JP2000324247A - Call transfer control method during communication in telephone network - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] To transfer a call during communication, conventionally, a new line is added, which causes an increase in line cost and a decrease in resource efficiency. SOLUTION: Before a line is connected from an originating terminal 1 to a terminal 6 of a transfer source, a relationship between an exchange device 2 and a service control device 3 is established, so that a call can be controlled during communication. Further, by transmitting and receiving information during call processing between the computer 4 of the subscriber and the service control device 3, during communication, a transfer instruction from the subscriber side registered in advance for service use is accepted, and Performs transfer control during communication.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for providing services in cooperation with a terminal connected to a telephone network line and a computer connected to an information transfer network, such as computer telephony. In particular, a telephone network suitable for efficiently transferring a call from a caller (calling terminal) from a called terminal (called terminal) to another terminal (a transfer destination terminal). And a call transfer control method during communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a customer (caller) telephone (calling terminal) represented by, for example, customer support for a product.
In the service of receiving a call from us and responding to consultation and providing information, the first responder (recipient)
If it is not possible to handle it and it becomes necessary to transfer the call to another answering terminal (forwarding destination terminal), as an extension, while maintaining the line from the calling terminal to the called party terminal (receiving terminal), A new line connection was made to the transfer destination terminal.

[0003] However, in this technique, one transfer increases the number of required line connections by one, so that the line cost is increased and the line of the called terminal cannot be released. Can not be used efficiently.

[0004] Techniques for addressing such problems include:
The originating terminal is ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Ne
In the case of a twork) terminal, a function of switching a line may be added to the calling terminal, or the ISDN interface of the switching device may be extended in a manner that does not conform to the standard. However, in a public telephone network accommodating a large number of calling terminals, the same additional function is added to all calling terminals,
It is practically difficult to add unique features to devices in the telephone network.

Also, for example, before the transfer, the receiving side is charged,
Conventionally, it has not been possible to change the accounting method triggered by the transfer, such as charging the calling side at the specified charging rate after the transfer. For this reason, when the answering party is replaced by a forwarding destination who can provide a higher value added than the receiving party, it is not possible to charge the calling party a commensurate call charge.

As described above, in the prior art, even after a call is transferred, the connection to the transfer destination is added to the extension of the extension while maintaining the line from the caller to the callee that has become unnecessary. Need to increase line costs.

[0007] In particular, when the line cost from the caller to the called party and the line cost from the called party to the transfer destination are large, and the line cost when directly connecting from the caller to the transfer destination is small, the relative line cost is reduced. The increase is remarkable. Also, the line between the caller and the callee cannot be released, and a call from a new caller may be missed.

[0008]

The problem to be solved is that, in the prior art, while maintaining the line from the calling terminal to the called terminal, a new line is extended to the transfer destination terminal as an extension thereof. Since the connection is made, one transfer increases the number of required line connections by one, causing an increase in line cost and releasing the line with the caller on the transfer source side. That is, the resources cannot be used efficiently and the charging method cannot be changed upon transfer.

An object of the present invention is to solve these problems of the prior art and to improve the operation efficiency of a system for transferring a call such as a computer telephony or the like, and to control a call transfer during communication in a telephone network. It is to provide.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a method of controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network according to the present invention comprises a service control device for controlling a connection state of a switching device in a telephone network, and a receiving terminal. Is connected to the computer owned by the subscriber who manages the transmission line using a transmission line, and in accordance with an instruction from this computer, the service control device changes the line connection state such as transfer control of the switching device and the billing method, At the time of call transfer, the line between the transfer destination terminal and the calling terminal is connected, and the line with the switching device of the called terminal is released to control call transfer during communication.

[0011] Further, using a so-called screen pop-up technique, call-related information such as a caller's address and call history is stored in a computer, and is transmitted to a computer terminal of a callee or a transfer-destination when a call is received or transferred. And display it on the screen.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system to which a call transfer control method during communication in a telephone network according to the present invention is applied, and FIGS. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a transfer control method.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a telephone network 100,
A plurality of switching devices 2, 18, 19, a service control device and a holding device 5 are provided, and the switching devices 2, 18, 19 are provided.
Accommodates a transmitting terminal (described as "TEL" in the figure) 1 used by the caller 10, and has a telephone number or the like registered in advance in order to receive the transfer service according to the present invention as the specific subscriber management equipment 200. Terminals (described as “TEL” in the figure) 6 and 8 are accommodated, and communication information is transmitted to each other via the relay network 11.

The holding device 5 is capable of transmitting and receiving communication information to and from the switching devices 2, 18, and 19 via the relay network 11, and is temporarily connected to the calling terminal 1 and "Please wait for a while."
And other announcements and music. Further, the service control device 3 performs a call destination change and charging control by transmitting and receiving a signal to and from the switching device 2 via the transmission line 16.

As the specific subscriber management equipment 200, a computer 4 having a storage device 17 is provided.
The computer 4 and the service control device 3 on the telephone network 100 side are connected by a transmission line 15 independent of the relay network 11 and the transmission line 16, and transmit and receive control information on the call during call processing. It is possible to change the connection during communication and change the charging rate.

In the specific subscriber management equipment 200, a plurality of terminals 6, 8 are controlled, and the status of each terminal 6, 8 is monitored by the computer 4. Also, the computer terminals 7 and 9 are connected to the computer 4 by an information transfer network 12 composed of, for example, a WAN (Wide Area Network) or the like, so that information regarding a call can be transmitted and received.

The terminals 6 and 8 are also connected to the information transfer network 12, and can notify the computer 4 or the computer terminals 7 and 9 of an incoming call. The terminal 6 and the computer terminal 7 are operated by a callee 13, and the terminal 8 and the computer terminal 9 are operated by a callee 14.

Such a configuration of the specific subscriber management equipment 200 is called a so-called computer telephony.
For example, when a subscriber is a merchandise store and the sender is the customer, the customer's purchase history can be displayed on the computer terminals 7 and 9 at the same time that there is an incoming call, and it can be used for telephone response. it can.

In this example, the terminals 6 and 8 are connected to the telephone network 10.
0, but as another form, the present invention is applied to a case where a private branch exchange (PBX) or a device having a function equivalent thereto is installed at a position corresponding to the terminals 6 and 8 and the terminal hangs over them. Applicable.

An example of the processing operation according to the present invention in the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, the transmitting terminal 1 in FIG.
The process of establishing a call between the
That is, by transmitting and receiving the call identification information,
The relationship between the service control device 3 and the computer 4 in FIG. 1 is established, and the operation up to preparation for enabling transfer during communication at any time after the state of communication has been reached is described. explain.

First, in order to request a line connection to the subscriber, the caller 10 off-hooks the caller terminal 1, dials the identification number of the specific subscriber, and transmits a call signal 20.
The switching device 2 that has detected the call signal 20 outputs the call signal 2
Recognizing the identification number information of the subscriber in 0, transmitting a call notification signal 21 to the service control device 3 via the transmission line 16,
Request connection control and charging control.

The service control device 3 transmits a call notification signal 22 to the subscriber's computer 4 via the transmission line 15. The computer 4 determines to connect the calling terminal 1 to the terminal 6, stores information for uniquely identifying the call (hereinafter, call identification information), and as the connection instruction signal 23, the number of the terminal 6, the call The identification information and the billing method are transmitted to the service control device 3. The service control device 3 that has received the connection instruction signal 23 transmits a connection instruction signal 24 having the same contents to the switching device 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the switching device 2 calls the terminal 6 by a line connection signal 25 (call identification information).
This call is made via the relay network 11 and the switching device 18 in FIG. The terminal 6 that has received the call from the switching device 2 transmits the call identification information to the computer 4 as the incoming call notification signal 26.

The computer 4 that has received the incoming call notification signal 26, based on the call identification information, stores information related to the call, such as the address of the sender 10 and the received call history, from the storage contents of the storage device.
It is transmitted to the computer terminal 7 as the call-related information 27 and displayed on the screen. Then, the caller 10 of the caller terminal 1
A call between the user and the receiver 13 of the terminal 6 is established.

As described above, the relationship between the service control device 3 and the computer 4 for the call can be established, and preparation for enabling transfer in the state of communication described below has been completed. Here, the information displayed on the called party 13 is expressed as screen information with emphasis on the example flights, but the information is not necessarily limited to visual information, but is generally information such as voice information that can be transmitted to the called party. Is good.

In the following, from the state in which the calling terminal 1 is communicating with the terminal 6, the caller 10 is temporarily connected to the holding device 5 by the operation of the callee 13, and Until the caller 13 and the callee 14 of the transfer destination are connected,
The information transmission / reception operation will be described.

First, the first half of the transfer during communication, that is,
The operation until the call is put on hold by the switching devices 2, 18, and 19 in the telephone network will be described. In a state where the terminal 1 and the terminal 6 are in communication, the operation 28 causes the computer terminal 7 to perform a transfer in order for the called party 13 to transfer.
When requesting the transfer to the terminal 8, the computer terminal 7
Transmits a transfer instruction signal 29 to the computer 4.

The computer 4 generates a call-related information identifier for uniquely identifying the call-related information displayed on the computer terminal 7, and transmits a transfer instruction together with the number of the transfer-destination terminal 8, the call identification information, and the charging method. It is transmitted to the service control device 3 as a signal 30. Further, the computer 4 transmits the call-related information identifier, the call identification information, and the call-related information to the computer terminal 9 as a transfer notification signal 31.

The service control device 3 that has received the transfer instruction signal 30 starts the transfer control and transmits a connection change instruction signal 32 to the switching device 2 as shown in FIG. Upon receiving the connection change instruction signal 32, the switching device 2 first
The line connection signal 33 is transmitted to the holding device 5, and the terminal 1 is connected to the holding device 5 again. As a result, the caller 10 listens to the message “Please wait” or music from the holding device 5.

Next, the switching device 2 transmits to the terminal 8 a line connection signal 34 comprising call identification information and a call-related information identifier. When receiving the line connection signal 34, the terminal 8
Transmits a call notification signal 35 including call identification information and a call-related information identifier to the computer terminal 9, and the computer terminal 9 displays the call-related information on the screen based on this signal.

Further, the switching device 2 changes the connection of the terminal 6 to the terminal 8. As a result, a call can be made between the callees 13 and 14 while the caller 10 is kept waiting. As described above, when a disconnection signal is generated from the transfer source terminal 6 in a state where the call from the calling terminal 1 is held, the procedure of the latter half of the transfer during communication is performed as described below. Finally, the caller 10 is connected to the callee 14 of the transfer destination.

In this procedure, the transfer of a call during communication is all performed in the switching devices 2, 18, and 19 in the telephone network 100. The callee 13 of the transfer source receives a disconnect signal 36 from the terminal 6.
Is transmitted to the switching device 2, the switching device 2 transmits a disconnection notification signal 37 to the service control device 3.

The service control device 3 having received the disconnection notification signal 37 transmits a connection change instruction signal 38 to the switching device 2, and the switching device 2 determines the connection destination of the terminal 1 based on the received connection change instruction signal 38. Replace with terminal 8. This allows
A call between the terminal 1 and the terminal 8 is established.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, in the call transfer control method during communication in the telephone network according to the present embodiment, the method is performed by connecting to a line of the telephone network 100 represented by computer telephony. When a call from a caller 10 is transferred from a transfer source terminal 6 to another terminal 8 in a service provided by the terminals 6 and 8 that are present and the computer 4 connected to the information transfer network 12 in cooperation with each other Then, transfer during communication is performed using the switching devices 2, 18, and 19 in the telephone network 100.

As a result, it is not necessary to add a function to the calling terminal 1 for transfer during communication or to extend an ISDN interface. In addition, after the call from the caller 10 is transferred to the callee 14 of the transfer destination, the connection from the caller 10 to the callee 13 of the transfer source becomes unnecessary. There is no need to hold the call, and direct line connection from the caller 10 to the callee 14 at the transfer destination becomes possible.

Further, after the transfer, it becomes unnecessary for the transfer source terminal 6 to hold the line between the calling terminals 1. As a result, the line cost for the transfer can be reduced, and the line of the called party 13 as the transfer source is available, so that the terminal 6 can accept a new call.

Further, it is possible to transfer the call to the terminal 8 by changing the charging rate. This allows the subscriber to change the billing method each time a connection is made,
Flexible billing control is possible, such as changing the billing system for the caller according to the skill of the telephone responder, or changing the billing system in a time zone.

Furthermore, according to the present example, it is possible to transfer data any number of times, and there may be second and third transfer destination terminals. In that case, the transfer destination terminal in the immediately preceding transfer becomes the transfer source terminal.

The present invention is not limited to the examples described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. For example, in this example,
In FIG. 1, switching devices 2, 1 accommodating respective terminals are shown.
Although the switching devices 8 and 19 are illustrated as different switching devices, they may be the same switching device.

[0040]

According to the present invention, the line with the caller on the transfer source side can be released, the resources can be used efficiently, and the increase in the line cost due to the transfer can be avoided. It is possible to change the charging method as a trigger, and it is possible to improve the operation efficiency of a system for transferring a call, such as computer telephony.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a communication system to which a call transfer control method during communication in a telephone network according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a method for controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a 2/3 part of a flowchart showing an embodiment of a method for controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a 3/3 part of a flowchart showing one embodiment of a method for controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: originating terminal, 2: switching device, 3: service control device,
4: computer, 5: hold device, 6: terminal (transfer source), 7: computer terminal (transfer source), 8: terminal (transfer destination), 9: computer terminal (transfer destination), 10: caller, 11: relay network, 12: information transfer network, 13: called party (forwarding source), 14: called party (forwarding destination), 15, 16: transmission path, 17: storage device, 18, 19: switching device, 20:
Outgoing call signal, 21, 22: Call notification signal, 23, 24: Connection instruction signal, 25: Line connection signal, 26: Incoming notification signal, 27: Call related information, 28: Operation, 29, 30: Transfer instruction signal , 31: transfer notification signal, 32: connection change instruction signal, 33, 34: line connection signal, 35: incoming call notification signal,
36: disconnection signal, 37: disconnection notification signal, 38: connection change instruction signal, 100: telephone network, 200: specific subscriber management equipment.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5K015 AA00 AB00 AB01 AF01 AF02 KA00 KA02 KA10 5K024 AA00 AA23 AA71 BB00 CC01 CC09 DD03 DD05 DD06 FF03 FF04 GG00 GG01 GG03 GG05 9A001 BB01 BB03 BB04 H04H

Claims (4)

[Claims] A service control device connected to each of the switching devices for controlling a circuit switching process by each of the switching devices; a service control device connected to each of the switching devices; And a holding device connected to the calling terminal via the communication device. The switching device notifies the service control device if there is a call from the calling terminal. If the destination is a pre-registered subscriber, it connects to the computer owned by the subscriber to inquire about the connection destination of the calling terminal, stores the connection destination to which the computer has responded, and notifies the switching device. The switching device connects the calling terminal to the notified first terminal of the connection destination, and the computer, if there is an instruction to change the connection destination terminal from the operator, the service control device Notifying a call transfer instruction, the service control device having received the call transfer instruction notifies the switching device of a call transfer instruction, and the switching device having received the call transfer instruction, based on the call transfer instruction, After switching the connection destination of the calling terminal from the first terminal to the holding device, the first terminal is connected to the second terminal of the transfer destination specified by the call transfer instruction, and the first terminal is connected to the first terminal. If there is a disconnection signal from the terminal, the disconnection signal is notified to the service control device, and the service control device that has received the disconnection signal from the first terminal transmits, to the switching device, the originating terminal to the second terminal. A method for controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network, wherein the switching device instructs connection to a terminal and switches the connection destination of the calling terminal from the holding device to the second terminal. . 2. The method for controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network according to claim 1, wherein, if an operator of the second terminal further instructs to change a connection destination, the second terminal is switched to the second terminal. 1
And the transfer destination terminal is set as the second terminal, and the connection destination of the transmission terminal is switched by the computer, the service control device, the switching device, and the holding device. Call transfer control method during communication. 3. The method for controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network according to claim 1, wherein
When the transmission terminal and the first terminal are connected to each other, the first computer controls the call-related information recorded in advance in association with the transmission terminal by an operator of the first terminal. The first computer accepts an instruction to change the connection to the second terminal from the operator and notifies the computer of the change, and the computer changes the terminal from the first computer. A call transfer instruction is notified to the service control device based on the instruction, and the call-related information is transferred to and output from a second computer operated by an operator of the transfer destination second terminal. A method of controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the computer responds to the service control device with the first terminal as a connection destination. And when notifying the service control device to the second terminal as a transfer destination, notifying the service control device of information used for calculating a charge for a line connection with the first terminal or the second terminal. A method for controlling call transfer during communication in a telephone network.