JPH0983646A - Telephone exchange system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inform the state of the terminal of an incoming-side to the terminal of a call-side and to prevent the problem of an invalid call for long time by means of the terminal of the call-side by permitting the terminal of the incoming-side to previously select and register a ring back tone. SOLUTION: A controller 20 registers the ring back tone which is registration- requested in accordance with a terminal A based on the registration request of the ring back tone from the terminal A. When the terminal A becomes the incoming-side, the registered ring back tone is transmitted to the terminal B of the call-side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone exchange system including a telephone exchange device in a data communication system for performing data communication including voice communication using a telephone line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a telephone service provided by a conventional telephone switching system, a caller cannot obtain information on a called party at all until the called party answers, for example, regardless of the absence of the called party. In some cases, calls may continue for a long time.
This is not preferable in terms of providing excellent services to subscribers and invalidation suspension of communication equipment. Also, in terms of specific usability, even if it is generally appropriate to make a call, the called party may have inappropriate time to talk (for example, during medical treatment), It is preferable that some information be given to the caller so as to refrain from the call other than the above call.

[0003] It is possible to notify the information of the called party after setting up a call by using a voice response device or the like. For example,
In the data communication apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-92965, a ringback tone is stopped after a certain period of time has passed as a terminal function, and a line is released to the calling side as a notification that the called side cannot talk. Is urging. In other words, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-92965, if a call does not start after a lapse of a predetermined time after a call request is detected, a signal indicating absence is sent to the calling side to urge release of the call.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-72256 discloses a signal for determining whether a call terminal or a data terminal is connected to a receiving side after a call is set.
A telephone terminal device having means for streaming a voice message is disclosed.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Including the above example,
The conventional telephone exchange system has the following problems.

First, all means for transmitting the state of the called party to the calling party are for exchanging information between terminals for which a communication path has been set, and were possible only at the burden of the caller. This is because a signal cannot be sent from the called side to the calling side during a call.

Second, there is a possibility that the existing terminal may malfunction if the subscriber is allowed to change the ringback tone. Further, there is a possibility that the caller does not recognize that the call is being made and abandons the call halfway. This is because some communication terminals often operate in response to ringback tones, so different ringback tones may behave differently, and callers are more likely to misunderstand. It is in.

Third, there is a possibility that a mismatch occurs between the ringback tone recognized by the network and the ringback tone recognized by the subscriber. this is,
Subscribers may forget their settings.

Fourth, a subscriber needs a method for easily selecting a desired ringback tone without requiring a special terminal. This is because the subscriber must be able to correctly select a desired ringback tone from the limited functions of the existing terminal.

An object of the present invention is to provide a telephone switching system which suppresses long-term telephone calls and makes effective use of network resources.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a telephone switching system which prevents malfunction of a terminal and misidentification of a subscriber even when various ringback tones are used.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a telephone switching system capable of informing a subscriber of the type of ring-back tone during selection.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a telephone exchange system in which a ringback tone can be easily selected.

[0014]

According to the present invention, there is provided a telephone exchange apparatus to which a plurality of terminals are connected and which connects between the terminals.
A plurality of ringback tone generators that respectively generate any one of the plurality of ringback tones, and select any one of the plurality of ringback tone generators to the calling terminal via the telephone exchange device. In a telephone exchange system having a control device for controlling transmission of a ringback tone, the control device associates the ringback tone for which a registration request has been made with the terminal based on the ringback tone registration request from the terminal. A telephone exchange system is obtained in which the registered ringback tone is sent to the calling terminal when the terminal becomes the receiving side.

According to the present invention, it is also possible to obtain the telephone exchange system in which the control device sends a normal ringback tone to the calling terminal for a predetermined time before sending the registered ringback tone.

According to the present invention, the control device further comprises:
When a ring back tone registration request is issued from a terminal, the terminal sequentially monitors by switching each of the plurality of ring back tones according to a hook signal from the terminal. A telephone switching system is provided which registers ringback tones when signaled.

According to the present invention, there is further provided the telephone exchange system having a ringing tone generator for generating and transmitting a ringing tone corresponding to a ringback tone registered by the terminal to a destination terminal.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A telephone exchange system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a telephone exchange system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a plurality of telephone exchange systems (see FIG.
In this case, two terminals A and B are connected, and terminals AB
And a plurality of ringback tone generators (hereinafter, referred to as RBT generators) for respectively generating any of a plurality of ringback tones.
And a control device 20 for selecting one of the plurality of ring-back tone generators and transmitting the ring-back tone to the calling terminal via the telephone exchange 10.

In the present embodiment, as the plurality of RBT generators, a normal RBT generator 31 for generating a normal ringback tone, and first to n-th (n is a natural number of 2 or more) ringbacks different from the normal ones. The first to n-th special RBT generators 32-1 to 32-n for generating tones are included.

As will be described in detail later, the control device 20 registers the ringback tone for which the registration request has been made in accordance with this terminal based on the ringback tone registration request from the terminal, and also registers the ringback tone when the terminal arrives. When it comes to the side,
The registered ring back tone is transmitted to the terminal on the calling side.

Now, for example, terminal A, who is going to receive the service of the telephone exchange system, requests the control device 20 to change the registration of the desired ringback tone by dialing a predetermined telephone number, for example. And
When the terminal A is called from the terminal B, for example, the control device 20 sends the terminal A out of the normal RBT generator 31 and the first to n-th special RBT generators 32-1 to 32-n. And sends the registered ringback tone to terminal B.

For example, the ringing tone generator 40 shown in FIG. 2 may be inserted and arranged at the point a in FIG. 1, that is, between the telephone exchange 10 and the terminal. Ringer 40
Are a ringback tone detector (hereinafter referred to as an RBT detector) 401 for extracting and analyzing a ringback tone,
A ring tone generating unit 402 that generates a ring tone according to the ringback tone based on the detection result of the BT detection unit 401. In the case of this configuration, when the terminal A is the receiving side, the control unit 20 also sends the registered ringback tone to the terminal A, and generates a ringing tone corresponding to the ringback tone. By generating the device 40, the terminal A can confirm again what kind of ringback tone is registered by itself. Note that the ringing tone generator 40 may be provided in each terminal, for example.

Next, the operation of the telephone exchange system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

For example, when the control device 20 receives a registration request (or change request) from the subscriber of the terminal A (step s1), the ring back tone currently being registered (FIG. 3).
RB) to terminal A (step s).
2). The subscriber of the terminal A disconnects if it is the desired ringback tone (step s5). This disconnection is an example of an instruction signal indicating that the ringback tone should be registered. The subscriber of the terminal A performs “Hook” when the ringback tone is not the desired one, and changes the registration to the next ringback tone when the control device 20 detects “Hook” (step s4) (step s4). ). Further, the registered ring back tone is transmitted (step s2). The subscriber of terminal A repeats this until the desired ringback tone comes out. If a desired ringback tone comes out, disconnect it (step s5) and register it (step s5).
6).

For example, when the terminal A is called from the terminal B, it is input to the control device 20 as an incoming call processing request (step s7). The control device 20 activates a timer (not shown) (step s8). During the period of this timer, even if a special ringback tone is registered, at least the terminal B receives the normal ringback tone.
(Step s9). If the terminal B is disconnected or the terminal A responds (step s10), the process is terminated.

When the control unit 20 detects that the timer has timed out (step s11), the control unit 2
0 transmits the ringback tone registered by the terminal A to at least the terminal B (step s12). The transmission of the ring-back tone is performed until the terminal B disconnects or the terminal A responds (step s13).

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a telephone exchange system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, in the telephone exchange system,
A ringback tone generator (hereinafter, referred to as an RBT generator) 60-1 includes a normal normal ringback tone generator (hereinafter, referred to as a normal RBTP generator) 602 and a first ringback tone different from the normal ringback tone. To n-th (n is 2
Special ringback tone generator (hereinafter referred to as a special RBTP generator) 603-1 to 603-
n, and a control unit 601 that controls these.

The RBT generator 60-1 is, for example, a configuration for the terminal C. When terminal C issues a registration change request, control unit 601 of RBT generating apparatus 60 selects a ringback tone desired by the subscriber of terminal C in the same operation as in the first embodiment. Now, for example, when the terminal D calls the terminal C, a not-shown general control device or the like selects (the control unit 601 of) the RBT generation device 60 corresponding to the terminal C, and communicates this with the terminal C and the terminal D. Connecting.

Note that the ringing tone generator 40 shown in FIG. 2 may be inserted and arranged at, for example, the point c in FIG. 4, that is, between the telephone exchange 50 and the terminal, similarly to the first embodiment. Good.

The RBT generator 60-m (m is 2
The above (natural numbers) are for terminals different from the terminal C, and have the same configuration as the RBT generator 60-1 (not shown). That is, the RBT generator according to Embodiment 2
It is provided for each terminal that receives this service.

The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that control is independent for each terminal (subscriber) who receives a service.
For example, it is easy to transmit a subscriber-specific signal.
For example, it is easy to register a message instead of a signal, which also helps prevent erroneous dialing.

[0033]

According to the telephone exchange system of the present invention, the control device registers the ringback tone for which registration has been requested in accordance with the ringback tone registration request from the terminal in association with the terminal and the terminal. Since the registered ring back tone is transmitted to the terminal on the calling side when is the receiving side, the following effects are obtained.

It is possible to notify the state of the receiving side without placing a burden on the transmitting side, thereby preventing a long-term invalid call. In other words, if the receiving side transmits a ringback tone different from the normal state when the user is absent, the called party can know the absence and can stop the call at an early stage.

Further, it is possible to prevent malfunction of existing terminals and misidentification of subscribers. That is, by transmitting a normal ring-back tone for the first fixed period, the terminal and the subscriber can recognize that the terminal is in a ringing state, thereby preventing a malfunction of the existing terminal and a false recognition of the subscriber.

Further, the subscriber can know the type of the ringback tone during selection, and the state recognized by the subscriber matches the state set in the exchange. This is for transmitting a ringing tone linked to the ring back tone at the time of an incoming call.

In addition, it is possible to prevent the ringback tone selection error of the subscriber. That is, the subscriber can select a desired ringback tone while listening to the ringback tone.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a telephone exchange system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a ring tone generating device applied to the telephone exchange system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the telephone exchange system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a telephone exchange system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 50 Telephone switching device 20 Control device 31 Normal ringback tone generating device 32-1 First special ringback tone generating device 32-n nth special ringback tone generating device 40 Ring tone generating device 60-1 to 60 -M ring back tone generator 401 ring back tone detector 402 ring tone generator 601 controller 602 normal ring back tone generator 603-1 first special ring back tone generator 603-n nth special ring back Tone generator A, B, C, D terminals

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A telephone switching device to which a plurality of terminals are connected and which makes a connection between the terminals, a plurality of ringback tone generators which respectively generate any of a plurality of ringback tones, and the plurality of ringback tones. In a telephone exchange system having a control device for selecting any one of the generating devices and performing a control of sending a ringback tone to a calling terminal via the telephone switching device, the control device is Based on the ringback tone registration request, the ringback tone requested to be registered is registered in association with the terminal, and when the terminal becomes the destination side, the registered ringback tone is sent to the originating terminal. A telephone exchange system characterized by being 2. The telephone exchange system according to claim 1, wherein the control device sends a normal ringback tone to the calling terminal for a predetermined time before sending the registered ringback tone. 3. The control device, when registering a ringback tone from a terminal, switches each of the plurality of ringback tones in response to a hook signal from the terminal to cause the terminal to sequentially monitor, The telephone exchange system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a ringback tone when a predetermined signal to register is received from the terminal is registered. 4. The telephone exchange according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a ringing tone generating device for generating and transmitting a ringing tone corresponding to a ringback tone registered by the terminal to the receiving side terminal. system.