Speech control apparatus

Abstract: A call transfer apparatus comprises a discriminating circuit to discriminate whether a transfer destination of a call can respond or not and a control unit to control a holding state of the call in accordance with the result of the discrimination. When a speech communication with the transfer destination can be performed, the control unit holds the call. When the communication with the transfer destination is impossible, the control unit releases the holding of the call.

Description: Field of the invention. The invention relates to a speech control apparatus for executing the calling of a terminal, the holding of a call, and the transfer. Related Background art. Document US-A-3 936 615 discloses that, if call waiting is not available and the transferee station is busy, original trunk calls should be re-established between a transferring PABX station and a held outside party. Document US-A-4 701 950 relates to a telephone answering system. Concretely, this document discloses that, when the ring count exceeds a predetermined limit without the incoming call being answered, such incoming call is transferred to an operator control station for answering by an operator. The problem of the present invention relates to the case where a communication partner (e.g. a client of a firm) is in a communication state with a transfer origin (e.g. a secretary of this firm) and a response to a calling signal from a transfer destination (e.g. a director of this firm) is not received. According to the present invention, if the transfer destination does not respond to the calling signal sent from the transfer origin, the transfer origin can perform the communication with the communication partner. Such a feature of the present invention is specifically effective in a case where the transfer destination is a cordless telephone and where the transfer destination is out of the range where a radio call signal reaches. A call transfer apparatus is described in the European Patent application EP-A-0 295 470. According to it, when a transfer destination cannot respond to a call coming from a communication origin, a busy signal is sent to the communication origin while the call is maintained in a holding state. Thus, in order to again set the call in a communication state or to try a new call transfer, a further operation is needed at the communication origin. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to reduce the processes of the operator in the case where a signal cannot be transferred. Another object of the invention is to eliminate an operation for the operator to release the holding state in the case where a signal cannot be transferred. Still another object of the invention is to inform the operator of the reasons why a signal cannot be transferred. Furthermore, another object of the invention is to reduce the processes of the operator in the case where a radio terminal of the transfer destination is out of the range where a radio wave reaches. Furthermore, another object of the invention is to simplify the operation of the operator to stop the transfer to the specified transfer destination. For this purpose, the present invention proposes a call transfer apparatus in accordance with claim 1 with preferred embodiments proposed in claims 2 to 7. The present invention also proposes a call transfer method according to claim 8 with preferred embodiments proposed in claims 9 to 14. The above, and other objects and features of the present invention, will become apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a constructional diagram of a fixed apparatus and a moving apparatus of the first embodiment; Fig. 2 is a flowchart for the first transferring process of the fixed apparatus in the first embodiment; Fig. 3 is a flowchart for the second transferring process of the fixed apparatus of the first embodiment; Fig. 4 is a flowchart for the third transferring process of the fixed apparatus of the first embodiment; Fig. 5 is a flowchart for the fourth transferring process of the fixed apparatus of the first embodiment; Fig. 6 is a flowchart for the fifth transferring process of the fixed apparatus of the first embodiment; Fig. 7 is a flowchart for the first receiving process of the fixed apparatus of the first embodiment; Fig. 8 is a flowchart for the second receiving process of the fixed apparatus of the first embodiment; Fig. 9 is a flowchart for the receiving process of the moving apparatus of the first embodiment; Figs. 10A to 10D are diagrams of a display unit of the first embodiment; Fig. 11 is a flowchart for the first transferring process of a fixed apparatus of the second embodiment; Fig. 12 is a flowchart for the second transferring process of the fixed apparatus of the second embodiment; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Fig. 1 shows a constructional diagram of a fixed apparatus and a slave telephone 119 in an embodiment of the invention. The fixed apparatus comprises a private branch exchange 12 and a master telephone 14 which is enclosed in the private branch exchange 12. Reference numeral 12 denotes the private branch exchange; 13 station lines which are enclosed in the private branch exchange; 14 the master telephone; 15 a control unit which has a memory (ROM, RAM) 129 therein and controls each section in the master telephone; 16 a radio control unit which is included in the control unit 15 and controls a communication protocol of each section mainly regarding the radio; and 17 a speech control unit which is included in the control unit 15 and controls each section other than the portions regarding the radio, display keys, a voice processing circuit, and the like and executes application processes regarding various kinds of speeches. Reference numeral 18 denotes a key pad comprising a dial key, a transfer key, a holding key, a speaker key, a hook switch, and the like; 19 a display consisting of display elements of fourteen digits and two stages; 110 an audible display to generate a busy tone, a dial tone, a holding sound, and the like; 111 a line interface to interface with a wire communication line; 112 a radio processing circuit to execute processes for transmitting a voice signal and a control signal as a radio signal or for receiving a radio signal and separating into a voice signal and the control signal; 113 an antenna; 114 a voice processing circuit to execute a voice process through a transmitter 116, a receiver 117, a speaker 115, or the like; 115 the speaker; 116 the transmitter of a handset; 117 the receiver of the handset; and 118 a switching circuit for connecting and disconnecting speech channels among the line interface 111, audible display 110, radio processing circuit 112, and audio processing circuit 114. The master telephone is constructed as mentioned above. The speech control unit 17 and radio control unit 16 may also exist as programs in a memory 129 in the control unit 15 in a software manner. Reference numeral 119 denotes the slave telephone; 120 a control unit to control each section of the slave telephone 119; 121 a key pad comprising the dial key, speech key, and the like; 122 an audible display to generate a calling sound or the like; 123 a speaker; 124 a radio processing circuit to execute processes for transmitting a voice signal and a control signal as a radio signal or for receiving a radio signal and separating into a voice signal and a control signal; 125 a voice processing circuit to execute a voice process through a transmitter 126, a receiver 127, or the like; 126 the receiver of a handset; 127 the transmitter of the handset; and 128 an antenna. In the embodiment, the on-hook operation denotes an operation for the user to catch a speech channel. For instance, it means the operation such that the user hangs up the receiver or inputs the speaker key. The transfer from the master telephone 14 to the slave telephone 119 will now be described. The transferring process of the speech control unit 17 of the master telephone 14 in the first embodiment of the invention will be first described with reference to Figs. 2 to 6. When the speech control unit 17 receives a transfer key input when the master telephone 14 is busy (step S201), the speech control unit 17 sends a request for a slave telephone call to the radio control unit 16 (S202) and a message indicative of the start of the transfer as shown in Fig. 10D is displayed on the display 19 (S203). The control unit waits for either one of the events such as call success or start (S204) by the radio control unit 16, input of a transfer key (S205), off-hook operation of the master telephone 14 (S206), input of a hold key (S207), and transfer failure or call failure (S208) by the radio control unit 16 in accordance with the request from the speech control unit 17 in step S202. When the radio control unit 16 has succeeded in connecting the radio line to the slave telephone 119 in step S204 in response to the request in step S202 and the call is started, the speech control unit 17 detects the success of the connection and checks to see if the master telephone 14 is holding the call or not with reference to the memory 129 (S226). When the call is not in holding in step S226, the call is held by sending a holding sound from the audible display 110 to the speech partner through the line interface 111 and switching circuit 118 (S227). A message indicative of in-calling of the slave telephone as shown in Fig. 10B is displayed by the display 19 (S228). It is also possible to send a hold command to the private branch exchange 12, thereby allowing the call to be held therein. The control unit waits for either one of the events such as off-hook of the slave telephone 119 (S229). Carrier off of the slave telephone 119 (S230), off-hook operation of the master telephone 14 or input of the hold key (S231), and input of the transfer key (S232). When the speech control unit 17 detects the off-hook of the slave telephone 119 through the radio processing circuit 112 in step S229, a check is made to see if the master telephone 14 is in an off-hook state or not (S245). When the master telephone 14 is in the off-hook state at that time, the display 19 is cleared (S246). The switching circuit 118 is controlled and the slave telephone 119 and the master telephone 14 are connected so as to perform a speech communication (S247). When the off-hook of the slave telephone is detected, the control unit 120 of the slave telephone 119 sends a radio signal indicative of the off-hook. The speech control unit 17 discriminates whether the slave telephone 119 is in the off-hook state or not in step S229. When the on-hook operation of the master telephone 14 is detected (S249) during the speech communication between the master telephone 14 and the slave telephone, the speech control unit 17 controls the switching circuit 118 and connects the holding call through the private branch exchange 12 to the slave telephone 119 so as to execute the speech communication (S250). A message indicating that the slave telephone 119 is in communication as shown in Fig. 10C is displayed by the display 19 (S251) and the transferring process is finished. When it is recognized in step S245 that the master telephone 14 is in the on-hook state, the processes in step S250 and subsequent steps are executed without connecting the slave telephone 119 and the master unit 14. That is, in the case where the transfer key in the master telephone 14 is depressed and the master telephone 14 is on-hooked in calling of the slave telephone 119, the speech control unit 17 connects the holding call and the slave telephone 119 when the slave telephone 119 is off-hooked. When the off-hook operation of the master telephone 14 or the input of the hold key is detected in step S231, the speech control unit 17 stops the call by the radio control unit 16 (S242), clears the display 19 (S243), releases the holding (S244), and finishes the transferring process. The above processing routine is executed in the case where the transfer is manually stopped by the operator of the master telephone 14. When the transfer key input is detected in step S232, the speech control unit 17 stops the calling by the radio control unit 16 (S233) and a check is made to see if the master telephone 14 is in the on-hook state or not (step S234). When it is not in the on-hook state, the display 19 is cleared in order to again set the master telephone 14 into the communicating state (S235). The holding is released (S236) and the transferring process is finished. When it is detected in step S234 that the master telephone 14 is in the on-hook state, the speech control unit 17 controls the audible display 110 so as to ring a call sound in order to emphasize the presence of the holding call for the master telephone 14 (S237). When the speech control unit 17 detects the off-hook operation of the master telephone 14 or the hold key input (S238), the speech control unit 17 clears the display 19 (S239), stops the call sound (S240), and releases the holding (S241). When the master telephone 14 is again set into the communicating state as mentioned above, the transferring process is finished. When the transfer by the radio control unit 16 fails in step S208, that is, when the radio lines cannot be connected to the slave telephones 119 in accordance with a predetermined radio procedure, or when the carrier off of the slave telephone 119 is detected by the radio processing circuit 112 in step S230, the speech control unit 17 displays a message by the display 19 in order to inform that the slave telephone could not be called and the transfer has failed (S209). Fig. 10A shows an example of such a display. A point that it is presumed that the power source of the slave telephone 119 is not turned on is also informed to the user as one of the causes of the transfer fault. The speech control unit 17 discriminates whether the master telephone 14 is in the off-hook state or not (S210). When the master telephone 14 is in the off-hook state at this time, a check is made to see if the call is in holding or not by referring to the memory 129 (S211). If it is not in holding, the audible display 110 is controlled to ring a beep sound in order to emphasize the transfer failure while keeping the communicating state (S212). After the elapse of a few seconds, the display of the transfer failure on the display 19 is cleared (S213) and the processing routine is finished. When the in-holding state is detected in step S211, the speech control unit 17 controls the audible display 110 to send a busy tone (S214). The control unit waits for the events of the hold key input (S215) and the on-hook operation (S216). When the hold key input is detected in step S215, the speech control unit 17 stops the busy tone (S218), clears the display 19 (S219), releases the holding by the switching circuit 118 and audible display 110 (S220), and again sets the master telephone 14 into the communicating state. The processing routine is finished. In the case where the holding state is set into the private branch exchange 12, a holding release command is sent to the private branch exchange 12, thereby releasing the holding state. When the on-hook operation is detected in step S216, the busy tone is stopped (S217) and the processes in step S237 and subsequent steps are executed. On the other hand, when the transfer key input is detected in step S205, a check is made to see if the call is in holding or not (S223). If YES, the processes in step S233 and subsequent steps are executed. When it is detected in step 5223 that the call is not in holding, the calling of the slave telephone by the radio control unit 16 is stopped in order to allow the master telephone 14 to perform the speech communication in such a state (S224). The display 19 is cleared (S225) and the transferring process is finished. When the off-hook operation of the master telephone 14 is detected in step S206, the processes in step S242 and subsequent steps are executed. When the hold key input is detected in step S207, a check is made to see if the call is in holding or not at that time (S221). If YES, the transfer interrupting processes in step S242 and subsequent steps are executed. If NO, the call is held (S222) and the waiting processes of the events in step S204 and subsequent steps are again executed. Receiving processes of the master telephone radio control unit 16 which are executed in response to the call request in step S202 will now be described with reference to Figs. 7 and 8 (for the radio control unit 16, the transferring process corresponds to a process for allowing the call to be received by the slave telephone). While executing the carrier sense of the speech channel by the radio processing circuit 112 (S301), the radio control unit 16 of the master telephone 14 waits for a slave telephone call request (S202) by the speech control unit 17 (S302). When the slave telephone call request is sent, the carrier sense of the control channel is executed by the radio processing circuit 112 (S303). When no carrier exists, a speech channel is designated and a reception signal is transmitted to the slave telephone 119 through the control channel (S304). The channel is switched from the speech channel to the control channel (S305). A timer provided for the memory 129 is set (S306). The radio control unit 16 waits for either one of the events such as reception of a notification of a channel switching end from the slave telephone 119 (S307), call stop request from the speech control unit 17 (S308), and time-out of the timer (S309). When the notification of the channel switching end is received from the slave telephone 119 by the radio processing circuit 112 in step S307, the radio control unit 16 resets the timer (S311). Further, the radio processing circuit 112 is controlled to turn on the carrier of the designated speech channel (S318). A bell call request is sent to the slave telephone (S319). The success of the calling of the slave telephone is notified to the speech control unit 17 (S320). The speech control unit 17 detects such a notification in step S204. The control unit waits for either one of the events such as reception of the off-hook of the slave telephone by the radio processing circuit 112 (S321), detection of the carrier off of the slave telephone by the radio processing circuit 112 (S322), and call stop request from the speech control unit 17 (S323). When the off-hook of the slave telephone 119 is received by the radio processing circuit 112 in step S321, the radio control unit 16 notifies the off-hook of the slave telephone to the speech control unit 17 (S326) and the processing routine is finished. The speech control unit 17 detects such a notification in step S230. When it is detected in step S322 that the carrier of the slave telephone 119 has been turned off by the radio processing circuit 112, the radio control unit 16 controls the radio processing circuit 112 and releases the speech channel (S327) and notifies the carrier-off of the slave telephone to the speech control unit 17 (S328) and finishes the processing routine. The speech control unit 17 detects such a notification in step S230. When the call stop request is sent from the speech control unit 17 in step S323, the radio control unit 16 controls the radio processing circuit 112, transmits a speech channel release request to the slave telephone 119 (S324), releases the speech channel (S325), and finishes the processing routine. When the call stop request is sent from the speech control unit 17 in step S308, the control unit subsequently waits for either one of the events such as reception of the channel switching end from the slave telephone 119 by the radio processing circuit 112 (S312) and the time-out of the timer (S313). When the radio control unit 16 receives the channel switching end from the slave telephone 119 in step S312, the radio control unit 16 resets the timer (S314). The radio control unit 16 subsequently controls the radio processing circuit 112 to turn on the carrier of the speech channel (S315), transmits the speech channel release request to the slave telephone 119 (S316), releases the communication channel (S317), and finishes the processing routine. On the other hand, when the time-out of the timer is detected in step S313, the processes are finished as they are. When the time-out of the timer is detected in step S309, the call failure is notified to the speech control unit 17 (S310) and the processes are finished. The speech control unit 17 detects such a notification in step S208. The receiving processes of the slave telephone will now be described with reference to Fig. 9. When the radio processing circuit 124 receives the reception signal from the master telephone 14 through the control channel (S401), the control unit 120 executes the carrier sense of the channel designated in the reception signal (S402) and switches to the designated speech channel (S403). The carrier is turned on (S404). The channel switching end is notified to the master telephone 14 (S405). The control unit waits for the event of a bell call request (S406) from the master telephone or a speech channel release request (S407). When the radio processing circuit 124 receives the bell call request from the master telephone 14 in step S406, the control unit 120 rings the call sound (S408) and waits for the event of the speech key input (S409) or the speech channel release request (S410). When the speech key input is detected in step S409, the control unit 120 stops the call sound (S413) and notifies the off-hook to the master telephone 14 by the radio processing circuit 124 (S414) and finishes the processes. When the speech channel release request is sent from the master telephone 14 in step S410, the call sound is stopped (S411), the speech channel is released (S412), and the processes are finished. When the speech channel release request is sent from the master telephone 14 in step S407, the processes in step S412 and subsequent steps are executed. In the above embodiment, the fixed apparatus comprises the private branch exchange 12 and the master telephone 14. However, the master telephone 14 can be also constructed in a manner such that an adapter having the function regarding the radio control and the telephone main body portion having the other functions are separately constructed into two different casings and a master telephone is formed by connecting those two casings as necessary. The operation of the second embodiment of the invention will now be explained with reference to Fig. 11. In the transferring processes of the speech control unit 17 of the master telephone 14, the discrimination regarding the in-holding state has been performed between steps S204 and S226 in the first embodiment. However, it is executed in step S276 between steps S201 and S202 in the second embodiment. When the call is not in holding, the call is held (step S277). That is, the hold sound is sent to the speech communication partner through the line interface 111 by controlling the switching circuit 118 and audible display 110. In place of the processes in step S214 and subsequent steps, a beep sound is rung by the master telephone 14 (S271), the beep tone is stopped after the elapse of a few seconds (S272), the holding is released and the master telephone and the call are again set into the speech communicating state (S273), and the display is cleared (S274). In the above case, the processing steps S218 to S220 are unnecessary. With the above method, even if the call is immediately held in response to the request of the transfer start, when the call of the slave telephone fails, the holding state can be released without forcedly executing the operation of the user.

Claims: A call transfer apparatus for transferring a call of a communication partner connected with a transfer origin, from said transfer origin to a transfer destination, the transfer origin and the transfer destination being linked by a wireless system, the apparatus comprising: discriminating means for discriminating whether the transfer destination (119) can respond or not, said discriminating means comprising means for sensing whether the wireless link is operational responsive to receipt from the transfer destination of a notification, said sensing means comprising sending means for sending an instruction signal for instructing the transfer destination to switch to a designated speech channel, and receiving means for receiving from the transfer destination a notification of the channel switching end, holding means for holding the communication partner, and connecting means (118,134) for transferring the call by connecting the transfer destination (119) and the communication partner only if it is discriminated by said discriminating means that the transfer destination can respond, and for keeping or setting the communication partner in a communication state with the transfer origin when it is discriminated by said discriminating means that the transfer destination cannot respond. A call transfer apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein said connecting means (118,134) is adapted to: send a second instruction signal instructing the transfer destination (119) to ring, when said notification of channel switching end is received, and transfer the call by connecting the transfer destination (119) and the communication partner, when the transfer destination (119) off-hooks. A call transfer apparatus according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said holding means is adapted to put the communication partner on hold when said notification is received by said sensing means. A call transfer apparatus according to Claim 3, further comprising means for keeping or putting back the communication partner in communication state with the transfer origin in a case where no response is received by said sensing means within a predetermined period of time. A call transfer apparatus according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said holding means is adapted to put the communication partner on hold when the transfer origin requests a transfer call. A call transfer apparatus according to Claim 5, further comprising means for putting back the communication partner in communication state with the transfer origin in a case where no response is received by said sensing means within a predetermined period of time. A call transfer apparatus according to anyone of Claims 1 to 6, further comprising notifying means (19,110) for notifying that no response was received. A call transfer method for transferring a call of a communication partner connected with a transfer origin, from said transfer origin to a transfer destination, the transfer origin and the transfer destination being linked by a wireless system, the method comprising: a detecting step (S201) of detecting a transfer request when the communication partner and the transfer origin are connected, a discriminating step (S204,S208,S503) of discriminating whether the transfer destination (119) can respond or not, said discriminating step comprising a sensing step of sensing whether the wireless link is operational responsive to receipt from the transfer destination of a notification, said sensing step comprising a sending step (S202,S304) of sending an instruction signal for instructing the transfer destination to switch to a designated speech channel, and a receiving step (S208,S307,S309,S310) of receiving from the transfer destination a notification of the channel switching end, a holding step (S222,S227,S277) of putting the communication partner on hold, a transferring step (S250) of transferring the call by connecting the transfer destination (119) and the communication partner only if it is discriminated during said discriminating step that the transfer destination can respond, and a failure step (E) of keeping or setting the communication partner in a communication state with the transfer origin when it is discriminated that the transfer destination cannot respond. A call transfer method according to Claim 8, further comprising: a transmitting step (S319) of transmitting a second instruction signal instructing the transfer destination (119) to ring when said notification of channel switching end is received (S307), and wherein said transferring step (S250) of transferring the call by connecting the transfer destination (119) and the communication partner is carried out when the transfer destination (119) off-hooks (S229). A call transfer method according to Claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein said holding step (S222,S227) comprises putting the communication partner on hold when said notification is received in said receiving step. A call transfer method according to Claim 10, wherein the communication partner is kept (S212) or put back (S220) in communication state with the transfer origin in a case where, in said receiving step, no response is received within a predetermined period of time. A call transfer method according to Claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein said holding step (S277) comprises putting the communication partner on hold when the transfer origin requests a transfer call. A call transfer method according to Claim 12, further comprising a step (S273) of putting back the communication partner in communication state with the transfer origin in a case where, in said receiving step, no response is received within a predetermined period of time. A call transfer method according to anyone of Claims 8 to 13, further comprising a notifying step (S209,S212) of notifying that no response was received.

Inventors: ARAI SHUNJI, HIROKI SHIGERU, OGATA MINORU, SUZUKI SHOJI, TSUCHIDA SHINJI, TSUTSUI YUICHIRO, ARAI, SHUNJI, HIROKI, SHIGERU, OGATA, MINORU, SUZUKI, SHOJI, TSUCHIDA, SHINJI, TSUTSUI, YUICHIRO, ARAI, SHUNJI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Ogata, Minoru, c/o CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Shigeru, Hiroki, c/o Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, SUZUKI, SHOJI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, TSUCHIDA, SHINJI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Tsutsui, Yuichiro, c/o CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Applicants: CANON KK, CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1991
Main classification: H04M3
IPC codes: H04M3, H04M1