The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for voice over IP telephone by the Internet Protocol (IP). More specifically, the present invention is to provide a new telephone method and apparatus for realizing additional service functions, which are included in a main device of a conventional button telephone system, in a voice over IP telephone adapted to the Internet Protocol (IP).
In a button telephone system where a conventional main device is used, the main device integrally controls telephone terminals and peripheral equipments contained therein. The main device includes its own interface and integrally and continuously manages the operation status, such as a channel determination, a display and a lamp control, regarding call control of the telephone terminals and peripheral equipments contained in the main device. Accordingly, additional services such as a paging (local area broadcasting) service, a voice call service, and a voice mail (conversation recording) service can be achieved easily. However, since the main device does not manage devices which are not contained therein, such additional services cannot be realized in those devices.
On the other hand, in a voice over IP telephone where devices are connected to each other in an IP network, a call control is carried out by using various protocols and control of each device is separately carried out in each device. Accordingly, there has been a problem that additional service functions that are available in the main device of a conventional button telephone system cannot be achieved in the voice over IP telephone.
Patent Document 1 discloses the following means (abstract) A plurality of telephone terminals adapted to the Internet Protocol are connected to a LAN network so as to form an IP network. For each minimum constituent unit in the IP network, an SIP server function by protocols for controlling starting, ending, and changing in a session of interactive communication, a resource control server function for controlling, storing, and delivering terminal status database of the plurality of telephone terminals, and an application server function for providing necessary service to the plurality of telephone terminals are connected to the LAN network as control functions of the plurality of telephone terminals so that information transmissions among the server functions are carried out on packet basis.
With such a structure, the invention of Patent Document 1 solves the problem as follows. The invention provides a telephone communication system for effectively carrying out an exchange of telephone information among terminals with a simple structure and for dealing with an increase or a decrease in the number of containing terminals with high flexibility.
However, according to the invention of Patent Document 1, there has been a problem that additional service functions cannot be provided easily since each terminal is required to operate only for each additional service function in order to perform various kinds of additional service functions such as selection of normal response or automatic response, selection of one-way communication or two-way communication when answering a call, paging (local area broadcasting), voice call, voice mail (conversation recording), and door phone function. Further, there has been another problem that it is not easy to provide services adapted to preferences of each user since a server function is needed to be added for each additional service function in order to provide an additional service for controlling each voice over IP telephone terminal with the server or the like.
Patent Document 2 discloses the following means (paragraph 0020). The invention of Patent Document 2 is related to a voice mail system by an IP telephone terminal which operates according to the Internet Protocol (IP). An IP address name other than a conventional IP address name is registered as a silent receiving mail address to a receiving side network corresponding to a telephone terminal number in order to receive in silent mode. Then, upon a request for a connection to the silent receiving mail address from a caller, an internal memory region in a relevant destination telephone terminal is called in silent and a voice message from the caller is recorded and stored in the memory region.
With such a structure, the invention of Patent Document 2 solves the problem as follows (paragraph 0064). The caller does not need to wait the response from the receiver to transmit the voice mail. At the same time, the receiver can see the received voice mail immediately.
However, according to the invention of Patent Document 2, two mail addresses, that are a conventional IP address and a silent receiving mail address, are needed to be registered for each user. This results in an increase in cost since the number of mail addresses to be stored increases and it brings a great burden on an address server. Further, it has been cumbersome that the users have to deal with two mail addresses separately.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-152224
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-110742
[Disclosure of the Invention]
[Problem to be Solved by the Invention]
There has been a problem that various additional service functions, which are available in a main device of a conventional button telephone system, cannot be provided easily since each terminal is required to operate only for one of additional service functions to perform the additional service functions such as selection of normal response or automatic response, selection of one-way communication or two-way communication when answering a call, paging (local area broadcasting), voice call, voice mail (conversation recording), and door phone function. Further, there has been another problem that it is not easy to provide services adapted to preferences of each user since a server function is needed to be added for each additional service function in order to provide an additional service for controlling each voice over IP telephone terminal with the server or the like. The reason for users not employing a voice over IP telephone is that various additional service functions which are available in a main device of a conventional button telephone system are not provided in the voice over IP telephone. Therefore, it has been desired that those various additional service functions are provided in the voice over IP telephone.
Conventionally, there has been a problem that a service function which is necessary for some users but not for other users is contained in each terminal and a main device and this may cause complicated operations and an increase in cost. Also, it has been desired a voice over IP telephone in which a user is not required to register a plurality of mail addresses, that is, a conventional IP address and an address corresponding to a service function when a service function is added. In such a desired system, burden of an address server becomes small, it does not cause an increase in cost, and users do not have difficulty in using a plurality of mail addresses separately.
[Means for Solving the Problem
Voice over IP telephone means for carrying out voice communication adapted to an Internet Protocol through Internet includes transmission/additional information generating and analyzing means for generating, at a transmitting side, additional information of service content to be added to transmission information related to a transmitter and a receiver as a destination, and for analyzing, at a receiving side, the additional information added to the transmission information transmitted by the transmitter to obtain the service content.
The transmission/additional information generating and analyzing means includes: transmission information generating means for generating transmission information related to the transmitter and the receiver as a destination; additional information generating means for generating additional information so as to include a response type specifying whether the receiver as a destination is requested to answer by normal response or automatic response and a communication type specifying one of one-way communication and two-way communication and be added to the transmission information; transmission information analyzing means for analyzing, at the receiving side, the transmission information transmitted by the transmitter to obtain the analyzed transmission information; and additional information analyzing means for analyzing the response type specifying whether the receiver is requested to answer by normal response or automatic response and the communication type specifying one of one-way communication and two-way communication, which are added to the analyzed transmission information, to obtain analyzed additional information.
Additional information may include various service functions such as information for a door phone function, information for recording/reproducing function, and information for a paging function. Such voice over IP telephone functions are provided to a terminal (VoIP device) and an application server.
[Effect of the Invention]
The various additional service functions, which are available in a main device of a conventional button telephone system, such as selection of normal response or automatic response, selection of one-way communication or two-way communication when answering a call, paging (local area broadcasting), voice call, voice mail (conversation recording), and door phone function can be realized without lowering the characteristics of the voice over IP telephone. Necessary functions among the voice over IP telephone functions are provided to necessary terminals (VoIP devices). Further, those functions can also be added to an application server.
Unlike conventional button telephone systems, a service function which is necessary for some users but not for others is not installed in each terminal and a main device so that the complexity in operations is eliminated. It is no longer necessary to switch terminals (VoIP devices) for each service. The terminal (VoIP device) and the application server may be basically formed in the same structure so that they employ the same algorithm. Even when various services are added, the burden on an entire system is very small. Therefore, reduction in manufacturing time and reduction in cost are achieved. Since services can be added without changing user's original mail address or adding a new mail address, there is no extra burden on users.
[Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention]
The present invention is made as a voice over IP telephone apparatus including voice over IP telephone means for carrying out voice communication adapted to an Internet Protocol (IP) through Internet. The voice over IP telephone means comprises transmission/additional information generating and analyzing means for generating, at a transmitting side, additional information of service content to be added to transmission information related to a transmitter and a receiver as a destination, and for analyzing, at a receiving side, the additional information added to the transmission information transmitted by the transmitter to obtain the service content.
The transmission/additional information generating and analyzing means is configured to include transmission information generating means for generating transmission information related to the transmitter and the receiver as a destination; additional information generating means for generating additional information so as to include a response type specifying whether the receiver as a destination is requested to answer by normal response or automatic response and a communication type specifying one of one-way communication and two-way communication and be added to the transmission information; transmission information analyzing means for, at the receiving side, analyzing the transmission information transmitted by the transmitter to obtain the analyzed transmission information; and additional information analyzing means for analyzing the response type specifying whether the receiver is requested to answer by normal response or automatic response and the communication type specifying one of one-way communication and two-way communication, which are added to the analyzed transmission information, to obtain analyzed additional information.
Additional information may include various service functions such as information for a door phone function, information for a recording/reproducing function, and information for a paging function. Such voice over IP telephone functions are provided to a terminal (VoIP device) and an application server.
The apparatus control unit 14 communicates with the transmission/additional information generating and analyzing unit 12 by an information control signal 23 and with the voice unit 13 and a device control unit 15 by a voice device control signal 25. The device control unit 15 communicates with the voice unit 13 by a voice information control signal 24. The device control unit 15 controls a handset, a head set, a speaker and the like in addition to the voice unit 13.
The transmission/additional information generating and analyzing unit 12 generates transmission information and additional information to be transmitted to a destination and analyzes transmission information and additional information which is received from the other party. The transmission/additional information generating and analyzing unit 12 analyzes the transmission information and the additional information received from the other party via the channel 8, the LAN interface (I/F) 11, and the information signal 21, directly from the IP network 1 or via the LAN, and notifies the apparatus control unit 14 by the information control signal 23. Upon an instruction from the apparatus control unit 14, the transmission/additional information generating and analyzing unit 12 generates transmission information and additional information and transmits to the other party via the information signal 21, the LAN interface (I/F) 11, the channel 8, and the IP network 1.
The apparatus control unit 14 controls calls of the VoIP device 3 and controls the transmission/additional information generating and analyzing unit 12, the voice unit 13, and the device control unit 15. The device control unit 15 controls a memory device such as a hard disk, a handset, a head set, a speaker, a microphone and the like. The voice unit 13 includes codec to encode or decode voices by RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol) transformation or inverse transformation.
When receiving the information signal 21, the transmission information analyzing unit 33 analyzes the transmission information and provides the additional information analyzing unit 34 with a transmission information analyzing signal 46 containing the additional information. The additional information analyzing unit 34 analyzes the contained additional information and analyzes whether the response type is normal response or automatic response, whether the communication type is two-way communication or one-way communication, and whether the one-way communication is for transmitting side only or receiving side only. Then the additional information analyzing unit 34 outputs it as the information control signal 23.
Then, a communication type is specified whether it is required to operate two-way communication or one-way communication and whether the one-way communication is for receiving side only or transmitting side only (S106). When two-way communication is specified (S106, two-way communication), it does not operate a communication type specifying process (S107), and the process goes to step S110. When the one-way communication is for receiving side only (S106, one-way reception), one-way communication for receiving side only is specified (S108), and then, the process goes to step S110. When the one-way communication is for transmitting side only (S106, one-way transmission), one-way communication for transmitting side only is specified (S109). Then, the additional information generating unit 32 (or 32A) notifies the LAN interface (I/F) 11 (or 11A), and the operation of the additional information generating unit 32 (or 32A) is completed (S110).
When the communication type specifies two-way communication (S126, two-way communication), it operates a normal process (S127) and the process goes to step S131. When the communication type instructs one-way communication for receiving side only (S128, one-way reception), it operates one-way communication for receiving side only (S128), and the process gores to step S131. When the communication type specifies a one-way communication for transmitting side only (S128 one-way transmission), it operates one-way communication for transmitting side only (S129). Then the additional information analyzing unit 34 (or 34A) notifies the apparatus control unit 14 (or 14A) and completes the additional information analyzing process (S131). When the additional information analyzing unit 34 (or 34A) analyzes that no additional information is included in step S122 (S122, no additional information included), it notifies the apparatus control unit 14 (or 14A) as a normal receiving (S130) and completes the additional information analyzing process (S131).
Upon receiving this, the VoIP device 3B determines, for example, a normal response according to the response type and two-way communication according to the communication type and response to the application server 5A based on the determination results (S14). The application server 5A relays the response to the VoIP device 3A (S15). Then, conversation between the VoIP device 3A and the VoIP device 3B starts by the relay of the application server 5A (S16, S17). Or, when, in sequence S11, the transmission information of the VoIP device 3A is set to specify that the conversation between the VoIP device 3A and the VoIP device 3B are carried out directly without the relay of the application server 5A, the conversation may be carried out directly (S18).
Upon receiving this instruction, the application server 5V checks the content of the instruction (S23), and transmits a response indicating that the communication recording is available to the VoIP device 3B (S24). When receiving the response from the application server 5V, the VoIP device 3B transmits voice of the communication to the application server 5V (S25), and the communication recording is carried out in the application server 5V (S26).
When receiving the transmission information having the additional information from the VoIP device 3B (S31), the voice mail application server 5V selects automatic response and one-way communication from the voice mail application server 5V from the additional information (S32). Then, the voice mail application server 5V responds it to the VoIP device 3B (S33) and, at the same time, reproduces the record (S34) to transmit the reproduced voice to the VoIP device 3B (S35).
Upon receiving the transmission information from the door phone VoIP device 3D, the VoIP device 3A checks the additional information (one-way communication starting with an automatic response and two-way communication after the user answers) (S42) The VoIP device 3A then automatically answers and transmits a response that allows one-way communication from the door phone VoIP device 3D to the door phone VoIP device 3D (S43). Then, communication is allowed from the door phone of the door phone VoIP device 3D (S44). When the user of the VoIP device 3A responds to this communication, it changes into two-way communication and communication between the VoIP device 3 and the door phone of the door phone VoIP device 3D is carried out (S46).
In the paging application server 5P, destination addresses (3B, 3C, 3E) for paging and additional information (automatic response, one-way communication) to be transmitted to the destination addresses are registered in advance. When receiving a request for paging, the paging application server 5P transmits the destination addresses (3B, 3C, 3E) as the transmission information and instructions for automatic response and one-way communication as the additional information (S52B, S52C, S52E).
When receiving the instruction from the paging application server 5P, the VoIP devices 3B, 3C, 3E check the additional information (automatic response, one-way communication) (S53), and answer automatically to respond to the paging application server 5P (S54B, S54C, S54E). Then, the paging application server 5P allows communication from the VoIP device 3A when the VoIP devices 3B, 3C, 3E become ready to communicate (S55).
As the communication (broadcast) from the VoIP device 3A starts (S56), the paging application server 5P simultaneously transmits (forking) communication to the VoIP devices 3B, 3C, 3E (S57B, S57C, S57E). As clearly seen in the operations in the steps S57B, S57C, S57E, each step represents one-to-one (peer-to-peer) communication between the paging application server 5P and each of the VoIP devices 3B, 3C, 3E.
It will be appreciated that the numbers and types of the VoIP device 3 and the application server 5 are not limited to the above described embodiment and the system can be implemented with modifications according to the purposes and the scale.
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Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-182723 | Jun 2005 | JP | national |