JPH04115765A - Line terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inform a home of the detection of fault occurrence without use of a telephone line by disconnecting a telephone connection terminal from a telephone line when a call request from a data terminal equipment takes place and ringing a bell of the telephone set in a specific tone pattern. CONSTITUTION:When a gas safety device 4 detects an abnormal use of gas, the mode is changed to automatic interruption for gas supply stop. Then the device 4 sends a call request signal and information as to a reason of gas interruption to a central control section 11 in a line terminal equipment 1 in 5min before the stop of gas supply. The central control section 11 decodes the reason of the call and sends a signal to a line changeover section 12 to disconnect a telephone line 2 from a telephone set 3. Then the control section 11 controls an alarm signal generating section 13 to ring a bell in the telephone set 3 After lapse of a prescribed time, the transmission of the alarm signal is stopped and the mode is changed to the initial state. Thus, the status is delivered to a resident without use of a telephone line and the system is realized, in which no communication charge is required and the cost is low.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention is applicable to data on gas alarms and gas safety devices that stop gas supply and notify via telephone line if gas is used abnormally for safety purposes. The present invention relates to a line terminal device that connects a communication terminal to a telephone line.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, line terminal devices have been used to communicate the operating status of gas alarms via telephone lines in order to ensure safety when using gas.

Conventionally, this type of line terminal equipment generally had a configuration as shown in FIG. The configuration will be explained below with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the line terminal device 1 is connected to a conversation line 2, a telephone 3, and a data communication terminal 4 (hereinafter referred to as DTP), and a line switching unit 12 that switches the connection destination of the telephone line 2. , a central control section 11 that instructs the line switching section 12 to switch connections, detects call requests from DTEs, performs dialing operations for line connection, and modulates and demodulates data. The above-mentioned DTE4 refers to a gas alarm, a gas safety device, etc. that stops the gas supply when an abnormal gas usage condition occurs and reports the fact through a telephone line.

The operation of the above configuration will be explained below.

When an abnormality such as a gas leak is detected in DTE4, DT
E4 sends a call request signal to the central control unit 11. The central control unit 11 that has received the call request decodes the information regarding the abnormality that has occurred in the DTE 4, and shifts to a reporting operation using the telephone line 2. In order to make a report, the central control unit 11 outputs a signal to the line switching unit 12 and switches the telephone line 2 to the central control unit 1.
1 side and disconnects the telephone 3 to prevent interruption of communication by the telephone 3.

After securing a communication line within the home, the central control unit 11 performs a dialing operation and transmits information regarding abnormal gas usage to the center terminal 5 that performs safety management.

Communication charges at this time are generally determined using the center's toll-free number.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the gas alarms currently in use often mistakenly recognize that there is an abnormal gas leak and activate it, even though there is actually no abnormal gas leak. He was making a report. In addition, special measures are taken in the gas safety device, which automatically shuts off the gas supply when abnormal gas usage is detected, to avoid shutoff due to malfunction.

DT to prevent shutdown due to malfunction and improve user convenience.
Five minutes before the shutoff, E4 notified the center terminal 5, and the center terminal 5 took measures to have the gas users confirm the gas usage status through the telephone line vA2. In other words, even though it is actually safe, devices (DTE) are used only to prevent malfunctions such as gas alarms, etc.
), a notification was issued for each operation of the system, which caused communication charges due to malfunctions to increase on the management center side, making the system expensive.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a line terminal device for constructing a system with low management costs.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above object, the line terminal device of the present invention includes a line switching unit connected to a telephone line and switching the connection destination of the telephone line to the telephone connection terminal side or the line terminal side;
an alarm signal generating section that is connected to the telephone connection terminal and sends a processing signal such as a calling signal to the telephone connection terminal in response to a predetermined signal input, and a line that is connected to the telephone line through the line switching section and also connected to the data terminal device. It is composed of a switching section and a central control section that controls the alarm signal generation section.

In addition, in order to transmit more information to gas users, in addition to the above configuration, there is also an off-hook detection section connected to the telephone connection terminal that detects off-hook of the handset of the telephone connection terminal and outputs it to the central control unit. A speech synthesis section is added which is connected to the central control section and outputs speech of predetermined content in response to a predetermined signal input from the central control section.

Operation In the present invention, when a call request is made from the DTE with the above-described configuration, the central control section decodes the reason for the call request from the DTE, and then controls the line switching section to disconnect the telephone connection terminal from the telephone line. By controlling the alarm signal generation unit, it is possible to send out a predetermined alarm signal pattern and make the telephone bell ring in a specific pattern, so that abnormality detection in the DTE can be performed by domestic gas users without using a telephone line. can be notified.

Furthermore, in a configuration in which an off-hook detection section and a voice synthesis section are added, it is possible to detect the off-hook of the telephone after calling the gas user by the alarm signal generation section, and after detecting the off-hook, the voice synthesis section can detect the off-hook of the telephone. The contents of the abnormality can be communicated to gas users.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, a line terminal device 1 is connected to a telephone line 2 and includes a line switching unit 12 that switches the connection destination of the telephone line 2 to a telephone connection terminal side or a line terminal device side in response to a predetermined signal input, and a telephone connection terminal device 1. an alarm signal generating section 13 connected to the terminal and outputting a predetermined signal such as a calling signal to the telephone connection terminal in response to a predetermined signal input; and a line switching section connected to the telephone line 2 through the line switching section 12 and also connected to the DTE 4. 12 and a central control section 11 that controls the alarm signal generation section 13.

The operation in the above configuration will be explained. Here D
We will explain the case where TE4 is a gas safety device (
(Hereinafter, the DTE 4 will be referred to as the gas safety device W4). When the gas safety device 4 detects abnormal use of gas, it shifts to an automatic shutoff operation to stop the gas supply. Regarding the reason why the gas safety device 4 sends a call request signal to the central control unit 11 in the line terminal device 1 and shuts off the gas 5 minutes before stopping the gas supply in order to prevent automatic shutoff due to malfunction of the gas safety device 4. Send information. Here, the reason for the gas cutoff refers to the use of gas for an abnormally long time, etc. The central control unit 11 that receives the call request from the gas safety device 4 decodes the reason for the call and then sends a signal to the line switching unit 12. is sent to disconnect the telephone line 2 from the telephone set 3. Next, by controlling the alarm signal generating section 13, the incoming call circuit in the telephone 3 is activated to ring the bell, but the telephone number is not reached! 2 is disconnected from the telephone set 3, so no voltage is applied to the telephone line 2. For example, the alarm signal is 7
Telephone 3 using a signal such as 5VrIms, 16Hz
After transmitting an alarm signal for a predetermined period of time, for example 5 seconds, using an alternating current signal with a voltage value sufficient to ring a bell circuit within the phone, the transmission of the alarm signal is stopped and the line switching section 12 is controlled to switch the telephone line. A transition is made to the initial state in which wA2 and telephone 113 are connected. It is agreed in advance with the gas user that in the event of an alarm from the gas safety device 4, a pattern such as always on will be sent to the telephone II3, which is different from the conventional one-second on-two-second off pattern for incoming calls. This allows the gas user to distinguish between an incoming call to the telephone 3 and an alarm from the gas safety device 4.

In this way, according to the line terminal device 1 of the present invention, the telephone line 2
Since gas users can be notified that the gas safety device 4 is switching off without using a telephone line 2, it is possible to construct a low-cost system that does not require usage charges for the telephone line 2.

Next, a second embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. In order to detect that the gas user has responded to the call by the telephone section 13, the off-hook detection section 14 of the telephone 13 and the gas safety device 4 automatically shut off the gas user after the off-hook detection is detected. It also includes a speech synthesis section 15 for transmitting information.

The operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. As in the first embodiment, when the gas safety device 4 shifts to automatic shutoff operation and sends a call request signal to the central control unit 11 of the line terminal device l in order to prevent automatic shutoff due to malfunction, the central control Similarly to the first embodiment, the section 11 controls the line switching section 12 to disconnect the telephone line 2, and then prompts the alarm signal generating section 13 to send out an alarm signal and rings the bell of the telephone 3. Make it ring. The alarm signal transmission pattern at this time may be 1 second on, 2 seconds off, similar to the conventional calling signal pattern from the telephone line 2, or may be a special alarm signal transmission pattern.
transitions to a waiting state for off-hook detection. When the gas user puts the receiver of the telephone 3 on-hook, the off-hook detection section 14 inputs a signal to the central control section 11. The central control unit 11 controls the voice synthesis unit 15 according to the information transmitted from the gas safety device 4, and sends a message to the telephone 3 such as "Gas has been used for an abnormally long time. Please confirm." and send it. After sending the message, the central control unit 11 detects the off-hook detection unit 14 from the telephone 3.
When on-hook is detected, the line switching unit 12 is switched to connect the telephone line 2 and the telephone 13, and the system returns to the initial state. In other words, by providing the off-hook detection section 14 and the voice synthesis section 15, the operational status of the gas safety device 4 can be communicated to gas users in more detail and accurately.

As described above, since the line terminal device of the present invention includes the line switching section 12 and the alarm signal generating section 13, it is possible to make a telephone call!
Since the operating status of the gas safety device 4 can be transmitted to the gas user in the home using the conventional bell signal of the telephone 3 without applying voltage to the telephone 112, communication costs are not required. In addition, in a configuration in which an off-hook detection section 14 and a voice synthesis section 15 are further added, the gas safety device 4
The operating status of the system can be communicated in more detail and accurately to domestic gas users.

In the above two embodiments, the DTE 4 was explained using a gas safety device, but the DTE 4 is not limited to a gas safety device, and may be a gas alarm, a sensor for controlling the remaining amount of rice bin, or the like. In addition, in the above two embodiments, an example was explained in which a telephone was connected to the telephone connection terminal, but the telephone connection terminal could be used to connect a facsimile device, sound an alarm, etc.
The device is not limited to a telephone as long as it transmits audio.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the line switching section can disconnect the telephone from the telephone line, and the alarm signal generating section can ring the bell of the domestic telephone. The information transmitted from the telephone to the central control unit can be transmitted to the occupants of the home by the ringing pattern of the telephone.

Furthermore, in a configuration including an off-hook detection unit and a voice synthesis unit, after the resident is called by an alarm signal and the telephone is detected to be off-hook, the information transmitted from the DTE to the central control unit by the voice synthesis unit can be notified using voice. As a result, DTE information can be transmitted in more detail and accurately.

In other words, since the operating status of the DTE can be communicated to residents without using a telephone line, it is possible to construct a low-cost system that does not require communication charges.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a line terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a line terminal device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional line terminal device. It is. ■...Line terminal device, 11...Central control unit, 12...Line switching unit, 13...
... Alarm signal generation section, 14 ... Off-hook detection section, 15 ... Voice synthesis section. Second! ! I

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A line switching unit that is connected to a telephone line and switches the connection destination of the telephone line to the telephone connection terminal side or the line terminal device side by inputting a predetermined signal; an alarm signal generation section that outputs a processing signal such as a calling signal to the telephone line; and a center that is connected to the telephone line through the line switching section and also connected to a data terminal device and that controls the line switching section and the alarm signal generation section. A line terminal device consisting of a control section. (2) An off-hook detection section that is connected to the telephone connection terminal and detects off-hook of the handset on the telephone connection terminal side and outputs a signal to the central control section when off-hook is detected; and an off-hook detection section that is connected to the telephone connection terminal and outputs a signal from the central control section. 2. The line terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising a voice synthesizing section that outputs a voice having a predetermined content in response to an input.