JPH0484550A - Automatic exchange - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a subscriber to inhibit the arrival of an incoming call for an optional time zone by giving a command of incoming call restriction to the automatic exchange by the subscriber requesting the incoming call restriction and allowing an incoming call restriction setting means to set the incoming call restriction to the subscriber. CONSTITUTION:A controller 7 connects a caller telephone set and a voice recognition synthesizer 6 in the route of network 3-speech device 5-network 3 and a controller 7 allows the voice recognition synthesizer 6 to utter a message urging the entry of the restriction time in voice after the end of connection, a message in voice such 'Please enter in voice a number converted from the restriction time in the unit of 10 minutes'. The voice signal representing the number uttered by the subscriber accordingly is given to the voice recognition synthesizer 6. The synthesizer recognizes the number by the voice recognition processing. Then the controller 7 controls the voice recognition synthesizer 6 to give a message in voice such as 'Restriction is started. Please hook on your handset' to the caller subscriber. Thus, the arrival of an incoming call for a specific time zone is restricted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic switching system, and in particular, to an automatic switching system that is capable of restricting incoming calls during specific time periods based on instructions from subscribers.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, automatic exchanges do not have an incoming call restriction function. Therefore, when a calling party makes an outgoing connection to a called party, if the called party's telephone is idle, the caller is always connected to the called party's telephone via the communication device of the exchange.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in practice, the called party may not welcome the incoming call, for example, when he or she cannot interrupt work. For the called party, receiving a call in such a case is a nuisance.

If the called party tries to avoid answering the incoming call at such times, for example, they may pick up the handset for a certain period of time to create a pseudo-busy state, or use the answering machine function. . However, with the former method, there is a risk that the caller may repeatedly make unnecessary calls, and the latter method can only be applied to telephones that have an answering machine function.

Therefore, there is a need to be able to restrict incoming calls during specific hours, but implementing such a function on a telephone-by-telephone basis would only be available to some subscribers.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic exchange that allows a subscriber to prohibit incoming calls during any time period.

"Means for Solving the Problems" To solve the problems, the automatic switching system of the present invention includes an incoming call restriction setting means for setting restrictions on incoming calls to a subscriber based on a command from the subscriber; An incoming call restriction execution means that blocks the incoming call when a call is made to a subscriber for which incoming call restriction is set and notifies the caller that the subscriber is in the restricted state, and when the incoming call restriction is set. or an incoming call restriction release means for canceling the incoming call restriction state based on a command from the subscriber during the incoming call restriction state.

"Operation" A subscriber who requests incoming call restriction issues a command to that effect to the automatic exchange of the present invention. At this time, the incoming call restriction setting means sets to restrict incoming calls to that subscriber. When another subscriber makes a call to a subscriber set to the incoming call barring state, the incoming call barring execution means:
The incoming call is blocked and the caller is notified that the subscriber is barred. The incoming call restriction state is canceled by the incoming call restriction release means based on a command from the subscriber (for example, restriction time) when the incoming call restriction is set or a command from the subscriber during the incoming call restriction.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Here, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic exchange for explaining this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a regulated subscriber data table stored in its storage device.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of subscribers (two in the figure) 1.2 are connected to the automatic exchange 10 via a network 3. In FIG.

The automatic exchange 10 includes a calling register trunk 4, a telephone device 5, a voice recognition and synthesis device 6, a control device 7, and a storage device 8.
It is equipped with

The calling register trunk 4 receives a dial signal from the subscriber (caller) 1.2, recognizes the telephone number of the called party, and provides the recognized telephone number to the control device 7. The telephone communication device 5 is used when subscribers make a telephone conversation.

The voice recognition/synthesizing device 6 is provided to obtain the incoming call restriction time from the subscriber, and includes an analog/digital converter 61 that converts an analog voice signal from the subscriber into a digital signal, and a It includes a digital/analog converter 62 that converts a digital synthesized audio signal to an analog signal, and an audio control unit 63 that recognizes an audio signal from a subscriber and synthesizes an audio signal to be provided to the subscriber. This voice recognition synthesis device 6 is a telephone device 5.
It sends and receives audio signals to and from subscribers via the network.

The voice recognition and synthesis device 6 provides the recognized voice data (time information for incoming call restriction as described later) to the control device 7. Furthermore, message data to be synthesized by the voice recognition/synthesizing device 6 (such as a message requesting the subscriber to say the incoming call restriction time as described later) is provided from the storage device 8 under the control of the control device 7. It has become.

The control device 7 controls the entire automatic exchange 1-0 according to the programs, subscriber data, etc. stored in the storage device 8, and uses the storage device 8 as a working memory, and also controls the incoming call restriction. This is done centrally.

The storage device 8 stores various programs and data as described above, and in relation to the incoming call restriction function, it stores various programs and data related to the incoming call restriction function shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, which will be described later. program 8a, a restricted subscriber data table 8b related to the incoming call restriction function as shown in FIG. 2, and message data 8c synthesized by the voice recognition and synthesis device 6 during the incoming call restriction function.

Next, the restriction intensifier data table 8b related to the incoming call restriction function shown in FIG. 2 will be explained. This table 8b consists of a column 8bl for storing the telephone number SOB of the telephone set for which incoming call restriction has been instructed, and a column 8b2 for storing the remaining restriction time 'r x x at that time.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing in the automatic exchange 10 when a certain subscriber sets the incoming call restriction time. Hereinafter, the process for setting the incoming call restriction time will be explained using FIG. 3.

A subscriber who requests incoming call restriction dials the special number rLXYJ (X and Y are numbers assigned to the function in advance) from the telephone as a call requesting incoming call restriction.

At this time, the originating register trunk 4 receives the special number r via the route of the calling party network 3 - the originating register trunk 4.
A dial signal instructing IXYJ is received, and the special number r1. which is the count reception result is received. Sends XYJ to the control device 7.

Upon arrival of the special number rlXYJ, the control device 7 recognizes that the call is a request for incoming call restriction during a specific time period, and starts the process shown in FIG. 3, first recognizing the telephone number of the calling subscriber (step 100). This telephone number recognition is done by indexing the caller from the line location accommodated in the network 2. Next, the control device 7 stores this telephone number SOB in the incoming call restricted telephone number field 8bl of the restricted subscriber data table 8b shown in FIG. 2 (step 101).
).

Thereafter, the control device 7 connects the calling party's telephone and the voice recognition synthesis device 6 via the route of the network 3 - the communication device 5 and the network 3. The synthesizer 6 utters a message voice prompting the input of the regulation time (step 1).
03).

For example, a voice message such as "Please register the number of the restricted time in units of 10 minutes by voice" is uttered. Note that the processing of the speech recognition and synthesis device 6 at this time is such that the speech control unit 63 converts the message data given from the storage device 8 into speech data and provides it to the digital/analog conversion section 62. converts the audio data into an analog audio signal and sends it to the network 2.

In response to this, the voice representing the number uttered by the subscriber is given to the voice recognition and synthesis device 6. The speech recognition synthesis device 6 recognizes this number through speech recognition processing. That is, the analog audio signal indicating numbers is sent to the analog/digital converter 6.
1- into a pulse code (PCM), and then further converted into an adaptive differential pulse code (A, DP CM >) and transferred to the voice control unit 63 for recognition.

The control device 7, which has executed the process of step 1-03 for prompting the above-mentioned regulation time instruction, then takes in the number recognized by the speech recognition and synthesis device 6, and determines the regulation time' that this number means.
r'

At this time, for example, if the number is "5", the regulation time is 1'
X X is stored as [50 minutes J.

After that, the control device 7 controls the speech recognition and synthesis device 6 to start regulating the message voice.

Please hang up the phone. ] to the calling subscriber, then
To end the series of incoming call restriction setting processing, step 106)
.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process of updating the restricted remaining time 'r x x of the restricted subscriber data table 8b, and this process will be explained below with reference to FIG.

The control device 7 starts the process at predetermined time intervals (for example, about 1 minute or 2 minutes) based on a built-in timer.

First, it is confirmed that there is a restricted subscriber telephone number 5LIB whose restricted remaining time 'I'XXX has not been updated (step 1-1-0). If it does not exist, the process is terminated. If it exists, the remaining regulation time T' for one regulation subscriber telephone number SUB
X is taken out, and the above-mentioned predetermined time is subtracted from the taken out remaining regulation time 1'XX (step 1] -1, 112).

After that, determine whether the time of the subtraction result is 0 or not (
Step 113). If it is 0, it is assumed that the restriction time has ended and the restriction subscriber data SU for that subscriber is
B and 'r x x from the regulated subscriber data table 8b and return to step 10 described above (step
14). On the other hand, if the subtraction result time is not O, that time (TXX after subtraction processing) is assumed to continue the regulation.
is re-stored in the restricted remaining time column 81]2 of all target phone numbers SUB in the restricted subscriber data table 8b,
After that, the process returns to step 110 described above (step 11
−5>.

As a result of such an update process, for example, when 20 minutes have passed since a certain subscriber specified 60 minutes as the restricted time, the remaining restricted time is 40 minutes.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the process when a call is made to a subscriber who has set incoming call restriction, and the process will be explained below using FIG.

The control device 7 controls the automatic exchange 1- by means of signals from the originating register trunk 4, 1] or from other exchanges.
When a call to a subscriber accommodated in 0 is recognized,
The process shown in FIG. 5 is started.

First, the telephone number of the called party is compared with the telephone number SUB stored in the restricted subscriber data table 8b (step 1.20).

If the telephone number of the called party is not stored in the restricted subscriber data table 8b, normal exchange processing is executed (
Step 121). On the other hand, if it is stored, the remaining regulation time TXX at that time is taken out from the table 8b and combined with the message data indicating that regulation is in progress (step 122). For example, if the message data indicating that the call is being restricted is "The called party is unable to answer due to unforeseen circumstances. Please return the call in TXX minutes." and the remaining restriction time TXX is "40 minutes." , EThe called party is unable to answer due to circumstances. After 40 minutes, please fix the G-coat. ” is formed into composite message data.

Next, the control device 7 connects the voice recognition and synthesis device 6 to the caller via the network 3, and then provides the synthesized message data to the voice recognition and synthesis device 6 to output the voice to the caller. Finish the series of processing (step 1
-23.124).

For example, if the calling party is the subscriber 2, the caller is connected to the voice recognition and synthesis device 6 via the network 3, the communication device 5, and the network 3.

Through such processing, a caller who has made a call to a subscriber who has set incoming call restriction will call that subscriber again after the time recognized by the message has elapsed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process when a subscriber who has set the incoming call restriction cancels the incoming call restriction before the elapse of the incoming call restriction time, and this process will be explained below using FIG. 6.

A subscriber who wishes to cancel the incoming call restriction dials the special number rlZWJ (Z and W are numbers assigned to the function in advance) from the telephone as a call during the incoming call restriction time. At this time, the calling register trunk 4 sends the special number r1. It receives a dial signal instructing ZVJ, and sends a special number rl-ZWJ, which is the count reception result, to the control device 7.

The control device 7 receives the special number r1. Upon arrival of ZW, 1, it is recognized that the call requests cancellation of the incoming call restriction, and the process shown in FIG. 6 is started. First, the telephone number of the calling subscriber is recognized (step 130). Next, the control device 7 transmits the regulated subscriber data SUB and 'T'X related to this telephone number.
Search for X8b and its regulated subscriber data SUB and 'r
Delete x x from table 8b (step 1-3
1-1]-32").

Thereafter, the control device 7 connects the calling party's telephone and the voice recognition synthesis device 6 via the network 3 (step 1
33). Then, the control device 7 controls the voice recognition and synthesis device 6 to send a message voice saying, ``Restriction has been lifted. Please hang up the phone.''

” is given to the calling subscriber, the series of incoming call restriction release processing ends (step 134).

Through such processing, a subscriber who has set the incoming call restriction can cancel the incoming call restriction state before the restriction time elapses.

In the case of this embodiment, the process for changing the incoming call restriction time is not provided independently, and a subscriber who wants to change the incoming call restriction time must first cancel the restriction and then set the incoming call restriction again. will be carried out.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, a subscriber who does not request incoming calls for a predetermined period of time can set the incoming call restriction on the automatic exchange 10, so that incoming calls during that time period will be stopped as intended, and the subscriber service can be improved. Moreover, many subscribers can now use this incoming call restriction function, regardless of the type of telephone they own.

In addition, a subscriber who made a call to a subscriber who is in a call barring state will be notified.
Since the system is made to recognize the point after which calls are valid, there is no problem even if incoming calls are restricted.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the case where multiple subscribers are accommodated in the same station has been explained, but it is possible to perform the operation from any station, be it a transmitting station, a relay station, or a terminating station. Not even.

Further, in the above-described embodiments, the incoming call restriction time is instructed by voice, but it may be instructed by a dial signal. In this case, although the voice synthesis configuration is necessary, the voice recognition configuration can be omitted.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the restricted subscriber data includes the telephone number and the remaining restricted time, but other data may be used. A first such example is a telephone number;
Incoming call restriction start time and restriction time (or restriction end time) may be considered, and the remaining restriction time may be calculated when a call is made to a restriction subscriber. In this case, it is necessary to periodically monitor whether the regulation time has ended or not, but there is no need to update the remaining regulation time, and the process to be repeated periodically becomes simple. The performance can be improved compared to that of the embodiment. However, as the memory capacity increases, the processing for notifying the regulatory state becomes complicated. Furthermore, as a second example, it is conceivable to use only telephone numbers that are in a restricted state. In other words, the restriction time may not be set, and only the restriction may be specified.

In this case, although it has the advantage that periodic processing is not required, the restriction is not automatically lifted at a predetermined time and requires constant instructions, and the subscriber who made the call to the restricted subscriber It has the disadvantage of not knowing when to call again.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the automatic exchange of the present invention, a new service of regulating incoming calls can be provided to subscribers.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic exchange according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the data structure of the restricted subscriber data table, Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing the incoming call restriction setting process, and Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the incoming call restriction setting process. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process of updating the incoming call restriction remaining time=1. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the incoming call restriction process, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process of canceling the incoming call restriction. 1.2...Subscriber, 3...Network, 4...
Outgoing register trunk, 5...Telephone equipment, 6...
Speech recognition and synthesis device, 7... Control device, 8... Storage device, 8a... Various program storage units for incoming call restriction processing, 8b... Restricted subscriber data table, 8c... Incoming call restriction processing. message data storage section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An incoming call restriction setting means for setting to restrict incoming calls to a subscriber based on a command from the subscriber, and when a call is made to a subscriber for which incoming call restriction is set. an incoming call barring execution means that blocks incoming calls and notifies the calling party that the subscriber is in the barred state; An automatic switching machine characterized by comprising: an incoming call restriction release means for canceling the incoming call restriction.