RU2246795C2 - Coin-box telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: communications engineering.

SUBSTANCE: proposed coin-box telephone system incorporating identification code card and coin-box telephone set has microcontroller, card receiving device with optical reader, keyboard, dialing unit, and service unit that has acoustic handset; optical reader transfers information in card code to microcontroller; coin-box telephone set is functionally coupled with central switching-and-accounting center incorporating card code identifying device and rates compiling means in the form of debit platform; card identification code keeps subscriber's settlement account only.

EFFECT: simplified design of coin-box telephone set, reduced requirements to identification card.

1 cl, 1 dwg

Description

The invention relates to communication technology and is intended for use in automatic local, long-distance and international telephone networks.

It is widely known that public telephones (payphones) installed in street booths have long attracted criminals, and telephones of this type increasingly used more durable cases, more durable button sets, and the common goal was to make all elements of the device more and more indestructible .

Known payphone complex, including a payphone with a built-in cumulative information counter, information transmitter, control device and protective equipment. The payphone of the complex works with electronic cards with prepaid telephone calls (Technical description "Universal Payphone" Telecard "AA NZ 5274000TO and passport AANZ 468243.003PS, 1996).

Also known is a device that automates the operation of a payphone using universal plastic cards, disclosed in US Pat. No. 4,860,345 A (Proteh Inc.), cl. H 04 M 17/00, 1989. The device contains a microprocessor module with advanced software to perform a wide range of services.

The main disadvantage of these devices is the high cost of the devices and, accordingly, the high cost of the services provided.

Also known is the switching device of a payphone adopted as a prototype (patent RU 2149514, class N 04 M 15/02, 2000), which controls the equipment for providing paid services using a debit payment card, including a debit card made in the form a printed circuit board with a card identification code, a card-receiving unit containing means for reading debit card identification codes, generating control signals for actuating devices of the apparatus for rendering paid services. The disadvantage of this well-known payphone complex is the complexity of the device of the payphone, which carries the basic elements and nodes to perform the functions of providing paid telephone services, therefore, its destruction or damage leads to significant costs for repair and restoration.

The technical result of the invention is to simplify the design of the payphone by minimizing the functions it performs and transferring some of these functions to the central switching device, as well as simplifying the requirements for an identification card that contains only the subscriber’s current account number and can be made on paper.

The specified technical result is achieved by the fact that the payphone complex includes a payphone with a card-receiving device, an identification card with an identification code, a device for reading the identification code of the card, a dialing unit, a service unit containing an acoustic tube with a microphone and means for generating control signals for the executive bodies for the provision of paid communication services. At the same time, the payphone contains only devices for performing peripheral functions of the subscriber terminal and is functionally connected directly to a centralized switching and settlement node, which contains a card code identification device and a rating tool in the form of debit platforms. The identification card contains only the subscriber's current account number.

The invention is illustrated in the drawing, which shows a structural diagram of a payphone complex.

The payphone complex includes a building 1 with a dialing unit 2 and a communication type selection chip, a telephone line 3, a service unit 4 with an acoustic tube and a microphone 5, an electronic non-volatile memory element 6, a central switching and charging microcontroller 7, a subscriber keypad 8, a card reader 9 with optical reader and ID card 10.

The proposed payphone operates as follows.

The identification card 10 is inserted into the card reader 9 of the apparatus 1 and the optical reader transmits the card code information to the central switching and charging microcontroller 7. Using the keypad 8, the subscriber via the microcontroller 7 exits through the dialing unit 2 and the telephone network 3 and through the talk unit 4 and 5 communicates with the called party.

Such a proposed payphone complex has a simplicity of design, high reliability, a cheap graphic card and quick subscriber activation.

Claims (1)

A payphone complex containing a card with an identification code and a payphone apparatus including a microcontroller, a card reader with optical reading, a keyboard, a dialer and a service node containing an acoustic tube with a microphone, characterized in that the optical reader transmits information about the card code to the microcontroller, and the payphone is functionally connected to the central switching and settlement node, containing a device for identifying a card code and a means for charging in the form of a debit second platform, the card identification code contains only the settlement account of the subscriber identification number.