JP2006261709A - Transfer telephone method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate a long transfer time in sequential automatic call transfer and to take a sufficient time until a called party answers (off-hook).
When there is an incoming call to a telephone terminal (A) connected to a communication network (1) according to the Internet protocol, at least one telephone terminal (desired to be transferred to the communication network (1)) The identification information of B1, B2, B3) is registered as the transfer destination telephone terminal (B1, B2, B3), and when there is an incoming call to the telephone terminal (A), this incoming telephone terminal (A) is already registered for transfer If the transfer destination registration has been completed, the incoming call notification is sent to all the transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2, B3) at the same time. The transfer destination telephone terminal (B3) responding to is selected and transferred as an incoming call transfer destination, and the subsequent operations for the other transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2) are terminated.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer telephone method and apparatus. Specifically, when there is an incoming call to an IP telephone terminal connected to a communication network (hereinafter referred to as an IP network) based on the Internet protocol (IP), it is promptly sent to another IP telephone terminal registered in advance as a transfer destination. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new transfer telephone method and apparatus that can be transferred to a telephone.

    FIG. 6 is an element configuration diagram showing a conventional example. A private telephone exchange / transfer device 6K and private telephone terminals AK, B1K, B2K, B3K,... BnK are connected to the private network 1K. The local communication network 1K is a LAN (local information communication network), an IP network, or the communication line 9K is n + 1 communication lines, and n + 1 local telephone terminals AK, B1K, B2K, B3K. ,... May be a communication network individually connected in a star-like manner to BnK.

  The private telephone exchange / transfer device 6K is connected to the general telephone network 2 by a communication line 8. The user of the local telephone terminal AK will go around the place where the local telephone terminals B1K, B2K, and B3K are installed, so that incoming calls addressed to the local telephone terminal AK are firstly the local telephone terminal B1K and secondly the local telephone terminal. Assume that B2K, thirdly, transfer is desired in the transfer order of the local telephone terminal B3K, and the transfer is registered in the local telephone exchange / transfer device 6K.

  Now, when there is an incoming call from the telephone terminal T connected to the general telephone network 2 to the private telephone terminal AK, the private telephone exchange / transfer device 6K checks whether or not the private telephone terminal AK is registered for transfer. Since the private telephone terminal AK has already been registered for transfer, the private telephone terminal B1K in the first transfer order is called. In this call, a call bell is sounded for a predetermined call period (for example, 20 seconds). If there is no response (off-hook) of the local telephone terminal AK within this predetermined calling period, the local telephone terminal B2K of the second transfer order is called. If there is no response (off-hook) of the local telephone terminal B2K within a predetermined calling period, the local telephone terminal B3K of the third transfer order is called.

  In such a case, when a large number of transfer destinations are registered, if the called party is in the vicinity of the local telephone terminal B3K having the lowest transfer order, the ringing bell of the local telephone terminal B3K from the incoming call to the local telephone terminal AK. There is a problem that a long transfer time of 40 seconds is required before the start of ringing. As the number of local telephone terminals at the transfer destination increases, the transfer time becomes longer.

  In order to solve the problem of the long transfer time, if a predetermined ringing period (for example, 20 seconds) is set to a short period (for example, 10 seconds), the incoming call to the local telephone terminal AK is changed to the calling bell of the local telephone terminal B3K. The time required to start ringing is 20 seconds, which is a considerable improvement. However, there is a big problem in shortening the predetermined calling period.

  If the predetermined ringing period is, for example, 10 seconds, the called party must answer (off-hook) within 10 seconds from the start of ringing of the nearest private telephone terminal. If this is missed, the ringing operation of the ringing bell will move to the next-ranked private telephone terminal, and a new problem of incapability of answering will occur that the called party will not be able to answer.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a telephone having a transfer function. Here, the required number of automatic call transfer destination telephone numbers to which priority is given is written, and if there is no response after a certain period of time, automatic call transfer is repeated sequentially based on the priority (patent) Claim 1 of Document 1.

In the invention of Patent Document 1, when there is no response even after a certain time has elapsed, the automatic incoming call transfer is repeated sequentially based on the priority order, so the long transfer time described with reference to FIG. 6 is required. The problem remains unresolved. If this long transfer time is to be shortened, the aforementioned problem of inability to respond will newly arise.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-44590

    In order to solve the problem of long transfer time in sequential automatic call transfer, if the predetermined call period is set to a short period, it is considerably improved. However, a major problem newly arises in shortening the predetermined calling period.

  When the predetermined ringing period is shortened, the called party must respond (off-hook) in a short time from the start of ringing of the calling bell of the nearest local telephone terminal. If this is missed, the ringing operation of the ringing bell moves to the next-ranked private telephone terminal, and the called party cannot answer. This is why a solution to this is strongly desired.

When there is an incoming call to a telephone terminal connected to a communication network (IP network) based on the Internet protocol, identification information (telephone number) of at least one telephone terminal connected to the IP network is transferred to Register the forwarding destination as a phone terminal,
When there is an incoming call to a telephone terminal, it is checked whether or not the destination telephone terminal has already registered the forwarding destination. If the forwarding destination registration has been completed, all the forwarding destination telephone terminals are simultaneously registered. So that the transfer destination telephone terminal that first responded to the call notification is selected and transferred as the transfer destination of the incoming call, and the subsequent operations for the other transfer destination telephone terminals are terminated. did.

  According to the transfer telephone method and apparatus of the present invention, since automatic call transfer is not performed sequentially, the problem of long transfer time associated with sequential transfer does not occur. Since there is no need to set a predetermined calling period, a new problem of shortening the predetermined calling period does not occur. The problem that the called party cannot respond due to the shortening of the predetermined calling period does not occur. Even if the number of transfer destinations increases, the transfer time does not increase. Therefore, many transfer destinations can be set, and the transfer time can be extremely shortened.

When there is an incoming call to an IP telephone terminal connected to a communication network (IP network) based on the Internet Protocol (IP), identification information (telephone) of at least one IP telephone terminal desiring to be transferred connected to the IP network Number) as the forwarding IP phone terminal,
When there is an incoming call to the IP telephone terminal, it is checked whether or not the incoming IP telephone terminal has already registered the transfer destination. If the transfer destination registration has been completed, the registered transfer destination IP telephone terminal IP address transmission is simultaneously sent to all of the IP addresses, the forwarding IP phone terminal that first responded to the incoming notification is selected as the forwarding destination of the incoming call, forwarded, and to other forwarding IP phone terminals The subsequent operation was configured to end.

  FIG. 1 is an element configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. An IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 and IP telephone terminals A, B1, B2, B3,... Bn are connected to the private network 1. The IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 is connected to the general telephone network 2 by a communication line 8. Since the user of the IP telephone terminal A will now travel around the place where the IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3 are installed, incoming calls addressed to the IP telephone terminal A are sent to the IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3, which are forwarding destinations. Assume that the transfer is desired and the transfer destination is registered in the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6. Here, the general telephone network 2 may be a conventional public telephone line, LAN, or IP network.

  Now, when there is an incoming call from the telephone terminal T connected to the general telephone network 2 to the IP telephone terminal A, the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 checks whether or not the transfer destination registration of the IP telephone terminal A is present. Since the telephone terminal A that is the destination of the incoming call has been registered as the forwarding destination, the IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3 connected to the IP network 1 that is the forwarding destination are called simultaneously. This simultaneous call is made by a packet destined for each of the IP telephone terminals B1, B2 and B3.

  For example, when a packet for the IP telephone terminal B1 is transmitted from the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6, a packet for the IP telephone terminal B2 is subsequently transmitted from the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6, followed by the IP telephone terminal. A packet for B3 is transmitted from the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6. Therefore, there is a delay at least in the unit of one packet period at the time of sending packets to the IP telephone terminals B1, B2 and B3 in the sequential sending of packets.

  However, the delay in units of the packet period and the delay difference in the transmission path are significantly smaller than those of the user who goes off-hook at the transfer destination and can be ignored. Therefore, a call by packet to each of the IP telephone terminals B1, B2 and B3 will be referred to as simultaneous call or simultaneous call.

  Since the IP telephone terminals B1, B2 and B3 registered as transfer destinations by this simultaneous call emit a ringing tone, the user picks up the nearest IP telephone terminal, for example, B3 handset (off-hook). . The IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 that has detected the off-hook of the IP telephone terminal B3 selects the IP telephone terminal B3 as the transfer destination, and thereafter, communication between the telephone terminal T and the IP telephone terminal B3 is started. . On the other hand, when the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 detects the off-hook of the IP telephone terminal B3, the request for calling the IP telephone terminals B1 and B2 is terminated, and the generation of the ringing tone at the IP telephone terminals B1 and B2 is also terminated. .

  Therefore, the time until the start of communication between the telephone terminal T and the destination IP telephone terminal B3 is the same as when no transfer is performed. Strictly speaking, as compared with the case where the transfer is not performed, the telephone terminal A which is the destination of the incoming call checks whether or not the transfer destination is registered, and the IP telephone exchange / transfer required for detecting the IP telephone terminal as the transfer destination Only the processing time in the device 6 is extra, and this processing time is also significantly smaller than the operation of the user who goes off-hook at the transfer destination and can be completely ignored. It can be said that the delay time associated with the transfer is zero.

  FIG. 2 is an internal functional configuration diagram of the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 which is an important component of FIG. This includes an IP line accommodating exchange trunk 11, a transfer destination selection unit 12, and a transfer destination registration unit 13. The IP line accommodation exchange trunk 11 is a trunk for accommodating and exchanging the communication line 8 and the communication line 9 which is an IP line.

    When there is an incoming call to the telephone terminal A connected to the IP network 1, the transfer destination registration unit 13 receives at least one IP telephone terminal connected to the IP network 1, for example, B1, B2, It has a function of registering (storing) B3 identification information as transfer destination telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3.

  The transfer destination selection unit 12 selects a transfer destination. In this case, when there is an incoming call to the IP phone terminal A via the IP line accommodating / switching trunk 11, the transfer destination registration unit 13 is inquired as to whether or not the incoming IP phone terminal A has already registered the transfer destination. If the transfer destination registration has been completed, the identification information (telephone number) of the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, B3 is read from the transfer destination registration section 13, and the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, B3 are read out. Incoming call notifications are simultaneously transmitted to all of the above through the IP line accommodating / switching trunk 11. For example, the transfer destination IP telephone terminal B3 that responded first to the incoming call notification is selected as the incoming call transfer destination and transferred. The subsequent operation for the other transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1 and B2 is instructed via the IP line accommodating / switching trunk 11 to end. Accordingly, the ringing tone of the IP telephone terminals B1 and B2 is stopped at that time.

  FIG. 3 is a panel configuration diagram (a) of the IP telephone terminals A, B1, B2, B3... Bn, which are components of FIG. 1, and a panel operation diagram (b) showing a transfer destination registration procedure. The panel includes a dial key 21, a registration key 23, and a transfer key 24. When the user of IP telephone terminal A registers a transfer destination, IP telephone terminal A is operated as follows. First, the registration key 23 is pressed, the transfer key 24 is pressed, and the identification information (telephone number) of the IP telephone terminal A is pressed by the dial key 21 and input, and then the transfer key 24 is pressed and transferred for each transfer destination. The identification information (telephone number) of the destination IP phone terminal is pressed and entered using the dial key 21 to make one set, and the number of destinations required for the destination is pressed and entered, and finally the registration key 24 is pressed and the destination is transferred. End registration.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation flow in the configuration of FIG. The user of IP telephone terminal A has already completed transfer destination registration. When there is an incoming call to the IP telephone terminal A (S1), the transfer destination registration unit 13 is inquired to check whether or not the incoming IP telephone terminal A has already registered the transfer destination (S2). If the transfer destination registration has been completed (S2Y), the transfer destination registration unit 13 is searched to read the identification information (telephone number) of the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, B3 (S3).

  An incoming call notification (call signal) is simultaneously transmitted to all of the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3 via the IP line accommodating / switching trunk 11, and the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3 are in the calling state. Transition to generate a ringing tone (S4). First, for example, IP telephone terminal B3 responds (off-hook) to the ringing tone (incoming call notification) (S5). If this off-hook is the first one (S6Y), the transfer destination IP phone terminal B3 is selected as the transfer destination of the incoming call, transitions to a call state (S7), the phone terminal T and the transfer destination IP phone terminal B3 A call is made between the two, and the transfer operation ends (S8). When the off-hook is not the first one (S6N), the call operation of the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1 and B2 other than the transfer destination IP telephone terminal B3 that has been off-hook first is terminated.

  FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing transition of operation in the configuration of FIG. Here, a case is shown in which a transfer operation is executed in conformity with a communication control protocol SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) used in an IP telephone or the like. The user of the IP telephone terminal A has already registered the IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3 as transfer destinations. The telephone terminal T calls the IP telephone terminal A, and the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 has an incoming call (INVITE) to the IP telephone terminal A and confirms the incoming call (100 Trying) (S21).

  When the destination IP telephone terminal A inquires the transfer destination registration unit 13 to determine whether or not the transfer destination registration has already been completed, the transfer destination registration has been completed (S22). The transfer destination registration unit 13 is searched to read the identification information (telephone number) of the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3, and the transfer call line (transfer) is transferred to all of the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3. (IP packet) representing the outgoing call), the IP telephone exchange / transfer device 6 transmits the incoming call (INVITE) to the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, B3 all at once, and confirms the incoming call (100 Trying) (S23). .

  Therefore, the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1, B2, and B3 shift to a calling state (180 Ringing) and generate a ringing tone. This ringing tone is also transmitted to the telephone terminal T (S24). First, for example, the IP telephone terminal B 3 responds to the ringing tone and goes off-hook (200 OK), and receives an acknowledgment (ACK) from the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6. At the same time, off-hook (200 OK) is transmitted from the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 to the telephone terminal T, and a call is started by an acknowledgment (ACK) (S25).

  Since the first off-hook is from the IP telephone terminal B3, the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 notifies the transfer cancellation (CANCEL) to the transfer destination IP telephone terminals B1 and B2 (S26). Thereafter, even if there is an off-hook (200 OK) in the IP telephone terminals B1 and B2, no receipt notification (ACK) is received from the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 (S27). The transfer work related to B2 is abandoned (487 Request Terminated) (S28). Accordingly, the IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus 6 issues an abandonment receipt notification (ACK) to the IP telephone terminals B1 and B2 (S29), and the transfer operation ends.

  In the above description, the call was made from the telephone terminal T to the IP telephone terminal A. However, it will be apparent from the above description that the same effect can be obtained even when a call is made from IP telephone terminal Bn to IP telephone terminal A. It will be easily understood that the number of IP telephone terminals and the number of destination IP telephone terminals are not limited to the above example, and can be arbitrarily set.

It is the element block diagram which showed the Example of the transfer telephone method and apparatus of this invention. Example 1 FIG. 2 is an internal functional configuration diagram of an IP telephone exchange / transfer apparatus, which is an important component of FIG. FIG. 2 is a panel operation diagram showing a configuration of an IP telephone terminal panel which is a component of FIG. 1 and a transfer registration procedure. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations in the configuration of FIG. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing transition of operations in the configuration of FIG. It is the element block diagram which showed the prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

1 IP network
1K local area network
2 General telephone network
6 IP telephone exchange / transfer equipment
6K private telephone exchange / transfer equipment
8, 9 Communication line
11 IP line accommodation switching trunk
12 Destination selection part
13 Destination registration section
21 Dial keys
23 Registration key
24 Transfer keys A, B1, B2, B3, Bn IP telephone terminals AK, B1K, B2K, B3K, BnK Local telephone terminals T Telephone terminals

Claims (4)

When there is an incoming call to the telephone terminal (A) connected to the communication network (1) according to the Internet protocol, at least one telephone terminal (B1, B2) that desires transfer connected to the communication network (1) , B3), the transfer destination registration process (13) for registering the identification information as the transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2, B3),
When there is an incoming call to the telephone terminal (A), it is checked whether or not the incoming telephone terminal (A) has already completed the transfer destination registration, and if the transfer destination registration has been completed, Send all incoming call notifications to all the transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2, B3), and select the transfer destination telephone terminal (B3) that responded first to the incoming call notification as the transfer destination of the incoming call Then, the transfer telephone method performs the transfer destination selection process (12) so that the subsequent operation for the other transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2) is completed. In the transfer destination registration process (13),
After the telephone terminal (A) is operated, the registration key, the transfer key, and the dial key for inputting the identification information of the telephone terminal (A) are pressed, and then the transfer key and the transfer destination telephone for each transfer destination. 2. The transfer telephone method according to claim 1, wherein only one set of necessary transfer destinations is entered by pressing the terminal identification information as one set, and finally the registration key is pressed. When there is an incoming call to the telephone terminal (A) connected to the communication network (1) according to the Internet protocol, at least one telephone terminal (B1, B2) that desires transfer connected to the communication network (1) , B3) transfer destination registration means (13) for registering the identification information as transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2, B3);
When there is an incoming call to the telephone terminal (A), it is checked whether or not the incoming telephone terminal (A) has already completed the transfer destination registration, and if the transfer destination registration has been completed, Send all incoming call notifications to all the transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2, B3), and select the transfer destination telephone terminal (B3) that responded first to the incoming call notification as the transfer destination of the incoming call The transfer telephone apparatus includes transfer destination selection means (12) for transferring the data and transferring the subsequent operations to the other transfer destination telephone terminals (B1, B2). In the transfer destination registration means (13),
After the telephone terminal (A) is operated, the registration key, the transfer key, and the dial key for inputting the identification information of the telephone terminal (A) are pressed, and then the transfer key and the transfer destination telephone for each transfer destination. 4. The transfer telephone apparatus according to claim 3, wherein only one set of necessary transfer destinations is pressed and input as terminal information, and finally a registration key is pressed.

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