JPH0150154B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a public telephone that is equipped with a self-diagnosis function in the event of a failure and can be maintained quickly and reliably.

Conventionally, public telephones have precision mechanisms, especially the money processing mechanism, which can cause malfunctions, but they do not have a self-diagnosis function in the event of a malfunction. Monitoring was conducted to discover through visual inspection, etc., which parts were experiencing failures.

For this reason, there is a problem in that not only does it take a great deal of time and effort to find a fault location, but also the fault recovery rate varies greatly depending on the skill level of each maintenance person.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a public telephone set that can be maintained quickly and reliably. The details of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, in which 10 is a handset, 20 is a dial, 30 is a communication circuit, 40 is a coin storage signal receiving circuit, 50 is an emergency call button, and 60 is an emergency call control circuit. , 70 is a pay call control circuit, 80 is a microprocessor 8
1, a control circuit consisting of a memory circuit 82 and a drive circuit 83, 5 a position detector, 90 a money processing mechanism, 1
00 is a display device, and 110 is an in-office device.

First, the operation when a general user uses this public telephone will be explained. When the user takes the handset 10 off-hook, an off-hook signal (not shown) is generated.
is transmitted to the microprocessor 81. Upon receiving this, the microprocessor 81 further receives money accumulation information from the money processing mechanism 90 via the signal line a to confirm the accumulation of money, and turns on the paid call control circuit 70 via the signal line b. Make it.
After this, the call will start following the normal procedure.
A coin storage signal c sent from the in-office device 110 is input to the microprocessor 81 via the receiving circuit 40. Upon receiving this signal, the microprocessor 81 drives the money processing mechanism 90 via the drive circuit 83 and the drive signal line d, and stores one unit of money (for example, one 10 yen coin) in the money box into the safe.

When the microprocessor 81 detects via the signal line a that only one unit of currency remains during the call, it drives a reminder sound generation circuit (not shown) via the drive circuit 83 to release the currency. When it is detected via the signal line a that the accumulated coins have become zero by receiving a coin storage signal before the accumulated coins are added, the pay call control circuit 70 is turned off via the signal line b. On the other hand, if there is an on-hook of the handset 10 while the money is being accumulated, the microprocessor 81 detects this on-hook signal (not shown) and drives the money handling mechanism 90 via the drive circuit 83 and the drive signal line d. death,
Return all coins remaining in the zendo to the return slot.

Next, a self-diagnosis operation performed by a maintenance person when a failure occurs in the public telephone shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.
First, the maintenance person instructs the microprocessor 81 to start self-diagnosis by turning on a switch (not shown) installed in a place that is not easily seen, and then supplies test coins to the coin processing mechanism 90. . The microprocessor 81 that received the command
A self-diagnosis program stored as a microprogram in a storage circuit 82 such as a ROM is read out, decoded, and the money processing mechanism 90 is driven via a drive circuit 83. In parallel with this, the microprocessor 81 receives money position information from the position detector 5 as the money moves in the coin path, processes it, and uses the processing result to calculate the money position as the money moves in the self-diagnosis program. Compare with data about information. If the comparison result between the processing result and the data is greater than a predetermined value, it is regarded as a failure and the location information of the location is displayed on the display device 100.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the money handling mechanism 90 and position detector 5 shown in FIG. 5a to 5f
is a position detector consisting of a pair of light emitting diode and photo sensor, 4a and 4b are Zenimichi 9a and 9b, respectively.
This is a driven part that also serves as a stopper for accumulating the coins inside the money path 9c. The driven parts 4a and 4b are composed of solenoids and the like, and are connected to the drive circuit 8 in FIG.
3 receives a drive signal to stop and eject coins. Reference numerals 5g and 5h designate position detectors consisting of a pair of light emitting diodes and photo sensors, which provide positional information on whether or not the drive positions of the driven parts 4a and 4b are normal.

6a and 6b are money accumulation information detectors that detect the type and accumulation state of money by detecting the presence or absence of money in the money paths 9a and 9b, and are connected to the signal line a in FIG. 1. Reference numeral 4c is a driven unit that discriminates between storage and return of coins in the money path 9c. 5i
is a position detector that monitors the driving position, that is, the operating state of this driven portion 4c. Further, 7 is a return section of the zendo that connects to the return slot, and 8 is a storage section of the zenido that becomes a safe.

As mentioned above, when the operation mode of the control unit 80 is set to the self-diagnosis mode and coins are inserted from the input slot, the coins pass through the money path 9a or 9b depending on the type and are stopped at the stoppers of the driven parts 4a and 4b. do.
At this time, the position detectors 5a to 5f provided on the money paths 9a and 9b inform the microprocessor 81 of the presence or absence of currency passage. Microprocessor 8
1 extracts when and where the coin should pass from information stored in the memory circuit 82, compares it with the detection results from the position detectors 5a to 5f, and determines whether or not the coin is passing through the money path normally. judge.

Further, after confirming the accumulation of coins based on the information from the coin accumulation information detectors 6a and 6b, the microprocessor 81 transmits the data to the driven part 4a via the drive circuit 83.
and 4b. At this time, the position detector 5g,
Based on the output of 5h, it is determined whether the coins are stored normally. The same method is used to determine whether or not the operating state of the driven portion 4c is normal. As a result, if the state of a certain location is abnormal and determined to be a failure, the microprocessor 81 displays location information and failure information for that location on the display device 100 using a combination of numbers or the like. Maintenance workers are
This display allows the user to quickly and reliably know the location of the fault and the state of the fault.

In addition, instead of the above-described embodiment, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which self-judgment of the mechanical section is always performed, that is, in parallel with use by a general user. In this case, the person who discovered the occurrence of the failure can also be asked to report the contents displayed on the display device 100 to the station. Further, the display device 100 may be installed only for maintenance, but in the case of a cashless public telephone using a magnetic card, it can also be used as a display for the remaining amount.

Moreover, although the example of a public telephone that uses only money has been described above, the present invention can be implemented for a public telephone that uses both a magnetic card, a hologram card, etc., and money.

As described above in detail, the public telephone of the present invention has the advantage of being able to perform maintenance quickly and reliably since it is equipped with a self-diagnosis function in the event of a failure. Furthermore, since it is possible to monitor the dynamic state of the movement of coins, if there is a cause that causes a jam in the coin section, such as dust adhering to the inside of the coin, the dynamic friction between the coins and the coins will increase. It becomes possible to grasp the state within the money path based on the magnitude of the travel time between detecting the money position. Therefore, by discovering an abnormality in the movement of money, it is possible to prevent a permanent problem such as a money jam, and to avoid causing damage to users. Furthermore, the photo sensor that constitutes the coin position detector of the money passage path must be in a cut-off state at least once based on the money passage position information.
If this condition cannot be detected in the sensor to be passed, it means that the sensor has caused a conduction failure, and it is possible to discover the conduction failure of the photo sensor.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The diagram shows the money handling mechanism 90 and position detector 5 in Figure 1.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention. 10...Handset, 20...Dial, 30...
...Telephone circuit, 40...Money storage signal receiving circuit, 5
0...Emergency call button, 60...Emergency call control circuit, 70...Paid call control circuit, 80...Control circuit, 81...Microprocessor, 82...Memory circuit, 83...Drive circuit, 5, 5a to 5f...
position detector.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A public telephone equipped with a money handling mechanism and a control circuit for controlling the money handling mechanism, wherein the money handling mechanism is equipped with money position detectors for detecting money positions at a plurality of predetermined locations. , the control circuit has a storage circuit that stores a predetermined self-diagnosis program, and upon receiving a self-diagnosis start signal, reads the self-diagnosis program from the storage circuit, and in parallel with this, supplies the self-diagnosis program to the money processing mechanism. receives and processes positional information accompanying the movement of the coin from the coin position detector, compares the movement position and time of the coin with reference information of the self-diagnosis program to determine the fault location, and also reads the fault location information. A public telephone set configured to display information on a display device.