JP2002118663A - Button telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform each kind of service using rich information without increasing the scale of a system configuration. SOLUTION: Additional display data being displayed by a button telephone 2 is generated from information controlled by a server 3 at an information distribution means 32A of the server 3, and are transmitted to a main device as additional display data to the button telephone 2. The additional display data from the server 3 are received and transmitted to the button telephone 2 by a data transmission means 12B of a main device 1, at the same time it is instructed to the button telephone 2 whether the additional display data are to be displayed or not by a display instruction means 12C, and the additional display data in a buffer 26B are displayed on a screen display section 27 according to the instruction for displaying or not displaying from the main device by control.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key telephone system, and more particularly to a key telephone system in which information stored in a server connected to a main unit is used by a key telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a key telephone system comprises a main unit connected to a telephone line and one or more key telephones connected to the main unit. Key phones detect key operations and handset status,
By transmitting these operation information to the main unit, the main unit performs various functions based on the operation information from the key telephone, thereby realizing various functions such as external calls to telephone lines and internal calls to other key telephones. It is something to do.

In recent years, in offices where a key telephone and a personal computer are used in combination, a CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) system that provides an advanced function by connecting an information processing terminal such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC terminal) to a main device. Is spreading. In such a CTI system, various services managed by the information processing terminal are displayed on the key telephone in response to a request operation from the key telephone, thereby providing various services using abundant information.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional key telephone system, since various information is provided from the information processing terminal in response to a request operation from the key telephone, new information is provided. Each time the user wants to display, the user needs to perform a request operation from the key telephone. Therefore, there is a problem that an operation burden on a user increases, and abundant information managed by the information processing terminal is not efficiently used. The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a key telephone system that can efficiently use a wealth of information managed by an information processing terminal without increasing the operation burden on a user. The purpose is.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a key telephone system according to the present invention comprises a main unit connected to a telephone line and a main unit connected to a main unit via a data communication path. An information processing terminal having a storage unit for storing information, connected to a main device via an extension transmission line, operating by exchanging various data with the main device using the extension transmission line, and displaying various information; One or more key telephones having a screen display unit, wherein information distribution means of the information processing terminal generates additional display data to be displayed on the key telephone from information managed by the information processing terminal; The additional display data is transmitted to the main device as additional display data, and the main device data transfer means receives the additional display data from the information processing device and transfers it to the key telephone, Control for instructing the key telephone to display the additional display data, and controlling the display control means of the key telephone to display the additional display data in the buffer on the screen display unit in response to the display permission / inhibition instruction from the main device. Is performed.

The data displayed on the key telephone includes various function display data displayed on the key telephone when a function is provided by the main unit. This is generated by the main device according to the function to be provided and transmitted to the key telephone. On the other hand, the additional display data is, among the display data displayed on the key telephone, particularly the information processing terminal,
It is generated based on various information managed by the information processing terminal. In the present invention, the additional display data is distributed from the information processing terminal to the key telephone via the main device,
This is displayed on a key telephone.

[0007] The display control means of the key telephone may read the additional display data from the buffer in response to a display enable instruction from the main device and display the additional display data in an unused display area of the screen display unit. Further, the key telephone is provided with display setting means for setting whether or not to display the additional display data in accordance with the operation input, and the display control means of the key telephone sets the display contents from the main device and the setting contents of the display setting means. The display of the additional display data may be controlled based on. As the additional display data, caption data indicating characters / designs may be used. The display control means of the key telephone may scroll additional display data composed of subtitle data in an unused display area of the screen display unit.

[0008]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a key telephone system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a key telephone system includes a main device 1 connected to a telephone line 10, a key telephone 2 (2A to 2N) connected to the main device 1 via an extension transmission line 20, and a connection to the main device 1. And a server (information processing terminal) 3 having an information storage unit for storing various information. In the following, telephone line 1
In the following, an example of a key telephone system in which a plurality of 0s are connected and a plurality of key telephones 2 are connected will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In this case, the present invention can be applied.

In the main unit 1, reference numeral 11 denotes an external line I / F unit for controlling the termination of the telephone line 10, reference numeral 13 denotes an internal line I / F unit for transmitting data to and from each key telephone connected via an internal line transmission line 20, and 12 Is an external line I / F section 11 and an internal line I / F section 13
, A main control unit for performing various function processing,
Is a main storage unit that stores information necessary for processing in the main control unit 12, and 15 is a communication I / F unit that is connected to the main control unit 12 and performs data communication with the server 3 via the data communication path 30. As the extension transmission line 20 and the data communication line 30, a wired transmission line or a wireless transmission line may be used, respectively. The main control unit 12 includes a function processing unit 1 for providing functions of a general key telephone system, such as operation control of each key telephone 2 and control of the telephone line 10.
2A, a data transfer means 12B for realizing exchange of various data between the key telephone 2 and the server 3 via the main device 1, and a display instructing means 12C for instructing the key telephone 2 whether to display additional display data. Is provided.

The server 3 is composed of an information processing terminal such as a personal computer, 31 is a communication I / F section for performing data communication with the main unit 1 via the data communication path 30, 33 is composed of a hard disk device, etc. And an information storage unit 32 in which various information such as a telephone directory is stored. The information storage unit 32 retrieves desired information from the information storage unit 33 in response to a request from the main device 1 and transmits the information via the communication I / F unit 31. Server control unit,
Reference numeral 34 denotes a server storage unit that stores information necessary for processing in the server control unit 32. An information distribution unit that generates additional display data to be displayed on the key telephone set 2 from information stored in the information storage unit 33 and transmits the additional display data to the main device 1 as additional display data addressed to the key telephone set 2 32A are provided.

The key telephones 2 (2A to 2N) have the same configuration. In these key telephones 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a transmission I / F unit for performing data transmission with the main device 1 via the extension transmission line 20, and 23 decodes the audio data received by the transmission I / F unit 21 into an audio signal. Output to handset HS or speaker SP, encode audio signal input from handset HS into audio data, and transmit I / F
An audio processing unit 24 for outputting to the unit is an operation input unit for detecting various key operations and a hook state.

A transmission unit 22 transmits operation data detected by the operation input unit 24 to the main unit 1 via the transmission I / F unit 21, and transmits the main unit 1 received by the transmission I / F unit 21.
A control unit for controlling each circuit unit of the key telephone set based on the control data from the control unit, 25 is a control memory for storing various information necessary for control processing in the control unit for the handset, and 27 is a character / character memory.
26A is a TEL screen memory for storing function display data used when providing a function edited by the main device 1; 26B is a main display from the server 3; Apparatus 1
Is a buffer for storing the additional display data transferred via the.

The slave unit control unit 22 stores the function display data edited by the main unit 1 in the TEL screen memory 26A among the display data received from the main unit 1 and transmits the data from the server 3 via the main unit 1 The transferred additional display data is stored in the buffer 26B, and the additional display data stored in the buffer 26B is stored in the screen display unit 27.
A display control means 22A for displaying an image in a predetermined upper area is provided. Further, a display setting unit 22B for setting whether to display the additional display data according to the display permission / prohibition operation detected by the operation input unit 24 is provided. Display control means 2
In 2A, based on the setting contents of the display setting means 22B and the contents of the instruction from the display instruction means 12C of the main device 1,
It is determined whether the additional display data can be displayed.

The description format of the display data itself is different between the function display data edited by the main device 1 and the additional display data transferred from the server 3 via the main device 1. The function display data edited by the main device 1 indicates at what position on the screen what character / design is to be displayed. On the other hand, in the additional display data transferred from the server 3 via the main device 1, caption data indicating characters and patterns and a display method thereof are instructed, and there is no instruction as to where on the screen to display. . The display method is a scroll display that scrolls subtitle data on the display screen,
There is a switching display for switching a plurality of subtitle data or a blinking display for blinking the subtitle data.

In the present invention, a screen memory is provided for each of such display data of different formats, and the display data is individually managed. Therefore, two display data having different description formats can be easily managed. Also, even if function display data is being displayed,
The additional display data from the server 3 can be sequentially received and updated without disturbing the display, and the processing load on the slave unit control unit 22 can be reduced.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, as an operation of the present invention, news information managed by the server 3 is transmitted to the key telephone 2.
The operation when displaying with A will be described. The main control unit 12 of the main device 1 manages the state of each key telephone and the display state of the function display data displayed on the screen display unit 27 using the function processing means 12A. And the function display data are transmitted to the key telephone. For example, when the key telephone 2A is in an idle state where it can be used, the calendar and the current time are displayed on the screen display unit 27.
The idle display information including the calendar information and the current time information is displayed on the function processing unit 12A.
And transmitted to the key telephone 2A as function display data (step 100).

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of data exchanged between the main device 1, the key telephone 2, and the server 3. FIG. 3A shows an example of a format of data exchanged between the main device 1 and the key telephone 2, which is composed of a command 28A and detailed data 28B. The command 28A indicates a type classified according to the content and meaning of the data, and the detailed data 28B indicates more detailed content within the type. FIG.
3B shows an example of the format of data exchanged between the main device 1 and the server 3, and a telephone ID (identification information) 28C is added to the format of FIG. 3A.

Since data is exchanged between the main device 1 and the key telephone 2 using the respective extension transmission lines 20, there is no need to specify the transmission destination or the reception destination of the data. On the other hand, since data is exchanged between the main device 1 and the server 3 using the common data communication path 30, it is necessary to specify a transmission destination or a reception destination of the data. It should be noted that a format as shown in FIG. 3B may be used instead of a method using the individual extension transmission line 20 but a method in which each key telephone 2 manages its own ID.

In the main control unit 12 of the main unit 1, FIG.
The function display data generated by the function processing unit 12A is stored in the detailed data 28B based on the format of the command processing unit 12A, and the data type indicating the function display data is set to the command 2
8A to form data addressed to the key telephone 2A. This data is sent from the main control unit 12 to the extension I / F unit 1
3, received by the handset control unit 22 via the extension transmission line 20 and the transmission I / F unit 21 of the key telephone 2A. The slave unit control unit 22 refers to the command 28A of the received data,
It is recognized from the type that the data is function display data. The display control means 22B stores the function display data stored in the detailed data 28B in the TEL screen memory 26A.
And display it on the screen display unit 27 (step 10).
1). Thus, when the key telephone 2 is in the idle state, the calendar and the current time are displayed as shown in FIG.

The main control section 12 of the main device 1 determines whether or not the additional display data from the server 3 can be displayed on each key telephone 2 by the display instruction means 12C. As shown in FIG. 4, on the display screen of the key telephone 2A, an additional display area 27B in which additional display data is displayed is a part of the entire display area 27A in which function display data is displayed, for example, a lowermost area. It is also set for dual use. Therefore, when displaying the additional display data, the additional display area 2
It is necessary to confirm that no function display data is displayed on 7B. In the present embodiment, the function processing unit 12A
Manages the display state of each key telephone 2, and judges whether or not the additional display data can be displayed by the display instruction means 12C based on the display state.

In the screen display example shown in FIG.
No function display data is displayed in B, and it is determined that the additional display data can be displayed. Display instruction means 12C
Then, if the additional display data can be displayed like this,
The display permission is instructed to the key telephone 2A (step 102). This display permission is transmitted in the same manner as the above-described function display data. The display control means 12A of the key telephone 2A recognizes that the additional display data is in a displayable state according to the display permission. If the additional display data is stored in the buffer 26B, the additional display data is displayed in the additional display area 24.

The server 3 reads the news information stored in the information storage unit 33 and generates additional display data to be displayed on the key telephone 2A (step 10).
3) Transmit to the main device 1 as additional display data addressed to the key telephone 2A (step 104). At this time, the key telephone set as the destination of the news information is preset in the server storage unit 34, and the additional display information indicating the news information is similarly distributed to each of the key telephone sets 2 set as the destinations. .

At this time, the server control unit 32 transmits the telephone ID and the additional display data indicating the news information to the main unit 1 in the format of FIG. In the command 28A, a data type indicating additional display data displayed on the key telephone is set. This data is transmitted from the server control unit 32 to the communication I
/ F unit 31, data communication path 30, communication I / F of main device 1
It is received by the main control unit 15 via the unit 15.

In the data transfer section 12B of the main control section 15,
With reference to the command 28A of the data received from the server 3, it is determined whether or not transfer to the key telephone is necessary based on the type. Here, since the received data is the additional display data, it is determined that the data should be transferred to the key telephone. Then, a format as shown in FIG. 3A is formed by removing the telephone ID 28C added to the data, and the data is transferred to the key telephone indicated by the telephone ID 28C, here the key telephone 2A.

The display control section 22A of the key telephone 2A receives the additional display data, stores it in the buffer 26B, and determines whether or not the additional display data can be displayed. In this case, since display permission has already been instructed from the main device 1 in step 101, the additional display data is read from the buffer 26B and displayed in the additional display area 27B (step 105). Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5, the news information distributed from server 3 is displayed on key telephone 2A. At this time, if scroll display is set as a display method in the additional display data,
The caption data indicating the news information is displayed so as to flow from the right end to the left end of the screen.

As described above, when it becomes necessary to display the function display data using the additional display area 27B while the additional display data is being displayed, the main apparatus 1 sends the additional display data to the key telephone 2A. Is displayed. For example, when an outside line is received by the key telephone 2A, the additional display area 2 is displayed with the incoming display information indicating the incoming call.
7B is used. The display instruction means 12C of the main device 1 determines that the additional display data cannot be displayed because the incoming call display information is the function display data using the additional display area 27B, and instructs the key telephone 2A to disable the display. (Step 110).

The display control means 22A of the key telephone 2A stops displaying the additional display data in response to the display disable instruction (step 111). Then, it receives the incoming call display information transmitted from main device 1 (step 11).
2) Display is performed using the entire display area 27A (step 1).
13). As a result, the previously displayed server 3
And the incoming call display information as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed using the entire display area 27A.

When additional display data cannot be displayed on the key telephone 2A, new news information is generated by the server 3 (step 114), and the new news information is transmitted to the key telephone 2A (step 114). 115), in the display control unit 22A of the key telephone 2A,
The buffer 26 stores the additional display data indicating the news information.
B. Thereby, when the display permission of the additional display data is instructed from the main device 1, the latest news information can be immediately displayed. For example, when an incoming call is answered by a key telephone other than the key telephone 2A, the main unit 1
Notifies the key telephone 2A of the termination of the incoming call (step 120) and the idle display information (step 1).
21). This returns to the idle display of FIG. 4 (step 122).

Then, in response to the display permission notification from the main unit 1 (step 123), the display control means 22B reads out the additional display data stored in the buffer 26B, and stores the contents in the screen display unit 27 in advance. It is displayed on the set additional display area (step 124). As a result, new news information is displayed on the screen display unit 27 of the key telephone 2A, as shown in FIG.

In the above description, the display control of the additional display data is performed by the display control means 22A of the key telephone 2 in response to the display disable instruction from the display instruction means 12C of the main device 1. However, the display control may be performed in consideration of the operation of each key telephone 2. When the user of the key telephone 2A wants to delete the displayed additional display data, a predetermined operation is performed on the key telephone 2A. In the display setting means 22B, this operation is detected by the operation input unit 24, the display of the additional display data is disabled, and the display data is stored in the control memory 25.

In the display control means 22A of the key telephone 2A, a display permission / inhibition instruction from the main unit 1 and the display setting means 22A are provided.
It is determined whether or not the additional display data can be displayed based on the setting contents of B. For this determination, for example, the main device 1
If any one of the display permission / inhibition instruction from and the setting contents by the display setting means 22B indicates that display is not possible, it may be determined that display is not possible. Thereby, when the user of the key telephone 2A wants to erase the display of the additional display data, the additional display data can be erased immediately according to a predetermined operation.

As a method of distributing the additional display data from the server 3 to each key telephone 2, the case where the additional display data is transmitted individually for each key telephone 2 has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this. . For example,
By expanding the format of FIG.
C, a plurality of telephone IDs of the key telephones 2 serving as distribution destinations are set, and in the data transfer unit 12B of the main device 1, each telephone ID is set.
May be distributed to the key telephones 2 corresponding to. Alternatively, a special number is set as the telephone ID and the server 3
, And the data transfer unit 12B may refer to the distribution destination preset in the main storage unit 14 based on the special number and distribute the distribution destination to the corresponding key telephone set 2. Thereby, the amount of data exchanged between the server 3 and the main device 1 can be reduced.

In the above, the case where the information stored in the information storage unit 33 of the server 3 is provided to the key telephone 2 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. As information managed by the server 3, for example, the server 3
When connected to a network such as an AN or the Internet, the server 3 obtains information existing on the network, for example, information such as news, weather forecast, stock price information and mail, and provides it to the key telephone 2. It may be. Also, regarding information management in the server 3,
The key telephones may be managed in common or may be individually managed for each key telephone. In the case of individual management, information on information that can be requested to be displayed by each key telephone,
For example, it is possible to provide a mail arrival notification and mail contents to the user.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, information display means of an information processing terminal generates additional display data to be displayed on a key telephone from information managed by the information processing terminal, and transmits the additional display data to the key telephone. The additional display data is transmitted to the main device as additional display data, the data transfer means of the main device receives the additional display data from the information processing device, and transfers the data to the key telephone. The display control means of the key telephone sets the display of the additional display data in the buffer on the screen display unit in response to the instruction of the display permission from the main device. Therefore, abundant information managed by the information processing terminal can be used efficiently without increasing the operation burden on the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a key telephone system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing the operation of the key telephone system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of data exchanged between a main device, a key telephone, and a server.

FIG. 4 Display output on a key telephone (idle display)
This is an example.

FIG. 5 Display output on a key telephone (news information)
This is an example.

FIG. 6 is an example of display output (incoming call display) on the key telephone.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main apparatus, 10 ... Telephone line, 11 ... External line I / F part, 1
2 ... Main control unit, 12A ... Function processing unit, 12B ... Data transfer unit, 12C ... Display instruction unit, 13 ... Extension I / F
Unit, 14: main storage unit, 15: communication I / F unit, 2, 2A-
2N: button telephone, 20: extension line, 21: transmission I
/ F section, 22: slave unit control section, 22A: display control means, 2
2B: display setting means, 23: voice processing unit, 24: operation input unit, 25: control memory, 26A: TEL screen memory,
26B: buffer, 27: screen display unit, HS: handset, SP: speaker, 3: server, 30: data communication path, 31: communication I / F unit, 32: server control unit, 32A
... information distribution means, 33 ... information storage unit, 34 ... server storage unit.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04Q 3/58 107 H04Q 3/58 107 F term (reference) 5K015 AA01 AB01 AF02 5K024 AA71 CC03 FF03 5K027 AA03 BB01 FF22 MM17 5K049 AA15 BB05 BB13 BB22 BB23 CC06 CC07 CC11 KK02 KK12

Claims (5)

[Claims] A main unit connected to a telephone line; an information processing terminal connected to the main unit via a data communication path and having a storage unit for storing various information; and a main unit connected via an extension transmission line. The information processing terminal, comprising: one or more key telephones that are connected to a device, operate by exchanging various data with the main device using the extension transmission line, and have a screen display unit that displays various information; Has information distribution means for generating additional display data to be displayed on the key telephone from information managed by the information processing terminal and transmitting the additional display data to the main device as additional display data addressed to the key telephone; Means for receiving additional display data from the information processing device and transferring the additional display data to the key telephone; and displaying the additional display data on the key telephone. The button telephone has a buffer for storing the additional display data, and displays the additional display data in the buffer to the screen display unit in response to a display permission / inhibition instruction from the main device. And a display control means for performing display control. 2. The key telephone system according to claim 1, wherein the display control means of the key telephone reads additional display data from the buffer in response to a display enable instruction from the main device, and displays the screen display. A key telephone system for displaying in an unused display area of a part. 3. The key telephone system according to claim 1, wherein the key telephone has display setting means for setting whether or not to display the additional display data according to an operation input. A key telephone system for controlling the display of the additional display data on the basis of the instruction content of the display permission / inhibition from the main device and the setting content of the display setting means. 4. The key telephone system according to claim 1, wherein the additional display data comprises subtitle data indicating characters and designs. 5. The key telephone system according to claim 4, wherein the display control means of the key telephone scrolls additional display data composed of the subtitle data in an unused display area of the screen display unit. Button phone system.