JPH0622026A - Communication reservation system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The objective is to provide a communication reservation method that allows the specific communication to be held promptly. [Structure] The originating side that hosts the specific communication notifies the user / user information including the reservation information of the specific communication to the receiving side participating in the specific communication. The called party participating in the specific communication stores the reservation information notified by the user / user information,
Reject incoming calls other than reserved calls based on the stored reservation information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication reservation system for communication terminals connected to a communication network capable of transferring user-user information between terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, construction of ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network), which has completed international standardization by CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee), has been advanced in each country, and its commercial service has started. It is expected that this ISDN will spread widely to general households as a future basic communication network.

The basic speed interface of ISDN is
Two information channels (B channels) having a capacity of 64 kbps for transmitting information such as voice, data, images, etc. between terminals and terminals on one line, and calls for controlling outgoing and incoming calls between terminals and networks A communication channel consisting of a control channel (D channel) having a capacity of 16 kpbs for transmitting a control signal is multiplexed and transmitted.

Further, in the ISDN primary rate interface, a communication channel consisting of 23 B channels and a D channel having a capacity of 64 kbps is multiplexed and transmitted.

The call control signal between the terminal and the network transmitted using the above control channel can include user / user information that can be freely used between terminals, and this user / user information is used. Various services are available. There are a message notification service, a message circulation service, and the like as ISDN additional services using this user / user information.

[0006] A conference call (CONF) service is one of the typical additional services of ISDN. The conference organizer uses the message notification service and the message circulation service described above to hold a conference call in advance. Can be notified and confirmation of participation / non-participation in the notification can be obtained. As shown in FIG. 6, the conference call organizer creates a message for convening a meeting and confirming attendance, and uses the message notification service or message circulation service to send the message to other subscribers who are the participants of the conference. Transfer. The subscriber who receives this message will also use the message notification service or message circulation service to return the notification message indicating the attendance to the organizer, or if necessary, send it to other conference participants. Circulate the notification message. Repeat the above procedure,
The organizer can receive attendance notification messages from the participants of each conference and can confirm attendance of the participants of each conference. In this way, the conference organizer can recognize the prospective participants of the conference in advance, so that the conference call can be set with the minimum required calling procedure.

FIG. 7 shows a procedure for starting the conference call service when the prospective participants are known in advance. The figure shows a call setting procedure for setting the Bl channel as a common information channel between the three terminals and the network by the D channel. The first step between the organizer terminal A and the prospective participant terminal B in the figure is shown. In the call setup procedure and the second call setup procedure between the organizer terminal A and the prospective participant terminal C, both are Bl.
By specifying the channel, a conference call becomes possible.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 8, when the organizer terminal A makes the above call to the prospective participant terminal C while the communication between the organizer terminal A and the prospective participant terminal B is on hold, the terminal C uses both of the two information channels (B1, B2) as a third
When used in communication with the person, the network recognizes that the information channel of the terminal C is full, and includes information indicating "user busy" in the "call setting" signal from the calling terminal A. A "disconnect" signal is transmitted to the calling terminal A, and the disconnection recovery of the requested call is started. In this case, the organizer A will call the prospective participant C later.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the prospective participant terminal C is performing voice communication with a third party using one channel, and there is a free information channel. "Voice communication" is specified for the "Setting" signal, and the second
If the "voice communication" is impossible, the terminal C starts the disconnection recovery of the requested call by transmitting a "release complete" signal including information indicating "terminal attribute mismatch" to the calling terminal A. To do. Also in this case, the organizer A will call the prospective participant C later.

In this way, the prospective participants are busy (busy, terminal attribute mismatch, etc.) at the scheduled time of the conference call.
If the incoming call for setting up the conference call cannot be answered, not only is it necessary for the busy prospective participant to call again, but the other participants in the conference call are Busy prospective participant is idle (empty)
It will be in the state, and will be kept reluctantly waiting until all the call setups for the conference call are completed. Further, if the busy state continues for a long time, the call between other participants in the conference call is temporarily disconnected, and the organizer again uses the message notification service or the message circulation service to conduct the conference. All the prospective participants will be notified of the holding of the call again, and the participation / non-participation in the communication will be confirmed.

[0011]

Conventionally, in a communication terminal connected to a communication network capable of transferring user / user information, a specific communication such as a conference call is held in advance by a user / user information notification function. Even if the participants are notified, the incoming call for the above specific communication may not be accepted even at the specified communication time depending on the usage status of the terminal of the prospective participant. In this case, it is necessary not only for the prospective participants to call again until the call setup is completed, but also for the prospective participants in the other call to reluctantly wait, and for that state to continue for a long time. In this case, the call between the other participants of the conference call is temporarily disconnected, and the organizer notifies all the prospective participants of the holding of the specific call again, and confirms whether or not to participate in the notification. It will be taken, In order to not be the holding of the specific communication for the purpose, not only takes a great deal of time and effort to hold the specific communication, there is a problem that the increase also communication fee.

[0012] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a communication reservation system capable of promptly holding a specific communication.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in a communication terminal connected to a communication network capable of transferring user-user information between terminals, a calling party hosting a specific communication reserves a specific communication. Means for notifying the user / user information including information to a called party participating in the specific communication, wherein the called party participating in the specified communication stores the reservation information notified by the user / user information. ,
And means for rejecting an incoming call other than the reserved call based on the stored reservation information.

In a second aspect of the present invention, the calling side that hosts the specific communication includes means for notifying the user / user information including reservation cancellation information of the specific communication to the called side that participates in the specific communication. The called party that participates in the
Based on the reservation cancellation information notified by the user information,
A means for deleting the stored reservation information is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, each communication terminal stores a database for storing reservation information and information related thereto and communication identification information corresponding thereto, and reservation information corresponding to the communication identification information from this database and the database. And means for retrieving information related to.

[0016]

In the communication terminal to which the present invention is applied, the organizer terminal notifies the prospective participant terminals of the information for making the specific communication reservation before the specific communication such as the conference call. In each prospective participant terminal, since the incoming call other than the designated call is rejected for the time designated by the notified communication reservation information, the information channel is reserved only for the specific communication during that time. Therefore, since the incoming of the specific communication can be received promptly and the setting of the specific communication is completed once, it is possible to solve the problem that the intended specific communication cannot be held promptly as in the conventional case. You can

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram when the present invention is applied to a voice telephone.

In FIG. 1, a microprocessor unit (MPU) 1 sends and receives various call control signals at the time of sending and receiving of this device to and from a switchboard of a network, and further stores user / user information included in a "call setting" signal. It controls the presence or absence and its contents and controls the entire system necessary for voice communication. These controls are performed by software stored in the read only memory (ROM) 2 connected to the MPU 1.

At the time of making a call, when the user inputs the other party's number from the dial key 3, the MPU 1 inputs this and a "call setting" signal for making a call is generated.

The ISDN interface 4 is CCIT
Recommendation I. According to the basic speed interface channel structure defined in 430, two information channels (B channel) having a transmission capacity of 64 kbps and one control channel (D channel) having a transmission capacity of 16 kbps are multiplexed / separated. CCITT recommendation Q. The transmission control function defined by 921 is realized on the D channel, and controls the transmission of call control signals with the exchange of the network via the D channel together with the MPU 1.

On the other hand, the two B channels are multiplexed / separated by the ISDN interface 4, and for example, the B1 channel is connected to the voice codec 6. The voice communication path system is composed of a handset 5 and a voice codec 6, and an analog voice signal from the handset 5 is converted into a 64 kbps digital signal by the μ-low PCM coding system in the voice codec 6 and transmitted through the B1 channel. It will be connected to the voice call system of the other terminal.

Next, the operation will be described.

FIG. 2 shows the operation of the prospective participant terminals B and C when the B1 channel is idle. In the figure,
When the user of the organizer terminal A finishes the dial operation of the partner terminal B, the first "call setting" signal is first sent to the network.

This "call setting" signal includes CCITT recommendation Q. Information of the format shown in FIG. 3 defined by 931 is included. In this case, the "channel identifier" designating the B channel to be used is set to "arbitrary channel", and the "destination number" indicating the other party's number is set to "callee subscriber number", as in the conventional case. .

In the present invention, user-user information is further added, and the content thereof includes communication reservation information for designating a specific communication to be reserved. Here, the specific communication to be reserved is a conference call as an example. As shown in FIG. 4, the communication reservation information includes reservation information types (“reservation” /
"Reservation cancellation"), time information that specifies the set time of the specific communication to be reserved, and calling terminal identification information for identifying an incoming call of the specific communication to be reserved. This first "call setting" signal is notified to the prospective participant terminal B as a "call setting" signal for notifying the incoming call when the line of the called terminal designated by the called number is selected in the network via the network. . The prospective participant terminal B receiving the first "call setup" signal from the network stores the communication reservation information in the user / user information included in the "call setup" signal. Similarly, the first “call setting” signal is also transmitted to the prospective participant terminal C, and the prospective participant terminal C receiving this signal also stores the communication reservation information.

The prospective participant terminal storing the communication reservation information refers to the stored communication reservation information at the time of receiving an incoming call by the second "call setting" signal, and refers to the period specified by the time information ( ta-tb) If the incoming call is outside, the same incoming call processing as the conventional one is performed, and if the incoming call is within the period specified by the time information, the outgoing call included in the second "call setting" signal. If the caller specified by the person's number or other address information for identifying the caller can be detected in the calling terminal identification information in the stored communication reservation information, the call is answered, otherwise the call is received. Refuse.

After responding to the incoming call of the reserved communication, the stored communication reservation information is deleted, so that the incoming call other than the call designated by the stored communication reservation information can be answered.

When the organizer who has reserved the specific communication by transmitting the first "call setting" signal cancels before the setting of the specific communication is completed, as shown in FIG. In addition, communication reservation information (including “reservation cancellation” as reservation information type) for canceling the reservation is added to the user / user information having the same structure as the first “call setting” signal, and the prospective participant Send to the terminal. When the terminal of the prospective participant receives this "call setup" signal via the network and this matches the stored communication reservation information, the stored communication reservation information is deleted and the subsequent incoming call can be answered. .

In FIG. 2, since the sender of the second "call setup" signal is the organizer A and can be detected in the stored calling terminal identification information, the second "call setup" signal is received. The prospective participant terminal sends a "response" signal to the network.
On the contrary, if it cannot be detected in the stored calling terminal information, the "release complete" signal for the second "call setting" signal is transmitted to the network to reject it as an incoming call from the third party. be able to. In this way, the information channel is reserved in the prospective participant terminals only for the incoming call nominated by the communication reservation information notified by the first "call setting" signal. In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the voice telephone has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the voice telephone and can be applied to all communication terminals.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to ISDN.
Although the case where the present invention is applied to the communication terminal having the basic speed interface has been described, this can also be applied to the communication terminal which multiplexes a large number of communication channels such as the primary speed interface.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the communication reservation information is composed of the communication time information and the transmitting end identification information has been described, but the name information of the communication partner related to these pieces of information, the agenda information of the communication, or It may be communication identification information such as code information. In this case, it is necessary to prepare a communication reservation database in each terminal in advance, and to search and obtain the communication time information and the calling terminal identification information from this database using the communication identification information as a key.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a specific communication such as a conference call is performed in a voice telephone, a voice / data combined terminal, a TV telephone, etc., which are connected to a communication network capable of transferring users / user information between terminals, when a specific communication such as a conference call is made, With the user / user information of the call setting signal of No. 1, the communication information for reserving the specific communication is notified to the participant terminals in advance, and at each prospective participant terminal, the communication information in the notified communication reservation information During the period specified by the time information, incoming calls other than the call specified by the calling terminal identification information in the notified communication reservation information are rejected. The channel is surely secured. Therefore, it is not possible to hold the communication promptly at the specified time because it is busy due to an incoming call from a third party at the scheduled time as in the past.
Repeat the call until the participant terminal becomes idle, or if this state continues for a long time, disconnect all calls with other participants and make adjustments for the specific communication again. This has the effect of reducing the labor required and the unnecessary communication cost associated with disconnection in the latter case. Further, according to the present invention, since the incoming call of the specific communication is promptly accepted and the setting of the specific communication is completed once, the desired specific communication can be held promptly, and the utilization efficiency of the communication line is improved. Has a great effect on the improvement of.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram when the present invention is applied to a voice telephone.

FIG. 2 is a call setting sequence when a communication reservation is made and a conference call is performed in a voice telephone to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of a “call setup” signal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a structure of “call reservation information”.

FIG. 5 is a call setting sequence for deleting a communication reservation in the voice telephone to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a call setting sequence for performing a conference notification in a conventional communication terminal.

FIG. 7 is a call setting sequence when a conference call is made in a conventional communication terminal.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a conventional problem.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a conventional problem.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Microprocessor, 2 ... ROM, 3 ... Dial keys, 4 ... ISDN interface, 5 ... Handset,
6 ... Voice codec.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hamami Ikura 70 Yanagi-cho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Toshiba Yanagimachi Co., Ltd. Yanagimachi factory

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a communication terminal connected to a communication network capable of transferring user-user information between terminals, the caller hosting specific communication includes the user / user including reservation information for specific communication. A means for notifying information to a called party participating in the specific communication, wherein the called party participating in the specified communication stores the reservation information notified by the user / user information, and based on the stored reservation information And a means for rejecting an incoming call other than a reserved call. 2. The communication reservation system according to claim 1, wherein the calling side that hosts the specific communication notifies the called side that participates in the specific communication of the user / user information including the reservation cancellation information of the specific communication. The communication reservation system, further comprising means for deleting the stored reservation information based on the reservation cancellation information notified by the user / user information. 3. The communication reservation system according to claim 1, wherein each communication terminal stores a database storing reservation information and information related thereto and communication identification information corresponding to the reservation information, and a reservation notified from the receiving side. A communication reservation system comprising: reservation information corresponding to communication identification information contained in the information; and means for retrieving information related to the reservation information from the database.