JPH06121017A - Calling equipment, telephone set, and extension telephone system and electronic extension telephone directory used for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a calling equipment and a telephone set which easily retrieve and update an extension telephone number and do not require a printed extension telephone directory. CONSTITUTION:The calling equipment 20 is provided with an electronic extension telephone directory (extension telephone directory memory 7) which is connected in parallel to an extension telephone set 12 or incorporated in the telephone set and where the number table data of extension telephones is stored, means (a microcomputer 1, a selective key, a scroll switch 4, a CALL/SEARCH switch 5, etc.,) which retrieve required occupation name and/or name, and a means (the microcomputer 1, a DTMF circuit 9, etc.,) which calls the retrieved extension number. A MODEM 11 is mounted as necessary, and the telephone directory data of the low-order calling equipment can be updated from the high-order calling equipment or an extension exchange. Or, a rewritable storage unit structure easy to attach/detach is given to the electronic extension telephone directory, and it is replaced to update telephone directory data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Industrial field of use] Extension telephones (including remote telephones connected by leased lines) used by specific corporations, enterprises, institutions (public institutions, etc.), etc., especially the number of extension telephone terminals TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a technical field in which a desired call destination number can be easily found when there is a lot of traffic, and a number table can be easily and inexpensively updated when the number is changed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a telephone directory, an inquiry (109) or a search terminal exists for an outside line to find out the number of a called party, but a generally printed extension phone book is used for an extension line. It's just being done. Recently, a direct dial-in system was developed, and a method of providing an external number corresponding to a conventional extension was provided, and that number was included in a telephone directory or a search system like an external line. , Most of them are conventional extensions. In the direct dial-in system, a large number of outside line numbers are searched for, and there are problems that the thickness of the telephone directory is large, the number of separate volumes is large, and the search is expensive.

In the extension system, an extension telephone directory is generally created and distributed. Depending on the scale of the institution, it can reach from one page to several hundred pages.

[0004]

In an organization with a large number of extension terminals, it takes time, labor, and time to search and store the printed extension telephone directory for finding the telephone extension number of the district, department, section, or even the individual who wants to make a call. It will take up space on the desk. This reduces the work efficiency of the engineer and causes a large loss.

[0005] Generally, in the organization, personnel movements and organization changes are severe, and it is necessary to notify the revision of the extension telephone and to print and distribute the entire surface several times a year each time. Personnel expenses for this and printing expenses are enormous.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a calling device (hereinafter often referred to as a terminal) connected to or built in an extension telephone is provided with an electronic extension telephone directory, and , The department, section, etc., and / or the personal name are searched and displayed, and the retrieved number is called by an abbreviated operation.

(2) The invention of claim 2 is a means (2.1) for updating the electronic extension telephone directory in (1) through a telephone line, and / or a representative parent terminal of each district from the general affairs department of the head office. First, then the representative parent terminal of each district updates multiple main child terminals in each district, and that child terminal further updates multiple grandchild terminals, so that all terminals can be updated in a short time. The means (2.2) capable of updating and / or the means (2.3) for updating the same are provided during a preset time period such as nighttime when the call is almost stopped.

(3) According to a third aspect of the invention, in the calling device or the telephone set according to the first aspect, the electronic extension telephone directory incorporated therein is a detachable storage unit such as an IC card, a floppy disk or an optical disk. To be done. When updating the number, the storage unit may be replaced. (4) The electronic extension telephone directory of claim 4 has a storage unit structure that stores the extension telephone number data, is rewritable, and is easily removable.

(5) In the invention of claim 5, the terminal of item (1) is registered / stored with the frequently used extension / external line number as individual data for each terminal. (6) In the invention of claim 6, in the terminal of (5), the frequently-used number is preferentially searched in searching the extension / external line numbers. (7) In the invention of claim 7, in the above (5) or (6)
In the terminal of paragraph ( ₁ ), as means for automatically registering the frequently used extension / extension number, (7.1) means for storing the called number for a preset time (T ₁ ) and (7.2) T
A means for storing the number of times of calling each number between ₁ and placing the one with the highest number of times in the higher rank of the registration list;
3) A means for arranging those whose elapsed time after making a call is within T ₂ (where T ₂ <T ₁ ) is higher in the registration list, (7.
4) A means is provided for sequentially erasing numbers that are not used even after T ₁ hours have passed since registration.

(8) In the extension telephone system according to claim 8, one or a plurality of extension telephone directory server devices for servicing and updating extension telephone numbers are provided for each district, and one or a plurality of number retrievals are provided for each. A terminal having a function (calling device) and / or an extension telephone is connected. As a result, the server device having one electronic extension telephone directory supports the search for extension telephones and / or terminals that do not have a plurality of electronic extension telephone directories, and thus the system cost can be reduced.

(9) In the extension telephone system according to the ninth aspect, the server function is built in each extension exchange in each district. This helps reduce system costs and improve server functionality.

[0012]

[Operation] The electronic extension telephone directory can be easily searched for several times by configuring it in a tree shape such as by district, business department, functional department, section, group, and individual. It is possible to find the called party number to be displayed on the LCD display. If the CALL key is pressed after designating the display of the desired number, a call is made by a push button dial signal (DTMF signal).
(Claim 1) The electronic extension telephone directory can be composed of a general semiconductor memory EEPROM or a flash memory device, and can be written, erased, corrected, and completely rewritten. The IC card can be easily attached and detached. Further, a floppy disk or an optical disk device may be provided and the data may be stored in the disk, but generally the data amount is not so large as using a disk. (Claims 2 to 4) Therefore, it is possible to easily update the electronic extension telephone directory data from the outside by using the telephone line. Further, the IC card (floppy or optical disk) may be replaced with an updated one.

As described above, the labor and time required for searching from the printed extension telephone directory can be saved, and real-time updating can be performed each time it is needed, or comprehensive updating can be performed several times a year.
Almost automatically with no human labor or printing and distribution costs. According to claims 5 and 6, the frequently used extension / outline numbers are registered / stored / retrieved as individual data of the terminal corresponding to the telephone, so that a large extension telephone directory data is retrieved by a few key touches each time. The trouble of doing is saved. Frequently used external line numbers are also handled, which has the advantage of being general-purpose.

According to the present invention, the frequently-used number data is automatically registered and maintained by prioritizing the frequently-called party and the frequently-contacted party to search the frequently-used number data. Because it is done, it is not troublesome and easy to use. The numbers that are no longer used with the date and time are deleted from the frequently-used data. According to claims 8 and 9, the required number in the extension telephone system of the electronic extension telephone directory can be reduced, which is economical. On the other hand, however, it may be busy because multiple terminals access it.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A terminal (calling device) 20 of the present invention connected in parallel with an extension telephone 12 as shown in FIG. 1 may be housed in a housing separate from the extension telephone 12, or the extension telephone 1
It may be housed in the second housing. The calling device 20 has an electronic extension telephone directory (extension telephone directory memory 7) built therein. Although this electronic extension telephone directory will be described later, it may be provided in an extension telephone directory server device or an extension exchange. In the extension, the DTMF signal is not always used for the signal between the telephone and the extension exchange, but it is assumed that the DTMF signal is used for the time being.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a microcomputer and 2 is an LCD display device. The larger the number of lines displayed, the more convenient it is to search, but in order to reduce the price, four lines are displayed. The number of characters displayed in one line should be the number of characters required for the search, such as the district, factory, department, section, personal name, etc., and the number of digits in the telephone number that can be sufficiently and at least discriminated (when abbreviated). For example, it is 24 characters. Adjacent to the left side of the corresponding row of the LCD, a row selection switch A, B, C, D and a selection key 3 including a BACK switch for reversing the sequence one by one in the selection process are provided.

In the case of 4, the selected screen is often 4 lines or more, so that scrolling up or scrolling D is performed in sequence.
This is a scroll (SCROLL) switch that allows the desired line on the screen to enter the four lines of the LCD by performing OWN. Reference numeral 5 is a call / search (CALL / SEARCH) switch that is pressed first when starting the search for the telephone number and finally pressed when calling the selected destination. Scroll to display the callee on the top line A, and CA
Press the LL / SEARCH switch to set the DTMF signal to D
It may be programmed to be generated and transmitted by the TMF circuit 9, or may be programmed to press any one of A, B, C and D switches to specify a communication destination and press the CALL / SEARCH switch. .

Reference numeral 6 is a clock, which is used for designating a time zone in which the data stored in the extension telephone directory memory 7 can be updated when the data is updated via the telephone line. An extension telephone directory memory 7 stores data common to all extension telephones and is collectively managed by the general affairs department of the head office. Further, it is rewritable, and it is necessary to save the memory even in the event of a power failure or the like, and it is desirable that the memory is configured by an element such as an EEPROM or a flash memory.

Generally, the modem 11 is required to update the memory via the telephone line. In order to reduce the cost of the modem 11, it is necessary to reduce its data transmission rate. However, the update time becomes longer. Due to the cost of the modem 11 and the cost of the update program of the extension telephone directory memory 7, the calling device 20
Can be expensive. In this case, it may be more economical to update the telephone directory by using the memory 7 as a storage unit such as a removable IC card or a floppy disk device and replacing the storage unit updated at a high speed at another place. is there.

A mixed method in which small daily changes are made via a telephone line and large changes are made several times a year with an IC card is also a good method. In this case, of course, a rewritable IC card is used. Reference numeral 8 is a memory frequently used for telephone terminal users. Like the extension telephone directory memory 7, it is composed of an EEPROM or a flash memory. The data can be entered and registered by the user from the full keyboard 13 shown by the dotted line, but can also be automatically registered / erased / maintained as described below. In this case, the labor of input is saved and the full keyboard can be omitted, which is economically preferable.

That is, the program of the microcomputer
By the control, the preset time T ₁Called between
The number and the number of calls made
It is stored in the internal memory of the computer and the time T₁Between
Numbers with a large number of calls and the elapsed time after a call is T₂(T₂
<T₁The number within the time is registered in the frequent use number memory 8.
It should be placed at the top of the recording list and the time after registration
T₁Numbers that are not used even after passing the
Erase it.

Reference numeral 9 is a circuit for converting a code signal from the microcomputer 1 into a push button dial signal (DTMF signal) and transmitting the push button dial signal (DTMF signal). Reference numeral 10 is provided as necessary to detect the operating state of the extension telephone 12. Detects line voltage and line current. Reference numeral 11 is a modem for transmitting and receiving data when the extension telephone directory memory 7 is rewritten. It should be noted that the one microcomputer is pre-programmed to perform the necessary control.

Next, an example of a telephone number search method will be described. Figure 1
The LCD display device 2 and the selection key 3 are used.
As described above, a multi-row display, a touch panel, a light pen, or the like can be used instead of the individual switch, but in this example, the 4-row display and the individual switch are used as shown in FIG. 1 in view of economy and size.

As shown in FIG. 2, it is desirable that the extension telephone directory is organized by level, which facilitates retrieval. Kana, alphabets and numbers may be used for economic reasons, but in the present embodiment, description will be made using mixed Kanji characters. First, CALL with the handset of the telephone 12 not taken off (hook switch OFF)
When the / SEARCH key 5 is pressed, the microcomputer 1 starts the search, and the screen of 2 displays the top 4 rows (1, 2, 3, 3) of level 1.
4) is displayed in this order.

When the row selection switch A is pressed at this point, the department name and extension number of the frequently used extension are prioritized according to the frequency of use and the newest degree in the level 3, and the upper 4 in the list of the frequently used number memory 8 are given. Lines are displayed. When the scroll UP of the scroll switch is pressed, the fifth and subsequent lines of the frequently used extension list are sequentially displayed. When the callee can be found, pick up the handset (hook switch ON), and select the line selection switches A, B, C, D. , CAL by pressing the corresponding switch
When the L / SEARCH key 5 is pressed, the microcomputer 1 calls the designated extension number.

First, when the CALL / SEARCH key 5 is pressed and the upper 4 lines of level 1 in FIG. 2 are displayed, when the line selection switch B is pressed, the upper 4 lines of the outside line list in the frequent use number memory 8 are displayed. The company name, department, person, and external telephone number of the called party are searched in the same manner as when displayed and A is pressed, and a call is similarly made. If the desired district department is not found in the top 4 lines of level 1, press the UP switch of scroll switch 4 to display the 5th line and below of level 1 one by one. If the desired department can be found, the line selection switch Pressing the corresponding one of the switches A, B, C, D will switch the screen to level 2 for that district department.
Level 1 6 Osaka branch is pushed, its level 2
Is shown in FIG. At the beginning of switching, NO of level 2
1-4 are displayed in 4 lines. If the C key is pressed now, the 3rd second sales department is selected, and the screen displays the level 3 (shown in FIG. 2) corresponding to the 3rd second sales department of the level 2. If there are no desired departments in the first four lines of level 2, you can specify the fifth line and below by scrolling, as above.
In the screen of level 3, the top 4 lines, that is, 1 Otsuka to 4 Aoki are displayed first, and the same is displayed by scrolling to the 5th line and below, using any of the line selection switches A, B, C, D keys. You can make selective calls. The selective calling procedure (handset handling) is the same as the description for the frequently used extension.

In searching, it may be desired to search by person's name instead of job title. In this case, if you select 3 names at level 1, Aiueo ... will be displayed at level 2, and if you select the first character of the family name of the name, level 3 will have the same first name and its phone number table. Is obtained, and the intended call destination can be found. This personal name search list may be created in advance, or at the time of search, a list of the same first characters may be created on the RAM of the microcomputer by searching from the job name list.

The status sensor 10 detects the status of the handset, the ringer signal, etc., and the microcomputer 1 judges whether the change of the handset (hook switch) is in the receiving or transmitting status, and the key 5 CALL / SEARCH
It controls the switching of the function of and the mode switching of receiving and sending of the calling device. When the writing registration in the frequently-used number memory 8 is performed manually, it is necessary to input the division, department, individual name, and extension number using the full keyboard 13. In the case of the automatic registration of the extension frequently-used number, which has already been described, the data written in the extension telephone directory memory 7 is transferred as necessary, so that the full keyboard 13 becomes unnecessary. However, in order to enter the company name, department and personal name (external line number) with an external line number, a full keyboard is still required. If you want to enter only the external number, you can use the numeric keyboard.

When erasing a number that is not used even after a lapse of T ₁ hour after being registered in the frequently used number memory 8, it is desirable to ask the user whether or not the number can be erased.
The data in the frequently-used number memory 8 is for each telephone user and is different for each telephone. on the other hand,
The data in the extension telephone directory memory 7 is common to all extension telephones. However, the contents are often required to be updated due to employee movements, personnel changes, organizational changes, etc.

Update will be described below. If the extension telephone directory memory 7 is composed of an easily attachable / detachable IC card (memory card) or the like, simply replace it with a new one. The IC card can be rewritten in large quantities at high speed in advance with a dedicated machine that can be rewritten at high speed, and distributed to each district and department. Unlike printing, it can be rewritten many times and is small.

On the other hand, it is also possible to update (write / delete / correct / whole rewrite) the data in the extension telephone directory memory 7 of all terminals via the telephone line (extension). in this case,
The nighttime specific time zone that does not hinder the work is limited by the clock 6, and is updated using only that time zone. Also,
To reduce the time required to update all terminals (Claim 2),
First, an appropriate number updating device (data transfer device) that stores the number of the electronic extension telephone directory of the calling device 20 corresponding to the extension telephone 12 of the general affairs department of the head office is stored in a new telephone directory prepared in advance. Then, the updated device 20 is updated sequentially to the device 20 corresponding to the representative number of each district (connected by a dedicated line) (for example, the number of the general affairs department of each district). If the number of districts is large and the number of lines is plural, it is desirable to update the telephone numbers of the representative numbers of other districts simultaneously from the other updated calling devices 20 of the head office.

When the calling device 20 of the representative number (parent) of each district receives the update, the calling device 20 of level 2 (child) in its own district is further updated. The level 2 calling device further updates the level 3 calling device 20. When the number of calling devices 20 is very large, all extension telephones, and thus the terminals 20 may be organized in a tree shape (branch type) only for updating regardless of the level. For example, if each terminal 20 updates eight branched terminals 20, it can be updated n times to the n-th power of 8 (or 4096 if n = 4).
The terminal 20 can be updated. Assuming that the time required for updating eight units at one time is T, the total updating time ends in nT time.

For updating, the other party's telephone may be called by a number and data may be transmitted / received via the modem 11. The number of the subordinate telephone to be updated by each telephone can be set in advance in the internal memory of the microcomputer 1, for example.
Instead of providing the electronic extension telephone directory to all terminals 20, a group of a plurality of terminals, for example, 8 terminals is arranged, and one extension telephone directory server device (server terminal) similar to that shown in FIG. Item 8), the server terminal may own the electronic extension telephone directory, and the other group terminals 20 may receive the data from the server terminal in the search. Moreover, it is preferable that the upper server terminal can update the lower server terminal. The server function can be a server terminal built in the calling device of the present invention or a terminal such as a telephone, or can be a separate mono-solid.

The extension exchange owns the electronic extension telephone directory and supplies data according to the search of the terminal to which it belongs,
The update may be performed by its own program (claim 9). These have an economic advantage of saving the number of electronic extension telephone directories, but have problems such as control complexity, increase of line occupation rate, and busyness of simultaneous requests. This is not necessarily the best because IC cards and the like are small and inexpensive. It is desirable to select the optimum configuration according to the system.

The calling device 20 connected in parallel with the extension telephone 12 may have its function incorporated in the case of the extension telephone 12 or may be housed in an independent housing as described above. Good. However, the configuration is simpler if it is built into the telephone. The above-described full keyboard 13 of FIG. 1 is always covered, and it is desirable to open the cover when necessary for use.

Instead of the modem 11 used for updating the data described above, one character of Kana or the alphabet is replaced by the numeral 2
Data can be sent and received only by the DTMF signal, which is encoded by a digit (which is performed by a pager's message transmission or the like). In this case, the cost of the modem can be saved. When the number of frequently used numbers is small, as shown in FIG. 2, the level 1 search of frequently used extension / outer line is omitted, and CALL / SEA is performed.
When the RCH key 5 is pressed with the handset in place, the data corresponding to level 3 in FIG. 2 is suddenly and preferentially searched for simultaneously for the extension and the extension, and when the key 5 is pressed again, the extension is selected. It is also possible to enter the extension telephone directory search operation from level 1.

A direct dial-in system number can also be registered in the electronic extension telephone directory of the present invention as an extension. The electronic extension telephone directory is built in or attached to each telephone, master telephone, exchange, etc.,
Alternatively, it goes without saying that they may be provided so as to be interposed therebetween.

[0038]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION (1) It is not necessary to print or distribute an extension telephone directory, and costs can be reduced. (2) The extension telephone directory can be updated almost immediately. It will prevent the wrong call. (3) Revision printing and notification of the extension phonebook are not required, and expenses can be saved.

(4) The search for the user becomes easy and fast, and the dead time is saved. (5) It is unnecessary to save the user's printed telephone directory, and the desk is organized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an extension telephone number search procedure.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An electronic device, which is connected to an extension telephone or is built in an extension telephone, and (1.1) stores number table data of extension telephones (including extension telephones of other districts connected via a leased line). An extension telephone directory, (1.2) means for retrieving required job title and / or name, (1.3) means for calling out the retrieved extension number, and / or a calling device comprising: Or a telephone. 2. A calling device and / or telephone having any one of the following means according to claim 1. (2.1) A means for updating (writing, erasing, correcting, rewriting the entire surface) the data of the electronic extension telephone directory from outside via a telephone line. (2.2) When the calling devices respectively corresponding to the extension telephones hierarchically arranged in the tree shape are provided and the update data is obtained from the calling devices of the upper layer, the calling devices of the lower layer assigned by themselves are Means for automatically updating the data of the electronic extension telephone directory. (2.3) A means for automatically updating the stored data of the electronic extension telephone directory in a preset time zone. 3. The calling device and / or telephone according to claim 1, wherein the electronic extension telephone directory is a detachable storage unit. 4. An electronic extension telephone directory having a storage unit structure that stores and can rewrite extension telephone number data and is easily removable. 5. A calling device and / or a telephone set according to claim 1, further comprising means for registering / storing frequently used extension number and / or external number data. 6. The calling device and / or telephone according to claim 5, further comprising means for preferentially searching the contents of the registered / stored frequently-used data in the search. 7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the means for registering frequently used extension and / or outside line number data is means for automatically registering, and (7.1) a preset time (T ₁ ) (7) A means for storing the number called and the number of times the call is made, (7.2) A means for arranging a number having a large number of calls during T ₁ in the higher rank of the registration list of the frequent use number memory, .3) A means for arranging a number within a time period of T ₂ (T ₂ <T ₁ ) after the call is placed higher in the registration list, and (7.4) After T ₁ time has passed since registration. A calling device and / or a telephone, characterized by comprising means for sequentially erasing unused numbers from frequently-used number data. 8. One or a plurality of extension telephone directory server devices (having an electronic extension telephone directory) for servicing the search and update of extension telephone numbers are provided for each district, and one or a plurality of number retrieval functions are provided for each. An extension telephone system having an extension telephone and / or a calling device connected thereto, which has an electronic extension telephone directory. 9. The extension telephone system and the exchange according to claim 8, wherein the server function is built in the exchange of each district.