JP3085257B2 - Cordless telephone - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cordless telephone mainly composed of a base unit connected to a wired telephone line and a slave unit connected to the base unit by a wireless line and mainly used in homes and business establishments. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a cordless telephone handset is connected to a base unit via a wireless line, the handset is not restricted by a cable connected to a handset like a wired telephone.
It can be used anywhere within the predetermined range. A rechargeable secondary battery is used as a power supply so as not to hinder such characteristics of the slave unit. Since the secondary battery needs to be charged, the mounting base of the slave unit often has a charging function.

Therefore, when the slave unit is not used, if the slave unit is always placed on the mounting table, there is no inconvenience that the phone is insufficiently charged when necessary and a call cannot be made.
However, in reality, even when the handset is not in use,
It is quite possible that it is not placed on the mounting table. Even if the slave unit is not placed on the mounting table, the standby state of the incoming call continues, so that the secondary battery cannot supply necessary power soon.

[0004]

A slave unit whose secondary battery has been exhausted cannot be detected even if a call is received from the master unit, nor can an alarm be sounded to call a person. Also, if the parent device and the child device are installed in a place that cannot be seen, such as in a separate room, the child device is out of the service area (where radio waves do not reach).
It cannot be determined whether the battery is exhausted or the secondary battery is exhausted.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide a cordless telephone that allows a parent device to know that the remaining capacity of a secondary battery of the child device has fallen below a predetermined level. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cordless telephone that allows the parent device to know that the secondary battery of the child device has been exhausted and has become unusable.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a cordless telephone that allows a parent device to know that a child device is in a state where it cannot respond when a call is received from a wired telephone line.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a cordless telephone according to the present invention has a base unit connected to a wired telephone line, and a base unit connected to the base unit by a wireless line. A cordless telephone comprising a cordless handset, wherein the cordless handset has a secondary battery as a power source, a unit for detecting that the remaining capacity of the secondary battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and a detection result of the detection unit. Means for notifying a base unit, the base unit includes a sounding unit for notifying an incoming call from the wired telephone line, and a unit for changing the sound of the sounding unit based on the notification from the slave unit. It is characterized by having.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cordless telephone comprising a base unit connected to a wired telephone line, and a slave unit connected to the base unit via a wireless line. The slave unit includes a secondary battery as a power supply, a unit configured to detect that a remaining capacity of the secondary battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value, a unit configured to notify a detection result of the detection unit to a master unit, Means for responding to calls from
The master unit includes a ringing unit that notifies an incoming call from the wired telephone line, a unit that calls the slave unit after a predetermined time after detecting the notification from the slave unit, and the slave unit that calls the calling unit. The apparatus further comprises means for changing the sound of the sounding means when no response is made.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the cordless telephone set according to the first or second aspect, the slave unit detects that the remaining capacity of the secondary battery has recovered. 2 detecting means, and second notifying means for notifying a detection result of the second detecting means to a master unit, wherein the master unit sounds the sound of the sounding means based on a notification from the second notifying means. And means for restoring.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a base unit T1 of the cordless telephone according to the present invention. The CPU 11 includes an RO described later.
By executing the program stored in M13,
The control of each unit described below is performed. The RAM 12 is used as a storage area necessary for executing a program, and stores speed dial number data and the like. The ROM 13 stores the master unit T1.
The program necessary for the control of is stored.

The radio unit 14 sets up a radio line with a slave unit T2 described later and exchanges control signals and audio signals. The antenna 15 performs transmission and reception of a high-frequency signal. The operation unit 16 includes ten keys and several types of function keys, and is used for inputting a destination telephone number, calling the slave unit T2, and the like. The display unit 17 includes an LCD (liquid crystal display) or an LED.
(Light emitting diode), and the status and the like of the master unit T1 and the slave unit T2 are displayed. The handset 18 includes a speaker and a microphone.

The line control unit 19 controls connection and disconnection of the wired telephone line 20 and performs connection and disconnection between the handset 18 and the line 20 and the wireless unit 14. The alarm speaker 21 emits a ringing sound to notify an incoming call from the line 20,
A notification sound or the like for notifying the voltage drop of the slave unit T2 is output.
The power supply unit 25 is supplied with AC100V for home use, transforms and rectifies, and then supplies necessary power to the above-described units.

FIG. 2 shows a slave unit T of a cordless telephone according to the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of FIG. CPU 31, RAM
32, a ROM 33, a wireless unit 34, an antenna 35, an operation unit 36, and a display unit 37 have substantially the same functions as the master unit T1. However, since a wired telephone line is not connected to the slave unit T2, there is no function corresponding to the line control unit 19, and the microphone 38 and the speaker 39 are connected to the wireless unit 34.

A secondary battery 45 is used as a power source. The voltage detector 46 detects that the voltage of the secondary battery 45
2 becomes lower than the voltage E1 which cannot be used continuously, C
When the signal to the PU 31 is set to the H level and the voltage of the secondary battery 45 exceeds the voltage E2 indicating full charge by charging, CP
The signal to U31 is set to L level.

As an example, when two nickel cadmium storage batteries are connected in series to the secondary battery 45 and used, the voltage is about 2.4 V in a fully charged state. Decrease. When the operation of the slave unit T2 becomes unstable when the voltage drops to about 2.1V, it is desirable that E1 be about 2.2V and E2 be about 2.4V. A mounting table (not shown) having a charging function is prepared for the child device T2. If the child device T2 is placed on the mounting table,
It will automatically be charged.

The connection between the master unit T1 and the slave unit T2 via a wireless line is based on the standard (RCR STD-13). This standard specifies radio equipment for analog cordless telephone radio stations using the 250MHz / 380MHz band. In this standard, 89 channels of frequencies are assigned, two of which are control channels,
The remaining 87 channels are call channels.

The control channel is the master unit T1 or the slave unit T2.
Is used to transmit a control signal for controlling the other party (the slave unit T2 or the master unit T1) (such as calling or designating a communication channel). The call channel is used during a call. The control signal is a bit synchronization signal, as shown in FIG.
It is composed of a frame synchronization signal, an ID number, an error correction code, and control data. The bit synchronization signal and the frame synchronization signal are used for bit synchronization and frame synchronization, respectively. I
The D number is a number unique to each cordless telephone, and the same ID number is given to the master unit T1 and the slave unit T2, and the ID numbers are exchanged with each other to prevent erroneous connection.

The error correction code includes a CRC (Cyclic Redun
dancy Check) is used. The control data can be freely configured by each manufacturer. In the control data of the present invention, in addition to the "incoming call signal" for calling the other party,
There are a "voltage drop signal" indicating a voltage drop of the secondary battery 45, a "response confirmation signal" for checking whether or not the other device can respond.

As shown in FIG. 4, the handset T2 is capable of receiving and calling at all times. The slave unit T2 is in a call waiting state waiting for a call from the master unit T1, and the CPU 31 monitors a control signal included in the control channel received by the wireless unit 34 (S11). The control signal is "Incoming call signal"
If so, an incoming call process is performed (S12). If a call operation is performed from the operation unit 36 (S13), a "call request signal" is transmitted, and a call process is performed (S14).

FIG. 5 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. When the voltage of the secondary battery 45 decreases and becomes lower than E1, the voltage detection unit 46 sets the signal indicating the voltage decrease of the secondary battery 45 to the H level. The CPU 31 determines a signal indicating a voltage drop (S15), and if it is at the H level, transmits a control signal indicating a "voltage drop signal" to the master unit T1 (S1).
6).

The master unit that has received the "voltage drop signal" from the slave unit T2 notifies the voltage drop (S21). This notification is given by the sound of the alarm speaker 21 or the display unit 17.
This is done by displaying a message to the user. In addition, the sound to be sounded when receiving an incoming call from the line 20 is changed to a sound quality different from the normal sound (S22). When the user who notices the notification and the sound makes the child unit T2 set on the mounting table, charging of the secondary battery 45 is started, and the voltage recovers soon.

When the voltage of the secondary battery 45 exceeds E2 due to charging, the voltage detecting section 46 changes the signal indicating the voltage drop to the L level. When the CPU 31 detects that the signal indicating the voltage drop has returned to the L level (S17), it transmits a control signal indicating the "voltage recovery signal" to the master unit T1 (S18).
Master unit T1 that has received the “voltage recovery signal” from slave unit T2
Releases the notification of the voltage drop (S23), and returns the sound to normal sound quality (S24).

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. When the voltage of the secondary battery 45 decreases and becomes lower than E1, the voltage detecting unit 46 sets the signal indicating the voltage decrease of the secondary battery 45 to the H level. The CPU 31 determines a signal indicating a voltage drop (S31), and if the signal is at the L level, the process ends.
If it is at the level, a control signal indicating a "voltage drop signal" is transmitted to the master unit T1 (S32). The master unit that has received the "voltage drop signal" from the slave unit T2 (S42) transmits a "response confirmation signal" to the slave unit T2 for confirmation after a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) (S43). .

At this time, if the secondary battery 45 of the slave unit T2 has a spare capacity, a "response signal" to the "response confirmation signal" is transmitted (S33), but if the secondary battery 45 is exhausted,
It may not be possible to receive the "response confirmation signal" from the master unit T1, or even if it is able to receive it, it may not be possible to transmit a "response signal". The parent device T1 is a child device T
If the "response signal" from the second device cannot be received (S44),
Notification of running out of battery (S45) and change of ringing sound (S4)
6), but the subsequent operation is the same as that after S23 in FIG. It is more effective if the calling of the slave unit T2 in S43 is performed every predetermined time (for example, every 10 minutes).

Without being limited to the above embodiment,
It is also possible to carry out as follows. (1) In the above-described embodiment, the cordless telephone is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this. If a facsimile communication function is provided, it is also possible to print out a message on recording paper as a means for reporting a voltage drop. (2) In the above-described embodiment, a cordless telephone based on RCR STD-13 is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this. -phone Syste
m) Applicable to telephones. (3) A nickel-metal hydride storage battery or a lithium-ion storage battery is used as a secondary battery. (4) As a method of detecting the remaining amount of the secondary battery, in addition to the method of detecting the voltage, a method of integrating current consumption is used.

[0025]

According to the present invention, if the capacity of the secondary battery of the slave unit is reduced and the response becomes difficult, a ring tone different from a normal one sounds even if there is an incoming call from an outside line. Only by hearing the sound, it is understood that the response in the child device is difficult or impossible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a base unit T1 of a cordless telephone according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a slave unit T2 of the cordless telephone according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of control signals used in a cordless telephone.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the slave unit in a standby state.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the parent device and the child device of the cordless telephone of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another flowchart showing the operation of the parent device and the child device of the cordless telephone of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 T1 master unit T2 slave unit 45 secondary battery 46 voltage detector

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cordless telephone comprising a master unit connected to a wired telephone line and a slave unit connected to the master unit by a wireless line, wherein the slave unit includes a secondary battery as a power supply, Means for detecting that the remaining capacity of the secondary battery is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and means for notifying a detection result of the detection means to a master unit, wherein the master unit notifies an incoming call from the wired telephone line. A cordless telephone comprising: ringing means; and means for changing a ringing sound of the ringing means based on the notification from the slave unit. 2. A cordless telephone comprising a master unit connected to a wired telephone line and a slave unit connected to the master unit by a wireless line, wherein the slave unit includes a secondary battery as a power supply, Means for detecting that the remaining capacity of the secondary battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value, means for notifying a detection result of the detection means to a master unit, and means for responding to a call from the master unit,
The master unit includes a ringing unit that notifies an incoming call from the wired telephone line, a unit that calls the slave unit after a predetermined time after detecting the notification from the slave unit, and the slave unit that calls the calling unit. A cordless telephone comprising: means for changing the sound of the sounding means when the user does not respond. 3. The cordless telephone set according to claim 1, wherein the slave unit detects a recovery of the remaining capacity of the secondary battery, and a detection result of the second detection unit. Second notification means for notifying the base unit, and the base unit further includes means for restoring the sound of the sounding means based on a notification from the second notification means. Cordless telephone.