JPH10164267A - Information communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication method whose communication charge is more reduced in which optional information is sent in two-way at a cost of 0.8yen at minimum. SOLUTION: In the communication system consisting of a plurality of communication terminals, a communication terminal network controller interconnecting the communication terminals and a communication network, and an information management center centralizingly managing sent/received information, there is a transmission process where a transmission text sent from a communication terminal (i-NCU) 1 or a center equipment 10 is sent by using user user information of an ISDN and a return process where a received text in response to the transmission text is sent by using the user user information, and optional information is sent in 2-way.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication method for transmitting arbitrary information from a credit / cash terminal connected to a communication network or a microcomputer meter such as a gas, and more particularly, to a communication method for an ISDN network. The present invention relates to a communication method for transmitting arbitrary information using user / user information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has become common sense to use cards for shopping. In order to make purchases using a credit card or a cash card, credit / cash is given to each store that has a contract with each card company. A terminal (hereinafter, referred to as a “CAT / POS terminal”) is provided. These communication terminals are connected to an information management center via a telephone line network (analog public line), and each card company is connected to the information management center by a dedicated line. Then, when shopping, when a CAT / POS terminal reads a credit card or cash card, the various information entered into the card and the information entered into the terminal are immediately exchanged with the information management center and the card company. A telecommunications system that performs credit processing is configured by the two-way communication method of transmitting and receiving.

[0003] In an automatic meter reading system for automatically reading meter values of gas, electricity or water, etc., an information management center and each business or consumer home are connected via a communication terminal network control device. A communication system has been constructed using a telephone line as a medium.

A general automatic meter reading system will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the meter attached to the meter reading house has a standard of 5 that is currently generally used.
There are a bit system and an 8-bit system.
A bit-based meter, particularly a meter used by a propane gas company will be described. In this system, a propane operator uses a telephone network of a telephone company to provide a terminal network control device (hereinafter, "T
−NCU ”), it is possible to fetch predetermined information such as the usage amount from a meter 101 connected to the meter 101. Thus, the center device 110 owned by the propane operator is connected to the center contract line 111 of the telephone company.
The center device 110 includes a computer 112 for controlling the meter reading operation and a center network controller (C-N).
CU) 113.

[0005] The center device 110 is the center contract line 11
1 has a no-ringing call function to prevent the telephone from ringing when receiving a call to the terminal network control device. That is, the center contract line 111
Are connected to the originating exchange 120 and to the terminating exchange 122 via the trunk line 121. A non-ringing trunk (hereinafter, referred to as "NRT") for preventing ringing of a telephone at the time of an incoming call is provided in the receiving side exchange 122.
123 are provided. Then, the incoming call exchange 122
To the T-NCU 10 at the meter reading house via the subscriber line 102
Connected to 0. Further, a telephone 103 and a meter 101 are connected to the T-NCU 100.

The above-described system operates as follows. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing the flow of periodic meter reading in the above system. At the meter reading center, the computer 11 of the center device 110 at a specific time on a regular meter reading day.
2 automatically starts and issues a meter reading request. Then, the telephone network is connected by the originating exchange 120 and the destination exchange 122, and information communication becomes possible. Thus, when the center designates the telephone number of the home to be read, a meter reading request signal is transmitted to the meter reading house, and the meter reading value is measured by the meter 10 at the meter reading house.
Read from 1 and reply to the center. The required time at this time is about 15 seconds for dial connection to the meter reading house and about 5 seconds for information communication. At this time, a minimum communication fee of 10 yen is required to connect to the telephone network.

[0007]

However, in the conventional communication method, a minimum communication fee of 10 yen is required for one communication in order to transmit and receive information via a telephone network. This requires a communication fee of 10 yen to connect to the telephone network even if the amount of information to be transmitted and received is small (the connection time to the telephone network is short). That is,
With the prior art, it was not possible to further reduce the communication fee. In particular, in a system for reading meters such as electricity and gas, information to be transmitted and received is limited (actually, about 10 to 30 bytes).

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has been made to reduce the communication fee.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication method capable of bidirectionally transmitting arbitrary information at a minimum of 0.8 yen.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a plurality of communication terminals and a communication terminal network control device for connecting these communication terminals to a communication network are provided. In a communication system comprising an information management center for centrally managing information to be transmitted and received, a transmission step of transmitting a transmission message transmitted from the communication terminal or the center device by utilizing user / user information of an ISDN network; And transmitting a received message in response to the outgoing message by using user / user information.

Here, user / user information (UUI: Us
er-User Information (hereinafter “UUI”)
This is information transmitted and received between user terminals defined in the ISDN protocol, and is terminal transmission information transmitted from the transmitting terminal to the receiving terminal. If this UUI is used once, a transmission fee of 0.4 yen is required. Therefore, in the case of two-way communication, a double fee of 0.8 yen is required.

[0011] An ISDN network is used instead of the telephone network used in the conventional telecommunication system,
In the communication method of the present invention for transmitting arbitrary information by using the UUI, the communication method of the present invention is at least 0.8 yen (0.1 in a unidirectional manner).
(4 yen), and transmission costs can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, information written on a magnetic card such as a credit card is read by a credit / cash terminal, and various processing information is input at this time. Then, the processing information is transmitted to an information processing center using a communication network,
An information communication method used in a communication system for performing credit processing, wherein a transmitting step of transmitting a transmission message transmitted from the credit / cash terminal to the processing center using user / user information of an ISDN network; A reply process of transmitting a received telegram in response to the outgoing telegram to the credit / cash terminal using user / user information, and performing a credit process.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the same effect as the first aspect of the invention can be obtained. Therefore, it is possible to transmit information related to card sales such as terminal authentication and card check at a lower price than the current state.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problem, a meter reading of a microcomputer meter for measuring gas, electricity or water consumption is taken in from a center device using a communication network. A communication step of transmitting a transmission message transmitted from the center device to the communication terminal network control device using user / user information of an ISDN network, and a reception message in response to the transmission message. A reply step of transmitting meter-reading value data of the microcomputer meter to the center device using user / user information, wherein arbitrary information is transmitted.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the same effect as the first aspect of the invention can be obtained. Further, the application of the present invention can be applied not only to transmission of meter reading value data but also to transmission of information such as gas leakage and the remaining amount of cylinders. In particular, in an automatic meter reading system, since the amount of information to be transmitted and received is small, the meter reading can be performed by using the UUI twice. Charges can be reduced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, in any one of the information communication methods according to the first to third aspects, the length of the transmission message or the reception message is 128. When the number of bytes exceeds the number of bytes, the transmission message or the reception message is divided into 128 bytes and transmitted sequentially using user information.

The arbitrary information that can be transmitted as UUI is 128
Since the number of bytes is equal to or less than the byte, if it exceeds 128 bytes, transmission cannot be performed. Therefore, when the transmission message or the reception message exceeds 128 bytes, the UUI is divided by dividing the message into 128 bytes.
Can be used to transmit arbitrary information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problem, in the information communication method according to the fourth aspect, when the number of divisions of the transmission message exceeds a predetermined number of times, a user / user ISDN without using information
It is characterized by transmitting arbitrary information by connecting to the B channel of the network.

As the number of times the transmission message is divided, that is, the number of times the UUI is used, becomes closer to the conventional communication fee,
If the number increases, the communication fee will be higher than the conventional communication fee. Therefore, according to the invention of claim 5, when the number of times of division of the transmission message exceeds the specified number, the USD is not used and the ISD
By connecting to the B channel of the N network, an increase in communication fee is prevented. Therefore, when the amount of information in the transmitted message is small, the communication fee can be reduced, and when the amount of information in the transmitted message is large, the same communication fee as the conventional communication fee can be used. it can.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problem, in any one of the information communication methods according to the first to third aspects, a command preset in the transmission message is transmitted. When the terminal detects, it connects to the B channel of the ISDN network without using user information and transmits arbitrary information.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the same effect as that of the fifth aspect of the invention can be obtained. For example, when performing a road survey in an automatic meter reading system, the present invention can be applied to a case where it is known in advance that a transmitted message is short while a received message is very long.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a communication method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, taking concrete embodiments. As a first embodiment of a system using the communication method according to the present invention, an automatic meter reading system for gas, electricity or water is given, and the configuration is shown in FIG. ISDN
Terminal network control device (hereinafter referred to as “i-NCU”) 1
Is usually installed outside the meter reading house, -10 to +6
It can respond to temperature changes up to 0 degrees. And i-NCU
1 is a multimedia terminal adapter (hereinafter referred to as “M-TA”) 4 that supports ISDN service,
It is connected to the ISDN network and also to the meter 2 and the telephone 3.

On the other hand, the center device 10 owned by the business
Are connected to the ISDN network by the telephone company's ISDN line 15 and M-TA 14. This center device 10
Is mainly composed of a computer 12 for controlling the meter reading operation, similarly to the above-mentioned prior art. And it is connected to the ISDN network by the M-TA 14 via the ISDN line 15.

The above-described system operates as follows. First, in the above system, the center device 1
0 connects to the ISDN network via M-TA 14;
A transmission message such as a meter reading command is placed on the UUI and transmitted to the i-NCU 1 provided on the terminal side. When the transmission message is received by the i-NCU 1, the reception message which is a response to the transmission message such as the meter reading value is transmitted from the i-NCU 1 to the UU.
The information is sent back to the center device 10 on I. In this way, the UUI is used two times in total to transmit and receive arbitrary information bidirectionally, thereby performing automatic meter reading of the meter. At this time, since the usage fee of the UUI per time is 0.4 yen, two-way communication is possible at a minimum of 0.8 yen. Therefore, the communication fee can be significantly reduced.

Next, a communication procedure in the case of performing meter reading using the UUI, which is a feature of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a signal sequence of a communication procedure. First, when transmission messages 1 to m, such as a telephone number, a subaddress, and a meter reading request, are input to the center device 10 (1), the center device 10 assembles the message using an ATUD command (2) and sets up a call. Message SETUP
, The transmission message of the ATUD command is loaded as a UUI and transmitted to the ISDN network (3). Note that “DSU” in FIG. 2 is a Digital Service Unit,
It is a DN network connection device.

Here, the ATUD command message will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3A, this message has a connection destination number (16 bytes long), a sub address (20 bytes long), and arbitrary data (128 bytes long).
It consists of. The connection destination number is a 16-digit fixed-length telephone number (telephone number of the telephone 3), the setting is left-justified, and the rest is “B”. For example, 0522011211BB
Set as BBBB. The sub-address is a sub-address having a fixed length of 20 digits, with "*" at the beginning, followed by a 4-digit number, and the rest at B. For example, * 0001BB... B is set. Here, the four-digit number indicates the i-NC of an arbitrary meter in the meter assembly panel when connected to the meter assembly panel.
Used to specify U (designated port). The arbitrary data is fixed-length data of 128 bytes, and arbitrary information is incorporated therein. At the end of the message, a carriage return (CR) is set as an end code.

Further, for arbitrary data, FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The beginning and end of the arbitrary data are composed of various commands. And
Optional information is embedded in the rest. Further, in the present embodiment, the arbitrary information has a message length of any one of 4, 5 and 12 bytes, and is composed of m short messages.

Then, the terminal receiving the call by SETUP, that is, the i-NCU 1 connected to the port specified by the subaddress in the ATUD command message,
The UUI in the ETUP is analyzed (4). After this analysis is completed, the contents are confirmed, and the contents of the transmission messages 1 to m are sequentially processed for the meter 2 connected to the i-NCU 1. When the processing of the transmission messages 1 to m ends, the i-NCU 1
Is ATUE for received messages 1-m for transmitted messages 1-m
It is assembled as a command message (5), and the UU meaning a response is sent to the D-channel disconnection control message DISCONNECT.
It is transmitted on I (6). The configuration of the ATUE command message has the same format as that of the ATUD command message, but differs in that there is no destination telephone number and no sub address.

When the center device 10 recognizes the DISCONNECT, it receives the received telegrams 1 to m, and receives the UUI in the DISCONNECT.
Is analyzed (7). Then, the result is transmitted to the center device 1.
0 is output, and meter reading of the meter ends. At the same time I
The connection with the SDN network is also disconnected, and the communication ends. In this way, the automatic meter reading is performed. Here, after the transmission messages 1 to m are input to the center device 10, the reception messages 1 to m are input.
m is a few seconds, so the transmission message 1
If the received telegrams 1 to m cannot be received after a certain period of time after the input of the transmitted telegrams 1 to m,
m to the i-NCU 1.

As described above, according to the information communication method of the first embodiment, transmission messages 1 to m and reception messages 1 to m
Was conventionally 10 yen, but 0.8
It has become possible with a yen, and it has become possible to greatly reduce the information and communication charges in an automatic gas, electricity or water meter reading system.

Next, a communication method in a telecommunication system using a CAT / POS terminal using a credit / cash card according to a second embodiment will be described. In the case of the credit processing in the CAT / POS terminal, the amount of information is large and there is a possibility that the processing cannot be performed with 128 bytes. However, even if the processing exceeds 128 bytes, the message can be transmitted using the UUI.
This is a feature of the embodiment.

According to this method, when the length of one message to be transmitted exceeds 128 bytes, the data is divided and transmitted in units of 128 bytes. The division of the message at this time will be described with reference to FIG. This message division is performed by the CAT / POS terminal. If information is input from a magnetic card such as a credit card to the CAT / POS terminal and the message length read at that time is a message longer than 128 bytes, the message is divided into a message length of 128 bytes or less (transmission 1 to 1). Create transmission n). In this message, information such as a card company number, a member number, and the number of divisions is incorporated. Next, transmission 1 to transmission n are assembled in order from transmission message Ud1 to transmission message Udn by ATUD command. Then, the transmission messages Ud1 to Udn are placed as UUI in the call setup message SETUP, and the ISDN is sequentially sent.
Send it out to the network.

Then, after the center device receives each transmission message and receives up to the transmission message Udn, it processes the contents of transmission 1 to transmission n collectively, and uses the processing information corresponding to transmission 1 to transmission n. Similar to the transmission of a transmission message, a certain reception 1 to reception n is sequentially transmitted to the ISDN network by placing each of the reception 1 to reception n as a UUI in the call setup message SETUP. Then, these received messages are CAT / PO
When the S terminal receives the data sequentially and receives up to the reception n, the CAT /
As a response to the transmission message, a response message or the like is displayed on the POS terminal based on the reception message, and the information communication ends.

Next, the communication procedure will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a signal sequence of a communication procedure. First, when a credit card or the like is read by the CAT / POS terminal, information stored in the magnetic card and information input from the CAT / POS terminal are recognized as a transmission message. If the transmission message is 128 bytes or less, information communication is performed by the communication method according to the first embodiment.

On the other hand, if the transmission message exceeds 128 bytes, information communication is performed by the communication method according to the second embodiment. As described above, the transmission message is divided into n pieces, and the divided transmission 1 to transmission n are sequentially transmitted to the ISDN. That is, the magnetic data and the input data are converted into CAT /
The POS terminal assembles a transmission message using an ATUD command, and stores the ATUD command in a call setup message SETUP.
The command message Ud1 is loaded as a UUI and transmitted to the ISDN. Subsequently, similarly, the AT including the transmission 2
The UD command telegram Ud2 is sent as a UUI in the SETUP and sent to the ISDN network. Thereafter, similarly, the ATUD command message Udn is transmitted to the ISDN network until the transmission n. In this transmission step, the connection with the ISDN network is disconnected at each transmission.

The terminal receiving the call by this SETUP, that is, the processing center designated by the magnetic data in the ATUD command message,
The UI is sequentially received. When the data is received up to the transmission n, the computer in the processing center collectively checks the contents and processes the contents of the transmission 1 to the transmission n. When the processing of the transmissions 1 to n is completed by the computer, the processing center sequentially transmits the receptions 1 to n, which are responses to the transmissions 1 to n, in the same manner as the transmission in the transmission step. Then, CAT / PO
The S terminal recognizes the SETUP, and the UUI in the SETUP
Is analyzed. Then, the result is output to the CAT / POS terminal as a response message, and the credit processing ends. At this time, the communication fee is 0.8 yen in total for one transmission and reception, so a charge n times 0.8 yen is required.

As described above, according to the information communication method of the second embodiment, even if the transmission message is a long message exceeding 128 bytes, the information communication can be performed using the UUI. Become.

Finally, an information communication method according to the third embodiment will be described. Here, a communication method in the automatic meter reading system is illustrated, but it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a CAT / POS terminal system. A feature of the present embodiment is that when a transmission message has a predetermined amount of information or more, information communication is performed by connecting to the B channel of the ISDN network without using the UUI.

The communication procedure of the communication method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a signal sequence of a communication procedure. First, when arbitrary data of more than 128 bytes including a partner telephone number, a sub address, a meter reading request, and the like is input to the center device 10,
The center device 10 divides arbitrary data every 128 bytes. This dividing method is the same as in the second embodiment. If the number of divisions is equal to or less than the specified number,
Arbitrary information is transmitted in the same manner as in the communication method according to the second embodiment. The specified number of times is set in advance in accordance with the form of information communication, and is input to the center device 10.
On the other hand, if the number of divisions is equal to or greater than the specified number, a message for connecting to the B channel is assembled by an ATUD command in the same manner as in the conventional communication method, and the call setting message SE
The message is placed in the TUP and transmitted to the ISDN network.

Then, the terminal receiving the call by this SETUP, that is, the i-NCU 1 connected to the port specified by the subaddress in the ATUD command message
Is a call message ALERTING, a response message CONNECT
Is set, and the terminal for the center is connected with the B channel of the ISDN network. After the connection to the B channel, arbitrary communication is performed by a conventional communication method, and after the communication is completed, the connection with the B channel is disconnected.

As described above, according to the information communication method of the third embodiment, when the number of divisions of the transmission message exceeds the specified number, the connection is made to the B channel of the ISDN network without using the UUI. This prevents an increase in communication charges. Therefore, when the information amount of the transmission message is small, the communication fee can be reduced, and when the information amount of the transmission message is large, the communication fee becomes the same as the conventional one, and the monthly or yearly communication fee can be surely reduced. If the received message is expected to be very long, a similar effect can be obtained by connecting to the B channel when an instruction command corresponding to the received message is detected in the transmitted message. .

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various applications are possible. For example, in the present embodiment, in the automatic meter reading system, the case where a call is transmitted from the center device side has been described.
The present invention can also be applied to a case where a call is transmitted from the side. Similarly, in a CAT / POS system, the present invention can be applied to a case where a call is transmitted from the center device. Further, the first embodiment can be applied to a communication method in a telecommunication system using a CAT / POS terminal or the like, and the second embodiment can be applied to a communication method in an automatic meter reading system.

[0043]

According to the communication method of the present invention, a plurality of communication terminals, a communication terminal network control device for connecting these communication terminals and a communication network, and an information management center for centrally managing transmitted and received information are provided. In the communication system comprising: an ISDN network as the communication network, the arbitrary information is transmitted bi-directionally by dividing the arbitrary information into a message length of 128 bytes or less using user / user information. Communication can be made cheaper than the charge of 10 yen, and a minimum of 0.8
Since communication is possible in a circle, communication charges can be significantly reduced.

When the number of transmission message divisions exceeds the specified number, the communication fee can be prevented from rising by connecting to the B channel of the ISDN network without using the UUI. Therefore, when the amount of information in the transmitted message is small, the communication fee can be reduced, and when the amount of information in the transmitted message is large, the same communication fee as the conventional communication fee can be used. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an automatic meter reading system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a signal sequence of a communication procedure in the information communication method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a transmission message in the information communication method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a method for dividing a transmission message in an information communication method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a signal sequence of a communication procedure in an information communication method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a signal sequence of a communication procedure in an information communication method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a conventional automatic meter reading system.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing a flow of periodic meter reading in a conventional automatic meter reading system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Terminal Network Controller (i-NCU) for ISDN 2 Meter 3 Telephone 4, 14 Multimedia Terminal Adapter (M
-TA) 6 Dedicated line 10 Center equipment 12 Computer 15 ISDN line

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. Information used in a communication system comprising a plurality of communication terminals, a communication terminal network control device for connecting these communication terminals and a communication network, and an information management center for centrally managing information to be transmitted and received. In the communication method, a transmission step of transmitting an outgoing message transmitted from the communication terminal or the center device using user / user information of an ISDN network, and using a received user message in response to the outgoing message using user / user information And transmitting a desired information. 2. The information written on a magnetic card such as a credit card is read by a credit / cash terminal, and at this time, various kinds of processing information are inputted, and the processing information is transmitted to the information using a communication network. An information communication method used in a communication system for transmitting a credit to a processing center and performing a credit processing, wherein a transmission message transmitted from the credit / cash terminal is transmitted to the processing center by using user / user information of an ISDN network. Transmitting the received telegram in response to the outgoing telegram to the credit / cash terminal using user / user information, and performing a credit process. . 3. An information communication method used in a communication system for taking a meter reading of a microcomputer meter for measuring gas, electricity or water consumption from a center device using a communication network. A transmitting step of transmitting an outgoing message transmitted from the device to the communication terminal network control device using user / user information of an ISDN network; and reading a meter reading value data of a microcomputer meter which is a received message in response to the outgoing message. An information communication method, comprising the steps of transmitting arbitrary information by transmitting a reply to the center device using user information. 4. The information communication method according to claim 1, wherein when the length of the transmission message or the reception message exceeds 128 bytes, the length of the transmission message or the reception message is set to 128.
An information communication method, wherein the information communication method is performed by dividing the data into bytes and sequentially using user / user information. 5. The information communication method according to claim 4, wherein when the number of divisions of the transmission message exceeds a predetermined number, a connection is made to the B channel of the ISDN network without using user / user information. And transmitting arbitrary information. 6. The information communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transmitting terminal detects a command set in the transmission message in advance without using user / user information. ISD
An information communication method characterized by transmitting arbitrary information by connecting to a B channel of an N network.