WO1996018259A1

WO1996018259A1 - Telephone with a call rate display device

Info

Publication number: WO1996018259A1
Application number: PCT/FR1995/001622
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ferenc Gonter
Original assignee: Decaux, Jean-Claude
Priority date: 1994-12-08
Filing date: 1995-12-07
Publication date: 1996-06-13
Also published as: FR2728125A1

Abstract

A telephone including a transmitter, a receiver and a keyset (6) for dialling call numbers, and further comprising a display device (7) immediately adjacent to the keyset for clearly informing the keyset user of the time-unit call rate at any given time, at least when said rate is the peak rate.

Description

TELEPHONE APPARATUS WITH COMMUNICATION COST LEVEL DISPLAY DEVICE

The invention relates to telephonic devices essentially comprising a transmitter, a receiver and a device such as a keyboard or dial for dialing telephone numbers, a device designated to simplify by the word "keyboard" below.

More particularly, among these devices, it relates to those which make paying telephone conversations possible, that is to say which are made available to users against payment for the communications made, either concomitant or deferred, in particular ¬ in the context of subscriptions.

It more particularly still targets, among these 5 devices, those which are intended to serve the telephone networks for which the communication tariffs vary over time, these tariffs being able to vary in certain cases of the simple or triple and even more, and being of course lower during "off-peak" periods corresponding to the low densities of communications on the network.

The taking into account of such diversified tariffs by the users is beneficial both for the latter - since they can thus make significant savings on their telephone budget without great constraint - as for the company managing the telephone network, because the resulting transmission dumps during peak periods can make some unprofitable investments useless, namely those that would be necessary for users to be able to establish the communications they want at any time, the goal being to remove any congestion on the lines of the network at any time.

Experience shows that, unfortunately, and 5 despite the large distribution of explanatory tables intended to encourage the public to use the beaches preferably ^{/ 18259} PCI7FR95 / 01622

the least costly schedules, compliance with these ranges is rarely observed, or at least much more rarely than it could be if the appropriate information was clearly communicated to the user at the very moment when he proposes to telephone.

The object of the invention is, above all, to remedy this drawback.

To this end, telephones of the type in question are essentially characterized according to the invention in that they comprise, placed in the immediate vicinity of the call keypad, a display device making it possible to clearly inform the user of said keypad at each instant on the level of the cost of communication per unit of time at this instant, at least as long as this level is the maximum level.

In preferred embodiments, recourse is also had to one and / or the other of the following arrangements: the display device is arranged so as to inform the user up to a distance of the order from 5 to 10 meters, the display device is arranged so that it is only placed in its display state when the device is put into service, - the display device consists of at least one indicator light, the display device comprises a series of indicator lights of different colors corresponding to different levels of the cost of communication per unit of time, the various indicator lights are arranged so as to transmit their beams in turn through a common output optic, the light surface of the indicator visible to the user is constituted by the cover delimiting externally a key on the keyboard, the luminous surface of the indicator visible to the user comprises at least the very bottom of the keyboard, the display device comprises a screen making it possible to display at each instant information on the level of the cost of the communication per unit of time at this instant , in a display device according to the preceding paragraph, the display shows the duration which separates each given instant from the next change of time slot corresponding to a different tariff, the display device according to any one of the two preceding paragraphs comprises means allowing the reception, the decoding and the exploitation of information signals elaborated remotely, the display device comprises means of local programming of the times of display, means controllable preferably by simple actuation of the keys of the keyboard. The invention includes, apart from these main provisions, certain other arrangements which are preferably used at the same time and which will be more explicitly discussed below.

In what follows, we will describe some preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawing in a manner of course not limita¬ tive.

FIG. 1, of this drawing, shows schematically an apparatus or telephone set established according to the invention.

Figures 2 and 3 show in schematic sections respectively according to II-II, Figure 3, and III-III, Figure 2, a detail of a multiple indicator light suitable for fitting according to the invention the above device. FIG. 4 shows another telephone apparatus, of the wireless type, also established according to the invention. Figure 5 shows a detail of a variant telephone apparatus according to the invention.

Figure 6 shows yet another display screen device according to the invention. Figure 7 is a block diagram showing some of the circuits understood by this latter device.

The telephone apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is of a conventional type comprising a fixed box 1 and a mobile handset 2 transmitter-receiver connected to the box by an electric cable 3.

The box 1 comprises a housing 4 for receiving the handset equipped with a commissioning switch.

On its oblique and flat front wall 5, the housing includes a call keyboard 6 with keys.

This device serves a line of a pay telephone network for which the cost of each communication per unit of time varies over time.

The principle of these differentiated costs over time is based on the fact that the density of use of the network, that is to say the degree of congestion of the latter, varies over time.

The study of these variations shows that the network is particularly requested during certain time slots and on the contrary very little frequented on other slots.

Thus, office working hours are peak periods whereas, on the contrary, the night is an off-peak period, Sundays and public holidays can be considered as intermediate periods from the point of view of the density of communications established simultaneously. on all the lines of the network.

The rates for communications allocated to the different time slots are determined based on these findings.

For example, in mainland France this day, the pricing of telephone consumption of the public network includes four levels corresponding, from the lowest to the highest level, to the following time bands: Every night, from 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.,

B periods outside those defined in A,

C and D, C the weekday meal periods, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., D and the office opening periods, respectively from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.

These different time bands are brought to the attention of the public in the form of tables in which the four tariff levels are assigned respectively with four different colors, namely: the color midnight blue for period A, the color light blue for period B , the color white for period C, - and the color red for period D.

The differences between the prices of the four levels are important, since they range from simple to triple when going from level A to level D.

Experience shows that, despite the resulting economic advantage for the user, the relative number of users who benefit from the measure indicated is reduced.

The reason for this is the difficulty there is in informing the user fairly clearly of the tariff classification of the communication which he plans to establish at the very moment when he establishes it.

To remedy this drawback, a display element is provided here, on the very housing of the telephone apparatus, in the immediate vicinity of its keyboard, making it possible to clearly inform the user at each instant of said classification at said instant. . In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the display element is a single indicator light 7.

This indicator light 7 is associated with circuits capable of controlling its ignition at the appropriate times. Several solutions are possible for such an order.

The simplest is a single command of the all or nothing type which corresponds to an illumination of the warning light 7 only for certain time bands, and preferably for those "red" below, corresponding to the maximum cost of communications, the LED being then extinguished outside of the red periods.

The color of this indicator, for example red, is adapted to this alert mission of the user. In such a case, the user immediately knows by looking at the keyboard 6 whether or not he is in a red period.

This is indeed the meaning of simply lighting the indicator 7, lighting that the user cannot ignore because of the position adopted for this indicator, in the immediate vicinity of the keyboard 6.

A solution which is richer in information consists in varying the color of the lighting of the indicator according to the corresponding tariff level. In this case, it is advantageous to adopt for these colors those which have been adopted by the company managing the telephone network itself with a view to designating the different tariff bands, and in particular the four colors explained above (midnight blue , light blue, white and red) for the territory of mainland France to date.

To implement such a solution, it is possible to use as many light sources 8 as there are colors to be displayed, namely four such sources in the present example, while mounting these sources in such a way that each of them emits its beam. bright to through the same output optic 9 (FIGS. 2 and 3) passing through the wall 5 of the housing 1.

These sources are for example housed in chambers 10 lined internally with a material reflecting light and opening, on the side of the optics 9, on an entry surface 11 of this optics, said optics being designed so as to distribute the light rays coming from each source 8 over the entire common exit surface 12 of this optic. With such a solution, the different light sources 8 are excited in turn, only one of them being excited at all times depending on the time slot during which the excitation takes place. The colorings of the emissions carried out by the different sources 8 can be created in any desirable manner, for example by choosing sources suitable for emitting colored light beams by themselves such as light emitting diodes, often called "LEDs" (in English "light emitting diodes") or more simply by placing on the path of the light beams emitted by these sources of appropriate colored screens 13, these screens being for example juxtaposed with the input faces 11 of the optics 9. To obtain light emissions of different colors through the same optic, it is also possible to have recourse to sources capable of emitting beams of different colors according to their mode of excitation, as is the case for certain emitting diodes. of multicolored light.

One can for example use such a single two-color diode, suitable for emitting at will light beams of two different colors depending on its excitation mode, if the total number of colors that one wishes to assign to the rays emitted by the indicator 7 equals 2, or two such diodes, mounted in two housing of the kind of those mentioned in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3 above, if the number of said colors is equal to 4.

Of course, in each case, the control of the successive ignitions and extinctions of the indicator light 7 calls on chronometric means sufficiently precise so that the information displayed is sufficiently accurate: it is in particular advisable for the successive ignitions corresponding to the changes in time bands with time differences which do not exceed one minute and preferably even one second compared to the actual programs determined by the network management company.

These means can involve any desirable circuit comprising in particular an electric supply 14 (FIG. 7), an electronic clock 15, a memory 16 in which the tariff time programs can be recorded and a microprocessor 17. With such an embodiment , the user of the telephone in question immediately knows, as soon as he looks at the keyboard 6, in which time slot he is in: this information is given to him by the color of the light emission coming from the indicator light 7, emission which 'he cannot ignore given the position adopted for this indicator.

By the expression "in the immediate vicinity of the keyboard" which qualifies the position of the indicator light, is meant both a position very close to this keyboard as well as a location inside the same keyboard, for example at the very location of a key, the cover or support area of which can be provided at least locally translucent or transparent for this purpose, or even between several keys. The embodiment of FIG. 4 differs from that of FIG. 1 in that the handset transmitter- receiver 2, still mobile, is here of a wireless type and in that the keyboard 6 is here itself carried by this handset.

The indicator light 7 above, intended to inform users about the instantaneous pricing of communications is also provided here in the immediate vicinity of the keyboard 6.

In the variant shown in FIG. 5, the indicator light is no longer unique: here it is replaced by a series of four indicators 7 _X , 7 ₂ , 7 ₃ and 7 ₄ corresponding respectively to four different rates for communications .

These indicators are associated respectively with four different colors and are aligned in the order of increasing or decreasing prices: in the illustrated case, for which the succession of indicators rises obliquely from left to right, the midnight blue indicator is that, 7 _lt shown at the bottom left of the series and the red light 7 ₄ is the one shown at the top right. This solution makes it possible to avoid the use of the arrangements described above for the case of single indicator lights, comprising special chambers and optics.

In each case, the indicator is preferably arranged in such a way that its lighting and its color can be visible to the user of the telephone apparatus concerned up to a distance of several meters (for example 5 to 10 m) : it is indeed advisable for this user to be informed of the tariff level of his possible communications before he has even picked up the handset for the purpose of establishing them and even before he has possibly moved to said handset for this purpose.

The variant shown in FIG. 6 differs from the previous ones in that the device capable of displaying information relating to instantaneous tariffs for communications comprises a display screen 18, which may or may not be associated with at least one indicator such as the seeing 7 above.

This screen makes it possible to display more complete information than the embodiments using exclusively indicator lights: such information can relate for example to the duration which separates each given instant from the instant of the next tariff change.

This information can be very helpful.

Thus if, at the moment when a user wishes to initiate a call, there are only a few minutes before a time slot is established at a much lower rate, said user will be strongly encouraged to postpone his call there is no particular emergency.

If on the contrary, the information is the reverse of the previous one, the user can hurry to establish the desired communication and complete it even before the next instant corresponding to the rate increase.

In such a case, the information in question can be produced on site using an appropriate microprocessor 17 (FIG. 7) associated as said above with both a clock circuit 15 and a memory 16.

This information can also be transmitted to the device, from a remote control station, by wire or over the air 19, any necessary reception device 20 being then provided so as to use for display purposes the data received, which may relate both to orders relating to rate changes and to updates relating thereto, this device 20 comprising the various decoding and demodulation circuits required.

According to a variant, the display device comprises means making it possible to program and modify the display times on the spot, means further comprising all desirable, controllable clock, memory and calculation circuits, of preferably by simply pressing the keys on the keyboard. Following this, and whatever the embodiment adopted, there is finally a telephone apparatus having an important advantage over those currently known, namely the possibility of clearly informing the user about the instantaneous pricing of each of the communications. that he is called upon to establish.

As it goes without saying, and as it already follows from the above, the invention is in no way limited to those of its modes of application and embodiments which have been more especially envisaged; on the contrary, it embraces all of its variants, in particular: those where the display provided by the emission of a colored light beam is not limited to the extent of a light or light pad, but extends would appear on a larger surface of the housing 1, always close to the keyboard 6, this surface possibly relating to the entire range on which said keyboard is mounted, or even the entire housing 1 itself, - those where the " keyboard "would not be constituted by a checkerboard of neighboring keys, but by another arrangement making it possible to dial a call number such as a" dial "comprising a fixed circular series of figures covered by a rotary perforated mask, - those where the display means of the information relating to the instantaneous pricing of the communications would not be integrated into the housing 1 of the apparatus, but produced independently of this housing and reported thereon, - and those where the info rmation relating to the instantaneous pricing of communications would not be permanently displayed on the device, but only at times when the user initiates a communication, by entering the handset of FIG. 1, or by actuating the switch commissioning 21 if his handset is of the type shown in Figure 4, such a solution making it possible to reduce the consumption of electricity, which can be particularly precious if, as it can be very desirable, the display involves the emission of at least one bright beam of light.

Claims

1. Telephone apparatus comprising a transmitter, a receiver and a keypad for dialing telephone numbers, characterized in that it further comprises, placed in the immediate vicinity of the call keypad (6), a display device (7; 7 _lf 7 ₂ , 7 ₃ , 7 ₄ ; 18) allows both to clearly inform the user of said keyboard at all times about the level of the cost of communication per unit of time at that time, at least as long as this level is the maximum level.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the display device is arranged so as to inform the user up to a distance of the order of 5 to 10 meters.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, caractéri¬ se in that the display device is arranged so as to be placed in its display state only when the device is put into service.

4. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display device consists of at least one indicator light (7; 7 _lf 7 ₂ , 7 ₃ , 7 ₄ ).

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the display device comprises a series of indicator lights of different colors corresponding to different levels of the cost of communication per unit of time.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the various indicator lights are arranged so as to transmit their beams in turn through a common output optic ().

7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the luminous surface of the indicator visible to the user consists of the cover externally delimiting a key on the keyboard (6).

8. Apparatus according to any of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the luminous surface of the indicator visible to the user comprises at least the very bottom of the keyboard (6).

9. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display device comprises a screen (18) making it possible to visualize at all times information on the level of the cost of communication per unit of time at this moment.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the display shows the duration which separates each given instant from the next change of time slot corresponding to a differential pricing.

11. Apparatus according to any one of claims 9 and 10, characterized in that it comprises means allowing the reception, the decoding and the exploitation of information signals produced remotely.

12. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for local programming of display times, means which can preferably be controlled by simple actuation of the keys on the keyboard.