JP2007124359A - VoIP ADAPTER AND AUDIO TELEPHONE CALL METHOD - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a VoIP adapter and an audio telephone call method in which audio quality degradation is reduced in an extension-to-extension call between IP telephones. <P>SOLUTION: The VoIP adapter 10 intervening between a private branch exchanger 12 and a plurality of IP telephones 14, 16 housed in the same judges whether or not IP packets incoming from the telephones 14. 16 are to be forwarded directly to any one of the telephones 14, 16. If having judged that they were to be directly forwarded, the VoIP adapter forwards the IP packets not via the private branch exchanger 12 but directly to any one of the telephones 14, 16 that is a forwarding destination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention uses a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) adapter interposed between a private branch exchange (PBX) and a plurality of IP (Internet Protocol) telephones accommodated therein, and the VoIP adapter. The present invention relates to a voice call method.

  By interposing an VoIP adapter between the private branch exchange and a plurality of IP telephones accommodated in the private branch exchange apparatus, these IP telephones can make an internal call, or these IP telephones and an external telephone can make an external call. A voice call method has been proposed. In such a method, not only an outside line call but also an extension line call is performed through a private branch exchange.

  That is, in the conventional voice call method, when an extension call is made between IP telephones, the voice is first sent as an IP packet from the IP telephone to the VoIP adapter, and converted into an analog or digital voice signal by the VoIP adapter. The converted voice signal is further sent to the private branch exchange apparatus, where the private branch exchange apparatus identifies the transfer destination and returns it to the VoIP adapter again. The voice signal is converted back to an IP packet by VoIP and sent to the IP phone of the transfer destination.

JP 2000-358098 A

  However, in the voice call method as described above, after the first signal conversion from the IP packet to the voice signal is performed by the VoIP adapter, the voice signal is returned to the VoIP adapter via the private branch exchange, where the voice signal To IP packet for the second time. Such a method is generally called an IP2 link. In the IP2 link, since signal conversion is performed twice, there is a problem that voice quality is deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a VoIP adapter and a voice call method that reduce deterioration of voice quality.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a VoIP adapter interposed between a private branch exchange and a plurality of IP telephones accommodated in the exchange, with respect to IP packets arriving from a plurality of IP telephones. Judgment / transfer means for determining whether or not to transfer directly to any of the IP telephones and transferring the IP packet determined to be directly transferred to the IP telephone of the transfer destination is included.

  According to the present invention, the step of sending an IP packet from any of the plurality of IP telephones to the VoIP adapter interposed between the private branch exchange and the plurality of IP telephones accommodated therein, The step of determining whether or not the IP packet is to be directly transferred to one of a plurality of IP telephones, and the IP packet is directly transferred to the transfer destination when it is determined that the IP packet is to be transferred directly in the determining step. And transferring to the IP phone.

  According to the present invention, when an extension call is made between a plurality of IP telephones accommodated in the private branch exchange, the caller can change the number dialed from the IP telephone to change the one-link / two-link voice. You can select one of the calling methods.

  When the one-link voice call method is selected, since IP packets are directly exchanged between IP telephones without going through the private branch exchange, deterioration of voice quality can be reduced as compared with the two-link voice call method. In addition, since IP packets are not converted into voice signals and are exchanged between IP telephones as they are, IP-based additional information other than voice can be exchanged. For example, it becomes possible to link with a video phone, a chat function, and application software.

  When the two-link voice call method is selected, an extension call is made via the private branch exchange, so that there is an advantage that the service of the private branch exchange can be received. For example, various functions such as transfer of a call to another telephone during a call and call holding can be used.

  Next, embodiments of a VoIP adapter and a voice call method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of a VoIP adapter according to the present invention. The VoIP adapter 10 is interposed between the private branch exchange 12 and a plurality of IP telephones 14 and 16 accommodated therein. The connection procedure of the IP telephones 14 and 16 may be H.323 or SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). In FIG. 1, the VoIP adapter 10 is connected to the private branch exchange 12 and the plurality of IP telephones 14 and 16 by a wired method, but the connection method may be a wireless method. Further, the private branch exchange 12 and the VoIP adapter 10 may be connected by an ISDN method or an analog method. For example, Ethernet (registered trademark) may be connected between the VoIP adapter 10 and the IP telephones 14 and 16.

  An IP switch 18 is connected between the VoIP adapter 10 and the IP telephones 14, 16. The switch 18 forwards IP packets coming from the IP telephones 14, 16 to the VoIP adapter 10, and Is transferred to any of the IP telephones 14 and 16 having the IP address displayed by the IP packet. Although only two IP telephones 14 and 16 are shown in FIG. 1, three or more IP telephones may be provided.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the VoIP adapter shown in FIG. The VoIP adapter 10 includes a determination / transfer circuit 20, which is connected to the switch 18. The determination / transfer circuit 20 determines whether or not an IP packet arriving from the plurality of IP telephones 14 and 16 via the switch 18 should be directly transferred to one of the plurality of IP telephones 14 and 16. Circuit. The determination / transfer circuit 20 further has a function of directly transferring the IP packet determined to be directly transferred to the IP telephone 14 or 16 as the transfer destination.

  The determination / forwarding circuit 20 should be directly transferred to one of the plurality of IP telephones 14 and 16 according to the telephone number associated with the IP packet and specifying the transfer destination of the IP packet. It is determined whether or not. In this embodiment, the telephone numbers in the 5000 range are used as extension telephone numbers, and the 6000 series telephone numbers are used as external telephone numbers. Each of the IP telephones 14 and 16 has an extension telephone number and an outside telephone number as shown in FIG. The extension telephone number of the IP telephone 14 is 5000, and the outside telephone number is 6000. The extension telephone number of the IP telephone 16 is 5001, and the outside telephone number is 6001.

  The determination / transfer circuit 20 holds the extension telephone numbers of all the IP telephones 14 and 16 accommodated in the private branch exchange apparatus 12 and the external telephone numbers corresponding to these extension telephone numbers. That is, the IP phone 14 has an IP address / extension phone number 5000 / external phone number 6000 correspondingly, and similarly, the IP phone 16 has an IP address / extension phone number 5001 / external phone number 6001 corresponding to it. ing. On the other hand, private branch exchange 12 has only IP address / external telephone number among information on all IP telephones 14 and 16 accommodated therein, and call connection to off-premise telephones that it does not accommodate It also has a function.

  When the determination / transfer circuit 20 receives an extension telephone number in the 5000 range based on the above-mentioned information held, the determination / transfer circuit 20 transfers the IP packet associated therewith directly to the IP telephone of the transfer destination. On the other hand, when an external phone number in the 6000 series is received, an IP packet associated therewith is transferred to a voice signal / IP packet conversion circuit 22 described later.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the private branch exchange apparatus 12 is also connected with an analog telephone 24 outside the house, which is not accommodated. For example, when calling the analog telephone 24 from the IP telephone 14, Just dial 6002 which is an outside telephone number. Also in this case, the determination / transfer circuit 20 transfers the IP packet arriving from the IP telephone set 14 to the voice signal / IP packet conversion circuit 22 because the acquired telephone number is an external telephone number in the 6000 series.

  The voice signal / IP packet conversion circuit 22 is connected to the private branch exchange 12 and receives the voice signal coming from the private branch exchange 12 and the plurality of IP telephones 14 and 16 via the switch 18 and the judgment / transfer circuit 20 It is a circuit that converts IP packets to each other. Therefore, when the IP packet is transferred from the determination / transfer circuit 20, the voice signal / IP packet conversion circuit 22 converts it into a voice signal and transfers it to the private branch exchange 12. Therefore, when the telephone number dialed from the IP telephone 14 is 6002, a call connection is made between the IP telephone 14 and the off-site analog telephone 24, and an outside line call via the private branch exchange 12 becomes possible. .

  On the other hand, if the telephone number dialed from the IP telephone 14 is 6001, the private branch exchange 12 recognizes that it is the external telephone number of the local IP telephone 16 that it owns, and the VoIP adapter 10 The voice signal received from the voice signal / IP packet conversion circuit 22 is returned to the circuit 22 again. The circuit 22 converts the voice signal into an IP packet again and sends it to the determination / transfer circuit 20. The determination / transfer circuit 20 transfers the IP packet to the destination IP telephone 16. In this way, when an extension call is made, an extension call between IP telephones via the private branch exchange 12 can be made by dialing an outside line telephone number instead of the extension telephone number of the other party's IP telephone. In this case, a two-link extension call is performed.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an extension call connection sequence between IP telephones using the voice call method according to the present invention. For example, when making an extension call by making a call from the IP telephone 14 to the IP telephone 16, the IP telephone 14 may dial the extension telephone number 5001 of the IP telephone 16, or the external telephone number of the IP telephone 16 You may dial 6001. FIG. 3 shows a case where the extension telephone number 5001 is dialed. The determination / transfer circuit 20 of the VoIP adapter 10 acquires the telephone number 5001 from the calling dial signal (TO: 5001 / FROM: 5000) sent from the IP telephone set 14. Since this is an extension telephone number in the 5000 range, the judgment / transfer circuit 20 of the VoIP adapter 10 directly sends an incoming call signal to the IP telephone 16, obtains a response signal from the IP telephone 16, and sends it to the IP telephone 14. The call connection is completed by transferring.

  When the call connection is completed as shown in FIG. 3, the judgment / transfer circuit 20 of the VoIP adapter 10 transfers the IP packet coming from the IP telephone 14 directly to the IP telephone 16 as the transfer destination. As a result, extension telephone calls between IP telephones can be made without going through the private branch exchange 12. That is, a one-link extension call is possible.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of the extension call connection sequence between IP telephones using the voice call method according to the present invention. FIG. 4 shows a case where the outside telephone number 6001 is dialed from the IP telephone 14. The determination / transfer circuit 20 of the VoIP adapter 10 acquires the telephone number 6001 from the calling dial signal (TO: 6001 / FROM: 5000) sent from the IP telephone set 14. Since this is an external phone number in the 6000 range, the determination / transfer circuit 20 of the VoIP adapter 10 does not determine that the IP packet coming from the IP telephone 14 should be directly transferred to the IP telephone 16. Therefore, in this case, the VoIP adapter 10 sends a call dial signal (TO: 6001 / FROM: 6000) based on the IP address 14 of the IP phone 14 that it owns, the extension telephone number 5000, and the outside telephone number 6000. ) And sent to the private branch exchange 12. The private branch exchange 12 recognizes that the transfer destination is the IP telephone set 16 based on the acquired external telephone number 6000 and returns an incoming call dial signal (TO: 6001 / FROM: 6000) to the VoIP adapter 12. The VoIP adapter 12 sends an incoming call signal to the IP telephone 16 based on the IP address of the IP telephone 16 owned by itself, the extension telephone number 5001, and the external telephone number 6001, and receives a response signal from the IP telephone 16 Get. The response signal is transferred to the IP telephone 14 through a path reverse to that of the incoming / outgoing call signal, thereby completing the call connection.

  When the call connection is completed as shown in FIG. 4, the determination / transfer circuit 20 of the VoIP adapter 10 transfers the IP packet coming from the IP telephone 14 to the voice signal / IP packet conversion circuit 22. The circuit 22 converts the IP packet into a voice signal and transfers it to the private branch exchange 12. Since the telephone number dialed from the IP telephone 14 is 6001, the private branch exchange 12 recognizes that it is an external telephone number of the local IP telephone 16 and owns the voice signal to the VoIP adapter 10. Return to the voice signal / IP packet conversion circuit 22 again. The circuit 22 converts the voice signal into an IP packet again and sends it to the determination / transfer circuit 20. The determination / transfer circuit 20 transfers the IP packet to the destination IP telephone 16. In this way, if an outside line telephone number is used, an extension call between IP telephones via the private branch exchange 12 can be performed. In this case, a two-link extension call is performed.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, when an extension call is made between IP telephones accommodated in the same private branch exchange, either the extension telephone number or the external telephone number of the other party's IP telephone is dialed. Also good. When an extension telephone number is selected, a one-link extension call is made without going through the private branch exchange apparatus 12, and when an outside line telephone number is selected, a two-link extension call is made through the private branch exchange apparatus 12. A feature of the present invention is that, conventionally, only a two-link extension call via the private branch exchange shown in FIG. 4 can be executed, but a one-link / 2-link extension call can be selected.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an external line call connection sequence of an IP telephone / off-site analog telephone using the VoIP adapter according to the present invention. In this case, the outside telephone number 6002 of the off-site analog telephone 24 may be dialed from the IP telephone 14 as in the prior art. Since the 6000 range is an outside line telephone number, the determination / transfer circuit 20 of the VoIP adapter 10 sends the call dial signal to the private branch exchange 12. An incoming call dial signal is sent from the private branch exchange 12 to the analog telephone 24, and a response signal arrives at the IP telephone 14 via the reverse path from the analog telephone 24. As a result, a call connection is established between the IP telephone 14 and the off-site analog telephone 24, and an outside line call via the private branch exchange 12 is possible.

It is a block diagram which shows arrangement | positioning of the Example of the VoIP adapter by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the VoIP adapter shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the sequence of the extension call connection between IP telephones using the voice call method by this invention. It is a figure which shows another example of the sequence of the extension call connection between IP telephones using the voice call method by this invention. It is a figure which shows the external line call connection sequence of the IP telephone and off-premise analog telephone by the VoIP adapter by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 VoIP adapter
12 Private branch exchange
14, 16 IP phone
24 analog telephone

Claims (8)

In a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) adapter interposed between a private branch exchange (PBX) and a plurality of IP (Internet Protocol) telephones accommodated in the device, the VoIP adapter includes:
For IP packets arriving from the plurality of IP phones, it is determined whether or not to be directly transferred to any of the plurality of IP phones, and the IP packet determined to be directly transferred is directly transferred to the destination Includes judgment / transfer means to transfer to IP phone,
This makes it possible to make an extension call between IP telephones without going through a private branch exchange. The VoIP adapter according to claim 1, wherein the VoIP adapter further comprises:
Conversion means for mutually converting voice signals arriving from the private branch exchange and IP packets arriving from the plurality of IP telephones;
The determination / transfer means transfers the IP packet that has not been determined to be directly transferred to the conversion means,
The transferred IP packet is converted by the converting means into a voice signal and transferred to the private branch exchange,
This makes it possible to make an outside line call via a private branch exchange. In the VoIP adapter according to claim 2,
The conversion means receives a voice signal determined by the private branch exchange apparatus as a transfer destination of any of the plurality of IP telephones among the voice signals transferred to the private branch exchange apparatus, and converts the voice signal Convert it to IP packet again,
The determination / transfer means transfers the IP packet to a destination IP phone,
This makes it possible to make an extension call between IP telephones via a private branch exchange. In the VoIP adapter according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The determining / forwarding means determines whether or not the IP packet should be directly transferred to one of the plurality of IP telephones according to a telephone number that is associated with the IP packet and specifies a transfer destination of the IP packet. VoIP adapter characterized by determining whether or not. Sending an IP packet from any of the plurality of IP telephones to a VoIP adapter interposed between the private branch exchange apparatus and the plurality of IP telephones accommodated in the apparatus;
In the VoIP adapter, determining whether the IP packet is to be directly transferred to any of the plurality of IP phones;
A step of transferring the IP packet directly to a destination IP telephone when it is determined that the packet should be directly transferred in the step of determining,
Accordingly, a voice call method characterized in that an extension call between IP telephones can be made without going through a private branch exchange. 6. The voice call method according to claim 5, further comprising:
If it is not determined that it should be directly transferred in the determining step, the IP packet is converted into a voice signal and transferred to the private branch exchange,
Accordingly, a voice call method characterized in that an outside line call can be made via a private branch exchange. The voice call method according to claim 6, further comprising:
Of the voice signals transferred to the private branch exchange, the voice signal determined by the private branch exchange as being transferred to any of the plurality of IP telephones is received by the VoIP adapter, and the voice signal is received. The process of converting it into an IP packet again,
Transferring the IP packet from the VoIP adapter to a destination IP phone,
Accordingly, a voice call method characterized in that an extension call between IP telephones via a private branch exchange is also possible.   8. The voice call method according to claim 5, wherein in the determining step, the plurality of IP packets are associated with an IP packet and the IP packet is specified in accordance with a telephone number that specifies a transfer destination of the IP packet. A voice call method characterized by determining whether or not to transfer directly to any of the IP telephones.

Images