JPH1175228A - Network equipment, personal computer telephone exchange, network telephone set and private branch of exchange network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the personal computer telephone exchange that prevents deterioration in sound quality and reduction in sound volume, freely controls telephone sets and serves various telephone services. SOLUTION: The personal computer telephone exchange 2 is provided with a multi-communication board 11 provided with a plurality of input output interfaces with communication networks 21-24 and with a plurality of input output ports connecting to the multi-communication board 11 with respect to an in-premises Ethernet cable 3 and with a voice channel Ethernet card 12 that has a function of sharing input data from a communication network to the multi-communication board 11 and different input output ports for each of data to different input output ports for each of data. A path to deliver voice data to each telephone set is individually ensured, collision of voice data is prevented, deterioration in voice quality and reduction in a voice amount are avoided and the telephone sets are sufficiently utilized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone exchange (PBX) constructed using a personal computer, a network device used for the telephone exchange, a network telephone, and a private telephone network system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a private telephone exchange (PBX) has been used in companies and the like to configure an extension telephone network. Conventionally, a dedicated device has been used for the PBX, but in recent years, with the improvement in the performance of a personal computer (PC), a personal computer telephone exchange having a PBX function incorporated in the personal computer has been used.

This personal computer telephone exchange comprises an input board to which an analog line or an ISDN line of a public line network is connected, and an extension transfer board for outputting voice information input to the input board to the extension telephone network. It had been.

In recent years, a switch that performs an exchange process has been realized by an LSI, thereby realizing miniaturization, cost reduction, and high reliability. For this reason, an analog signal such as voice is converted into a digital signal. 2. Description of the Related Art Digital PBXs that convert and process digital signals are widely used. In a personal computer telephone exchange, an analog signal is converted to a digital signal by an input board in order to process the signal digitally.

[0005] In addition to being able to digitally process voice, such a personal computer telephone exchange is not a proprietary specification of each manufacturer, unlike a PBX dedicated device, so that a system integrator or an end user can perform telephone control. In addition to controlling incoming calls and distribution, voice data and voice response can be provided by digitizing voice data and storing it on a hard disk, etc.
FAX data transmission / reception service can be performed, and there is an advantage that computer telephony integration (CTI) for linking a computer and a telephone can be realized at low cost.

[0006]

However, in a conventional personal computer telephone exchange, an analog general telephone is used for an extension telephone. Therefore, voice information converted into digital data must be converted into analog data again. However, there is a problem that the sound volume is lowered and the sound quality is deteriorated.

In particular, in recent years, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Communication Network) has become widespread, and digital data can be directly input / output to / from a personal computer telephone exchange. For this purpose, the data must be converted into analog data, which complicates the process and lowers the sound volume and sound quality, which is not practical.

Further, the use of a general-purpose telephone has a cost advantage. On the other hand, the only signals that can be transmitted to an extension telephone are a DTMF (push signal) and an instantaneous interruption signal. However, there is a problem in that it is not possible to provide functions such as freely assigning an operation by an application to one-touch buttons, as in the case of a multi-function telephone dedicated to an extension used in a telephone.

On the other hand, in the case of a telephone exchange using a personal computer, an Ethernet card (LAN card) can be attached to the personal computer, so that the digital data is converted into voice packets and transmitted to the Ethernet, and this data is sent to the personal computer. Processing and talking on a telephone connected to the expansion board of the personal computer were also performed.

[0010] However, since Ethernet has a format in which when a packet flowing on a transmission path collides, the packet is discarded and retransmitted, it is real-time, such as voice, when the order of information is determined. Is
There is a problem that the voice is degraded or interrupted by discarding some voice packets. For this reason, the conventional telephone using the Ethernet is limited to a few lines so that collision of voice packets hardly occurs, and cannot be used when four or more lines are required. .

A first object of the present invention is to provide a network device capable of preventing collision of voice packets. A second object of the present invention is to provide a personal computer telephone exchange which can prevent a decrease in sound volume and sound quality, can increase the number of lines, can perform telephone control freely, and can provide various telephone services. Is to provide.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide a network telephone which can be connected to the personal computer telephone exchange and can unify the data communication cable of the personal computer and the extension telephone wiring. Further, a fourth object of the present invention is to provide a variety of telephone services by using the personal computer telephone exchange and the network telephone to prevent a decrease in sound volume and sound quality and to freely perform telephone control. It is to provide a private telephone network system that can be used.

[0013]

A network device according to the present invention is connected to a communication device having a plurality of input / output interfaces for a communication network and has a plurality of input / output ports for an Ethernet side provided on the premises. It has a function of distributing data input from the communication network to the communication device or data output from the Ethernet side to the communication network to different input / output ports for each data.

A personal computer telephone exchange according to the present invention includes a communication device having a plurality of input / output interfaces for a communication network, and a plurality of input / output ports for the Ethernet side connected to the communication device and provided on the premises. A network device having a function of distributing data input to the communication device from the communication network or data output from the Ethernet side to the communication network to different input / output ports for each data. Things.

In the present invention, audio data input from various communication networks such as a communication network, for example, an analog and digital public line network, a digital leased line, and an ATM network, is sent to a network device. In the network device, the input data is distributed to independent input / output ports for each data of each input / output interface and output to the Ethernet side. Therefore, if a network telephone capable of converting voice data (digital data) into voice information (analog data) is connected to each input / output port directly or via a switching hub, a path for transmitting voice data to each telephone is established. The voice data (voice packet) is individually secured and can be prevented from colliding with other voice data and being discarded. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the sound and the volume of the sound, and it can be sufficiently used as a telephone.

Furthermore, since voice information can be output to the Ethernet as digital data as it is, there is no need to provide a device for outputting an analog extension (extension transfer board) in a personal computer telephone exchange. Can be prevented, making it practical enough as a telephone.

Further, since digital data is exchanged from the telephone exchange to the telephone, various services can be provided using the data, and these services have various general-purpose functions. It can be realized by using an extension board or software, and can construct a private telephone network system that is less expensive and more sophisticated than a dedicated PBX.

Furthermore, since the extension line can be constructed using Ethernet, there is no need to perform separate wiring for the personal computer LAN (Ethernet), which has been introduced by many companies, and the extension line as in the prior art. By providing only Ethernet, an extension line can be constructed, and the number and types of wiring can be reduced.

The network telephone of the present invention has a plurality of ports to which an Ethernet cable is connected, has a hub function, converts digital data input via the Ethernet cable into voice information (analog data), and It has a voice data conversion function of converting voice information into digital data and outputting the digital data to an Ethernet cable.

In such a network telephone, digital audio data transmitted via Ethernet can be converted into audio information that can be output from a speaker, and audio information spoken on the telephone is converted into digital data and converted to Ethernet. Can be output. For this reason, since voice can be handled as digital data from the personal computer telephone exchange to the telephone closest to the user, it is possible to eliminate deterioration of information on the transmission line. Furthermore, since it has a hub function having a plurality of network ports, a personal computer can be connected to a network telephone, and CTI can be easily realized.

The private telephone network system according to the present invention is characterized in that the personal computer telephone exchange, a switching hub to which an Ethernet cable connected to each input / output port of the network device is connected, and the switching hub is connected to the switching hub via an Ethernet cable. And the above-mentioned network telephone.

At this time, it is preferable that the switching hub includes a power supply unit for supplying power to the connected Ethernet cable.

If the network equipment of the private branch exchange is connected via a switching hub, the network equipment side of the personal computer telephone exchange does not need to manage the address of each device connected to Ethernet, and the configuration of the network equipment can be reduced. Can be simplified. Further, if the switching hub is provided with power supply means, power can be supplied to the network telephone via the Ethernet cable, and it is not necessary to secure a power supply for each telephone.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a private telephone network system 1 of the present embodiment. Private telephone network system 1
Is a personal computer 10 and a multi-communication board 11 which is a communication device attached to an expansion slot of the personal computer 10.
And a PC telephone exchange 2 having a voice channel Ethernet card 12 which is a network device connected to the multi-communication board 11 by a dedicated inter-board communication function.

The switching hub 4 is connected to the voice channel Ethernet card 12 of the personal computer telephone exchange 2 via the Ethernet cable 3. Further, an Ethernet telephone (network telephone) 5 and a client personal computer 6 are connected to the switching hub 4 via the Ethernet cable 3.

The multi-communication board 11 has a DS on the board.
P (microprocessor dedicated to digital signal processing), C
It is configured by mounting a PU, a RAM, a FlashROM, a modem IC, and the like. By rewriting the FlashROM, a digital public line network (I.S.
NS64-INS1500) 21, Digital leased line 22
Router connection (64Kbps-1.5Mbps), A
Connection to a TM (asynchronous transfer mode) network 23 and an analog public line network 24 is made possible.

The multi-communication board 11 is connected to each line 2
It has a plurality of input / output interfaces with 1 to 24. For example, the INS 1500 has 24 transmission systems for one line, and the multi-communication board 11 for connecting the INS 1500 has 24 transmission systems corresponding to these 24 transmission systems.
It has a book input / output interface.

The multi-communication board 11 includes an SCSA (Signal Computing System Architecture) and an MV, which are widely used as interfaces for processing boards for voice, fax, data, etc.
It has a bus compatible with IP (Multi-Vendor Integration Protocol) and has a personal computer 10
The data communication with other processing boards can be performed at high speed without using the CPU.

For this reason, the digital public network 21,
By connecting the multi-communication boards 11 set for the digital leased line 22, the ATM network 23, and the analog public line network 24 by inter-board communication, connection with each line can be made simultaneously on one personal computer 10. be able to.

It is preferable that a processing board for performing a conversion process between analog audio data and digital data be connected to the communication board 11 for the analog line 24 by the inter-board communication. When realizing each processing function such as FAX processing, voice recognition processing, and video conference processing, a processing board having each processing function may be provided.

Voice Channel Ethernet Card 12
Are connected to the multi-communication board 11 and the processing board by the inter-board communication, and are provided with a plurality of ports for outputting digital data such as voice received from each of these boards via Ethernet. For example, in the present embodiment, IN
Since the multi-communication board 11 for S1500 is used, the Ethernet card 12 having 25 ports is used. However, of these 25 ports, there are 24 ports for audio digital data, and the remaining one port is used for data of the personal computer 10.

The switching hub 4 is connected to each port of the Ethernet card 12 via the Ethernet cable 3, and is connected to an Ethernet telephone 5 provided in the premises and a personal computer 6 for a client. The switching hub 4 stores each port of the Ethernet card 12, the MAC address assigned to the Ethernet telephone 5, and the personal computer 6,
Referring to the destination MAC address included in the packet (Ethernet frame) transmitted to the switching hub 4, the packet is transmitted to the port to which the MAC address is connected, and the occurrence of packet collision (collision) is detected. Preventing.

When the number of connected devices increases, a plurality of Ethernet cards 12 may be connected by inter-board communication, and the switching hub 4 may be connected to each Ethernet card 12. In addition, a plurality of switching hubs 4 may be connected in cascade for data transmission. In this case, even when making an extension call between the telephones 5 connected to the switching hubs 4, the switching hubs 4 are not connected by a line that cascades the switching hubs 4, but are connected by the switching hub 4 -the Ethernet card 12 -the Ethernet card 12-. Since a path is secured by inter-board communication between the Ethernet cards 12 as in the switching hub 4, collision of voice packets does not occur.

On the other hand, when transmitting data which may cause a collision such as data transmission between the personal computers 6, the data can be directly exchanged via a cascade-connected path between the switching hubs 4. . When a plurality of Ethernet cards 12 are prepared and one PC 10 does not have enough slots for inserting the Ethernet cards 12, a plurality of PCs 10 are prepared.
By connecting these personal computers 10 with a dedicated communication device, inter-board communication between the Ethernet cards 12 may be realized between different personal computers 10.

The switching hub 4 is configured to supply power to the Ethernet telephone 5 and the like via the Ethernet cable 3. That is, the Ethernet cable 3 has four wires, and data transmission and reception are performed using two of these wires, and the remaining two wires are not used. For this reason, it is configured that data communication can be performed while supplying power to the device connected to the Ethernet cable 3 using these two wires. The switching hub 4 currently has 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps.
Although there is one corresponding to each communication speed, in the present embodiment, one for 100 Mbps is used. Furthermore, a high-speed switching hub for gigabits or the like may be used, and the type of the switching hub 4 may be appropriately selected for implementation.

The Ethernet telephone 5 has a port to which another personal computer 6 is connected in addition to a port to which the Ethernet cable 3 from the switching hub 4 is connected, and has an Ethernet card function and a hub function. . That is, the Ethernet telephone 5 has a DSP, an MP,
U (micro processing unit), RAM,
A ROM or the like is built in and has an independent MAC address. Thus, the Ethernet telephone 5 can be directly connected to the switching hub 4, and by transmitting and receiving data to and from the personal computer telephone exchange 2 via the switching hub 4, when a call is received from the public line, It is possible to ring the Ethernet telephones 5 and make a call to an outside line from each Ethernet telephone 5.

The Ethernet telephone 5 converts digital data input through the Ethernet cable 3 into audio information (analog data), and converts audio information into digital data and outputs the audio data to the Ethernet cable 3. It has a data conversion function. The conversion (decoding, encoding) method of the audio data is set to be compatible with a plurality of methods. It also supports several types of compression ratios, including ordinary public network, Internet network,
Even if the compression ratio of the data from the ATM network is different, it can be handled.

Further, the Ethernet telephone 5 is provided with other buttons in addition to the buttons 0-9, *, and # as in general telephones. It is configured so that abbreviated calls and various functions can be freely assigned. The power supply to the Ethernet telephone 5 is provided in two systems: supply from the switching hub 4 via the Ethernet cable 3 and supply by the AC adapter. When an AC adapter is used, the switching hub 4 having no power supply function can be used.

In this embodiment, each line network 21
When a call is made from # 24 to # 24, the voice information is input to each input / output port of the multi-communication board 11. In addition,
Since the line networks 21 to 23 are all digital lines, the input voice information is also digital voice data. However, the analog line 24 is analog voice data, so the digital data is processed by the processing board connected to the multi-communication board 11. Is converted to The audio data input to the multi-communication board 11 is transmitted to the Ethernet card 1 by inter-board communication.
Sent to 2.

The Ethernet card 12 analyzes the voice data, assigns an appropriate MAC address of the Ethernet telephone 5, and transmits the data to the switching hub 4. For example, when a dial-in service or the like that can assign an individual telephone number to each telephone 5 is introduced, the M information of the specific Ethernet telephone 5 is referred to by referring to the number information.
Switching hub 4 with voice data with AC address
Send to When a call is made to the representative number, an incoming signal is sent to each telephone 5, and the MAC address of the telephone 5 corresponding to the incoming signal is attached, and voice data is transmitted to the switching hub 4.

The switching hub 4 transmits the packet of the voice data to the port to which the address is set based on the MAC address of the transmitted data. As a result, since an individual channel is secured for each telephone from the public line networks 21 to 24 and connected to each telephone 5, voice data is not lost or delayed, and You can make a voice call.

In addition, these Ethernet cables 3,
In the data communication via the switching hub 4, the bandwidth is reserved separately from the voice data, so that the data communication of the personal computer 6 connected to the Ethernet telephone 5 can be performed in parallel during the voice conversation with the Ethernet telephone 5. You can do it.

On the other hand, when an external line is to be placed from the Ethernet telephone 5 side, an unused port among the ports of the Ethernet card 12 and a channel with the telephone 5 are switched by the switching hub 4 by pressing a transmission button or the like. Once secured, a voice conversation with the outside can be made. When making an extension call between the telephones 5, the switching hub 4 and the Ethernet card 1
A channel is secured between the telephones 5 via the telephone 2 and a voice conversation is performed. When the telephones 5 are connected to the same switching hub 4, the switching hub 4
It is also possible to secure a channel between the telephones 5 for conversation.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, in the personal computer telephone exchange 2, the Ethernet card 12 is provided with input / output ports corresponding to the number of lines input to the multi-communication board 11 from various communication networks such as the public lines 21, 24, the dedicated line 22, and the ATM network 23. Since data from each line can be output from a separate port, an independent channel is secured for each input line by connecting each Ethernet telephone 5 to the Ethernet card 12 via the switching hub 4 or the like. be able to. This makes it possible to eliminate the collision of the audio data with each other and eliminate the loss or delay of the audio information due to the data collision, as compared with the case where the audio packet is transmitted through one conventional LAN. As a result, the same conversation quality as in the case of using the dedicated PBX can be ensured, and the voice conversation can be sufficiently put to practical use.

Also, since the internal output from the personal computer telephone exchange 2 is performed using digital data of voice packets using Ethernet, there is no need to perform analog conversion and output as in a conventional analog extension line. Since a device for analog conversion can be eliminated, cost can be reduced, and digital data can be used, control can be easily performed. Furthermore, complicated conversion processing can be eliminated, and deterioration of audio information can be prevented.

Further, by adding the Ethernet card 12 and the switching hub 4, the PC telephone exchange 2
The number of telephones 5 that can be connected to the Internet can be easily increased, and can be easily used by companies and the like that require a plurality of lines.

Further, since the general-purpose personal computer telephone exchange 2 is used, and various types of processing boards can be used, the system integrator and the end user can freely control the telephone and provide various services. Can be realized at low cost.

Since the voice data of the telephone 5 is transmitted via the Ethernet, the data LA of the personal computer 6 is used.
Using the same Ethernet cable 3 as N, a local telephone network can be formed. For this reason, as in the conventional case, the telephone line and the LAN Ethernet cable 3
There is no need to route any kind of wiring in the premises, the wiring can be unified, the wiring work can be reduced, and the wiring cost can be reduced.

Further, since the Ethernet telephone 5 has a plurality of ports for a network and has a hub function, a personal computer 6 can be connected to the Ethernet telephone 5, and a service combining the personal computer 6 and a telephone such as CTI is provided. Etc. can be easily realized.

Since the switching hub 4 is provided with a power supply function, power can be supplied to the Ethernet telephone 5 from the switching hub 4, and there is no need to separately prepare a power supply for the telephone 5. Can be easier.

Further, since data is transmitted and received between the multi-communication board 11 and the Ethernet card 12 by inter-board communication, high-speed communication without passing through the CPU can be realized. Even when a line is connected, processing can be sufficiently performed.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modifications and the like within a range that can achieve the object of the present invention are included in the present invention.

That is, in the embodiment, the digital communication networks 21 to 23 and the analog public communication network 24 are connected to the multi-communication board 11, but only the digital communication networks 21 to 23 may be connected. Alternatively, only the analog public network 24 may be connected. When the analog public network 24 is connected, since the audio information input to and output from the multi-communication board 11 is analog data, a processing board for converting analog data and digital data is provided on the multi-communication board 11. What is necessary is just to connect using intercommunication.

Further, since the data from the personal computer telephone exchange 2 to each telephone 5 can be handled by digital data, various services using telephone lines may be added. For example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the private telephone network system 1 is provided with a database server 31 in which various databases are stored, a web / mail server 32 in which information on homepages on the Internet and various mail data are stored, File server 33 is provided,
Furthermore, by using a dial-in service, etc., in addition to the PBX function for making a voice call to various communication networks 21 to 24, a voice mail function (converts a voice message into data and saves the data in a file, and makes a data call) The voice data is output to the designated telephone 36 or a predetermined telephone 36 as voice information), a voice response function, a calling function of the pager 34, a facsimile function (the received facsimile data is stored as a file or stored in advance. Data to an external FAX 35), a dial-up function (from an external personal computer 37 to various servers 31, 32, 3).
3) can be automatically identified and provided by individually assigning a telephone number to each function. Note that a dial-up or fax transmission / reception service can also be received from each personal computer 6 provided on the premises.

Further, by adding a connection function to the Internet network to the personal computer telephone exchange 2, as shown in FIG. 3, data communication from each personal computer 6 to another private telephone network system 1 via the Internet network, FAX, Voice data communication can be performed, and voice conversation from each telephone 5 through the Internet network is also possible. In addition, by connecting the personal computer telephone exchange 2 to various communication networks 21 to 24, it is possible to dial up from an external personal computer 37 to the Internet network via the personal computer telephone exchange 2, or from a general telephone 36. Internet telephone can also be used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, by connecting the personal computer telephone exchange 2 to the ATM network 23,
, Voice communication, data communication, and fax / voice / image data communication can be realized.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the switching hub 4 having a power supply function is used. However, when power is supplied to each telephone 5 from the AC adapter, a switching hub having no power supply function is used. May be. When the number of telephones 5 connected to the personal computer telephone exchange 2 is small and the Ethernet card 12 is provided with a switch function, each telephone 5 is connected to the Ethernet card 12 without using the switching hub 4. It may be connected directly via a PC.

The Ethernet telephone 5 is provided with a port to which a personal computer 6 can be connected.
A telephone 5 having only one port may be used. Further, as a telephone connected to the personal computer telephone exchange 2, an Ethernet card (L
It may be connected to an expansion board of a personal computer connected via an AN card). Even in this case, since voice data channels in the Ethernet are individually secured, high-quality voice conversation can be performed. However,
When the Ethernet telephone 5 is used as in the above-described embodiment, there is an advantage that the telephone can be used without a personal computer and the versatility of installation can be increased.

[0059]

As described above, according to the personal computer telephone exchange of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a decrease in sound volume and sound quality, and to freely perform telephone control, so that various telephone services can be freely and inexpensively provided. Can be provided.

Further, according to the network device of the present invention, collision of voice packets can be reliably prevented. further,
According to the network telephone of the present invention, it is possible to connect to the personal computer telephone exchange and unify the data communication cable of the personal computer and the extension telephone wiring. In addition, according to the private telephone network system of the present invention, by using the personal computer telephone exchange and the network telephone, it is possible to realize a conversation voice of sufficient quality and to freely perform telephone control, Telephone service can be provided freely and inexpensively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a private telephone network system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a private telephone network system according to a modified example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a private telephone network system according to another modification of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a private telephone network system according to another modification of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Private telephone network system 2 PC telephone exchange 3 Ethernet cable 4 Switching hub 5 Ethernet telephone 6 Personal computer 10 Personal computer 11 Multi-communication board 12 Voice channel Ethernet card 21 Digital public network 22 Digital private line 23 ATM network 24 Analog public network

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A communication device connected to a communication device having a plurality of input / output interfaces for a communication network, provided with a plurality of input / output ports for an Ethernet side provided on the premises, and data input to the communication device from the communication network. And a function of distributing data output from the Ethernet side to the communication network to different input / output ports for each data. 2. A communication device having a plurality of input / output interfaces for a communication network, and a plurality of input / output ports for an Ethernet side connected to the communication device and provided on the premises. And a network device having a function of distributing data input to the PC or data output from the Ethernet side to the communication network to different input / output ports for each data. 3. A hub having a plurality of ports to which an Ethernet cable is connected, having a hub function, converting digital data input through the Ethernet cable into audio information, and converting the audio information into digital data. A network telephone having an audio data conversion function of outputting to an Ethernet cable. 4. The personal computer telephone exchange according to claim 2, a switching hub connected to an Ethernet cable connected to each input / output port of the network device, and a switching hub connected to the switching hub via an Ethernet cable. A private telephone network system comprising: the network telephone according to claim 3. 5. The private telephone network system according to claim 4, wherein said switching hub includes power supply means for supplying power to a connected Ethernet cable.