GB2178268A - Portable communications unit - Google Patents

Abstract

A transmitter is responsive to information received by a control unit to transmit data to be displayed on a selected one of a number of paging receivers. The received information can be constituted by an entry code characteristic of the selected receiver and the data to be sent. Control unit status information can additionally be obtained and displayed on the receivers by sending a status monitor entry code to the control unit. This status monitor entry code is indicative of the nature of the status information which is required, and also the particular receiver to which the required information is to be transmitted. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Portable communications unit The present invention relates to a portable communications unit, and in particularto a portable communications unit for status monitoring.

In a multi-access communications system it is often necessary to be able to determine the status ofthe system and its users. As an example, in an organisation which operates a paging system it is possible to discoverwhether staff arse in or out by including a registration scheme which provides an indication when a paged person is absent. In such cases, arrangements can be made for a colleague to take an absent person's paging calls by means of a user translation unit (calls for person A are automatically transferred in the system so that person B receives them).

Very often system users need to determine who is absent and what calls are being transferred. In a telephone coupled paging system such status in Formation is stored in the central control unit which is linked to the PABX. Although it is possible to initiate paging callsfrom any conventional telephone unit without displayfacility) there is no means for interrogating the user register.

Many present day on-site paging systems use paging receivers which have a display facility, such that in addition to the acoustic alert (bleep), the person being paged can receive alpha and/or numeric cha racters, giving for example, thetelephone numberofthe person who initiated the paging call.

From one aspect, the present invention provides a communications system in which a transmitter is responsiveto information received bya control unitto transmit data to be displayed on a selected one of a plurality of receivers, the data and the receiver selection being dependent on said information, whereby control unit status information can additionally be obtained and displayed on the receivers by sending a codeto the control unit, which code is indicative of the nature ofthe status information required and the receiver to which the status information is to be transmitted, the control unit being responsive to the code to provide the required status information.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figures 1 to 6(b) show sequences of data displayed on a paging receiver according to a prefer -ed embodiment of the invention.

The system to be described utilises the receiver miisplayfacilityto additionally enable interrogation of :he user register. A system user wishing to know the ;tatus of a particular person will access the central control unitvia the telephone using a 2 digit entry ode, and then inputtheirown paging number, followed by the pager number of the person whose status is required. Data is fed from the central control unit into the paging transmitter, where it is converted into a radio signal to be picked up by the paging receiver of the system userwho requested the information.The receiver emits an acoustic alert and displays the 5 characters shown in Fig. 1 and 2, i.e., the number of the person in question (04) followed by a separating hyphen and then the status information, eitherAb (abbreviation of "Absent") or the number to which the callsforthat person are being transferred (06). When the paging system is of a size that requires the use of 3 or 4 digit numbers then the information is conveyed in 2 parts as shown in Fig. 3(a), 3(b), 4(a), 4(b), 5(a), 5(b).The acoustic alert sounds and thefirst 5 characters eg, 204--are displayed; after approximate ly 4 seconds, the remainder of the information is displayed for a further 4 seconds (---Ab); the hyphens to the right of the display indicatethat more information will follow, the hyphens to the left of the display indicate that continuation information is being shown.

By using a different entry code, followed by their own pagernumber, a system usercan obtain the numbers of allabsentees and transfers logged into the system These are automaticallytransmitted every 8 seconds, assuming no paging calls (which have a higher priority) breakthe sequence.

Using yet another entry code a user can log himself outorarrangeforhiscallsto be transferred; he receives automatic confirmation of the transaction.

This safeguards against people being incorrectly logged absent by others.

System status monitoring can also be performed.

The configuration ofthe central control unit in respect ofvarious options can be checked, eg, system address, preamble length, time of day, etc. Access is visa 6 digit code (for greater security) and further digit input to determine specific conditions. The information is held in 6 EEPROM locations in the central control unit, the content of each location comprises 16 bits of binary information, which can be expressed as a pair of 3 digit octal numbers.When system configuration (location 0) is being interrogated, the transmitter sends out a single paging call and the receiver displays the information in 2 parts ie, 0 followed by a separating hyphen and the first octal number, on the first pass - see figure 6(a), hyphen, hyphen (continuation information) and the second octal number, on the second pass-see figure 6(b).

Locations 1 through 5 contain the unique alpha numeric station identity which certain radio regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (USA), demand must be periodically included in radio transmissions; the identity is nor mally transmilled in Morse code. The relationship between aiphanumeric characters and the dots and dashes of Morse code is shown in columns 1 and 2 of Table 1. For example, the station identity ABC 123 would be transmitted as: .-s-...sp-.-.sp.----sp..---sp...-where sp represents a quiet interval, equivalent to the duration of 3 successive dots. For system monitoring purposes, the dots and dashes can be represented as binary Os and 1s (see column 3 of Table 1).Each character is padded outto an 8 bit numberbythe addition of a binary 1, followed byan appropriate number of binary Os (column 4), and is converted into a 3 figure octal number (column 5). The firstand second characters of the station identity are held in location 1, the 3rd and 4th characters in location 2, etc.

Any spare slots in the locations are filled with octal number377. The contents of each location are transmitted in a single paging call and displayed by the receiver in 2 passes, the first pass being prefixed with the associated location number; thus ABC 123 would be displayed as 1-140 1 st pass --210 2pass 2-250 1 st pass --174 2pass 3-074 1 st pass --034 2ndpass 4-377 1 st pass --377 2pass 5-377 1 st pass --377 2nd pass The number 377 marks the end of the station identity.

It is possible to view any one of the locations 1 through 5, independently, by making the appropriate keying entry. If ABC 123 is reprogrammed to a new identity ABC 156, then interrogation of location 3 only, will show 3-004 --204 TABLE 1 Morse Code to Octal conversion table Character Morse Code Convert Insertstop Octal Code to binary bits A @ 01 01100000 140 B -... 1000 10001000 210 C -.-. 1010 10101000 250 D ... 100 10010000 220 E 0 01000000 100 F --- 0010 00101000 050 G --. 110 11010000 320 H ... 0000 00001000 010 I .. 00 00100000 040 J .--- 0111 01111000 170 K -. -. 101 10110000 260 L .-.. 0100 01001000 110 M - . 11 11100000 340 N -. 10 10100000 240 O --- 111 11110000 360 P --- 0110 01101000 150 Q --. 1101 11011000 330 R .-. 010 01010000 120 S ... 000 00010000 020 T . 1 11000000 300 U ..- 001 00110000 060 V ...- 0001 00011000 030 W .-- 011 01110000 160 X -..- 1001 10011000 230 Y -.-- 1011 10111000 270 Z --.. 1100 11001000 310 1 ---- 01111 01111100 174 2 ---- 00111 00111100 074 3 ...-- 00011 00011100 034 4 ....- 00001 00001100 014 5 ... 00000 00000100 004 6 -.... 10000 10000100 204 7 --... 11000 11000100 304 8 ----- 11100 11100100 344 9 ----- 11110 11110100 364 0 ----- 11111 11111100 374 Terminator No code

Claims (15)

1. A communication system in which a transmit tes is responsive to information received buy a control unit to transmit data to be displayed on a selected one of a plurality of receivers, the data and the receiver selection being dependent on said information, whereby control unit status information can addi tionally be obtained and displayed on the receivers by sending a code to the control unit, which code is indicative ofthe nature of the status information required and the receiver to which the status informa tion is to be transmitted, the control unit being responsive to the code to provide the required status information.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is accessed bytelephone.

3. Asystemaccordingtoclaim 1 claim2, wherein the control unit is accessed using an entry code followed by an identification number of a selected receiver to which the status information is to be transmitted.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein each selected receiver is operative to display the entry code and the status information.

5. Asystem according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the entry code is a two digit number.

6. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each receiver is operative to display received information in two parts.

7. Asystem according to claim 6, wherein the information is displayed in a sequence oftwo passes.

8. Asystem according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the status information includes the identity of absent personnel.

9. Asystem according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control unit is responsive to an entry code whereby a user can log himself out or a rra ng e fo r h is calls to be transferred.

10. Asystem accordingto claim 9, wherein automatic confirmation of the control unit status change is received on the user's receiver.

11. Asystem according to any one ofthe preced ing claims, wherein system status option monitoring can be performed using a status monitor entry code.

12. Asystem according to claim 11, wherein the status monitor entry code is a six digit number.

13. Asystem according to claim 11 orclaim 12, wherein the status information is transmitted in accordance with Table 1 herein.

14. A system according to any one ofthe preced ing claims, wherein the transmitter and receivers form partofa radiopaging system.

15. A communications system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.