JP2003110742A - Method for realizing voice mail and system using the same method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow not only a user at the origin of calling but also a user at the destination of an incoming call to prevent generation of wasteful time. SOLUTION: A non-ringing incoming mail address for allowing an incoming side LAN 100 to receive the incoming call with non-ringing corresponding to a terminal number is registered in an IP address management table 21 of an address server 20, and when a connection request with the non-ringing incoming mail address is issued from a caller, the voice mail recording area of an RAM part 2 incorporated in an IP telephone number 10 at the corresponding destination of an incoming call is called with non-ringing so that the voice data of the caller can be recorded and preserved. In the telephone terminal at the destination of an incoming call, the connection of the recording area and the caller is disconnected according to call disconnection by the caller, and a message, 'the preservation of the voice mail' is displayed by a display part 5, and the dead capacity of the RAM part 2 is judged. The address server 20 is provided with a mail preserving part 22 so that the loss of the voice data can be prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and system for realizing voice mail by an IP telephone terminal operating based on Internet Protocol (IP),
In particular, the present invention relates to a method for realizing a voice mail that can avoid wasting time regardless of whether a user is on a calling side or a called side, and a voice mail system using this method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of voice mail system, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example, IP telephones 111, 112, ... And addresses connected to one LAN (local area network) 100 are provided. Server 12
0 and the mail server 121, there is a service for storing a voice mail when the communication is impossible due to the absence of the destination or the power off.

The IP telephone terminal (for example) 111 has a subscriber number or extension number as a telephone as a terminal number and further has a binary 32 digit IP address to enable Internet connection. Due to the IP connection, the voice input / output by the telephone terminal is digitized, and if necessary, predetermined shortened encoding is performed.

The terminal number and IP address of each IP telephone terminal are registered in the address management table (not shown) of the address server 120. Among these, as for the voice mail, as shown in the voice mail registration table, an area for voice mail registration at the time of absence is assigned together with the IP address corresponding to the terminal number. This service is usually charged, for example, the terminal number "20
When the user of “01” IP telephone terminal 111 desires voice mail when he / she is absent, by applying to the network operator of LAN 100, “ON” is recorded in the voice mail registration area. In the figure, the terminal number "2002"
I have no voicemail registration.

The mail server 121 is the address server 12
When there is an incoming call to the IP telephone terminal whose voice mail registration is 0 and the voice mail registration is "ON", the called IP telephone terminal immediately communicates or is powered off, and when there is no response, a predetermined After the elapse of the time limit, the caller is connected, the message is received, and the address or terminal number of the callee is recorded.

The main operating procedure of the address server and mail server is shown in FIG.

That is, the address server uses the I
When the inquiry about the IP address corresponding to the extension number is received from the P telephone terminal (procedure S101), the registration table is collated (procedure S102), and the retrieved IP address is answered (procedure S103).

Next, the address server determines the IP address of the calling source.
When the connection request by the IP address is received from the telephone terminal (step S104), the registration table and the operating state of the connection destination IP telephone terminal are checked. If the IP telephone terminal of the call destination is in a normal idle state, the normal connection procedure is executed and the IP telephone terminal is called by ringing. Further, when the registration of the voice mail service for the connected IP telephone terminal is "ON", the address server starts the time measurement for the mail service.

The address server detects that the voice mail service is registered "ON" for the called telephone terminal of the connection destination, and that the call is in an active state, the power is turned off, or a non-response is not received until the time limit is reached (step S105) )if you did this,
The IP telephone terminal of the calling source is connected to the mail server to set the communication path (step S106).

The mail server executes voice guidance to the calling IP telephone terminal to the effect that a voice mail service will be performed (step S107). Therefore, the mail server can accept the message transmitted from the calling IP telephone terminal (procedure S108) and store it (procedure S109). When the mail server receives a disconnection request by a call disconnecting operation from the calling IP telephone terminal (step S110), the received message is stored as an email (step S11).
At the same time as 1), the IP telephone terminal of the call destination is notified that "mail is received" (step S112). “Email received” is displayed on the called IP telephone terminal.

In the mail server, the message "mail received" is displayed to request the mail transmission from the user (step S11).
Since 3) is received, the stored mail can be sent to the called IP telephone terminal (step S114).

In the above-mentioned voice mail system, when an incoming call is made at the IP telephone terminal that registered the voice mail,
Since there is a call to the IP telephone terminal of the callee within the time period for detecting the non-response, there is a problem that even if the user desires to make a call, a forced response is given.

Similarly, by measuring the time for detecting the non-response, it is necessary for the caller side to wait a predetermined time before the start of sending the message when calling to the IP telephone terminal which registered the voice mail. Therefore, there is also a problem that it is annoying to busy calling users.

Furthermore, when the caller side calls an IP telephone terminal without voice mail registration, if the called user is absent and there is no response, only a message is required.
There is a problem that a connection wait occurs for a long time, resulting in wasting time.

As a means for solving such a problem,
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-78184 is disclosed.

This telephone system converts a voice message into a file and sends it as an electronic mail to a destination. Therefore, at the time of making a call, "voice mail transmission information" requesting the creation of an electronic mail is sent from the telephone terminal together with the destination number. The server that received the "voicemail transmission information" prompts the start of recording, receives the message by voice data, and captures it. When it receives the end information from the caller's telephone terminal, the captured message is recorded in a voice file. It is converted to create an electronic mail and sent to the mail server that manages the IP telephone terminal of the callee.

[0017]

In the conventional voice mail system described with reference to the drawings, the user at the call destination receives a forced response, or the user at the caller encounters a useless waiting time. The problem of (1) is solved by the voice mail system disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, but there are the following problems.

In other words, the called IP telephone terminal proposed in the above publication does not immediately know even if an urgent matter is received, because the incoming mail is accessed by accessing the mail server at any time. is there. In addition, there is a service in which the mail server notifies the called party that the mail is stored. However, when the network is busy, a call from the mail server may require a waiting time.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a method and system for realizing a voice mail in which a called user can avoid wasting time.

[0020]

A method for realizing voice mail according to the present invention is a method for realizing voice mail by an IP telephone terminal operating based on the Internet Protocol (IP), in which a telephone terminal number is added to a called network. Corresponding to the above, an IP address name different from the conventional one for making a call without ringing is registered as a ringing incoming mail address, and when a caller requests a connection with the ringing incoming mail address. In addition, the recording area built in the corresponding called telephone terminal is called without ringing, and the voice message of the caller is recorded and stored in the recording area.

Further, specifically, in addition to the conventional IP address name managed by the same network, an IP address name different from the conventional one for receiving a voice mail without ringing is used as a telephone terminal number. It is registered as a corresponding non-ringing incoming mail address, and when a caller requests a connection using the non-ringing incoming mail address, the recording area built into the corresponding called telephone terminal is called without ringing. A voice mail is realized by setting the communication path by directly transmitting the voice data of the calling party and recording and storing it in the recording area.

With this configuration, the calling user can send the voice mail without waiting for the callee's response, and the called user can immediately open the received voicemail.

Further, at the called telephone terminal, the caller disconnects the call from the recording area and disconnects the caller, and displays "save voicemail". Instant opening of emails will be reliable and easy.

The voice mail system according to the present invention manages an IP address name as a mail address in the same network, and an IP in which mail addresses for ringing incoming calls and non-ringing incoming calls are registered in advance corresponding to the same address. An address management table is provided, and the I
When the P telephone terminal receives a call by the non-ringing incoming mail address, it sets the call path between the calling side and the built-in recording area without ringing, and directly receives the voice data of the calling party. It is characterized by keeping records.

More specifically, IP in the same network
An IP address management table for managing an address name as a mail address and pre-registering a ringing-free incoming mail address for receiving an incoming call without ringing in addition to a mail address called by ringing corresponding to the same address, When the caller receives a connection request using the ringing-free incoming mail address, the corresponding callee telephone terminal is called without ringing and the call path is set, and the voice data of the caller is directly sent to the callee. The IP telephone terminal has a recording area for recording and storing received voice data, and when the call by the non-ringing incoming mail address is received from the server, A voice message characterized by setting a call path between the caller and the recording area while ringing, and directly receiving and recording the voice data of the caller. It is a mail system.

When the IP telephone terminal receives a silent ringing call from the server, the IP telephone terminal determines and notifies the recordable capacity of the recording area for recording the voice data received, and the server receives the caller from the caller. While storing the voice data and measuring the storage amount, if the storage amount is within the predetermined amount, it is immediately sent to the incoming telephone terminal, while if the storage amount exceeds the predetermined amount, it is stored in the server and received. It is also possible to notify the called IP telephone terminal of this.

[0027]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the part relating to the present invention is mainly shown, and the other parts are omitted.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the voice mail system shown in FIG. 1, one LAN (local area network) 1
00, a plurality of IP telephone terminals 10 and one address server 20 corresponding to the IP telephone terminals 10 are connected.

The IP telephone terminal 10 has telephone software corresponding to IP (Internet Protocol), and for the purpose of the present invention, a ringing-free incoming call determination 11, a voicemail recording control 12, a voicemail storage confirmation 13, and Each of the voice mail capacity determinations 14 is provided. RAM for voice mail (random access memory)
It is assumed that the characters are recorded and stored in a part of the unit 2, and characters and the like can be displayed on the display unit 5. Details will be described later.

The address server 20 basically has an IP address management table 21 that manages IP address names as mail addresses. Further, the address server 20
Is provided with the mail holding unit 22 and also has a function as a mail server.

The IP address management table 21 is managed by further adding a non-ringing incoming call registration area to an IP address designating a destination and a terminal number which is a telephone number for a mail address which is an IP address name. It The IP address and the terminal number are uniquely assigned to each IP telephone terminal 10. On the other hand, since the presence / absence of a silent incoming call is registered, in the present invention, one IP address has two mail addresses.

Therefore, for example, as shown in the figure, for the same IP address "123.45.67.8." And terminal number "2001", as a mail address, "ABC @ xxx" is used for a normal ringing call. In addition, a name different from “ABC1 @ xxx” will be registered for the non-ringing incoming call.

For an incoming call having a mail address registered as a non-ringing incoming call at the destination, the telephone terminal 10 connects the call path to the caller as a non-ringing incoming call without ringing such as a ringer.

Referring to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG.
The P telephone terminal will be described.

The IP telephone terminal 10-0 shown in FIG.
The details of the IP telephone terminal 10 in
PU (central processor unit) 1, RAM section 2, ROM section 3, input operation section 4, display section 5, ringing section 6, CODEC (code conversion) section 7, for example, voice input / output section 8 by handset, and LAN interface A part 9 is provided.

The CPU 1 makes a non-ringing incoming call determination 11, a voicemail recording control 12, a voicemail storage confirmation 13, and a voicemail capacity determination 14. The non-ringing incoming call determination 11 determines whether or not non-ringing is performed based on the mail address inserted in the destination of the mail received when the incoming call arrives.

The voice mail recording control 12 RAMs the communication path with the caller side for an incoming call which is determined to be a non-ringing incoming call.
It is connected to the voice mail area of the section 2 to guide the caller of a mail transmission request and to record and save message data received from the caller. While the voice mail recording control 12 is operating, the display section 5 displays "incoming call". The voice mail storage confirmation 13 detects the end of the message, confirms the storage of the mail, and displays "stored mail exists" on the display unit 5.

The voice mail capacity determination 14 is effective in the case of a small-sized telephone terminal, and determines the available recording capacity in the voice mail area of the RAM section 2. The determined capacity can be notified to a calling telephone terminal or a mail server having a function of receiving the capacity. With this configuration,
For example, a voicemail can be stored in a mail server and then transmitted to a telephone terminal of an incoming call by a recordable amount.

The RAM section 2 registers its own ringing / non-ringing e-mail addresses registered in the IP address management table 21 and uses it for the judgment of non-ringing incoming call. RAM
The unit 2 further has a voice mail area, and under the control of the CPU 1, records and saves a reception number for each caller name, reception date and time, and message data.

The ROM section 3 is a memory for programs and the like. The input operation unit 4 is an input device such as a keyboard. The display unit 5 has a lamp and a display screen, and has a CPU
Under the control of No. 1, the received character and image data can be displayed together with the operation and state display. Ringer 6
Is a ringer, and under the control of the CPU 1, notifies the user of a normal incoming call by ringing.

The CODEC section 7 digitizes the analog voice of the voice input / output section 8 and transmits / receives it to / from the CPU 1. CODE
Only the C section 7 and the voice input / output section 8 handle analog data. The voice mail to be received and stored is also digitized, and compression encoding and decoding such as voice compression are adopted in various fields from the viewpoint of storage capacity.

Next, the procedure of the voice mail according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The IP telephone terminal 10 in FIG. 1 has the terminal number "2001" and the mail address "A"
BC1 @ xxx ”.

When the calling user sends the voice mail,
From the input operation unit 4 of the P telephone terminal 10-0, the terminal number "20
An inquiry is made to the address server 20 for the non-ringing incoming mail address "01" by the operation predetermined for the LAN 100 (step S1). This operation is performed by, for example, the number code “## 2001” in the case of dialing call, and the mail address “AB” in the case of call by Explorer.
Enter “C @ xxx / ##” as the destination. If the calling user knows the silent incoming mail address "ABC1 @ xxx" of the called terminal number "2001", this mail address may be used.

The address server 20 which has received the inquiry by the predetermined operation collates the IP address management table 21 (step S2), and determines from the received number or address the mail address "ABC1 @ xxx" for non-ringing incoming call and the IP address. The answer is "123.45.67.8." As the corresponding address (step S3). I of the calling party who received the answer
The P telephone terminal 10-0 again makes an IP address "12".
3.45.67.8. To initiate a call connection. That is, a connection to the mail address "ABC1 @ xxx" is requested (step S4).

The address server 20 uses the IP address "1
23.45.67.8. , The terminal number "2001"
The IP telephone terminal 10 is connected via the LAN 100, and the operating state is determined (step S5).

According to this determination, when the IP telephone terminal 10 is communicating with another person or the power is off, the same voice mail function as the conventional one is executed. For example, as mentioned above, a voice message can be stored by connecting to a mail server.

The address server 20 is the IP telephone terminal 10
If it is possible to connect to the IP telephone terminal 10 (procedure S5A), the e-mail address "ABC1 @ xxx" is called (procedure S11), and the IP telephone terminal 10 and the calling IP telephone terminal 10-
0 is directly connected via the LAN 100 to set a direct communication path (step S12).

Upon receiving the call, the IP telephone terminal 10 displays a predetermined "incoming call" on the display unit 5 (step S13),
First, a non-ringing incoming call is determined based on the presence of the destination email address "ABC1 @ xxx" (step S14). Based on this determination, the voice mail recording control 12 of the IP telephone terminal 10
Connects the call receiving path connected to the caller to the voice mail area of the RAM section 2 while sending a mail guide to the caller through the call sending path to notify the caller that the voice mail is ready to be received (step S15). Do.

After this, a message is transmitted from the calling source (step S16). The IP telephone terminal 10 on the receiving side stores all of the received voice data as a message in the voice mail area of the RAM unit 2, and disconnects the connected call when receiving a call disconnection request from the calling source. Upon disconnection of the call, the voice mail storage confirmation 13 confirms the storage of the mail and changes the "incoming call" display on the display unit 5 to the "stored mail exists" display (step S17).

The user on the called side performs RA operation by performing a predetermined operation from the display of "stored mail" on the IP telephone terminal 10.
You can call up the voice mail of M section 2 and listen to it.
The technique of calling data from RAM may be conventional.

As described above, since many IP telephone terminals usually have a small RAM recording capacity, it is desirable to determine the voicemail recordable capacity. In the present invention, a voicemail capacity determination function is further added to the IP telephone terminal.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4 and FIGS. 1 and 2, the procedure involved in determining the mail capacity will be described.

Connection is possible in the above step S5 (step S5B)
In this case, the address server 20 calls by the mail address “ABC1 @ xxx” (procedure S21), as described above.
Then, the IP telephone terminal 10 and the calling IP telephone terminal 10-0 are each set up with a communication path for connecting to themselves via the LAN 100 (step S22).

On the other hand, in the IP telephone terminal 10 that has received the call, the recording controller 12 connects the call path connected to the calling side to the voice mail area of the RAM section 2 and displays a predetermined "call" on the display section 5. "Calling" is displayed (step S23), and the silent incoming call judgment 11 indicates that the destination mail address is "ABC1 @ x".
xx ”is used to determine a non-ringing incoming call (step S24). Based on this determination, the voice mail capacity determination 14 of the IP telephone terminal 10 detects the data recordable capacity in the voice mail area of the RAM section 2 as the mail allowable amount (step S25). The IP telephone terminal 10 notifies the address server 20 of the detected allowable amount (step S26).

Upon receipt of the notification, the address server 20 connects the calling IP telephone terminal 10-0 as a mail server to the mail storage unit 22 incorporated therein, and sends a mail guide indicating that the mail reception preparation is completed (step S27). ) Do. In this state, the voice message input by the calling user is transmitted from the IP telephone terminal 10-0 as encoded data (procedure S28). Therefore, the address server 20 stores this data as mail (procedure S29) and receives the call. It is compared with the allowable amount of data reception received from (step S30).

The amount of stored mail is within the allowable amount (procedure S3
In the case of 0A), the address server 20 sends this data as a mail to the IP telephone terminal 10 (step S31).
In the same manner as above, the IP telephone terminal 10 that has received the mail erases the display of "calling" in the voice mail storage confirmation 13 and displays "storage mail exists" (step S32).

When the data amount of the mail received in step S30 exceeds the allowable amount (step S30B), the address server 20 notifies the IP telephone terminal 10 of the storage of the mail (step S41). IP telephone terminal 1 that received the notification
For 0, the display section 5 erases the display of "incoming call" and displays "received mail" (step S42).

In the procedure shown in FIG. 4, the IP telephone terminal 1
If there is a non-ringing call from another person during access from 0-0, the notification of the allowable amount of mail will be impeded, so the state is "incoming call" until the series of procedures is completed. However, since the message transfer is performed twice, if the hold time for this is shortened, the call path setting is performed after the above-described step S26, and then, as shown in FIG.
The call path is set in step S12, and then step S1
5, the message may be directly transmitted from the calling source to the called party by S16.

During this period, the address server 20 records the message data sent from the caller as a mail server at the same time as the callee, measures the data amount, and when there is still a transmission beyond a predetermined empty space. Can terminate the transmission to the called party after determining that the allowable amount has been exceeded. In this case, since the mail is stored in the mail server due to the end of the message, "Received mail exists" is displayed in steps S41 and S42.

In the above description, an example in which it is connected to the LAN has been described, but with the above configuration, it can be similarly executed between IP telephone terminals via the Internet.

In the above description, the address server also serves as the mail server, but a mail server may be provided separately.

As described above, although the block diagram and the flow chart are referred to in the above description, changes such as decentralization and merging of functions or rearrangement of procedures are free as long as the above functions are satisfied, and the above description limits the present invention. Not a thing.

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention, an IP address name different from the conventional one for ringing a call to the called network corresponding to a telephone terminal number is given without ringing. Registered as the email address of
When a caller makes a connection request using a non-ringing incoming mail address, the recording area built into the corresponding IP telephone terminal of the called destination is called without sounding and the voice of the calling party is recorded in the above recording area. Can be saved. As a result, it is possible to obtain the effect that the calling user can send the voice mail without waiting for the callee's response, and that the voice mail received by the called user can be opened immediately.

In addition, at the telephone terminal of the called party, the caller disconnects the call from the recording area and disconnects the caller from the caller, and displays "save voicemail". There is also an effect that the immediate opening of the mail becomes reliable and easy.

Furthermore, the IP telephone terminal has a function of determining the free space of the recording area, and by recording and storing a large volume of voice mail in the mail storage section of the server, the voice mail received by the IP telephone terminal can be stored. It is also possible to prevent the data from overflowing and being lost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a more detailed form of the IP telephone terminal in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sequence chart showing an embodiment of a voice mail procedure in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sequence chart showing an embodiment of a voice mail procedure different from that of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing a conventional example.

6 is a sequence chart showing an example of a voice mail procedure in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 RAM section 5 Display 10 IP telephone terminals 11 No ringing incoming call judgment 12 Voicemail recording control 13 Voicemail save confirmation 14 Voicemail capacity judgment 20 address server 21 IP address management table 22 Mail storage

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Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method for realizing voice mail by an IP telephone terminal operating based on the Internet Protocol (IP), which allows a called network to ring a call corresponding to a telephone terminal number without ringing. An IP address name different from the conventional one is registered as a non-ringing incoming mail address, and when a caller requests a connection with the non-ringing incoming mail address, it is built into the corresponding called telephone terminal. A method for realizing voice mail, characterized in that a voice message of a caller is recorded and stored in the recording area by calling the recording area without ringing. 2. A method of realizing voice mail by an IP telephone terminal operating based on Internet Protocol (IP), wherein voice mail is received by silent ringing in addition to conventional IP address names managed in the same network. An IP address name different from the conventional one for making a call is registered as a non-ringing incoming mail address corresponding to a telephone terminal number, and when a caller requests a connection by the non-ringing incoming mail address, Call the recording area built into the corresponding called telephone terminal without ringing and set the call path,
A voice mail realizing method, characterized in that voice data of a calling party is directly transmitted to be recorded and stored in the recording area. 3. The telephone terminal of the called party according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the caller disconnects the call from the recording area and disconnects the caller from the recording area. A method for realizing voice mail, characterized by displaying "Save". 4. A voice mail system using IP telephone terminals operating based on the Internet Protocol (IP), which manages an IP address name as a mail address in the same network, and receives ringing and no ringing corresponding to the same address. An IP address management table for pre-registering the mail addresses of ringing incoming calls is provided, and when the IP telephone terminal receives a call by the mail address of the non-ringing incoming call, the IP telephone terminal keeps a silent ringing and stores the caller side as a record. A voice mail system characterized by setting a communication path with the area and directly receiving and recording the voice data of the caller. 5. A voice mail system using an IP telephone terminal operating based on the Internet Protocol (IP), which manages an IP address name as a mail address in the same network and calls by ringing corresponding to the same address. In addition to the address, it has an IP address management table that pre-registers a non-ringing incoming mail address for receiving a non-ringing incoming mail, and responds to a connection request from the caller with the non-ringing incoming mail address. The IP telephone terminal records the received voice data by providing a server that calls the called telephone terminal without ringing, sets the communication path, and directly transmits the voice data of the caller to the called telephone terminal. It has a storage area for saving, and receives calls from the server with the silent ringing incoming mail address. A voice mail system characterized in that when a call is made, the caller and the recording area are set in a communication path without any ringing, and the voice data of the caller is directly received and recorded. 6. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 5, when the IP telephone terminal determines that the voice data of the caller has been directly received, the recording has been completed, and the voice data has been saved, the display unit displays “voice” by a predetermined means. A voice mail system characterized by displaying "save mail". 7. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 5, when the silent ringing call is received from the server, the IP telephone terminal determines and notifies the recordable capacity of the recording area for recording the received voice data, and the server, Stores the voice data received from the caller and measures the stored amount. If the stored amount is within the specified amount, it is immediately sent to the incoming telephone terminal, while if the stored amount exceeds the specified amount, it is stored in the server. Stored in
A voice mail system characterized by notifying the P telephone terminal of this.