JP3255300B2 - One-way communication device using menu - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a one-way communication system having a plurality of channels using telephone lines.
The present invention relates to a device for transmitting information for displaying a menu of information provided by another channel to one terminal device to one terminal device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a telephone communication system has a configuration in which an exchange of a telephone office is connected to a telephone at a user's home via a telephone line, and when a receiver is taken off-hook, the communication between the exchange and the telephone line is established. A loop is formed, and a call is made by a signal transmitted through the loop. By the way, there is known an off-talk communication system for transmitting a music signal or the like to a user's house by one-way communication using the idle time of the telephone line. This off-talk communication system is provided with a transmitting means for transmitting various information signals such as voice and music to an off-talk center installed outside the station,
An internal device provided at the telephone office is configured so that the telephone line can be selectively switched and connected to an exchange or a transmitting means. At the user's home, a receiving means having a speaker is connected to the telephone line, and when the receiver is off-hook, the intra-office device is switched to the exchange side to enable a call, while the on-hook device when the receiver is on-hook is connected. The transmission means is switched to the transmission means and the transmission signal from the transmission means is sent to each reception means via a telephone line. In that case, a plurality of transmitting means are actually connected to one intra-office device, and the on-off device is turned on / off and the transmitting means is selected (change of channel) by remote control from each receiving means.
It can be performed.

[0003]

In an off-talk communication system currently employed, the number of channels is four, and each of them has an independent parallel relationship. The user selects an arbitrary channel from the four channels and receives the information. For example, music, news, entertainment,
If educational information is provided, selecting a favorite channel will cause such information to be constantly transmitted while the telephone is not used. Alternatively, the type of information can be freely changed in one channel depending on the time zone. In any case, the type of information is determined by the provider, and the user can only determine which of the four channels to select.

In such a system, in a case where only one type of information is provided in one channel, the user can receive only a specific type of information by fixing the information to that channel. . Such a condition is advantageous when the user intends this system as BGM. However, if only specific information is provided for each channel, the type of information is limited, and broadcasting for general-purpose information cannot be performed. If each channel has its own uniqueness, a means of distributing a program guide so that the user can know the program in advance is conceivable. In this case, detailed plans must be made for a long time, and the advantage of a simple broadcasting system is hampered.

In the present invention, it is intended to eliminate such inconvenience. One channel is provided with a function of providing program information of another channel, and the contents of the provided information are displayed on a display or the like by a user. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a highly usable off-talk communication so that it can be confirmed in a menu to be used.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an intra-office device installed in a telephone office, information providing devices provided for each of N channels, an intra-office device and a telephone line. And a terminal device for receiving a broadcast provided from one of the N channels when the telephone is not used, and a terminal device for receiving a broadcast provided from the one of the N channels. Holds the program guide of another channel as text data, broadcasts the text data of the first channel when the terminal device is turned on and restores the broadcast, and displays the program program on a menu display device connected to the terminal device.
A method of displaying a table as a menu screen was used.
The relationship between a program guide and a menu is a program guide.
This is a conceptual representation of the set, and the menu screen
Is displayed visually.
Specifically, it shows the same thing.

[0007]

By holding the text data of the program guide in the first channel, the menu is always displayed when the power is turned on and the communication is restored due to the end of the call, using the known communication system as it is. It has the action of: This action provides a means for the terminal user to effectively use the communication system.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of the present apparatus, wherein 1 is an intra-office apparatus of each telephone station, 2 is an information providing apparatus for displaying a menu, and 3A, 3B, and 3C are independent information providing apparatuses. And transmits information planned by the information provider to the intra-office device 1. The information providing devices 2 and 3A to 3C configure off-talk communication of four channels. The connection between the in-station device 1 and each of the information providing devices 2 and 3A to 3C
The function is the same whether it is a telephone line or a normal cable connection. 4 is a telephone line connecting between the in-station device 1 of the telephone station and the user's home, 5 is a terminal device, 6 is a telephone having a normal function, 7 is a menu display device, and 8A to 8C are information providing devices 3A to 3C. This is a corresponding information output terminal. In this embodiment, the menu display device 7 is a CRT for explanation.
It is assumed that the display is such as. The information output terminals 8A to 8C have three outputs in parallel, but the configuration is based on the assumption that all types of information to be provided are different. If all three channels are audio information, these outputs are output. What is necessary is just to input to one audio reproducing apparatus. Therefore, a three-output one-input cable is used for the connection between them.

In the off-talk communication, the off-talk communication is temporarily interrupted using a telephone as a well-known configuration, and the first channel is always selected when the communication is restored by the on-hook of the receiver. In order to adopt the above as it is, the information providing device 2 for menu display is always set to the first channel, and the menu display device 7 is also connected to the output terminal of the first channel. And
The information providing device 2 prepares the contents of information provided by other channels, time zones, and the like as text information in advance, and transmits the text information to the intra-office device 1.

Next, FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the details of the terminal device 5, wherein 10 is an off-talk control unit and 11 is a C
Information processing apparatus centered on PU, 12 is a storage device, 13
Is an input device. 14 is a modem. Note that the output terminals 8A to 8C, the menu display device 7, and the like and the information processing device 11 are connected via an input / output interface.

The overall operation in these configurations will be described. When a power supply (not shown) of the terminal device 5 is turned on, the off-talk control unit 10 operates, and first, the first off-talk communication is started.
Select a channel. Then, information transmitted from the information providing device 2 is selected, processed by the information processing device 11, and displayed on the display 7 as a menu screen. The user uses this screen to select the channel he or she wants to receive. The selection of the channel is performed by operating the input device 13.
Selection is made by push buttons for channels or by a rotary switch. Further, when there is a call signal to the telephone 6 managed by the terminal device 5 or when the receiver is off-hook, the off-talk function is interrupted to secure the original telephone function. In this case, the first channel is selected again, so that a menu screen is displayed on the display 7.

However, a menu screen is always displayed when the off-talk function is restored, and it is troublesome for the user to select a channel each time when he wants to continue the channel before the interruption. Therefore, the selection of the first channel may be canceled when a certain time has elapsed after the menu screen is displayed, and the channel before the interruption may be forcibly selected. More specifically, the first channel is selected when the power is turned on or when the power is restored, but when a predetermined time has elapsed without operating the channel, the switching is switched to the selection of the remaining three channels. When the input device 13 is configured by a rotary switch, the current switch position corresponds to the immediately preceding channel, and when the input device 13 is a push switch, the selected channel is held by using a lock switch. For time management, clock management of the internal CPU of the information processing device 11 can be used.

Next, an embodiment in which the input device 13 manages the time of the selected channel will be described. As the input device 13 in this case, an input switch for specifying a channel and an input switch for specifying time are provided instead of the three-channel changeover switch described above. Then, if the user designates the time and the channel while viewing the menu screen, the storage device 12 stores these as control data, and the program is executed in accordance therewith. With this configuration, the menu screen can be used very effectively.

In this embodiment, the menu is displayed on the display 7. However, if a printer is used instead of the display 7, paper output can be performed. In the above-described example, the first channel only displays menus. However, since there is enough room for traffic, it is possible to perform various controls on the terminal side with the room, and there is room for providing various added values. There is.

[0015]

According to the present invention, among a plurality of channels provided to the user, the first channel is used as a program menu of another channel, and the menu is always displayed when communication is restored. As a result, the user can immediately confirm on which channel the favorite information is provided, and the communication system can be used effectively. Further, when the variety of programs is enriched, the user needs to change the channel or turn off the power every time a program that he does not like is broadcast. Therefore, although one channel necessarily provided a common type of program, the present invention is convenient because a user can know a program of a plurality of channels. Furthermore, if a time program is also performed, the user can automatically select a channel freely according to time, and the trouble of selecting a channel is released.

[0016] Furthermore, since the program menu can be provided to the user by broadcasting, it is possible to provide an effective device such that the program change is relatively unrestricted and the information provider is highly usable. did it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating details of a terminal device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-station apparatus 2 Information provision apparatus 3A, 3B, 3C Information provision apparatus 4 Telephone line 5 Terminal device 6 Telephone 7 Menu display device 8A-8C Information output terminal 10 Off-talk control unit 11 Information processing device 12 Storage device 13 Input device 14 Modem

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An intra-office device installed at a telephone station, an information providing device provided for each of N channels, and a telephone line connected to the intra-office device to select from the N channels when the telephone is not used. A one-way communication device comprising a terminal device for receiving a broadcast provided from one selected channel, wherein the first channel of the N channels holds a program guide of another channel as text data, When the power of the apparatus is turned on and the broadcast is restored, the text data of the first channel is broadcast, and the program table is displayed on a menu display device connected to the terminal apparatus.
A one-way communication device using a menu, which is displayed as a new screen .