JP2007074107A - Telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a telephone set that enables a caller to hear a call progress tone with invariably constant sound volume wherever a call destination is. <P>SOLUTION: A VoIP telephone set 33a of a private IP telephone system 30 is connected to an external telephone set 13, and a subscriber telephone set 21a, 21b, and 21c through the Internet 10 and a public telephone network 20. When the VoIP telephone set 33a originates, a busy tone or ring-back tone is sent out of a transmission-side exchange or termination-side exchange according to the state of a called-side telephone set. In the VoIP telephone set 33a having received a call progress tone, a control circuit 34 adjusts sound volume and then make a speaker 36 sound to generate an indication tone with constant sound volume. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a telephone.

  When a call is made from the telephone, a call progress tone (call progress tone) that informs the state of the telephone of the called party reaches the caller's ear. A call progress tone is a busy tone that signals that the called party is busy, or a ringing back tone that indicates that the circuit-switching operation has been completed and the called party is busy. Or The busy tone is sent by the originating exchange, and the ringback tone is sent by the terminating exchange.

  The call progress tone is a mechanism for playing back each tone generated by the exchange on the called side from the speaker of the telephone via the communication path in the conventional PSTN telephone. On the other hand, for example, in SIP phones, because the operation is not uniform depending on the connection destination and phone specifications, the tone received from the network side (network side) is played as audio, as with PSTN phones. There are a mix of two methods when a phone uses its own sound source to play a locally generated tone.

As an example of the latter, Patent Document 1 discloses that a telephone does not send a ringback tone directly from an exchange, but a telephone inserts a ringback tone in a response message to a call setting request and transmits the call to the telephone that has requested the call setting. A telephone system is described which is adapted to generate a ringback tone.
JP 2004-135329 A (page 9 to page 10, FIG. 2)

  In the telephone, the output path (the part to be converted into voice) of the received content is a handset, a main body speaker, or a headset. These volumes are supposed to be set by the user, but even if the minimum volume is set, the sound can be heard, and even if the maximum volume is set, sound cracks and distortion may occur, It is designed with care taken so that the person does not hurt the ear.

  However, when a call progress tone generated and transmitted by an external device such as an exchange or a server is received as a sound via a line and ringed, the call progress tone sound source is in the external device on the network side and inside the local telephone. There are some cases, and the input level varies depending on the connection destination, so that the volume varies. Even if the telephone has a function of receiving a ringback tone as data and reproducing a sound like the telephone described in Patent Document 1, depending on the connection destination, the ringback tone received from the outside must be ringed. However, the volume varies considerably depending on which ringing method is used. In this way, it is not easy to hear that the volume is different depending on the called party even though it is the same type of tone, and it may cause confusion for the calling party.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a telephone in which a call progress stone having a stable volume always reaches the caller's ear regardless of the called party. To do.

  (1) In order to achieve the above object, the telephone of the present invention is configured such that when a call progress tone comes from the outside, a notification sound of a predetermined volume level always reaches the user's ear via the control circuit. It is a feature.

  According to this configuration, since the call progress tone is always adjusted to a notification sound having a predetermined volume by the control circuit, it is possible to provide an easy-to-use telephone in which the caller is not troubled by variations in tone volume.

  (2) Further, according to the present invention, in the telephone configured as described above, the notification sound is obtained by adjusting the volume of the call progress tone.

  According to this configuration, the call progress tone from the outside can be made easy to hear only the sound volume without changing the tone, and can be heard by the caller.

  (3) Further, according to the present invention, in the telephone having the above-described configuration, the notification sound is generated internally upon receipt of the call progress tone.

  According to this configuration, the caller can be made to hear an internally generated call progress stone with good sound quality.

  According to the present invention, the call progress tone that can be heard by the caller regardless of where the called party is is always at a constant volume, and the caller is not confused by the variation in the volume of the call progress tone. .

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a telephone system.

  FIG. 1 shows a telephone system 1 that can use a VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) service. Telecommunications carriers are deploying IP centrex, an IP telephone service for enterprises. There are an Internet network 10 and a public network 20 as communication networks.

  A Centrex server 11 owned by a communication company is connected to the Internet network 10 via a router 12. In addition, a private IP telephone system 30 is connected to the Internet network 10 via a router 31, and a VoIP telephone 13 that does not belong to the private IP telephone system 30 is connected via a router 14.

  A subscriber telephone (ordinary telephone) is connected to the public line network 20. Examples of subscriber telephones include subscriber telephones 21a in the same area code area as the local IP telephone system 30, and subscriber telephones 21b and 21c in different area code areas. A communication path is formed between these subscriber telephones and the Internet 10 via the routers 15a, 15b, 15c and the Centrex gateways 16a, 16b, 16c.

  The Centrex server 11 functions as an exchange. Upon receiving a call request signal transmitted as an IP packet, the Centrex server 11 is a called telephone, that is, a VoIP telephone connected to the Internet network 10 or a public line network 20. A call signal is transmitted to the subscriber telephone connected to the. When the called party is a subscriber telephone, the Centrex server 11 selects the Centrex gateway that provides the optimum route.

  In the local IP telephone system 30, a LAN gateway 32 and VoIP telephones 33a, 33b, 33c,. The LAN gateway 32 is directly connected to a local telephone office having the same area code as the local IP telephone system 30 without going through the Internet network 10. Therefore, if the destination of the VoIP telephone in the local IP telephone system 30 is a subscriber telephone in the same area code area, voice data and IP packets are exchanged directly through the public line network in that area. Become.

The VoIP telephone 33a includes a control circuit 34 that controls the entire system, an input unit 35 composed of a microphone and various keys, a speaker 36 that uses received contents and various tones as real sounds, and a visual display related to calls and settings. And a memory 38 for storing information necessary for the operation of the control circuit 34. Other VoIP telephones have the same structure, and only the numbers for identifying the terminals are different.
The telephone system 1 operates as follows. When a call request signal is transmitted as an IP packet from the VoIP telephone 33a, the Centrex server 11 that has received the signal selects an optimum communication path according to the called party, and the called party is, for example, a subscriber telephone. If there is, a call signal is transmitted to the subscriber telephone. If the called party is busy, the Centrex server 11 transmits a signal notifying the VoIP telephone 33a that it is busy. When the connection to the called telephone is completed and the calling is in progress, a signal notifying that the calling is being sent to the VoIP telephone 33a is transmitted from the terminating exchange.

  The VoIP telephone 33a that has received such a status notification signal rings a call progress tone generated inside the VoIP telephone 33a as a notification sound. At this time, the control circuit 34 reads out the data of the corresponding notification sound from the memory 38. Based on the data, the speaker 36 is activated to generate a notification sound having a constant volume.

  Further, the telephone system 1 may operate as follows. If the called party is busy, a busy tone is sent from the Centrex server 11 to the VoIP telephone 33a. When the connection to the called telephone is completed and the ringing is in progress, a ringback tone is sent from the called exchange to the VoIP telephone 33a.

  Upon receiving the call progress tone such as busy tone and ring back tone, the VoIP telephone 33a reads the volume data from the memory 38, adjusts the volume of the call progress tone by the control circuit 34, and sounds the speaker 36 to notify the constant volume. Generate sound. As a result, a notification sound of a predetermined volume level always reaches the caller's ear, and there is no problem with variations in tone volume.

  Instead of ringing the call progress tone adjusted in volume as it is, it is also possible to ring a sound generated inside the VoIP telephone 33a as a notification sound. That is, in response to the arrival of the call progress tone, the control circuit 34 reads out notification sound data corresponding to the call progress tone from the memory 38. Based on the data, the speaker 36 is activated to generate a notification sound having a constant volume. In general, the tone quality generated inside is better than the tone quality of call progress stones coming from outside, so that the call progress stones with good sound quality reach the caller's ear.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  The present invention is widely applicable to telephones in general.

Schematic configuration diagram of the telephone system

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Telephone system 10 Internet network 20 Public line network 21a, 21b, 21c Subscriber telephone 30 Local IP telephone system 33a, 33b, 33c VoIP telephone 34 Control circuit 36 Speaker

Claims (5)

A telephone set characterized in that when a call progress tone comes from the outside, a notification sound of a predetermined volume level always reaches the user's ear via a control circuit. The telephone according to claim 1, wherein the notification sound is obtained by adjusting a volume of the call progress stone. The telephone according to claim 1, wherein the notification sound is generated internally upon receipt of the call progress stone. First storage means for storing an internal call progress tone that is output when an external call progress tone that arrives from outside does not arrive but a call progress tone needs to be output, and a volume at which the internal call progress tone is output In the telephone having the second storage means for storing the level,
A telephone having a control circuit for outputting an external call progress tone at a volume level stored in the second storage means when the external call progress tone arrives. First storage means for storing an internal call progress tone that is output when an external call progress tone that arrives from outside does not arrive but a call progress tone needs to be output, and a volume at which the internal call progress tone is output In the telephone having the second storage means for storing the level,
A telephone comprising a control circuit for outputting the internal call progress tone instead of the external call progress tone when an external call progress tone arrives.