JP2001339518A - Contact system by phone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system that has a database of experts, can access the experts via a communication means such as the Internet and a public communication network and allows users to contact the experts while protecting at least private information of the experts. SOLUTION: This invention provides the system matching experts with users when the user consults with the experts. A server computer is provided with a memory means that stores personal information of the users and the experts, a client computer has a request means to request the server computer about consultation with the expert, the server computer has an extract means to extract experts adaptive to request information, the client computer has a decision means to decide an expert to be consulted with among the extracted experts, and the system has a communication means. When the communication means receives a communication from the user, the communication means transfers this communication to the decided expert without disclosing at least the private information of the expert between the user and the decided expert.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for executing a business model using a computer when a user consults with a contact person such as an expert.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there have been the following systems of this kind. First, when a user contacts a specific expert, the user first searches for a specific expert in a telephone directory or an Internet homepage. After confirming the name and skills of the expert, the user calls or emails the expert. In the phone book and homepage,
The name, background, and specialty of the expert are described. When consulting with an expert, users will ask questions after clarifying their names, addresses and telephone numbers.

[0003] Second, there is one called dial Q2. This is a service in which a specific expert registers in dial Q2 and collects an information provision fee from a user according to a call time. It is possible for a particular expert to independently apply for a telecommunications carrier such as NTT or NTT DOCOMO, receive a review, and provide services.

Third, there is a so-called party line or conference call. This allows a user to make a call while maintaining anonymity by calling a fixed telephone number. Fourth, there is a conventional example using an Internet bulletin board or the like. This system consults experts at bulletin boards on the Internet and provides advice to users from the experts. Fifth, find experts on the Internet and ask questions directly by e-mail. that time,
Both users and experts disclose private information such as email addresses.

[0006] Sixth, there is a so-called support call center. This is a telephone reception center provided by a company or a specific organization. Users can receive various kinds of advice from experts through this system.

[0006]

This system has the following problems. In the first conventional example, the user cannot accurately and quickly select an expert to consult. If the question is extremely personal or specific to the user, the user does not want to disclose personal information, such as name and address, to specialists.

On the other hand, on the expert side, in order to avoid being attacked by a question from a specific user or receiving an excessive complaint about the contents of the answer, the expert is provided with the ability as an expert. You may want to hide your private information, such as your address and name. In addition, the user cannot know the ability of each expert or the evaluation from other users.

Further, in the second conventional example, from the user's point of view, it is necessary to remember a telephone number for each specific expert, and there is no listing. In addition, since the user cannot view the evaluation from the user for each expert, there is no means for obtaining objective information about the expert, and the expert to be consulted cannot be selected accurately and quickly. . There is no consideration that the user can select an expert from the list of experts and refer to the real-time evaluation of each expert and make a telephone call directly.

In the third conventional example, it is possible for an unspecified number of users to have a conversation, but it is impossible to make a call to a specific person while maintaining anonymity. It was necessary for each other to call a certain telephone number. With this mechanism,
It is difficult for users to consult with experts in a timely manner. In addition, experts cannot collect information provision fees from users, so it is difficult to provide incentives for consultation. Of course, there is no mechanism for listing and evaluating the people the user wants to call.

In the fourth conventional example, it is possible to ask a question to an unspecified majority using a bulletin board, but it is doubtful when an appropriate answer is returned from an expert suitable for oneself. . There is no consideration for promptly solving problems by asking users for answers directly to the experts they seek.

[0011] In the fifth conventional example, it is possible to consult using electronic mail. However, it is very difficult for a user to search for an expert he or she wants from a homepage. It is unknown when the answer to the question will be returned. Furthermore, it is difficult for experts to respond to the inconvenience of opening a homepage, necessity of disclosing private information by e-mail address disclosure, and difficulties in collecting information provision fees by providing information on the Internet.

Further, in the sixth conventional example, it is necessary for the user to remember the telephone number for each specific expert, and the user cannot browse the evaluations from the user. There is a problem that it is not possible to accurately and quickly select a specialist to be consulted. Also, since it is difficult for an expert to collect an information provision fee from a user, it is difficult to provide an incentive to consult.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem. That is, the present invention provides a database of specialists and allows direct access to the specialists through communication means such as the Internet and a public communication network. It is intended to provide a contact system.

According to the present invention, a target person contacted by a user such as an expert can be displayed in a list, and the evaluation result of the user for each target person is included. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system that can quickly contact a person.

[0015] Another object of the present invention is to protect the private information of a target person such as a user and an expert, to be excellent in anonymity and to allow a user to communicate with a specific target person in real time using a telephone transfer system. An object of the present invention is to provide a system that can be contacted by the user.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a system comprising a settlement system.

[0017]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a system for contacting a specialist by telephone when a user consults a plurality of specialists on a predetermined matter. It is a system having.

1. The system includes a user's client computer and a server computer.

2. The server computer includes memory means for storing personal information of the user and the expert.

3. The client computer has request means for requesting the server computer to consult the expert.

4. The server computer has an extracting unit for extracting an expert who matches the request information.

5. The client computer has determining means for determining an expert to be consulted from the extracted experts.

6. The system has a communication means, the communication means, when the communication from the user to the communication means, between the user and the determined expert, at least without disclosing the private information of the expert Forward this communication to the determined expert.

[7] The system includes a settlement unit that executes settlement based on the communication history of the user.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the server computer includes an evaluation memory corresponding to each expert, and the evaluation memory stores the expert information of the user after the user consults a specific expert. The result of judging the level of ability is stored.

The present invention is also a telephone contact system for a first user who requests a conversation and a plurality of second users who accept the conversation, the system having the following features.

1. The system comprises a client computer and a server computer of a first user seeking a conversation.

2. The server computer includes a memory for storing personal information of the first user and the second user.

3. The client computer has request means for requesting a conversation with the second user from the server computer.

4. The server computer has an extracting unit that extracts a second user that matches the request information.

5. The client computer has determining means for determining a specific second user to talk to from the extracted second users.

6. The system has a communication means, which, when a communication is made from the first user to the communication means, at least private information of the second user between the user and the determined second user. This communication is forwarded to the determined second user without disclosure.

[7] The system includes a settlement unit that executes settlement based on the communication history of the user.

The present invention is also characterized in that it is a storage medium storing a program for realizing each of the means described above in the system, or this program.

According to the present invention, the subject including the expert and the second user can receive the incoming call from the user to the receiving / transmitting means such as his / her telephone without disclosing his / her telephone number.

[0036]

FIG. 1 shows a system block diagram of the present invention. This system mainly comprises a client device on the user side and a server computer. The user-side client device is a portable terminal (computer) and a communication device (telephone). A communication device and a portable terminal may be integrated like an i-mode provided by NTT DoCoMo, Inc.

The server computer includes a Web server provided by a service provider and a database (DB).
It consists of a server and a transfer server provided by a communication connection company (transfer center). The mobile terminal and the Web server are connected via the Internet.

The database server is provided with a user registration database, a reception candidate (expert) registration database, and an evaluation database for registering evaluation results of users for the reception candidates.

The transfer center includes a transfer server for transferring an incoming call from a user to a specific incoming call candidate. An incoming call history (log) from the user to the transfer center is stored in a log database. Billing information for the user is created from the log information. Part of the billing information for the user is the incoming call candidate (expert)
Is reduced to Conventional technology is applied to the billing system.

Next, the specific contents of the database will be described with reference to FIG. The incoming call candidate registration database contains the ID and category of the incoming call candidate (consultation items), occupation, birthday, unit price (amount / time, amount / (one consultation), etc.), PR of each expert, birthday, Date of registration in the database, name of the incoming call candidate (user name, (or full name)), password, e-mail address, location, telephone number, and whether or not to accept calls from users at present
es or No is included.

Others exist in the database of incoming call candidates. That is, it is a database in which schedules that can accept calls from users are registered. This call availability schedule registration includes, for each incoming call candidate, the schedule registration ID, the day of the week when consultation reception can be started, the time when consultation reception can be started, the day when consultation reception ends, and the time when consultation reception ends. Contains information.

Next, the evaluation database stores the ID of the evaluation registration.
And evaluation of several steps, consultation time between specific incoming candidate and user, category corresponding to whether consultation items are related to personal computer or something else, date and time of consultation, user's Comment, sender (user) ID, and receiver (expert) ID
It has.

Next, the operation of this system will be described with reference to FIG. A user activates the portable terminal device and connects the portable terminal device to a Web server via the Internet network. Next, an incoming call candidate search process is started between the server and the portable terminal device. First, the user selects a category to be consulted. For example, it relates to the operation of the personal computer, the learning, and the like. Then
The DB server extracts experts who are currently permitted to accept incoming calls from the user from among experts who fall into the category.

The user can further select the requirements for the expert. For example, the user can specify that the value is a certain value or more in five steps, specify the occupation of the incoming call candidate, or select the number of past telephone responses of the incoming call candidate. The server further sorts the candidates according to the selection information to determine incoming candidates. The number of incoming call candidates to be determined is one or more. There may be no such cases. Information on the incoming call candidate is displayed on the terminal device on the user side. Here, the private information of the expert is excluded from the displayed information. A typical example of private information is a professional telephone number.

When there are a plurality of incoming call candidates, the user selects one expert or does not select all experts. When there is only one incoming call candidate, the user has to select this person or not. If none of the incoming call candidates can be extracted,
The user can change the extraction condition.

Next, the telephone transfer processing will be described.
The user selects a particular incoming candidate. Next, a call is made to the transfer center. The transfer server of the transfer center reads the identification information of the incoming candidate selected by the user from the incoming candidates recorded in the incoming candidate database. The transfer server searches the DB of the specific incoming candidate for the telephone number of the incoming candidate. The transfer server transfers the communication from the user to the transfer center to the telephone number of the specific incoming call candidate.

Next, between the user and the specific expert,
Consultation desired by the user is started. During the conversation between the user and the specific expert, the user does not disclose his address, name, and telephone number to the called party, and the called party does not know his telephone number.
Therefore, a necessary conversation is performed between the two parties while the private information is protected. It is conceivable that the private information for the called party differs for each called party. Some experts may disclose their names, and other callers may not want to disclose their names. The system of the present invention aims to keep the telephone number unknown to the user for any called party. Whether or not other information is recognized as private information can be changed as appropriate.

By using the system of the present invention, the user can quickly find the expert he requires. In the system of the present invention, it is preferable to prevent a callee from referring to information in the user database. Users can consult professionals without exposing their private information to the callee.

After the user has finished communicating with the expert,
If selected, the process can proceed to the evaluation process of the called party who has talked. In this evaluation process, the user can input the items of the evaluation database described above. After ending the call with the expert, the user accesses the server via the portable terminal device and performs this evaluation.

Next, transition of screens developed on the user's portable terminal device will be described with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 following FIG. FIG. 4 is also a screen when an expert registers as a consultant.

On the TOP page, a screen for inputting identification information of a user or an expert is displayed. If the user / expert registration has not been completed, perform a new registration. Users and experts enter personal information and log in. A category menu is displayed on the TOP page.

After logging in, the user selects an item to be consulted from among the following. On the other hand, the expert inputs whether or not the call is now possible as an advisor. When there is a new or changed input, the contents of the incoming call candidate database are changed. If you have not registered as an advisor, register as an advisor.

Next, when the user selects a personal computer, for example, and further inputs the requirements for the expert, a predetermined advisor is extracted. An advisor selection screen is displayed on the user's terminal device. In the advisor selection screen, display items in the evaluation database are displayed for each advisor (candidate of incoming call). In addition, comments of each adviser (such as welcome to beginner users such as PC settings) are displayed.

The user can jump to the evaluation browsing screen and can refer to evaluation comments made in the past for a specific advisor. The user terminal device can access various databases stored in the DB server and refer to the evaluation data of the registered advisor.

After the conversation is completed, the user can access the server and input the evaluation of the talking advisor into the evaluation database in the server via the client device.

A modification of the present invention will be described. The system of the present invention can be changed to matching when talking between users. Replace the expert with a second user waiting for a conversation. A first user seeking a conversation with a second user selects a category of conversation and then the transfer server forwards the communication of the first user to the extracted second user. Instead of a category of conversation (want to talk about a hobby, talk about a trip, etc.), a category of a hobby is provided and the communication of the first user is transferred to a second user having the same or similar hobby as the first user. You may do it.

[0057]

According to the system of the present invention, there is provided a database of the evaluations of the users of the experts, etc., and the experts are selected from the list through communication means such as the Internet and a public communication network. While protecting the private information of the expert, a new effect can be achieved in that the user can directly contact the expert by telephone and the expert can get a reward.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a system block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows specific contents of a database.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a client or server for explaining the operation of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a transition diagram of a screen developed on a user's portable terminal device.

FIG. 5 is a screen transition diagram following FIG. 4;

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A system for contacting a specialist by telephone when a user consults a plurality of specialists on a predetermined matter, the system having the following features. 1. The system includes a user's client computer and a server computer. 2. The server computer includes memory means for storing personal information of the user and the expert. 3. The client computer has request means for requesting the server computer to consult the expert. 4. The server computer has an extracting unit for extracting an expert who matches the request information. 5. The client computer has determining means for determining an expert to be consulted from the extracted experts. 6. The system has a communication means, the communication means, when the communication from the user to the communication means, between the user and the determined expert, at least without disclosing the private information of the expert Forward this communication to the determined expert. 7. The system includes a settlement unit that executes settlement based on the communication history of the user. 2. The server computer has an evaluation memory corresponding to each expert, and the evaluation memory determines the user's expert ability after consulting a specific expert. The system according to claim 1, wherein the result is stored. 3. A recording medium, a program, or a program product for causing a client computer or a server computer to execute each unit. 4. A telephone contact system for a first user seeking a conversation and a plurality of second users accepting the conversation, the system having the following features. 1. The system comprises a client computer and a server computer of a first user seeking a conversation. 2. The server computer includes a memory for storing personal information of the first user and the second user. 3. The client computer has request means for requesting a conversation with the second user from the server computer. 4. The server computer has an extracting unit that extracts a second user that matches the request information. 5. The client computer is configured to use the extracted second
There is a determining means for determining a specific second user to talk to from the user. 6. The system has a communication means, which, when a communication is made from the first user to the communication means, at least private information of the second user between the user and the determined second user. This communication is forwarded to the determined second user without disclosure. 7. The system includes a settlement unit that executes settlement based on the communication history of the first user.