JPH0363865B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an automatic extension selection method for a private branch exchange (PBX).

[Technical background of the invention]

In conventional private branch exchange telephone equipment equipped with a plurality of telephones to which a plurality of extension numbers are respectively assigned, when an incoming call is answered, the incoming extension number key is operated at the same time as the handset of the telephone is off-hook, and at the time of making a call, the handset is off-hook. while operating the vacant extension number key.

In addition, in private branch exchange telephone equipment equipped with telephones in which the extension number key is locked, only the extension number assigned to the key that has been previously operated and is in the locked state is selected at the same time as the handset is turned off. ing.

[Problems with background technology]

By the way, in the former type of private branch exchange telephone equipment as described above, two operations are required both at the time of answering an incoming call and at the time of making a call: off-hook operation of the telephone handset and operation of selecting an extension number key. However, the disadvantage was that the operation was cumbersome, especially when responding to incoming calls, which required quick operation. In addition, in the latter type of private branch exchange telephone equipment equipped with a type of telephone in which the extension number key is locked, the above-mentioned troubles can be solved to some extent, but
In this case, if the extension number assigned to the locked extension number key is in use, the user may inadvertently interrupt the call during off-hook.

In order to compensate for such shortcomings, in recent years private branch exchange telephone equipment equipped with private electronic exchanges have been designed to use one specific key (for example, multiple keys arranged in tandem) among multiple extension numbers assigned to the telephone. An automatic extension selection scheme has been proposed which automatically selects a particular extension number assigned to the lowest key (if present) when the handset is taken off-hook.

However, even in this case, if the specific extension number mentioned above is in use, you must select an empty number and operate the keys when making a call. The operation method is different depending on the middle case, which confuses the user and does not provide a fundamental solution.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in order to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional private branch exchange telephone equipment. It determines whether the call is for a response, and if the call is intended to be a call, it automatically selects a vacant extension number and makes the call ready, and if the off-hook is a call to respond to an incoming call An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic extension selection method that automatically selects an incoming extension number and makes it available for responding to an incoming call.

[Summary of the invention]

Therefore, in the present invention, there is provided a determination means for determining whether or not a ring tone is being transmitted to a telephone set in an off-hook state, and a determination means for determining whether or not a ring tone is being transmitted to a telephone set that is in an off-hook state, and a determination means that determines whether or not a ring tone is being transmitted to a telephone set that is in an off-hook state. a first selection means for selecting a vacant extension number from a plurality of extension numbers assigned to the nuclear telephone; and a first selection means for selecting a vacant extension number from a plurality of extension numbers assigned to the nuclear telephone; a second selection means for selecting an incoming extension number by the second selection means, thereby setting the telephone in an off-hook state to a callable state based on the selection of an unused extension number by the first selection means; Based on the selection of the number, the system is ready to respond to incoming calls.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic private branch exchange telephone device to which an automatic extension selection system according to the present invention is applied. In the figure, the electronic private branch exchange telephone device includes telephones 1a and 1b, and telephones 1a and 1b.
line circuit (LC) 2a, each connected to
2b, a central controller (CC) 3 that performs exchange connection processing, a main memory (MM) 4 that stores processing procedures and various data necessary for this central controller 3 to perform control operations, and a telephone communication road device 5
It is equipped with The line circuits 2a and 2b are connected to the communication path device 5 by audio signal lines 6a and 6b, respectively, and the line circuits 2a and 2b and the central control unit 3 are configured to send and receive control signals via a control signal line 7. A control signal is transmitted from the central control device 3 to the communication path device 5 via a control signal line 8, and data is sent and received between the central control device 3 and the main storage device 4 via a data line 9. I'm starting to do it.

Figures 2A and 2B show telephones 1a and 1b in detail, respectively;
0a, 10b, push dial 11a, 11b
Key 12a, 1 assigned to extension number 100
2b Key 13 assigned to extension number 200
a and 13b, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram functionally showing the central controller 3 and the main memory 4 connected thereto by a data line 9. As shown in FIG. Further, FIGS. 4A to 4C are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the present invention, and FIGS.
FIG. 4A shows the outgoing connection process, FIG. 4B shows the dialing and ringing tone sending process, and FIG. 4C shows the incoming call response process.

The following is a description of the configuration and operation of the central control device 3 and main storage device 4 shown in FIG.
The operation of the automatic extension selection system according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. If we now consider the case where a telephone call is to be made from telephone 1a to telephone 1b, handset 10a is first taken off-hook at telephone 1a. Information indicating the off-hook of the handset 10a is sent to the central controller 3 via the line circuit 2a and the control signal line 7.
is transmitted to. The central control unit 3 detects information indicating that the handset 10a of the telephone 1a has been taken off-hook by the off-hook detection section 14, and transmits this to the ring tone transmission/non-sending determination section 15. The ring tone transmission presence/absence determination unit 15 refers to the data regarding the telephone set 1a stored in the ring tone transmission flag memory unit 16 in the main storage device 4, and determines whether or not a ring tone is currently being transmitted to the telephone set 1a. Determine whether In this case, the off-hook of the telephone 1a indicates that the user intended to make a call, and therefore no ringtone is sent to the telephone 1a. , and sends the information to the vacant extension number selection unit 17, which is the first selection means.
The vacant extension number selection section 17 searches for an unoccupied extension number by referring to the extension numbers that can be used by the telephone 1a from the data area related to the telephone 1a in the key number corresponding extension number memory section 18 of the main storage device 4. When it turns out that the extension number 100 assigned to the key 12a is vacant, the main storage device 4
Extension number 10 in the extension busy flag memory section 19 of
A busy flag is set for number 0, and a signal is sent to the key-corresponding lamp lighting control section 20 and the dial tone sending control section 21. The key-compatible lamp lighting control unit 20 lights up the lamps of keys 12a and 12b to which extension number 100 is assigned.
The command is transmitted to the line circuits 2a and 2b via the control signal line 7. At the same time, in order to notify the user of the telephone 1a who has taken off-hook the handset 10a that the telephone is ready for dialing, the dial tone transmitter 21 transmits the control signal line 8, the communication path circuit 5, the audio signal line 6a, and the line circuit 2a. A signal is sent to the handset 10a via the dial to generate a dial tone.

The user of the telephone 1a knows from this dial tone that dialing is possible, and uses the push dial 11a to dial the predetermined extension number 200 in order to call the telephone 1b. As a result, 3-digit dial information is transmitted from the line circuit 2a via the control signal line 7 to the dial receiving unit 22 of the central control unit 3. When this information transmission is completed, the incoming call analysis unit 23 stores the extension number corresponding to the key. It is determined by referring to the data in the section 18 that extension number 200 is stored in the telephones 1a and 1b, and the extension incoming call flag memory section 24 of the main storage device 4 is stored.
Set. At the same time, the ringing tone transmission necessity determination circuit 25 determines whether or not the ringing tone transmission is necessary or not by referring to the data regarding the telephones 1a and 1b in the ringing tone transmission necessity data memory section 26 of the main storage device 4. If the data in the ring tone sending unnecessary data memory section 26 is created to send a ring tone only to the telephone 1b, then the ring tone sending flag for the telephone 1a in the ring tone sending flag memory section 16 is is not set, only the ringing tone sending flag for the telephone 1b is set, and the ringing tone sending control section 27 sends the telephone via the control signal line 8, the communication path device 5, the audio signal line 6b and the line circuit 2b. 1b, and causes the speaker to generate a ringing tone. At the same time, the incoming call analysis section 23 sends the key corresponding lamp lighting control section 20
A signal is sent to the line circuits 2a and 2b from the key corresponding lamp lighting control unit 20 via the control signal line 7, and the lamps of the keys 13a and 13b assigned to extension number 200 are transmitted to the line circuits 2a and 2b. but,
It will flash to indicate that a call is incoming.

Next, when the user of the telephone 1b hears the ringing tone of the telephone 1b and takes the handset 10b off-hook, the line circuit 2b transmits information indicating that the telephone 1b is off-hook to the control signal line 7 and the central control unit 3. The off-hook detection section 14 transmits the signal to the ringing tone transmission/non-sending determination section 15 . The ringing tone transmission presence/absence determining section 15 refers to the data regarding the telephone 1b stored in the ringing tone transmission flag memory section 16 and determines whether or not a ringing tone is currently being transmitted to the telephone 1b. In this case, a ring tone is being sent to the telephone 1b, and the ring tone sending/absence determination unit 15 determines that the off-hook of the telephone 1b is for responding to an incoming call, and transmits that information. It is sent to the incoming extension number selection section 28, which is the second selection means. The incoming extension number selection section 28 reads out the accommodated extension number from the data area regarding the telephone 1b, and checks the incoming call flag in the extension incoming call flag memory section 24. Extension number 2 assigned to telephone 1b by this
When it is determined that the number 00 is receiving a call, the incoming extension number selection section 28 selects the extension number selection section 28 from the extension busy flag memory section 19.
Set the busy flag for extension number 200.
In addition, a search is made to find out which telephone extension number 200 is assigned to, and if it is found that extension number 200 is assigned to telephones 1a and 1b, control signal line 7 is transmitted from key-compatible lamp lighting control section 20. The command is transmitted to the line circuits 2a, 2b via the line circuits 2a, 2b, and the lamps of the keys 13a, 13b corresponding to extension number 200 of the telephones 1a, 1b change from a blinking state to a lighting state. At the same time, a signal is sent from the incoming extension number selection section 28 to the ring tone transmission control section 27,
The ringing tone sent from the ringing tone transmission control unit 27 to the telephone set 1b via the control signal line 8 and the communication path device 5 is stopped. A signal is also sent from the incoming extension number selection unit 28 to the call path creation unit 29, and information is thereby transmitted from the call path creation unit 29 to the call path device 5 via the control signal line 8. The audio signal lines 6a and 6b of the telephones 1a and 1b are connected in the path device 5 to form a communication path between the telephones 1a and 1b.

The above explanation has clarified the overall flow of the automatic extension selection method according to the present invention, as well as the configuration and operation of the central control unit 3 and main storage device 4. This is an explanation of a case where a ring tone is sent to the telephone set 1b of the called party. For example, extension number 200 is also assigned to a key of another telephone (not shown), and the data memory unit for which ring tone transmission is not required contains data for extension number 200 to transmit a ring tone only to that other telephone. is set, no ring tone is sent to telephone set 1b even if extension number 200 is dialed. In this case, when the handset 10b is taken off-hook, the extension number 2 accommodated in the telephone 1b is
Even though the number 00 is receiving a call, the off-hook on the telephone 1b is regarded as a call operation, and the vacant extension number selection unit 17 of the central processing unit 3 selects the vacant extension number assigned to the telephone 1b. A selection process is performed.

Next, FIGS. 5A to 5C show memory maps of various data in the main storage device 4, and FIG. 5 shows the contents of the key number corresponding extension number memory section 18 in FIG. This is a table showing assigned extension numbers in correspondence with key numbers. The figure shows a case where there are four keys. This data is available for all phones. Figure 5B is
The contents of the ringing tone sending flag memory section 16 and the ringing tone sending unnecessary data memory section 26 shown in FIG. A flag indicating whether or not a ringing tone is being transmitted is stored therein. This data is also available for all phones. Also, Figure 5C shows the third
The figure shows the contents of the extension busy flag memory 19 and the extension incoming call flag memory 24, one of which is prepared for the entire private branch exchange telephone equipment, and which accommodates all the extension numbers in use. A busy flag indicating whether the extension number is busy or not, and an incoming call flag indicating whether the extension number is receiving a call are stored.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, when a telephone is placed in an off-hook state, it is determined whether or not a ring tone is being transmitted to the telephone, and if a ring tone is not being transmitted, the first The selection means automatically selects an unoccupied extension number to make the call ready, and when a ring tone is being sent, the second selection means automatically selects the incoming extension number. Since the system enables the user to respond to incoming calls, the user can make calls and respond to incoming calls by simply taking the handset off-hook, and is freed from the trouble of manipulating the extension number key when the handset is off-hook. This also eliminates the inconvenience of inadvertently interrupting other calls.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic private branch exchange telephone device to which an automatic extension selection system according to the present invention is applied, FIGS. 2A and 2B are plan views of the telephone, and FIG. 3 is a central control unit and main 4A, 4B and 4C are flowcharts showing an example of its operation, and 5A, 5B and 5C are block diagrams showing the storage device functionally. This is a memory map showing the storage contents of the main storage device. 1a, 1b...Button telephone, 2a, 2b...Line circuit, 3...Central control unit, 4...Main storage device, 5
...Communication path device, 6a, 6b...Audio signal line, 7, 8
...Control signal line, 9...Data line, 10a, 10b...
Handset, 11a, 11b...Push dial, 12a, 12b...Extension number key, 14...Off-hook detection section, 15...Ring tone transmission presence/absence determination section, 1
6... Ring tone sending flag memory section, 17... Vacant extension number selection section, 18... Key corresponding extension number memory section, 19... Extension busy flag memory section, 20... Key corresponding lamp lighting control section, 21... Dial tone sending control 22...Dial receiving section, 23...Incoming call analysis section, 24...Extension incoming call flag memory section, 25...Ring tone transmission necessity determining section, 26...Ring tone transmission necessity/unnecessity data memory section, 27...Ring tone transmission control section , 28...
Incoming extension number selection unit, 29...Call route creation unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Judgment for determining whether a ring tone is being sent to a telephone set that has gone off-hook in an automatic extension selection method for a private branch exchange telephone device having a telephone set in which a plurality of different extension numbers are assigned to different keys, respectively. means, first selection means for selecting an available extension number from a plurality of extension numbers accommodated in the telephone when the determination means determines that the ring tone is not being transmitted; An automatic extension selection method for a private branch exchange telephone device, comprising: second selection means for selecting a called extension number from a plurality of extension numbers when it is determined that a ring tone is being transmitted.