CON TRLER
Contents
1. 3k ST OP TRANSMITTING OF RBT YES pee 3h CONNECT FACSIMILE TO LINE YES AUTOMATIC FACSIMILE NO RECEIVING 30 3j OPERATION IS TIME PERIOD Ti NO ELAPSED YES A FIG2A IS TIME PERIOD TO ELAPSED US Patent Sep 19 1989 Sheet 3 of 7 4 868 865 GENERATE 2 RING TONE 4b 4d NO 4c STOP GENERATING i TIME PERIOD T2 OF RING TONE NO ELAPSED 5 CONNECT STOP TELEPHON 4f TRANSMITTING TO LINE 4e OF RBT RECEPTION 4h CONNECT 4g FACSIMILE TO LINE 9 AUTOMATIC ai FACSIMILE RECEIVING OPERAT ION FIG 2B US Patent 19 1989 Sheet 4 of 7 4 868 865 IS TIME PERIOD T3 ELAPSED START RECORDING OF MESSAGE RECORDING OF MESSAGE AUTOMAT IC FACSIMILE RECE IVING OPERATION FIG 2C Sheet 5 of 7 4 868 865 Sep 19 1989 U S Patent H3Wi L OS H3TIOHLINOCO YSN IL IS YATIONLNOO STIWISSV4 40103130 TIVO US Patent 19 1989 Sheet 6 of 7 4 868 865 HOOKED 15 INCOMING SIGNAL RESET 5 DETECTED 7 TIMER and YES 6 RESET SOL et FORM Loop r PERFORM CALLING OPERATION TIMER TRANSMIT MESSAGES TRANSMIT MESSAGE START RECORDING SIGNAL T99 MESSAGE eh 6i er IS FACSIMILE SIGNAL DETECTED NO STOP RECORDING OF MESSAGE VOCAL SOUND 65 DETECTED ST2. each switching control operation mentioned above controller 16 de tects this event from the output of a polarity inversion detector not shown provided in DC loop controller 15 from a disconnection signal and stops the con trol operation at that time and returns to the wait state The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment For instance the pseudo ring back tone may be replaced with another type of tone signal or a voice message that indicates the call being made Fur ther when the communication mode requested by the caller is discriminated the result may be displayed on a display or may be stored in a memory as a communica tion record each time The above embodiment has been explained with reference to a communication terminal apparatus in which the facsimile the telephone and the recording device with the auto answering function are independently provided However a telephone with the auto answering function may be integrated in the facsimile Furthermore the switching control sequence and the contents of the control the operation mode informing means and the call discriminating detecting means can be modified in various manners without departing from the scope of the invention In the above embodiment line 2 is switched to node 1 upon completion of a communication However line 2 may be coupled to node 1 when a call detect signal is detected Also if the CNG detector the RBT and mes sage generator
3. produced by message generator 14 in accordance with the message generation instruction from controller 16 RBT generator 13 is not used in the second embodiment but a vocal sound detector 19 is instead coupled between node 1 of switch 11 and con troller 16 Detector 19 detects the presence of an ana log signal on line 2 as a voice signal and sends a voice detect signal to controller 16 The operation of the second embodiment will now be explained referring to FIG 4 In the wait states in steps and 62 controller 16 is monitoring the off hook of hand set 32 through switch 33 When hand set 32 is off hooked the calling opera tion is performed in step 67 That is the same operation as is done in step 3m of FIG 2A is performed When reception of a 16 Hz calling signal from an exchanger not shown is detected by call detector 17 while hand set 32 is in the on hook state the call detect signal is sent to controller 16 in step 6c Controller 16 sends the loop form control signal to DC loop control ler 15 to lock on subscriber line 2 In the subsequent step 6d controller 16 sends the message generation instruc tion to message generator 14 which in turn sends a message to the caller through switch 11 and controller 15 as shown in FIG 5B Then S1 timer 40 which measures the elapse of for example 40 seconds is reset in step 6e In step 6f SO timer 39 which measures the elapse of for example 3 second
4. said control means further comprises means for when it is determined that said first mode is set outputting said RBT generation control signal to said RBT generating means during said first time period or until said CNG detect signal is input from said CNG detector means 7 A terminal switching control apparatus compris ing a facsimile for executing a facsimile communication through a communication line in response to a facsimile communication start instruction input thereto and for generating a facsimile communica tion end signal upon completion of said facsimile communication recording means for recording communication data input through said communication line in accor dance with a record start instruction input thereto and for stopping a recording operation in accor dance with a record stop instruction input thereto 4 868 865 13 call detector means for generating a call detect signal in accordance with a calling signal input through said communication line data detector means for detecting that said communi cation data is being input through said communica tion line and for generating a data detect signal and control means for outputting a first facsimile control signal through said communication line once dur ing a first time period in response to said call de tect signal from said call detector means said first time period being repeated within a second time period for outputting said record start instruct
5. ART FACSIMILE 6k NO COMMUNICATION DISCONNECTED et NO 15 sec gt ELAPSED 2 STOP RECORDING 8 OF MESSAGE VOCAL SOUND YES DETECTED TRANSMIT FACSIMILE CONTROL SIGNAL RESET 50 TIMER IS 40 sec 9 E ELAPSED FIG4 YES Sheet 7 of 7 4 868 865 Sep 19 1989 US Patent 88 old SNITIVO 4 868 865 1 TERMINAL SWITCHING CONTROL APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal switching control apparatus for use in a communication terminal apparatus equipped with a telephone a facsimile ma chine a message recorder or the like 2 Description of the related art including information disclosed under 1 97 1 99 In general a facsimile in a communication terminal apparatus is coupled to a communication line together with a telephone and these devices are alternatively switched by a switch to the communication line for performing their functions There are two reception modes for facsimiles manual and auto reception modes In the manual mode the switch is switched to a tele phone In this state even if a calling signal is received the facsimile does not function and instead a telephone bell will ring to inform a user receiver of a communi cation requested When the receiver responds to the caller via the telephone and operates the switch to the facsimile in response to the facsimile reception request from the caller the facsimi
6. United States Patent Ogawa et al 4 868 865 Sep 19 1989 11 Patent Number 4 Date of Patent 54 TERMINAL SWITCHING CONTROL APPARATUS Fukushige Ogawa Chiaki Motegi Chikara Hosokawa all of Tokyo Japan 75 Inventors Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Kawasaki Japan 73 Assignee 21 Appl No 160 844 22 Filed Feb 26 1988 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Feb 27 1987 JP Japan c 62 44518 Mar 13 1987 JP Japan m 62 58121 51 Int Cl H04M 11 00 04 1 65 52 US Cl 379 100 379 80 58 Field of Search 379 100 80 105 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 564 724 1 1986 Nakayama et al 379 100 4 639 553 1 1987 Kiguchi 379 100 4 653 086 3 1987 Laube 379 100 4 677 660 6 1987 Yoshida 379 100 4 692 817 9 1987 Theis 379 80 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 0242449 10 1986 Japan 379 100 2183427 6 1987 United Kingdom 379 105 Primary Examiner Jin F Ng Assistant Examiner Mehdi Haghani Attorney Agent or Firm Cushman Darby amp Cushman 57 ABSTRACT A terminal switching control apparatus includes a con troller The controller responds to one of a record stop RS signal a communication signal from a telephone and a facsimile communication end FCE signal from
7. a facsimile to monitor a call detect CED signal from a call detector The controller determines whether the mode set by a mode setting section is a first mode or a second mode in response to the CED signal from the call de tector In the first mode the controller responds to a CNG detect signal from a CNG detector within a first time period and outputs a switch control SC signal to a switch so as to couple a communication line to the facsimile and then responds to the communication sig nal upon elapse of the first time period and outputs the SC signal to the switch so as to couple the communica tion line to the telephone In the second mode the con troller outputs a record start control RSC signal to a recording section and outputs the RS signal to the re cording section upon elapse of a second time period 16 Claims 7 Drawing Sheets a 1 5 Sheet 1 of 7 4 868 865 Sep 19 1989 U S Patent MOLO313d 59 2 34 8 m 3 2 JOLV33N39 SUE S se 8l Ze ded 1 1 US Patent 19 1989 Sheet 2 of 7 4 868 865 NO Ea MODE SETTING OPERATION YES NO PERFORM CALLING OPERATION NO o gt p YES FORM DC LOOP sd 3e AUTO ANSWERING MODE NO TRANSMIT 39 5
8. all detector In addition the controller responds to the call detect signal and sends a first facsimile communication control signal from the facsimile section on the commu nication line then sends the record start instruction to the recording section and sends the record stop instruc tion thereto upon elapse of a second time period as a recording time Upon reception of a second facsimile communication control signal during the second time period the controller sends the record stop instruction to the recording section to permit the facsimile section to perform the facsimile communication As described above according to the terminal switching control apparatus of this invention based on the presence or absence of an incoming CNG signal it is determined whether the caller requests a facsimile communication through auto calling or a telephone communication through a telephone and switching between the receiver s facsimile and telephone is auto matically done in accordance with the decision There fore if the caller is an auto calling facsimile the facsim ile communication can be performed in an auto recep tion mode without requiring a user s manual operation and if the caller is a telephone the user can assuredly respond to the caller over the telephone If no off hook operation is conducted by the user even upon elapse of a predetermined time after a tele phone calling has started the switch is automatically switched to the
9. between said communica tion line and said telephone said second channel between said communication line and said facsim ile and said third channel between said communi cation line and said recording means in accordance with an establish instruction input thereto call detector means for generating a call detect signal in accordance with a calling signal input through said communication line mode setting means for setting one of first and second modes data detector means for detecting that said communi cation data is being input through said communica tion line and for generating a data detect signal and control means including first means for monitoring said call detect signal from said call detector means in response to one of said record stop instruction said communication signal from said telephone and said facsimile communication end signal from said facsimile and for determining whether said first mode or said szcond mode is set by said mode setting means in response to said call detect signal from said call detector means means when it is determined by said first means that said first mode is set for outputting a first facsimile control signal through said communication line once every first time period repeated within a second time period for outputting said establish instruction to said channel establishment means to establish said sec 4 868 865 15 ond channel and said facsimile communication start instructi
10. between said communication line and said facsim ile and said third channel between said recording means and said communication line in accordance with an establish instruction input thereto call detector means for generating a call detect signal in accordance with a calling signal input through said communication line mode setting means for setting one of first and second modes calling tone CNG detector means for generating a CNG detect signal in response to a CNG signal input through said communication line and control means for monitoring said call detect signal from said call detector means in accordance with one of said record stop instruction said communi cation signal from said telephone and said facsimile communication end signal from said facsimile and for determining whether said first mode of said second mode is set by said mode setting means in accordance with said call detect signal from said call detector means for outputting said facsimile communication start instruction to said facsimile outputting said establish instruction to said channel establish means to establish said second channel in response to said CNG detect signal from said CNG detector means within a first time period and for outputting said establish instruction to said channel establish means to establish said first channel to enable said telephone communication in response to elapse of said first time period when it is deter mined that said firs
11. ces to step 5c where controller 16 sends the record start instruction to recording section 6 to start the function of the recording section 6 and starts timer 38 As a result recording section 6 records for example a speech made by the user on the caller side In addition to the recording control the reception of the CNG signal is monitored by detector 12 in step 5d When the reception of the CNG signal is detected within a given time period T4 e g 20 seconds step 5e and the CNG detect signal is sent to controller 16 from detector 12 it is determined that the caller is a facsimile and the flow advances to step 5f In step 5f the record stop instruction is sent to recording section 6 and the recording section stops its recording function Then in step 5g controller 16 sends the switch control signal to switch 11 to connect the common node to node 2 that is coupled to controller 4 Controller 4 is also supplied with the facsimile communication start instruction Consequently the facsimile auto reception is carried out thereafter in step 54 Even in the auto answering mode therefore the facsimile communication can be assuredly made with the caller being facsimile In this case the user also need not perform any switching oper ation When the facsimile communication is completed as described above the facsimile communication end sig nal is sent to controller 16 and line 2 is coupled to node If the caller aborts the call during
12. ch can perform both the facsimile auto reception operation and the auto answering operation whereby a telephone reception can be executed using the auto answering function without sacrificing the intrinsic function of the facsimile The terminal switching control apparatus therefore includes call detector coupled to a communication line for generating a cali detect signal in accordance with a calling signal coming through the communication line and a switching circuit coupled to the communication line for selectively coupling the communication line to a recording section and a facsimile section in accordance with an incoming switch control sig nal The facsimile section executes a facsimile communi cation through the communication line in accordance with a facsimile communication start instruction re ceived and generates a facsimile communication end signal upon completion of the facsimile communication The recording section records vocal sounds input through the line in accordance with a record start in struction received and stops the recording operation in accordance with a record stop instruction A controller first responds to the call detect signal from the call detector and outputs the switch control signal to the switching circuit so as to couple itself to the communication line The controller responds to the facsimile communication end signal from the facsimile section to monitor the call detect signal from the c
13. ds a CED called station identification signal to the caller as shown in FIG 5A Thereafter the facsimile communication can be performed step 41 as shown in FIG 5A Thus if the caller has been requesting the facsimile communication through the manual calling therefore the user on the caller side can confirm this CED signal and can initiate the facsimile communica tion thereafter When the facsimile communication is ended control ler 4 sends the facsimile communication end signal to controller 16 which in turn sends the switch control signal to switch 11 to couple line 2 to node 1 If the operation mode of TCU 1 is set to the auto answering mode the flowchart as shown in FIG 2C will be executed When after the forming of the DC loop of subscriber line 2 in step 3d it is determined in step 3e that the auto answering mode has been set the flow advances to step 5a where controller 16 sends the message generation instruction to message generator 14 and starts timer 37 In response to this instruction mes 10 20 25 351 40 45 50 65 8 sage generator 14 generates voice message indicating that the auto answering mode is set and sends it over line 2 to the caller The content of this message differs from that of the message generated step 3f The trans mission of the message continues for a given time period T3 e g 10 seconds When elapse of the time period T3 is detected in step 55 the flow advan
14. el establish means to estab lish said second channel when said telephone com munication is not performed within a third time period after elapse of said first time period 5 The apparatus according to claim 1 further com prising message generating means for transmitting through said communication line a first message to indicate that said first mode is set during a fourth time period in response to a first message generation control signal input thereto and a second message to indicate that said second mode is set during a fifth time period in response to a second message generation control signal input thereto and wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting said first message generation control signal to said message generating means before said first time period when it is determined that said first mode is set for starting said first time period after elapse of said fourth time period for outputting said second message generation control signal to said message generating means before said second time period when it is determined that said second mode is set and for starting said second time period after elapse of said fifth time period 6 The apparatus according to claim 1 further com prising ring back tone RBT generating means for generating a ring back tone in response to a RBT gener ation control signal and for transmitting said generated ring back tone through said communication line and wherein
15. en explained with reference to a facsim ile which incorporates a telephone with the auto an swering function However the second embodiment can apply to a communication terminal apparatus in which the facsimile the telephone and the recording 4 868 865 11 device with the auto answering function indepen dently provided Furthermore the switching control sequence and the contents of the control can be modi fied in various manners without departing from the scope of the invention What is claimed is 1 A terminal switching control apparatus compris ing a telephone for generating a communication signal in response to the performance of a telephone com munication through a first channel and a communi cation line a facsimile for executing a facsimile communication through a second channel and said communication line in accordance with a facsimile communication start instruction input thereto and for generating a facsimile communication ends signal upon comple tion of said facsimile communication recording means for recording communication data input through a third channel and said communica tion line in accordance with a record start instruc tion input thereto and for stopping a recording operating in accordance with a record stop instruc tion input thereto channel establish means for selectively establishing one of said first channel between said communica tion line and said telephone said second channel
16. ephone and a facsimile over a single communication line BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a block diagram of the structure of a termi nal switching control apparatus according to a first embodiment of this invention FIGS 2A through 2C are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the first embodiment FIG 3 is a block diagram of the structure of a termi nal switching control apparatus according to a second embodiment of this invention FIG 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment and FIGS 5A and 5B are sequence diagrams illustrating a facsimile communication and a telephone communica tion DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Terminal switching control apparatuses according to preferred embodiments of this invention will be ex plained below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings To begin with referring to FIG 1 the structure of the terminal switching control apparatus TCU ac cording to the first embodiment of this invention will be explained In FIG 1 a circuit section such as a dial pulse generator necessary for initiating the calling and those sections in a facsimile other than a facsimile con troller are omitted for explanatory simplicity In FIG 1 TCU 1 has controller 16 which is mainly constituted by a microprocessor and performs the over all control of the apparatus Controller 16 has timers 34 35 36 37 and 38 which respectively measu
17. eration control signal input thereto and for transmitting said generated ring back tone through said communication line and wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting said RBT generation control signal to said RBT generating means during said second time period or until said second facsimile control signal is input through said communication line when it is determined that said first mode is set
18. ess returns to step 3a When a calling signal of 16 Hz sent from the ex changer over line 2 is detected by call detector 17 in step 3c in the wait state the call detect signal is output to controller 16 and step 3d is executed In step 34 DC loop controller 15 forms a DC loop of subscriber line 2 in accordance with the loop form control signal from controller 16 This couples the caller and receiver through the exchanger In step 3e the currently set operation mode is deter mined As the non auto answering mode is currently set the decision in this step is negative N and the subsequent step 3f will be executed If the decision in step 3e is affirmative Y then step 5 FIG 2c will be executed In step 3f controller 16 sends out the message genera tion instruction to message generator 14 and timer 34 is started In response to this instruction message genera tor 14 generates a voice message indicating that the non auto answering mode is set and the generated mes sage is sent on line 2 through switch 11 and controller 15 As a result the caller is informed that either tele phone or facsimile communication is available on the receiver side In step 3g time period TO e g 10 sec onds during which the message is being output is mea sured by timer 34 If it is determined in step 3g that 10 seconds have elapsed the transmission of the voice message is stopped and step 3h will be executed next During period TO a ring bac
19. facsimile control section so as to pro vide assured response even to a facsimile communica tion request done through manual calling by the caller Further in the auto answering mode when the caller is a facsimile irrespective of auto calling or manual 5 10 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 65 4 calling the presence or absence of an incoming CNG signal is detected and the switch is switched to the facsimile after performing the recording operation for a given period of time thus assuredly making the receiver ready for facsimile reception Furthermore during the period in which the commu nication mode requested by the caller is being deter mined a message indicating the receiver s operation mode or a pseudo ring back tone is sent to the caller This can reduce the uncertainty about the absence of the receiver which the caller may feel during calling and make the caller stay on the line until the proper switching control is performed When a recorder is set to function first upon recep tion of a CNG signal the receiver can talk to the caller requesting telephone communication or if it is deter mined that facsimile communication is requested the telephone communication operation is stopped to be ready for the requested facsimile communication This can prevent the caller from hearing an unpleasant high tone generated in the facsimile communication and can therefore realize the effective use of an auto answering tel
20. id facsimile communication start instruction to said facsimile in response to said CNG detect signal from said CNG detector means during said first time period 11 The apparatus according to claim 9 further com prising message generating means for transmitting a message through said communication line in response to a message generation control signal input thereto and wherein said control means further comprises means for generating said message generation control signal before beginning of said first time period and for starting said first time period after transmit ting said message 12 A terminal switching control apparatus compris ing a telephone for generating communication signal in response to the performance of a telephone com munication through a first channel and a communi cation line a facsimile for executing a facsimile communication through a second channel and said communication line in accordance with a facsimile communication start instruction input thereto and for generating a facsimile communication end signal upon comple tion of said facsimile communication recording means for recording communication data input through said communication line in accor dance with a record start instruction input thereto and for stopping a communication data recording operation in accordance with a record stop instruc tion input thereto channel establish means for selectively establishing one of said first channel
21. ion to said recording means for outputting said record stop instruction to said recording means upon elapse of said second time period for outputting said record stop instruction to said recording means and said facsimile communication start in struction to said facsimile in accordance with a second facsimile control signal input through said communication line during said second time per iod for outputting said record stop instruction to said recording means in response to inactivation of said data detect signal output from said data detec tor means during said record second time period and for monitoring said call detect signal from said call detector means in response to one of elapse of said second time period and said facsimile commu nication end signal from said facsimile 8 The apparatus according to claim 7 further com prising message generating means for transmitting a message through said communication line in response to a message generation instruction input thereto and wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting said message generation instruction to said message generating means in response to said call detect signal before said second time per iod 9 A terminal switching control apparatus compris ing a facsimile for executing a facsimile communication through a communication line in response to a facsimile communication start instruction input thereto and for generating a facsimile com
22. ion in accordance with a record stop instruction A calling tone CNG detector responds to an incom ing a CNG and generates CNG detected signal A con troller first responds to the call detect signal from the call detector outputs the switch control signal to the switching circuit so as to couple itself to the communi cation line and determines whether the mode set by the mode setting section is the first mode or the second mode Finally the controller responds to one of the communication signals from the telephone and the fac simile communication end signals from the facsimile section to monitor the call detect signal from the call detector In the non auto answering mode the control ler responds to the CNG detect signal from the CNG detector within a first time period and outputs the switch control signal to the switching circuit so as to couple the communication line to the facsimile section and then responds to the communication signal from the telephone upon elapse of the first time period and out puts the switch control signal to the switching circuit so as to couple the communication line to the telephone In the auto answering mode the controller outputs the 4 868 865 3 record start instruction to the recording section and outputs the record stop instruction thereto upon elapse of a second time period as a recording time It is another object of this invention to provide a facsimile with a message recording telephone whi
23. k tone has been conventionally fed back to the caller in this embodi ment however a message is transmitted to the caller instead In step 3h the RBT generation instruction is output to generator 13 which in turn generates and sends the pseudo ring back tone RBT to line 2 through switch 11 and controller 15 Consequently the caller is informed that TCU 1 is called At this time timer 35 is started in step 3i and controller 16 monitors the elapsing of a given time period T1 e g 10 seconds in step 3j During the time period T1 in step 3i reception of the CNG from the caller is monitored based on the CNG detect signal from CNG detector 12 Here the CNG signal is the first signal output from the caller s facsimile before initiating in the facsimile control sequence when the caller s facsimile auto calls as shown in FIG 5A and is output for 0 5 second at a frequency of 1100 Hz and is interrupted for 3 seconds If in this state the reception of the CNG signal is detected within the given time it is determined that the caller is a facsimile and the flow advances to step 3k from step 3i In step controller 16 causes generator 14 to stop sending the pseudo ring back tone RBT Then a flow advances to step 3 where the controller 16 sends the switch control signal to switch 11 to connect the common node to facsimile controller 4 Also the facsimile communication start instruction is output to controller 4 As a resu
24. l apparatus which automatically switches be tween a telephone and a facsimile in accordance with the communication mode requested by a caller upon detection of a calling signal thus relieving a user of unnecessary troublesome switching operation and en suring effective and assured use of the telephone and facsimile and which can properly switch between these two units even when either one has an auto answering function The terminal switching control apparatus according to this invention includes a mode setting section for setting one of first and second modes a call detector coupled to a communication line for generating a call detect signal in accordance with a calling signal coming through the communication line and a switching circuit coupled to the communication line for selectively coupling the communication line to a recording section a facsimile section and a telephone in accordance with an incoming switch control signal The telephone generates a communication signal in response to a communication operation and the facsim ile section executes a facsimile communication through the communication line in accordance with a facsimile communication start instruction received and generates a facsimile communication end signal upon completion of the facsimile communication A recording section records vocal sounds input through the line in accor dance with a record start instruction received and stops the recording operat
25. le reception function can be performed thereafter If however the receiver does not operate the switch he or she can continue the telephone communication as desired i e if the reception mode is set to the manual mode the communication terminal apparatus can continue to be used for the purpose of telephone communication On the other hand if the auto reception mode is set the calling signal is detected by a call detector At this time the switch is automatically switched to the facsim ile from the telephone and the facsimile reception oper ation will take place thereafter If this auto reception mode is set therefore the communication terminal apparatus can be exclusively used as a facsimile Facsimiles have often been used in offices or factories for use only in facsimile communication Recently there are more facsimiles with an auto calling function appearing and available in the market Therefore the facsimiles are generally used in the auto reception mode As the convenience of such facsimiles is understood facsimiles are becoming popular even in ordinary stores or shops or homes The facsimile for personal use how ever is not so frequent as in offices or factories As a result it is desirable that a telephone and a facsimile should be effectively switched from one to the other to allow use of facsimiles in the home According to conventional terminal control appara tuses when the caller is a facsimile the receiver sho
26. lephone communication can be stopped to cope with the intended action Therefore the caller does not hear an unpleasant high tone signal which is generated in facsimile communication and the auto answering telephone can be used with the facsimile If the caller aborts the calling operation during each switching control operation described above controller 16 detects this event by a disconnect signal output from a polarity inversion detector not shown provided in DC loop controller 15 and stops the control operation at that time and returns to the wait state Since the flowchart shown in FIG 4 has many por tions similar to the flowcharts shown in FIGS 2A to 2C if the CNG detector and the RBT generator are further provided in the second embodiment the flow chart of FIG 4 may be incorporated in those shown in FIGS 2A to 2C In this case steps 6g 64 to 6s need to be executed in place of steps 5c to 5h and steps 6g 6i to 6p in place of steps 3i to 3j The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment For instance an RBT generator may be provided to send a pseudo ring back tone or the pseudo ring back tone may be replaced with another type of tone signal or a voice message that indicates the call being made Further when the communication mode requested by the caller is discriminated the result may be displayed on a display or may be stored in a memory as a communication record each time The above em bodiment has be
27. lt in step 30 facsimile controller 4 is coupled to subscriber line 2 and the facsimile com munication is thereafter performed between the caller s facsimile and the receiver s facsimile in accordance with a known facsimile control sequence as shown in FIG 5A That is the automatic facsimile receiving operation is executed Therefore the user need not to 4 868 865 7 perform any switching operation to the terminal ratus When no CNG signal is detected within the given time period T1 controller 16 determines that the caller is a telephone and initiates the flowchart as shown in FIG 2B First in step 4 controller 16 sends out the ring instruction to RT generator 18 and starts timer 36 Generator 18 generates a ring tone signal so that a ring tone RT is output from speaker 5 In the subsequent step 45 the off hook operation of hand set 32 is monitored on the basis of the telephone communication signal In this state if the user picks up hand set 32 noticing the ring tone controller 16 determines through switch 33 that the user is going to talk on the phone As a result the ring tone is stopped in step 4d and controller 16 sends the switch control signal to switch 11 so as to connect the common node to node 3 in step 4 This couples telephone 31 to subscriber line 2 Thereafter telephone communication is performed between tele phone 31 and the caller s telephone step 44 as shown in FIG 5B That is the switching
28. munica tion end signal upon completion of said facsimile communication recording means for recording communication data input through said communication line in accor dance with a record start instruction input thereto and for stopping a recording operation in accor dance with a record stop instruction input thereto call detector means for generating a call detect signal in accordance with a calling signal input through said communication line data detector means for detecting that said communi cation data is being input through said communica tion line and for generating a data detect signal and control means for outputting said record start instruc tion to said recording means in response to said detect signal from said call detector means for outputting said record stop signal to said recording means and said facsimile communication start in struction to said facsimile upon elapse of a first time period and for monitoring said call detect signal from said call detector means in response to said facsimile communication end signal from said fac simile 10 25 30 45 50 55 65 14 10 apparatus according to claim 9 further com prising CNG calling tone detector means for generat ing a CNG detect signal in response to a CNG signal input through said communication line and wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting said record stop signal to said re cording means and sa
29. on of the CNG detector 12 sends a CNG detect signal to controller 16 RBT generator 13 generates a pseudo ring back tone RBT in response to a RBT generation instruction from controller 16 and sends the RBT to the caller s terminal Message generator 14 generates a voice message indicating the currently specified opera tion mode in response to a message generation instruc tion from controller 16 and sends the message to the caller s terminal There are two operation modes set by mode setting section 20 non auto answering mode which either a telephone reception or a facsimile recep tion is possible and an auto answering mode in which an auto answering operation is first initiated and the fac simile reception can be initiated upon reception of the CNG detect signal TCU 1 further includes call detector 17 and ring tone RT generator 18 Call detector 17 detects a 16 Hz calling signal incoming through subscriber line 2 from an exchanger not shown in a wait state Upon detec tion of the calling signal detector 17 sends out a call detect signal to controller 16 RT generator 18 gener ates a signal for telephone calling in accordance with a 5 10 15 20 25 ring instruction from controller 16 and generates ring 40 tone through a speaker 5 to inform a user of the tele phone calling Recording section 6 is also coupled to node 1 and records an incoming analog voice signal in accordance with a record start instr
30. on to said channel establishment means to establish said second channel and said facsimile communication start instruction to said facsimile in response to 10 15 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 65 16 said second facsimile control signal input through said communication line within said fourth period 15 The apparatus according to claim 12 further comprising message generating means for transmitting through said communication line a first message indicat ing that said first mode is set during a sixth time period in response to a first message generation control signal input thereto and a second message indicating that said second mode is set during a seventh time period in response to a second message generation control signal input thereto and wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting said first message generation control signal to said message generating means before said second time period when it is determined that said first mode is set for starting said second time per iod after said sixth time period for outputting said second message generation control signal to said message generating means before said fourth time period when it is determined that said second mode is set and for starting said fourth time period after said seventh time period 16 The apparatus according to claim 12 further comprising RBT generating means for generating a ring back tone in response to a RBT gen
31. on to said facsimile in response to a second facsimile control signal input through said commu nication line within said second time period and for outputting said establish instruction to said channel establishment means to establish said first channel to enable said telephone communication in response to elapse of said second time period and means when it is determined by said first means that said first mode is set for outputting said record start instruction to said recording means and said establish instruction to said channel establishment means to establish said third channel for output ting said first facsimile control signal through said communication line once every third time period repeated within a fourth time period and for gener ating and outputting to said recording means said record stop instruction in response to elapse of said fourth time period 13 The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting to said facsimile said establish instruction to said channel establishment means to establish said second channel and said facsimile communication start instruction when said tele phone communication is not performed within a fifth time period after elapse of said second time period 14 The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting said record stop instruction to said recording means said establish instructi
32. re time periods T2 and T4 Switch 11 which is also included in TCU 1 has three switching nodes and is switched between these nodes in accordance with a switch control signal from controller 16 to establish a channel The common node of switch 11 is coupled to subscriber line 2 through DC loop controller 15 This controller 15 forms a DC loop of subscriber line 2 in accordance with a loop form control signal from con troller 16 and sends a disconnect signal to controller 16 when a caller terminates the communication 4 868 865 5 Of the three switching nodes of switch 11 node 3 is coupled to telephone 31 equipped with a hand set 32 Switch 33 is interlocked with the hook set so that it is closed when hand set 32 is off hooked During on hook of hand set 32 therefore a telephone communication signal is supplied to controller 16 Node 2 is coupled to facsimile controller 4 This controller 4 controls the facsimile communication in accordance with a facsimile communication start instruction from controller 16 and sends a facsimile communication end signal to control ler 16 upon completion of the facsimile communication Node 1 is coupled to CNG calling tone detector 12 RBT ring back tone generator 13 and message genera tor 14 which are all included in TCU 1 Node 1 is also coupled to TCU 1 directly CNG detector 12 detects CNG sent from the caller s terminal after a calling signal is detected Upon detec ti
33. s and the controller 16 are directly cou pled to line 2 line 2 may be coupled to equipment to be communicated with when a communication is started Also in the above embodiment line 2 is coupled to telephone 31 facsimile controller 4 or recording sec 4 868 865 9 tion 6 switch 11 in accordance with the switch trol signal from controller 16 However these three devices may be connected to controller 16 and may be activated by a signal from the controller respectively In this case switch 11 can be omitted and line 2 is connected to controller 16 Referring now to FIGS 3 and 4 a terminal switching control apparatus according to the second embodiment of this invention will be explained To being with the structure of the second embodi ment will be explained below referring to FIG 3 The structure of the second embodiment is mainly the same as that of the first embodiment so that only the differ ences will be discussed here Due to the difference in the operation control controller 16 is changed to con troller 16 Controller 16 has an SO timer 39 and an S1 timer 40 in place of timers 34 to 38 A message genera tor 14 replacing message generator 14 is coupled be tween node 1 and switch 11 and controller 16 Switch 11 has node 1 coupled to facsimile controller 4 through controller 16 and node 2 coupled to telephone 31 Message generator 14 generates a message different from the one
34. s is reset Then in step controller 16 sends the facsimile control sequence signal to the caller This corresponds to the transmission of the CED called station identification signal and DIS digital identification signal signal in FIG 5A In the next step 64 controller 16 sends the record start instruction to recording section 6 and this recording section 6 starts recording a vocal sound received as shown in FIG 5B After the recording operation has started 80 timer 39 measures 3 seconds in step 6 During this measuring operation it is determined in steps and 6j whether an incoming signal received over line 2 is a DCS digital command signal generated in response to the facsimile control sequence signal or a voice signal as an analog signal or a non vocal sound signal generated upon de pression of the start switch of the facsimile on the caller side It is also checked in step 6k if the communication is interrupted When it is detected by detector 19 that 20 25 30 35 40 45 55 60 65 10 the analog signal is being input the recording operation continues When it is determined in step 6 that 3 sec onds has been elapsed the flow advances to the next step 6m where it is determined whether or not a voice signal is detected by detector 19 When the voice detect signal is input the flow advances to step 60 where 50 time 39 is reset When the voice detect signal is not detected the flow advance
35. s to step 6n where the fac simile control sequence signal is sent to the caller Thereafter step 60 is executed In the subsequent step 6p it is determined whether or not 40 seconds have elapsed If the decision here is negative the flow returns to step 6i and if it affirmative the flow returns to step 6a When communication interruption is detected by a disconnect signal from controller 15 in steps 6i to 6 controller 16 sends the record stop instruction to re cording section 6 in step 64 thereby stopping the re cording operation Then the flow returns to step 6a When reception of the DCS signal as shown in FIG 5A is detected in steps to 6 the recording operation is stopped in step 6r in the same manner as has been explained and the facsimile communication start in struction is sent to controller 4 in order to initiate in the facsimile communication Then the facsimile communi cation is performed as shown in FIG 5A step 65 Upon completion of the facsimile communication the facsimile communication end signal is sent to controller 16 from controller 4 and the flow returns to step 6a As has been explained above according to this em bodiment since recording section 6 is first operated when a call is detected if telephone communication is requested by the caller such communication can be made If on the other hand it is found that the caller has intended facsimile communication the operation for making the te
36. t mode is set and for outputting said record start instruction to said recording means and said establish instruction to said channel establish means to establish said third channel and generating and outputting to said recording means said record stop instruction in accordance with elapse of a second time period when it is deter mined that said second mode is set 2 The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said control means further comprises 20 25 35 45 65 12 means for outputting said establish instruction to said channel establish means to establish said second channel outputting said facsimile communication start instruction to said facsimile when said tele phone communication is not performed within a third time period after elapse of said first time per iod 3 The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said control means further comprises means responsive to one of said CNG detect signal within said second time period and elapse of said second time period for outputting said record stop instruction to said recording means said establish instruction to said channel establish means to estab lish said second channel and said facsimile commu nication start instruction to said facsimile 4 The apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said control means further comprises means for outputting said facsimile communication start instruction to said facsimile and said establish instruction to said chann
37. to the telephone is also automatic in this case Therefore if the caller is a telephone the user can assuredly respond to the caller through the same operation as is done with ordinary telephones It should be noted here that the ring tone informing the user of the incoming call is generated upon elapse of time periods and T1 after the calling signal is actually received No information is given to the user until then When the end of the telephone communication is confirmed by the telephone communication signal con troller 16 sends the switch control signal to switch 11 to couple line 2 to node 1 and returns to step 3a It is determined whether any off hook operation is done during a given time T2 e g 20 seconds after the generation of the ring tone in step 4a When no off look operation is done within this time period T2 step 4c it is determined that the user is absent and the flow ad vances to the subsequent step 4f In other words the caller may be requesting the facsimile communication through the manual calling so that upon elapse of the given time period T2 the flow advances to step 4f where the pseudo ring back tone RBT and the ring tone are stopped Then the switch control signal is sent to switch 11 to switch the common node to facsimile con troller 4 in step 4g As a result subscriber line 2 is cou pled to controller 4 In addition controller 4 receives the facsimile communication start instruction and thus sen
38. uction from controller 16 This recording section 6 may be a recording device such as a tape recorder or may be constituted by an encoder and a RAM This RAM may be the one provided in the facsimile Referring now to FIGS 2A to 2C the operation of TCU 1 according to the first embodiment will be ex plained In a wait state steps to are repeated and in these steps it is determined whether or not a mode setting key not shown of mode setting section 20 is operated whether or not the calling operation is to be performed and whether or not an incoming calling signal is re ceived When controller 16 detects in step 3a that the mode setting key is operated in the wait state a mode setting operation is executed in step 3m Assume now that the non auto answering mode has been set If it is determined in step 35 that hand set 32 is off hooked a communication signal is input to controller 16 In re sponse to this signal controller 16 sends the switch control signal to switch 11 to connect the common node to node 2 Accordingly a calling operation is executed in step 3 and communication will be made as conse quence When the end of communication is detected 45 50 60 65 6 from the communication signal controller 16 sends the switch control signal to switch 11 to connect the com mon mode to node 1 When call detector 17 detects an incoming calling signal the process advances to step 3d otherwise the proc
39. uld respond by means of the telephone to confirm the caller each time a call is made using its auto call function And when the caller is confirmed to be a facsimile the re ceiver should operate the switch to the facsimile This operation is very troublesome and when the auto re ception mode is set to eliminate this inconvenient opera tion upon detection of a calling signal the facsimile reception operation is executed without conditions This mode therefore does not permit the receiver to respond to a caller sending a calling signal to the receiv er s telephone There may be an auto answering telephone attached to the communication terminal apparatus as one of the demanded multi functions This auto answering func tion may be provided in the facsimile According to 10 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 such a communication terminal apparatus its simplest form the telephone attached to the facsimile body serves as the auto answering telephone If an auto an swering telephone is attached to the terminal apparatus in order to operate the auto answering telephone the facsimile needs to be set to the manual reception mode In the manual reception mode however the auto fac simile reception cannot be executed thus restricting the functions of the facsimile SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With the above situations in mind therefore it is an object of this invention to provide a terminal switching contro
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