JPH1141356A - Voice storing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the delay of program searching in reproduction, and to prevent a message from being interrupted in reproduction by providing a main controlling part for storing voice data to be reproduced the next by block units sequentially from a buffer memory pertinent to a preliminarily decided condition whose priority is high. SOLUTION: This device is constituted of a voice processing part 2 for reading a voice message stored in a storing part 3 by block units, temporarily storing it, and transmitting it to a line controlling part 1 at a reproducing speed designated by a user, and a main controlling part 4 for controlling the operation of the line controlling part 1 and the voice processing part 2. Then, during the reproduction of the voice message, voice data to be reproduced the next are read from the storing part 3, and sequentially stored in the empty memory area of a buffer memory. Therefore, the buffering time of the buffer memory can be minimized so that a program searching time at the starting of reproduction can be minimized. Also, the voice data are stored so that the voice message which is being reproduced can be transmitted without being interrupted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is connected to a plurality of telephones via a telephone network and provides a user with a desired voice message among voice messages stored in advance in response to an incoming call from the telephone. The present invention relates to a voice storage device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional voice storage device of this type, voice messages are stored in a storage device such as a hard disk device in advance, and the voice messages stored in the storage device are read out in predetermined block units, and the voice data ( Blocks) are sent out to the line in the order of accumulation to reproduce one continuous voice message. In this case, in order to average processing of reproduction requests from a plurality of lines to the same storage device, the audio storage device is generally provided with a buffer memory for temporarily storing audio data for each line.

[0003] As a conventional audio storage device using this buffer memory, the technology is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-59-52414 or JP-A-61-233796.

JP-A-59-52414 has a buffer memory having two surfaces for storing voice messages, one of which is connected to an interface with a telephone network, and the other is connected to a telephone network. When the voice message is connected to the pre-stored storage unit and the reproduction of the voice message on one side connected to the interface unit is completed, the plane is switched to continue the reproduction of the voice message, and the other side is switched to the other side. A technique for storing the next audio data by a point in time is described.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-233796 has a buffer memory having two surfaces for storing voice messages, and a buffer for delaying access time to a storage unit in which voice messages are stored in advance. A method is described for dealing with interruptions of voice messages by applying silence or white noise when the buffer time of the memory is exceeded.

[0006]

However, among the conventional voice storage devices described above, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-524 / 1984
In the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 14, there is a problem in that cueing is delayed at the start of reproduction of a voice message.

In the voice storage device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-52414, when the reproduction of a voice message is started,
Regardless of the playback speed, it is necessary to wait until the writing of audio data to one side of the buffer memory is completed.

In the case of double-speed playback in which a voice message is played back at twice the normal speed (the same speed as when a voice message is stored in the storage unit), the amount of voice messages stored in the buffer memory is at a normal speed. Twice as much as Therefore, an increase in the storage amount of the audio data leads to an increase in the writing time, and the cueing is greatly delayed during the double-speed reproduction.

On the other hand, the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-233796 has a problem that the fidelity of a reproduced voice message is reduced.

In the voice storage device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-233796, when the speed at which voice data is written to the buffer memory cannot follow the speed at which a voice message is sent to the line (reproduction speed), a sound equivalent to silence is produced. Inserted. However, since the information "silence" is added to the original sound, the voice message cannot be faithfully reproduced. Silence in audio information is important information called “between”. Also, this "silence"
Since the place where the information is inserted is indefinite, the reproduced voice message may be difficult to hear or the cue may be delayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and reduces a delay in cueing at the start of reproduction of a voice message and interrupts the message at the time of reproduction. It is an object of the present invention to provide a voice storage device that does not have any problem.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a voice storage device of the present invention is connected to a plurality of telephones via a telephone network, and is stored in advance in response to an incoming call from the telephone. Among voice messages, a voice storage device that provides a desired voice message to a user, and a storage unit in which the voice message is divided into a plurality of blocks and stored, and receives an incoming call from the telephone, A line control unit for transmitting the voice message via a line at a reproduction speed designated by the user, and a buffer memory for temporarily storing the audio data of the block corresponding to each line; A voice processing unit for reading out a message from the storage unit in units of the block and transmitting the voice data to the line control unit according to a reproduction speed designated by the user; Unit, and for each line, before the transmission of the voice message is started, a predetermined number of blocks of voice data are stored in the buffer memory, and during the transmission of the voice message, a predetermined high priority condition is satisfied. A main control unit for accumulating audio data to be reproduced next in order from the buffer memory in block units.

At this time, when the audio data stored in the buffer memory becomes equal to or less than a predetermined number of blocks, the main control unit instructs the line control unit to send a signal to the line corresponding to the buffer memory. The voice message may be transmitted at a normal playback speed, and the voice processing unit may transmit the voice data stored in the buffer memory to the line control unit according to the normal playback speed.

The voice storage device configured as described above is
Prior to the start of the transmission of the voice message, a predetermined number of blocks of voice data are stored in the buffer memory, and during the transmission of the voice message, the voice data is sequentially transmitted in block units from the buffer memory corresponding to the predetermined high priority condition. By accumulating the audio data, it is possible to most efficiently execute the audio data accumulation processing of all the buffer memories.

When the audio data stored in the buffer memory becomes equal to or less than a predetermined number of blocks, the line control unit instructs the line control unit to reproduce a normal voice message on the line corresponding to the buffer memory. Speed, and the audio processing unit sends the audio data stored in the buffer memory to the line control unit according to the normal playback speed, so that the audio data is always buffered within the range of the reading capability from the storage unit. Stored in memory.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a voice storage device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a line control unit and a voice processing unit shown in FIG. Note that FIG.
Shows the configuration of a line control unit and a voice processing unit corresponding to one line. When the line control unit is connected to the telephone network by N lines, each component of the line control unit and the voice processing unit is N lines are provided for each line.

In FIG. 1, a voice storage device is connected to a telephone network 5 by a plurality of lines, and provides a voice message desired by a user by an incoming call from a plurality of telephones 6 connected to the telephone network 5.

The voice storage device is composed of a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk device, and is connected by a plurality of lines to a storage unit 3 in which voice messages are previously divided into a plurality of blocks and stored, and a telephone network 5. A line control unit 1 for performing interface processing for each line, and a voice message stored in a storage unit 3 which is read out in blocks and temporarily stored, and is connected at a playback speed (double speed or normal speed) designated by a user. Voice processing unit 2 to be sent to control unit 1
And a main control unit 4 for controlling the operations of the line control unit 1 and the audio processing unit 2.

In FIG. 2, the audio processing unit 2 has a buffer memory 21 corresponding to each line.
Is composed of, for example, five blocks of memory area.
The voice processing unit 2 reads the voice message stored in the storage unit 3 as voice data in arbitrary block units,
The data is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 21. Further, the audio data stored in the buffer memory 21 is transmitted to the line control unit 1 at a specified reproduction speed.

The line control unit 1 includes a line interface unit 11 for processing an incoming call, and a push-button signal receiving unit for detecting a double-speed reproduction instruction or a double-speed reproduction release instruction of a voice message transmitted from a user by a PB tone. And a double-speed mode control unit 13 which receives a double-speed reproduction instruction and a double-speed reproduction release instruction output from the push button signal receiving unit 12 and designates normal speed reproduction or double-speed reproduction of a voice message to the buffer memory 21.
And is constituted by.

In such a configuration, when audio data is read from a storage device such as a hard disk device used in the storage unit 3, a read delay time such as a seek time occurs. When audio data is read from the storage unit 3 in block units as in the present embodiment, a read delay time occurs between blocks. For this reason, the buffer memory 21 is provided with, for example, a memory area for five blocks,
When transmitting the voice message to the telephone network 5, two blocks of voice data are stored in the buffer memory 21 in advance before the voice message is reproduced. During the reproduction of the voice message, the next voice data to be reproduced is read from the storage unit 3 and is sequentially stored in a free memory area of the buffer memory 21. The storage time of the audio data for two blocks stored in advance at the start of the reproduction is the cueing time at the time of reproducing the voice message. By performing the above processing, the voice message is reproduced as a continuous message without interruption.

In the case where voice messages are transmitted simultaneously to a large number of lines, voice data cannot be simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of buffer memories 21 from the storage unit 3, which is a single hard disk device. A priority is given to each of the buffer memories 21, and voice messages are stored in order from the buffer memory 21 having the highest priority.

Voice messages are stored in the buffer memory 21 in block units. When the voice messages are played back at normal speed, the voice messages are read out in the order of storage and sent to the line control unit 1. On the other hand, when reproducing at double speed, the block (audio data) read from the buffer memory 21 is divided into a plurality of frames, and for example, every other frame such as the first frame, the third frame, and the fifth frame. It is sent to the line control unit 1.

The above processing is executed by the voice processing unit 2 in accordance with an instruction from the main control unit 4.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 and FIG.
The operation of the audio processing unit and the main control unit will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the relationship between the line control unit, the audio processing unit, and the main control unit shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the processing contents of the main control unit shown in FIG. 1, and is a data table describing the priorities when reading a voice message from a storage unit into a buffer memory of the voice processing unit.

As shown in FIG. 3, the line control unit 1 has a line interface unit 1 corresponding to each of a plurality of lines (N lines).
It has 1 ₁ to 11 _N, and speed mode control unit 13 ₁ to 13 _N, respectively. The buffer memory 21 ₁ to 21 corresponding to each of a plurality of lines (N lines) are the audio processing section 2
_{Has N.}

As described above, when transmitting voice messages to a large number of lines simultaneously, the main control unit 4 assigns priorities to the buffer memories 21 _{1 to} 21 _N corresponding to the lines, and Voice messages are stored in 21 _{1 to} 21 _N according to their priorities.

The main control unit 4 controls each double speed mode control unit 13 ₁
１３13 _N , and each buffer memory 21 ₁ ２１21 _N
The state of storage of the audio data is monitored, and a buffer memory for storing the next audio data is determined in accordance with, for example, the priority order shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4A, in each of the buffer memories 21 _{1 to} 21 _N , the available memory area (remaining buffer capacity) and whether the voice message is being reproduced at double speed to the corresponding line. Priority is given depending on whether or not.

For example, if the free memory area is equal to or less than a predetermined number of blocks (specified value) and the corresponding line is performing double-speed reproduction, priority A (highest priority) is assigned to the buffer memory.

When the available memory area is a predetermined number of blocks (specified value) and the corresponding line is being reproduced at a normal speed, a priority B (next priority) is given to the buffer memory. . Hereinafter, audio data is stored in the buffer memory 21 in the order of priority C and priority D.

Further, buffer memories 21 of the same priority
In the case where there are a plurality of audio data, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B, audio data is sequentially accumulated from the buffer memory 21 corresponding to the line with the lowest number.

The processing of accumulating audio data in the buffer memory 21 based on the priority order excludes the buffer memory 21 in which the memory area for five blocks is already full. In the buffer memory 21 where the memory area is already full, audio data more than necessary at that time is accumulated, so the buffer time of the buffer memory 21 increases, and the reproduction request increases instantaneously. Even if you can deal with.

Therefore, during the transmission of the voice message, the voice data is sequentially stored in block units from the buffer memory 21 corresponding to the predetermined high priority condition. Processing is performed most efficiently. This is equivalent to increasing the speed of accumulating audio data in the buffer memory 21, so that the buffer memory buffer time can be minimized (2).
Blocks).

Accordingly, the cueing time at the start of the reproduction of the voice message can be minimized.

When a voice message is reproduced at double speed, the time required for reproduction is 1/1 / of the reproduction time at normal speed.
2, and the storage time of the audio data in the buffer memory 21 needs to be の of the normal speed.

When the number of incoming calls to the line control unit 1 is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number K, the double-speed mode control unit 13 performs double-speed reproduction in accordance with a double-speed reproduction instruction from a user, and performs double-speed reproduction. Release unconditionally by release instruction.

Here, K is a value determined from the relationship between the amount of audio data stored in the buffer memory 21 per unit time and the amount of reading, and is set on the assumption that audio messages are reproduced at a normal speed. You. If the number of incoming calls is larger than K, the readout amount may exceed the accumulation amount, so that the reception of the double-speed playback instruction is limited. If the incoming call generated after the reception of the double-speed playback instruction causes the read amount to exceed the storage amount and the voice data stored in the buffer memory 21 becomes insufficient, the line for the double-speed playback corresponding to the buffer memory 21 is performed. Is switched to normal speed playback. By doing so, interruption of the voice message being reproduced is prevented.

The lack of audio data is defined as, for example, when audio data stored in the buffer memory 21 is less than two blocks in the memory area.

As described above, when the audio data stored in the buffer memory 21 becomes equal to or less than a predetermined number of blocks, the line for the double speed reproduction is switched to the normal speed reproduction, whereby the data from the storage unit 3 is output. Since the audio data is always stored in the buffer memory within the range of the reading ability, the audio message being reproduced can be transmitted without interruption.

[0043]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

Prior to the start of the transmission of the voice message, a predetermined number of blocks of voice data are stored in the buffer memory. By accumulating data in block units, the accumulation processing of audio data in all buffer memories can be executed most efficiently, and the buffer time of the buffer memory can be minimized. Can be minimized.

When the audio data stored in the buffer memory becomes equal to or less than a predetermined number of blocks, the line control unit instructs the line control unit to reproduce a normal voice message on the line corresponding to the buffer memory. Speed, and the audio processing unit sends the audio data stored in the buffer memory to the line control unit according to the normal playback speed, so that the audio data is always buffered within the range of the reading capability from the storage unit. Since the voice message is stored in the memory, the voice message being reproduced can be transmitted without interruption.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a voice storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a line control unit and a voice processing unit illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a relationship among a line control unit, a voice processing unit, and a main control unit illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a data table showing processing contents of a main control unit shown in FIG. 1 and describing a priority when reading a voice message from a storage unit into a buffer memory of the voice processing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 line control unit 2 the audio processing unit 3 storing portion 4 main control unit 5 telephone network 6 phone 11, 11 ₁ to 11 _N line interface portion 12 push-button signal receiving unit 13, 13 ₁ to 13 _N speed mode control unit 21, 21 _{1 to} 21 _N buffer memory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A voice storage device connected to a plurality of telephones via a telephone network and providing a user with a desired voice message among voice messages stored in advance in response to an incoming call from the telephone. And a storage unit in which the voice message is divided into a plurality of blocks and stored in advance, and receives an incoming call from the telephone, and transmits the voice message via a line at a playback speed designated by the user. A line control unit for transmitting, and a buffer memory for temporarily storing the audio data of the block corresponding to each line, reading the audio message from the storage unit in units of the block, and using the audio data for the use. A voice processing unit for transmitting to the line control unit in accordance with a reproduction speed designated by a user; and for each of the lines, prior to starting transmission of the voice message. A predetermined number of blocks of audio data are stored in the buffer memory, and during transmission of the audio message, audio data to be reproduced next in order from the buffer memory corresponding to a predetermined high-priority condition in units of blocks. And a main control unit for storing. 2. The audio storage device according to claim 1, wherein the main control unit, when the audio data stored in the buffer memory becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined number of blocks, causes the line control unit to: An audio message is sent to the line corresponding to the buffer memory at a normal reproduction speed, and the audio processing unit is caused to transmit the audio data stored in the buffer memory to the line control unit according to the normal reproduction speed. A voice storage device characterized by the above.