KR930008783B1 - Two-way radio with voice storage - Google Patents

Abstract

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Description

[Name of invention]

Two-way radio with voice storage

[Brief Description of Drawings]

1 is a block diagram of a radio transmitter and receiver according to the present invention.

2 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the radio of FIG.

Detailed description of the invention

[Background of invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention generally relates to a transmit and receive radio, in particular a radio having a voice storage means that can be used to store and transmit voice messages. Known voice storage radios are used for voice mailboxes. That is, the voice message is received and stored by the radio for later review, or stored upon request or request and then burned out later. In this way, incoming or outgoing voice mail is provided.

When a radio is operating at a shared frequency, it is important that only one radio transmit at any given frequency in one geographic area at a time. When the radio is operating in carrier squelch mode, the user can immediately determine whether the channel is in use by the fact that the radio is in the unspelled state, that is, the radio is generating audio output. have. In coded squelch operations such as subaudible tones or digital code, monitor switches are often provided to allow the user to interrupt the coded squelch operation to monitor the channel's operation. Some systems automatically prohibit transmissions so that radios do not exist if a signal is present on the channel.

If a radio user wants to send a message to a busy channel, he must wait until the channel is cleared before speaking the message. This is sometimes inconvenient for the user because he wishes to continue with other activities but must be ready to speak to the radio when the channel is available. It would be desirable to provide a means to allow a user to speak his message despite the channel being in a call.

[Summary of invention]

The radio with the voice storage means allows the user to speak a voice message whether or not the channel is busy. The transmit and receive radio includes a receiver having means for determining if a communication channel is available.

A transmitter is provided for transmitting a voice message on the communication channel. The radio includes voice input means and voice storage means. The control means sends a voice message from the voice input means to the transmitter for communication in response to the voice input means and the voice storage means. When the communication channel is unavailable, the voice message is later sent to the voice storage means for transmission when the channel becomes available.

In one aspect of the invention, the control means also responds to the receiver means to send a voice message from the voice storage means for transmission when the communication channel becomes available.

Another feature of the invention is that the receiver means comprises a squelch circuit. A further feature of the voice input means of the present invention comprises a microphone and an activation switch. In another aspect of the present invention, the voice storage means includes a digitalizer for digitizing the voice signal and a memory for storing the digitized voice signal. In another aspect of the present invention, the voice storage means comprises a digital-to-analog converter for converting the digitalized voice signal into an analog signal prior to transmission.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in FIG. 1, the transmitting and receiving radio 10 is selectively connected to the receiver 14 or the transmitter 16 by the T / R switch 18 in a conventional manner. Antenna 12 is included. The audio signal received from the receiver 14 is applied to the audio circuit 20 for amplification prior to being applied to the speaker 22. Receiver 14 includes a squelch circuit 15 that provides a squelch output applied to the input of controller 24. The output of the controller 24 provides a mute control signal to the audio circuit 20. Preferably the controller 24 including the microprocessor is connected to the memory 26 in a conventional manner. The controller also includes an output line for controlling the T / R switch 18, the receiver 14 and the transmitter 16.

The microphone 28 with voice input means comprises a push-to-talk switch having an actuation switch for providing a control signal to the input of the controller 24 and have. The audio signal from the microphone 28 is supplied to a switch 30 which is controlled by the output line of the controller 24. One output of the switch 30 is connected to an input of the digitizer 32 which is used to supply the digitized signal to the controller 24 for digitizing the voice signal and storing it in the memory 26. The digitalizer 32 operates under the control of a controller 24 capable of processing digital signals using known data compression or protection techniques prior to storage. The other output of the switch 30 is connected to the input of the second switch 34 controlled by the controller 24. A voice synthesizer 36 is connected to the controller to receive the digitized video signal from the controller 24. An output of the voice synthesizer 36 is connected to the second input of the switch 34. The output of the switch 34 supplies an audio input signal to the transmitter 16.

The operation of the radio 10 can be well understood through the flow chart of FIG. Controller 24 monitors the PTT signal from microphone 28. As shown in decision block 50, when the PTT switch is not activated, the controller continues to monitor the PTT signal. When the PTT switch is activated, the controller 24 mutes the audio circuit 20 (block 52) and determines whether the channel is busy according to the squelch signal of the receiver 14 (block 54). If the channel is not busy, a voice message is sent (block 56).

Controller 24 actuates switches 30 and 34 to send audio signals from microphone 28 to transmitter 16 in operation, and T / R switch 18 provides antenna 12 to emit modulated RF signals. ) To the transmitter output. When the PTT switch is off, transmission is stopped and the receiver can be released in the mute state if there is a signal on the channel. When the PTT switch is activated, the radio starts voice digitization and storage when the channel is busy. (Block 58). The switch 34 is activated to send audio signals from the microphone 28 to the digitizer 32. The digitized signal is stored in memory 26. Controller 24 continues to monitor the receiver squelch output during this process (block 60). Storage continues as long as the channel is busy, and the PTT remains active (depending on the available memory capacity).

If the channel becomes available during the digitization process, the stored speech is synthesized and transmitted while continuing to digitize the speech signal (block 62). The controller 24 reads the stored digitalized voice from the memory 26 and applies it to the voice synthesizer 36. The switch 34 is operated to supply the synthesized voice to the transmitter 16 in operation, the output of which is applied to the antenna 12 via the T / R switch 18. As long as the PTT 29 is active (block 64), additional voice signals continue to be digitized and stored. When the PTT is off, the digitization and storage are stopped (block 66), but the transmission continues until all messages have been synthesized and transmitted (block 68), but the channel is available, as indicated in block 70, that the PTT is not working. If the previous message was digitized before, digitization is stopped when PTT 29 is turned off (block 72). The controller 25 monitors the squelch signal until the channel becomes available (block 74). The stored message is then synthesized and sent (block 76).

By digitalizing and storing the voice message, channel interference can be prevented and the user of the radio 10 can immediately enter the voice message without any user intervention other than normal operation of the PTT switch or its counterpart. While the controller 24 uses the receiver squelch signal to determine the availability of the channel, the controller randomly delays the blocks 54, 60 and 74 prior to determining whether the channel is not busy. It may include a timer 35 to add. This delays the start of transmission to resolve contention issues on the channel.

Claims (5)

A voice input means comprising a receiver 14 comprising a squelch circuit 15 for determining if a communication channel is available, a transmitter 16 for transmitting a voice message over the communication channel, a microphone 28 and an actuating switch And a voice storage means comprising a digitalizer 32 for digitizing a voice signal and a memory 26 for storing the digitized voice signal, and the communication channel available in response to the actuation switch and the squelch circuit 15. The voice signal is automatically sent from the microphone 28 to the transmitter 16 for transmission without digitizing and storing the voice message, and if the communication channel is unavailable, the voice message is sent to the digitizer 32. Send and receive with control means 24 which are digitalized and then automatically sent to voice storage for storage in memory 26 Radios. 2. The transmitter according to claim 1, wherein said control means (24) also automatically sends a voice message from said voice storage means for transmission when said communication channel becomes available in response to said receiver means (14). A radio receiver, characterized in that the transmission to). 2. A radio receiver according to claim 1, wherein said voice storage means also comprises a digital-to-analog converter for converting the stored digitalized voice signal into an analog signal prior to transmission. A voice input comprising a receiver 14 comprising a squelch circuit 15 for determining if a communication channel is available, a transmitter 16 for sending a voice message to the communication channel, a microphone 28 and an activation switch Means and a voice storage means, in addition to the digitalizer 32 for digitizing the voice signal and the memory 26 for storing the digitized voice signal, a digital to analog converter for converting the stored digitalized voice signal into an analog signal prior to transmission. And automatically transmits a voice signal from the microphone 28 to the transmitter 16 for transmission without digitizing and storing the voice message when the communication channel is available in response to the operational speech and the squelch signal. The sound to be stored in the memory 26 when the communication channel is available. A radio transmitter and receiver having control means for sending to a storage means automatically and for sending a voice message from said voice storage means to said transmitter for transmission when said communication channel becomes available in response to said receiver means. . 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising timer means (25) for adding a random time delay to the message stored in the storage means after the communication channel is available and before the message is transmitted by the transmitter (16). Song, reception combined radio characterized in that.