JPH09321891A - Pager calling communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the pager calling communication equipment in which a message to be sent to a pager is confirmed simply from any telephone set. SOLUTION: A network control section 14 of a pager calling communication equipment is provided with a PB signal generating circuit 16 and a tone signal reception circuit 17 is able to reply a communication installation of a base station of a pager by a tone signal. An operation display section 21 is provided with a display device 23 to display characters entered through combinations of numerals from a key board 22 and a character generator 24 for generating characters. A message in an entered character string is stored in a system memory 13 and then sent to a base station, but before that, visual confirmation/ correction of the message by the display device 23 and the audible confirmation/ correction of the message through a voice sound from a speaker 29 are attained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pager calling communication device for calling a pager using a telephone line, and more particularly to a pager calling communication device convenient for sending a message to a pager.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A pager (pager, pocket pager) is commonly called a pager, and it is possible to call its owner by using sound or vibration and to display numbers or characters to be transmitted to its display. It has become. As a pager calling communication device for calling such a pager, an ordinary telephone connected to a telephone line is used. The operator who wants to make a call operates the touch-tone telephone to input the telephone number of a predetermined pager carrier, and when inputting a message, inputs these messages subsequently. These dial information and messages are sent to the communication equipment on the base station side calling the pager via a telephone line. In the communication equipment on the base station side, a radio signal is sent to a corresponding pager, and the pager is called to perform a necessary display or operation.

By the way, data input from the telephone to the owner of the pager is performed by operating dial keys of the telephone. When displaying characters other than numbers such as kana and kanji on the pager, these keys are not arranged on the telephone. Therefore, the operator uses a numeric keypad of the telephone or a special key such as "#" to input a message composed of a predetermined combination of numbers corresponding to each character. The operator can only enter the message by visually checking the list of numbers written on memo paper etc. with the numbers displayed on the display of the telephone, and the pager cannot read the wrong number. In some cases, such a message was sent.

Therefore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-212061, a facsimile apparatus is used as the pager calling communication apparatus to display the contents of a message input from a keyboard equipped with full keys such as alphanumeric characters and kana on an LCD display section. A technique is disclosed in which the content of the transmitted message can be confirmed and the transmitted message is recorded in the recording unit. As a result, it is possible to confirm the content of the message displayed on the LCD display unit, correct the error, and then send the data to the pager.

Further, in JP-A-3-34756,
When the caller inputs data to the pager via the telephone, the wireless transmission device side that sends this data to the pager converts the sent data into voice data. Then, the converted voice data is transmitted to the sender so that the sender can confirm the content of the message sent. When the sender determines that the content of the message is valid, the wireless transmission device side sends this message to the pager side, so that the error of the message can be prevented in advance.

[0006]

However, according to the former Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-212061, characters are not input by a combination of numbers, but characters are input from a keyboard equipped with full keys such as alphanumeric characters and kana. It is decided to input and convert this into a PB signal (DTMF signal) sent from a normal telephone. Therefore, when using an ordinary telephone such as a public telephone used when going out, it is impossible to confirm the input characters. Further, since this facsimile machine has a special keyboard provided with full keys such as alphanumeric characters and kana, the same display confirmation work cannot be performed by a normal facsimile machine.

On the other hand, the latter Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-3475
According to the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6, when a normal telephone is used, the content of the message can be confirmed by returning the voice to the caller from the wireless transmission device side. However, at a business office, etc., a simple exchange telephone device (key telephone syst
The technology described in this publication cannot be used in a telephone system in which functions such as line selection are realized by operating buttons on each telephone when em) is used. In addition, this technology requires special equipment to be added to the wireless transmission device side, which requires a major system change on a nationwide scale.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a pager call communication device capable of easily confirming a message to be sent to a pager from any telephone.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, (a) character data conversion means for converting this into character data according to a combination of numbers, and (b)
Display means for visually displaying the character converted by the character data converting means, and (c) voice data converting means for converting the character data converted by the character data converting means into voice data, D) A signal converting means for converting a combination of numbers into a PB signal, and (e) a signal for transmitting the PB signal converted by this signal converting means to a communication facility on the base station side calling a pager through a telephone line. The pager calling communication device is provided with a sending means.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the pager calling communication device is provided with character data conversion means for converting a combination of numbers into character data, and the converted character is displayed on the display means, whereby the character (character) is displayed. You can check the. Further, the converted character data is further converted into voice data so that the message can be confirmed by voice.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the pager calling communication device is provided with a memory for temporarily storing the telephone number and character data of the pager. As a result, the contents of the visually or audibly confirmed message can be stored in the memory and quickly transferred to the communication equipment on the base station side.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the pager calling communication device is provided with voice data conversion instruction means, and the voice data conversion means converts the voice data into voice data only when the voice data conversion instruction means instructs conversion to voice data. I am trying to convert. Thereby, the input of the message can be confirmed only when the voice output is required. For example, a visually handicapped person can operate a ten-key pad having different sounds to input a character, which can be confirmed by a speaker or an earphone.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a circuit configuration of a pager calling communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
This pager calling communication device is a CPU (central processing unit) 1
It is equipped with 1. The CPU 11 is connected to each unit in the device via the system bus 12. Of these, the system memory 13 stores a program for performing various controls of the pager calling communication device, and temporarily stores control data, a telephone number and a message to be transmitted to the pager. . It also has a conversion table for converting input numbers into characters.
The network control unit 14 is adapted to perform a predetermined call or call receiving operation with the telephone line 15 by transmitting a selection signal corresponding to the telephone number of the call destination or detecting an incoming call. There is. The network control unit 14 is provided with a PB signal generation circuit 16 for transmitting a selection signal according to the PB signal.

The pager calling communication device has a calling function for calling a pager via a base station (not shown). The tone signal receiving circuit 17 is adapted to receive various tone signals transmitted from the base station via the telephone line 15 at the time of this transmission operation.

The operation display unit 2 of this pager calling communication device
1 is a keyboard 22, a display 23, and a character generator 2
It is equipped with 4. The keyboard 22 has a numeric keypad, #
Only special keys such as are arranged, and the structure is the same as that of a normal telephone. The display unit 23 is composed of a liquid crystal display having a display range at least equivalent to that of the display unit provided in the pager. Character generator 24
When the keyboard 22 is set to the character input mode, a character pattern corresponding to the character information consisting of a combination of inputted numbers is generated. The generated character pattern is displayed character by character at the corresponding display location on the display 23, and the message being input is displayed.

The voice synthesis control section 25 includes a voice synthesis circuit 26.
And a voice amplifier circuit 27 for amplifying the synthesized voice, and the amplified voice signal 28 is supplied to the speaker 29 to output the voice. An earphone output terminal may be provided, and in this case, by inserting the earphone into this terminal, sound can be heard from the earphone instead of the speaker.

FIG. 2 shows a flow of operations for setting and canceling the pager mode as a mode for issuing a call instruction to the pager in the pager calling communication device having such a configuration. The CPU 11 (FIG. 1) in the pager calling communication device monitors whether or not the pager mode for calling the pager is set by operating the operation display unit 21 (step S101). For example, if the operator presses a "special" key (not shown) in the operation display unit 21 to input a combination of numbers promised for setting the pager mode and then presses the "special" key again, the CP
U11 sets the device to pager mode (step S
102). In addition, in order to return to the normal telephone mode after the pager mode is set, the pager mode release instruction is given by another predetermined operation (step S103; Y), and the normal telephone mode is returned (step S103). S104).

FIG. 3 shows the work until a call is made to the pager in the pager mode. In the pager mode, the operator first inputs the telephone number of the pager to be called (step S201). The input telephone number is displayed on the display 23 as in the conventional telephone. If it is confirmed that the contents are correct, the operator may call the telephone number as it is, or may add a message to the calling contents. To call only the pager without adding a message, press the "call" key on the keyboard 22 (step S
202; Y). Then, an instruction to make a call is issued by this telephone number (step S203).

On the other hand, when adding a message, the operator presses the "#" key in the keyboard 2 (step S204; Y). As a result, when the character input mode in the pager mode is set and the set of numbers corresponding to the characters is input (step S205; Y), the CPU 1
Reference numeral 1 retrieves a number-character correspondence table (not shown) stored in the system memory 13 and converts it into the corresponding character.
Then, the character generator 24 generates a character pattern of the character and displays the character pattern on the corresponding portion of the display 23 (step S206).

The above character input operation can be freely performed until the operator presses a "call" key or "monitor" key (not shown) on the keyboard 22. When the character input for the desired message is completed, the operator presses the "call" key or the "monitor" key (steps S207, S).
208). If you press the "Call" key (step S
207; Y), a caller instruction is immediately issued to send the pager's telephone number and message (step S20).
3). That is, in this case, the work of confirming the message by voice is omitted.

On the other hand, when the operator presses the "monitor" key (step S208; Y), the code information corresponding to the input character string is sent to the voice synthesis control section 25, where it is converted into voice. To be done. Then, the message is output as voice from the speaker 29 (step S20).
9). When this voice output is completed, the operator can press the "call" key or the "hold" key on the keyboard 22 (steps S210 and S211).

When the "hold" key is pressed (step S211; Y), the process returns to step 205. That is, the operator can enter a number to correct the wrong character. When the operator presses the "call" key (step S210; Y), there is no problem in the input contents. In this case, the telephone number of the pager and the call instruction for transmitting the message are issued (step S203).

FIG. 4 shows a flow of control after the caller is instructed to the pager in the pager mode. When a calling instruction is issued in step S203 of FIG. 3, the network control unit 14 operates to call the telephone number stored in the system memory 13 (step S301). As a result, the communication equipment on the base station side for calling the corresponding pager is called. Then CP
U11 monitors whether a tone signal is received from this communication equipment within a fixed time (step S302).
When the tone signal is not received within the fixed time (step S303; Y), 3 calls are made to the telephone number.
It is checked whether it is less than or equal to the number of times (step S30).
4). If the number of calls is three or less (Y), the line is disconnected once (step S305), and after a predetermined time has elapsed (step S306; Y), the call is tried again (step S3).
01). In this way, multiple calls are attempted when busy. If the number of calls is four or more (step S304; N), the line is disconnected (step S30).
7), the control ends (end). That is, communication with the pager is abandoned.

On the other hand, when the tone signal receiving circuit 17 of the pager calling communication device receives the tone signal within the fixed time (step S302; Y), the CPU 11 monitors the subsequent reception of the character acceptance tone (step). S
308). When the letter reception tone is sent (Y), C
The PU 11 checks whether data relating to the message is stored in the system memory 11 in association with the telephone number (step S309). If the data related to the message is stored (Y), the PB signal code of the combination of numbers corresponding to the unprocessed leading character of the message to be notified is set to PB.
The signal is generated by the signal generation circuit 16 and sent to the communication equipment on the partner side (step S310).

Upon receiving this PB signal, the communication equipment side transmits a tone signal again to the pager calling communication device side.
The pager calling communication device then returns to step 302 to monitor the receipt of this tone signal. As long as there are characters that make up the message, P for the communication equipment side
The B signal is repeatedly transmitted (step S302-).
S310). In this way, when the CPU 11 detects that the sending of all the messages is completed at the stage of receiving the character acceptance tone (step S308; Y) (step S309; N), it sends an end code to the communication facility side ( (Step S311), all work in the pager mode is ended.

When the communication equipment side normally receives the PB signal code and then receives the end code, it sends a normal end tone indicating that the series of codes has been normally received to the pager calling communication device. When the pager calling communication device detects this normal termination tone (step S3).
12; Y), and the series of pager modes has been normally completed, so the line is disconnected (step S307).

In the above-described embodiment, a normal telephone is explained, but a telephone connected to a private branch exchange can also call a pager in the same manner if each telephone has a circuit component having a similar function. You can check the situation.

Further, in the embodiment, various special keys on the keyboard are assigned for the operation, but dedicated keys may be arranged or other keys may be used for these operations. Of course good things.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the pager calling communication device is provided with character data conversion means for converting a combination of numbers into character data,
Since the converted characters are displayed on the display means, it is possible to visually confirm the character strings that make up the message, and also to confirm the message by voice. Can be done perfectly. In particular, a visually handicapped person can easily confirm a message by voice.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the content of the visually or audibly confirmed message is stored in the memory and the call is made. Therefore, the message is quickly transferred to the communication equipment on the base station side. Therefore, the communication cost can be reduced as compared with the case of inputting characters one by one during a call on the telephone.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, since the voice can be output as needed, the confirmation of the message to be transmitted without the voice being output so as not to be known to others. There is an advantage that a plurality of persons can easily confirm the message by performing the message or, on the contrary, outputting the voice.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a circuit configuration of a pager call communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations for setting and canceling a pager mode in a pager calling communication device.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing work until a call is made to the pager in pager mode.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control flow after a caller instruction is given to a pager in a pager mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 CPU 13 System Memory 14 Network Control Section 16 PB Signal Generation Circuit 17 Tone Signal Reception Circuit 21 Operation Display Section 22 Keyboard 23 Display 24 Character Generator 25 Speech Synthesis Control Section 26 Speech Synthesis Circuit 29 Speaker

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A character data conversion means for converting this into character data according to a combination of numbers, a display means for visually displaying the character converted by the character data conversion means, and the character data conversion. The voice data conversion means for converting the character data after being converted by the means into the voice data, the signal conversion means for converting the combination of the numbers into the PB signal, and the PB signal after being converted by the signal conversion means. A pager calling communication device, comprising: a signal sending means for sending to a communication facility on the side of a base station calling the device via a telephone line. 2. A pager's telephone number and a memory for temporarily storing character data are provided, and said signal transmission means sends the pager's telephone number stored in this memory to said base station communication equipment. The pager call communication device according to claim 1, wherein character data is transferred. 3. The character data after having been converted by the character data converting means only when the audio data conversion instructing means has an instruction to convert to voice data. The pager call communication device according to claim 1, wherein the pager call communication device converts the voice data into voice data.