JPH03283965A - Public telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a flexible public telephone set advantageous all of a sponsor being a 3rd party, a user and an installing party by sending a commercial signal for a prescribed time after hook-off and processing a charge for succeeding talking to be free from payment or discounted. CONSTITUTION:When a caller hooks off, a CPU 1 detects an off-hook signal via a hook switch HS, drives a CM transmission section 6 to send a commercial signal for a prescribed time to a receiver R via a speech line 3 to allow the caller to listen to the signal. Moreover, in this case, the content of the commercial is displayed on a display section 7. When an opposite party replies with a call, the reply of the opposite party is detected by a trunk line circuit 2 to discriminate paid or non-paid talking based on the stored dial number and the talking time and collects the talking charge from a pre-paid card loaded based on the result of discrimination.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to a public telephone that is connected to a central office line and, after off-hook is detected, transmits a commercial for a certain period of time and then allows calls. .

[Prior Art] When a conventional public telephone goes off-hook, inserts a coin or a prepaid card, and dials a call, the unit call time is calculated according to the dialed number.
A unit call fee is collected from the inserted coin or prepaid card for each calculated unit time.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Such conventional public telephones are only equipped with fixed functions such as a calling function and a call charge collection function, which makes it difficult for both the public telephone user and the installer to do so. There was a problem in that it was not possible to apply a method in which a third party as a sponsor could use the public telephone as an advertising medium while ensuring the profits of the public.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve such problems, a first invention of a public telephone according to the present invention includes a commercial signal sending means for transmitting a commercial signal for a certain period of time after detecting off-hook of the public telephone; A call permitting means for permitting a call after the signal sending means sends a signal; a call charge determining means for determining that a call allowed by the call permitting means is free or discounted; and a call charge according to the determination by the call charge determining means. and call charge storage means for accommodating the telephone charges.

Further, in the second invention, if the dialed number indicates a local call, it is determined to be a free call, and if the dialed number indicates a long distance call, it is determined to be a paid call.

Moreover, the third invention is such that local calls are charged after a certain period of time.

Further, the fourth invention is provided with an LCR function means that selects the lowest charge line and allows a paid long distance call to be made.

Furthermore, a fifth invention is such that the device is equipped with a specific prepaid card reading and writing means and collects call charges from this specific prepaid card.

Moreover, the sixth invention is provided with means for switching the contents of the commercial signal sent by the commercial signal sending means by center loading.

Moreover, the seventh invention is provided with display means for displaying a commercial signal after off-hook detection.

[Operation] After off-hook detection, a commercial signal is sent out for a certain period of time, and then a call is made. This call will be free or at a discount.

Additionally, call charges will be collected from certain prepaid cards.

Further, the content of the commercial signal is switched by center loading.

Furthermore, a commercial signal is displayed after off-hook detection.

[Example] Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a public telephone according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a CPU that controls the entire public telephone, 2 is a central office line circuit, 3 is a telephone call circuit,
4 is a PB receiver that receives a PB signal, 5 is a PB sender that sends a PB signal, 6 is a CM sending unit that sends a commercial signal to a calling party, 7 is a display unit that displays a commercial signal, 8 is a dial key, 9 is a card reader unit that reads and writes data to the prepaid card used, H3 is a hook switch, T is a transmitter, R is a receiver,
L is a telephone line to which no billing signal arrives, a is an incoming call detection signal or a caller response detection signal, and b is a line loop closing signal or loop opening signal.

Then, when the calling party goes off-hook, the CPUI detects the off-hook signal via the hook switch H3 and sends the CM
The transmitting section 6 is driven to transmit a commercial signal for a certain period of time to the telephone receiver R via the telephone communication circuit 3 so that the calling party can listen to it. Also, at this time, the content of the commercial is displayed on the display section 7. After that, when the caller inserts the prepaid card into the card reader unit 9, the line is closed, and then the dial key 8 is operated to make a dial call.
This dial number is converted into a dial signal by driving the PB sender 5, and is sent to the line and stored.

After that, when the other party answers, the other party's response is detected via the central office line circuit 2, and it is determined whether the call is a paid call or a free call according to the stored dialed number and call time. Collect call charges from a prepaid card.

Next, the operation of the public telephone set of the present invention will be explained in detail based on the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 50, an off-hook determination is made. If this is determined to be "Y", the CM sending unit 6 is then driven to send a commercial, that is, a commercial selected from a plurality of commercials, to the handset R for a certain period of time in step 5), and the phone goes off-hook. The caller is made to listen, and then in step 52 the CM is displayed on the display unit 7.

Note that the CM displayed on the display unit 7 is always displayed while off-hook.

Thereafter, a determination is made in step 53 as to whether a specific prepaid card has been inserted into the card reader unit 9.
If the determination is "Y", a line closing signal is sent to the office line circuit 2 in step 54 to establish a line loop, and then the caller operates the dial key 8 to make a dial call. In step 55, this dial number is stored, and in step 56, it is determined whether or not it is a local dial number.

If the dialed number is a local number and it is judged as "Y" in step 56, then in step 60 this dialed number is sent to the PB sender 5 and converted into a PB double signal to make the call li'. 83. It is sent to the line via the office line circuit 2. Also, at this time, in step 61, a free mode is set to make this local call free of charge. In this way, when the local dial number is sent to the line, the other party is called, and when the other party answers this call, a conversation is carried out with the other party, and the other party's response detection signal a is sent via the central office line circuit 2. is coming. From this point on, a timer for a certain period of time is activated, and in step 62 it is determined whether the certain period of time has elapsed.

In step 62, if a certain period of time has not passed and the result is "Nj,"
On-footer determination is made in step 63, and if the result is "N", the process returns to step 62, but if on-hook is detected and "Y"
'', in step 76 a line release signal is sent to the central office line circuit 2 to release the line loop.

Also, if a certain period of time has passed since the other party's response, step 62
If the answer is "Y", in step 64, a pay message is sent to charge a fee for this local call.
In step 72, the billing cycle and call charges are determined from the accumulated dial numbers, and in step 73, a pay mode is set. Then, in step 74, a billing process is performed to collect the call charge from the inserted prepaid card based on the determined billing cycle and call charge, and in step 75, a decision is made to determine whether the call is on or off to detect the end of the call. It will be done.

If rN in step 75, it is determined that the call should be continued and the process returns to step 74 to continue the billing process, but if on-hook is detected and the answer is "Y" in step 75, the line is released in step 76. and end the conversation.

In addition, if the dialed number that was called is determined to be a long-distance number rather than a local number, "N" will be returned in step 56. In this case, based on the dialed number that was determined to be a paid call and accumulated, step 70 will be made. and L CR (Least, C
o5t Rout, ing) Select M, that is, the line with the lowest charge, and send a dial number based on this to the line in step 71.

In other words, O088 is placed at the beginning of the accumulated dial number.
Add a dial number such as and send it.

In this way, when a dialing signal is sent to the line and the other party responds, the billing cycle and call fee are determined in step 72 based on the dialed number accumulated above and the selected LCR information, etc., and then in step Processing after step 72 is executed.

Note that if a specific prepaid card is not inserted after the CM is sent to the display unit 7, the result will be "N" in step 53; in this case, on-hook is detected in step 77 and the result will be "N".
If the result is "Y", the line is released and the call is terminated in step 769. Also, in step 50, if off-hook cannot be detected, the result is "N".
If it is determined that this is the case, then in step 80 it is determined whether an incoming call has arrived from a center device (not shown), and when the incoming call detection signal a arrives and is detected, the answer is "Y" and the incoming call is automatically answered in step 81. do. Thereafter, when a request signal for switching the CM content using a PB double signal is transmitted from the center device, this is received via the PB receiver 4, and in step 82, switching to another CM content is performed by this center loading. Thereafter, the line loop is released in step 83 and the process returns to step 50. In this way, the CM to be sent out thereafter will be the CM with the switched content.

In this embodiment, local calls are charged after a certain period of time, but local calls may always be free of charge.

In addition, in this embodiment, a public telephone is connected to a telephone line where charging signals do not arrive, and the call charge is determined and charged within this public telephone (autonomous charging method). It may also be possible to connect to the line where the signal arrives; in this case, the autonomous billing function is unnecessary.
When it is determined that the call is a free call, even if a billing signal arrives, it may be ignored.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the public telephone according to the present invention is configured to transmit a comma signal for a certain period of time after detecting off-hook, and the charges for subsequent calls are free or discounted. The advantage is that a flexible public telephone can be constructed that benefits all the sponsors, users, and installers.

Additionally, since the call charges are collected from a specific prepaid card, the user is freed from the hassle of inserting coins for calls.

Furthermore, since the content of the commercial signal is switched by center loading, it is possible to send out a plurality of commercials from a plurality of sponsors, thereby making it possible to acquire a plurality of sponsors.

Furthermore, since the commercial signal is displayed after off-hook detection, the commercial content can be displayed throughout the call, increasing the advertising effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a public telephone according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart explaining this operation. 1... CPU, 2... Office line circuit, 3... Call circuit, 4... PB receiver 5... PB sender,
6...CM sending unit, 7...Display unit, 8...
Dial key 9...Card reader unit, H3.
...Hook switch, T...Telephone, R...
Handset, L...Telephone line.

Claims (7)

[Claims] (1) In a public telephone connected to a central office line and collecting call charges according to the dialed number and call time, commercial signal sending means transmits a commercial signal for a certain period of time after detecting off-hook of the public telephone; A call permitting means for permitting a call after the commercial signal transmitting means sends a signal; a call charge determining means for determining that a call permitted by the call permitting means is free or discounted; and a call in accordance with the determination by the call charge determining means. A public telephone set comprising a call charge storage means for storing the charge. (2) In the public telephone according to claim (1), the call charge determination means determines that the call is a free call when the dialed number indicates a local call, and determines that the call is a free call when the dialed number indicates a long distance call. A public telephone that is determined to be a paid call. (3) A public telephone according to claim (2), wherein the call charge determining means charges a fee for the local call after a certain period of time. (4) A public telephone set according to claim (2), which is equipped with an LCR function means for selecting the lowest charge line and making the long distance call. (5) A public telephone set according to claim (1), which is equipped with means for reading and writing a specific prepaid card, and wherein the call charge storage means collects the call charge from this specific prepaid card. (6) A public telephone set according to claim (1), further comprising means for switching the content of the commercial signal sent by the commercial signal sending means by center loading. (7) The public telephone set according to claim (1), further comprising display means for displaying the commercial signal after off-hook detection.