JPS6333832B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an appropriate display of remaining talk time and charge collection in a digital public telephone system in which digital signals are transmitted and received between a public telephone and a central office device, without any adverse effect on communication. This relates to the digital public telephone system that can be used.

Traditional public telephone systems are based on analog systems, but there is a demand for public telephones to be able to provide not only telephone calls but also non-telephone services such as facsimile and handwritten character transmission.In order to meet this demand, It is necessary to connect public telephones to the digital integrated service network. In this case, it is desirable to digitalize the public telephone system, but there is a problem in terms of billing. In other words, the conventional analog system, which sends out a DC polarity reversal pulse every time the fee is collected to collect a unit fee of 10 yen, not only has a negative impact on communication, especially data transmission such as facsimile, but also has a negative effect on telephone calls (hereinafter referred to as (The original call and data transmission are collectively referred to as ``calls.'') Since the period of the DC polarization pulse is unknown at the beginning, the remaining call time is calculated based on the amount reserved in Zenido, and this is The disadvantage is that it cannot be notified to the user. On the other hand, a method of transmitting and receiving billing signals using FS signals outside the voice band may be considered, but this method has drawbacks such as lack of quick response due to limited signal capacity and difficulty in simultaneous voice and data communication.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to appropriately display remaining talkable time and collect charges without affecting calls in any way. The purpose is to provide a digital public telephone system.

The details of the present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples.

First, in the digital public telephone 1 shown in FIG. 1, 11 is a handset, 12 is a switch, 13
1 is a transmission control unit that performs transmission allocation of digitized voice, digital information from digital terminals, and digitized subscriber line signals, framing during transmission and reception, and synchronization extraction with the station;
Reference numeral 4 indicates a clock generating unit which performs transmission synchronization by synchronizing with the station's clock, and which is used for time counting and timing processing of each part of the telephone. 15 indicates a cash handling mechanism and cash register which performs counting of reserve amounts and storage of coins. A charge storage unit consisting of a processing mechanism; 16 a charge processing control unit that determines the storage of money based on billing information received from the station and status information of the station; 17 a control, input/output control, and status of each part of this public telephone; Terminal control section 18 is comprised of an LED display, etc., and displays call charges, remaining communication time, insufficient amount, etc.; 19 is a display section that displays various current audible signal tones (dial tone, busy tone, ring back, etc.); tone,
20 is a dial, 21 is a function button consisting of the trustee's KS key of this public telephone, a free communication key, a service switching button, etc., 22 is a codec ( 23 is a data terminal for performing non-telephone services other than voice such as facsimile and handwritten character transmission, and 24 is a communication circuit for controlling this data terminal. Data terminal control unit, 25 is a speaker that notifies the user of the ring tone, 26 is a timer, 27 is an input/output circuit, 28 is a CPU (microprocessor)
It is.

Next, in the station equipment 3 shown in the second diagram, 31 is a communication control unit that identifies the accommodated terminal and activates the terminal when receiving a call, 32 is an internal control unit that controls each part of this station equipment 3, and 33 is a synchronization unit for digital transmission. 34 is a signal processing unit that detects and inserts subscriber line signals, 35 is a transmission control unit on the station side, and 36 is a call charge. 37 is a dial number identification unit that determines the number of dial digits and connection destination, 38 is an exchange connection unit, and 39 is a ground determination, rate list, and hourly rate table. A charge information generation unit 40 that holds information such as a charge list is a charge storage unit that stores the amount collected by the public telephone 1 so that the station can grasp it.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a frame structure of a digital signal transmitted and received between the digital public telephone 1 and the in-office equipment 3, in which 51 is a synchronization frame, 52 is an audio channel for transmitting digitized voice signals and digital data, and 53 is a digital signal. This is a subscriber line signal channel that transmits digital monitoring signals, digital billing information, etc. In order to prevent subscriber line signals from affecting telephone calls (hereinafter collectively referred to as "calls" including data transmission in original telephone calls), an out-of-band format as shown is adopted.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate signal procedures for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 4 shows a general call initiation procedure, and FIG. 5 shows a call termination procedure. This is an example of the procedure from start to completion of recovery.

The operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described below with reference to the frame structure shown in FIG. 3 and the signal procedures shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

First, at a public telephone 1, the user uses the handset 11
When the telephone is picked up and the telephone switch 12 is turned on (off-hook), the terminal control unit 17 turns on the power to each part of the telephone, and also sends the information to the communication control unit 31 of the station equipment 3 via the subscriber line transmission line 2. We will notify you. In the station equipment 3, when the station control unit 32 detects a usage request based on information from the communication control unit, the public telephone 1 synchronizes by referring to the clock from the clock generation unit 33 in the station. The information (synchronization signal) necessary for
The information is sent to public telephone 1 via . When the telephone 1 receives a synchronization signal from the station via the transmission control unit 13, it synchronizes the clock from the clock generator 14 with the synchronization signal from the station, establishing synchronization between the station equipment and the telephone (fourth (See top of figure).

Next, the telephone 1 encodes usage request information indicating the type of usage request such as voice signal or data communication, and sends it into the subscriber signal channel 53 (see Figure 3) (see second row of Figure 4). . Upon receiving this, the station device 3 selects the calling fee corresponding to the usage request type, that is, the minimum fee necessary for making a call from the public telephone 1, from the service specification fee table 36, and then selects the calling fee according to the usage request type, that is, the minimum fee required for making a call from the public telephone 1, from the service specification fee table 36, with subscriber line signal channel 5
3 (see the third row of Figure 4). telephone 1
When the terminal control unit 17 of
Transfer to.

Upon receiving this, the CPU 28 stores the received call charge in a built-in RAM (random access memory) (not shown) and transfers it to the terminal control unit 1.
The data is displayed on the display unit 18 via the input/output circuit 27 in 7. When the user inserts money into the money mechanism in the fee storage unit 15, the CPU of the fee processing control unit 16
28 detects the reserve amount in the currency mechanism via the input/output circuit 29. The CPU 28 calculates the detected reserve amount and
The call charges in the RAM are compared, and if the reserve amount is insufficient, the insufficient charge necessary for making a call is flashed on the display unit 18 via the input/output circuit 27, prompting the user to add money.

If the reserved amount satisfies the calling fee, the CPU 28 notifies the terminal control unit 17 to that effect. Upon receiving this, the terminal control unit 17 encodes the calling information indicating that a call is to be made and the call type information such as money, CF, KS, etc. into a digital signal and sends it to the station equipment 3 using the subscriber line signal channel 53. Send. Upon receiving this, the in-office control unit 32 sends a selection signal reception enable and storage mode designation signal to the telephone 1 via the subscriber line signal channel 53. When the terminal control unit 17 receives this, it starts the oscillator 19 and makes the user hear a sound similar to the current dial tone (DT) through the handset 11, informing the user that it is okay to dial (Fig. 4). reference).

When the user presses the dial 20, the terminal control unit 1
7 encodes a selection signal corresponding to the pressed dial number and sends it to the station equipment 3 via the subscriber line signal channel. The in-office control unit 32 checks whether the received selection signal is correct or not using the dial number identification unit 37.
If the judgment is correct, the switching connection unit 38 is operated to perform a connection operation, and selection signal reception completion information is sent to the telephone 1 via the subscriber line signal channel.
Send to. In parallel with this, the station control unit 32
With reference to the charge information generation unit 39, the unit charge required for one charge determined by the identification of whether the call is a paid communication or a free communication, the service classification, the destination identification, and this unit charge is determined. After selecting a unit of time during which a call can be made, digital billing information, which is encoded charge information consisting of a unit charge and a unit time, is sent to the telephone 1 at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 0.5 seconds) via the subscriber line signal channel. Send to.

On the other hand, when the terminal control section 17 of the telephone set 1 detects billing information, that is, a unit charge and a unit time, in the channel 53, it transfers this to the charge processing control section 16. The fee processing control unit 16 that received this
The CPU 28 displays the billing information on the display section 18 and accumulates it in the built-in RAM, and continues to do so.
The previously stored calling charge (assumed to be A yen) is read from the RAM, and this is added to the unit charge (assumed to be B yen). This addition result (A+B)
The yen is the minimum call charge necessary to make a call with the other party for at least the unit time (T seconds) that can be made at the above unit charge. For coin-operated public telephones, both the A yen and B yen are selected to be integral multiples of an appropriate minimum monetary unit (for example, 10 yen).

Subsequently, the CPU 28 compares the reserve amount accumulated in Zenido (X ₀ yen) with the minimum call charge (A + B) yen at the current time, that is, at the start of the call, and calculates X ₀ - A. >B, the terminal control unit 17 is notified accordingly. At the same time, CPU2
8 calculates the remaining talkable time t by calculating t={(X ₀ −A)/B}T, holds this in a built-in register, and displays it on the display unit 18 via the input/output circuit 27. to be displayed. The terminal control device 17 is
When receiving a notification from the CPU 28 that X ₀ -A>B, the communication circuit 22 is activated to enable communication using the handset 11.

On the other hand, when X ₀ -A<B, that is, when the reserved amount is less than the minimum call charge, the CPU 28 causes the display unit 18 to display the insufficient amount in a blinking manner via the input/output circuit 27, Wait for a predetermined amount of time to replenish the amount. When the user inserts coins, X ₀ -
When A>B, exactly the same operation as described above is performed. When a predetermined period of time has passed without any coins being inserted by the user, all the coins in the coin path of the fee storage section 15 are returned to the return slot, and a recovery wait signal is sent to the station device 3. After this, the recovery is complete.

When the CPU 28 receives a toll communication signal (lower part of FIG. 4) based on the called party response from the station device 3 in the case of X ₀ -A>B, the CPU 28 drives the charge storage unit 15 via the input/output circuit 29. In some cases, the number of coins equivalent to the calling charge A yen out of the coins stored in the Zendo is stored in the safe, and this stored amount is stored in the built-in coin.
Accumulate in RAM. In parallel with this, CPU28
sets the timer 26 in the terminal control 17 to the unit time T. Subsequently, the CPU 28 subtracts the value of t in the built-in register by one unit every second based on the clock received from the clock generator 14, updates the value, and based on this subtracts the value of t in the built-in register via the input/output circuit 27. The display on the display unit 18 is updated. Then CPU2
8, the timer 26 notifies that the unit time T has elapsed.
By driving the charge storage section 15 through the input/output circuit 29, each time a coin is received from a bank, the number of coins equal to the unit charge of B yen is stored in the safe from among the coins stored in the bank, and the stored amount B is stored in the safe. By adding yen to the previous deposit amount A yen accumulated in RAM, the deposit amount in RAM becomes (A + B)
Update to yen.

When the value of t in the built-in register, that is, the remaining talkable time reaches a predetermined value (for example, 15 seconds), the CPU 28 notifies the terminal control unit 17 of this fact, and
The display on the display section 18 is made to blink via the input/output circuit 27. On the other hand, the terminal control unit 17 that received the above notification
starts the oscillator 19 to make the speaker 25 sound and prompt the user to insert coins.

When the CPU 28 detects via the input/output circuit 29 that the amount reserved in the coin is updated to X yen by the user inserting a new coin, t=
(X/B)T is calculated, and the value of the built-in register is updated based on the result of this calculation. Based on this, the value t displayed on the display unit 18 is
change. Note that the CPU 28 also performs the same operation when detecting that the user voluntarily inserts additional coins during a call.

On the other hand, when the CPU 28 detects that the user does not insert additional coins even though the user is prompted to do so, and therefore the remaining talkable time t becomes zero, the CPU 28 notifies the terminal control unit 17 of this fact. Upon receiving this, the terminal control section 17 turns off the communication circuit 22 and sends a disconnection/recovery signal to the station device 3. This is similar to when an on-hook occurs in the caller's first call shown in FIG. successively
The CPU 28 reads the accumulated amount of income from the built-in RAM and transfers it to the terminal control unit 17, and also uses the built-in RAM, registers, and timer 26
Clear all etc. The terminal control unit 17
The collected amount transferred from the CPU 28 is transmitted to the station device 3 via the subscriber line signal channel (see "Sending collected amount" in FIG. 5). Upon receiving this, the station device 3 records the collected amount in the fee storage section 40, receives the recovery waiting code, sends a recovery completion code to the telephone, and turns off the power of the telephone.

If the call ends and on-hook is performed before the remaining talk time t reaches zero, the hook switch 1
Terminal control device 17 that received an on-hook signal from 2
notifies the CPU 28 of this fact, and also disconnects and
A recovery signal is sent to the station device 3 (see FIG. 5).
The CPU 28 returns the pre-stored coins in the coin path of the fee storage section 15 to the return slot, reads out the amount of money to be collected from the built-in RAM and transfers it to the terminal control section 17, and also uses the built-in RAM, register and timer 26
Clear all etc. In the case where the called party is called first, the recovery operation is performed in substantially the same manner as shown in FIG.

The above description has been made using the case of a telephone call as an example, but when the user uses a facsimile or other data terminal 23 via the data terminal control unit 24, the remaining time available for a telephone call is displayed in exactly the same manner as described above. and fees will be collected. Furthermore, exactly the same operation is performed when making a call and using a data terminal at the same time. In this case, the station device 3 may send billing information obtained by adding the call charge and the data communication charge through the subscriber line signal channel. Further, although an example of operation has been described for a coin insertion type, the same operation can be performed for a cash race card type.

As mentioned above, billing information is collected at predetermined intervals (e.g.
Since the information is sent from the central office every 0.5 seconds, if there is a change in call charges, such as nighttime discounts, during a call, you can immediately respond to the change and collect the charges appropriately. That is, when the CPU 28 detects a change in billing information, it immediately updates the billing information in the built-in RAM and changes the set value of the timer 26. In order to prevent malfunctions due to errors in the transmission of billing information, when the CPU 28 receives billing information that is different from the previous billing information several times in a row (for example, twice), the CPU 28 regards the change in billing information as true and starts the timer. 2
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the setting values of No. 6 are changed.

As explained in detail above, in the present invention, in addition to monitoring signals such as call origination and call termination, and selection signals specifying the call connection destination, billing information for public telephones is transmitted in the form of encoded digital signals. Since it is configured to send out a subscriber line signal channel that is set up separately from the subscriber line signal channel, it does not have an adverse effect on calls unlike the conventional method that sends out DC polarization pulses, and billing information can be transmitted using out-of-band AC signals. It has the advantage that it is less subject to restrictions on signal capacity, unlike conventional transmission methods.

In addition, since it is configured to send numerical information as billing information, it has the advantage of being able to accurately display the remaining talk time from the beginning of a call, as well as being able to promptly respond to charges changes during a call and collect charges appropriately. be.

Furthermore, with coin-operated public telephones, there is a restriction that the unit charge must be selected as an integral multiple of the minimum monetary unit (for example, 10 yen), but in the present invention, the configuration transmits both the unit charge and the unit time. Therefore, when revising call charges, there is a degree of freedom in which one or both of the above-mentioned values can be changed, and there is an advantage that a flexible charge system can be constructed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are block diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an example of a frame structure of a digital signal.
4 and 5 are signal procedure diagrams. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Public telephone, 2... Subscriber line transmission line, 3... Office equipment, 11... Handset, 12... Hook switch, 1
3... Transmission control section, 14... Clock, 15... Charge storage section, 16... Charge processing control section, 17... Terminal control section, 18... Display section, 19... Oscillator, 20... Dial, 21... Function button, 22... Call Circuit, 23...Data terminal, 24...Data terminal control section, 25...Speaker, 31...Communication control section, 32...Internal control section, 33
... Clock, 34... Signal processing section, 35... Transmission control section, 36... Service specification charge table, 37... Dial number identification section, 38... Exchange connection section, 39... Charge information generation section, 40... Charge storage section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In the digital public telephone system that transmits and receives digital signals between public telephones and central office equipment, the unit charge required for one collection and the unit charge are collected via a subscriber line signal channel that is separate from the call channel. Digital billing information consisting of a unit time during which a call can be made is sent from the central office device to a digital public telephone, and the digital public telephone displays the remaining talkable time and collects the call charge based on the received billing information. A digital public telephone system featuring: