JPH04351144A - Telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To properly maintain the received sound volume by providing a sound volume adjustment means varying received sound volume from a handset based on the result of discrimination of 1st and 2nd sound volume discrimination means to the telephone set. CONSTITUTION:A 1st discrimination means 8 of a microcomputer 1 discriminates whether or not a sound volume of a talking opposite party is a prescribed volume or over based on a received voice signal from a line. Moreover, a 2nd discrimination means 9 discriminates whether or not a sound volume around a handset is a prescribed value based on a signal from a microphone 2. Then a sound volume adjustment means 10 of the microcomputer 1 changes a potential at a terminal 1c of the microcomputer 1 in three ways based on the result of discrimination of the 1st and 2nd discrimination means 8, 9. When the potential at the terminal 1c of the microcomputer 1 is changed, a base potential of a sound volume adjustment transistor(TR) 3 is changed and the impedance between the collector and the emitter of the sound volume adjustment TR 3 is changed and a level of a reception voice signal inputted to an amplifier 6 is changed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone set in which the listening volume can be adjusted.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventional telephones that can adjust the listening volume are
The configuration was such that the listening volume could be changed from high to low by manually operating the volume selector switch. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, by manually switching the volume selector switch 31, the potential input to the terminal 33 of the microcomputer 32 is switched, and the potential input to the terminal 33 of the microcomputer 32 is changed accordingly.
4 changes, the impedance between the collector and emitter of the volume switching transistor 35 changes, and the level of the received audio signal input to the amplifier 36 changes. The configuration was such that the output listening volume could be switched.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] With conventional telephones, if the volume of the surroundings suddenly increases during a call or the volume of the person on the other end of the conversation decreases, the voice of the person on the other end of the phone call may not be audible. That is, although it is possible to increase the listening volume by changing the volume selector switch 31, since it is a manual operation, it is normal to operate the volume selector switch 31 only after it becomes difficult to hear the voice of the other party. This may cause a delay, so you may not be able to hear the other person's voice during that time. Moreover, it may be difficult to locate the volume change-over switch 31, or it may be difficult to operate it, and the operation is often troublesome and time-consuming.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a telephone that can always maintain an appropriate listening volume.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a first determining means for determining the volume of the other party based on a received signal, and a signal from a converter for converting sound around the handset into an electrical signal. a second determination means for determining the surrounding sound volume based on the
The present invention is characterized in that it includes a volume adjusting means for varying the volume of the voice received from the handset based on the determination results of the first and second determination means, so that the volume of the voice received is always maintained at an appropriate level.

[0006]

[Operation] The first determining means determines the volume of the other party on the basis of the received signal. The second determination means determines the surrounding volume based on a signal from a converter that converts sounds around the handset into electrical signals. The volume adjusting means varies the volume of the voice received from the handset based on the determination results by the first and second determining means. Therefore, an appropriate listening volume can be maintained at all times.

[0007]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention utilizes fuzzy theory to automatically adjust the receiving volume appropriately, and uses the volume of the other party and the surrounding volume as information for this purpose, and these elements are expressed by membership functions of fuzzy theory. and as shown in Figure 2. In other words, as shown in (A), the volume of the other party (
The smaller x) is, the larger the membership value (μ) becomes when the user feels that the other party's volume is low during a call. Also (B
), the larger the surrounding volume (y) is, the larger the membership value (μ) becomes when the user feels that the surrounding volume is loud during a call. The optimal listening volume at this time is high as shown in (C). On the other hand, as shown in (D), the larger the volume (x) of the other party is, the larger the membership value (μ) becomes when the user feels that the other party's volume is louder during a call. Also(
As shown in E), the lower the surrounding volume (y), the lower the membership value (μ) at which the surrounding volume feels when talking.
becomes larger. The optimal listening volume at this time is low as shown in (F). From these relationships, the optimal listening volume can be expressed by a plane S as shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of the essential parts of a telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention, and this telephone is configured to appropriately automatically adjust the listening volume by utilizing the relationship shown in FIG. In the microcomputer 1, a signal line a is connected to a terminal 1a, and an output end of a microphone 2 as a converter is connected to a terminal 1b via a signal line b.
Volume adjustment transistor 3 is connected to terminal 1c via signal line c.
The base is connected. A resistor 4 is interposed in the signal line c, and the emitter of the volume adjusting transistor 3 is grounded. The collector of the volume adjustment transistor 3 is connected to a signal line d via a resistor 5, and the signal line d is connected to the input end of an amplifier 6. The output terminal of amplifier 6 is connected to the input terminal of speaker 7. A received voice signal from a line (not shown) is supplied to signal lines a and d. The microphone 2 is installed in a handset (not shown) and converts sounds around the handset, that is, around a speaker during a call, into electrical signals. The amplifier 6 is connected to the signal line d
amplify the received audio signal supplied via the The speaker 7 constitutes the receiving part of the handset and converts the received audio signal from the amplifier 6 into sound. The volume adjustment transistor 3 is controlled by the microcomputer 1 via the signal line c to vary the level of the received audio signal input to the amplifier 6. The microcomputer 1 includes a first determining means 8 that determines the volume of the other party based on a received audio signal inputted to a terminal 1a via a signal line a, and a first determining means 8 that determines the volume of the other party's voice based on a received voice signal inputted to a terminal 1b via a signal line b. a second determining means 9 that determines the surrounding sound volume based on the signal from the microphone 2; and a volume that varies the potential supplied to the terminal 1c based on the determination results of the first and second determining means 8, 9. The adjustment means 10 is realized by software. Although the above-mentioned telephone includes many other components, they are not directly related to the gist of the present invention and are well known, so their explanations will be omitted.

Next, the operation will be explained. When you are on a call,
The first determination means 8 of the microcomputer 1 determines whether the volume of the other party is equal to or higher than a predetermined value based on the received voice signal from the line. Further, the second determining means 9 of the microcomputer 1 determines whether the volume around the handset is equal to or higher than a predetermined value based on the signal from the microphone 2. Then, the volume adjusting means 10 of the microcomputer 1 changes the potential of the terminal 1c of the microcomputer 1 into three types based on the judgment results of the first judgment means 8 and the second judgment means 9. When the potential of the terminal 1c of the microcomputer 1 changes, the base potential of the volume adjustment transistor 3 changes, and the impedance between the collector and emitter of the volume adjustment transistor 3 changes, and the received audio signal input to the amplifier 6 changes. Since the level changes, the output power of the amplifier 6 changes, and the listening volume output from the speaker 7 changes. That is, when the surrounding volume is lower than a predetermined value and the volume of the other party is above a predetermined value, the potential of the terminal 1c of the microcomputer 1 increases, and the impedance between the collector and emitter of the volume adjustment transistor 3 increases. Therefore, the level of the received voice signal input to the amplifier 6 becomes low, and the received voice volume becomes low. Furthermore, when the surrounding volume is above a predetermined value and the volume of the other party is lower than the predetermined value, the potential of the terminal 1c of the microcomputer 1 becomes small, and the impedance between the collector and emitter of the volume adjustment transistor 3 becomes large. Therefore, the level of the received voice signal input to the amplifier 6 increases, and the received voice volume increases. In other cases, the potential of the terminal 1c of the microcomputer 1 is medium, and the impedance between the collector and emitter of the volume adjustment transistor 3 is medium, so the level of the received audio signal input to the amplifier 6 is medium. and the listening volume changes to medium.

[0010] In this way, since the receiving volume is automatically adjusted appropriately, there is no possibility that the volume of the other party or the surroundings suddenly changes and the voice of the other party becomes inaudible. Therefore, it is particularly effective in cases such as cordless telephones, where the surrounding volume often changes suddenly due to movement from one place to another. The operation of the microcomputer 1 for realizing the above operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S1,
It is determined whether the surrounding sound volume is above a predetermined value, and if it is not above the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S2, where it is determined whether the sound volume of the other party is above a predetermined value. If the volume of the other party is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the process advances to step S3, where the potential of the terminal 1c is set so that the volume of the conversation becomes low, and then the process returns to step S1. If it is determined in step S1 that the surrounding volume is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S4, where it is determined whether the volume of the other party is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and if it is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S5. After setting the potential of the terminal 1c so that the listening volume becomes medium, the process returns to step S1. If it is determined in step S2 that the volume of the other party is not above a predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S5. Step S
If it is determined in step 4 that the volume of the other party is not above the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S6, where the potential of the terminal 1c is set so as to increase the receiving volume, and then the process returns to step S1.

[0011] In the above embodiment, the volume of the person on the other end of the call and the volume of the surroundings were determined in two stages, and the volume of the receiving voice was adjusted in three stages, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and can be adapted to these configurations. The number of stages can be set arbitrarily. Further, in the above embodiment, the amplifier 6 is controlled by the volume adjusting transistor 3.
Although the input level of the receiver is varied to adjust the listening volume, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and various other configurations may be adopted as specific means for adjusting the listening volume.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the microphone 2 is installed on the handset, but in the case of a telephone other than a type in which the handset and the telephone main body can be separated arbitrarily, such as a cordless telephone, the microphone 2 is installed on the telephone main body. It may be installed. Further, in the above embodiment, the first determining means 8, the second determining means 9, and the volume adjusting means 10 are realized by software using the microcomputer 1, but they may also be realized by hardware using an electronic circuit. .

[0013]

As explained above, according to the present invention, the first determining means determines the volume of the other party based on the received signal, and the converter converts the surrounding sounds of the handset into electrical signals. A second determining means for determining the surrounding sound volume based on the signal of Since the configuration maintains an appropriate listening volume, there is an excellent effect that the voice of the other party will not be inaudible due to sudden changes in the volume of the other party or the surroundings.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of essential parts of a telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the membership function of the volume of the other party and the volume of the surroundings, and the optimal listening volume.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the volume of the other party, the volume of the surroundings, and the optimal listening volume.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the microcomputer.

FIG. 5 is a circuit block diagram of main parts of a conventional telephone.

[Explanation of symbols]

2. Microphone 8 First means of judgment 9 Second judgment method 10 Volume adjustment means

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A first determining means for determining the volume of the other party on the basis of a received signal; and determining the ambient volume based on a signal from a converter that converts the surrounding sound of the handset into an electrical signal. A second determining means and a volume adjusting means for varying the volume of the received voice from the handset based on the determination results of the first and second determining means are provided to maintain an appropriate volume of the received voice at all times. A telephone characterized by: