JP2007184755A - Telephone service method and telephone system providing presence - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a telephone service method and a telephone system that can provide a presence on which more concrete state change of a telephone terminal subscriber is reflected. <P>SOLUTION: The telephone service method and telephone system that provide telephone service for a plurality of telephone terminals connected to a subscriber network hold presences of respective subscribers of the telephone terminals, provide the presences for the telephone terminals through the subscriber network, receive and hold an input of at least one schedule item wherein schedule time is specified from each subscriber, decide whether there is schedule time having come, and change the presence corresponding to the subscriber according to the contents of the schedule item corresponding to the schedule time decided to have come in such a case. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a telephone service method and a telephone system for providing a call control service to a plurality of telephone terminals connected to a subscriber network, and in particular, subscriber status information such as a subscriber's terminal usage status and presence status (hereinafter, referred to as a subscriber status information). The present invention relates to a telephone service method and a telephone system that together provide (referred to as presence).

In providing a call connection service for a telephone terminal having a telephone function, a method of providing a call connection service in consideration of the presence of a caller or a callee of a call connection is known. For example, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, the priority of each of a plurality of media such as a computer and a telephone is registered in the presence management DB in advance, and when a call connection request is issued from a caller, the presence management DB From the above, media that can be used by the called party and that has a high priority are selected. According to such a method, the convenience such as the availability and priority of the called party is taken into consideration, and the convenience of the called party is improved.
JP 2004-153317 A

  However, in the conventional method, when the presence of the callee is changed, it is detected that the telephone terminal subject to availability determination is being used for a call, or the telephone terminal is not operated for a certain period of time. It was only done at the timing when the operator's leaving was detected. Therefore, the presence of the caller who makes a call connection request can infer specific changes in the caller's state, such as what the caller is doing now and when the caller is busy and when to call. I could not know.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a telephone service method and a telephone system that can provide a presence reflecting a more specific state change of a telephone terminal subscriber.

  A telephone service method according to the present invention is a telephone service method for providing a call control service to a plurality of telephone terminals connected to a subscriber network, holding the presence of each subscriber of the telephone terminal, and using the presence as the subscription. A presence providing step provided to the telephone terminal via a subscriber network, an input of at least one schedule item designating a schedule time for each subscriber, a schedule holding step for holding the schedule item, and the schedule time A presence changing step of changing presence corresponding to the subscriber in accordance with contents of a schedule item corresponding to the schedule time when it is determined whether or not the schedule time is determined to have arrived. Features.

  A telephone system according to the present invention is a telephone system including a plurality of telephone terminals connected to a subscriber network, and a call control server that provides a call control service to the telephone terminal via the subscriber network. Presence providing means for holding the presence of each subscriber and providing the presence to the telephone terminal via the subscriber network, and inputting at least one schedule item designating a schedule time for each subscriber If there is a schedule holding means for accepting and holding the schedule time, and determining whether or not the schedule time has arrived and determining that the schedule time has arrived, the subscriber according to the contents of the schedule item corresponding thereto And presence changing means for changing the presence corresponding to.

  According to the telephone service method and the telephone system of the present invention, it is possible to provide presence reflecting a more specific state change of a telephone terminal subscriber.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an embodiment according to the present invention, and shows an overall configuration including a client terminal. The plurality of client terminals 10a to 10n can be connected to the SIP server 30 via the SIP network 20, and can be a handheld computer or a personal computer (PC) having a softphone function. The number of client terminals 10a to 10n illustrated is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this number. The SIP network 20 is a subscriber network that enables a subscriber to make an IP phone call using VoIP technology, and corresponds to the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) protocol. Here, the SIP protocol is an application layer signaling protocol that initiates, modifies and completes a batch of communications between one or more participants, such as a telephone or instant messenger. The specification of the SIP protocol is defined in RFC3261.

  The SIP server 30 is a server device connected to the SIP network 20. The SIP server 30 has a call control service unit 31 that provides a call control service that assists a process such as session establishment performed between each of the client terminals 10a to 10n as an intermediary, and presence to each of the client terminals 10a to 10n. And a presence service unit 32 that provides services.

  Presence means information representing the communication state or action state of a person or terminal that changes in real time. The communication state includes, for example, an online or offline state of the terminal, or a state where a person is talking or being away. The behavior state includes a state such as “currently meeting in XXX conference room” or “going out in the afternoon”. In addition, the presence service provided by the presence service unit 32 is a means suitable for when necessary by acquiring the presence of a person or a terminal and providing the status, position and time of the other party such as a callee of the telephone. It is a service that enables communication with the other party. The presence service unit 32 stores the acquired presence information in the SIP database 40.

  The SIP database 40 is a database connected to the SIP server 30. The SIP database 40 holds subscriber information such as a telephone number accessed by the call control service unit 31 and also holds presence accessed by the presence service unit 32.

  FIG. 2 shows a detailed configuration of the client terminal shown in FIG. Each of the plurality of client terminals 10 a to 10 n includes a softphone unit 11 and a scheduler unit 12.

  The softphone unit 11 includes a presence update unit 111, a manual input reception unit 112, and an API reception unit 113. The softphone unit 11 has a function of performing telephone communication with other terminals by a call control service from the SIP server 30. The manual input accepting unit 112 has a function of accepting an operator's own presence change input, and is realized in the form of a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a CUI (Character-based User Interface). The presence update unit 111 has a function of updating the presence status of the operator himself / herself held in the SIP database 40 to the presence input by the manual input reception unit 112. The API accepting unit 113 is an application interface that enables the functions of the softphone unit 11 to be used from an external program.

  The scheduler unit 12 includes a schedule input unit 121, a schedule management unit 122, an API communication unit 123, and a schedule table 124. The API communication unit 123 has a function of calling the function of the softphone unit 11 by communicating with the API receiving unit 113, and performs an operation of receiving a return value of the called function and an event issued by the softphone unit 11. As a method for realizing the API communication unit 123, there is a method of creating it using ActiveX (registered trademark) provided by Microsoft Corporation. The schedule input unit 121 has a function of receiving an input of the operator's own schedule items and holding the schedule in the schedule table 124. The schedule that can be input is not limited to the own schedule, but may be the schedule of another subscriber such as a team member. The schedule input unit 121 can be realized as a GUI or CUI application such as a Web browser. The schedule management unit 122 has a function of updating the presence held in the SIP server 30 based on the scheduled schedule held in the schedule table 124. The detailed operation will be described later.

  FIG. 3 shows a setting example of the schedule table 124 shown in FIG. The schedule table 124 includes, for example, the schedule number of a schedule item that is a schedule such as a meeting, the schedule item content indicating the specific content of the schedule item for each schedule number, and the scheduled start time and scheduled end time. It is a table that contains. Here, for each schedule item, a schedule time including a scheduled start time and a scheduled end time is defined. The schedule time is used for comparison with the current time. As shown in the figure, for example, when viewing the schedule item “conference” with the schedule number “1”, the schedule time is 05/11/26 11:00 to 05/11/26 12:00. If the current time is 05/11/26 11:01, it can be seen that the presence should be updated to “in meeting”.

  FIG. 4 shows a processing procedure of presence update request processing executed by the schedule management unit 122. This processing procedure will be described with reference to the components shown in FIGS. The schedule management unit 122 accepts addition or deletion of schedule items from the schedule input unit 121 as needed, and sets this in the schedule table 124 (step S1).

  Next, the schedule management unit 122 determines whether the scheduled start time of each schedule item in the schedule table 124 has passed the current time (step S2). If there is no schedule item past the current time (N), the schedule management unit 122 waits for a preset waiting time (step S3).

  On the other hand, when there is a schedule item that has passed the current time (Y), the schedule management unit 122 determines the appropriateness of presence update based on the schedule item (step S4). This is performed in order to avoid a conflict between the presence obtained according to the state information such as on or off of the client terminal including the schedule management unit 122 and the presence to be updated.

  If the presence update is appropriate, the schedule management unit 122 requests the SIP server 30 for the presence update (step S5). Next, the processing from step S1 is repeated.

  FIG. 5 shows the processing procedure of the cooperative operation that is triggered by the presence update request. This processing procedure will be described with reference to the components shown in FIGS. This figure shows the processing procedure of the cooperative operation of the client terminal and the SIP server triggered by the presence update by the schedule management unit shown in FIG.

  In response to the presence update request, the schedule management unit 122 of the client terminal 10 calls a presence change method to the API communication unit 123 (step S11). The API communication unit 123 performs inter-process communication with the API reception unit 113, and delivers the presence change method (step S12). The API reception unit 113 calls a presence change function to the softphone unit 11 according to the presence change method (step S13).

  The softphone unit 11 is software that receives provision of a presence service from the presence service unit 122 of the SIP server 30. Accordingly, the softphone unit 11 requests (subscribes) the presence service unit 122 to transmit the updated presence to the subscribers themselves and other subscribers (step S14).

  The presence service unit 122 updates the presence of the subscriber (here, the operator of the client terminal 10) in response to a request from the softphone unit 11 (step S15). Next, the presence service unit 122 notifies all subscribers including the client terminal 10 of the presence including the update (Notify) (step S16). Each notified terminal responds (Response Notify) to the presence service unit 122 that it has been normally received (Step S17).

  On the other hand, in response to the notification from the presence service unit 122, the softphone unit 11 that has requested the update passes the return value of the presence change method or notifies the event via the API reception unit 113 and the API communication unit 123. By doing so, it responds to the schedule manager 122 (steps S18, 19 and 20). Thus, the presence update is completed.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of a presence screen displayed on the client terminal. Here, as an example, a screen 60 of the softphone part of the client terminal used by Ichiro and a screen 70 of the softphone part of the client terminal used by Taro Oo are shown.

  ○ Ichiro's screen 60 is a phone number display 62 as a terminal identifier, a phone button 61 for calling an arbitrary destination, a presence display 63 of ○ Ichiro himself, and other items to be displayed. Subscriber presence indication 64. The presence display 63 displays the presence of OOICHIRO that can be updated by manual input and that is automatically updated as time arrives.

  On the other hand, the screen 70 of 00 Taro is a phone number display 72 as a terminal identifier, a telephone button 71 for calling an arbitrary destination, a presence display 73 of 00 Taro himself, and other items to be displayed. Subscriber presence indication 74. The presence display 73 displays the presence of OO Taro that can be updated manually and is automatically updated as time arrives. Furthermore, the presence display 75 displays the presence of Ochiro updated by manual input or automatically updated with the arrival of time.

  Other subscriber presence displays 64 and presence displays 74 may display, for example, each member of a project organized in a company. In the case of development by project, it is necessary to manage schedules such as development end dates in addition to meeting schedules such as progress meetings and release judgment meetings, but by applying the present invention, project schedules are shared by project members can do.

  In addition, it is possible to manage the schedule of a project so that only a project leader having access rights or a person equivalent thereto can input schedule items. In order to realize such operation, for example, use of software called “RFC3667” groupware can be considered as software for realizing the schedule management unit.

  In the above embodiment, the client terminal determines the arrival of time and requests the SIP server to update presence based on the schedule. The call control method and the telephone system according to the present invention may be configured such that a schedule server that provides the contents of the schedule table as a Web service is provided in the SIP network, and the schedule server determines presence update and requests the SIP server. is there.

It is an Example by this invention, and is a block diagram which shows the whole structure containing a client terminal. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the client terminal shown by FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the schedule table shown by FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the presence update request process which a schedule management part performs. It is a sequence diagram which shows the processing procedure of the cooperation operation | movement made with a presence update request as a trigger. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of the presence displayed on a client terminal.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10a to 10n Client terminal 11 Softphone unit 12 Scheduler unit 20 SIP network 30 SIP server 31 Call control service unit 32 Presence service unit 40 SIP database 111 Presence update unit 112 Manual input reception unit 113 API reception unit 121 Schedule input unit 122 Schedule management unit 123 API communication unit 124 Schedule table

Claims (6)

A telephone service method for providing a call control service to a plurality of telephone terminals connected to a subscriber network,
A presence providing step of maintaining the presence of each subscriber of the telephone terminal and providing the presence to the telephone terminal via the subscriber network;
A schedule holding step for receiving and holding at least one schedule item specifying a schedule time for each subscriber; and
A presence changing step of determining whether or not the schedule time has arrived and changing the presence corresponding to the subscriber according to the contents of the schedule item corresponding to the schedule time when it is determined that the schedule time has arrived; ,
A telephone service method comprising: A telephone system including a plurality of telephone terminals connected to a subscriber network, and a call control server that provides a call control service to the telephone terminals via the subscriber network,
Presence providing means for maintaining the presence of each subscriber of the telephone terminal and providing the presence to the telephone terminal via the subscriber network;
For each subscriber, a schedule holding means for receiving and holding input of at least one schedule item designating a schedule time;
Presence changing means for determining whether or not the schedule time has arrived and, if there is a schedule time for determining that the schedule time has arrived, changing presence corresponding to the subscriber according to the content of the schedule item corresponding thereto; ,
A telephone system characterized by including:   3. The telephone system according to claim 2, wherein the call control server includes the presence providing unit, and each of the telephone terminals includes the schedule item holding unit and the presence changing unit.   4. The telephone system according to claim 3, wherein the presence changing means changes the presence by operating a softphone unit provided in the telephone terminal.   4. The telephone system according to claim 3, wherein the presence changing unit causes the softphone unit to operate via an API.   The telephone system according to claim 2, further comprising a schedule server comprising the schedule item holding unit and the presence changing unit.

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