Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B3/00—Audible signalling systems; Audible personal calling systems
  • G08B3/10—Audible signalling systems; Audible personal calling systems using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission
  • G08B3/1008—Personal calling arrangements or devices, i.e. paging systems

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method for implemen- ting a calling process bound to a person in the inter ⁇ nal communication of a factory, an office or any other corresponding organization, in which a communication system capable of duplex signalling and comprising ter ⁇ minals each provided with a fixed cable, such as an internal telephone system is used.
• the object of the present invention is to provide a method for implementing a calling process bound to a person whereby a communication system based on said process is able to handle the operations of all above- mentioned systems by means of one assembly.
• the location of a person in the premises in question is automatically located whereby any telephone calls to said person are automatically directed to him.
• the central idea of the invention is that while in tradition ⁇ al systems, such as, for example, in a telephone by means of selecting a telephone number a specific telephone set is called in the vicinity of which a person is assumed to be, the person himself is called in the method accor ⁇ ding to the invention.
• the method according to the invention can be implemented by combining a number of technical solutions known per se from known systems so as to form a system unity which operates in a unique manner and by means of which a plurality of different systems can be replaced.
• Said method according to the invention is charac ⁇ terized in that
• - persons belonging to said organization are located on the basis of data communication between means fixedly connected to said communication system and indi ⁇ cators carried by said persons and capable of wireless data transmission with said means,
• a file of the location of the persons is main- tained in the central unit to be used for directing calls directed to them to the terminal closest to said per ⁇ sons in the communication system, for paging, working time control, control of passage and for transmitting messages, for example, about the absence of a person to a person trying to reach him.
• said person when contacting a person according to the invention, said person is called by using a number, code or name representing the identity of the person, where ⁇ by the call is directed to the terminal closest to him in the communication system on the basis of the file maintained by the central unit.
• the method according to the invention can be carried into effect by a communication system comprising individual terminals which are positioned in different spaces and which permit a duplex simultaneous speech communication and data communication, equipment for operative control of these terminals, for example, a central, person-identic indicators carried by the persons and identifiers integrated in the terminals-
• the method is based on the use of a communication system corresponding to a traditional internal telephone system and having a central unit or a decentralized arrangement implementing the functions of the central unit and terminals connected directly thereto by cables and of indicators carried by the persons.
• ordinary talking connections can be produced within the system or messa ⁇ ges can be transmitted by means of a display device possibly included in the terminal.
• a display device possibly included in the terminal.
• an internal telephone system may be mentioned the inter ⁇ nal telephone system, type SLO 1000, of Sahk ⁇ liikkeiden oy-
• the essential feature in such a communication system is that bidirectional speech and data transmission can take place between the terminals and the central unit also during a prevailing talking connection, that no separate additional cable is required for this purpose, and that the construction of the system permits automa ⁇ tically the identification of the calling party, i.e. that in the communication between the terminals and the central an identification is made as to from which ter- minal each connection or message originates whereby, of course, also the location of the indicators connected to the communication system is known.
• said means - identifiers - are moreover positioned so that only one of them at a time is capable of identify ⁇ ing the indicator carried by a person. In practice, this is carried out by integrating said means in the terminals of the communication system.
• the portable indicator is a compact, battery- or accumulator-driven device including a short-carrying transmitter and receiver for which a fixed or freely variable unique identification code has been programmed in the system.
• the identifiers connected to the communi ⁇ cation system and preferably to the terminals thereof may inquire independently whether one or several indica ⁇ tors are located in their immediate vicinity. If such indicators are present, this inquiry causes the indica ⁇ tor to transmit, by using a reply procedure agreed on, its identification code to the receiver of the terminal. These further transmit to the central unit an informa ⁇ tion as to which indicators are located close to them, in other words, in fact an information of the location where a person can be reached.
• suit- able means for carrying out wireless data transmission comprise, for example, similar means that are used in wireless remote control of television sets.
• the probably mostpreferred embodiment of the method according to the invention is to carry out the identification of person by means of data communica ⁇ tion between the means integrated in the terminals of the communication system and the portable indicators, it may in some cases be advantageous to carry out the iden ⁇ tification of a person on the basis of an inquiry made by a centralized transmitter integrated in the central unit of the communication system and of the reply sent by the indicators to the identifiers integrated in the terminals of the communication system.
• the centralized transmitter can also transmit to the searched person a message of the attempt to contact him although his location does not permit the immediate opening of a talking connection.
• the opposite procedure can be used where the terminals make the inquiry and the reply is sent directly to the central unit if these steps are synchronized with each other in time.
• the central idea cf the invention - a calling process bound to person - means that, when using the method according to the invention, a certain person need not be tracked through the telephone number but the call can be connected directly to him irrespective of his location.
• OMPI_ terminal close to the paged person can be opened automa ⁇ tically. Because, when applying the method, a connection is not taken to any telephone number but directly to.a person, the telephone numbers can be replaced, for exa p- le, by alphanumeric personal identifications which are used when calling the person in question. Of course this implies that the terminals are provided with an alpha ⁇ numeric keyboard.
• the terminal further comprises a display (e.g., an alphanumeric or numeric display with 4 to 8 marks)
• the information obtained by means of the method according to the invention about the location and status of persons can be returned to the user of the system and he can be provided with in ⁇ formation as to why a person cannot be reached.
• the feedback data concerning these func- tions e.g., sick leave, summer vacation, etc.
• the system differs from person paging devices in the following respects:
• the instructions concerning re ⁇ porting to be sent to the portable indicators need not be selective, whereby commonly used, but awkward tuned cir ⁇ cuits are not needed because each indicator has a fixed identification code of its own the transmission of which to an identifier in the close vicinity leads to the location of persons.
• the indicator is capable of bidirectional data communication and contains electronic components required for logical deductive capability and permitting simultaneous operation of several indicators around the same identifier.
• the essential difference between a person paging receiver and a portable indicator is that the location of a person and the indication of his status take place fully automatically without any steps carried out by the person in question.
• the method according to the in ⁇ vention differs in that essential respect that the sys ⁇ tem component required for locating a person is not a separate system as in the other known solutions. Thus, no separate transmitter/receiver devices, separate cables, radio or carrier wave apparatuses are needed.
• a code message sent by the indicator may, in addition to the identification code of the indicator, also contain other information illustrating the status of the person in question, such as, for example, that the person wants to be out of reach.
• An information is trans ⁇ mitted to the paging person that the person is within the organization but does not want to be disturbed.
• a central feature in the method according to the invention is also that, because of the short carrying distance requirement a simple method, such as, for examp- le, an infrared, ultrasonic or any other corresponding transmission method can be used as data transmission method between the indicators and the identifiers.
• radiowaves or inductive coupling can be utilized in the data transmission bet- ween said transmitter and the indicators.
• the principle of an intelligent network known from the remote drive technics can be utilized between the terminals and the central, which means that only an information of changes is transmitted to the central.
• the occurring delay then follows the probability function and depends on the number of changes.
• the data terminal equipment includes storage means which remember which indicators during the preceding inquiry circle were located close to the terminal and that, when comparing the new circle to the recorded data, the changes are noted and further transmitted to the central.
• the essential feature in this respect is that, regardless of an increasing need for signalling, the relatively slow data transmission method known from the internal telephone system can be utilized which method has been applied in said internal telephone system SLO 1000 and which also constructionally can be realized at low cost.
• An essential feature in the method according to the invention is also the fact that the utilization of computer-type components forming the structural elements of the transmitter-receiver devices and the central permits the exploitation of the control methods for distributed data files known from computer technics.
• the above-mentioned methods all contri ⁇ bute to the fact that the internal data communication in the system in practice remains within controllable limits.
• the method according to the invention comprises transmission of location information of two types and independent of each other; an independent inquiry made by the transmitter-receiver device about • the status of its surrounding and the transmission of the changes in the status data to the central.
• an address file is maintained by means of which calls in the system can be directed to the desired personsirrespective of their location.
• a file of this type can be easily im ⁇ plemented, for example, in connection with a central for a time shared computer-controlled internal tele ⁇ phone system similar to SLO 1000.
• the method can also be used by monitoring the presence of indicators in the storage stand and by using the information ob ⁇ tained for controlling the working time.
• the doors can be automatically closed or opened as a person approaches the door.
• OMH means of the method also separate working time control devices and in many applications separate passage con ⁇ trol devices can be replaced.
• the method according to the invention in- tegrates the additional devices required by each appli ⁇ cation, such as, for example, devices required for registering the working time, an internal telephone, person paging devices, working time control devices, passage control devices and presence-absence control devices.
• the invention is directed to the internal communication of an organization but the invention also covers data communication taking place from the outside to the organization or out of the organization.
• a system operating according to the method of the invention also replacesthe traditional telephone.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Electromagnetism (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
• Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
• Medicines Containing Material From Animals Or Micro-Organisms (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8514495

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (11)

Cited By (4)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (6)

• 1981
  • 1981-06-12 FI FI811839A patent/FI66696C/fi not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1982
  • 1982-06-11 JP JP57501867A patent/JPS58500924A/ja active Pending
  • 1982-06-11 WO PCT/FI1982/000024 patent/WO1982004491A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1982-06-11 IT IT48624/82A patent/IT1148596B/it active
  • 1982-06-11 GB GB08314028A patent/GB2118804B/en not_active Expired
  • 1982-06-11 NL NL8220201A patent/NL8220201A/nl unknown
  • 1982-06-11 IT IT8235875U patent/IT8235875V0/it unknown
  • 1982-06-11 DE DE3248806T patent/DE3248806C2/de not_active Expired
  • 1982-06-11 EP EP82901842A patent/EP0093718A1/en not_active Withdrawn
• 1983
  • 1983-01-24 NO NO830219A patent/NO830219L/no unknown
  • 1983-01-31 DK DK37183A patent/DK37183A/da not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1983-06-15 SE SE8303439A patent/SE430439B/sv unknown

Patent Citations (6)

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