JP2000083110A - Automatic communicator and communication processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize an automatic communicator for a centralized supervisory system where center polling is conducted at an inexpensive operating cost without ringing a telephone bell at a user's house. SOLUTION: A before-communication information processing section 25 to receive and to process information of a before-communication information notice service (caller telephone number display service) is mounted on the automatic communication 21 and discriminates whether a call comes from a center 11 or from others based on a caller number informed by the before- communication information notice service. In the case of a call from the center 11, the automatic communicator conducts automatically reply processing with respect to the call and attains communication to inform the center 11 of various information acquired from a microcomputer meter 22 or a sensor 23 installed in the user's house without ringing a telephone bell. On the other hand, in the case of a call from other party than the center 11, a bell of a telephone set 24 rings by a ringing signal sent from a network side after the caller number.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic notifying apparatus which is disposed and used in a home to construct a system for centrally monitoring information of meters and sensors in each user's home at a center side using a telephone line. The present invention relates to a report processing method applied to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a centralized monitoring system using a microcomputer meter having a communication function and an automatic notification device has been known, and it has been known to conduct meter reading services for water, gas, electricity, etc., gas leakage, and forgetting to close a gas main valve. It is operated for security monitoring and other purposes.

This centralized monitoring system uses a general subscriber telephone line to automatically report an event such as a gas leak that has occurred in a user's house as security information from an automatic reporting device in the house to the center (terminal call). Function) and a function (center polling) for calling an automatic reporting device in the house from the center to acquire meter reading information such as water, gas, and electricity, and security information such as the presence or absence of gas leakage.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a conventional system configuration. FIG.
As shown in (1), an automatic notification device 21, a microcomputer meter 22, and various sensors 23 are provided in the user's home. The automatic notification device 21 is connected to a general telephone line for a telephone 24. The center 11 is connected to the public network via the incoming line connection device 12 and the outgoing line connection device 13, and is connected to the automatic reporting device 21 in each home via the public network.
Communicate with

In the conventional centralized monitoring system using such a telephone subscribed line, in order to perform the above-described center polling, the automatic notification device 21 in the user's home is called using the same ringing signal as in a normal telephone call. A ringing system and a no-ringing system for calling the automatic notification device 21 without ringing the telephone bell in the user's home by drawing a no-ringing contract line to the center side as shown in FIG. 3 are used.

[0006] In the ringing system, when the user is away and the telephone at home does not answer for a certain period, the automatic notification device 2
1 automatically answers the call from the center, and when the user picks up the telephone handset and performs off-hook operation, the center transmits a voice message to perform center polling from now on to prompt the user to go on-hook. Are performed.

In the no-ringing system, a dedicated calling signal is transmitted from the station instead of the ringing signal. When the automatic reporting device 21 responds to the call signal, communication between the center and the automatic reporting device 21 becomes possible.

[0008]

As described above, in the ringing system, the ring of the telephone in the user's house rings, causing trouble for the user. In the no-ringing system, it is necessary to draw a dedicated line to the center side. In addition to this, there is a problem that a large amount of money is required and a monthly fee for using the additional function of the no-ringing notification service is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has an automatic notification apparatus for a centralized monitoring system capable of performing center polling without ringing a telephone bell at a user's house and at a low operating cost. And a notification processing method applied to the device.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a center connected via a telephone network, which is used by connecting to a telephone line in a home and obtains information obtained from a meter or a sensor in the home. An automatic notification device having a notification function of notifying a center in response to a call from a telephone from a center based on a caller number notified from a network side before a ringing of a telephone bell by a pre-communication information processing service. Means for determining whether or not the call is another call, and, when it is detected that the call is from the center, the center communicates with the center to execute the notification function in response to the call. Means for initiating communication, wherein a notification function can be realized without ringing the bell of the telephone at home.

In this automatic reporting apparatus, a function for receiving and processing information of a pre-communication information notification service (originating telephone number display service) is incorporated. It is determined whether the call is from the center or another call based on the caller number notified from the network side.

If the call is from the center, for example, by performing a process corresponding to an off-hook operation, a response process to the call is automatically performed, and communication with the center is started. Therefore, communication for notifying the center of various information acquired from the meter or sensor in the house is possible without ringing the telephone bell. on the other hand,
In the case of a call other than at the center, the ringing signal transmitted from the network side after the caller ID rings the telephone bell.

As described above, by using the pre-communication information notification service and adding a function of judging from where the call is coming from to the automatic notifying apparatus, it is possible to simulate the call without drawing a dedicated no-ringing contract line to the center side. No-ringing communication becomes possible.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a centralized monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This centralized monitoring system has a terminal calling function of automatically reporting an event such as a gas leak that has occurred in a user's home as security information from an automatic notification device 21 in the home to the center 11 using a general subscriber telephone line. This is to implement a center polling function of calling the automatic notification device 21 in the home from the center 11 and acquiring meter reading information such as water, gas, and electricity, and security information such as presence / absence of gas leakage.

As shown in the figure, a center 1 is located in the user's house.
An automatic notification device 21 having a communication function with the device 1, a microcomputer meter 22 for measuring water, gas, electricity, etc., and various sensors 23 for detecting gas leakage, forgetting to close the gas main plug, and the like are provided. I have.

The automatic reporting device 21 is connected to a general telephone subscription line for the telephone 24, and the telephone 24 is connected to the general telephone subscription line via the automatic reporting device 21. The automatic reporting device 21 is provided with a circuit for branch connection of a general telephone line to the automatic reporting device 21 and the telephone set 24. Usually, a circuit is provided from both the automatic reporting device 21 and the telephone set 24. A telephone line can be used.

Further, in order to realize the communication by the pseudo no ringing, the automatic notification device 21 is transmitted before the ringing signal from the public network side, that is, the station side, by a pre-communication information notification service (calling telephone number display service). A pre-communication information processing unit 25 for receiving and processing caller telephone number information is provided.

The user home where the automatic notification device 21 is installed is provided with a pre-communication information notification service (calling telephone number display service).
When the telephone number is registered, the telephone number information is transmitted from the station as pre-communication information before the telephone 24 rings. By using the caller telephone number information, the automatic notification device 21 determines whether the call is from the center 11 or another call.

The center 11 is connected to the public network via the incoming line connection device 12 and the outgoing line connection device 13, and communicates with the automatic reporting device 21 in each home via the public network. In this embodiment, since the pseudo-no-ringing communication is realized by the function of the automatic notification device 21, the center 11 does not need to have a dedicated no-ringing contract line as described in FIG. Connection device 12
The outgoing line connection device 13 is connected to a general telephone line.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The operation of the automatic notification device 21 at the time of an incoming call will be described. When detecting the reception of the pre-communication information by the above-described pre-communication information notification service (YES in step S101), the pre-communication information processing unit 25 of the automatic notification device 21 pre-registers the caller telephone number given by the pre-communication information and The call is compared with the telephone number of the center 11 to determine whether the call is from the center 11 for center polling or another call (ordinary call) depending on whether or not there is a match. (Step S102).

If the caller telephone number given by the pre-communication information matches the telephone number of the center 11 registered in advance, the pre-communication information processing section 2 of the automatic reporting device 21
5 automatically determines a call from the center 11, automatically performs a response process to the call by performing a process corresponding to an off-hook operation, for example, and activates a reporting function of the automatic reporting device 21, Center 11
The communication with is started (step S103). Accordingly, the center 11 is notified of various information acquired from the microcomputer meter 22 or the sensor 23 by communication between the microcomputer meter 22 or the sensor 23 in the house and the automatic notification device 21 without ringing the bell of the telephone 24. It becomes possible.

When it is detected that the call is from the center 11, the branch connection to the telephone set 24 may be cut off in the automatic reporting device 21 and the telephone set 24 may be separated from the general subscriber telephone line. . As a result, the response signal sent from the automatic reporting device 21 to the office during the response processing is sent to the telephone 24 as noise,
Alternatively, it is possible to prevent a problem such as the bell of the telephone set 24 starting to ring despite the call from the center 11 due to a delay in the transmission timing of the response signal.

Further, since the caller number is displayed on the telephone 24, the telephone 24 may be off-hook by the user before the automatic reporting device 21 responds even if the bell does not ring. In this case, From now on, a voice message indicating that the center polling is to be performed is transmitted from the center 11, processing such as prompting the user to go on-hook is performed, and then the call from the center 11 may be re-executed.
Whether the response is from the automatic reporting device 21 or the telephone 24 is determined by detecting the presence or absence of a dedicated signal transmitted from the automatic reporting device 21 to identify the device on the center 11 side. Can be.

On the other hand, in the case of a call other than the center 11 (normal call) (NO in step S102), the automatic notification device 21 does not execute a response process for the call.
As a result, the bell of the telephone set 24 is normally sounded by the ringing signal transmitted from the office after the caller number (step S104).

As described above, in the present embodiment, by using the pre-communication information notification service and adding the function of judging where the call is from to the automatic notifying device 21, the center 11 side has a dedicated function. Pseudo no-ringing communication can be realized without drawing a no-ringing contract line.

In this embodiment, the connection mode in which the automatic notification device 21 is inserted between the telephone set 24 and the general subscriber telephone line is exemplified. This is effective in that the connection between the telephone 24 and the general subscriber telephone line can be easily separated in the automatic reporting device 21, but it is effective to connect the telephone 24 and the automatic reporting device 21 in parallel to the general subscriber telephone line. In this case, pseudo no-ringing communication can be realized.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By using the pre-communication information notification service, a function to determine the call origination is added to the automatic notification device, so that center polling can be performed at a low operating cost without ringing the user's home phone bell. It becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a centralized monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flowchart for explaining the operation of the automatic notification device used in the system of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional centralized monitoring system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Center 12 ... Incoming line connection device 13 ... Outgoing line connection device 21 ... Automatic reporting device 22 ... Microcomputer meter 23 ... Various sensors 24 ... Telephone 25 ... Information processing section before communication

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tetsuya Yawata 1-3-2 Shimura, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) in Kinmon Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 5K048 BA36 CA03 EB01 5K101 KK12 MM07 RR17

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic reporting device which is used by being connected to a telephone line and has a reporting function of notifying a center of various information obtained from a meter or a sensor in a home in response to a call from the center via a telephone network. Means for judging whether the call is from the center or another call based on the caller number notified from the network side before the ringing of the telephone bell by the pre-communication information processing service, Means for starting communication with the center to execute the notification function when it is detected that the call is from the center, and the notification function can be realized without ringing the bell of the telephone at home. Automatic notification device characterized by being configured as described above. 2. An automatic notification system which is used by connecting to a telephone line in a home and has a notification function of notifying the center of various information acquired from a meter or sensor in the home in response to a call from the center via a telephone network. A notification processing method applied to the device, wherein the call is from the center based on a caller number notified from the network side before the ringing of the telephone bell by the pre-communication information processing service, or other calls are made. It is determined whether the call is a call, and when it is detected that the call is from the center, communication with the center is started to execute the report function, and a report is made without ringing the bell of the telephone at home. A report processing method characterized by realizing a function.