JP2000201239A - Telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To previously notify the charging start of an information rate with pay service by detecting the information rate of pay service and information rate non-charge time until the charging start of the information rate and accordingly notifying the charging start period of the information rate. SOLUTION: At the time of a call, call setting data is transmitted to an ISDN network and a reception means 13 receives rate data notified to the ISDN network by charge previous notice service and a detection means 14 detects the rate required for a call and communication from the rate data. Thus, the charging time of the information rate is displayed to a user or a notice means 16 notifies it by a warning sound or sound with the information rate in the detected rates, information non-charging rate time and call time clocked by a clocking means 15. A pay service call is automatically terminated by a termination means 17 based on information non-charging time detected by the detection means 14 and call time clocked by the clocking means 15. Thus, charging start is previously informed even at the time of charging immediately after call start from pay service and the propriety of shift to the charging period of the user can be transmitted even when pay service is charged immediately after call start.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a telephone device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a telephone device connected to an ISDN network and notifying the start of a pay service.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a pay service such as dial Q2, an information charge for a pay service is charged separately from a call charge for a call, and a subscriber is charged later together with the call charge. With this type of paid service, once you start a call,
The user is notified of the information fee by voice announcement or the like, and the start of charging the information fee is notified by a signal tone or the like. The user is notified via a speaker.

[0003]

However, in such a telephone apparatus, the user is notified of the information fee for the paid service and the voice announcement from the network indicating the start of charging, so However, there is a problem that the charging of the information fee is started from the beginning, or the user cannot grasp before the charging starts. An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a telephone device that can notify a user in advance of the start of charging for an information fee for a paid service.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a telephone device according to the present invention comprises: receiving means for receiving charge data notified from an ISDN network after transmitting call setting data at the time of calling; Detecting means for detecting, from the charge data received by the receiving means, an information charge for a paid service and an information charge non-charging time from the response of the other party until the charging of the information charge is started, and a detection result of the detecting means Notification means for notifying the time when the charging of the information fee is started in response to the request. Therefore, the user is notified of the charging start time before the charging of the information fee starts.

[0005] Further, the notification means notifies the time when the charging of the information fee is started before the other party answers. In addition, there is provided a timer means for counting the call time from the other party's answer, and the notifying means notifies the user that the charging of the information fee will be started before the lapse of the information fee non-charging time from the start of the call. It is. If the detecting means detects the information charge from the charge data and the information charge non-charging time is not detected, the notifying means informs the user that the charging of the information charge is to be started immediately after the other party response before the other party response. This is to notify.

[0006] When the information charge and the information charge non-charging time are detected from the charge data by the detecting means, and the information charge non-charge time is zero, the notifying means starts the information charge immediately after the other party response. This is to notify the start of charging before the other party answers. In addition, a timer is provided for counting the call time from the other party's answer. The information charge is detected by the detecting means, and the difference between the talk time started by the timer and the information charge non-charging time after the other party answer is a predetermined time. If not, the notification means notifies that the charging of the information fee is started before the other party answers. In addition, there is provided a call termination means for terminating the call before starting charging the information fee based on the information fee non-billing time detected by the detection means.

[0007]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a block diagram of the entire hardware, and FIG. 1 (b) shows a main part of a functional block diagram. In FIG. 1 (a), this telephone device receives an IS via a DSU (line terminating device) 1 that terminates an ISDN line L.
This is a digital telephone device connected to a DN network, and is configured as follows.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a driver receiver for transmitting data to the DSU 1 and receiving data from the DSU 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes an I interface circuit. Reference numeral 4 denotes a control unit (CPU) for controlling the entire telephone device. A ROM for storing various programs, 6 is a RAM for storing various data used for processing operations in the control unit 4, including various setting contents and speed dial numbers, 7 is a display unit such as an LCD, 8 is a dial key and a short dial. This is a key section including operation keys such as dial keys.

[0009] Further, 9 outputs various sound sources,
A sound source control circuit for encoding / decoding an audio signal, a communication circuit 10 for performing a telephone conversation using the handset HS, and a speaker SP. The I interface circuit 3, the control unit 4, the ROM 5, the RAM 6, the display unit 7, the key unit 8, and the sound source control circuit 9 share a common bus BU.
It is connected by S, and exchanges various data as needed.

The present invention utilizes a fee advance notification service provided by an ISDN network, and notifies a user in advance of the start of charging for an information fee for a pay service based on fee data notified by the service. In addition, various programs executed by the control unit 4 and the above-described hardware constitute a functional block related to transmission restriction as shown in FIG. 1B. Reference numeral 11 fetches a prefix time indicating the timing of notifying the start of charging the information charge of the paid service and the setting of the presence or absence of automatic ending before the start of the charging of the information charge, which has been input from the key section 8 and stored in the storage means 12, ie, the RAM 6. This is setting means for setting and registering.

[0013] After sending the call setup data to the ISDN network at the time of originating the call, the IS 13 provides the IS
Receiving means for receiving the charge data notified from the DN network;
14 is a detecting means for detecting a charge required for a call or communication from the charge data received by the receiving means 13, that is, a call charge, an information charge and an information charge non-charging time, and 15 is a timing means for counting the talk time from the start of the call. is there.

Reference numeral 16 indicates or alerts the user when the information fee is to be charged based on the information fee detected by the detecting means and the information fee non-charging time, and the call time measured by the timing means. Notifying means 17 for notifying by sound or voice, etc., and terminating means 17 for automatically terminating a pay service call based on the information charge non-charging time detected by the detecting means and the call time measured by the timer means. .

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, a charge advance notification service in the ISDN network will be described. Figure 2 shows the IS
It is explanatory drawing which shows the charge advance notification service in a DN network, (a) is a system block diagram, (b) is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement.

In FIG. 2A, a calling telephone device 21 is a telephone device to which the present invention is applied, and is accommodated in an ISDN network 23. Note that the receiving-side telephone device 22 directly
It is not necessary to be accommodated in the SDN network 23, and it may be connected to the ISDN network 23 via another network.

First, a user performs a calling operation on the calling telephone device 21, and in response, a call setting 24 including a dial number of the called telephone device 22 is sent from the calling telephone device 21 to the IS.
It is sent to the DN network 23. In this case, an activation number for activating the advance fee notification service is set in the call setting 24.

In accordance with the call setting 24, the ISDN network 23 transmits, based on the charge notification 25, the charge data relating to the call (communication) with the called telephone device 22, ie, the call charge, the information charge, and the information charge non-charging time. Notify the calling telephone device 21.
Almost in parallel with this, the ISDN network 23 sends out a call 26 to the destination telephone device 22 to start the call.

Thereafter, when a response operation is performed on the called telephone device 22, a response 27 is sent from the called telephone device 22 to the ISDN network 23, and a response is sent from the ISDN network 23 to the calling telephone device 21. 28 is sent out. This allows
The calling telephone device 21 and the called telephone device 22 are connected via the ISDN network 23, and a telephone call (communication) is started.

As described above, in the calling side telephone device 21,
By using the advance fee notification service, the called telephone device 22 can respond before the called telephone device 22 answers the call.
From the ISDN 23, it is possible to acquire the charge data relating to the telephone call (communication), that is, the call charge, the information charge, and the information charge non-charging time.

FIG. 3 is an example of a format showing fee data notified from the ISDN network. Note that this charge data is actually stored and notified in a predetermined message such as an additional information message sent from the ISDN network 23 to the calling telephone device 21.

The charge notification information element identifier 31 stores an identifier indicating that the following data is the charge notification information, and the charge notification content length 32 stores the length of the charge notification information. The information type 33 stores the type of each charge information stored in the information field 34 described later.
The information field 34 stores actual charge data, here, a call charge 35, an information charge 36, and an information charge non-charging time 37.

In particular, the information fee 36 is a fee charged in addition to the normal call fee 35 for the fee-based service provided by the called telephone device 22. Will be notified as needed. Generally, as for the charging of the information fee 36, the charging is started after a lapse of a predetermined time from the start of the telephone call (communication) with the called telephone device 22, as the paid service selection time by the calling user. The time is notified as the information fee non-charging time 37.

The call charge 35 is a pay-per-use system.
In addition to being notified of the time during which a call can be made with a predetermined amount (talk time per unit amount), such as being able to talk for 45 seconds at 0 yen, the amount charged per predetermined time (the amount per unit time) ). On the other hand, the information fee 36 is notified in the same manner as the call fee 35 in the case of the subordinate system, but one call (communication) in the case of the flat-rate system.
Only the amount charged for each is notified.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows the operation of the telephone device of the present invention.
It is a flowchart which shows a transmission process. In addition, the calling side telephone device has a prefix time indicating the timing of notifying the start of the information charge for the pay service in advance, that is, the time retroactive from the start of the information charge, and the setting of the presence or absence of automatic termination at the advance notification timing. Are set in advance by the setting unit 11 (see FIG. 1) and registered in the storage unit 12 (RAM 6).

At the time of making a call, first, the user enters the key unit 8
Is operated to input a dial number (step 4).
0), a call setup message including this dial number and a request for a charge advance notification service is sent to the ISDN network as a call request (step 41). After that, the receiving unit 13 receives the charge data notified from the ISDN network,
As shown in FIG. 3, the call charge 35, the information charge 36, and the information charge non-charging time 37 are detected by the detection means 14 (step 42).

Next, it is determined whether or not the information fee 36 is included in the fee data notified from the ISDN (step 43). Here, when the information fee 36 is not included (step 43: NO), it is determined that the service is not a paid service, and a normal call is started, and a series of calls is made (step 45: YES). The process ends. On the other hand, when the information fee 36 is included (step 43:
YES), it is determined that the service is a paid service, and the process proceeds to the notification processing of the information charge start time.

First, it is determined whether or not the fee data notified from the ISDN includes an information fee non-billing time 37 indicating a valid value (step 44). Here, when the information fee non-charging time 37 is not included or the information fee non-charging time 37 is zero (step 44: YE
S), it is determined that the information fee is charged immediately after the other party answers, that is, immediately after the start of the call, and the user is notified before the answer of the other party that the information fee is charged from the start of the call as an information fee charging alarm ( Step 46: notification means 16).

Thus, even if the paid service charges the information fee immediately after the start of the call, the user is notified of the start of the charging in advance, and the charging of the information fee is started. In this way, the user can select whether or not to shift to the charging period, and it is possible to avoid a situation in which information is incorrectly charged without the user noticing. Note that the information fee billing warning is provided by a visual display such as a message display, a pictogram blinking display, and a lamp blinking display on the display unit 7 and an audible display of a voice message such as a signal sound or voice synthesis from the handset HS or the speaker SP. The user is notified.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 44 that the information fee non-charging time 37 is included (step 44: N
O), The time until the information fee warning is notified, that is, the alarm notification time is calculated, and this is set in the alarm notification timer (step 47). If the alarm notification timing is set in the storage unit 12 with a prescribed time retroactively from the start of information fee charging, for example, "one minute before the start of information fee charging", the alarm notification time is It is obtained by subtracting the prefix time from the non-charging time.

At the same time, based on the information charge non-charging time, the user is notified that charging of the information charge is started after the lapse of the information charge non-charge time from the start of the call (step 4).
8: notification means 16). In this case as well, the same as the information fee warning in step 46, but the information fee non-billing time is specifically notified to the user. As a result, how long after the start of the call will be charged for the information fee,
The user can be recognized before the start of the call, and the continuation of the call can be selected in advance, thereby avoiding a situation in which the user is erroneously charged for information without noticing.

In this way, after steps 46 and 48, the call is placed in the other party's calling state, and the flow shifts to a loop for detecting the termination of the outgoing call by the user or the other party's response. Here, first, it is determined whether or not the user has issued an end call instruction (operation) (step 49). If not (step 49: NO), it is determined whether or not there is a response from the other party (step 49). If there is no response from the other party (step 50: NO), the process returns to step 49 and repeats the loop.

In this loop, if the end-of-call instruction is detected (step 49: YES), it is determined that the transmission has been stopped by the user, the line is released (step 56), and a series of transmission processing is performed. To end. If a response from the other party is detected (step 50: YES), the call is in a call state, the alarm notification timer set in step 47 is started (step 51), and the call by the user or the other party is terminated. The process proceeds to a loop for detecting the time-up of the alarm timer.

Here, first, it is determined whether or not the user or the other party has given a call termination instruction (step 52).
If not (step 52: NO), it is determined whether the alarm notification timer has timed out (step 5).
3). If there is no timer up (step 5
3: NO), returning to step 52 to repeat the loop.

In this loop, if time-up is detected (step 53: YES), step 4
As in the case of 6, 48, the user is notified that the information fee will be charged after the elapse of the preceding time as an information fee charging alarm (step 54: notification means 16). As a result, even if the paid service notifies the user that the charging of the information fee has started, the start of the charging is notified to the user in advance, and before the charging of the information fee is started. The user can select whether or not to shift to the charging period, and it is possible to avoid a situation in which the information is incorrectly charged without the user noticing.

Next, referring to the storage means 12, it is determined whether or not automatic termination is set (step 55). If it is set (step 55: YES), the line is released (step 55). 56), a series of transmission processing is terminated (end means 17). As a result, the call ends automatically at a point in time before the information charge start timing by the preceding time, and the charge of the information charge is reliably avoided.

If it is not set (step 55: NO), the flow returns to step 52 to repeat the loop. As a result, the call is continued until the call is terminated by the judgment of the user, and if a call termination instruction is detected before the lapse of the information charge non-billing time from the start of the call (step 52: YES),
It is determined that the call is terminated, the line is released (step 56), and a series of outgoing call processing ends.

In step 52, if the call termination instruction is not detected before the lapse of the information charge non-billing time from the start of the call and the call is continued by the user's will (step 5).
2: NO) Go to step 44. As a result, the charging of the information fee for the pay service is started, and a series of transmission processing is ended according to the subsequent call termination instruction (step 44: YES).

In the above description, step 5
In the loops 2 and 53, the time until the charging of the information fee starts, that is, the remaining time of the information fee non-billing time may be sequentially updated and displayed. As a result, the user can easily grasp the time until the charging of the information fee is started,
If the user wants to avoid charging the information fee, the end timing of the call can be accurately determined. When displaying the information fee alert,
By displaying the information fee notified from the DN network together, the amount of the information fee can be grasped at the same time, and the necessity of the paid service can be appropriately determined.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving charge data notified from an ISDN network at the time of a call, an information charge for a pay service and a counterpart based on the charge data received by the receive means. Detecting means for detecting the information charge non-charging time from the response to the start of charging of the information charge, and notifying the time when the charging of the information charge is started according to the detection result of the detecting means. It was made. Therefore, even when notifying the user of the information fee for the paid service and the voice announcement from the network indicating the start of charging, the user is able to accurately determine from which point the charging of the information fee is started. Can be notified. Thus, the user can select whether or not to shift to the charging period before the charging of the information fee is started, and it is possible to avoid a situation in which the information is incorrectly charged without the user noticing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a fee advance notification service in an ISDN network.

FIG. 3 is a format example showing fee data notified from an ISDN network.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing transmission processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... DSU, 2 ... Driver receiver, 3 ... I interface circuit, 4 ... Control part, 5 ... ROM, 6 ... RAM, 7 ...
Display section, 8 key section, 9 sound source control circuit, 10 communication circuit, 11 setting section, 12 storage section, 13 reception section, 14 detection section, 15 timekeeping section, 16 notification section, 17 ... Ending means, 21... Originating telephone device, 22.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tomoaki Yoshino 2-3-3 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo F-term in Tamura Electric Works (reference) 5K025 AA01 BB02 BB10 CC01 EE09 EE23 FF27 HH06 5K027 BB04 FF25 HH20

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A telephone device connected to an ISDN network for notifying the start of a toll service, receiving means for receiving charge data notified from the ISDN network after transmitting call setting data at the time of outgoing call. Detecting means for detecting, from the charge data received by the means, the information charge for the paid service and the information charge non-charging time from the other party's response until the charging of the information charge is started; And a notifying means for notifying a time when charging of the information fee is started. 2. The telephone device according to claim 1, wherein the notifying unit notifies a time when the charging of the information fee is started before the other party answers. 3. The telephone apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a timer for counting a call time from a response from the other party, wherein the notifying means charges the information charge from the start of the call until the non-charge time for the information charge elapses. A telephone device for notifying that telephone call is started. 4. The telephone device according to claim 1, wherein the notifying means detects the information charge from the charge data and detects no information charge non-charging time. A telephone device for notifying that charging of the user is started before the other party answers. 5. The telephone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notifying means detects the information charge and the information charge non-charging time from the charge data by the detecting means, and the information charge non-charge time is zero. Is a telephone device for notifying that the charging of the information fee is started immediately after the other party answers before the other party answers. 6. The telephone device according to claim 1, further comprising: a timer for counting a communication time from a caller's answer, wherein the notifier detects an information charge by the detector and starts counting time after the caller's answer. If the difference between the call time and the information charge non-charging time is within a predetermined time, the telephone device notifies the user that charging of the information charge is started before the other party answers. 7. The telephone device according to claim 1, further comprising an end unit that ends the call before starting charging the information fee based on the information fee non-charging time detected by the detecting unit.