receives the ACK signal. Is returned, but no ringing tone or video is output.

  If the communication is normal due to the transmission of the first dummy video signal, the signal reaches each parent device 2 and an ACK signal is returned from the parent device 2 to the child device 1. In the case of FIG. 1, the first dummy video signal reaches the first master unit 2a and the second master unit 2b, but the firewall 3 does not transmit multicast to the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d. Therefore, the first dummy video signal does not reach the third parent device 2c and the fourth parent device 2d.

As a result, the first master unit 2a and the second master unit 2b that have received the first dummy video signal return an ACK signal, and the slave unit CPU 15 that has received the ACK signal serves as the master unit 2 that performs multicast data transmission. The first master unit 2 a and the second master unit 2 b are registered in the slave unit storage unit 12.
On the other hand, since the ACK signal is not returned from the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d, the slave CPU 15 determines that the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d are terminals that cannot be multicast. The first dummy video signal is canceled and the second dummy video signal, which is a unicast signal, is transmitted again to the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d.

The second dummy video signal transmitted to the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d reaches the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d because the firewall 3 transmits the unicast. ACK signal is returned from the parent CPU 25.
The slave CPU 15 that has received this ACK signal confirms that the third master device 2c and the fourth master device 2d are terminals that are not capable of multicasting, and uses the third master device 2 as the master device 2 to perform unicast data transmission. The machine 2c and the fourth parent machine 2d are registered in the child machine storage unit 12.

However, the slave unit storage unit 12 stores the maximum number of connections (for example, the maximum number of connections is 10) of the master unit 2 that disables multicast data transmission (performs unicast data transmission). The machine CPU 15 refers to this set value when registering the parent machine 2 that performs unicast data transmission, and determines whether or not registration is possible. Here, the number before registration is 0, and the third master unit 2c and the fourth master unit 2d are registered to become two units and are registered because they are ten or less units.
When the ACK signal for the second dummy video signal can be received by the setting of the upper limit value, when 10 parent devices 2 are already registered in the child device storage unit 12 as parent devices 2 that cannot be multicast. The handset CPU 15 disables further registration and transmits registration disable information to the setting device.
As the maximum value to be set, a numerical value that does not apply a load to the LAN 4 is selected in consideration of the transmission capacity of the LAN 4 to which the device is connected.

In this way, the worker only needs to perform a dummy video signal transmission operation, and does not require an operation for setting whether or not multicast data transmission is possible for each parent device 2, thereby reducing the burden on the worker. it can.
In addition, since a predetermined number is set in consideration of the communication capacity of the transmission path and registration of the master unit 2 beyond that becomes impossible, the number of transmitted video signals exceeds the communication capacity of the transmission path and the line is congested. Can be prevented.

  In the above embodiment, the case is described in which the firewall 3 that does not allow multicast video signals to pass is interposed. However, if a multicast video signal passes even if a firewall is installed, it is necessary to perform unicast data transmission. There is no.

  1 · Interphone handset 2 · Interphone master 3 · LAN · 4 · Firewall, 11 · Call button, 12 · Child storage (call type storage), 15 · · CPU (call control unit), 21 .. Call button, 25 .. Master CPU.

Claims (3)

An interphone system in which an interphone slave unit having a call / call function and a plurality of interphone master units having a call function are connected to each other via a communication network,
The intercom handset has a call type storage unit that stores the availability of multicast data transmission for each interphone base unit of the call destination,
When a call operation is performed, the availability of multicast in each interphone master unit is read from the call type storage unit, and a call signal and a video signal are individually transmitted to the interphone master unit incapable of multicast by unicast. An interphone system characterized in that the base unit has a call control unit that collectively transmits video signals by multicast together with a unicast call signal. The call control unit transmits a multicast dummy video signal to an interphone master set as a call destination, determines whether multicast data transmission is possible based on the presence / absence of a response signal, and determines the determination result as the call type storage unit The intercom system according to claim 1, wherein the intercom system is stored in the system. 3. The call control unit, when the number of interphone master units set for unicast data transmission reaches a predetermined number, prohibits addition of call destination interphone master units exceeding the predetermined number. The listed intercom system.

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