JPH0451760A - Interactive type remote information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To acquire information efficiently and quickly by simply sending a reply to a communication opposite party from a tone generating circuit and recognizing its reply content intuitionally with a simple tone signal. CONSTITUTION:When a communication main body section 2 detects the arrival of a call and a communication opposite party 4 being an information acquisition destination is connected to the section 2, the section 2 sends a tone signal informing the end of connection to the communication opposite party 4. When a received PB tone signal represents the end of an information frame, digital coded information of the PB tone signal received so far is given from the communication main body section 2 to an information processing section 1. The information processing section 1 checks the adequacy of the content and when the communication main body section 2 receives the result of processing from the information processing section 1, the section 2 sends a tone signal informing the affirmative state in the case of affirmative state and sends a tone signal informing the negative state in the case of negative state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conversational remote information processing device that acquires information in a conversational manner from a remote communication partner connected via a telephone line network.

When a conventional technical information processing device obtains information remotely via a telephone network, the simplest method is to use a PB tone signal. This PB tone signal is transmitted through the DTMF (Dual Tone MulLi Fr.
) By dialer? ! It can be generated on a skewer (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1183953, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 1-170156, etc.).

Therefore, in the past, a PB tone receiving circuit that receives a PB tone signal transmitted from a communication partner connected via a telephone line network and converts it into digital code information, and a PB tone receiving circuit that receives the PB tone signal sent from a communication partner connected via a telephone line network, and a and an audio generation circuit that generates an audio signal to be sent to the other party, and delivers the code information converted from the PB tone signal to the information processing unit for processing, while responding to the code information from the information processing unit. A device has been developed that acquires information in a conversational manner from a remote communication partner by transmitting an audio signal that informs the user of the content.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the hardware configuration of such a device is large-scale, and the processing efficiency is relatively low. When acquiring information in a conversational format, there is a problem in that the conversation processing progresses slowly and the line cost increases relative to the amount of information acquired.

The above problem arises for the following reasons.

Firstly, since the speech generation circuit must perform complex signal processing such as speech synthesis, its configuration becomes extremely complicated and bulky.
Even if a simple response of only affirmation or negation is required, the provision of the above-mentioned voice generating circuit would make the configuration of the device significantly more complex and large-scale.

Second, when responding vocally, even if the response is a simple affirmation or negation, in order to make the response understandable, it is necessary to connect multiple single sounds in chronological order. ζThus, words that make up a single meaning have to be traced, so it takes a considerable amount of time for the side sending the response to complete sending one response.On the other hand, the side receiving the response In this case, the content of the response cannot be reliably recognized until after hearing the multiple single sounds that spell the word, so the rhythm of the operation is likely to be disrupted due to the time gap until the recognition, and this makes the speed of the operation easier. was inhibiting.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to efficiently and quickly acquire information from a distance in a conversational format while sending a response with simple content without making the configuration complicated or large-scale. The object of the present invention is to provide a conversational remote information processing device that can communicate with users.

Means for Solving ILH In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention receives a PB tone signal sent from a communicating party connected via a telephone line network, converts it into digital code information, and converts it into digital code information. The converted digital code information is delivered to an information processing unit that performs conversational processing, and a tone signal is sent to the communication partner in accordance with the content of a response from the information processing unit to the code information. It is something.

Effect of the Invention With the above-described configuration, the present invention allows a tone generation circuit with a relatively simple configuration to easily send a response to a communication partner without performing *S* processing such as voice synthesis. The recipient of the communication can intuitively recognize the content of the response using a simple tone signal, so the response can be carried out in a conversational manner while sending a simple response without making the structure complicated or large-scale. It becomes possible to acquire information from a distance efficiently and quickly.

Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an interactive remote information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which l is an information processing unit that performs interactive processing using digital code information, and 2 is a communication unit that performs information communication. In the main body, 3 is a telephone line network including an exchange 31, etc., and 4 is a communication partner.

Here, the information processing unit l is the central part of the system.
It has a (central processing unit) 11 and a storage device 12 as a peripheral circuit, and processes information in a conversational manner while outputting a response in digital code to information input in digital code from the outside. It is composed of

The communication main unit 2 includes a line control circuit 21, a PB tone reception circuit 22, a tone generation circuit 23, a communication control unit 24, and the like.

The line control circuit 21 includes a PB tone receiving circuit 22 that is connected to the telephone line network 3 and performs call processing, call processing, etc.
receives the PB tone signal sent from the communication partner 4 connected via the telephone line network 3 and converts it into digital code information. Generates a tone signal to be sent to the other party 4.The communication control section 24 is constituted by a general-purpose information processing device that is a microcircuit, so-called a microcomputer, and centrally controls each section of the communication main body section 2. At the same time, the communication control unit 24 transfers the code information output from the PB tone receiving circuit 22 to the information processing unit 1, and also transfers the code information output from the PB tone receiving circuit 22 to the information processing unit 1 for the code information.
The receiver receives a response from the receiver, and the receiver is configured to cause the tone generating circuit 23 to generate a tone signal corresponding to the content of the received response.

The operation of the conversational remote information processing device configured as described above will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the general operation of the apparatus shown in FIG.

First, when the communication main unit 2 detects an incoming call and connects the communication partner 4, which serves as an information acquisition light, it sends a tone signal to the communication partner 4 to notify that the connection has been completed (Sl, 32). With this tone signal, the communication partner 4 can confirm the completion of the connection and start the next operation.

After this, a timer (soft timer) for dividing time is set (started) and the device enters a standby state for receiving a PB tone signal from the communication partner 4 (S3
．． S4).

Here, when the timer finishes counting the predetermined time and enters the timeout state, that is, if the PB tone signal is not received within the predetermined time measured by the timer, after transmitting the tone signal notifying the timeout, , disconnect the line and terminate communication (341. S4
2. 512).

If the PB tone signal is received within the above timer time, the above timer is reset (initialized) and
Check whether the received PB tone signal indicates the end of the information frame (S5, S6), and
If the information frame has not ended, the timer is set and the process enters the PB tone reception waiting state again (S6.S3).
).

On the other hand, if the information frame has ended, the digital coded information of the PB tone signal received up to that time is transferred from the communication main unit 2 to the information processing unit 1 (37).

The information processing section 1 executes processing such as examining the validity of the code information delivered from the communication main body section 2, and the processing results are delivered to the communication main body section 2.

When the communication main unit 2 receives the processing result for the digital coded information from the information processing unit 1, it checks whether or not the processing result indicates affirmation (S9).
Here, if the result received from the information processing unit l is affirmative, a tone signal (ACK tone) indicating the affirmation is sent out, and if the result is negative, a tone signal (N
AK tone) (310.391), in this case, the tone signal indicating an affirmation and the tone signal indicating a negative are made to be clearly and instantly distinguished by different frequency configurations, connection times, or tones, etc. It is composed of

Thereafter, the device returns to the standby state for receiving the next PB tone (Sll, S3).

As described above, the PB tone signal sent from the communication partner 4 connected via the telephone line network 3 is received and converted into digital code information, and this converted digital code information is converted into a conversational tone signal. While handing over to the information processing section 1 for processing, the response content from the information processing section 1F to the above code information is sent to the communication partner 4 by means of a tone signal.

Thereby, on the response sending side, the response to the communication partner 4 can be easily sent by the tone generation circuit 23 having a relatively simple configuration, without performing complicated processing such as voice synthesis. On the other hand, the communication partner 4 who receives the response
On the other hand, the user can intuitively recognize the content of the response using a simple tone signal and proceed to the next operation. Therefore, the operator at the communication partner 4 can easily input information using the PB tone while listening to the response from the remote information processing unit l. Therefore, without having to perform complex or large-scale speech synthesis,
It becomes possible to acquire information from a distance in a conversational manner efficiently and quickly while sending a response with simple content.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the invention described above, the present invention receives a PB tone signal sent from a communication partner connected via a telephone line network, converts it into digital code information, and converts the converted PB tone signal into digital code information. The digital code information sent to the communication partner is delivered to the information processing unit that performs conversational processing, and the information processing unit sends a tone signal to the communication partner according to the content of the response to the code information, thereby transmitting a response to the communication partner. , can be easily transmitted using a tone generation circuit with a relatively simple configuration without performing complex processing such as voice synthesis.
Since the content of the response can be intuitively recognized using a simple tone signal, it is possible to efficiently acquire information from a distance in a conversational format while sending a simple response without making the configuration complicated or large-scale. This has the effect of allowing the process to be carried out well and quickly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an interactive remote information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a schematic operation of the main parts. l... Information processing unit that performs conversational processing, 2... Communication main unit, 21... PB tone reception circuit, 23... Tone generation circuit, 24... Communication control unit, 3... Phone times &? ! Line, 31...Switchboard, 4...Communication partner.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An information processing unit that performs conversational processing, a PB tone receiving circuit that receives PB tone signals sent from a communication partner connected via a telephone line network, and converts them into digital code information; a tone generating circuit that generates a tone signal to be sent to the communication partner via the PB tone receiving circuit; and a tone generating circuit that delivers code information output from the PB tone receiving circuit to the information processing section, and a response from the information processing section to the code information. and control means for causing the tone generation circuit to generate a tone signal according to the content.