JP2002300323A - Transferred phone call charging device and transferred phone call charging method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transferred phone call charging device that can charge a reasonable amount of money derived from transfer of a phone call onto a sponsor aiming at phone advertisement or the like. SOLUTION: The transferred phone call charging device transfers a phone call received from a user terminal 14 to sponsors 16, 18, 20 that provide information in matching with a request of users, records a speech history of the transferred phone call, calculates a charging amount of money of the transfer call based on the speech history and records the calculated charging amount of money by each sponsor and sends a bill to each sponsor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer telephone billing apparatus and a transfer telephone billing method, and more particularly to a method of charging a client for a telephone advertisement or the like with a reasonable amount associated with the transfer of a telephone call. The present invention relates to a transfer telephone billing apparatus and a transfer telephone billing method which are preferable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, television, radio, the Internet, etc. have been widely used as advertising media. Advertisers using these media usually pay a predetermined amount of advertising fees to broadcasters and site operators.

[0003] By the way, a telephone may be used as a medium for advertisement. For example, an advertisement using a telephone as a medium can be realized by preparing a voice advertisement at a predetermined telephone number and prompting a publication such as a magazine to access the telephone number. In addition, an advertisement effect can be obtained by preparing an operator responding to an inquiry or the like instead of the voice advertisement.

[0004]

When a telephone is used as an advertisement medium, if a different telephone number is prepared for each advertisement, access to desired information becomes complicated, which is inconvenient for the user. For this reason, when a telephone is used as a medium for the advertisement, the user must first access a single telephone number, and it is preferable that the advertisement information and the operator are connected by transfer from the telephone number. . For this reason, as a form of business using a telephone as an advertising medium, it is conceivable to provide the above-described telephone transfer service and charge an advertiser an advertisement fee in exchange for the service.

[0005] As a method of charging the advertisement fee in exchange for the transfer service described above, a method of charging a fixed amount to the advertiser (a method of a fixed fee) and a method of responding to the advertisement effect obtained by the advertiser. A method of requesting an amount (a method of success reward) is considered. Then, the performance-based method can be realized, for example, by charging a proper cost to an advertiser who manages a transfer destination every time a call is transferred.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and transfers an incoming telephone call from a user to an information source that provides information of a client, and saves a reasonable cost associated with the transfer. A first object is to provide a transfer telephone billing device for billing the above-mentioned client. The present invention also provides a transfer telephone charging method for transferring an incoming telephone call from a user to an information source that provides information of a client, and charging the client a reasonable cost associated with the transfer. This is a second object.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A transfer telephone billing device for enabling charging of a transfer of an incoming call, a telephone transfer means for transferring an incoming call to an information source for providing information of a requester, and recording a call history of the transferred call. It is characterized by comprising a history recording means, a billing amount calculating means for calculating a billing amount for the transfer based on the call history, and a billing amount recording means for recording the billing amount for each requester.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the transfer telephone charging apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the call history includes a connection time after the transfer from the transfer of the call until the call is disconnected. It is characterized by the following.

The invention described in claim 3 is the first or second invention.
The transfer telephone billing device according to claim 1, wherein the incoming call is a call received by toll free, and the call history includes a connection time before transfer until the call is transferred after the call is received. I do.

[0010] The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 2 or 3.
The transfer telephone billing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the call history includes a time at which the incoming call is processed, and the billing amount recording means calculates a communication cost for the telephone based on the time. It is characterized by including.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the transfer telephone charging apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the transferred telephone is disconnected before a predetermined time elapses or the transferred telephone is transferred. If the call is disconnected before a predetermined amount of information is transmitted to the called telephone, the telephone further comprises a charge exclusion unit that excludes the telephone from the charge target.

[0012] The invention according to claim 6 is a transfer telephone billing method for enabling billing for the transfer of an incoming call, wherein the telephone for transferring the incoming call to an information source that provides information of the client. A transfer step, a history recording step of recording a call history of the transferred telephone, a charge amount calculating step of calculating a charge amount for the transfer based on the call history, and a charge amount of recording the charge amount for each requester. Recording step.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the transfer telephone billing method according to the sixth aspect, wherein the call history includes a connection time after the transfer from when the call is transferred until the call is disconnected. It is characterized by the following.

The invention according to claim 8 is the invention according to claim 6 or 7.
The transfer telephone billing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving the incoming call by toll free, wherein the call history includes a connection time before transfer until the call is transferred after the call is received. I do.

The invention according to claim 9 is the invention according to claim 7 or 8.
The transfer telephone billing method according to claim 1, wherein the call history includes a time at which the incoming call is processed, and the billing amount recording step includes a communication cost calculating step of determining a communication cost for the telephone based on the time. It is characterized by including.

The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to claims 6 to 9
The transfer telephone billing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transferred telephone is disconnected before a predetermined time elapses, or is disconnected before a predetermined amount of information is transmitted to the transferred telephone. In this case, the method further comprises a charge exclusion step of excluding the telephone from the charge target.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Elements common to the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the overall configuration of the transfer telephone charging system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the transfer telephone charging system according to the present embodiment includes a transfer telephone charging device 10. The transfer telephone billing device 10 is connected to a transfer network billing device 10 via a communication network line (hereinafter, referred to as “network”) 12.
A plurality of user terminals 14 are connected. The user terminal 14 is a fixed telephone or a mobile phone used by each user.

A telephone system of a plurality of advertisers 16, 18, and 20 is connected to the transfer telephone charging device 10 via a network 12. Advertisers 16, 18, 20
Are business entities that outsource the transfer of telephone calls from users to the manager of the transfer telephone billing device 10 for the purpose of advertising by telephone or sales guidance by telephone.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, the advertiser 16 is a securities company, the advertiser 18 is a travel agency, and the advertiser 20 is an automobile company.

The manager of the transfer telephone charging device 10 is a business owner who conducts an advertising business as a business. For example, a management company of a defined contribution pension which includes the advertising business in its articles of incorporation is assumed. Hereinafter, this business owner is referred to as an “advertising company”.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 includes an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) responding unit 2.
2, a control unit 24, and a database 26. The IVR responding unit 22 is a main unit for enabling the transmission and reception of information by the IVR between the user terminal 14 and the transfer telephone billing device 10. More specifically,
The IVR response unit 22 receives the push button signal transmitted from the user terminal 14 and supplies a command signal corresponding to the push button signal to the control unit 24, which generates the control signal in cooperation with the database unit 26. This is a unit for transmitting the provided information to the user to the user terminal 14 by an audio signal.

That is, in the present embodiment, when the transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 receives a telephone call from the user, first, the function of the IVR responding unit 22 causes "...
♯, ..., press 2♯, ..., press 3♯. "
Reply to 4. When a push button signal such as 1♯ is transmitted from the user terminal 14, a command signal corresponding to the signal is transmitted to the control unit. Thereafter, until the user reaches the target information, or if the user's request
Until it is determined that the VR cannot handle it,
The above processing is repeatedly executed by the IVR responding unit 22, the control unit 24, the database unit 26, and the like.

The control unit 24 is a unit for controlling all processes to be processed in the transfer telephone accounting device 10. More specifically, in the control unit 24, the I
In addition to VR processing, processing for transferring an incoming call to a predetermined telephone number, processing for managing the history of each incoming call, and the like are controlled. In addition, the database unit 26
This is a portion where various data necessary for executing those processes are recorded.

The transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 further includes a transfer processing unit 28 and a communication interface (I / F) unit 30. The transfer processing unit 28 is configured to send any of the advertisers 16,
This unit is for transferring the incoming call to the advertiser when it is determined by the control unit 24 that the incoming call should be transferred to 18, 20. The communication I / F unit 30
A terminal 32 used by an operator belonging to an advertising agency,
That is, it is a unit for enabling information transfer between a fixed telephone, a computer, and the like, and the transfer telephone accounting device 10.

Next, a description will be given of a typical advertisement service method performed using the transfer telephone charging system of the present embodiment. The advertiser that manages the transfer telephone billing device 10 periodically or irregularly distributes publications to customers as part of the business. Specifically, this publication is a monthly report distributed to customers as part of the management of defined contribution pensions. The advertiser recruits advertisers who wish to advertise by telephone or business guidance, and publishes the summary of the advertisement or business guidance in the above publication. In addition, the above publications include:
A telephone number leading to the transfer telephone charging device 10 is posted as an inquiry destination for those advertisements and business guidance.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the push button signal defined inside transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 and the service to be provided. As shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, a telephone number 番号 − −-− is assigned to the transfer telephone charging device 10. This phone number ○○○○-××××
Is a toll free number. Therefore, the communication cost of the telephone call made to the transfer telephone charging device 10 is charged to the advertising company by the communication company.

When the transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 receives a telephone call from the user, the function of the IVR responding unit 22 described above indicates that "ordering service is 01 $", "consultation service is 02 $", and "advertisement inquiry The user is informed by voice that the service corresponds to "03 @". Here, “ordering” means ordering of investment trusts and stocks for which the defined contribution pension is invested. In addition, "consultation"
Means consultation on defined contribution pensions. And
“Advertisement inquiry” means an inquiry about an advertisement or the like published in a publication such as a monthly report. When an item that cannot be dealt with only by the IVR process is selected as in the above “consultation”, the transfer telephone charging device 10 transfers the incoming call via the communication I / F unit 30 to the terminal 32, , Connect to the operator.

As shown in FIG. 2, the classification of 03 @: "advertisement inquiry" is further accompanied by n information sources.
When the user inputs 03 @ corresponding to the "advertisement inquiry", the transfer telephone charging device 10
The function of "Advertisement of securities (or sales information) is 01
♯ ”,“ Travel advertising (or sales information) is 02♯ ”,
-Explain to the user by voice that the "automobile advertisement (or business guide) corresponds to 0n $". Here, n of “0n♯” is, for example, a number of 3 or more.

After the telephone number XXXXX-XXXXX, "0
When "3 @" and "01 @" are sequentially input, the transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 determines that the information of the security is requested by the user, and receives a call to the telephone connected to the information source provided by the advertiser 16. Transfer the phone inside. Also, when "03 @" and "02 @" are sequentially input after the above-mentioned telephone number,
The transfer telephone billing device 10 determines that the travel advertisement is requested by the user, and transfers the incoming call to the telephone corresponding to the information source of the advertiser 18. Further, when "03 @" and "0n @" are sequentially input after the above-mentioned telephone number, the transfer telephone charging device 10 determines that the advertisement of the car is requested by the user, and Transfer incoming calls to the phone corresponding to the source. Therefore, the user inputs “03♯” next to the above-mentioned telephone number ○ -−- xxxx, and further enters “01♯”, “02”
By inputting either "{" or "0n", the desired advertisement information can be accessed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of the IVR process executed by transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 to realize the above-described functions. As shown in FIG. 3, in the IVR process, first, it is determined whether or not a telephone call has been received from a user (step 100).

As a result, when it is determined that there is an incoming call,
Next, voice guidance by the IVR response unit 22 is started (step 102). Next, it is determined whether or not a signal for specifying an option, that is, a push button signal has been input by the user (step 104). When the input of the push button signal is confirmed, the next process to be executed is determined in accordance with the signal (step 10).
6).

Next, it is determined whether or not the process determined in step 106 (the process to be executed next) is the final process that can be handled by the IVR. In other words, in step 106, it is determined whether a final process that can be handled by the IVR has been specified (step 108).

As a result, if it is determined that the final process that can be handled by the IVR has not been specified yet, the processes after step 102 are executed again. On the other hand, if it is determined that the final process that can be handled by the IVR has been identified,
It is determined whether or not the final processing requires voice guidance by IVR (step 110).

If the final process is a request for voice guidance, a process for providing a desired voice guidance to the user is performed thereafter (step 112), and the current routine is terminated.

On the other hand, if the final processing does not require voice guidance, it is next determined whether or not a telephone transfer is requested. That is, it is determined whether the information requested by the user is an advertisement or a business guide provided by the advertisers 16, 18, and 20 (step 114).

As a result, if it is determined that the transfer of the telephone is requested, the process of transferring the telephone to a desired transfer destination (advertiser) is performed thereafter (step 11).
6), the current routine ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the final processing does not require telephone transfer, the final processing is performed by the IVR.
Then, it is determined that the process cannot be dealt with, that is, the process that the operator should deal with. In this case, after the process of calling the operator using the terminal device 32 is started (step 118), the current routine is ended.

In the above description, the telephone transfer processing (the processing in step 116) is automatically performed when the user inputs the push button signal according to the voice guidance. The procedure for initiating is not limited to this.
That is, a call from the user terminal 14 may be processed by the operator and transferred to the advertisers 16, 18, and 20 by the operation of the operator.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of a transfer control process to be executed in the transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 when a transfer of a telephone is transferred by an operation of an operator. As shown in FIG. 4, in the transfer control process, it is determined whether or not the transfer of the incoming call is instructed by the operator (step 120). When it is determined that the transfer command has been input, a process of transferring the telephone to the transfer destination (advertiser) requested by the user is performed (step 116).

As described above, the transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment allows the user to select one of the advertisers 16, 18, 20
, The incoming call can be forwarded to an advertiser 16, 18, 20 that matches the user's request. Here, the transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 is characterized in that in the process of transferring an incoming call as described above, a reasonable cost is charged for the transfer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the details of the transfer processing executed by the transfer telephone charging apparatus 10 of the present embodiment to realize the above-mentioned characteristic functions.
Note that the series of processing shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the processing executed in step 116 shown in FIG. 3 or FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the transfer processing in this embodiment, first, a telephone is connected to a transfer destination (advertiser) requested by the user to transfer the incoming call (step 130).

Next, information on the telephone to be transferred, specifically, connection information including the connection time before the transfer of the telephone and the connection time to the transfer destination is recorded (step 132). Here, the pre-transfer connection time is the time required from when the telephone call from the user arrives at the transfer telephone charging device 10 until the connection with the transfer destination is established in the above step 130.

Next, it is determined whether or not the connection has been maintained for a predetermined period after the transfer of the telephone (step 1).
34). The predetermined period used as a criterion in this step is:
This is the minimum time during which the user can determine that the advertisement information has been acquired, and is set to, for example, about 3 seconds.

As a result, if it is determined that the connection has not been maintained for a predetermined period, the current routine is terminated without performing the charging process for the transfer of the telephone. According to such processing, when a call transferred to the advertiser is disconnected in such a short time that no advertising effect can be expected, the call can be excluded from the billing target, and The charge may be reasonable for the advertiser.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 134 that the connection has been maintained for a predetermined period, the calculation of the connection time after transfer is started (step 13).
6). Thereafter, the calculation of the connection time is repeatedly executed until it is determined that the transferred telephone is disconnected (step 138).

When it is determined that the transferred telephone has been disconnected, the connection time after the transfer of the telephone is recorded (step 140). Here, the post-transfer connection time is the time from when the connection with the transfer destination is established by the processing of step 130 until the call is disconnected.

Next, based on the connection information (connection time before transmission, connection time at the time of transfer) recorded at step 132 and the connection time after transmission recorded at step 142, the telephone transfer performed this time is executed. A billing process is performed (step 142).

As described above, the transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 receives a telephone call from a user by free dialing. Therefore, in the process of forwarding user calls to advertisers,
Advertisers are charged for communication costs associated with toll-free calls. Further, when transferring a telephone call from a user to an advertiser, the transfer telephone charging device 10 originates a call to establish a connection with the advertiser. For this reason, the advertising company is burdened with communication costs incurred until the transferred telephone is disconnected.

The communication cost associated with the toll-free call and the communication cost between the transfer telephone charging device 10 and the advertiser are
If the call time is determined for each, an estimate can be obtained. For this reason, when transferring a user's call to an advertiser, the amount of communication cost C incurred by the advertiser is
A function C (t of connection time t1 before transfer and connection time t2 after transfer
1, t2), an approximate calculation thereof can be obtained.

Further, a discount system according to the communication time zone may be applied to the communication cost C to be borne by the advertising company. The discounted amount can be roughly estimated based on the connection time T recorded in step 132. That is, the transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment determines the amount of the communication cost C generated as its own burden when transferring the telephone call from the user to the advertiser as a function of the above-described t1, t2, and T to some extent. It can be calculated with precision.

Therefore, the transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 calculates an approximate communication cost generated as a burden on the advertising company with the transfer of the telephone in the billing process in the step 142.
The charge amount for one transfer is calculated by obtaining a function C (t1, t2, T) and adding a predetermined fee to the approximate value C. Then, each time a call is transferred to an individual advertiser, the billing amount calculated in the above procedure is added to calculate a billing amount per unit period (for example, one month).

As described above, according to the transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, a telephone call from a user is transferred to an appropriate advertiser adapted to the user's request, and further, information sufficient to obtain an advertising effect. Only if it can be assumed that has been provided to the user, can the transfer be charged at an appropriate cost that the advertiser can find reasonable. For this reason, according to the transfer telephone billing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to present a highly transparent and appropriate advertisement fee to an advertiser while using a telephone as a medium for advertisement.

In the first embodiment, whether or not to charge for the transfer is determined based on whether or not the connection has been maintained for a predetermined period (see step 134). However, the method of making the determination is not limited to this. In other words, in a system that can directly detect the amount of information provided to the user, the appropriateness of charging is determined based on whether or not the amount of information that can be expected to have an advertising effect is provided to the user. Is also good.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, as a method for transferring a telephone without depending on the operator, the I
Although a method using VR is described, a method for automating telephone transfer is not limited to this.
That is, when a fixed or mobile phone capable of data transfer is used as the user terminal 14, the image data including the option button is transmitted to the user terminal 14, and the desired option button is selected in the image. May be selected by the user.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, the case where the individual advertisers 16, 18, and 20 exist as one information source has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. A plurality of information sources, that is, forwarding phone numbers may be prepared in one advertiser 16, 18, 20. In this case, the charging process described above (step 14)
2), the billing amount may be obtained for each information source (forwarding destination telephone number), and the total amount of such billing may be obtained for each same advertiser.

Furthermore, in the above-described first embodiment, the information source (forwarding destination telephone number) for the advertisement and the business guidance is placed under the control of the advertisers 16, 18, and 20, but the present invention is not limited to this. It is not limited to this. That is, those information sources (forwarding destination telephone numbers) may be under the control of an advertising agency as long as they provide information of the advertiser.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, a call received from a user can be transferred to an advertiser, and a proper amount is charged to a client based on the transfer history. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a transfer telephone billing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a push button signal defined inside the transfer telephone charging apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and a provided service.

FIG. 3 shows an IV executed by the transfer telephone charging apparatus shown in FIG.
It is a flowchart for explaining the flow of R processing.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a transfer control process executed by the transfer telephone billing device shown in FIG. 1 instead of the IVR process shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a transfer process executed by the transfer telephone billing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Transfer telephone billing device 12 Communication network line (network) 14 User terminal 16, 18, 20 Advertiser 22 IVR response unit 24 Control unit 26 Database unit 28 Transfer processing unit 30 Communication interface unit 32 Terminal device

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A transfer telephone billing apparatus for enabling the transfer of an incoming call to be charged, comprising: a telephone transfer means for transferring an incoming call to an information source for providing information of a requester; History recording means for recording a call history; charge amount calculation means for calculating a charge amount for the transfer based on the call history; and charge amount recording means for recording the charge amount for each requester. Transfer telephone billing device. 2. The call history, after the call is transferred,
2. The transfer telephone charging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a connection time after transfer until the call is disconnected. 3. The incoming call is a call received by toll free, and the call history includes a connection time before transfer from when the call is received until the call is transferred. 2. The transfer telephone charging device according to 2. 4. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the call history includes a time at which the incoming call is processed, and the billing amount recording means includes a communication cost calculating means for calculating a communication cost for the call based on the time. 4. The transfer telephone billing device according to claim 2, wherein 5. If the transferred telephone is disconnected before a predetermined time elapses, or is disconnected before a predetermined amount of information is transmitted to the transferred telephone, the telephone is not charged. 5. The transfer telephone billing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a billing exclusion unit for removing. 6. A transfer telephone billing method for enabling billing for a transfer of an incoming call, comprising: a telephone transfer step for transferring an incoming call to an information source providing information of a requester; A history recording step of recording a telephone call history; a billing amount calculating step of calculating a billing amount for the transfer based on the call history; and a billing amount recording step of recording the billing amount for each requester. Transfer billing method characterized by the above-mentioned. 7. The call history, after the call is transferred,
7. The transfer telephone charging method according to claim 6, further comprising a connection time after transfer until the call is disconnected. 8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of receiving the incoming call by toll-free call, and wherein the call history includes a connection time before transfer from when the call is received until the call is transferred. 7. The transfer telephone billing method according to 7. 9. The call history includes a time when the incoming call is processed, and the billing amount recording step includes a communication cost calculating step of calculating a communication cost for the call based on the time. 9. The transfer telephone billing method according to claim 7, wherein 10. If the transferred telephone is disconnected before a predetermined time elapses, or is disconnected before a predetermined amount of information is transmitted to the transferred telephone, the telephone is not charged. The transfer telephone billing method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, further comprising a billing exclusion step for removing.