JP2587009B2 - Group call method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A radio communication system using a selective calling DTMF signal, particularly a communication system enabling group communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is used for automobile telephones, radio calling systems (paging systems), and the like. In each case, a portable telephone is carried from a base station to a car phone or a person who is out of the office, and a ringing tone is notified wirelessly in the same manner as a ringing tone of a telephone. This method is widely used. In addition to this, there is a call trigger pager method used for calling and waiting by an individual or a specific group as a wireless calling method.

[0003] The trigger pegger method includes a paging DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Fre Free).
frequency) signal is used, and the DTMF KE of FIG. 7 is used.
Numbers and alphabets are changed from 697 Hz to 16 as shown in the Y matrix and the comparison between characters and DTMF shown in Table 1.
Seven frequencies up to 33 Hz are combined for correspondence. Normally, a call signal of the trigger trigger system assigns a three-digit number to a group, stores, for example, the call code of the own station in a memory of "123", and stores a plurality of partner stations "345", "789", and "654". Are also stored in the memory. Normally, the communication is performed only with the partner station stored in the memory.
MF signal. For example, a selective calling signal consisting of 7 characters is set as “789 * 123”. "789" in standby mode
When the station detects the DTMF signal from the received signal, it confirms the coincidence with the call code "789" of the own station, and enters the communication state of the trigger pager system.

[Table 1]

[0004] As an improved form, a DTMF signal is constituted by a call code (a call code composed of alphabets and numerals or a code composed of 6-digit codes such as a name and an abbreviation code) of a call and selectively called. It performs communication.

[0005]

However, according to the conventional method, when the communication is completed and several seconds elapse, the DTMF is again resumed.
A signal must be transmitted, and if the DTMF signal is not transmitted, the mode returns to the normal mode. Therefore, if the partner station does not respond, the DTMF signal must be transmitted many times. For example, if the communication is interrupted after 3 seconds, the DTMF consisting of the calling station call code * own station call code again
Signal must be sent. In addition, the call code of the number corresponding to the communication partner station must be input and stored in the memory from the keyboard or the like, and the DTMF signal of the call code consisting of 13 characters is always transmitted. The other station can only communicate with one station.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate such troublesome operation and to provide a group call system capable of communicating with a plurality of partner stations.

[0007]

In a group in which communication is performed using a DTMF signal for selective calling, the master station stores call code data including memory addresses of all stations in the group stored in the memory and data of communication conditions. A means for transmitting as a group call memory signal, and all slave stations are provided with means for storing call code data in the same manner as the master station. Means for transmitting and organizing into a DTMF signal using the memory address of the call code between the partner station and the own station for selective calling, and the memory address of the DTMF signal detected from the received signal in the standby state. To a call code.

When communicating with a plurality of partner stations, means for compressing a set of memory addresses of call codes by data compression means for communicating is provided.
By restoring the compressed data of the MF signal to the memory address, communication within the group is enabled.

[0009]

[Function] All the stations in the group store the call codes of all the slave stations including the master station and their memory addresses in the memory in the same state, so that when calling the partner station, the call codes of the own station and the partner station are changed. Instead of using the address, the memory address is transmitted to enter a call state by selective calling with the partner station. Therefore, the selective calling signal can be shortened, so that errors are naturally reduced. Further, in addition to the one-to-one communication, the communication with all the stations in the group or the communication with a plurality of stations is efficient because the transmission data amount of the DTMF signal is reduced. However, in the case of a large number of stations, the DTMF signal is lengthened even if only the memory address of the call code is used. Therefore, it is possible to further compress the data of the memory address group to form a DTMF signal and transmit the data.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to perform communication within a group consisting of a master station for selecting a communication partner station and a plurality of slave stations by a DTMF signal, the present invention transmits the memory address instead of a call code or a call sign. is there. Therefore, all stations in the group must store the call code and its memory address in the same way as the parent station. There is a method of storing this call code in a memory in advance, but since the group configuration may change depending on the day, here, the call code stored in the memory of the master station including the memory address is transmitted. The method of storing the data in the memory of the slave station will be described.

The memory content of the master station is obtained by combining the memory address and the call code, storing the call code of the master station at address 0 of the memory, and assigning a number from 1 to 15 if there are 15 slave stations. The call codes are allocated from address 1 to address F in the memory and stored. In this way, all the call codes and their memory addresses stored in the master station are read out, attached with a DTMF code, and transmitted as a group call memory signal.

The transmission format of the group call memory signal is, for example, "0 * ABCDEF * 1 * BC".
DEFG * 2 * CDDEFGH * ... * F * ZXY15
C ". 0,1,2,2 separated by * in this signal
.., F are memory addresses, and numbers or characters following the memory address are call codes. Next, following this signal, as communication condition data with a plurality of stations, a symbol of 0 for no conversion or 1 for data compression, which defines the presence or absence of data compression, is added to obtain communication conditions.

In order to convert the numbers and alphabets of the transmission format of the group call memory signal of all the stations in the group thus formed into the DTMF signal at the time of transmission, two DTMF signals as shown in FIG. It is converted to a low frequency combined DTMF signal and transmitted. This transmission method is processed according to the group call memory transfer flowchart shown in FIG.

The flowchart of FIG. 3 will be described.
As an example, at the address 0 of the memory of the master station, the call code JEIOSK of the master station, the call code FUJIKI of the slave station 1 are at the top, the call code NAMIKI of the slave station 2 is at the address 2, and the slave station 15 is at the address F ALL001. And stores the numbers of the slave stations in association with the memory addresses.

When the call codes of all the stations are input, the codes are sequentially read out from the memory address 0 in steps S2 and S3 and the decision box H1 and displayed on the display for confirmation. To this group call memory data, 0 or 1 of communication condition data for data compression or no conversion is added. Next, in step S6, a standby signal is transmitted. About 5 seconds after the standby signal is transmitted, in step S7, the group call memory data is converted into a DTMF signal by the DTMF generator and transmitted.

When the standby signal transmitted from the master station is input to all the slave stations in the standby state, all the slave stations are set to the memory reception mode in step S8. The received signal is processed in steps S9 and S10
Then, the DTMF signal is restored to the memory address through the DTMF receiver, and the call code at the memory address is read out from the memory and stored, and is displayed on the display to enter the communication state of the group call system.

Here, a radio communication device used in the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the wireless communication device. In FIG. 2, 1 is an antenna, 2 is a transmitting unit, 3 is a receiving unit,
4 is a control unit including a CPU, 5 is a memory, 6 is an operation unit including a keyboard, 7 is a display unit, 8 is an AF unit for low frequency amplification,
9 is a speaker, 10 is a microphone, 11 is a DTMF receiver and a DTMF generator.

First, the transmission side will be described. This wireless communication device may have the same configuration for both the master station and the slave station. In the case of the master station, the master station call code is input to address 0 of the memory from the keyboard of the operation unit 6. Assuming that there are 15 slave stations in the group, the call codes are respectively assigned from address 1 to address F of the memory, slave 1 is assigned to address 1, slave 2 is assigned to memory 2, and slave 15 is assigned to address F of the memory. Input from the keyboard of the operation unit 6. When the call codes of all the stations are input, the codes are read out in order from the next memory, that is, from address 0 to address F, and displayed on the display 7 for confirmation. After the memory address is designated, all the memory addresses are read from the bottom to the top or from the top to the bottom using the up / down switch or the rotary encoder and confirmed. After checking all memory,
When a transmission switch (hereinafter referred to as PTT) is pressed, a standby signal is transmitted. On the other hand, the group call memory data is transferred to the DTMF K of FIG.
It is converted into a DTMF signal as in the EY matrix or Table 1. This DTMF signal is transmitted 5 seconds after the standby signal. All of these operations except for the operation of the operation unit 6 are processed by software in the CPU of the control unit 4.

On the receiving side of the slave station, when the receiving section 3 receives the standby signal from the master station in the standby state, the slave station is automatically set to the memory receiving mode. About 5 seconds later, DTM
When the F signal is input, the DTMF receiver 11 restores a numeric or alphabetic memory address and a call code, and writes each call code to the same memory address as the received memory address.

Next, the group communication will be described. If the call codes of all stations in the group are stored in the same memory,
Communication using the DTMF signal becomes possible. Here, the hardware will be described. First, the normal communication is switched to the group call communication by the operation unit 6, and then, the memory address of the partner station to be communicated with, and in the case of a plurality of stations, all the memory addresses, * and the memory address of the own station are input to the keyboard of the operation unit 6. And a setting key, and then pressing PTT, a group call signal consisting of the memory address of the inputted call code is transmitted to DT.
The signal is converted into a DTMF signal through the MF generator 12 and transmitted.

The waiting partner station extracts the DTMF signal from the signal received by the receiving unit 3 and converts it into a memory address through the DTMF receiver. If the converted memory address includes the own station, the call codes of all the received memory addresses are read out and stored, and displayed on the display 7 to enter a communication state.

Next, multi-station communication will be described. In the group call method according to the present invention, it is not only one-to-one communication but it is necessary to make an arrangement for communication. For example, when all the stations in the group participate in communication, communication with all stations becomes possible by transmitting as “00 * own station memory address”. Also, when the data is transmitted as "88 * self-station memory address", it is withdrawn from the group with which it was communicating.
Communication is performed by preliminarily arranging conditions such as being able to join the group being communicated when transmitting as "99 * own memory address".

Communication with a plurality of stations in the group call communication according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state in which seven stations in a group communicate with each other. A master station 0 transmits a group call signal. This operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The operation section 6 sets reading of a memory address. While checking the read memory address and the call code stored therein on the display 7, the operation of the up / down switch or the like is performed by a method corresponding to one of the determination boxes H 10 and H 11 except for the station desired to communicate. Move backward to display the next memory address. When the partner station desired for communication is displayed, the group input key is operated in the decision box H12. With this operation, it is set as the group call memory. In the process S16, all desired communication partners are set. In the case of FIG. 1, the slave stations 3, 4, 8,.
Set C and D. Next, it is determined in a decision box H14 whether or not the group call memory data is * 1 indicating data compression. In the decision box H15, if data compression is necessary, the data is organized into 4-digit compressed data. Are organized into DTMF signals in processing S18,
At 19, press PTT to send. This flowchart describes the case where the PTT is of the lock type. Enter the communication state after transmission. The PTT is turned off, and the group communication setting ends. Next, if communication starts, judgment box H16
Press the group call switch of the operation unit 6 to start communication.

Next, FIG. 5 will be described. If the own station is included in the group call signal among the waiting stations in the group, the memory address is read from the group call signal received in step S23, and the memory address and the call code of the memory address are displayed on the display unit 7. And the communication state is entered. When the received signal is interrupted during this communication, it is determined in a determination box H20 whether or not the signal has been interrupted for 500 ms or more. If there is, all group calls are broken. The station that made the break adds its own memory address to the group call data,
At step S26, a new group call signal is formed and the processing S
Send at 27.

If the judgment is not made in the judgment box H21, the judgment box H22 judges the presence / absence of the signal of "88 * memory address". If there is, the withdrawing station deletes its own station from the group call data in the processing S29. In step S30, a new group call signal is transmitted to withdraw from the currently communicating group communication.

If NO in the decision box H22, it is next decided in a decision box H23 whether or not "00 * memory address" exists. If there is, a group call signal for all station communication of the group is transmitted from S32 to S35, and Communication becomes possible. If the determination in the determination box H22 is NO, the process returns to the process S23, and the current group communication can be continued.

If it is not necessary during group communication and during communication between stations other than the own station, the voice circuit can be muted even when the call code of the communicating station is displayed on the display 7.

In communication with many stations, DTMF is used according to the number of stations.
Since the signal becomes longer and up to 16 digits of data must be transmitted, the possibility of error increases. Therefore, it is also possible to compress the data and transmit the memory number of the transmitting station. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining this data compression. That is, assuming that all memory addresses are the master station at address 0 and the slave stations are from address 1 to address F, the memory is divided into four equal numbers in ascending order and the first digit is from address 0 to address 3, and the second digit is From address 4 to address 7, and the third digit from address 8 to B
The fourth digit is from address C to address F up to the address. Therefore, it is assumed that a bit is set to a station that enters a group call from memory addresses 0 to F. Therefore, considering only the first digit, if there is no station that enters a group call between 0 and 3, all bits are not set. Therefore, in this case, 0 is set, and if all bits are set, F is set. Therefore, when this method is used, the signal can be compressed to four digits using a hexadecimal code.

FIG. 6 shows a case where the group call signal used for the group call communication of FIG. 1 is compressed. The selected slave stations 2 and 3 are B in the first digit because they have bits 2 and 3, and 1 because the bits in the second digit are 4 in the second digit. The third digit of the slave station 8 also has a bit, which is also 1, and the fourth digit has the slave stations C, D. This compressed data is
If it is a TMF signal, it can be transmitted as "B, 1, 1, 3 * 0". The receiving side of the compressed DTMF signal can restore the memory address in the group call by performing a process reverse to the data compression.

[0030]

In the group call system according to the present invention, communication can be set by transmitting a memory address storing the call code instead of transmitting the call code. Therefore, the call code for selective calling can be set. There is an advantage that an error hardly occurs as compared with the input. In addition, not only one-to-one communication but also communication with a plurality of stations is possible, and a plurality of information can be exchanged. For this reason, the DTMF signal for group call to a plurality of stations can be shortened because only the memory address is used. If the DTMF signal is long, the group call signal can be further shortened by data compression. Because communication with the DTMF signal of this simple operation is enabled, it is possible to communicate with a specific person even if a car or motorcycle is delayed during traveling, especially when moving on a mobile, and furthermore, during the current communication. Is displayed on the display.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing communication of a mobile station according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless communication device used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows that the master station transmits group call memory data,
9 is a flowchart for storing the group call memory data received by all the slave stations.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of transmitting a communication group call signal.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation on the receiving side.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining data compression.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a DTMF KEY matrix.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Antenna 2 Transmission part 3 Receiving part 4 Control part 5 Memory 6 Operation part 7 Display part 8 Low frequency amplification AF part 9 Speaker 10 Microphone 11 DTMF receiver 12 DTMF generator

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] In a communication system using a DTMF signal for selective calling in a group including a master station and a plurality of slave stations, call code data including memory addresses of all stations in the group stored in a memory by the master station is provided. Means for transmitting communication condition data as a group call memory signal,
All the slave stations are provided with storage means in a memory reception mode for automatically storing the group call memory signal upon receiving the group call memory signal. When all the slave stations are in the same memory state as the master station, selective call communication becomes possible. Means for organizing and transmitting a DTMF signal using the memory address of the call code between the station and the own station, and DT detected from the received signal in the standby state.
A group call system comprising means for converting a memory address of an MF signal into a call code and performing communication within a group. 2. The communication with a plurality of partner stations is characterized by arranging the memory addresses of the call codes of the corresponding partner stations, forming a DTMF signal as the partner station of the DTMF signal, and transmitting the DTMF signal. Group call method. 3. When communicating with all stations in a group, a call code that generically names the group is set to be a partner station of a DTMF signal, thereby enabling communication with all stations in the group. Item 1. Group call method. 4. Communication with a large number of stations in a group is performed by converting a group of memory addresses of call codes of a corresponding station into binary codes and compressing the data by a data compression means when the communication conditions include data compression. DTMF signals are formed and transmitted. When a DTMF signal is detected from a received signal in a standby state, data compression means restores the data compression signal to a memory address. 2. The group call method according to claim 1, wherein: 5. While participating in group communication, the call code of the communicating station is displayed on the display, but it is possible to select whether to output or mute the communication sound. Item 1. Group call method. 6. When another plurality of stations are in group communication,
In order for the own station to participate in the group communication, even if the other station is in communication, if the break switch or the transmission switch is pressed, the break signal is automatically transmitted if the transmission of the communicating station is interrupted for a predetermined time. 2. The group call system according to claim 1, wherein the group call system can participate in group communication.