JPH08228229A - Time notifying system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To allow each extension terminal equipment to display an accurate update time by sending current time data to each terminal equipment without a delay from an updated minute in a time notifying device and displaying the updated time. CONSTITUTION: An RTC 102 makes set interrupt to inform lapse of time to a CPU 103. That is, interrupt is applied to the CPU 103 when 'minute' is updated (at 0 second for each minute), then the CPU 103 reads a current time represented by the RTC 102 to display a current time to a display device of a time communication equipment 101. The current time data are displayed on a display device of a time communication equipment 101. The current time data read out by the CPU 103 are fed immediately to a CC 106 of a PBX 104 via a communication interface 108. The CC 106 receiving the current time data sends the current time data to each MFT 110 via an MFTI 109 immediately. Then the data are displayed on an LCD 111 each MFT110 to display an accurate time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a time notification system for notifying an extension terminal connected to a main device of the current time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional time notification system.
It shows a system consisting of extension terminals connected to it.

In FIG. 1, a PBX 104 is a private branch exchange as a main unit to which a plurality of extension terminals are connected,
Time switch (MTS) for exchanging time slots
105 and a central control unit (CC) that controls the entire PBX
106, a memory 107 for storing a PBX operation program and work data, a real-time clock (RTC) 102 for deciding the time of the PBX system, and a connection interface (MF) for a multifunction telephone as an extension terminal.
TI) 109.

Multifunction telephone (MFT) 1 which is an extension terminal
10 is a handset, dial keys, various function keys,
And a liquid crystal display (LCD) 111 for displaying various information
Have. In addition, in the example of FIG. 8, three MFTs 110 are connected to the MFTI 109.

Displaying today's date and current time on the LCD 111 when the MFT 110 is not in use is a general service that is useful to users. In order to realize it, the PBX 104 has one RTC 102 that keeps track of the date and the current time, and its output information, that is, date and time data (hereinafter,
CC106 reads the time data), and MFTI
The operation of transmitting to each MFT 110 via 109 is performed. In this method, RTC 102 is installed in each MFT 110.
It is more advantageous in terms of cost than the method including.

When the MFT 110 receives time data,
For example, “94/4/1 15: 0” is displayed on the LCD 111.
A display such as "0" is displayed. This display is most commonly performed in minutes. If it is possible to display in seconds,
Serviceability is the highest, but to do this, RTC10
The transmission of the time data from the MFT 110 to the MFT 110 must be performed in seconds, and the resulting increase in the traffic of the control data (the time data being one of them) causes the telephone exchange control of the PBX 104 to be important. This is because it may cause performance degradation.

As described above, the prior art has been to transmit the time data to each MFT 110 using the RTC 102 in the main unit and display the time.

[0008]

However, inconvenience arises in situations where the main unit does not exist as an independent unit but is connected to or incorporated into a computer.

That is, a device such as a computer that requires time management has a clock function like the RTC 102 from the beginning, and if the main device is connected to a device that already has the RTC 102, the entire device is As a system, there are a plurality of RTCs 102 in a redundant configuration,
This leads to higher costs.

Further, when there is a difference between the time indicated by the RTC 102 of the computer and the time indicated by the RTC of the main unit, the time displayed on the computer and the time displayed on each extension telephone set are different. This leads to an undesirable phenomenon that the system is not consistent.

Further, since it is inevitable that there is a difference in the accuracy of each RTC 102 at the time of the manufacturing stage,
As described above, there is always the possibility that the time will be different, and the system administrator must always pay attention to the consistency of the time, and if the time difference does not occur, the time must be corrected. There is also the annoyance of not becoming.

According to the present invention, the RTC 102 is not provided on the main device, the main device is inexpensively constructed, and the RTC is provided on the main device.
An object of the present invention is to provide a time notification system that can accurately display the time on each extension terminal without having the C102.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a time notification system having a main device for performing exchange control, an extension terminal connected to the main device, and a time notification device, the main device is Receiving means for receiving time data from the time notification device, first transmitting means for transmitting the time data to the extension terminal, and time data received by the receiving data by using the first transmitting means. The time notification device includes a second transmission unit that transmits time data to the main device at predetermined time intervals.

Further, according to claim 2 of the present invention, even if the communication of the time data from the time communication device is interrupted for some reason, each extension terminal displays the time with less delay. 2. The time notification system according to claim 1, wherein the main device includes a timer means, a storage means for storing time data received by the receiving means, and a count of the timer means when the receiving means receives the time data. When the count number of the timer means exceeds a predetermined number, the control means for advancing the time data stored in the storage means by a predetermined time and transmitting the time data to the extension terminal using the transmitting means. The time notification device includes a second transmission unit that transmits time data to the main device at each predetermined time.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, even if the communication of the time data from the time communication device is delayed by one interval time or more, each extension terminal displays the time with less delay. In the time notification system shown in 2,
The main device is characterized in that it has control means for starting the counting of the timer means from the beginning when the number of counts of the timer means exceeds a predetermined number.

[0016]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a time communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that the same components as those in FIG. 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals and redundant description will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, the time notification device 101 has an R
A control unit (CP) that reads time data from the TC 102 and the RTC 102 and sends the time data to the communication interface 108
U) 103 and a communication interface 108 which is an interface with the PBX 104.

The communication interface 108 is also connected to the CC 106 in the PBX 104, and the time notification device 101 is connected to the end of the communication interface 108. Here, as a concrete means of the communication interface 108 which is an interface between the time notification device 101 and the PBX 104, RS is
It may be serial communication such as 232C, or may be a bus type connection. If the time notification device 101 is a device such as a computer, the RTC
102 is equipped from the beginning.

Next, the operation when the time notification device 101 notifies each MFT 110 of the time in the above configuration will be described.

The RTC 102 is an IC that measures the current time by a power source supplied from an outlet or a battery such as a backup battery. Its accuracy is high,
If you set the time at the beginning, there is no need to adjust the time for a long time thereafter.

This RTC 102 uses the CPU to keep track of the passage of time.
In order to notify 103, it is possible to interrupt by setting. That is, an interrupt is issued to the CPU 103 at the time of updating the minute (when 0 second per minute), so that the CPU 103
Can read the current time indicated by the RTC 102 and display the current time on a display device on the time communication device 101 (not shown).

As a means for notifying the time, a method by so-called polling in which the CPU 103 measures an appropriate timing and reads the time from the RTC 102 without depending on an interrupt can be considered, but the final purpose MFT11
When trying to update the minutes as accurately as possible when displaying the current time at 0, it is necessary to minimize the time lag between the hour and minute updates on the RTC 102 and the display on the MFT 110. Use interrupts.

Here, the timing of causing an interrupt is not limited to the time of updating the minutes, but may be 30 depending on the specifications of the RTC 102.
It can be set to various timings such as every second. When the time is displayed on the MFT 110 as in this embodiment, considering the influence on the control data traffic, the ease of displaying on the LCD 111, and the like, updating the minutes is appropriate as the timing for causing an interrupt. is there.

As described above, the current time data read by the CPU 103 is immediately transferred to the communication interface 10
8 to the CC 106 of the PBX 104.

The CC 106 that has received the current time data also immediately transmits the current time data to each MFT 110 via the MFTI 109. As a method of broadcasting to each MFT110, the MFT110 connected to the CC106 is used.
CC106 duplicates the current time data for a few minutes
It may be transmitted to the FT 110, or the MFTI 109 may copy the current time data.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the current time data is sent to each MFT 110 without delaying from the time of updating the minutes in the RTC 102, and the current time data is displayed on the LCD 111, whereby each MFT 11 is displayed.
At 0, the exact time can be displayed. And PBX104
Such a function can be realized without the RTC 102 provided above.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, it is premised that the current time data is transmitted without delay.
In the configuration as shown in, the transmission of time data may be hindered.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the second embodiment, which is the main device P in the first embodiment.
An example in which the BX 104 is configured as the exchange module 205 and the exchange module 205 is incorporated in the computer 201 is shown.

In the figure, the PC of the computer 201
The U103 is connected to the CP via the bus interface 202.
Various devices connected to the U-bus are connected. Figure 2
Then, in addition to the exchange module 205 described above, a bird disk 203 that is standardly installed in the computer 201.
And a memory 204 are connected. Also, the RTC 102
Can also be connected to this CPU bus. In the case of FIG. 2, the interrupt signal from the RTC 102 is C
CPU10 not by PU bus but by unique interrupt line
It has been entered in 3.

On the other hand, among the exchange modules 205, the bus interface 202 is used to interface with the CPU bus.

In the case of the above configuration, the time data is C
When transmitting from the PU 103 to the exchange module 205, the time data will flow on the CPU bus. However, the bus right to use the CPU bus cannot be acquired at any timing. That is, when a large amount of data is being transferred to the hard disk 203, the CPU bus is occupied for that reason and cannot be used for other operations. In this case, the transmission of the time data is delayed until the large-capacity data transfer is completed (the bus right is released). Along with this, the time display on the extension terminal is also delayed.

A second embodiment will be described below in which the delay of the display on each extension terminal can be minimized even when the transmission of the time data is disturbed.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the timer TM 206 exists in the CC 106 in the exchange module 205. The TM 206 operates autonomously based on a clock (not shown) in the CC 106, and an arbitrary value T
By designating the internal counter of M206, the CC 106 can be notified of any timing by means such as an interrupt.

For example, the clock operates at 5 MHz,
Set 50,000 to the internal counter of TM206 (1
Up to 65535 if it is a 6-bit wide internal counter
(It is possible to set the value up to). When the internal counter is decremented by 1 in 1 clock and the internal counter is notified to CC 106 at the moment, and the internal counter is also set to 50000, The CC 106 is notified every 10 msec.

If the CC 106 increments the value (soft counter) of the memory 107 at a certain address by 1 at each timing, the time can be measured in units of 10 msec. For example, in order to achieve 1 minute under the above conditions, it is sufficient to monitor whether the soft counter has been incremented 6000 times.

In the above configuration, C as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that there is a delay in transmission of time data from PU 103. Note that FIG. 3 shows the CPU 10 in the time data transmission.
3 to CC106 timing, CC106 to MF
The timing to T110 and the reset timing of the soft counter to 0 are shown.

In the figure, the CPU 103 to CC10
Time data is normally sent to 6 at a predetermined interval T (hereinafter, 1 minute in this example). However, the CPU bus right could not be acquired due to some reason,
It is assumed that the time data transmission is delayed. In this case, C in FIG.
As shown in the timing chart from the PU 103 to the CC 106, the time data is not sent at the timing of the broken line, and the timing of the solid line is delayed.

Therefore, the operation of the second embodiment in this case will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of CC 106 started at the time of incrementing the soft counter of TM 206, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of CC 106 started at the time of receiving time data from CPU 103. .

In FIG. 4, when the soft counter is incremented by the counting operation of TM206,
First, the CC 106 determines whether or not the value of the soft counter exceeds a predetermined value (S401). Here, the predetermined value is a value of the soft counter obtained from the time interval at which the time data should originally be received. For example, if the above-mentioned timer operating condition is used as it is, 6000 is obtained when measuring a time interval of 1 minute. It becomes a predetermined value.

In S401, if NO, the process ends without performing any processing, but if YES, the time (1 minute) at which the original time data should be received has elapsed from the time when the previous time data was received. Shows that
The time stored in the memory 107 (the time of the previously received time data) is incremented by one minute, the time data is transmitted to each MFT 110, and the data is stored in the memory 107 (S40).
2).

Now, when the time data is received from the CPU 103, the CC 106 performs the operation shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, first, the CC 106 first checks whether or not the time indicated by the received time data is ahead of the time stored in the memory 107 (S501).

If the answer is YES, it means that the time data transmission due to the soft counter overflow shown in FIG. 4 has not been performed yet. Therefore, the received current time data is transmitted to each MFT 110 and this data is transmitted. It is stored in the memory 107 (S502). In the case of NO, it means that the time update by the software counter has already been performed, so S502 is not executed.

Then, in preparation for the next increment of the soft counter, the soft counter is reset to 0 (S
503).

The process of FIG. 5 is premised on that the process of FIG. 4 does not interrupt. This is because if the process of FIG. 4 is interrupted immediately after the process of S502 and the process of S402 is executed, the time is continuously updated, resulting in an erroneous process. Here, even if the process of FIG. 4 is an interrupt process, the process of FIG. 5 has a mechanism for preventing the interrupt.

By the cooperation operation of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, it is possible to deal with the case where the transmission of the time data from the CPU 103 to the CC 106 is delayed.

That is, in CC 106, when the reception of the current time data is delayed by 1 minute or more from the reception of the previous time data, CC 106 is processed according to the flowchart of FIG.
106 can send to each MFT 110 the time data that it would otherwise receive.

In CC 106, when the time data is received earlier than the occurrence of the event in which the soft counter exceeds the predetermined value, according to the flowchart of FIG.
Since the time data is transmitted to each MFT 110 and the soft counter is reset to 0, the time data transmission in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is not executed.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the CPU 103
When the transmission of time data from CC to CC106 is delayed,
At least when a predetermined time has passed from the previous time data, the time data is transmitted to each MFT 110,
The time display delay can be minimized.

However, in the second embodiment, when the soft counter exceeds the predetermined value and the time data is transmitted from the CC 106, the soft counter is not reset to 0 unless the time data is transmitted from the CPU 103. When the transmission of the time data from the CPU 103 is delayed by the transmission interval or more (when the time data is transmitted at least twice even though it should have been transmitted at least twice), the time data is transmitted from the CC 106 at the time of the first time update. However, there is a drawback that the CC 106 cannot recognize it at the time of the next time update and the time data is not transmitted. A system that solves this problem will be described with reference to a third embodiment below.

As the configuration diagram of the third embodiment, FIG. 2 is used as in the second embodiment. Here, FIG.
It is assumed that there is a delay in the transmission of time data from the CPU 103 as shown in FIG. Similar to FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing various timings, and in FIG.
It shows the timing when the delay of the transmission of the time data to C106 is longer than the transmission interval, that is, one interval time or more.

The operation of the third embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7 is similar to FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of CC106 started at the time of the increment of the soft counter of M206.

In FIG. 7, when the soft counter is incremented, it is checked whether the soft counter has exceeded a predetermined number of times (S701), as in S401. If the check result is YES, the data of the current time stored in the memory 107 is advanced by 1 minute, transmitted to each MFT 110, and this data is stored in the memory 107 (S70).
2). Then, in preparation for the next increment of the soft counter, the soft counter is reset to 0 (S70).
3).

By doing the above, the CPU 1
Even if the time data from 03 is not sent for a long time, CC
The TM206, which is the internal timer of 106, and the soft counter repeatedly execute the flowchart of FIG.
The time display of each MFT 110 can be continuously updated autonomously.

While CC 106 performs the operations of FIG. 7, C
As the processing to be performed when the time data is received from the UP 103, the operation described in FIG. 5 may be executed. The 0 reset of the soft counter will be performed when the operations of FIGS. 7 and 5 are executed.

As described above, by executing the operations shown in FIGS. 7 and 5, even when the timing of transmitting the time data from CPU 103 to CC 106 is as shown in FIG. 6, the time data from CC 106 to each MFT 110 is transmitted. The transmission and the reset of the soft counter are executed as shown in FIG.

That is, when the transmission of the time data is delayed,
Although the soft counter is frequently reset, each M
There is no problem because the time update for the FT 110 is performed accurately.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the CPU 103
Even when the transmission of the time data from 1 is delayed by one interval or more, the CC 106 autonomously transmits the time data to each MFT 110, and the time display on the MFT 110 can be performed without delay.

Further, in the above embodiment, the PBX 104 and the exchange module 205 are cited as an example of the main unit, and the MFT 110 is cited as an example of the extension terminal. However, the present invention is not limited to these, and in short, the main unit is a time unit. The data may be sent to the extension terminal, and the extension terminal may display the time data from the main device.

[0060]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention.
According to this, even if the main device does not have a real-time clock, the current time data is sent to each extension terminal without delay from the time update of the minutes in the time notification device, and by displaying it, each extension can be displayed. The terminal has the effect of being able to display accurate time updates.

According to claim 2 of the present invention, even when the transmission of the time data from the time notification device to the main device is delayed, each extension terminal is at least when a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous time data. Time data is sent to
This has the effect of minimizing the delay in displaying the time.

Further, according to claim 3 of the present invention, even when the transmission of the time data from the time notification device is delayed by one interval or more, the main device autonomously transmits the time data to each extension terminal. Therefore, there is an effect that the time can be displayed on the extension terminal without delay.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a time communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a time communication system according to second and third embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart illustrating the operation of the third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a time communication system in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 ... Time notification device, 102 ... RTC, 103 ... CPU, 104 ... PBX, 106 ... CC, 107 ... Memory, 108 ... Communication interface, 109 ... MFTI, 110 ... MFT, 202 ... Bus interface, 205 ... Exchange module, 206 … TM.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A time notification system having a main device for performing exchange control, an extension terminal connected to the main device, and a time notification device, wherein the main device receives the time data from the time notification device. Means, first transmitting means for transmitting time data to the extension terminal, and control means for transmitting the time data received by the receiving means to the extension terminal by using the first transmitting means, The above-mentioned time notification device has a second transmitting means for transmitting time data to the above-mentioned main device at predetermined time intervals, the time notification system. 2. The main unit according to claim 1, wherein the main unit has a timer unit, a storage unit for storing time data received by the receiving unit, and a count of the timer unit when the receiving unit receives the time data. When the count number of the timer means exceeds a predetermined number, the control means for advancing the time data stored in the storage means by a predetermined time and transmitting the time data to the extension terminal using the transmitting means. The time notification device further includes second transmitting means for transmitting time data to the main device at each predetermined time. 3. The time according to claim 2, wherein the main device has a control means for starting the counting of the timer means from the beginning when the count number of the timer means exceeds a predetermined number. Notification system.