EP0491108A1

EP0491108A1 - Voice pager

Info

Publication number: EP0491108A1
Application number: EP91106066A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hirotaka Amo
Original assignee: Amo Corp
Current assignee: Amo Corp
Priority date: 1990-12-18
Filing date: 1991-04-16
Publication date: 1992-06-24
Also published as: JPH04339424A; JP2610545B2

Abstract

There is provided a voice pager (6) by which voice data from a calling party or person can be timely heard (15) simultaneously with the display (9) of the existing information to be transmitted such as the telephone number of the calling person and the like.

The voice pager (6) is constructed such that when digital data is received, a CPU (10) accommodates the digital data in a data memory (12) and when a reception message is delivered, a receiving person can see the telephone number and the like accommodated in the data memory and can hear the voice data such as the voice of a calling person and the like under the operation of a switch.

The content of the reception information is accommodated in the data memory (12) and hence can be displayed as required and the voice of the calling person can be heard at the same time.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to voice pager and data transmitting-receiving system capable of sending out a large amount of information to a going-out person with the use of a telephone line network.
It has been conventionally practiced that when a person is called through a pocket bell which is carried by him, the person can dial the telephone number of a caller with the use of a telephone set which is installed near by on condition that he knows the caller.
Recently, in order to cope with the complication of business there has been proposed a system having such a multi-calling function that a plurality of calling numbers is prepared and ringing pattern or display lamps corresponding to the calling numbers are determined in advance in such a manner that the caller can be identified from the ringing pattern or display lamp which is displayed so as to telephone the caller.
However, it is troublesome to store the telephones numbers of a plurality of parties concerned, which induces such a problem that a wrong telephone number is sometimes dialed.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, there has been proposed such a system as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 68332/87 in which a plurality of telephone numbers is stored in advance in a register such that in a case that a called number coincides with one of the telephone numbers stored in the register, the telephone number corresponding to the called number is automatically displayed on a pocket bell simultaneously with the generation of a calling sound, or a signal which is encoded by a pulsating system is transmitted by radio, by which the telephone number is displayed on the pocket bell simultaneously with the generation of the calling sound.
However, in a case that business can not be confirmed by the telephone number, the process required in the multi-calling system becomes more complicated regardless of the importance of the business.
In addition, in many cases, what is needed for the caller is to transmit his message to a called person without requesting the called person to call him back for the confirmation.
The present invention has been contemplated in order to solve the above-mentioned problems associated with the prior art.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a voice pager by which the voice data from a calling party or person can be timely heard simultaneously with the display of the existing information to be transmitted such as the telephone number of the calling party and the like and a data transmitting and receiving system which is used especially for this purpose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to attain the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, there is provided a voice pager comprising receiving means for receiving digitally modulated electric waves, data memory means for accommodating received data, displaying means for displaying the data thus accommodated, voice generating means for outputting a reception message after the data has been accommodated, and voice converting means for selecting a bank in the data memory means under the operation of a switch to convert the received data of the digital form into an analog voice data.
Further according to the present invention, there is provided a data transmitting-receiving system which is constructed such that when a calling is received via a telephone line network, a responsive message is sent out and ID and voice message are accepted, and thereafter the voice date in the voice message is converted into a digital signal by a D/A converter to transmit the digital data thus converted to individual transmitting stations.
The voice pager according to the present invention is constructed such that when digital data is received, a CPU accommodates the digital data in a data memory.
When a reception message is generated, a receiving person can see the telephone number and the like accommodated in the data memory and hear the voice data such as the voice of a calling person and the like under the operation of switch.
The content of the reception information is accommodated in the data memory and hence can be displayed as required and the voice of the calling person can be heard at the same time.
Further, the data transmitting-receiving system according to the present invention is constructed such that, for example, when a central control station is called with the use of a telephone line the central control station transmits a responsive message to a calling person and accepts ID and voice message from the calling person.
The central control station converts the voice data in the voice message from the calling person into a digital signal by a D/A converter and transmits the digital data thus converted to individual transmitting stations, so that the central control station and the individual transmitting stations can handle a large number of data.
The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularly in the appended claims. The invention will must be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the process done by a calling person.
Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the process done by a central control station.
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a voice pager according to the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the process done by a user

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 5.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for transmitting a message from a calling person to a user who brings a voice pager with him.
A method of utilizing the system will be described with reference to the flowcharts of the system shown in Figs. 2 and 3. First, the calling person pages a central control station 3 with the use of a telephone set 1 and a telephone line network 2 therefore (Step 1).
A recorded responsive message is sent from the central control station 3 to the telephone set 1 of the calling person (Step 5) giving instructions to the user that the ID of the user and a telephone number to be dialed by the user as required are to be input and then giving instructions that a message to be delivered is to be input.
The calling person inputs the ID of the user and his telephone number if needed (Step 2) and then inputs the message to be delivered from a receiver of the telephone set 1 (Step 3) and the phone is rung off (Step 4) to bring the process to an end.
The central control station 3 receives the ID of the user (Step 6) and then receives a voice message after the confirmation of the ID (Step 7).
All the received voice message and other data are digitized by a computor 4 with the use of A/D converter (Step 8), the reception of the message and other data is brought to an end (Step 9) and then the digital data are sent to individual transmitting stations 5,5... (Step 10).
Then, the transmitting station 5 transmits the digitized voice data to a voice pager 6 of the user in the form of digital signals by wireless (over the radio).
Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the mechanism of the voice pager 6, in which 7 denotes and antenna; 8, a receiving part; 9, a displaying part for displaying numerals, letters/characteres and the like with the use of liquid crystal or the like; 10, a CPU; 11, a ROM in which a reception message informing that the data has been received is recorded in advance; 12, a data memory with a plurality of banks; 13, a voice converting part for converting the digital data to analog data in the form of a voice; 14, an amplifier; 15, a speaker; and 16, a controlling switch which is provided on the box of the voice pager 6.
A method of using the voice pager 6 will be described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5. First, when the radio is received by the antenna 7 and the data is sent into the receiving part 8, it is checked to see whether the ID is the user's own or not by the CPU 10 (Step 11).
If "no", the data is cast away to come to an end, or if "yes", the data is written, for example, into a bank 1 in the data memory (Step 12).
In response to the data writing, the reception message which is recorded in the ROM 11 is delivered over the speaker 15 via the voice converting part 13 and the amplifier 14 in a voice (Step 13).
The user confirms the reception of the message (Step 14) and depresses the switch 16 to turn off the voice. Then, the user can confirm the telephone number of the calling person and the name thereof from display on the screen of the displaying part 9 or can regenerate the voice message over the speaker 15 under the operation of the switch.
Under the operation of the switch, the data (message received time, ID and the like) in the individual banks can be displayed on the displaying part, the digital data in the banks can regenerated in the form of analog data D/A converted by the voice converting part 13, and the message from the calling person can be learned over the speaker 15, so that the user can regenerate the received data at a given time in a proper place again and again.
Each bank is allotted to each calling person. In a case that no bank is vacant, the data which has been stored in a bank earliest may be erased.
In addition, a specific ID of a calling person may be input to store the long-lasting message of the calling person in all of the banks.
As has been described above, according to the present invention the message is transmitted with the use of the digital data, so that the secrecy preservability of travelling communication can be remarkably improved.
According to the present invention, the following effects can be attained.

(a) The voice data from the calling person can be heard regardless of place in addition to the display of the existing transmitted information such as the telephone number of the calling person and the like.
(b) The digital data is utilized, so that the possibility of wiretapping can be decreased sharply.

The present invention has been described in relation to the preferred embodiments thereof. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the present invention can be varied and modified in a variety of way without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

A voice pager comprising:
receiving means for receiving digitally modulated electric waves;
data memory means for accommodating received data;
displaying means for displaying said data thus accommodated;
voice generating means for outputting a reception message after said data has been accommodated; and
voice converting means for selecting a bank in said data memory means under the operation of a switch to convert said received data of the digital form into an analog voice data.
A voice pager as defined in claim 1, wherein said data memory means is sectioned into a plurality of banks such that a data from a receiving part is accommodated into a vacant bank and when no bank is vacant, the data content in a bank in which the earliest data, that is, the data which has been received earliest is stored is rewritten into a fresh data content.
A data transmitting-receiving system in which when a calling is received via a telephone line network, a responsive message is sent out and ID and voice message are accepted, and thereafter the voice data in the voice message is converted into a digital signal by a D/A converter to transmit the digital data thus converted to individual transmitting stations.
A data transmitting-receiving system as defined in claim 3, wherein said digital data thus received by each of said transmitting stations is transmitted to each user by radio.