JP6475209B2 - Communication apparatus and communication control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a call origination operation from a telephone, and particularly to a control technique when an abnormality occurs.

  Information processing apparatuses and electronic devices that communicate with external networks are widely used in homes and small offices. These information processing devices and the like are often connected to an external network via a communication device such as an HGW (Home Gateway). In addition to the information processing apparatus and the like, a telephone is connected to the HGW, and the HGW controls communication between the telephone and the base station. For example, the telephone performs a call or a call operation by transmitting a dial pulse or a DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) signal. The HGW determines the telephone line type, that is, dial pulse or DTMF, and controls communication based on the determined line type.

  When the dial pulse is used by the telephone, if the dial pulse becomes abnormal due to noise on the line or malfunction of the pulse generator, the HGW may not be able to correctly identify the telephone number. If the HGW erroneously identifies the telephone number, an erroneous call to the erroneously identified telephone number occurs, reducing the reliability of the call operation.

  When an erroneous call or the like occurs, the user needs to identify the cause and change the setting of the telephone. However, it is often difficult for a user with insufficient knowledge to identify and respond to the cause, and it may take a long time to solve the problem when a problem occurs. For this reason, it is desirable that there is a technique that can improve the reliability of the transmission operation by switching the signal format when an abnormality occurs in the line, and related techniques are being developed. As such a technique for switching the signal format when an abnormality occurs in a line, for example, a technique as disclosed in Patent Document 1 is disclosed.

  Patent Document 1 relates to a terminal-side control device to which a telephone, a meter, or the like is connected. The control device of Patent Document 1 has a function of determining the line type of a telephone. The control device of Patent Document 1 makes a call to a base station based on a line type determined from a signal sent from a telephone. The control device of Patent Document 1 counts the number of failures when a response signal is not obtained when a call is made and connection to the base station fails. When the number of failures exceeds a predetermined number, the control device of Patent Document 1 makes a call to the base station using a line type different from the determined line type. According to Patent Document 1, such a configuration allows continuous connection with a base station.

JP 2010-62657 A

  However, the technique of Patent Document 1 is not sufficient in the following points. The control device of Patent Document 1 counts the number of times a response is not obtained when a call is made to the base station, and determines that there is an abnormality in the line exceeding the predetermined number. That is, the technique of Patent Document 1 determines the presence / absence of an abnormality by counting the number of times a response cannot be obtained after repeated transmissions. Therefore, in the technique of Patent Document 1, the telephone side continues the transmission operation without switching the signal format until it is determined to be abnormal. If the control device erroneously detects a signal and continues to make a call, the connection is established based on the erroneously recognized information, and an erroneous call or the like may occur. Therefore, the technique of Patent Document 1 is not sufficient as a technique for improving the reliability by appropriately switching the signal format when an abnormality occurs.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to obtain a communication device that can improve the reliability of a call by appropriately switching a signal format when an abnormality occurs.

  In order to solve the above problems, the communication apparatus of the present invention includes a first communication unit, a second communication unit, an abnormality detection unit, and a control unit. The first communication means communicates with the telephone based on a signal transmitted from the telephone among the pulse signal and the tone signal. The second communication means connects the telephone to the communication network. The abnormality detection means monitors whether or not the pulse signal is abnormal when the telephone transmits a pulse signal, and determines whether communication using the pulse signal is possible based on the monitoring result. The control means transmits a request to switch to a tone signal to the telephone when the abnormality detection means determines that communication using a pulse signal is impossible.

  According to the communication control method of the present invention, when a pulse signal transmitted from a telephone is received, the presence or absence of abnormality of the pulse signal is monitored. The communication control method of the present invention transmits a request to switch to a tone signal to a telephone when an abnormality of a pulse signal is detected. According to the communication control method of the present invention, a telephone set that transmits a signal in the second format is connected to the telephone network.

  According to the present invention, when an abnormality occurs, the reliability of a call is improved by appropriately switching the signal format.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of a structure of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of a structure of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the apparatus structure of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the signal when abnormality arises in the telephone line etc. It is a figure which shows the example of the signal when abnormality arises in the telephone line etc. It is a figure which shows the example of the signal when abnormality arises in the telephone line etc. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement flow in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed typically the operation | movement when abnormality arises in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of a structure of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the apparatus structure of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement flow in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement flow in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an outline of the configuration of the communication apparatus according to the present embodiment. The communication apparatus of this embodiment includes a first communication unit 1, a second communication unit 2, an abnormality detection unit 3, and a control unit 4. The first communication means 1 communicates with the telephone based on a signal transmitted from the telephone among the pulse signal and the tone signal. The second communication means 2 connects the telephone with a communication network. The abnormality detection means 3 monitors the presence / absence of an abnormality in the pulse signal when the telephone transmits a pulse signal, and determines whether communication using the pulse signal is possible based on the monitoring result. When the abnormality detection unit 3 determines that communication using a pulse signal is not possible, the control unit 4 transmits a request for switching to a tone signal to the telephone.

  In the communication apparatus according to the present embodiment, the abnormality detection unit 3 monitors the presence or absence of an abnormality in the pulse signal transmitted from the telephone, and determines whether communication using the pulse signal is possible based on the monitoring result. Further, the communication device of the present embodiment transmits a request for switching to a tone signal to the telephone in the control means 4 when it is determined that communication using a pulse signal is impossible. For this reason, when an abnormality occurs in which the pulse signal cannot be recognized normally, the telephone side can recognize the necessity of switching to the tone signal. By recognizing the necessity of switching to the tone signal on the telephone side and switching to the transmission of the tone signal, erroneous transmission or the like can be prevented. As a result, by using the communication device of the present embodiment, the reliability of a call is improved by appropriately switching the signal format when an abnormality occurs.

(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows an outline of the configuration of the telephone system of this embodiment. The telephone system of this embodiment includes an HGW (Home Gateway) 10 and a telephone 20.

  The telephone 20 of this embodiment has a function of transmitting a dial pulse and a DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) signal. Dial pulse and DTMF signals are also called pulse signals and tone signals, respectively. The HGW 10 is connected to the telephone network 60. The telephone 20 is connected to a base station on the telephone network 60 via the HGW 10, and a user of the telephone 20 makes a call with a user of another telephone. In addition to the telephone 20, an information processing device, a communication device, an electronic device, a measurement device, and the like may be further connected to the HGW 10 to communicate with an external network.

  The configuration of the HGW 10 will be described. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the HGW 10 of the present embodiment. The HGW 10 of this embodiment includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a telephone interface unit 13, and a communication interface unit 14.

  The control unit 11 has a function of performing overall control of the HGW 10. The control unit 11 further includes a storage unit control unit 15, a telephone control unit 16, and a conversion determination unit 17.

  The storage unit control unit 15 writes and reads each setting information used when the HGW 10 controls communication to and from the storage unit 12. Further, the storage control unit 15 writes and reads information on the number of detected nonstandard pulses in the nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18 of the storage unit 12.

  The telephone control unit 16 controls operations related to a telephone call of the telephone 20 such as outgoing call, incoming call, hold, and disconnection. Further, the telephone control unit 16 performs control such as detection of nonstandard pulses, transmission of guidance voices to the telephone 20, and detection of telephone numbers. Further, the telephone control unit 16 determines the line type based on the signal transmitted from the telephone 20, and controls the call based on the line type.

  The telephone control unit 16 monitors whether the dial pulse input from the telephone 20 to the telephone interface unit 13 is normal. When detecting the nonstandard pulse, the telephone control unit 16 counts the number of nonstandard pulses for a predetermined time. The predetermined time is set in advance so as to be an appropriate time for judging the abnormality of the pulse generator of the telephone set 20 or the line. The telephone control unit 16 stores the number of detected nonstandard pulses in the nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18 of the storage unit 12 via the storage unit control unit 15. The telephone control unit 16 of the present embodiment corresponds to the control unit 4 of the first embodiment.

  The nonstandard pulse will be described. The dial pulse standard is set as follows, for example. The 10 pulse / second dial pulse standard is set such that the dial pulse speed is within 10 ± 1.0 pulses per second, the dial pulse make rate is 30% or more, 42% or less, and the minimum pause is 600ms or more. Further, the dial pulse standard of the 20 pulses per second method is set such that the dial pulse speed is within 20 ± 1.6 pulses per second, the dial pulse make rate is 30% or more, 36% or less, and the minimum pause is 450ms or more. The non-standard pulse refers to a dial pulse that does not satisfy the dial pulse standard set in this way.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of dial pulse make rate violation. (1) in FIG. 4 shows a case where the width of the center dial pulse is short and falls below the lower limit of the dial pulse make rate standard. Further, (2) of FIG. 4 shows a case where the width of the center dial pulse is long and exceeds the upper limit of the dial pulse make rate standard.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a dial pulse speed violation and an example of a minimum pause violation. An example of dial pulse speed violation in the upper part of FIG. 5 is a case where 12 pulses are generated within 1 second, and the dial pulse speed is out of the standard of 10 pulses per second method defined as 10 ± 1.0 pulses per second. Show. Further, the example of the minimum pause violation in the lower part of FIG. 5 shows a case where there is only an interval of less than 600 ms and the minimum pause is not within the standard of 10 pulses per second method defined as 600 ms or more. When a dial pulse abnormality as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 occurs, the HGW 10 may erroneously detect a signal.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of erroneous detection of dial pulses in the HGW 10. (1) in FIG. 6 shows a case where the left central pulse is not detected as nonstandard, and the input signal shown on the left side is different from the detected signal shown on the right side. That is, (1) of FIG. 6 shows an example in which three pulses are transmitted, but are excluded as non-standard pulses and detected as two pulses less than the intended number.

  (2) in FIG. 6 shows a case where noise is detected as a pulse as shown on the right side when noise as shown on the left side is generated in the input signal.

  (3) in FIG. 6 shows that the input signal shown on the left side is paused after four pulses and two pulses are input, whereas the right detection signal cannot detect the pause normally. An example is shown in which six consecutive pulse trains are detected. When such an erroneous detection of a pulse occurs in the HGW 10, there is a possibility that an erroneous transmission may occur due to an erroneous recognition of a telephone number transmitted from the telephone set 20.

  The conversion determination unit 17 determines whether conversion from dial pulse to DTMF is necessary. The conversion determination unit 17 reads information on the number of detected nonstandard pulses stored in the nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18. The conversion determination unit 17 compares the read number of detected nonstandard pulses with a threshold value, and determines that conversion to DTMF is necessary when the detected number is larger than the threshold value. A threshold value as a reference value for the number of detected non-standard pulses when determining conversion to DTMF is set in advance. When the conversion determination unit 17 determines that conversion to DTMF is necessary, the conversion determination unit 17 requests the telephone control unit 16 to transmit guidance requesting conversion from dial pulses to DTMF. Moreover, the conversion determination part 17 of this embodiment is corresponded to the abnormality detection means 3 of 1st Embodiment.

  The storage unit 12 has a function of storing setting information used in the HGW 10. The storage unit 12 further includes a nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18. The nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18 stores the number of nonstandard pulses detected by the telephone control unit 16. The number of detected nonstandard pulses is stored in the nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18 by the storage unit control unit 15. The memory | storage part 12 is comprised by the non-volatile semiconductor memory device, for example.

  The telephone interface unit 13 is an interface that transmits and receives signals to and from the telephone 20. The telephone interface unit 13 of the present embodiment corresponds to the first communication unit 1 of the first embodiment.

  The communication interface unit 14 is an interface that transmits and receives signals to and from the telephone network 60. The communication interface unit 14 of the present embodiment corresponds to the second communication unit 2 of the first embodiment.

  The telephone 20 has a function of connecting to a communication line via the HGW 10 and making a call with another telephone. The telephone 20 of this embodiment has a function of transmitting dial pulses and DTMF signals. The telephone 20 transmits a signal of a method selected by the user from the dial pulse and DTMF and set in the telephone 20.

  The telephone network 60 is a communication network that connects a base station and a subscriber's home or office. The telephone network 60 is configured by a wired line such as an optical fiber, a wireless line, or a combination thereof.

  The operation of the telephone system of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an operation flow of the telephone system according to the present embodiment. The following description will be given on the assumption that the transmission operation is performed based on a signal from the dial pulse from the telephone 20 at the normal time.

  The user goes off-hook of the handset when using the telephone 20 (step 101). When the handset is off-hooked, transmission of a signal from the telephone 20 is started, and the telephone control unit 16 of the HGW 10 monitors the input signal and starts detecting a dial pulse (step 102).

  At this time, when a non-standard pulse is input from the telephone 20 to the HGW 10 (step 103), the telephone control unit 16 starts detecting the non-standard pulse (step 104). FIG. 7 shows a case where a plurality of nonstandard pulses are transmitted from the telephone set 20 to the HGW 10 in steps 105 to 106.

  When detecting the nonstandard pulse, the telephone control unit 16 counts the number of nonstandard pulses detected within a predetermined time. When the number of non-standard pulses detected within a predetermined time is counted, the telephone control unit 16 sends data on the number of detected non-standard pulses to the storage unit control unit 15. When the storage unit control unit 15 receives data on the number of nonstandard pulses, the storage unit 15 stores the received data in the nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18.

  When the data of the number of nonstandard pulses is stored, the conversion determination unit 17 compares the number of nonstandard pulses counted in a predetermined time with a threshold value.

  When the number of non-standard pulses is equal to or greater than the threshold (step 107), the conversion determination unit 17 determines that conversion from dial pulses to DTMF is necessary. If it is determined that conversion to DTMF is necessary, the conversion determination unit 17 sends a transmission command for information requesting conversion to DTMF to the telephone control unit 16.

  When the telephone control unit 16 receives a transmission command for information requesting conversion to DTMF, the telephone control unit 16 sends voice data of guidance requesting conversion to the telephone 20 as a notification requesting conversion to DTMF (step 108). The telephone control unit 16 reads out voice data of a guidance requesting conversion to DTMF from the storage unit 12 and transmits it.

  When voice data of a guidance requesting conversion to DTMF is sent to the telephone set 20, guidance requesting conversion from the telephone set 20 to DTMF is transmitted, and information requesting conversion to DTMF is transmitted to the user.

  The user who has heard the guidance converts the setting of the telephone 20 from dial pulse to DTMF by a switch operation or the like (step 109). After the conversion to DTMF, the user off-hooks the telephone 20 again (step 110). When the user dials by off-hooking the telephone 20, the telephone 20 dials by DTMF and transmits a signal based on DTMF (step 111). By switching to DTMF and making a call again, the HGW 10 correctly identifies the telephone number sent from the telephone 20 and establishes a connection between the telephone 20 and the base station switch on the telephone network 60. can do.

  In step 107, when the number of nonstandard pulses is less than the threshold value, the telephone control unit 16 performs control related to a normal call while monitoring dial pulses input from the telephone 20. When the conversion determination unit 17 determines that conversion to DTMF is necessary, the telephone control unit 16 may stop the dial pulse detection process in order to suppress erroneous transmission.

  FIG. 8 schematically shows the operation of detection of nonstandard pulses and notification of conversion from dial pulses to DTMF in the telephone system of this embodiment. (1) of FIG. 8 shows an example in which nonstandard pulses are transmitted from the telephone set 20 to the HGW 10 a plurality of times. (2) in FIG. 8 indicates that the HGW 10 notifies the telephone 20 to convert from dial pulses to DTMF when a predetermined number of non-standard pulses are detected within a predetermined time. An example of sending is shown. As described above, when a plurality of nonstandard pulses are detected by the HGW 10, a notification for converting the dial pulse to DTMF is transmitted to the telephone 20, and the line type is switched to switch to the normal signal format. Normal call operation can be performed.

  In the telephone system of this embodiment, the telephone control unit 16 of the HGW 10 monitors whether the dial pulse input from the telephone 20 satisfies the standard. When the telephone control unit 16 detects a non-standard dial pulse, it counts the number of non-standard dial pulses detected within a predetermined time. When the number of non-standard dial pulses detected within a predetermined time exceeds the threshold value, the conversion determination unit 17 determines that conversion from dial pulses to DTMF is necessary. When the conversion determining unit 17 determines that conversion to DTMF is necessary, the telephone control unit 16 sends a notification to the telephone 20 for conversion from dial pulse to DTMF. In this way, the telephone control unit 16 sends a notification to the telephone 20 to convert the dial pulse to DTMF, so that on the telephone 20 side, the user recognizes that an abnormality has occurred in the dial pulse signal, The line type of the telephone 20 can be switched to DTMF. In addition, since the user only needs to listen to the guidance and perform a switching operation, the user can respond without sufficient knowledge. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time required for switching from dial pulse to DTMF.

  In the telephone system according to the present embodiment, the line type is switched by detecting a nonstandard dial pulse, so that when an abnormality occurs, transmission from the HGW 10 to the telephone network 60 remains in the dial pulse signal format. It can be suppressed from continuing. Therefore, it is possible to suppress a state in which the wrong telephone number is recognized by the erroneous detection of the dial pulse input from the telephone set 20 and the HGW 10 makes an erroneous call. As a result, the telephone system according to the present embodiment has improved reliability. As described above, the telephone system according to the present embodiment improves the reliability of the call by appropriately switching the signal format when an abnormality occurs.

(Third embodiment)
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 9 shows an outline of the configuration of the telephone system of this embodiment. The telephone system of this embodiment includes an HGW 30 and a telephone 20. The HGW 30 communicates with a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) server 50 via the telephone network 60. Similarly to the second embodiment, an information processing apparatus or the like may be further connected to the HGW 30.

  In the telephone system according to the second embodiment, the HGW 10 monitors dial pulses sent from the telephone 20 and switches to DTMF when a nonstandard pulse exceeding the threshold is detected within a predetermined time. . In addition to such a configuration, the HGW 30 of the present embodiment is characterized in that switching from dial pulse to DTMF is performed even when normal transmission operation to the SIP server 50 cannot be performed.

  The configurations and functions of the telephone 20 and the telephone network 60 of this embodiment are the same as those of the second embodiment.

  The configuration of the HGW 30 will be described. FIG. 10 shows the configuration of the HGW 30 of this embodiment. The HGW 30 of this embodiment includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, a telephone interface unit 33, and a communication interface unit 34.

  The configurations and functions of the telephone interface unit 33 and the communication interface unit 34 of the present embodiment are the same as the parts having the same names in the second embodiment.

  The control unit 31 has a function of performing overall control of the HGW 30. The control unit 31 further includes a storage unit control unit 35, a telephone control unit 36, a conversion determination unit 37, and a telephone network monitoring unit 38.

  The storage unit control unit 35 has the same function as the storage unit control unit 15 of the second embodiment. In addition, the storage unit control unit 35 writes and reads information on the number of outgoing calls to an unregistered number in the unregistered outgoing number storage unit 40 of the storage unit 32.

  The telephone control unit 36 has the same function as the telephone control unit 16 of the second embodiment. That is, the telephone control unit 36 controls operations related to the telephone call of the telephone 20 such as outgoing call, incoming call, hold, disconnection, and telephone number detection. The telephone control unit 36 transmits information including the telephone number of the transmission destination to the SIP server 50 as “INVITE” when performing a call operation. In addition, the telephone control unit 36 performs control such as detection of nonstandard pulses, transmission of guidance voice to the telephone 20, and detection of telephone numbers.

  The conversion determination unit 37 has the same function as the conversion determination unit 17 of the second embodiment. Furthermore, the conversion determination unit 37 of this embodiment determines whether conversion from dial pulse to DTMF is necessary based on the number of outgoing calls to unregistered numbers. The conversion determination unit 37 compares the number of calls to the unregistered number stored in the unregistered call number storage unit 40 and a threshold value, and determines that conversion to DTMF is necessary when the number of calls is larger than the threshold value. . A threshold value that is a reference value for the number of detected outgoing calls to an unregistered number when determining conversion to DTMF is set in advance. When the conversion determination unit 37 determines that conversion to DTMF is necessary, the conversion determination unit 37 requests the telephone control unit 36 to transmit guidance requesting conversion from dial pulses to DTMF.

  The telephone network monitoring unit 38 has a function of monitoring whether or not there is a response from the SIP server 50. When the telephone network monitoring unit 38 receives a response from the SIP server 50 indicating that there is no telephone number corresponding to the telephone number transmitted by the telephone control unit 36, the telephone network monitoring unit 38 is not registered in the storage unit 32 via the storage unit control unit 35. It is stored as information on the number of calls made to unregistered numbers in the call number storage unit 40. The telephone network monitoring unit 38 receives a response indicating that there is no corresponding telephone number from the SIP server 50 as “404 Not Found”. For example, the telephone network monitoring unit 38 associates the number of calls to the unregistered number, the telephone number of the call destination, and the call date and time, and stores the information as information on the number of calls to the unregistered number in the unregistered call number storage unit 40. .

  The storage unit 32 has a function of storing setting information used in the HGW 30. The storage unit 32 further includes a nonstandard pulse number storage unit 39 and an unregistered transmission number storage unit 40. The configuration and function of the nonstandard pulse number storage unit 39 of the present embodiment are the same as those of the nonstandard pulse number storage unit 18 of the second embodiment.

  The unregistered transmission number storage unit 40 stores the number of transmissions to the unregistered number detected by the telephone network monitoring unit 38. The number of outgoing calls to the unregistered number is stored in the unregistered outgoing call number storage unit 40 by the storage unit control unit 35.

  The SIP server 50 is a server that is connected to the telephone network 60 and manages and controls IP (Internet protocol) telephones using SIP.

  The operation of the telephone system of this embodiment will be described. In the telephone system of the present embodiment, the operation when switching to the DTMF by detecting an abnormality of the dial pulse input from the telephone 20 to the HGW 30 is the same as that of the second embodiment. Therefore, hereinafter, only the operation at the time of switching from dial pulse to DTMF by monitoring presence / absence of a response from the SIP server 50 will be described.

  FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 are sequence diagrams showing an operation flow when switching from dial pulse to DTMF by monitoring the presence or absence of a response from the SIP server 50 in the telephone system of the present embodiment. The following explanation will be given on the assumption that a signal is transmitted from the telephone set 20 by dial pulses during normal times.

  The user goes off-hook of the handset when using the telephone 20 (step 201). When the handset is off-hooked, the telephone number is input to the telephone 20 and the telephone number information is transmitted from the telephone 20 to the HGW 30 (step 202).

  When the telephone 20 is off-hooked, the telephone control unit 36 of the HGW 30 starts detecting the telephone number. The telephone control unit 36 detects a telephone number sent from the telephone 20 via the telephone interface unit 33. When the telephone control unit 36 detects the telephone number, the telephone network monitoring unit 38 transmits “INVITE” including the telephone number to the SIP server 50 connected to the telephone network 60 via the communication interface unit 34 (step 203). .

  When the SIP server 50 receives “INVITE” from the HGW 30, it confirms whether or not the connection destination telephone number included in the received “INVITE” is registered. When the telephone number of the connection destination is not registered, the SIP server 50 returns “404 Not Found” to the HGW 30 via the telephone network 60 (step 204).

  The telephone control unit 36 of the HGW 30 receives a “404 Not Found” signal from the SIP server 50 via the communication interface unit 34 (step 205). When the telephone control unit 36 receives the “404 Not Found” signal, the telephone network monitoring unit 38 counts the number of times “404 Not Found” is received.

  The telephone network monitoring unit 38 stores data on the number of times “404 Not Found” is received in the unregistered transmission number storage unit 40 via the storage unit control unit 35. When the data of the number of times of receiving “404 Not Found” is stored in the unregistered transmission number storage unit 40, the conversion determining unit 37 compares the number of times of receiving “404 Not Found” with the threshold (step 206).

  When the number of times “404 Not Found” is received is less than the threshold value (step 207), the conversion determination unit 37 requests the telephone control unit 36 to transmit communication indicating that the call has been sent to the unregistered number. Upon receiving a request for transmission of communication indicating that the call has been made to the unregistered number, the telephone control unit 36 notifies the telephone 20 that the call has been made to the unregistered number via the telephone interface unit 33 (step 208). The telephone control unit 36 notifies the telephone 20 that the call has been made to the unregistered number by transmitting voice data indicating that the call has been made to the unregistered number. Voice data indicating that a call has been made to an unregistered number is stored in the storage unit 32.

  When the telephone 20 receives the voice data indicating that the call is made to the unregistered number, the telephone 20 transmits the voice data indicating that the call is sent to the unregistered number. The user who has heard the voice data indicating that the call has been sent to the unregistered number on-hooks the handset of the telephone 20 and ends the communication (step 209).

  It is assumed that the user further calls the same number and the operations from step 201 to step 209 are repeated a plurality of times from step 210 to step 211. Furthermore, similarly to the operations from step 201 to step 208, the operations from step 201 to step 217 are performed, and it is assumed that the number of times “404 Not Found” is received within a predetermined time exceeds the threshold.

  When the number of times “404 Not Found” is received within a predetermined time becomes equal to or greater than the threshold (step S218), conversion determination unit 37 determines that conversion from dial pulse to DTMF is necessary. If it is determined that conversion to DTMF is necessary, the conversion determination unit 37 sends a transmission command for information requesting conversion to DTMF to the telephone control unit 36.

  When the telephone control unit 36 receives a transmission command of information requesting conversion to DTMF, the telephone control unit 36 sends a notification requesting conversion to DTMF to the telephone 20 (step 219). The telephone control unit 36 sends voice data of a guidance requesting conversion to DTMF to the telephone 20 as a notification requesting conversion to DTMF. The voice data of the guidance requesting conversion to DTMF is stored in the storage unit 32.

  When voice data of a guidance requesting conversion to DTMF is sent to the telephone set 20, guidance requesting conversion from the telephone set 20 to DTMF is transmitted, and information requesting conversion to DTMF is transmitted to the user. The user who has heard the information requesting the user to convert to DTMF puts the telephone 20 in an on-hook state (step 220).

  The user who has heard the guidance converts the setting of the telephone 20 from dial pulse to DTMF by a switch operation or the like (step 221). After conversion to DTMF, the user off-hooks the telephone 20 and dials the telephone number (step 222). When the user dials the telephone number, the telephone 20 is switched to DTMF operation, and therefore transmits a signal based on DTMF to the HGW 30 (step 223). The HGW 30 establishes a connection by sending “INVITE” to the SIP server 50 based on the signal sent by DTMF. The HGW 30 can normally identify a telephone number based on a signal sent from the telephone set 20 by DTMF, and can establish a connection between the telephone set 20 and the SIP server 50.

  When the conversion determination unit 37 determines that conversion to DTMF is necessary, the telephone control unit 36 may stop the dial pulse detection process in order to suppress erroneous transmission.

  The telephone system of this embodiment has the same effect as that of the second embodiment. Further, in the telephone system according to the present embodiment, whether or not the conversion determination unit 37 of the HGW 30 needs to convert dial pulses to DTMF based on the presence / absence of a response from the SIP server 50 in addition to the number of detected nonstandard dial pulses. Judging. Therefore, when the number of non-standard dial pulses has not increased to the number determined to be abnormal in the telephone 20 or the line, the dial pulse can be switched to DTMF when the transmission cannot be performed normally. Therefore, the telephone system according to the present embodiment is more reliable.

  In the second and third embodiments, the necessity of conversion from the dial pulse to DTMF is determined by comparing the non-standard pulse with one threshold value. However, the threshold value may be in a plurality of stages. For example, the threshold value may be set in two stages, and a warning may be notified from the HGW to the telephone set 20 when it cannot be immediately determined as abnormal. Further, in the third embodiment, the threshold may be set in two stages, and if it cannot be immediately determined as abnormal, the HGW may determine whether switching is necessary based on the presence / absence of a response from the SIP server 50. With such a configuration, switching from dial pulse to DTMF can be more appropriately managed.

  In the second and third embodiments, a configuration is shown in which a dial pulse abnormality is detected and a signal transmitted from the telephone 20 is converted from a dial pulse to DTMF. In addition to such a configuration, a configuration may be provided in which an abnormality in a DTMF signal is detected and conversion from DTMF to dial pulses is performed. By further providing a configuration for converting from DTMF to dial pulses, switching can be performed according to the state of the telephone 20 and the line, so that reliability is further improved.

  In the second and third embodiments, a configuration in which the user who has heard the guidance switches from dial pulse to DTMF is shown. Instead of such a configuration, a switching control signal is transmitted from the HGW using a telephone having a function of automatically switching the line type when a control signal is received, and switching from dial pulse to DTMF is performed. May be performed. By adopting such a configuration, the line type can be changed more reliably, so that convenience and reliability for the user are improved.

  In the third embodiment, the HGW 30 determines whether or not it is necessary to switch from the dial pulse to the DTMF based on the nonstandard pulse input from the telephone set 20 and the presence / absence of a response from the SIP server 50. Instead of such a configuration, the HGW 30 may determine whether or not it is necessary to switch from the dial pulse to the DTMF only based on the presence / absence of a response from the SIP server 50.

  In the second and third embodiments, an example is shown in which only one set of HGW and telephone 20 is provided in the telephone network 60. However, the telephone system includes a plurality of sets of HGW and telephones 20. It may be. A plurality of telephones 20 may be connected to one HGW.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 1st communication means 2 2nd communication means 3 Abnormality detection means 4 Control means 10 HGW
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Control part 12 Storage part 13 Telephone interface part 14 Communication interface part 15 Storage part control part 16 Telephone control part 17 Conversion determination part 18 Nonstandard pulse number storage part 20 Telephone 30 HGW
Reference Signs List 31 control unit 32 storage unit 33 telephone interface unit 34 communication interface unit 35 storage unit control unit 36 telephone control unit 37 conversion determination unit 38 telephone network monitoring unit 39 nonstandard pulse number storage unit 40 unregistered transmission number storage unit 50 SIP server 60 Telephone network

Claims (10)

A first communication means for communicating with the telephone based on a signal transmitted from the telephone among the pulse signal and the tone signal;
Second communication means for connecting the telephone to a telephone network;
An abnormality detecting means for monitoring the presence or absence of an abnormality of the pulse signal when the telephone transmits a pulse signal, and determining whether communication by the pulse signal is possible based on a monitoring result;
Control means for transmitting a request for switching to the tone signal to the telephone when the abnormality detection means determines that communication by the pulse signal is impossible;
A communication apparatus comprising:   The abnormality detection means monitors the pulse signal sent from the telephone, counts the number of abnormalities, and when the number of abnormalities detected within a predetermined time exceeds a preset reference The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein communication using the pulse signal is determined to be impossible.   3. The abnormality detection unit according to claim 2, wherein when the pulse signal does not satisfy a preset standard, the abnormality detection unit counts the number of abnormalities as the abnormality occurs in the pulse signal. Communication equipment. When connecting the telephone to the telephone network via the second communication means, further comprising communication enable / disable determining means for determining that communication using the pulse signal is impossible when a response signal from the connection destination cannot be obtained. ,
The said control means transmits the request | requirement which switches to the said tone signal to the said telephone, when the said communication availability judgment means judges that the communication by the said pulse signal is impossible. Communication equipment. When the abnormality detection means determines that communication by the pulse signal is impossible,
5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs control so as not to detect the pulse signal transmitted from the telephone.   The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit transmits a request to switch to the tone signal to the telephone as voice data. When receiving a pulse signal transmitted by the telephone, monitor the presence or absence of abnormality of the pulse signal,
When an abnormality of the pulse signal is detected, a request to switch to a tone signal is sent to the telephone,
A communication control method, comprising: connecting the telephone set that transmits a tone signal to a telephone network. Monitor the pulse signal sent from the telephone, count the number of abnormalities,
The communication control method according to claim 7, wherein when the number of abnormalities detected within a predetermined time exceeds a preset reference, it is determined that communication using the pulse signal is impossible. When connecting the telephone to the telephone network, it is determined that communication by the pulse signal is impossible when a response signal from the connection destination is not obtained,
The communication control method according to claim 7, wherein a request to switch to the tone signal is transmitted to the telephone. When it is determined that communication by the pulse signal is impossible,
10. The communication control method according to claim 7, wherein control is performed so as not to detect the pulse signal transmitted from the telephone.

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