KR20090062436A - Apparatus and method for practicing foreign languages using telephone - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a technology for establishing a foreign language conversation practice environment using a communication medium, and a plurality of users interested in a specific foreign language do not know the other party's phone number without exposing personal information such as their phone number or name. Through communication media such as telephone, mobile communication, internet phone, and PC, we create an environment where students can safely practice conversations with various people regardless of time and place.

A centralized voice server is used for this. That is, when each user connects to a voice server through a voice communication medium such as a telephone, the voice server automatically connects the connected users to practice conversation without exposing personal information to the other party.

In addition, through the integration of voice and web servers, users can not only specify the type of partner they want to communicate with, but also manage their conversation practice records, maintain a list of those who do not want to talk, feedback from themselves, Other learning information can be obtained, which is a useful tool for foreign language conversation.

Description

Apparatus and method for practicing foreign language using phone {Freetalking system for the learners of a foreign language using voice chatting system}

The present invention is a technology related to the environment of foreign language conversation practice using a communication medium such as telephone and internet.

Conventionally, a foreign language voice conversation learning model using communication means has a telephone English model for arranging a connection between an instructor and a learner, and people who are interested in a specific language grasp each other's contact information and practice conversation directly, or use the Internet using a central server. The main model has been to create and practice chat rooms.

However, in the case of the instructor-learner model such as telephone English, the learner is placed in a passive position where the learner receives and receives a call through a general telephone or a mobile communication from the instructor who is the communication partner. This model has a cost burden for the learner, the practice time is limited, and above all, it is difficult to practice conversation as much as you want with various partners when you want.

Second, there is not a model of learner vs. instructor, but there is a spontaneous model in which individuals find a person or group to practice their conversation and practice their conversation through their phone number or Internet voice communication address. You must know your address, which will reveal your personal information, such as your phone number or voice address. This can lead to a social problem called stalking, and there is always the hassle of having to contact a person by specifying a person with whom to talk. In addition, if the other party is not waiting at the promised time, the conversation practice opportunity disappears, and if this is repeated, the motivation to learn decreases. In addition, there is no way to prevent the conversational partner from causing unpleasant discomfort to the partner through unhealthy conversations that are not related to conversation practice or conversations with a purpose other than conversation practice.

Thirdly, the second method is applied to create a chat room with a relay server on the Internet so that people interested in foreign language conversation can participate through text and voice chat. However, this type of chat room is not easy to interwork with the phone, prevents unhealthy conversations, and does not systematically prevent the influx of people who do not serve the purpose or purpose. In addition, since there is no system that automatically manages the conversations each member has had, the record management of conversational learning is poor.

 An object of the present invention is to enable people to practice conversation as easily and systematically as they want anytime, anywhere as a convenient communication means such as a telephone or a computer without exposing personal information among people who are interested in the same language conversation.

Voice chat device (hereinafter referred to as voice server) equipped with software that enables people who are interested in conversation practice of a specific language to practice conversation through various communication media without exposing personal information, and users register their information and preferences. He solves the problem through a web server and a database server that can check the record of his conversation through the voice server. Here, the voice server is a server computer for the voice of the users to be finally transmitted through the network. The voices of the users are digitalized for each channel through the network connection part and the voice processing part of the voice server. Controls these voice channels to enable conversation practice between connected users.

In particular, the voice server according to the present invention can automatically connect and search the other person based on the preferences previously entered by the users through the web, and all the conversation practice records are stored in a database, so that the user can use the web later. You can search and manage your conversation practice records, and you can create and manage a list of rejectors for those who do not want to talk.

Through the present invention, a plurality of users interested in a specific foreign language can practice conversation as much as they want in the corresponding language with the anonymous counterpart through a communication medium that can be conveniently used by them. Users do not have to wait for a call to a fixed instructor at a given time for conversation practice, as is the telephone English form of the instructor-learner model. Whenever you want, you can practice speaking with the person you are connected to by connecting to the voice server by phone or Internet phone. In particular, users are not bound to time and place through communication media such as telephones, mobile communications, Internet phones, and PCs, even without exposing personal information such as their phone numbers or names and without knowing their communication addresses. You can safely practice speaking with various people. In addition, the record and help materials for their conversation practice is provided through the web server, which can greatly help the user.

In the present invention, an individual sends a signal that causes communication to the other party through a communication medium on one side for conversation practice, and the other party is not waiting for the structure, but the people who want to talk in a specific language simultaneously connect to the voice server and the voice server is connected to each individual. It is a way to induce conversation practice by connecting the right partner to your taste.

As shown in Figure 1, the user 600, the conversation service from the voice server 100, the database server 200, the web server 300 through the Internet 400 and the voice telephone network 500 It is structured to receive.

1) Voice Server (100)

In other words, the voice server is a computer for a server in which the voices of the users 600 are finally transmitted through a network. The voice server provides an additional service for connecting conversations between users and facilitating a specific foreign language conversation practice. The voice server is divided into a network connection unit 101, a voice processing unit 102, and a conversation control unit 103.

The network connection unit 101 of the voice server is a network termination processor to which a voice server is directly connected. If the network to be connected is a local area network (LAN), a LAN card is required. If the network is connected to a trunk line of a telephone network, an interface for processing the trunk line may be installed. For example, for the E1 line, which is a trunk line system that is frequently used as a telephone trunk, an E1 access device capable of handling the E1 protocol is required. The voice signals raised at the same time through the network connection unit are divided into individual voice channels through the voice processing unit 102, and thus the state can be controlled for each channel.

Now, through the basic voice manipulation functions (APIs) of the voice processing unit 102, a telephone call reception, an automatic answer, a call connection with a connected user, a response to a command that a user presses a button, and a recording are performed according to a conversation practice purpose. Program to perform a general IVR (Interactive Voice Response) function. The program corresponds to the dialogue control unit 103 of the present invention.

When configuring the voice server, the voice processing unit 102 may be implemented by software, but due to the complexity of performance and implementation, a voice card normally provided with the network connection unit 101 is used. The sound card is a hardware that is commercially available as a finished product, and can be configured in various specifications according to detailed network connection conditions. For example, when a voice card for E1 and a voice over IP (Voice Over IP) voice card are used together, the voice server connects not only ordinary telephone users but also VoIP users connected through the Internet. You can do it.

2) database server (200)

The database server is a server that provides and stores and manages all kinds of information necessary for users connected through a voice server or web server. As is well represented in the database server of Fig. 1200, the database server includes member information 201, preference information 202, call information 203, conversation information 204, reject list 205, and accessor list. It consists of several tables, such as (206).

First, the member information 201 table is information of a member who subscribes through a web server, and includes a name, age, gender, contact information, region, foreign language level, member number, password, and the like. The voice server performs authentication through this table, and also uses this table when searching for conversation partners. The second preference information 202 is a table with the conditions for the other member who wants to talk to each member. It has information such as the gender, age group, region, and foreign language level of the person you want to talk to. The third call information 203 means information until each user connects by telephone and ends. Access time, end time, total waiting time, total talk time, call number may be included. Fourth conversation information 204 stores information about a conversation the user has had with a specific partner. It includes information about who has talked with and for how long. It can also include additional information about the conversation partner after viewing the conversation through the web. The fifth reject list 205 is a list of counterparts who do not want to talk by user. If you include a specific party here, you will not be able to connect to that person later. Lastly, the visitor information 206 is information of people connected through the voice server, and the voice server performs connection between people connected based on this table.

3) Web server (300)

The web server is just a user interface and the actual information is stored in the database. That is, the user can query, input, modify, or delete information contained in the database server 200 through the web server. For example, the user 600 may access the web server 401 through the Internet 400 to register his or her personal information, or register the type information of the desired partner. You can also check the conversation information that you shared through the voice server.

4) Internet 400, voice telephone network 500 and user 600

Of course, the Internet is used for web access. And when accessing a voice server through a PC or an Internet phone, it is also through the Internet. Of course, at this time, it connects to VoIP-enabled voice card (network connection + voice processing unit) of voice server through VoIP (Voice Over IP), a higher application protocol used to support voice calls on the Internet. The arrow at 402 shows an example. The voice telephone network 500 is a term that collectively refers to a wired telephone network or a mobile telephone network such as a PSTN. An arrow 501 indicates an example in which the user 600 accesses a voice server through a voice telephone network through a mobile phone or a landline.

The configuration of the invention shown through FIG. 1 was as described above. Now, through Fig. 2, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 how the user can easily practice foreign language conversation without exposing personal information, and finally, through Fig. 5 describes how to easily personal authentication after accessing the voice server do.

Figure 2 shows a subscription procedure in which a user first subscribes to the system in order to practice voice conversation. First, the user registers personal information such as ID, name, age, region, contact, gender, and their conversation level through the web (s210). (The conversation level can be determined by the user himself or according to the policy of the provider providing the service, or it can be designated through an official level test.) Afterwards to register the authentication information to be used when accessing the voice server (s220) Since you need to authenticate with a regular membership number and password will be registered. However, if it is inconvenient to press the member number and password each time you call, you can set your contact as authentication instead. For example, if you set your phone contacts to substitute for authentication, you can call your phone to authenticate without entering your membership number and password. S230 is a step of registering preference information, such as type, gender, age group, conversation level, region, etc. for the user to whom the user wants to talk. Since the preference information registration step does not have to be registered at the time of registration, it can be registered or modified at any time later through the web. If you do not register anything, anyone who wants to talk in that language can be connected.

Fig. 3 shows how the voice server automatically connects users who have completed registration through Fig. 2 to practice conversation without exposing their numbers.

First, the voice server waits until the user's connection is detected through the access signal of the network connection unit (S310). The registered user terminates the waiting step by accessing a voice server through a communication means convenient for him, that is, a landline phone, a mobile phone, or an Internet phone.

S320 is a process of authenticating the member 320 of the connected person through the automatic response function of the voice server. The user authenticates with the member number and password specified by the web server. However, as shown in the description of Figure 2 s220, when the user is set to replace the authentication with the contact number (caller number), the voice server does not ask for the member number and password when the call to the number, the role of personal authentication to the number Can be implemented instead.

For the authenticated user, the voice server starts searching for a partner to practice speaking with (S330). If there is no current conversation partner, the user stays in a waiting state, and this step ends when the other party is found. If the partner is found, the user is connected to the found partner so that the user can practice the conversation (s340), and from this stage, the user can practice the foreign language conversation with the connected partner. The device designed by the present invention does not expose the user's information to the counterpart, unless the counterpart directly exposes his / her information during the conversation. Immediately after the connection, the voice server immediately enters a conversation termination state (s350) continuously monitoring whether the conversation ends. This state continues until the user terminates the conversation by pressing a designated button, generates an end signal from the other party, or hangs up the user. If the user purchases and uses the talk time for a certain period of time, the standby state can be automatically terminated even if the corresponding time has elapsed.

If the end of the conversation (s350) is finished, the conversation termination process (s380) or the connection termination process (s370) is performed according to the termination cause. If the user has only finished chatting with the previous party without ending the connection, the voice server records the database of the conversation that the user had just talked to (the start time, the end time, and the person who had the conversation). Store in In this step, if the user expresses the intention of rejecting the person who has just talked to by pressing the designated phone button for the previous partner, the voice server automatically includes the person in the user's reject list 205. You can never connect with that person again. When the connection is terminated by completely disconnecting the phone, the voice server performs a connection termination process (s370). Various access records such as access time, chat time, chat participation frequency, and waiting time for the member are stored in the database 200.

All information stored in this way can be viewed through the web. Therefore, the user can search his or her conversation practice record anytime after the phone call, and can classify a specific person as a rejector during the inquiry and, on the contrary, exclude some people from the list.

4 illustrates a method of allowing a user to make a call by designating a person to talk to, as well as practicing conversation as the system automatically connects. Even if you don't know the other party's phone number, you can make a call through the known member number of the other party. First, the user is authenticated by accessing the designated phone number of the voice server that can connect to the designated person (s410, s420). If you want to use the number of the voice server that automatically searches for and connects when you implement it, you can implement it to go to the menu where you can designate a partner through the input of the designated phone button after authentication. After authentication, the user designates the desired relative member number using the phone button (s430). The voice server checks the permission of the other party to receive the call through the member information 201 table of the database 200 (s440), and if the voice server is allowed, the voice server attempts to call directly (s450). When the server and the other member is connected to the call, by simply sending a guide message through the automatic answering function to confirm the acceptance of the connection, and connects the user and the person you want to talk (s460). The other party connected to the user can now have voice chat from this point on, and the server waits for the conversation to end.

When the conversation is over, it is checked whether the connection is terminated (s470), and when the user hangs up the call, a record of this is stored in the database 200 (s490), and the user later manages his / her call log through the web. You can make it work. If the user presses the end conversation button or if the other party ends the conversation and ends the conversation, the user saves information about the conversation (s490) and attempts to talk with another person.

Lastly, Fig. 5 describes a method of simply replacing caller ID (mobile phone number, phone number, Internet phone number, etc.) without the inconvenience of having to press the member number password in personal authentication when the user connects to the voice server. . Therefore, FIG. 5 is a more detailed step-by-step flowchart for the member authentication step of S320 of FIG. 3 and S420 of FIG.

First, the voice server determines the caller ID (s510). (The caller ID is determined by the dialogue control unit through the API of the voice processing unit) And the member information 201 of the database 200 is searched to determine whether the caller ID is included in the list of IDs that are authenticated with the caller ID. (S520). This is because the database 200 stores information set by the user to authenticate with a specific caller ID through the web as described in the description of step S220 of FIG. 2.

If it is included in the list, the voice server identifies the member ID through the caller ID and completes the member authentication (s570). If the ID is not authenticated by the caller ID, the user is requested to receive a member number (s530) and a password (s540) through an automatic response function to perform member authentication (s560).

Finally, the present invention has been described mainly for 1: 1 connection, but when the voice card is configured to support the multi-party call, it is extended to a system for finding and connecting a group so that the connected users can practice foreign language conversation together. It is also possible.

1 is a block diagram showing the components of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart showing the order of signing up for voice conversation practice according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flowchart showing how the voice server automatically manages the connected users for conversation practice.

4 is a flowchart showing whether a voice server allows a voice connection to be made to a counterpart member without exposing the counterpart member's telephone number when the user wants to directly talk to a specific counterpart member.

5 is a flowchart showing how to authenticate a member through caller ID.

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

100: voice server (computer that processes voice traffic transmitted through the network)

200: database server

300: web server

400: Internet

500: voice telephone network

600: user

501: Connection via landline or mobile phone

402: Voice Voice over IP (Voice Over IP)

Claims (5)

A speech processing unit comprising a network connection unit, a speech processing unit, and a conversation processing unit, the computer being designed to control a voice signal transmitted through a telephone communication network for the purpose of practicing foreign language conversation; Database means composed of user's member information, preference information, call information, conversation information, reject list information, visitor information, and the like; A web server means which records and manages user information, conversation practice information of the user, etc. in association with a voice processing means through a database means so that a user can easily input, inquire, modify, and delete through the Internet; Foreign language voice connection device and system, characterized in that consisting of The method of claim 1, Registering member information of the user; A preference information registration step of allowing the user to specify condition information such as a region, age, gender, conversation level, etc. of the counterpart who wishes to talk; Automatically authenticating a member based on user information previously input by the user when the user makes a call; Automatically searching for and connecting a contact based on the user's preference information after authentication; Recording the user's conversation practice record and commands performed during a telephone call in a database so that the user can later retrieve his or her conversation practice record through the web at any time; Foreign language conversation practice The method of claim 2, If the other party does not like the conversation, after the conversation is over, by inputting a designated phone button for the other party so that the other party is not connected again; Retrieving a conversation history through the web even after the dial-up is terminated, leaving a specific conversation partner in a rejection state so as not to be connected with him again, or releasing it from the reject list so that a person who has already been denied can talk again; Reject list management method characterized in that In the membership certification step of paragraph 2, If you want to talk directly to a specific partner, Connecting and authenticating a user to a telephone server; Designating a known member number of the other member through an input means called a telephone button, even if the conversation partner's telephone number is not known; Attempting to make a phone call according to whether or not the voice server permits the other member to receive a call; Making a dialogue connection between the user and the other member; Recording the user's conversation record and telephone call record in a database so that the user can later search his conversation practice record through the web anytime; Foreign Language Practice Conversation including the above steps In the member authentication step of paragraph 2, When the user registers his or her personal information when registering his or her landline or mobile phone contact information, setting up to replace the authentication with the corresponding contact number; When the user accesses the voice server by the set phone, the voice server recognizes that the user is the caller number only, and passes the authentication without asking for the member number password; Personal authentication method

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