JP2001346236A - Voice response telephone call transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a voice response telephone call transfer system that can simplify the disposition by a person who responds the call. SOLUTION: The voice response telephone call transfer system is provided with an information storage means (108) that stores information with respect to a telephone caller and information with respect to a telephone receiver and with a speech recognition means (109) that recognizes the voice of the telephone caller, and informs a telephone relating to the telephone receiver on the basis of the recognition by the speech recognition means (109) and the information of the information storage means (108) about the information relating to the telephone caller and the telephone receiver, supplies response selection request guidance and makes a reply processing to the telephone caller according to a response selection signal received from the telephone.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a voice response telephone transfer system, and more particularly, to a voice response telephone transfer system which enables a person who answers a transferred telephone to select a telephone response according to a situation. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A voice response telephone transfer system is a system for transferring an outside line telephone by voice response to an extension telephone via a private branch exchange (PBX), which has been conventionally performed. In this type of system, when an external telephone calls a telephone number related to the voice response telephone transfer system, predetermined guidance is played, and the telephone is operated by the telephone sender in accordance with the guidance to call the internal telephone. The procedure is, for example, as follows.

[0003] First, the voice response telephone transfer system, when receiving an external telephone call, gives a voice to the telephone caller to input the extension number of the desired telephone receiver from a push button (PB) of the telephone of the telephone caller. Give guidance. When the telephone caller inputs an extension number from the PB in accordance with the guidance, the external telephone is transferred to the telephone having the extension number via the private branch exchange. If the telephone is not in use, a ringing tone is emitted, and the telephone caller can talk with the person who answered the telephone. When the telephone is in use, the voice response telephone transfer system informs the telephone caller of that fact, gives a voice guidance to call again after a while, and ends the call.

According to such a voice response telephone transfer system, a telephone caller who knows an extension number automatically accesses the telephone of the extension number without going through a telephone operator who handles the extension telephone call. And you can talk.

[0005]

However, if the telephone rings when the person to receive the call is not present, a nearby person usually answers the telephone. In the transfer system, it is necessary for the person who answers the telephone to listen to the requirements of the telephone caller, receive a message, or check the destination of the person who should receive the telephone and respond. Such a call is interrupted by the person who answers the call, and may take a long time,
There is a problem that it is not efficient in business. This type of problem is particularly prominent when a single telephone is shared by a plurality of persons.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a voice response telephone transfer system capable of simplifying the response of a person who answers a telephone call.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to store information relating to a telephone caller and information relating to a telephone receiver, a voice recognition means for recognizing a voice of the telephone caller, and a voice recognition means. Means for notifying information relating to the telephone caller and the telephone receiver to the telephone associated with the telephone receiver based on the recognition by the information storage device and the information in the information storage means, and providing a response selection request guidance, and a response selection input from the telephone Means for responding to the caller in accordance with a signal.

[0008] The response selection request guidance may include at least two response selection requests of call, message, and transfer. Further, the response selection signal may be a push button input signal of the telephone or a voice input signal from the telephone. Here, for example, "call"
Is selected, the call of the telephone caller is transferred to the telephone, and the telephone receiver can talk to the telephone caller.
When "message" is selected, a message to the effect that the message will be received is transmitted to the telephone caller by voice, and the message is recorded. Further, when "transfer" is selected, the call is transferred to another predetermined telephone.

Further, the voice response telephone transfer method according to the present invention recognizes a voice of a telephone caller, specifies a telephone receiver by recognizing the voice, and transmits the telephone receiver related to the specified telephone receiver to the telephone. Notify the information about the caller and the callee, and give the response selection request guidance,
A response process is performed on the telephone caller in accordance with a response selection signal from the telephone. Here, the response process may be, for example, a message process or a call process. With this configuration, according to the present invention, a person who answers a call to another person can select a desired answering service on the telephone according to the situation, so that conversation with the telephone caller can be performed. Without bothering,
The call can be easily terminated.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration example including a voice response telephone transfer system according to the present invention. In this example,
As shown in the figure, a caller telephone 101, a public line network 102 connected to the caller telephone, a private branch exchange (PBX) 103 connected to the public line network, a voice response telephone transfer system 104 connected to the private branch exchange, and transfer. A telephone 105 is provided. Call signal 1 from caller telephone 101
10 is transmitted to the voice response telephone transfer system 104 via the public line network 102 and the PBX 103, while the response signal 113 from the voice response telephone transfer system 104 is
Caller telephone 1 via X103 and public line network 102
01 is transmitted. Also, voice response telephone transfer system 1
The signal 111 relating to the notification of the information on the telephone caller and the telephone receiver from 04 and the response selection request guidance is PB
X103, is transmitted to the transfer destination telephone 105, while the response selection signal 112 from the transfer destination telephone 105 is P
The information is transmitted to the voice response telephone transfer system 104 via the BX 103.

The voice response telephone transfer system 104 has a central processing unit (CPU) 106, a memory 107, a hard disk 108, and a voice response board 109. The hard disk 108 serves as an information storage means for data and the like in addition to various programs, and here, information about a telephone caller, information about a telephone receiver, and other information is stored. The information on the telephone caller is, for example, the name (name) of the telephone caller and a telephone number associated with the name. The information on the telephone receiver is, for example, the name (name) of the telephone receiver and a telephone number associated therewith.

Specifically, the hard disk 108 includes
For example, various tables as shown in Tables 1 to 4 below are provided. Table 1 shows a telephone caller information table. Here, data such as the caller's company, affiliation, the caller's first and last name, and the caller's telephone number are stored.

[0013]

[Table 1]

Table 2 shows a telephone receiver information table. Here, data such as the name of the telephone receiver, the affiliation, the first and last names of the receiver, and the transfer destination telephone number are stored.

[0015]

[Table 2]

Table 3 shows a correspondence history information table. This includes the date and time the call was received, the caller's phone number,
Data such as the recipient name No. and the type of correspondence to the received telephone are stored.

[0017]

[Table 3]

Table 4 shows a voice guidance table. Various audio data is stored here,
One or more voice guidances are selected as needed and played to the caller or the transfer destination phone.

[0019]

[Table 4]

Of course, these are images, and are actually stored as data optimized for various processes in the voice response telephone transfer system. Also, the voice response board 109 plays a role as a voice recognition means,
This is a device that performs speech recognition or speech synthesis of information on a caller and a callee and other information. Further, the CPU 106 is connected to the memory 107, the hard disk 108, and the voice response board 109, performs various processes based on data and programs obtained from each unit, and notifies the transfer destination telephone 105 and a response selection request guidance. And a means for responding to the caller in accordance with the response selection signal input from the transfer destination telephone 105.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example of the voice response telephone transfer system according to the present invention. First, when an incoming call arrives (step 201), the voice response telephone transfer system 104 specifies a caller from the telephone number of the incoming call (step 202). The caller is specified by searching for the caller name corresponding to the telephone number stored in the hard disk 108 in advance. Next, the voice response telephone transfer system 104 responds to the telephone caller with voice guidance "Please say the name of the person you want to talk to" to obtain the recipient information to which the call should be transferred. (Step 203).
This voice response can be made by voice synthesis or by selecting the voice guidance from recorded voice information.

When the caller answers the name of the other party (recipient) who wants to talk by voice, the voice response board 109 inputs the voice and specifies the recipient by voice recognition (step 204). Then, a telephone number corresponding to the recipient name stored in the hard disk 108 in advance is searched, and telephone transfer processing is performed on the telephone number (recipient) (step 205). In step 204, the specified receiver may be reported to the sender to request confirmation. If there are multiple candidates with the same surname, etc., report that fact to the sender, and reply with characteristic information to further specify the candidates, such as full name, affiliation, or physical characteristics of the individual. Voice guidance for having the user receive the voice guidance may be provided. In that case, these pieces of feature information need to be stored so as to be associated with the above-mentioned telephone receiver information table. Further, a recipient may be specified from a plurality of candidate recipients based on the call history information.

According to this processing, first, voice guidance for preprocessing for transmitting information of the telephone caller and the telephone receiver is played to the telephone having the telephone number (step 20).
6). This voice guidance is, for example, "from Mr. A to B
I'll call you. " Subsequently, the voice guidance of the service to be executed is played (step 207). This audio guidance, for example,
It prompts the person who picked up the handset to operate the push button (PB) of the telephone, such as "Press 1 if you are not present, press 2 if you are present."

After these voice guidances are played,
It waits for PB input (step 208). Then, it is determined whether the PB input 1 has been selected by the person who picked up the receiver (step 209). As a result, when PB input 1 is selected, an absence message process is performed (step 210), and when PB input 2 is selected, a call process is performed (step 211).

For example, when Mr. B is present, Mr. B answers the telephone and selects PB input 2 in accordance with the above-mentioned voice guidance, so that the voice response telephone transfer system 1
04 forwards A's phone. Thereby, B can talk with A. On the other hand, if Mr. B is absent, for example, Mr. C answers the phone and selects PB input 1 in accordance with the above-mentioned voice guidance, so that the voice response telephone transfer system 104 automatically makes a call to Mr. A. For example, "I'm out of the office, so I'll take a message.
・ ”And respond with voice guidance. This eliminates the need for Mr. C to listen to the requirements, receive messages from Mr. A, the telephone caller, or to respond to Mr. B's destination, etc., and minimize the interruption of Mr. C's work. Can be kept to a minimum.

In the above-mentioned step 208, the waiting for the PB input (or the voice input described later) may be set to automatically start the message reception processing after a certain period of time. This is to prevent customers from waiting longer than necessary. Further, if there is no response for a predetermined time in the telephone transfer process in step 205, the message receiving process may be performed as in the case described above. In the above embodiment, there are two types of services to be executed, but the types of services are not limited to these. For example, a new PB input 3 may be provided, and when this is selected, the call may be forwarded to another predetermined telephone.

Further, in the above embodiment, the person who picked up the receiver picked up the PB input. However, instead of the PB input, the input may be performed by inputting the voice of the person picking up the receiver. it can. This voice input can be done by using numbers such as "Ichi" or "D", or in specific words, such as "Please use absence message processing" or "Please use call processing". You can also. In any case, the voice response telephone transfer system 104 performs processing according to the voice input by voice recognition. This is particularly effective for a general portable telephone in which a receiver (caller) and operation buttons are integrated. According to the voice input, unlike the case of the PB operation, the menu can be selected and executed without removing the mobile phone from the ear.

If the corresponding telephone number is not found in the telephone caller information table as in the case of the first caller, the caller telephone number obtained by the number notification and the name obtained by voice recognition are displayed. Add the company name (affiliation name) to the caller information table. If the recognition is not performed correctly, the voice recognition may be performed again using the voice guidance. As a result, the processing will be performed smoothly with the minimum necessary response from the next time. If the calling number cannot be specified due to non-display setting or calling from a public phone, the name of the caller is obtained by voice recognition, and the phone caller information table is searched. May be searched. If there is no corresponding information, the same process as that of the first caller may be performed, and the caller information may be newly added to the telephone caller information table.

As described above, according to the present invention, after notifying the person who received the call at the transfer destination of the telephone caller information or the transferee information of the transfer destination by voice, and before confirming the call, the service content is played as guidance. The receiver can select a service by inputting a PB signal or voice, depending on the situation. Also, in the present invention, since speech recognition is used, unlike the prior art, a telephone caller can transfer a telephone call with the name of the telephone receiver without knowing the extension number of the telephone receiver.

[0030]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a voice response telephone transfer system capable of simplifying the response of a person who answers a telephone call. In other words, the caller can get the caller with a minimal response and then ask the caller to answer the caller before talking to the caller. It is possible to provide a voice response telephone transfer system capable of responding with a minimum operation when the other party is absent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an overall configuration including a voice response telephone transfer system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example of the voice response telephone transfer system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Caller telephone 102 Public line network 103 Private branch exchange (PBX) 104 Voice response telephone transfer system 105 Transfer destination telephone 106 Central processing unit (CPU) 107 Memory 108 Hard disk 109 Voice response board 110 Transmission signal 111 Notification and response selection request guidance Signal according to 112 response selection signal 113 response signal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 3/54 H04M 3/54 (72) Inventor Hideo Munehiro 456 Sakai, Nakaicho, Ashigarakami-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi Information, Ltd. Technology F-term (reference) GG12 KK02 KK14

Claims (6)

[Claims] An information storage unit for storing information about a telephone caller and information about a telephone receiver; a voice recognition unit for recognizing a voice of the telephone caller; Means for notifying the telephone related to the telephone receiver of the information on the telephone caller and the telephone receiver based on the information and flowing a response selection request guidance, and for the telephone caller according to the response selection signal input from the telephone. A voice response telephone transfer system comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the response selection request guidance includes a call,
2. The voice response telephone transfer system according to claim 1, further comprising at least two response selection requests of message and transfer. 3. The voice response telephone transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the response selection signal is a push button input signal of the telephone. 4. The voice response telephone transfer system according to claim 1, wherein said response selection signal is a voice input signal from said telephone. 5. Recognizing a voice of a telephone caller, specifying a telephone receiver by recognizing the voice, and notifying a telephone associated with the specified telephone receiver of information on the telephone caller and the telephone receiver. And transmitting a response selection request guidance and performing a response process to the telephone caller in accordance with a response selection signal from the telephone. 6. The voice response telephone transfer method according to claim 5, wherein said response processing is message processing or telephone call processing.