JP3342720B2 - Automatic premises switching equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic private branch exchange which accommodates a digital telephone connected via a digital transmission line and can operate in cooperation with a computer connected via an input / output port.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a digital telephone housed in a private branch exchange has an RS-232C input / output port.
Terminal can be connected. Here, the terminal refers to a data terminal or a computer. There are two types of usage of the data terminal: a data terminal mode and a call management terminal mode. The data terminal mode is a mode for simply performing data communication with a terminal connected to another digital telephone or an outside line. In the call management terminal mode, a command is input from the data terminal to control a telephone call or an external call such as automatically calling a specific telephone, or a state transition of a specific telephone is transmitted to the data terminal. Notify the status change of the call after inputting the command by PBX
Can be set to notify the data terminal.

Usually, in the case of the call management terminal mode, a computer is used as a data terminal, and a database, an application, and the like of the computer are used to create various functions that cannot be realized by the PBX alone. The private branch exchange and the computer in the call management terminal mode are called a PBX-computer cooperation system. This PBX-
There is a representative function called nurse call realized by a computer cooperation system.

[0004] This nurse call function is such that when a call is made from a patient to a nurse center, information on the patient, such as the patient's name, age and medical condition, is automatically displayed on a terminal connected to the telephone at the nurse center. It is a function that is done. The commands from the terminal and the operation of the private branch exchange required to realize this function will be described below with reference to a system block diagram.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a conventional private branch exchange. In FIG.
The dotted line connection indicates the path of B channel information, and the chain line connection indicates the path of D channel information. In FIG. 4, the private branch exchange is roughly divided into three control units, namely a main unit 1, an extension control unit 2, and a digital telephone 3. The main device 1 controls the entire system. The extension control device 2 is provided for dispersing the addition of the main device 1, and transmits and receives D-channel frames to and from a plurality of digital telephones. Further, the digital telephone 3 is connected to the extension control device 2 through an interface of 2B + D.
For example, the extension control device 2 is 2B + D, that is, 64 Kb.
2 B channels with a transmission rate of 10 ps and 16 Kbps
Connected with one D channel having a transmission speed of
The channel can transmit user information such as voice or data, and the D channel transmits control information necessary for the exchange processing.

[0006] In the main unit 1, the communication path connection means 4 performs the connection processing of the B channels between the extensions, and the call control means 5.
Exchanges call control events with the digital telephone 3 through the D channel and performs call control such as state transition of the extension. The external terminal interface control means 6 analyzes and executes a command from a terminal connected to the digital telephone 3 via the RS-232C input / output port, or transmits a message from the call control means 5 to the external terminal. Further, the event distribution means 7 transmits the event of the call control means 5 or the external terminal interface control means 6 to the digital telephone or distributes the event from the telephone to the call control means 5 or the external terminal interface control means 6. Further, the terminal mode storage means 8 stores whether the mode of the terminal connected to the digital telephone 3 is the data terminal mode or the call management terminal mode. Further, the extension interface means 9 (9a, 9b...)
Manages an interface with the extension control device 2 and transmits and receives a D-channel frame to and from the extension control device 2.

In the extension control unit 2, the extension control means 10 receives the D channel frame received from the call control means 5 via the event distribution means 7 and the extension interface means 9 according to the destination of the frame.
Distribute to. Also, telephone interface means 11
(11a, 11b,...) Control an interface with the digital telephone 3 and transmit and receive data to and from the digital telephone 3.

Further, the digital telephone 3 has a receiver 12 for making a voice call, a speaker 13 and a microphone 14 for making a hands-free voice call, and the operating means 15 comprises a dial button, a hook switch and the like. The display means 16 has a display unit such as an LED or an LCD. Communication interface means
Reference numeral 17 controls communication with the private branch exchange, and terminal interface means 18 controls transmission and reception of data to and from a data terminal connected via an RS-232C input / output port. Further, the speed conversion means 19 converts low-speed data transmitted and received between terminals connected via the terminal interface means 18,
This is a means for performing mutual conversion of speed for transmission on a 64 Kbps B channel. In addition, handset 12, speaker
The communication path control means 20 to which the microphone 13 and the microphone 14 are connected includes a receiver 12 and a speaker 13 for performing voice communication and data communication.
And a B-channel connection between the microphone 14 and the communication interface means 17 and the speed conversion means 19. Further, the telephone control means 21 controls the operation means 15, the display means 16, the terminal interface means 18 and the communication path control means 20, and the event discrimination means 22 controls the D channel frame transmitted / received to / from the main apparatus 1. Analysis is performed to control the path of the D channel frame to be transmitted and received.

[0009] Before describing the terminal system with the above configuration, first, the operation when a voice-based calling operation is performed will be described. When the user of the digital telephone goes off-hook, the telephone control means 21 detects this via the operation means 15. The telephone control means 21 is an event discriminating means 22,
Extension control device 2 via communication interface means 17
The off-hook event is transmitted to the telephone interface means 11 in the D channel frame. Upon receiving the off-hook event, the telephone interface means 11 transmits the off-hook event to the extension control means 10 in a D channel frame, and the extension control means 10 adds information on which telephone the frame came from to the D channel frame. To the main device 1. The event distribution means 7 having received this D channel frame via the extension interface means 9 in the main unit 1 judges that the transmission source of the frame is the telephone control means 21, and transmits the frame to the call control means 5. Call control means 5 which received the frame
Changes the state of the telephone from waiting to a dial tone audience, and allows the user of the telephone to hear the dial tone from the handset 12;
D, LED information for controlling display means such as LCD,
An event including control information such as LCD information is transmitted to the extension interface means 9 via the event distribution means 7. The extension interface means 9 transmits the received event to the extension control means 10 in the extension control means 2, and the extension control means 10 receiving the event transmits the event to the target telephone interface means in accordance with the destination telephone included in the D channel frame. The D channel frame is transmitted to 11. The telephone interface means 11 transmits to the event discriminating means 22 via the communication interface means 17 in the digital telephone 3 through the D channel. The event discriminating means 22 makes a judgment based on the destination of the frame, and passes the frame to the telephone control means 21. Upon receiving these various control information (B channel connection information, LED information, LCD information), the telephone control means 21 controls the communication path control means 20 and the display means 16 to send a dial tone to the user, And display on the LCD.

When the user who has listened to the dial tone performs a dial operation to call the other party, the telephone control means 21 similarly detects this through the operation means 15 and communicates from the event discrimination means 22. Interface means
17, telephone interface means 11, extension control means 10,
Extension interface means 9 and event distribution means 7
The dial events are sequentially transmitted to the call control means 5 in the main device 1 via the. Upon receiving the dial event, the call control means 5 analyzes the dial and performs a calling process of the other party. When the called party answers, the
The LCD information to be displayed on the telephone is transmitted from the event distribution means 7 to the telephone interface control means 21 in the digital telephone 3 via the extension interface means 9, the extension control means 10, the telephone interface means 11 and the communication interface means 17.
Transmit to Telephone control means receiving this LDC information
21 controls the display means 16 to display a message on the LCD. In this way, voice communication on the B channel is enabled.

Next, the operation of the terminal system will be described. As described above, there are two types of terminal modes, the data terminal mode and the call management terminal mode. First, the case where the terminal mode is the data terminal mode will be described. When the user of the data terminal performs a data transmission operation (for example, an ATD command in the AT command system) from the data terminal to the target partner, the telephone control means 21 detects this via the terminal interface means 18. . The telephone control means 21 sends the data terminal outgoing event to the event distribution means 7 in the main unit 1 via the event discriminating means 22 and the communication interface means 17 in the same manner as in the voice system.
Transmit by channel. The event distribution unit 7 that has received the event checks the terminal mode stored in the terminal mode storage unit 8 because the event transmission source is not the telephone control unit 21 but the terminal interface unit 18. The event distribution means 7 sends an event to the call control means 5 if the terminal mode is the data terminal mode, and sends an event to the external terminal interface control means 6 if the terminal mode is the call management control means. Is in the data terminal mode, the received event is
Send to The call control means 5 which has received this transmission event
Analyzes the outgoing event and performs the calling process of the partner data terminal. And when the caller answers,
The B-channel connection information for performing the B-channel data transmission between the data terminals is transmitted to the digital telephone 3. The telephone control means 21 having received the B-channel connection information via the communication interface means 17 in the digital telephone 3 controls the communication path control means 20 and transmits the communication interface means 17 to the communication path control means 20, the speed conversion means. 19 Further, a path called terminal interface means 18 is formed to enable data communication on the B channel between data terminals.

In addition to the above-mentioned transmission method, there is also a method in which the transmission from the data terminal is performed by operation of the operation means 15 of the digital telephone (proxy transmission). Next, a call management terminal mode, which is another mode of the terminal system, is a mode in which the private branch exchange and the computer are operated in cooperation with each other, and the flow of events in this mode will be described. In the case of the call management terminal mode, a data link is formed between the external terminal interface control means in the main unit 1 and the terminal interface means 18 in the digital telephone 3 from the beginning. From the means 18 as a D channel frame, it is passed from the event discriminating means 22 to the communication interface means 17, the telephone interface means 11, the extension control means 10, the extension interface means 9 and the event distribution means 7. Upon receiving this event, the event distribution means 7 checks the terminal mode with the terminal mode storage means 8 at the same time as the operation in the data terminal mode. Pass to The external terminal interface control means 6 having received the event from the terminal analyzes the event and transmits a control event to the call control as necessary.

Conversely, when an event is transmitted from the call control means 5 to a terminal connected to the digital telephone 3, for example, the call control means 5 notifies the terminal connected to the digital telephone 3 that a call state transition has occurred. When notifying the call, the call control means 5 sends the state transition notification event from the external terminal interface control means 6 to the event distribution means 7, the extension interface means 9, the extension control means 10, the telephone interface means 11, the communication interface means 17, and the event discrimination. It transmits to the terminal interface means 18 via the means 22. The terminal interface means 18 which has received the D channel frame transmits an event to the terminal by transmitting data to the RS-232C input / output port.

Further, in order to realize the nurse call function, it is necessary to first set the terminal to notify the terminal when the telephone of the nurse center is received. The event is called a monitor event, and the monitor event includes the number of the telephone to be monitored and a notification state indicating to which state the notification should be made.
In this case, since the telephone to be monitored must be notified of the telephone at the nurse center and the call state when there is an incoming call, the "incoming state" is set. The monitor event is input from the terminal connected from the digital telephone 3 and, as described above, the terminal interface means
At 18, it is passed to the external terminal interface control means 6 in the main device 1 as a D channel frame. The external terminal interface control means 6 having received the monitor event transmits monitor information to the call control means 5 in order to monitor the corresponding telephone according to the detailed information included in the monitor event. Call control means 5 receiving this monitor information
Sets the monitor bit of the telephone set and stores the notification state (incoming state).

Further, when an incoming call from the patient's telephone to the nurse center occurs, the call control means 5 changes the state of the monitored telephone to the incoming call state. Send notification events. The state transition notification event includes, as detailed information, the telephone number of the caller indicating the telephone from which telephone is being monitored. External terminal interface control means 6 having received the state transition notification event
Sends the same event to the terminal on which the monitor is set. The terminal that has received the state transition notification event needs to store patient data in the database in advance, but since the source telephone number can be determined from the detailed information of the received event, the source, that is, the patient who made the call Can be specified, and patient data can be extracted from the database and displayed.

As described above, in the conventional private branch exchange, a new function is created in cooperation with the computer.

[0017]

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, when the connection destination of the terminal is changed, the location of the nurse center changes and the telephone to which the terminal is connected changes in the case of the nurse call described earlier. In such a case, the previously set monitor is invalidated, and a change must be made to transmit a state transition event to the RS-232C input / output port of the newly connected telephone. As described above, every time the connection destination of the terminal is changed, it is necessary to set data from the beginning, which is very troublesome.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic private branch exchange which does not need to reset data even when a connection destination of a terminal is changed.

[0019]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic private branch exchange according to the present invention controls the transmission and reception of control information between a main unit for controlling the entire system and a plurality of digital telephones. An automatic private branch exchange performed by a device, wherein the main unit analyzes and executes commands from a terminal connected to the digital telephone and call control means for controlling calls such as inter-extension and inter-external line connection. External terminal interface control means for managing the correspondence between a terminal physical number indicating to which digital telephone the terminal is connected and a terminal logical number used by the call control means for distinguishing the terminal; Extension interface means for controlling an interface with the extension control device and transmitting / receiving data to / from the extension control device; The control information from the scan unit and an event distribution means for distributing said call control means or the external terminal interface controller, the digital telephone
Control information is sent from the terminal to the terminal interface
And the control information is transmitted via the digital telephone.
When sent to the main unit, the event distribution means
Control information and the physical number of the transmission source
To the external terminal interface.
The base control means in the order in which the control information is transmitted.
Assigned individually and stored as each control information transmission source
The external terminal management means is recorded in association with the physical number of the terminal.
It is a reminder .

[0020]

With the above arrangement, the external terminal management means manages the terminal physical number indicating the physical position to which the terminal is connected and the terminal logical number used by call control or the like to distinguish the terminal. The data set from the terminal connected to the phone will be valid even if the connection destination of the terminal is changed, eliminating the need to reset the data every time the connection destination of the terminal is changed. It is possible to provide very convenient services.

[0021]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a private branch exchange according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the private branch exchange is roughly divided into three control units: a main unit 23, an extension control unit 24, and a digital telephone 25. This main unit 23 controls the entire system,
The extension control device 24 is provided for distributing the load of the main device 23, and transmits and receives a D channel frame to and from a plurality of digital telephones. Reference numeral 25 denotes a digital telephone connected to the extension control device 2 through an interface of 2B + D.
D, that is, two B channels having a transmission rate of 64 Kbps and one D channel having a transmission rate of 16 Kbps are connected. The B channel can transmit user information such as voice or data, and the D channel requires exchange processing. Control information is transmitted.

In the main unit 23, the communication path connecting means 26
Performs the connection processing of the B channel between extensions, the call control means 27 exchanges a call control event with the digital telephone 25 through the D channel, and performs call control such as state transition of the extension. The external terminal interface control means 28 analyzes and executes a command from a terminal connected to the digital telephone 25 via the RS-232C or executes the call control means 27.
To the external terminal. Further, the external terminal interface management means 29 manages the correspondence between the physical number indicating the physical position to which the terminal is connected and the logical number. Further, the event distribution means 30 transmits the event from the call control means 27 or the external terminal interface control means 28 to the digital telephone 25 or distributes the event from the telephone to the call control means 27 or the external terminal interface control means 28. Further, the terminal mode storage means 31
Stores whether the mode of the terminal connected to the digital telephone 25 is the data terminal mode or the call management terminal mode. Further, the extension interface means 32 (32
a, 32b,...) control an interface with the extension control device 24, and transmit and receive a D channel frame to and from the extension control device 24.

In the extension control unit 24, the extension control unit 33 receives the D channel frame received from the call control unit 27 via the event distribution unit 30 and the extension interface unit 32 in accordance with the destination of the frame.
Distribute to. That is, the extension control means 33
It controls the transmission and reception of control information between the main device 23 and the digital telephone 25. The telephone interface means 34 (34a, 34b,...) Controls an interface with the digital telephone 25 and transmits and receives data to and from the digital telephone 25.

Further, the digital telephone 25 has a receiver 35 for making a voice call, a speaker 36 and a microphone 37 for making a hands-free voice call, and the operating means 38 includes a dial button and a hook switch. Further, the display means 39 comprises an LED, an LCD, or the like. Further, the communication interface means 40 controls a telephone call with the private branch exchange. That is, the communication interface means 40 has at least one RS-232C input / output port, and has at least one B
It is connected by an interface composed of a channel and a D channel, and controls B channel communication and D channel communication with the extension control device. Further, the terminal interface means 41 controls transmission / reception for controlling data input / output with a data terminal connected via the RS-232C input / output port. Further, the speed converting means 42 mutually converts the speed in order to transmit low-speed data transmitted / received to / from a terminal connected via the terminal interface means 41 on a 64 Kbps B channel. In addition, handset 3
5, the communication path control means 43 to which the speaker 36 and the microphone 37 are connected is a receiver 35 for performing voice communication and data communication.
The B channel connection between the speaker 36 and the microphone 37, the communication interface means 40 and the speed conversion means 42 is made possible. The telephone control means 44 is a telephone operating means.
38, the display means 39, the terminal interface means 41, and the communication path control means 43. Further, the event discriminating means 45 analyzes a D channel frame transmitted / received to / from the main device 1 and controls a path of the D channel frame to be transmitted / received. That is, the event discriminating means 45
The communication interface means, the terminal interface means, and the telephone control means control a transmission / reception path of a D-channel frame.

The operation of the terminal-based call management mode having the above configuration will be described below. Note that the operation of the voice system and the data terminal mode of the terminal system are the same as those in the conventional example, and the description thereof is omitted here.

FIG. 2 is a sequence flow showing a series of processes when the terminal performs call management in the private branch exchange of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, first, when the terminal starts call management, an "operation start event" is input from the terminal (step 46). This “operation start event” is formed by the terminal interface means 41 to form a D channel frame in which the physical number of the telephone is set as the transmission source, and is transmitted to the event discrimination means 45. The event discriminating unit 45 receiving this frame transmits the communication interface unit 40 through the telephone interface unit 34, the extension control unit 33, the extension interface unit 32, and the event distribution unit 30,
It is transmitted to the external end interface control means 28 (steps 47, 48, 49). Further, the external terminal interface control means 28 allocates the “operation start event” in the order in which the “operation start events” are transmitted, starting from the logical number 1, and sets the number of call management terminals 66
Is incremented by 1, and the physical numbers shown in FIG. 3 of the terminal stored in the transmission source of the “operation start event” are stored in 67 to 69. Thereafter, an event notified from the terminal to the call control such as a “monitor event” is transmitted to the external terminal interface control means 28.
, The source of the event is rewritten from the physical number to the logical number and passed to the call control means 27 (steps 50 to 53). Then, the call control means 27 stores the notification destination at the time of the state transition by the "monitor event" by a logical number, and when there is a state transition of the monitored call (step 54), the call control means 27 Send a “state change notification event” to the external terminal interface control means 28 (step 5
Five). The external terminal interface control means 28 receiving this event converts the logical number into a physical number by the external terminal interface management means 29, and sends the event number from the event distribution means 30 to the terminal interface means 41 in the digital telephone 25 having the corresponding physical number. Extension interface means
32, extension control means 33, telephone interface means 34,
Communication interface means 40 and event discriminating means 45
(Steps 55 and 56). Upon receiving the D channel frame including this event, the terminal interface means 41 transmits a "state change notification event" to the terminal (step 57). If the terminal is to be transferred to another digital telephone, a "transfer start event" is input from the terminal before the transfer (step 58). Similarly to the above, the terminal interface means 41 which has received the "transfer start event" transmits it to the external interface control means 28 in the main device 23 (steps 59, 60, 61). The external interface control unit that has received the “transfer start event” uses the external terminal interface management unit 29 to check and store the logical number corresponding to the physical number of the event transmission source. After the terminal is moved to another digital telephone, a "transfer end event" is entered from the terminal (step 62). Similarly to the “operation start event”, the external terminal interface control unit is transmitted from the terminal interface unit 41 to the external terminal interface control unit.
This event is passed to 28 (steps 63, 64, 65), and the external terminal interface control means 28 having received this event replaces the physical number corresponding to the previously stored logical number with
The external terminal interface management unit 29 is instructed to change the physical number stored in the source of the “transfer end event” to the physical number of the connection destination of the new terminal.

Thereafter, when a "state transition notification event" is sent from the call control means 27 to the external terminal interface means 28 by the monitor set before the terminal was relocated, the logical number of the terminal is the same as that before the relocation. However, since the logical number and physical number table managed by the external terminal interface management means 29 have been changed to new physical numbers, a "state transition notification" event is sent to the terminal after relocation. Will be sent.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the terminal number used by the call control means is different from the physical number and uses the logical number.
Manages the correspondence between the logical number and the physical number, so that there is no need to set data even after the terminal is relocated.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the external terminal interface management means is provided, it is not necessary to set data every time the connection destination of the call management terminal is changed, and the connection destination can be easily changed. Thus, a very convenient service can be provided to the user of the terminal connected to the digital telephone.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a private branch exchange according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence flow showing a series of processes when performing call management in the private branch exchange of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a table used by the external terminal interface management means 29 in the main unit 23 in FIG. 1 to associate terminal physical numbers with terminal logical numbers.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a conventional private branch exchange.

[Explanation of symbols]

 23 Main device 24 Extension control device 25 Digital telephone 26 Call path connection means 27 Call control means 28 External terminal interface control means 29 External terminal interface management means 30 Extension interface means 31 Event distribution means 32 (32a, 32b ...) Terminal mode storage means

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04Q 3/58 101 H04M 1/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An automatic private branch exchange which controls transmission and reception of control information between a main unit controlling the entire system and a plurality of digital telephones by an extension control unit, wherein the main unit includes: Call control means for controlling a call such as line connection; external terminal interface control means for analyzing and executing a command from a terminal connected to the digital telephone; and a terminal indicating to which digital telephone the terminal is connected External terminal management means for managing the correspondence between a physical number and a terminal logical number used by the call control means for distinguishing a terminal; transmission and reception of data to and from the extension control apparatus, which controls an interface with the extension control apparatus An extension interface means for performing the call control, and transmitting control information from the extension interface means to the call control means or the external terminal interface. A event distribution means for distributing the Esu control means, an end to the terminal interface unit of the digital telephone set
Control information is input from the end, and this control information is
When sent to the main unit via a telephone
Distribution means receives the incoming control information and the physical number of the transmission source.
Signal to the external end interface control means,
The external terminal interface control means transmits control information
Logical numbers are assigned individually in the order of
Associated with the physical number of the terminal stored as
An automatic private branch exchange apparatus , wherein the private branch exchange means is stored in a terminal management unit .