JPH036163A - Telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute an effective call by an auditory sense handicapped person by bringing an input sound signal to character conversion and displaying it. CONSTITUTION:At the time of call, an auditory sense handicapped person executes a call by ten keys 2, brings a message to handwriting input to a handwriting input board 4 after a call state is set, and displays it successively on a display part 5 of a telephone set of the other party. A call to the auditory sense handicapped person from a sound hearing person is executed by lighting of a lamp instead of a ring-back tone, and a sound signal from the sound hearing person is analyzed by a voice recognizing unit 7 of a telephone set 1 for an auditory sense handicapped person, brought to character conversion by a unit 8 and displayed on the display 5, and the call can be executed.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to telephones, and more particularly to telephones suitable for use by hearing-impaired persons.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In general, telephones use a mutual voice communication system to communicate with the other party. Therefore, conventional telephones have the disadvantage that they cannot be used by hearing-impaired people.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a telephone with which a hearing-impaired person can make effective calls.

Structure of the Invention The telephone according to the present invention includes a text information manual means for inputting a message as text information, a voice conversion means for converting the text information manually entered by the text information input means into an audio signal, and It is characterized by having a character conversion means for converting an input audio signal into character information, and a display means for displaying the character information converted by the character conversion means.

Example Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of an embodiment of a telephone according to the present invention. In the figure, the telephone according to one embodiment of the present invention is configured to include a numeric keypad 2, a handset 3 having a transmitter 31 and a receiver 32, and a telephone circuit 10, and is equivalent to a conventional telephone. It fulfills the following functions.

The telephone according to this embodiment also includes a changeover switch 9, a voice recognition unit 7, a voice-to-text conversion unit 8, a display 5, a handwriting input board 4, and a voice generation unit 6.
and switching means 91 and 92.

The numeric keypad 2 includes keys for each number from 0 to 9, and is used to enter the telephone number of the other party manually.

A handwriting board 4 is provided for manually writing a message to the other party using text information.

The speech generation unit 6 converts character information input manually from the handwriting input board 4 into speech signals in units of phrases.

The voice recognition unit 7 analyzes the voice signal from the other party input via the telephone line.

The speech-to-text conversion unit 8 converts the speech signal analyzed by the speech recognition unit 7 into text information.

The display 5 displays text information converted by the voice-to-text conversion unit 8, and is a CRT or
A liquid crystal display is used for this purpose.

The changeover switch 9 is provided to change over the operation of the telephone for people with normal hearing or for people with hearing impairments, and the operations of the changeover means 91 and 92 are changed in accordance with the changeover operation of this switch.

In other words, the telephone of this embodiment is composed of various parts such as a handwriting board, a display, a voice recognition unit, a voice-to-text conversion unit, etc., and converts character information input by hand into a voice signal and transmits it to the receiving side. In addition to the function that can be displayed on the display of the telephone, the voice recognition unit analyzes the human voice signal from the line, and the voice-to-text conversion unit converts it into a text signal and displays it on the display. We have it. moreover,
In addition to these functions, it also has the functions of a normal telephone, and these are selected by operating the changeover switch 9.

Next, the appearance of the telephone according to this embodiment will be described. Second
The figure is a perspective view of the telephone set 1 of this embodiment, and parts equivalent to those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The aforementioned voice generation unit 6, voice recognition unit 7, and voice-to-text conversion unit 8 are mounted within the housing. Further, a numeric keypad 2, handwriting input board 4, and changeover switch 9 are provided on the front surface, and a display 5 is provided on the top surface. Note that 3 is a handset.

In this configuration, a normal call is made by dialing using the numeric keypad 2 provided on the front of the telephone set 1, and the call is made using the handset 3. However, in this case, it is impossible for a hearing-impaired person to make a phone call using the handset 3.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a handwriting input board 4 and a display 5 are provided.

Hearing-impaired people make a call using numeric keypad 2 (the call status is displayed as a character on display 5),
After the call is over, the message is handwritten into the handwriting input board 4 and sequentially displayed on the display section of the other party's telephone. Furthermore, by temporarily storing the handwritten characters in units of phrases, and converting the character information into audio signals using the audio generation unit 6 and transmitting them, the audio can also be heard from the handset of the other party's phone. It is. In this case, switching between text and voice on the other party's telephone is performed by a changeover switch on the other party.

In addition, when a person with normal hearing makes a call to a person with a hearing impairment, a lamp (not shown) is lit instead of a ringing tone, and the voice signal from the person with normal hearing is transmitted to the voice recognition unit 7 of the telephone 1 for the hearing impaired person.
The text is analyzed by the voice-to-text converter unit 8, converted into text by the voice-to-text conversion unit 8, and displayed on the display 5, thereby making it possible to make a phone call.

According to the present invention, the subscriber telephone lines that are currently in widespread use can be used as they are, and there is no need to provide any new dedicated lines or the like.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described above, the present invention uses a subscriber telephone line to perform a text-based telephone call in which characters entered by hand from a handwriting input board of a telephone are sequentially displayed on the display of the receiver's telephone. Additionally, the voice generation unit inside the calling party's telephone converts handwritten characters into voice signals in units of phrases, and the voice can be directly transmitted to the telephone receiver of the other party.

In addition, the voice signal from the other party is analyzed by the voice recognition unit inside the phone, and the voice to text conversion unit converts the voice into text information and displays it on the display, allowing telephone calls between hearing-impaired people and people with normal hearing. It has the effect of being able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of a telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention. Explanation of symbols of main parts 4...Handwriting input board 5...Display 6...Speech generation unit 7...Speech recognition unit Fig. 1... ...Speech to text conversion unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A character information input means for inputting a message as character information, a voice conversion means for converting the character information inputted from the character information input means into a voice signal, and a voice signal input through a line. 1. A telephone set comprising a character conversion means for converting into character information, and a display means for displaying the character information converted by the character conversion means.