JP2001333206A - Method and system for transmitting information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information transmitting method by which a telephone call incoming from a caller can be confirmed without cutting the Internet connection even while the Internet is used for a long time. SOLUTION: An information transmitting system 100 has an information transmitting network 90 composed of a telephone line network 1 with which plural telephone sets 4 and PC terminals 5 are connected, the Internet 2 and a telephone-Internet gateway 3 for mutually connecting the telephone line network 1 and the Internet 2. The telephone-Internet gateway 3 is provided with an Internet use presence/absence deciding means 7 for deciding whether the destination of telephone call is using the Internet, a voice storage means 8 for storing the voice message of the caller, a file converting means 9 for converting the stored voice message to an attachment file and a mail transmitting means 10 for transmitting the mail with attached voice file to a PC terminal 52 of the transmission destination.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information transmission method and an information transmission system, and more particularly, to an information transmission method and a method for receiving a call from another caller while the called party is using the Internet. The present invention relates to an information transmission system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when one caller makes a call to another called party between a plurality of telephones connected to a predetermined telephone line network, the other party, ie, the called party's telephone, is called. Is busy, or the phone cannot be connected because the called party is absent in many cases.

In a busy state in which the called party is using his / her telephone, for example, in order to know the incoming call from another calling party during the call, the callee may subscribe to a call waiting service. If the called party is absent, you can use the answering machine or call forwarding service to check the contents of the calling party after the fact or at another location It has become.

On the other hand, in recent years, with the spread of personal computers, the use of telephones for dial-up connection to connect the personal computers to communication lines, particularly the Internet, has been increasing.

[0005] Therefore, unless a telephone line and a personal computer communication line are used separately from each other by adopting the ISDN, an intended recipient uses his / her telephone for dial-up connection. If the user uses his / her PC terminal connected to the Internet and calls the intended recipient from a certain sender, the sender will:
The reason for the busy was unknown, even if the callee's telephone was simply understood to be busy.

[0006] Therefore, under such circumstances, the sender is
Whether the called party is talking to another person on another phone,
Since it was impossible to determine whether or not the caller was connected to the Internet, there was a problem that the caller could not contact the callee.

In addition, the called party who needs to receive a call from the caller cannot grasp the fact that the call from the caller has been received while using the Internet. .

Further, as described above, when the called party has subscribed to the call waiting service, the fact can be grasped. There was a problem that the connection to was disconnected.

[0009] If the callee does not subscribe to the call waiting service, the caller can call the callee.
I couldn't tell if I was talking or using the internet and couldn't contact the callee.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to remedy the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, so that even if a particular called party has been using the Internet for a long time, he or she will not be disconnected from the Internet. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information transmission method and an information transmission system capable of confirming an incoming call from a caller and receiving a voice message of the caller via a PC terminal.

[0011]

The present invention employs the following technical configuration to achieve the above object. That is, a first aspect according to the present invention is a communication system including a plurality of telephones connected to each other via a telephone line and a plurality of PC terminals connectable to the Internet via the telephones. In the case where the caller transmits information from the one telephone to the other telephone, the callee of the other telephone receives the PC.
When the terminal is connected to the Internet via a dial-up connection via the telephone, the fact that the caller has called the callee is transmitted to the PC terminal used by the callee, An information transmission method configured to display the fact on a part of a display portion of the PC terminal. As a second aspect according to the present invention,
In an information transmission system including a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, and a telephone-internet gateway interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet, Making a call to a desired called party's phone via a predetermined phone, if the called party's phone is busy, the called party's phone Person's P
A step of determining whether the C-terminal is connected to the Internet and whether or not the called party's telephone is used for dial-up connection of the PC terminal; the PC of the called party is connected to the Internet and used; In the case, the step of storing the message of the caller in a predetermined storage means in the form of voice information, the step of converting the voice information stored in the storage means into an attached file, and the step of adding the voice attached file with the voice attached file Transmitting the e-mail to the recipient's PC terminal as an e-mail.

On the other hand, as a third aspect according to the present invention,
In an information transmission system including a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected and the Internet, and a telephone-internet gateway interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet, A first step in which one expected recipient having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-internet gateway performs a dial-up connection operation to connect the PC terminal of the expected recipient to the Internet; A second step of notifying the telephone-internet gateway of the fact that the called party has connected the PC terminal to the Internet, the IP address and mail address of the expected called party whose telephone-internet gateway is the contractor; , At least one information selected from Internet usage flags, etc. A fourth step in which the caller makes a call to the telephone of the expected callee; and determines whether or not the caller's telephone is busy. Fifth step, the sixth step of connecting the caller's phone to the called party's phone if not busy in the fifth step, and the sixth step if the fifth step is busy. A seventh step of determining whether the called party is a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway,
In the seventh step, if the called party is not a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway, an eighth step, in which it is determined that the called party's telephone is simply busy and the END is performed, the seventh step If the called party is a subscriber of the telephone-Internet gateway, the telephone-
A ninth step and a ninth step of judging whether or not the telephone of the called party who is the contractor is dial-up-connected to connect the PC terminal of the called party to the Internet at the Internet gateway. In this case, when the called party's PC terminal is connected to the Internet and is in use, a display indicating that a processing instruction waiting message exists in a part of the display area of the called party's PC terminal is performed. A tenth step, in response to the display, the callee interrupts the dial-up connection with the caller to make a direct call, instructs the caller to reject the call, or to record on an answering machine; An eleventh step of selecting one operation selected from, for example, listening to a voice mail, and in the eleventh step, when the callee selects an operation of listening to a voice mail, A twelfth step of requesting the follower to send a voice message, a thirteenth step in which the caller sends the message by voice based on an instruction in the twelfth step, and a voice message of the caller. A fourteenth step of storing the voice message in an arbitrary storage means, a fifteenth step of converting the stored voice message into a format readable by a PC terminal to form a voice file, and forming an e-mail attached with the voice file A sixteenth step of transmitting the e-mail with the attached file to the PC terminal of the called party,
An eighteenth step of operating the PC terminal of the called party to open the e-mail with the voice attached file and listening to the message of the calling party. As a fourth embodiment, the telephone network and the Internet are connected to a plurality of telephones and PC terminals, and the telephone-internet gateway interconnects the telephone network and the Internet. In the information transmission network, the telephone-internet gateway includes Internet use presence / absence determination means for determining whether or not the call destination is using the Internet, voice storage means for storing the voice of the caller, and stored voice. File conversion means for converting a file into an attached file,
This is an information transmission system provided with mail transmission means for transmitting a mail with a voice attached file to a destination.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The information transmission method and information transmission system according to the present invention employ the above-described technical configuration. For example, when a certain caller calls a certain callee, If the dial-up connection is using the Internet, first determine whether the called party's phone is in a voice call or the Internet connection, and if the Internet connection is in progress, store the caller's voice and The converted voice is converted into a file in a format that can be reproduced on a personal computer, and the last converted file is transmitted as an attached file as an e-mail to the called party.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific examples of the information transmission method and the information transmission system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a specific example of an information transmission system 100 according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a plurality of telephones 4 and a PC terminal 5 are connected. In an information transmission network 90 comprising a telephone line network 1 and the Internet 2 and a telephone-Internet gateway 3 interconnecting the telephone line network 1 and the Internet 2, the telephone-Internet gateway 3 Means for determining whether or not the called party is using the Internet; Internet use presence / absence determination means 7; voice storage means 8 for storing a voice message of a caller; and file conversion means for converting the stored voice message into an attached file 9 and mail with voice attachment
An information transmission system 100 provided with a mail transmitting means 10 for transmitting to the C terminal 52 is shown.

That is, in the information transmission system 100 according to the present invention, a plurality of telephones 4 connected to each other via the telephone line 1 and the Internet 2 via the telephones 4 can be connected. In a communication system 100 including a plurality of PC terminals 5, the caller 101
In order to transmit information from the telephone 41 to the other telephone 42, the called party 102 of the other telephone 42 connects the PC terminal 52 to the Internet 2 through a dial-up connection via the telephone 42. If you have
The fact that there is a call from the caller 101 to the callee 102 is transmitted to the PC terminal 52 used by the callee 102, and a part of the display portion of the PC terminal 52 is displayed.
It is desirable to be configured to display the fact.

The information transmission system 10 according to the present invention
0, an IP network may be separately provided between the Internet 2 and the telephone-Internet gateway 3.

It is preferable that the telephone 4 and / or the PC terminal 5 according to the present invention be connected to the telephone line network 1 via a separate exchange 20, respectively. It is also desirable that each is connected to the Internet 2 via an individual server 30.

Further, an appropriate busy determining means 21 may be provided between the telephone 4 and the telephone network 1 according to the present invention, and the busy determining means 21 Any configuration may be used as long as it has a function of determining whether the call of the called party 102 is busy when a call is made to the desired called party 102. .

Further, it is desirable that the busy determination means 21 is connected to the telephone-internet gateway 3.

By adopting such a configuration, when the caller 101 calls a desired callee 102,
By notifying the information to the telephone-internet gateway 3 when the telephone of the called party 102 is busy, the telephone-internet gateway 3 is busy in any state of the telephone 42 of the called party 102. It is possible to start investigating whether there is any.

On the other hand, the telephone-internet gateway 3 used in the information transmission system 100 according to the present invention further responds to a call signal from the caller 101 by calling the telephone 42 of the callee 102. Is the Internet 2
Incoming call control having a function of requesting the Internet use presence / absence determining means 7 to investigate whether or not the Internet connection is used for connection, or a function of notifying the caller 101 of the investigation report result from the Internet use presence / absence determination means 7 It is desirable to have the means 6.

The Internet use presence / absence determining means 7 according to the present invention further determines whether or not the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is dialed up in response to the output signal from the incoming call control means 6. A service control unit 71 having a function of performing an investigation, and connected to the service control unit 71, so that it is possible to always grasp the status of whether or not each subscriber's telephone is connected to the Internet 2. Internet usage status management means 72
It is preferable to include

On the other hand, the service control means 71 of the Internet use presence / absence judging means 7 used in the information transmission system 100 according to the present invention transmits the incoming call from the caller 101 to the callee 102. It is also preferable to further include an incoming call notifying means 12 for notifying that there has been an error.

Further, the Internet use status management means 72 in the Internet use presence / absence determination means 7
May be further provided with at least one of the dial-up connection start detecting means 14 for detecting that the telephone set 42 of the contractor registration unit 13 or the telephone set 42 of the registered contractor has started dial-up connection. preferable.

The information transmission system 10 according to the present invention
0, first, when a certain caller 101 calls a desired callee 102, and when the telephone 42 of the callee 102 is busy, the information is transmitted to the telephone-
By notifying the Internet gateway 3,
In the telephone-Internet gateway 3, first,
A search is made to determine whether or not the called party 102 is a registered contractor in the information transmission system. If the called party 102 is not a registered contractor, the fact is notified to the sender 101 and the subsequent processing is performed. However, if the called party 102 is a contractor, the Internet use status managing means 72 of the Internet use presence / absence judging means 7 scans the Internet 2 so that Search for the registered telephone number, IP number, domain name, mail address, etc. of a certain called party 102,
It is possible to determine whether or not the called party 102 uses his / her telephone 42 for dial-up connection of the PC terminal. When a flag indicating that dial-up connection is to be started is recorded in the Internet use status management unit 72, the search can be executed by searching for the flag.

Then, as a result of the search, the called party 1
02 is determined to be busy for the dial-up connection, the fact is notified to the caller 101 and the caller 10
It is also possible to notify the information 2 that the call from the caller 101 has been received via the incoming call notifying means 12.

The incoming call notifying means 12 according to the present invention further provides the called party 102 with a telephone call of the calling party 101 regardless of whether or not the telephone set of the called party 102 is dial-up connected. It is preferable to have a function of giving an instruction to select one of receiving immediately, not answering, recording on an answering machine, or sending a voice message.

The incoming call control means 6 according to the present invention.
Further, when the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is dial-up-connected, the result is transmitted to the calling party 10.
It is also preferable to have a function of notifying the sender 1 and instructing the sender 101 to leave a voice message, and a function of instructing the sender 101 to store the voice message of the sender 101 in a predetermined storage unit 8.

In the information transmission system 100 according to the present invention, the contents of the answer to the question of the incoming call notifying means 12 of the called party 102 are transmitted to the Internet use determining means 7 or the incoming control means. 6 may be configured to be forwarded to the caller 101.

The configuration of the voice storage means 8 used in the present invention is not particularly limited, and any configuration having a function of converting voice information into digital data and storing the data can be used. Can also be used.

On the other hand, the file conversion means 9 used in the present invention converts the voice message of the sender 101 stored in the voice storage means 8 into a mail while the voice information can be reproduced by the personal computer. It is necessary to have a function to convert to an attachable file format.

For example, WAV, MPEG (including MP3), PCM, WMA, MIDI, MODULE (Li
It is preferable to convert to a format such as nux, FREEBSD or the like which can be reproduced by Unix).

On the other hand, the mail transmitting means 10 according to the present invention converts the voice message of the sender 101 converted into the above-mentioned mail attachable file format into an electronic mail as an attached file, and It is configured to transmit to the PC terminal 102.

The called party 102 displays that the mail with the voice attached file has arrived on a part of the display portion of the PC terminal that is using the Internet of the called party. The person 102 can confirm the voice message by opening the mail including the voice message from the sender 101 at any time.

Of course, in the present invention, it is possible to immediately open the mail with the attached file and confirm the voice message without disconnecting the Internet connection.

The information transmission system 100 according to the present invention
In this case, an individual or a business entity having a predetermined telephone-Internet gateway 3 in advance
It has a terminal 5 and makes a contract with a plurality of individuals or companies wishing to connect to the Internet on the premise that a predetermined contract fee is paid, and at the same time registers the contractor in the present system, at the same time as the individual services described above. It is possible to conduct a business in which a predetermined fee is separately collected every time a certain information transmission process is executed.

In this case, it is convenient to introduce a predetermined billing system into the information transmission system 100 and adopt electronic settlement.

If the called party 102 who called the caller 101 is not a subscriber of the information transmission system 100 according to the present invention, the above-mentioned voice information transmission service is not applied or a subscription contract is made. If the number of people is small,
Since the above-described search can be executed in a short time, in that case, the caller 1 is individually used by using the charging system.
If it is confirmed that 01 has paid the prescribed fee,
The above services can also be provided.

For example, as shown in FIG.
And the telephone network 1 and the Internet 2 to which the PC terminal 5 is connected, and the telephone network 1 and the Internet 2
In a data transmission network 90 composed of a telephone-internet gateway 3 interconnecting the two, a cable TV system network 80 is interposed between the telephone-internet gateway 3 and the Internet 2. In this case, the Internet use presence / absence determining means 7 does not need the contractor registration means 13.

That is, the cable TV system network 80
Generally, the number of subscribers subscribing to the cable TV system network 80 is as follows:
Compared to the number of subscribers on the Internet, the number of subscribers is quite small, so a search for whether or not a subscriber's telephone is dial-up-connected can be performed in a very short time without introducing any registration means. is there.

In such a case, as described above, it is possible to provide an information transmission service to non-contractors.

Next, a specific example of the information transmission method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

That is, basically, as described above, the information transmission method of the present invention uses a plurality of telephones 4 connected to each other via the telephone line network 1 and the Internet 2 via the telephones 4. When a caller 101 transmits information from one telephone 41 to another telephone 42 in a communication system network 90 composed of a plurality of PC terminals 5 connectable to the When the called party 102 of the telephone set 42 connects the PC terminal 52 to the Internet 2 through a dial-up connection via the telephone set 42, the caller 101 calls the called party 102. The PC that the called party 102 is using in fact
Transmitted to the terminal 5 and a part of the display portion of the PC terminal 5
An information transmission method configured to display the fact, more specifically, the fact that there is a call from the caller 101 to the callee 102 to the callee 102
Is an information transmission method configured to transmit the message of the sender 101 to an attached file and transfer the message to the PC terminal 52 as a mail with a voice attached file while transmitting the message to the PC terminal 52 used by the user. .

In the present invention, the called party 102 is
The caller 1 without disconnecting the Internet connection
01 is sent to the PC terminal 52 of the called party 102.
It is configured to confirm by playing back with.

As another mode of the information transmission method according to the present invention, the telephone network 1 and the Internet 2 to which a plurality of telephones 4 and PC terminals 5 are connected, and the telephone network 1 and the Internet 2 And a telephone-internet gateway 3 for mutually connecting the telephone-internet gateway 3.
When the PC terminal 52 of the called party 102 is used for dial-up connection, the state is notified to the calling party 101 and, if the calling party 101 desires, a voice message of the calling party 101 is provided. Is converted into an attached file, and is transferred as an e-mail to the PC terminal 52 of the called party 102 via the Internet 2.

The telephone-internet gateway 3 according to the present invention preferably has a function as a server connected to the Internet 2.

Incidentally, the telephone-internet gateway 3 in the present invention may use a server called ICW (Internet call waiting), for example, or use a catch horn system for telephone. It may be what you do.

In the information transmission method according to the present invention, each PC terminal 5 is connected to the telephone-Internet gateway 3 or an appropriate server 30 different from the telephone-Internet gateway 3. May be connected to the Internet 2.

More specific examples of the information transmission method according to the present invention include, for example, a telephone network 1 and an Internet 2 to which a plurality of telephones 4 and PC terminals 5 are connected; In an information transmission system 100 including a telephone-internet gateway 3 for interconnecting a circuit network 1 and the Internet 2, one caller 101 receives a desired incoming call via a predetermined telephone 41. Making a call to the telephone 42 of the called party 102. If the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is busy, the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is connected to the PC of the called party 102.
Determining whether the terminal 52 is connected to the Internet and therefore the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is being used for dial-up connection of the PC terminal 52; If connected and used, a step of storing the message of the sender 101 in the form of voice information in a predetermined storage means 8; a step of converting the voice information stored in the storage means 8 into an attached file; And the associated file 102 as the e-mail with the audio attachment
And transmitting to the PC terminal 52.

Of course, this is an information transmission method configured so that each of the above-described steps is sequentially executed under the control of a computer.

In the information transmission method according to the present invention, it is preferable that at least the called party is a contractor registered in advance in the telephone-internet gateway 3.

Further, as another specific example of the information transmission method according to the present invention, the called party 10 who is the contractor is used.
2, when a call is received from the caller 101, the telephone-Internet gateway 3 searches the Internet 2, and the contractor corresponding to the callee 102 connects his telephone 42 to a dial-up connection. It is determined whether or not the called party 102 is using the Internet 2 and the called party 102
If the C-terminal 52 is connected to the Internet and is being used, the caller 101 is notified of the fact and the message of the caller 101 is stored in a predetermined form in the form of voice at the request of the caller 101. After storing a file containing the converted voice message, the voice message of the sender stored in the storage unit 8 is converted into a format that can be reproduced by the PC terminal 52 of the called party 102. This is an information transmission method configured to transmit an electronic mail as an attached file to the PC terminal 52 of the callee 102.

In the information transmission method according to the present invention, the owner of the telephone-internet gateway 3 determines in advance from at least one of the called party 102 and / or the calling party 101 who is the contractor. It is possible to provide the information transmission method described above as a service after collecting a predetermined fee through the predetermined charging system.

As an example of a basic operation procedure of the information transmission method according to the present invention, a telephone network and the Internet to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, and the telephone network and the Internet are connected. In an information transmission system including a telephone and an internet gateway connected to each other, a step in which one caller makes a call to a telephone set of the called party, and the called party's phone is busy. A busy determination step of determining whether there is a call, if not busy in the busy determination step, connecting the caller's phone to the called party's phone; if busy in the busy determination step, Determining whether or not the called party's telephone is dial-up connected to connect the called party's PC terminal to the Internet; When the PC terminal is connected to the Internet and is in use, a display indicating that a message waiting for a processing instruction is present in a part of the display area of the PC terminal of the callee or a call from the caller. In response to the display, the callee determines whether to reject or talk to the caller, if the call,
Judgment of whether the called party interrupts the dial-up connection with the calling party to make a direct call or leave a voice message, and when leaving a voice message, record the answering machine on the called party's phone A response determining step of determining whether to instruct or send a voice mail; and in the response determining step, when the receiver selects a method of leaving a voice message, a voice is transmitted to the sender. Requesting a message to be transmitted, transmitting the message by voice based on the process, storing the voice message of the caller in any storage means, When the transmission is selected, the stored voice message is converted into a format that can be read by a PC terminal to form a voice file; Forming an e-mail with a file attached, transmitting the e-mail with the audio attachment to the recipient's PC terminal, the recipient operating the recipient's PC terminal, and Opening the attached e-mail and listening to the message of the sender.

Next, an operation procedure of a more specific example of the information transmission method according to the present invention will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, a telephone network 1 and the Internet 2 to which a plurality of telephones 4 and PC terminals 5 are connected, and a telephone-Internet gateway 3 for interconnecting the telephone network 1 and the Internet 2. In the information transmission system 100 configured, after the start, in step (S1), one expected callee 1 having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-internet gateway 3 is set.
02 performs a dial-up connection operation to execute a first step of connecting the PC terminal 52 of the expected callee 102 to the Internet 2. In step (S 2), the expected callee 102 Is the PC terminal 52
Is notified to the telephone-internet gateway 3 of the fact that is connected to the Internet 2.

Next, proceeding to step (S3), the telephone-internet gateway 3 sets at least one information selected from the IP address, the mail address, the Internet use flag, etc. of the expected callee 102 who is the contractor. Is executed, and then in step (S4), the fourth step in which one caller 101 makes a call to the telephone 42 of the expected callee 102 is performed. Be executed.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step (S5), in which a fifth step of determining whether or not the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is busy is executed. Then, in step (S6), If the fifth step is not busy, a sixth step of connecting the telephone of the caller 101 to the telephone 42 of the callee 102 is executed.

However, if the callee 102 is busy in step (S5), the called party 102
A seventh step of determining whether or not the user is a contractor of the Internet gateway 3 is executed, and if NO, that is,
If the called party 102 is not a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway 3 in the seventh step, it is determined in step (S8) that the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is simply busy. I can't receive calls, so EN
An eighth step D is performed.

However, in step (S7), YE
S, that is, in the seventh step, the callee 1
If 02 is the contractor of the telephone-internet gateway 3, the process proceeds to step (S <b> 9), where the telephone 42 of the called party 102, which is the contractor, is connected to the telephone-internet gateway 3. Callee 102
A ninth step of determining whether or not the PC terminal 52 is dial-up-connected to connect to the Internet 2 is executed.

In the step (S9), when the PC terminal 52 of the called party 102 is connected to the Internet 2 and in use, the process proceeds to a step (S10).
In a part of the display area of the PC terminal 52 of the called party 102,
A tenth step of displaying a message indicating that there is a processing instruction waiting message, that is, a message indicating that a call is being received from the caller to the callee is executed.

On the other hand, in step (S9), if the PC terminal 52 of the callee 102 is not in use because it is connected to the Internet 2, another routine to be described later will be executed.

Thereafter, in a step (S11), in response to the display, an eleventh step of determining whether the called party refuses the call with the calling party is executed, and the eleventh step is executed. In the process, if the callee refuses the call with the caller, the call ends at that point, but if the callee chooses to talk with the caller,
Proceeding to step (S12), a twelfth step is executed for determining whether the called party interrupts the dial-up connection of the called party's telephone and immediately makes a direct call or wants to leave a voice message. Is done.

In the twelfth step, the called party
If it is desired to make a direct call with the caller, the process proceeds to step (S121), the connection to the Internet is stopped, and in step (S122), the caller is answered by telephone. And then end.

On the other hand, in step (S12), if the called party wants the sender to leave a voice message, the process proceeds to step (S13).
A thirteenth step of requesting the caller to send a voice message is performed.

Next, in step (S14), the thirteenth
A fourteenth step in which the caller transmits a message by voice is executed based on the instruction in the step (b). The process is performed.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step (S16), in which the voice message of the caller is instructed to record the answering machine to the telephone-internet gateway, or the voice message is transmitted as mail to the PC terminal of the callee. A sixteenth process is performed to determine whether or not to record the voice message of the caller in means having an answering machine function in step (S16). Then, the voice message is recorded in the answering machine function of the telephone-internet gateway, and the process ends.

On the other hand, in step (S16), if the callee desires to transmit the voice message of the caller as e-mail to the PC terminal of the callee, the process proceeds to step (S17). ), A seventeenth step of converting the stored voice message into a format readable by the PC terminal to form a voice file is executed, and then, in step (S18), attaching the voice file. An eighteenth step of forming the e-mail is performed.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step (S19), in which the e-mail with the voice attached file is sent to the recipient's PC.
A nineteenth step of transmitting to the terminal is executed, and then, in step (S20), the called party receives the PC of the called party.
By operating the terminal, the e-mail with the attached file is opened, and the twentieth step of listening to the message of the sender is executed.

Next, another embodiment of the information transmission method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, the telephone network 1 and the Internet 2 to which the plurality of telephones 4 and the PC terminal 5 are connected, and the telephone-Internet gateway 3 for connecting the telephone network 1 and the Internet 2 to each other. In the configured information transmission system 100, after starting, in step (S1), one expected recipient 1 having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-internet gateway 3 is set.
02 performs a dial-up connection operation to execute a first step of connecting the PC terminal 52 of the expected callee 102 to the Internet 2. In step (S 2), the expected callee 102 Is the PC terminal 52
Is notified to the telephone-internet gateway 3 of the fact that is connected to the Internet 2.

Next, the process proceeds to step (S3), where the telephone-internet gateway 3 determines at least one information selected from the IP address, the mail address, the Internet use flag, etc. of the expected callee 102 who is the contractor. Is executed, and then in step (S4), the fourth step in which one caller 101 makes a call to the telephone 42 of the expected callee 102 is performed. Be executed.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step (S5), in which a fifth step of determining whether or not the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is busy is executed, and subsequently, in step (S6), If the fifth step is not busy, a sixth step of connecting the telephone of the caller 101 to the telephone 42 of the callee 102 is executed.

However, if the callee 102 is busy in step (S5), the called party 102
A seventh step of determining whether or not the user is a contractor of the Internet gateway 3 is executed, and if NO, that is,
If the called party 102 is not a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway 3 in the seventh step, it is determined in step (S8) that the telephone 42 of the called party 102 is simply busy. An eighth step of END is executed.

However, in step (S7), YE
S, that is, in the seventh step, the callee 1
If 02 is the contractor of the telephone-internet gateway 3, the process proceeds to step (S <b> 9), where the telephone 42 of the called party 102, which is the contractor, is connected to the telephone-internet gateway 3. Callee 102
A ninth step of determining whether or not the PC terminal 52 is dial-up-connected to connect to the Internet 2 is executed.

In the ninth step, the called party 10
If the second PC terminal 52 is not connected to the Internet 2, the process proceeds to step (S <b> 21), where a twenty-first step of notifying the sender 101 of the fact is executed. Proceeding to (S22), a twenty-second step is executed in which the caller determines whether to leave a voice message or disconnect the call for the callee.

In the twenty-second step, if the caller selects to hang up the telephone, the step (S3
Proceeding to 1), disconnect the telephone and, in the twenty-second step, if leaving the voice message is selected, proceed to step (S23) to transmit a voice message to the caller. 23 is performed.

Thereafter, in a step (S24), a twenty-fourth step of storing the transmitted voice message of the sender in a predetermined storage means is executed, and subsequently, in a step (S25), the twenty-fourth step is performed. A twenty-fifth step is performed in which the caller selects whether to send the voice message as voice mail or to record the message in an answering machine function for the callee.

Next, in the twenty-fifth step, when the caller selects a method of recording a message in the answering machine function, the voice message is sent to the telephone-internet gateway in step (S26). The twenty-sixth step of recording a message on the provided answering machine function is executed and the process ends.

On the other hand, in the twenty-fifth step, when the sender transmits the voice message as voice mail to the receiver, the process proceeds to step (S27).
A twenty-seventh step of converting the stored voice message into a voice file in a format that can be read by a PC terminal is executed. 28 steps will be executed.

Further, in a step (S29), after a twenty-ninth step of transmitting the electronic mail with the voice attached file to the PC terminal of the called party via the Internet is executed, the process proceeds to a step (S30). And the called party
The recipient's PC terminal is operated to open the e-mail with the voice attachment file, and the thirtieth step of listening to the sender's message is executed and the process ends.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, a telephone-internet gateway for interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet, and In the information transmission system composed of
Making a call to a desired called party's phone via a predetermined phone; if the called party's phone is busy, the called party's phone is connected to the called party's PC terminal; A step of determining whether or not the called party's telephone is being used for dial-up connection of the PC terminal while being connected to the Internet, and if the called party's PC terminal is connected to the Internet and used, Storing the caller's message in a predetermined storage means in the form of voice information, converting the voice information stored in the storage means into an attached file, and converting the voice attached file into an email with a voice attached file And transmitting the information to a PC terminal of the called party.

Further, as still another aspect of the present invention, when a call is made from the caller to the callee, the contractor, the telephone-internet gateway searches the Internet. Then, it is determined whether or not the contractor, who is the called party, uses the Internet by using his / her telephone for dial-up connection, and the called party connects the PC terminal to the Internet via the telephone. If it is connected and in use,
The caller is notified of the fact, and the caller's message is stored in a predetermined storage means in the form of a voice at the request of the caller. Thereafter, the voice message of the caller stored in the storage means is read. Information that is configured such that after forming a file converted into a format that can be reproduced on the called party's PC terminal, an e-mail with a file containing the converted voice message as an attached file is transmitted to the called party's PC terminal. A recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute a transmission method is recorded, and further, a telephone network and the Internet to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, and the telephone network and the Internet are interconnected. In an information transmission system composed of a telephone and an Internet gateway connected to the telephone, the telephone and the Internet gateway A first step of performing a dial-up connection operation to connect the PC terminal of the expected recipient to the Internet by performing a dial-up connection operation; A second step of notifying the telephone-internet gateway of the fact that the PC terminal has been connected to the Internet, wherein the telephone-internet gateway is an IP address, a mail address, and an Internet use flag of an expected callee who is the contractor; A third step of storing at least one piece of information selected from the above, a fourth step in which one caller makes a call to the telephone of the expected callee, A fifth step of determining whether or not the caller is busy. If the fifth step is not busy, the caller's telephone is called to the callee's telephone. A sixth step of connecting the caller; if the fifth step is busy, a seventh step of determining whether the called party is a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway; If the called party is not a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway in the step, the call of the called party is simply determined to be busy, and the END is performed in the eighth step. If the caller is a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway, the telephone of the callee as the contractor at the telephone-internet gateway makes a dial-up connection to connect the PC terminal of the callee to the Internet. A ninth step of determining whether or not the callee's PC terminal is connected to the Internet and is being used in the ninth step. Displays a message indicating that a processing instruction waiting message is present in a part of the display area of the PC terminal of the called party.
Step 0, in response to the display, the callee interrupts the dial-up connection with the caller to make a direct call, refuses the call with the caller, instructs the user to record on the answering machine, voice An eleventh step of selecting one operation selected from, for example, listening to a mail, and in the eleventh step, when the receiver selects an operation of listening to a voice mail, a voice is transmitted to the sender. A twelfth step of requesting that a message be transmitted by a user, a thirteenth step in which a caller transmits a message by voice based on an instruction in the twelfth step, and a voice message of the caller stored in an arbitrary storage means. A fourteenth step of storing, a fifteenth step of converting the stored voice message into a format readable by a PC terminal to form a voice file, and an electronic mail attached with the voice file. A sixteenth step of forming the e-mail, a seventeenth step of transmitting the e-mail with the attached file to the PC terminal of the called party, the called party operating the PC terminal of the called party, and An eighteenth step of opening the electronic mail with the file and listening to the message of the sender, and a recording medium for recording a program for causing a computer to execute the information transmission method configured as follows.

Further, as still another embodiment of the present invention, a telephone network and the Internet to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, and a telephone network for interconnecting the telephone network and the Internet are provided. In the information transmission system configured with the Internet gateway, one expected callee having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-Internet gateway performs a dial-up connection operation, and performs the dial-up connection operation. A first step of connecting the PC terminal to the Internet, and a second step of notifying the telephone-internet gateway of the fact that the prospective called party has connected the PC terminal to the Internet.
A third step in which the telephone-internet gateway stores at least one piece of information selected from an IP address, a mail address, an Internet use flag, and the like of an expected callee who is the contractor; A fourth step of making a call to the telephone of the expected callee, a fifth step of determining whether the call of the callee is busy, and the fifth step. If not busy, a sixth step of connecting the caller's phone to the called party's phone; if busy in the fifth step, the called party is contracted for the phone-internet gateway. A seventh step of determining whether or not the called party is a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step. If the called party is a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway in the eighth step and the seventh step, the callee is the contractor of the telephone-internet gateway. A ninth step of determining whether the called party's telephone is dial-up connected to connect the called party's PC terminal to the Internet, and in the ninth step, the called party's PC terminal If the is not connected to the Internet, a nineteenth step of notifying the caller of the fact, the caller may leave a voice message or a A twentieth step of selecting whether to send an e-mail, if the sender chooses to leave a message, the message is sent to the receiver's telephone A twenty-first step of recording a message on the answering machine function, instructing the sender to send a voice message if the sender selects to send an e-mail with a voice attachment; A twenty-second step, a twenty-third step of storing the transmitted voice message of the caller in a predetermined storage means,
Twenty-fourth conversion to a sound file that can be read by a PC terminal
, A twenty-fifth step of forming the voice file into an e-mail with a voice attachment, and a twenty-sixth step of transmitting the e-mail with the voice attachment to the recipient's PC terminal via the Internet. And a program for causing a computer to execute the information transmission method described above.

[0086]

The information transmission method and the information transmission system according to the present invention employ the above-described technical configuration.
Since voice can be stored on the network and delivered to the destination as an e-mail attachment, even if the Internet is used for a long time, incoming calls and voice messages of the caller can be received without disconnecting the Internet. An information transmission method and an information transmission system can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a configuration in a specific example of an information transmission system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a flow of information in the information transmission system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an outline of a configuration of one embodiment of a telephone-internet gateway in the information transmission system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the information transmission system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure in a specific example of the information transmission method according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure in another specific example of the information transmission method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Telephone line network 2 ... Internet 3 ... Telephone-Internet gateway 4, 41, 42 ... Telephone 5, 51, 52 ... PC terminal 6 ... Incoming call control means 7 ... Internet use existence judgment means 8 ... Voice storage means 9 ... File Conversion means 10 Email sending means 12 Incoming call notifying means 13 Contractor registration means 14 Dial-up connection start detecting means 20 Switching system 21 Busy determining means 30 Server 71 Service control means 72 Internet usage management means 80 Cable TV system network 90 ... Information transmission network 100 ... Information transmission system 101 ... Sender 102 ... Recipient

Claims (30)

[Claims] 1. In a communication system including a plurality of telephones connected to each other via a telephone line and a plurality of PC terminals connectable to the Internet via the telephones, a caller is provided. When transmitting information from one telephone to the other telephone, when a receiver of the other telephone connects the PC terminal to the Internet through a dial-up connection via the telephone, It is configured to transmit the fact that the caller has called the called party to the PC terminal used by the called party and to display the fact on a part of the display portion of the PC terminal. An information transmission method characterized by the fact that: 2. Transmitting the fact that the caller has called the callee to the PC terminal used by the callee, converting the message of the caller into an attached file, and attaching the sound to the PC. The PC as mail with file
2. The information transmission method according to claim 1, wherein the information is transmitted to a terminal. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the called party is configured to confirm the voice mail of the calling party by reproducing the voice mail on the PC terminal of the called party without disconnecting the Internet connection. The information transmission method according to claim 1. 4. A telephone network comprising a telephone network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, and a telephone-internet gateway interconnecting the telephone network and the Internet. The Internet gateway informs the caller of the state of the called party who wants to transmit predetermined information when the telephone of the called party is used to dial up the PC terminal of the called party; If the caller desires, the voice message of the caller is converted into an attached file, and the caller's P is transmitted via the Internet.
An information transmission method characterized by having a function of transferring an electronic mail to a C terminal. 5. The information transmission method according to claim 4, wherein said telephone-internet gateway has a function as a server connected to the Internet. 6. The respective PC terminals are connected to the telephone-
6. The information transmission method according to claim 4, wherein the information transmission method is connected to the Internet via an Internet gateway or an appropriate server different from the telephone-Internet gateway. 7. The telephone-internet gateway is used for a dial-up connection in which the caller of the callee, which the caller wants to connect via the telephone, connects the PC terminal of the callee to the Internet. A function of determining whether the caller has been connected, a function of storing the voice message of the caller when the telephone of the callee is used for dial-up connection of the PC terminal, and a function of storing the voice message of the caller. A function of converting the voice message of the caller into a voice attached file and a function of transmitting the mail with the voice attached file to the receiver's PC terminal as an electronic mail via the Internet. The information transmission method according to claim 4, wherein the information is transmitted. 8. An information transmission system comprising a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, and a telephone-internet gateway for interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet. A step in which one caller places a call to a desired called party's telephone via a predetermined telephone, and if the called party's telephone is busy, the called party's telephone Vessel
The recipient's PC terminal is connected to the Internet,
Determining whether the called party's telephone is being used for dial-up connection of the PC terminal; if the called party's PC terminal is being used by connecting to the Internet, the caller's message is spoken; Storing the information in a predetermined storage means in the form of information, converting the voice information stored in the storage means into an attached file, and converting the voice attached file into an electronic mail with a voice attached file as a PC terminal of the called party Transmitting the information to an information transmission method. 9. The information transmission method according to claim 8, wherein each of the steps is configured to be sequentially executed under the control of a computer. 10. The information transmission method according to claim 4, wherein at least the called party is a contractor registered in the telephone-internet gateway in advance. 11. When a call is received from a caller to the called party as the contracted party, the telephone-internet gateway searches the Internet and determines that the contracted party corresponding to the called party is a self-called party. It is determined whether or not the called party is using the Internet by making a dial-up connection, and if the called party is using the PC terminal connected to the Internet via the called phone, the corresponding party is in use. Notify the caller of that fact, store the message of the caller in a predetermined storage means in the form of voice at the request of the caller, and then copy the voice message of the caller stored in the storage means to the caller. Callee's PC
After forming a file converted to a format that can be reproduced on the terminal, an electronic mail with a file containing the converted voice message as an attached file is transmitted to the PC terminal of the called party. Item 11. The information transmission method according to Item 10. 12. The owner of the telephone-internet gateway collects a predetermined fee from at least one of the callee and the caller who is the contractor via a predetermined charging system. An information transmission system, wherein the information transmission method according to any one of claims 7 to 11 is provided as a service. 13. An information transmission system comprising a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, and a telephone-internet gateway interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet. A caller making a call to the receiver's telephone, a busy determination step for determining whether the receiver's telephone is busy, a busy determination step If not, a step of connecting the caller's telephone to the callee's telephone. If the busy determination step is busy, the callee's telephone connects the callee's PC terminal to the Internet. To determine whether or not a dial-up connection is made, in this step, the PC terminal of the called party is connected to the Internet and is in use In such a case, a step of displaying a message indicating that a processing instruction waiting message is present in a part of the display area of the called party's PC terminal or a call from the caller; Determines whether to reject or talk to the caller, and if so, determines whether the callee should have a direct call with the caller by interrupting the dial-up connection or leave a voice message Judgment, when leaving a message by voice, a response judging step of judging whether to instruct the called party's telephone to record an answering machine or to send a voice mail, Requesting the caller to send a voice message if the callee chooses to leave a voice message; and based on the step, the caller sounds the message. Sending a voice message of the sender in an arbitrary storage means, and a format in which the stored voice message can be read by a PC terminal when the called party selects transmission of voice mail. Converting the e-mail into a voice file, forming an e-mail with the audio file attached, and transmitting the e-mail with the audio attachment to the recipient's P
Transmitting the message to the C terminal, and operating the recipient's PC terminal to open the e-mail with the voice attachment and listening to the sender's message. Characteristic information transmission method. 14. An information transmission system comprising a telephone network and the Internet to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, and a telephone-Internet gateway for interconnecting the telephone network and the Internet. , One expected callee having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-internet gateway performs a dial-up connection operation, and the expected callee's PC
A first step of connecting the terminal to the Internet; a second step of notifying the telephone-internet gateway of the fact that the prospective called party has connected the PC terminal to the Internet; A third step of storing at least one piece of information selected from the IP address, mail address, Internet use flag, and the like of the prospective called party who is a contractor; A fourth step of making a call to the device, a fifth step of determining whether the called party's phone is busy
The step of connecting the caller's phone to the called party's phone if the fifth step is not busy, and the called party if the fifth step is busy Is a seventh step of determining whether or not the callee is a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway. If the callee is not a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, An eighth step of determining that the telephone is simply busy and ending the call; if the called party is a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, the telephone-internet gateway determines the callee. A ninth step of determining whether or not the telephone of the called party who is the contractor is dial-up-connected to connect the PC terminal of the called party to the Internet; In the step, if the receiver's PC terminal is connected to the Internet and is in use, a message indicating that a processing instruction is waiting exists in a part of the display area of the receiver's PC terminal, or the sender A tenth step of making a display indicating that a call has been received from the tenth step; an eleventh step of determining whether or not the called party, in response to the display, rejects the call with the caller; In the eleventh step, if the called party chooses to talk to the calling party, the calling party interrupts the dial-up connection with the calling party and immediately makes a direct call, A twelfth step of determining whether or not to leave a message according to the following. In the twelfth step, when the called party instructs to leave a voice message, a voice message is sent to the caller. Like to send A thirteenth step of requesting, a fourteenth step of requesting the sender to send a message by voice based on the instruction in the thirteenth step, and a step of storing the voice message of the sender in an arbitrary storage means. Step 15, Instruct the caller's voice message to the telephone-internet gateway to record an answering machine, or use the voice message as an e-mail
A sixteenth step of determining whether or not to transmit the voice message to the C terminal; a seventeenth step of converting the stored voice message into a format readable by the PC terminal to form a voice file; and an e-mail attached with the voice file. Forming the first
Step 8, the e-mail with the audio attachment is sent to the recipient
A nineteenth step of transmitting to the C terminal; a twentieth step in which the called party operates the called party's PC terminal to open the e-mail with the voice attachment and listen to the message of the calling party. An information transmission method characterized by being configured. 15. An information transmission system comprising a telephone network and the Internet to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, and a telephone-Internet gateway for interconnecting the telephone network and the Internet. , One expected callee having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-internet gateway performs a dial-up connection operation, and the expected callee's PC
A first step of connecting the terminal to the Internet; a second step of notifying the telephone-internet gateway of the fact that the prospective called party has connected the PC terminal to the Internet; A third step of storing at least one piece of information selected from the IP address, mail address, Internet use flag, and the like of the prospective called party who is a contractor; A fourth step of making a call to the device, a fifth step of determining whether the called party's phone is busy
The step of connecting the caller's phone to the called party's phone if the fifth step is not busy, and the called party if the fifth step is busy Is a seventh step of determining whether or not the callee is a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway. If the callee is not a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, An eighth step of determining that the telephone is simply busy and ending the call; if the called party is a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, the telephone-internet gateway determines the callee. A ninth step of determining whether or not the telephone of the called party who is the contractor is dial-up-connected to connect the PC terminal of the called party to the Internet; In the step, if the PC terminal of the called party is not connected to the Internet, a twenty-first step of notifying the calling party of the fact, A twenty-second step of determining whether to leave a voice message or disconnect the telephone. In the twenty-second step, when the sender selects to leave a voice message, A twenty-third step of instructing to send a voice message to the user, a twenty-fourth step of storing the sent outgoing voice message of the sender in a predetermined storage means, 25th step of selecting whether or not to record the message in the answering machine function addressed to the called party. In the 25th step, the caller is switched to the answering machine function. If you choose to record a message, telephone the voice message - second to record a message on the answering machine function provided in the Internet Gateway
Step 6, In the twenty-fifth step, when the sender sends the voice message as voice mail to the recipient, the stored voice message is read by a PC terminal. A twenty-seventh step of converting the voice file into an e-mail with a voice attachment; and transmitting the e-mail with the voice attachment to the recipient's PC terminal via the Internet. A twenty-ninth step, a thirtieth step in which the called party operates the PC terminal of the called party to open the e-mail with the voice attachment and listen to the message of the calling party; An information transmission method characterized by the above-mentioned. 16. An information transmission network comprising a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, and a telephone-internet gateway interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet. In the telephone-internet gateway, means for determining whether or not the call destination is using the Internet, whether to use the Internet, voice storage means for storing the voice of the caller, and the stored voice as an attached file An information transmission system, comprising: a file conversion unit for converting a mail with a voice attached file to a destination; 17. The information transmission system according to claim 16, wherein an IP network is interposed between said Internet and said telephone-Internet gateway. 18. The telephone-internet gateway may further determine whether or not the called party's telephone is being used for Internet connection in response to a call signal from the caller. 17. The information transmission system according to claim 16, further comprising an incoming call control means having a function of requesting the means or a function of notifying the sender of the result of the investigation report from the Internet use presence / absence determination means. 19. The service control means further having a function of executing a check as to whether or not the called party's telephone is dial-up connected in response to an output signal from the incoming call control means. And Internet use status management means connected to the service control means and capable of constantly grasping whether or not each subscriber's telephone is connected to the Internet. Claims 16 to 18
The information transmission system according to any one of the above. 20. The service control means of the Internet use presence / absence determining means further comprises an incoming call notifying means for notifying the called party that there is an incoming call from the caller. The information transmission system according to any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein: 21. The Internet use status management means in the Internet use presence / absence judgment means includes a contractor registration means or a dial-up connection for detecting that the telephone of the registered contractor has started a dial-up connection. 21. The information transmission system according to claim 16, wherein at least one of start detection means is further provided. 22. The incoming call control means further notifies the result of the call to the caller when the call of the callee is dial-up connected, and instructs the caller to leave a voice message. 22. The information transmission system according to claim 16, wherein the information transmission system has a function of performing an instruction to store the voice message of the sender in a predetermined storage unit. 23. The incoming call notifying means, further comprising: receiving an incoming call from the caller immediately, irrespective of whether the telephone of the callee is dial-up connected or not, 23. A function according to any one of claims 16 to 22, wherein the apparatus has a function of instructing the user to select whether to do so, to record on an answering machine, or to send a voice message. Information transmission system as described. 24. The method according to claim 16, wherein the answer content of the called party is transferred to the calling party via the Internet use presence determining means or the incoming call control means. The information transmission system described in Crab. 25. An information transmission network comprising a telephone network and the Internet to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, and a telephone-Internet gateway for interconnecting the telephone network and the Internet. 25. The information transmission system according to claim 16, wherein a cable TV system network is interposed between the telephone-internet gateway and the Internet. 26. The information according to claim 25, wherein when said cable TV system network is interposed, said Internet use presence / absence determination means is not provided with a subscriber registration means. Transmission system. 27. An information transmission system comprising a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephone units and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, and a telephone-Internet gateway for interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet. A step in which one caller makes a call to a desired called party's phone via a predetermined phone, and if the called party's phone is busy, the called party's phone Determining whether the called party's PC terminal is connected to the Internet and the called party's telephone is being used for dial-up connection of the PC terminal. If connected and used, storing the message of the caller in a form of voice information in a predetermined storage means, and adding the voice information stored in the storage means; Recording a program for causing a computer to execute an information transmission method including a step of converting the attached file into an attached file and a step of transmitting the audio attached file as an email with the attached file to a PC terminal of the called party. recoding media. 28. When the caller who is the contractor receives a call from the caller, the telephone-internet gateway searches the Internet, and the contractor corresponding to the callee finds himself / herself. It is determined whether or not the telephone is used for dial-up connection and the Internet is used. If the called party is connecting the PC terminal to the Internet via the telephone and is using the telephone, the telephone The caller is notified of the fact, and if desired by the caller, the message of the caller is stored in a predetermined storage means in a voice format, and then the voice message of the caller stored in the storage means is transmitted to the caller. Callee's PC
After forming a file converted into a format that can be reproduced on the terminal, the information transmission method configured to transmit an electronic mail with the file including the converted voice message as an attached file to the called party's PC terminal is provided to the computer. A recording medium on which a program to be executed is recorded. 29. An information transmission system comprising a telephone line network to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, the Internet, and a telephone-internet gateway interconnecting the telephone line network and the Internet. , One expected callee having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-internet gateway performs a dial-up connection operation, and the expected callee's PC
A first step of connecting the terminal to the Internet; a second step of notifying the telephone-internet gateway of the fact that the prospective called party has connected the PC terminal to the Internet; A third step of storing at least one piece of information selected from the IP address, mail address, Internet use flag, and the like of the prospective called party who is a contractor; A fourth step of making a call to the device, a fifth step of determining whether the called party's phone is busy
The step of connecting the caller's phone to the called party's phone if the fifth step is not busy, and the called party if the fifth step is busy Is a seventh step of determining whether or not the callee is a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway. If the callee is not a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, An eighth step of determining that the telephone is simply busy and ending the call; if the called party is a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, the telephone-internet gateway determines the callee. A ninth step of determining whether or not the telephone of the called party who is the contractor is dial-up-connected to connect the PC terminal of the called party to the Internet; In the step, if the receiver's PC terminal is connected to the Internet and is in use, a message indicating that a processing instruction is waiting exists in a part of the display area of the receiver's PC terminal, or the sender A tenth step of making a display indicating that a call has been received from the tenth step; an eleventh step of determining whether or not the called party, in response to the display, rejects the call with the caller; In the eleventh step, if the called party chooses to talk to the calling party, the calling party interrupts the dial-up connection with the calling party and immediately makes a direct call, A twelfth step of determining whether or not to leave a message according to the following. In the twelfth step, when the called party instructs to leave a voice message, a voice message is sent to the caller. Like to send A thirteenth step of requesting, a fourteenth step of requesting the sender to send a message by voice based on the instruction in the thirteenth step, and a step of storing the voice message of the sender in an arbitrary storage means. Step 15, Instruct the caller's voice message to the telephone-internet gateway to record an answering machine, or use the voice message as an e-mail
A sixteenth step of determining whether or not to transmit the voice message to the C terminal; a seventeenth step of converting the stored voice message into a format readable by the PC terminal to form a voice file; and an e-mail attached with the voice file. Forming the first
Step 8, the e-mail with the audio attachment is sent to the recipient
A nineteenth step of transmitting to the C terminal, a twentieth step in which the called party operates the PC terminal of the called party to open the e-mail with the voice attachment and listen to the message of the calling party; A recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the configured information transmission method. 30. An information transmission system comprising a telephone network and the Internet to which a plurality of telephones and PC terminals are connected, and a telephone-Internet gateway for interconnecting the telephone network and the Internet. In the above, one expected callee having a predetermined contract relationship with the telephone-internet gateway performs a dial-up connection operation, and the expected callee's PC
A first step of connecting the terminal to the Internet; a second step of notifying the telephone-internet gateway of the fact that the prospective called party has connected the PC terminal to the Internet; A third step of storing at least one piece of information selected from the IP address, mail address, Internet use flag, and the like of the prospective called party who is a contractor; A fourth step of making a call to the device, a fifth step of determining whether the called party's phone is busy
The step of connecting the caller's phone to the called party's phone if the fifth step is not busy, and the called party if the fifth step is busy Is a seventh step of determining whether or not the callee is a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway. If the callee is not a contractor of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, An eighth step of determining that the telephone is simply busy and ending the call; if the called party is a subscriber of the telephone-internet gateway in the seventh step, the telephone-internet gateway determines the callee. A ninth step of determining whether or not the telephone of the called party who is the contractor is dial-up-connected to connect the PC terminal of the called party to the Internet; In the step, if the PC terminal of the called party is not connected to the Internet, a twenty-first step of notifying the calling party of the fact, A twenty-second step of determining whether to leave a voice message or disconnect the telephone. In the twenty-second step, when the sender selects to leave a voice message, A twenty-third step of instructing to send a voice message to the user, a twenty-fourth step of storing the sent outgoing voice message of the sender in a predetermined storage means, 25th step of selecting whether or not to record the message in the answering machine function addressed to the called party. In the 25th step, the caller is switched to the answering machine function. If you choose to record a message, telephone the voice message - second to record a message on the answering machine function provided in the Internet Gateway
Step 6, In the twenty-fifth step, when the sender sends the voice message as voice mail to the recipient, the stored voice message is read by a PC terminal. A twenty-seventh step of converting the voice file into an e-mail with a voice attachment; and transmitting the e-mail with the voice attachment to the recipient's PC terminal via the Internet. A twenty-ninth step, a thirtieth step in which the callee operates the PC terminal of the callee to open the e-mail with the voice attachment and listen to the message of the caller; A recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute a transmission method is recorded.