JP2001237978A - Information collecting device and information collecting communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information collecting device and an information collecting communication method, by which information is successively and surely collected while evading a communication error even in a plurality of terminal units with superimposition in time by using a catchphone display service. SOLUTION: The method is provided with a procedure for detecting various signals outputted from a public line network based on a connection request from a terminal unit B when the information collecting device is interrupted from the terminal unit B during communication between a terminal unit A and the information collecting device via the public line network and for transmitting a signal which indicates the interruption of communication to the terminal A, a procedure for receiving report contents such as information and storing the received contents in a memory, a procedure for transmitting a signal which instructs stand-by to the terminal unit B, a procedure for transmitting a signal which indicates the re-start of communication to the unit A and a procedure for performing originating to the unit B based on the report contents stored in the memory.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an information collecting apparatus and an information collecting communication method, and more particularly to a technique for automatically collecting information from a plurality of terminals connected via a public line network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a public telephone network such as a general telephone subscriber line or a mobile telephone subscriber line has been used, and a plurality of terminals such as an alarm monitoring device and a meter-reading meter device distributed in a remote place have been used. There is a system that collects and manages such information centrally at a monitoring center or the like. In this case, since the public line network is in a one-to-one communication form by line connection, if two terminals make a call at the same time, one of them cannot be connected and stands by. Then, the terminal in the standby state tries to connect again after a certain period of time has elapsed, and can communicate if the line of the monitoring center is free. As described above, in order to cope with a case where several terminals make calls over time, the information collection device installed at the monitoring center uses several subscriber lines for one telephone number. The number of accommodated lines can also be increased by using a double-line system to which a plurality of subscriber lines having different telephone numbers are assigned, or a transfer system in which an information collecting apparatus is provided with a plurality of subscriber lines having different telephone numbers and is transferred to another available telephone number. However, as described above,
Even if a double-track system is used, it cannot cope with a third terminal that overlaps in time. Also, if the number of double-track lines is increased unnecessarily, cost efficiency will decrease due to an increase in facilities for accommodating the lines and an increase in charges related to double-track contracts, etc. It is necessary to select an appropriate number of lines according to the frequency of occurrence of duplication.

In recent years, functions have been added to a public line network such as a "call waiting (interrupt telephone) service" and a "number display (caller information notification) service" to provide convenience. Is being improved. The above-mentioned call waiting service means that when a call is received from another person during communication, by performing a predetermined operation, the call can be switched to the interrupting telephone and communication can be performed. A service that can selectively cope with both by temporarily holding. Also, the number display service is a service that allows the called party to know the phone number of the caller before answering the call by transmitting the caller's phone number superimposed on the call signal. is there.

[0004] Furthermore, a "call waiting display (communication information notification) service" in which the call waiting service and the number display service are integrated has been started. In this service, the telephone number of the caller interrupted during the communication is notified, so that it is possible to confirm the interrupting party before switching the telephone.

[0005]

However, the conventional information collecting apparatus described above has the following problems. In other words, the communication between the information collection device and the terminal is data communication by automatic transmission / reception without human intervention. If an interruption is made during data communication, a communication error occurs, and the other The use of the call waiting service has been avoided since the information from the terminal may be damaged.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. By actively using the call waiting display service, even if a plurality of terminals overlap in time, a communication error occurs. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information collecting apparatus and an information collecting communication method capable of sequentially and surely collecting information while avoiding the problem.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an information collecting apparatus and an information collecting communication method according to the present invention are provided. According to the present invention, information from a plurality of terminals connected via a public network is provided. A network control unit having an automatic transmission / reception function, a modulation / demodulation unit for modulating data to be transmitted and demodulating data from a received signal, and a main storage unit for storing data demodulated by the modem. And an interface unit for interfacing with an externally connected device, a communicating information notification receiving unit for detecting a communicating information notification signal from a received signal, and a notification content detected by the communicating information notification receiving unit The information collection device is provided with a memory that temporarily stores the information and a control unit that controls the respective units. Further, the information collecting apparatus and the information collecting communication method according to the present invention according to the second aspect of the present invention provide a method in which a terminal A and another information collecting apparatus communicate with each other via a public line network.
In the communication procedure of the information collecting device when the information collecting device is interrupted from the terminal, when an incoming call tone output from the public line network is detected based on the connection request of the terminal B, communication with the terminal A is performed. Transmitting a signal indicating that the terminal is to be interrupted, receiving a notification content such as information after detecting a start-up sound of the information receiving terminal from the public line network, and storing the received notification content in a memory; Hooking for switching the path from A to terminal B is performed.
A procedure for transmitting a signal for instructing a standby command, a procedure for performing hooking for switching a path from terminal B to terminal A, and transmitting a signal for resuming communication to terminal A; Transmitting a call to the terminal B based on the notification content stored in the memory after the communication with the terminal A is completed, and automatically performing the series of steps for communication.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of an information collecting apparatus according to the present invention. In this example, the alarm collection station 1 corresponds to the above-mentioned monitoring center, the alarm transmission terminals 3a to 3n correspond to the terminals, and the alarm information station 1 detects the alarm information transmitted by the alarm transmission terminal upon detecting an abnormality. It is shown as what is collected at.

The information collection device 4 shown in this example is installed in the alarm collection station 1 and is connected to a plurality of alarm transmission terminals 3a to 3n via a public line network 2. It is assumed that the public line network 2 is an analog telephone exchange network, and the information collecting device 4 corresponds to a call waiting display. The information collection device 4 includes an NCU (Network Control Unit) 5 capable of controlling line connection based on a program,
A modem 7 for modulating data to be transmitted or demodulating received data; a main storage unit 8 for storing data demodulated by the modem 7; an IF unit 9 for interfacing with an externally connected device 12; Communication information notification receiving unit 10 for receiving a communication information notification signal from network 2
A memory 11 for temporarily storing the notification data received by the communication information notification receiving unit 10; and a control unit 6 for controlling the respective units in an integrated manner. The external connection device 12 is a personal computer, a display, a speaker, a communication device, or the like. The IF unit 9
In this case, an interface corresponding to the type of the external device to be connected may be adopted.

The information collecting apparatus shown in FIG. 1 functions as follows. That is, when the plurality of terminals 3a to 3n detect an abnormality in each terminal, the plurality of terminals 3a to 3n
, And the information collection device 4 in the alarm collection station 1 receives the alarm information from the terminal that has detected the abnormality in response to this. Then, the information collection device 4 processes the received alarm information and outputs it to the externally connected device 12.

Here, for example, the plurality of terminals 3a to 3a
Assuming that n is an alarm transmission terminal A and an alarm transmission terminal B, a case in which the information collection device 4 makes a call from the alarm transmission terminal B while communicating with the alarm transmission terminal A will be specifically described. Operation will be described. Here, it is assumed that the number of lines possessed by the information collection device 4 is one.

First, if any abnormality is detected in the alarm transmitting terminal A, an automatic transmission is performed to transmit alarm information to the alarm collecting station 1, and the alarm transmitting terminal A communicates with the information collecting device 4 of the alarm collecting station 1 via the public line network 2. A line connection is made between them.

On the other hand, in the information collecting device 4, the public network 2
Call from the alarm transmission terminal A arriving via
The CU 5 automatically answers the incoming call, closes the hook switch, and connects the public line network 2 and the modem 7. After the line connection is made in this way, between the alarm transmitting terminal A and the information collecting device 4,
Data communication is started according to a predetermined procedure, and an alarm information signal from the alarm transmission terminal A is demodulated by the modem 7,
It is stored in the main storage unit 8.

In this manner, the alarm information is transmitted to the information collecting device 4. When the alarm transmitting terminal B transmits to the alarm collecting station 1 during the data communication with the alarm transmitting terminal A, Will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a communication sequence diagram showing an embodiment of an information collection communication method of the information collection device according to the present invention. The numbers in parentheses in the figure indicate the step numbers. In this figure, (step 1) is based on the assumption that the information collection device 4 and the alarm transmission terminal A are connected to each other via the public line network 2 and are performing data communication.

Here, the alarm transmitting terminal B detects an abnormality,
In order to notify the alarm collection station 1, the public network 2
A connection request (originating) was made. (Step 2) Then, the public line network 2 inserts and transmits an “incoming display sound” to the line of the information collection device 4 whose line is blocked due to communication with the alarm transmitting terminal A. (Step 3)

When an incoming call display sound is sent during communication, the information collecting device 4 detects the incoming call display sound with the communication information notification receiving unit 10. Further, the transmission and reception of the data with the alarm transmitting terminal A performed at that time is processed as an error,
Before the timing of the detection of the incoming call display sound, the communication is interrupted while the part up to the point where the data is normally transmitted and received is held. In other words, the data to be communicated is provided with a predetermined delimiter, the section in which the error has occurred is discarded, and the data normally transmitted and received before that is retained.

Then, based on the detection of the incoming call display sound, the information collecting device 4 sends a "communication interruption signal" to the alarm transmitting terminal A to temporarily suspend and suspend the communication. (Step 4) Upon receiving the communication interruption signal, the alarm transmission terminal A interrupts the communication based on the signal and enters the interruption standby state.

The public line network 2 transmits an “information receiving terminal start-up sound (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency signal)” to the information collecting device 4 about one second after the transmission of the incoming call display sound. (Step 5) The information collecting terminal 4 detects the start-up sound of the information receiving terminal in the communicating information notification receiving unit 10 and subsequently transmits a “notification information signal (Modulator-DEModulator signal)” transmitted from the public network 2. Prepare to receive.

Then, a notification information signal is transmitted from the public line network 2, and the communication information notification receiving unit 10 receives the notification information signal. (Step 6) Here, considering the case where the above-described call waiting display service is used, the notification information signal includes the telephone number information of the alarm transmission terminal B. The information collection device 4 stores the telephone number of the alarm transmission terminal B in the memory 11 among the received notification information signals.

Next, the information collecting device 4 operates the hook switch under the control of the NCU 5 to hook the public network 2 and switch the line connection destination from the alarm transmitting terminal A to the alarm transmitting terminal B. (Step 7) That is, the alarm transmission terminal A is put on hold and the alarm transmission terminal B
Is connected to the information collection device 4 via a line.

When a line is connected between the information collecting device 4 and the alarm transmitting terminal B, the information collecting device 4 sends a "standby signal" to the alarm transmitting terminal B. (Step 8) Upon receiving this, the alarm transmission terminal B waits without starting data communication. On the other hand, the information collecting device 4 thereafter hooks and disconnects the line connection with the alarm transmitting terminal B. As a result, the line connection is returned to the alarm transmitting terminal A again. (Step 9)

Next, the information collecting device 4 is connected to the alarm transmitting terminal A
Sends a “communication restart signal” to the user. (Step 1
0) At this time, a signal including the designation of the data section to be restarted is transmitted as a communication restart signal in order to perform the subsequent data communication corresponding to the interruption in step 3 described above. In this way, communication is again performed between the information collection device 4 and the alarm transmission terminal A from the point of interruption.
(Step 11)

After that, when the data communication with the alarm transmitting terminal A is completed, the information collecting device 4 disconnects the line connection.
(Step 10) At this time, the alarm information from the alarm transmitting terminal A is completely stored in the main storage unit 8 of the information collecting device 4, and the control unit 6 performs the following according to a predetermined procedure programmed in advance. It outputs to the externally connected device 12 while controlling the IF unit 9.

Next, the information collecting device 4 executes the processing in step 6
, The alarm transmission terminal B stored in the memory 11
The telephone number is transmitted to the public line network 2 based on the telephone number. (Step 13) Then, the public line network 2 establishes the information collecting device 4
Calls the alarm transmission terminal B in response to the connection request (transmission) from. (Step 14)

When the alarm transmitting terminal B answers this call,
A line connection is made between the information collecting device 4 and the alarm transmitting terminal B, and alarm information from the alarm transmitting terminal B is transmitted to the information collecting device 4 by performing data communication.
(Step 15) When the data communication with the alarm transmission terminal B is completed, the information collection device 4 disconnects the line connection and ends the information collection. (Step 16)

As described above, the information collecting device 4 can normally receive the alarm information from the alarm transmitting terminal A and the alarm transmitting terminal B. Even if there is a problem, it is possible to cope with any of the terminals in order, so that an information collecting apparatus that does not leak the collection of the alarm information of the subsequent alarm transmitting terminal B can be realized.

In the above-described communication procedure, steps 7 to 9 are characteristic parts. If this procedure is not provided, the connection request from the alarm transmission terminal B causes the public telephone network 2 to receive the “call termination”. The "display sound", the "information receiving terminal activation sound", and the "notification information signal" are sequentially and repeatedly transmitted. Therefore, until the alarm transmission terminal B stops the connection request, the information collection device 4 is inevitably unable to proceed with data communication with the alarm transmission terminal A, and the communication efficiency is extremely reduced. For this reason, once the path is switched in step 7 and the standby signal shown in step 8 is transmitted to the alarm transmitting terminal B, the alarm transmitting terminal B stops the connection request and simultaneously receives the signal from the information collecting device 4. You can recognize waiting for the call.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, an example is described in which an analog telephone switching network is used as the public line network 2. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. ISDN (Integrat
The information collection device 4 may be configured as shown in FIG. 3 using an ed Services Digital Network) network.

FIG. 3 shows an information collecting apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment when applied to an SDN network; functional blocks similar to those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
That is, the information collection device 4 in this case includes, for example, a DSU (Digital Service Unit) 14 having a line termination function,
A TA (Terminal Adapter) 1 which has a built-in communication information receiving unit 15 for receiving a communication information notification signal in the form of a digital signal, and performs ISDN user-network interface matching.
6 and is compatible with the line connection with the public line network 13, the interruption from the alarm transmission terminal B is performed during the communication with the alarm transmission terminal A by the same procedure as the communication procedure shown in FIG. Even if it does, it can respond to either of the alarm transmission terminals in order. That is, the advanced alarm transmission terminal A
Alarm information terminal B while collecting the alarm information of
An information collecting apparatus that does not leak the collection of alarm information can be realized.

[0031]

As described above, the information collecting apparatus and the information collecting communication method according to the present invention provide an information collecting apparatus for collecting information from a plurality of terminals connected via a public line network. A modulation and demodulation unit that modulates data to be transmitted and demodulates data from a received signal, a main storage unit that stores data demodulated by the modulation and demodulation unit, and an interface unit that interfaces with an externally connected device, A communication information notification receiving unit that detects a communication information notification signal from a reception signal, a memory that temporarily stores a notification content detected by the communication information notification receiving unit, and a control unit that integrally controls the units. During the communication between the terminal A and the information collecting apparatus via the public line network, when another terminal B interrupts the information collecting apparatus, the terminal B and the information collecting apparatus respond to the connection request of the terminal B. Detecting the incoming call display sound output from the public network and transmitting a signal indicating that the communication is interrupted to the terminal A; And the like, and a procedure for storing the received notification content in the memory, hooking for switching the path from the terminal A to the terminal B, and sending a signal to the terminal B to instruct a standby instruction. The transmitting procedure, the hooking for switching the path from the terminal B to the terminal A, the procedure of transmitting a signal to the terminal A to resume the communication, and the termination of the communication with the terminal A After that, based on the notification content stored in the memory, the terminal B
And automatically collects information from a plurality of terminals.
An information collecting apparatus capable of reliably collecting information from a terminal can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information collection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a communication sequence diagram showing an example of an information collection communication procedure of the information collection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing another configuration example of the information collecting apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Alarm collection station (information collection station) 2 ... Public line network 3a-3n ... Terminal device 4 ... Information collection device 5 ... NCU (Network Control Unit) 6 ... Control part 7: Modem 8: Main storage unit 9: IF (Interface) unit 10: Communication information notification receiving unit 11: Memory 12: Externally connected device (Personal Computer, display, 13. Speaker public network (ISDN) 14. DSU (Digital Service Unit) 15. Communication information notification receiving unit 16. TA (Terminal Adapter)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information collection apparatus for collecting information from a plurality of terminals connected via a public line network, comprising: a network control unit having an automatic transmission / reception function; modulating data to be transmitted; A modem unit for demodulating, a main storage unit for storing data demodulated by the modem, an interface unit for interfacing with an externally connected device, and a communication unit for detecting a communication notification signal from a received signal An information collecting apparatus, comprising: an information notification receiving unit; a memory for temporarily storing notification contents detected by the communicating information notification receiving unit; and a control unit for controlling the respective units in an integrated manner. 2. A communication procedure of an information collection device when another terminal B interrupts an information collection device during communication between a terminal A and an information collection device via a public line network. Sending a signal indicating that communication is to be interrupted to terminal A when an incoming call tone output from the public line network is detected based on the connection request from the public line network; After the detection of the information, the procedure of receiving the notification content such as information, storing the received notification content in the memory, hooking for switching the path from the terminal A to the terminal B, and waiting for the terminal B Sending a signal to instruct the terminal, performing hooking for switching a path from the terminal B to the terminal A, and sending a signal to the terminal A to restart communication; After communication with A ends The based on the notification content stored in the memory and a procedure for transmitting to the terminal B, information collection communications method characterized in that automatically perform the series of steps.