JP2007221593A - Reception control apparatus, reception control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid resources from being wasted. <P>SOLUTION: A table is stored beforehand in which at least either an incoming call rejection condition or an incoming call allowance condition is determined. When rejecting an incoming call from a calling-side terminal 1 based on contents of the table, the calling-side terminal 1 is notified of information indicating an incoming call rejection time zone determined in the table. When rejecting the incoming call from the calling-side terminal 1, a called-side terminal 2 is notified of the incoming call from the calling-side terminal 1. During roaming-out of the called-side terminal, the time zone information determined in the table is converted into a site time of a roaming destination, and the incoming call is controlled based on contents of the table in which the time zone is converted. Resources can be avoided from being wasted for calling or connection control. For overseas roaming-out users, by avoiding useless connection control, the communication charge for a transfer portion chargeable to the called-side user can be suppressed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an incoming call control device and an incoming call control method, and more particularly to an incoming call control device and an incoming call control method for controlling rejection or permission of an incoming call from a calling terminal to a called terminal.

  Mobile communication services typified by mobile phones are such that when a user carries a mobile terminal, incoming and outgoing calls and videophones, e-mail, SMS (Short Message Service), mail by MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), etc. (This is called mail) is basically convenient wherever you are. On the other hand, however, the mobile communication service has a problem that it is inevitably called even when the user does not want to receive an incoming call. For example, sleep or sleep may be disturbed by receiving or receiving a call or mail while sleeping.

In addition, if the transfer telephone service is used when roaming out abroad, the callee is charged for the transfer from the country to overseas. For this reason, if the telephone is called too frequently, the communication fee during roaming out becomes high.
Techniques for solving the above problems include the following.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a communication terminal device that specifies whether or not an incoming call can be accepted from a specific communication partner and limited to a specific time zone. Patent Document 2 switches between normal call connection with incoming call notification and predetermined control (answering machine connection) that prohibits incoming call notification according to the urgency level of the call or the importance of the business. A telephone is disclosed.

Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for holding connection refusal information in a connection refusal database and determining whether or not an incoming connection is possible according to the connection refusal information.
JP 10-173772 A JP 2004-120362 A JP 2005-244548 A

  However, both Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 described above assume countermeasures at the terminal, and call and connection control from the network (hereinafter abbreviated as NW) is performed on the called terminal. It will be. That is, in the technologies described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, if the user of the called terminal is not on the telephone (that is, if it is not off-hook), resources for call and connection control are wasted. Become. Furthermore, when the user of the destination terminal roams overseas and uses the forwarding telephone service, when the user of the destination terminal answers the call, the incoming user is charged for the transfer from the country to overseas. Will end up.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 3, rejection of incoming calls can be set for each communication service (VoIP, e-mail, etc.), connection partner, and date. However, the user of the originating terminal who has been rejected does not know when to reconnect. For this reason, if the user of the calling terminal tries to connect many times, resources for call and connection control are wasted.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an incoming call control device and an incoming call control method capable of avoiding wasteful consumption of resources. Another object of the present invention is to provide an incoming call control device and an incoming call control method that improve convenience by allowing the caller to know when to connect next.

  An incoming call control device according to claim 1 of the present invention is an incoming call control device that controls incoming calls from a calling terminal to a called terminal based on the contents of a table that defines at least one of incoming call rejection conditions and incoming call permission conditions. The table is stored in the table (for example, corresponding to the incoming call control table holding unit 134 in FIG. 6) and the incoming call from the calling terminal is rejected based on the contents of the table. Notification means (for example, corresponding to the transmission / reception unit 131 in FIG. 6) for notifying the originating terminal of information indicating at least one of the incoming call rejection time zone and the incoming call acceptance time zone and information indicating the reason for incoming call rejection It is characterized by including. According to such a configuration, it is possible to prompt an action such as making a call again from the calling terminal in a time zone in which an incoming call is permitted.

  An incoming call control apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention is an incoming call control apparatus that controls incoming calls from a calling terminal to a called terminal based on the contents of a table that defines at least one of incoming call rejection conditions and incoming call permission conditions. Storage means for storing the table (for example, corresponding to the incoming call control table holding unit 134 in FIG. 6), and when the incoming call from the calling terminal is rejected based on the contents of the table, the calling terminal Including an incoming call notification means (for example, corresponding to the transmission / reception unit 131 in FIG. 6) for performing an incoming call notification process for notifying the destination terminal that there has been an incoming call. According to such a configuration, it is possible not only to reject the incoming call but also to notify the fact that the incoming call has been received, so that an action such as making a call from the called terminal can be promoted.

  The incoming call control device according to claim 3 of the present invention starts time counting up to an allowable incoming time when an incoming call is permitted when rejecting an incoming call from the originating terminal based on the contents of the table in claim 2 For example, corresponding to the clock unit 135 in FIG. 6, and when the current time reaches the incoming call allowable time by the time measuring means, the incoming call notification means performs the incoming call notification process. Features. According to such a configuration, it is possible to notify that there is an incoming call in the incoming call non-permitted time zone when the current time becomes the incoming call allowable time.

  The incoming call control device according to claim 4 of the present invention is the time zone information defined in the table when the called terminal is roaming out in any one of claims 1 to 3. Is converted to the local time of the roaming destination (for example, corresponding to the conversion unit 136 in FIG. 6), and based on the contents of the table whose time zone has been converted by the conversion means, Controlling incoming calls from the terminal to the called terminal. According to such a configuration, it is possible to perform incoming call control in consideration of the time difference from the local time.

  The incoming call control method according to claim 5 of the present invention includes information indicating at least one of an incoming call rejection time zone and an incoming call allowable time zone and information indicating an incoming call rejection reason transmitted from the user of the called terminal. A registration step (for example, corresponding to S100 in FIG. 3) for registering with the incoming call control device according to any one of claims 4 and from the originating terminal based on the content registered in the registration step And an incoming call control step (for example, corresponding to S103 in FIG. 3) for controlling incoming calls to the called terminal. If such a method is adopted, it is possible to perform incoming call control within the NW based on conditions registered in advance by the called user.

  In short, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid useless calls and connection control by previously registering a condition for an incoming user to respond to an incoming call in the incoming call control device in the NW.

In the present invention, when the user does not want to be called, the control for incoming calls to the user is restricted, and the time for rejecting the incoming call is notified to the calling terminal, so that resources for call and connection control are wasted. There is an effect that consumption can be avoided.
In addition, for users who are roaming overseas, there is an effect that it is possible to suppress the communication fee for the transfer portion that becomes a burden on the called user by avoiding useless connection control.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings referred to in the following description, the same parts as those in the other drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals.
(Configuration example of incoming call control system)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an incoming call control system using an incoming call control device of the present invention. Referring to the figure, an incoming call control system of this example includes a mobile terminal (hereinafter referred to as a calling terminal) 1 held by a caller and a mobile terminal (hereinafter referred to as a called terminal) 2 held by the caller. Is controlled within the NW 10, and exchange control is performed when a communication request is generated in the exchanges 11a and 11b, the message storage device 12 for storing messages from the originating terminal, and the terminating terminal 2. It is comprised from the incoming call control apparatus 13 which determines the method.

  The user of the destination terminal 2 sets an incoming call control table held in the incoming call control device 13 in advance. The set incoming call control table is stored in the incoming call control device 13, and the content is referred to perform incoming call control.

(Incoming call control table setting example)
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of the incoming call control table. In the incoming call table of this example, for the called terminal number “A”, in the time zone “8: 30-17: 00”, all “phones” (All) are allowed to be called, and all “mails” (All) are allowed. The call is allowed.

  Further, in the time zone “17: 00-23: 00”, calls are permitted for “telephones” from the terminal numbers “B” and “C”, and other calls are not permitted. If the call is not allowed, it is processed by an answering machine (hereinafter referred to as answering machine) function, and the message can be stored. The reason for rejecting the incoming call is “busy”, and this reason is notified. For “Mail”, all (All) calls are allowed.

  Furthermore, in the time zone “23: 00-8: 30”, calls are permitted for “telephone” and “mail” from the terminal number “B”, and other calls are not permitted. If the “telephone” call is not allowed, it is processed by the answering machine function and the message can be stored. If the call of “mail” is not permitted, the mail is stored by the mail storage function. The reason for rejecting the incoming call is “sleeping”, and this reason is notified.

As described above, the incoming call control table stores a list of communication means and calling terminals that are allowed to be called according to the time zone, and alternative means when calling is not allowed.
Although not shown in FIG. 2, it is also possible to set this table by designating a period at the day of the week or month level. Further, although telephone and mail are described as communication means in FIG. 2, the present invention is not limited to these, and communication means such as TV phone and push talk can be similarly set in the table.

  In addition, when the called terminal (roaming user) is roaming overseas, the time zone information specified in the table is converted into the local time of the roaming destination, and the contents of the table in which the time zone is converted The incoming call from the calling terminal to the called terminal is controlled based on the above. In this way, incoming control can be performed in consideration of the time difference from the local time.

(Incoming call control sequence)
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of incoming call control when a call is made from the calling terminal 1 to the called terminal 2. In the same figure, signals and messages exchanged between the calling terminal 1, the switching device 11a, the incoming call control device 13, the message storage device 12, the switching device 11b, and the called terminal 2 are shown.

In the figure, information indicating at least one of an incoming call rejection time zone and an incoming call acceptance time zone and information indicating an incoming call rejection reason are transmitted from the called terminal 2 to the incoming call control device 13, and the information is stored in a table in the incoming call control device 13. Register in advance (S100).
When calling from the calling terminal 1 to the called terminal 2, first, a calling signal is transmitted from the calling terminal 1 to the calling switching apparatus 11a (S101). The originating side switching device 11a that has received this call signal transmits an incoming call control method inquiry request to the incoming call control device 13 (S102). The incoming call control device 13 determines the incoming call control method with reference to the incoming call control table described with reference to FIG. 2 (S103). When determining this incoming call control method, the contents of the incoming call control table are referred to based on the current time, and whether the call to the called terminal is allowed (that is, call is allowed) or not (i.e., call is not allowed). If the call is not permitted, it is determined whether message storage by the answering service is designated or connection refused as an alternative. The result of this determination is returned to the exchange apparatus 11a as an incoming call control method inquiry response (S104).

The exchange apparatus 11a that has received the incoming call control method inquiry response determines whether or not the call is permitted (S105). If the call is permitted, the call is connected from the switching device 11a to the called terminal 2 via the called switching device 11b (S105 → S106 → S107).
On the other hand, if the call is not permitted, it is determined whether or not message storage by the answering service is specified (S108). If message storage by the answering service is designated as an alternative, a call is connected to the message storage device 12 (S109 → S110). As a result, the message input from the calling terminal 1 is stored and stored in the message storage device 12 (S110).

  On the other hand, if message storage by the answering service is not designated as an alternative, the connection is rejected (S111), and message storage is not performed. In this case, the calling terminal 1 is notified by guidance or the like that connection cannot be made, and call disconnection processing is performed.

(Incoming call notification sequence)
FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of notifying the called terminal that there is an incoming call. For example, if there is an incoming call in a time zone that does not allow a call, such as late at night or early morning, when the incoming call control device detects that it is a time zone in which a call is allowed, this is triggered by that. Is assumed to be notified of an incoming call. In the same figure, as in the case of FIG. 3, the signals and messages exchanged between the calling terminal 1, the switching device 11a, the incoming call control device 13, the message storage device 12, the switching device 11b, and the called terminal 2 are shown. Etc. are shown.

  In the figure, the incoming call control device 13 detects that the call allowable time is reached due to expiration of the timer (S201). In the incoming call control device 13, when message storage information indicating that a message is stored is held (for example, a flag is set), an expiration time until a time zone in which the incoming call is allowed is set as a timer value. When the timer expires, the switching device is requested to notify the incoming terminal of the incoming call.

  For this reason, the incoming call notification is transmitted from the incoming call control device 13 to the originating exchange device 11a (S202). The exchange apparatus 11a that has received this notification transmits an incoming call control method inquiry request to the incoming call control apparatus 13 (S203). The incoming call control device 13 determines an incoming call control method with reference to the incoming call control table described with reference to FIG. 2 (S204). In this case, referring to the contents of the incoming call control table based on the current time, it is determined that the call is permitted. The result of this determination is returned to the exchange apparatus 11a as an incoming call control method inquiry response (S205).

Receiving the incoming call control method inquiry response, the originating side switching device 11a notifies the called side terminal 2 that there is an incoming call via the called side switching device 11b (that is, the switching device where the called side terminal is located) ( S206, S207). By this notification, the user who owns the called terminal can know the incoming call information (from whom, what time, and what communication means) when the incoming call is not allowed.
When the destination terminal 2 responds to the notification from the originating side switching device 11a, an incoming call notification response is transmitted to the originating side switching device 11a via the terminating side switching device 11b (S208, S209). In response to the incoming call notification response, the exchange device 11a returns an incoming call response to the incoming call control device 13 (S210).

Receiving the incoming call response, the incoming call controller 13 deletes the incoming call information, that is, the record that the incoming call terminal 1 has received the incoming call terminal 2 (S211).
If the message is stored in the message storage device 12, the connection from the destination terminal 2 to the message storage device 12 is made (S212), and the message is downloaded (S213).
As described above, not only rejecting an incoming call but also notifying the fact that an incoming call has arrived can prompt an action such as making a call from the destination terminal.

(Other incoming call control sequences)
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing another example of incoming call control when a call is made from the calling terminal 1 to the called terminal 2. In the same figure, when a call is made from the calling terminal 1 to the called terminal 2 and the incoming call is not allowed, a message indicating the reason of the incoming call non-permission and the time zone message is sent to the calling terminal. An example sequence is shown. In the same figure, signals and messages exchanged between the calling terminal 1, the switching device 11a, the incoming call control device 13, the message storage device 12, the switching device 11b, and the called terminal 2 are shown.

  The operation of FIG. 5 is basically the same as the sequence of FIG. For this reason, a different part from the operation | movement of FIG. 3 is demonstrated here. 3 differs from the case of FIG. 3 in the case where message storage by the answering service is designated as an alternative means, a call is connected to the message storage device 12 (S109 → S110) and the incoming call is not permitted. A message indicating the reason, time zone, and the like is transmitted to the calling terminal (S109 ′). For example, as shown in the figure, a message “23: 00-8: 30 is rejecting incoming call because it is sleeping” is transmitted to the calling terminal, and the message is displayed on the calling terminal. It will be displayed on the screen. This message is not limited to the character information displayed on the screen, but may be a voice guidance.

  As described above, by notifying the originating terminal of information indicating the incoming call rejection time zone, it is possible to prompt an action such as making a call again from the originating side terminal during a time zone when incoming calls are allowed. Information indicating an incoming call allowable time zone may be notified instead of the incoming call rejection time zone. That is, information indicating at least one of the incoming call rejection time zone and the incoming call allowable time zone may be notified to the calling terminal.

(Configuration example of incoming call controller)
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the incoming call control device 13 for realizing the processes of FIGS. 3 to 5. In the figure, the incoming call control device 13 is a transmission / reception unit 131 that performs communication processing with other devices and terminals in the NW, a control unit 132 that controls each unit of the device, and a memory that stores incoming information, message accumulation information, and the like. Unit 133, incoming call control table holding unit 134 that stores the incoming call control table described with reference to FIG. 2, clock unit 135 that outputs current time information, and the destination terminal is roaming out And a conversion unit 136 for converting time zone information defined in the incoming call control table into the local time of the roaming destination. The incoming call control device 13 can be realized using a known server device including a CPU, a memory, a fixed disk, and the like.

The control unit 132 determines the incoming call control method from the originating terminal information acquired from the transmission / reception unit 131, the communication means, the contents of the incoming call control table acquired from the incoming call control table holding unit 134, and the time information (that is, the current time). .
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the storage unit 133 receives incoming calls in addition to incoming call information 133a indicating that a call has been received from the terminal and message storage information 133b indicating that a message has been stored. Stored is a timer value 133c whose expiration time is the time difference from the received time to the time when incoming calls are allowed. When the current time reaches the incoming call allowable time, the incoming call notification process is performed as described with reference to FIG. By so doing, it is possible to notify that there is an incoming call in the incoming call non-permitted time zone when the current time becomes the incoming call allowable time.

Further, when the receiving terminal is roaming out, the conversion unit 136 converts the time zone information defined in the incoming call control table into the local time of the roaming destination, and the converted time zone information is converted into the time zone information. Perform incoming call control with reference. By doing so, it is possible to perform incoming call control in consideration of the time difference from the local time.
In the above description, the exchange devices 11a and 11b, the incoming call control device, and the message storage device are configured as separate devices. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. You may employ | adopt the structure put together as one apparatus. For example, the incoming call control device and the message storage device may be combined into one device.

(Incoming call control method)
In the incoming call control system configured using the incoming call control device described above, the following incoming call control method is realized. That is, a registration step of registering information indicating at least one of an incoming call rejection time zone and an incoming call allowable time zone and information indicating an incoming call rejection reason, which is transmitted from the user of the called terminal, with the incoming call control device; An incoming call control method including an incoming call control step for controlling incoming calls from the calling terminal to the called terminal based on the contents registered in the registration step is realized. If such a method is adopted, it is possible to perform incoming call control within the NW based on conditions registered in advance by the called user.

(Summary)
As described above, when the user does not want to be called, the incoming call control to the user is restricted and the call rejection time zone is notified to the calling terminal, so that resources for call and connection control are wasted. Can be avoided.
In addition, useless connection control for a user who roams overseas can be avoided, so that a communication charge for a transfer portion that is a burden on the called user can be suppressed.

(Additions regarding claims)
The following claims can be derived from the invention.
(1) When there is an incoming call to the terminal, refer to the calling terminal number, the incoming time, the communication means information, and the incoming call control table in which the incoming call control method designated in advance by the called terminal user is recorded, An incoming call control system for determining an incoming call control method for a called terminal.
(2) If there is an incoming call from a terminal that does not allow a call within a period set by the called terminal user, a call is not performed within the period, and if it is detected that the period has expired, the called terminal The incoming call control system according to (1), wherein incoming call information that has been in a call non-permitted period is notified.
(3) If there is an incoming call from a terminal that does not allow a call within a period set by the called terminal user, a message indicating the reason and time zone during which connection control cannot be performed without performing a call within the period ( The incoming call control system according to (1), wherein a character or voice guidance) is transmitted to the calling terminal.
(4) An incoming call control table in which an incoming call control method designated by the user is stored, and when there is an incoming call to the called terminal, the calling terminal number, time information, communication means information, and the incoming call control table An incoming call control apparatus that determines an incoming call control method with reference to an incoming call control method.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for controlling rejection or permission for an incoming call from a calling terminal to a called terminal.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the incoming call control system using the incoming call control apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of an incoming call control table. It is a sequence diagram which shows the example of the incoming call control at the time of making a telephone call from the calling side terminal to the called side terminal. It is a sequence diagram which shows the example which notifies a receiving side terminal that there was an incoming call. It is a sequence diagram which shows the other example of the incoming call control at the time of making a telephone call from the calling side terminal to the called side terminal. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the incoming call control apparatus in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the memory content of the memory | storage part in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Originating side terminal 2 Terminating side terminal 11a Originating side switching device 11b Terminating side switching device 12 Message accumulation device 13 Incoming control device 131 Transmission / reception unit 132 Control unit 133 Storage unit 133a Incoming information 133b Message accumulation information 133c Timer value 134 Incoming control table holding Part 135 Clock part 136 Conversion part

Claims (5)

  Based on the contents of a table that defines at least one of an incoming call rejection condition and an incoming call permission condition, an incoming call control device that controls incoming calls from a calling terminal to a called terminal, the storage means storing the table, When rejecting an incoming call from the calling terminal based on the contents of the table, information indicating at least one of an incoming call rejection time zone and an incoming call allowable time zone defined in the table and information indicating an incoming call rejection reason are An incoming call control apparatus comprising a notification means for notifying a calling terminal.   Based on the contents of a table that defines at least one of an incoming call rejection condition and an incoming call permission condition, an incoming call control device that controls incoming calls from a calling terminal to a called terminal, the storage means storing the table, An incoming call notification means for performing an incoming call notification process for notifying the callee terminal of an incoming call when the call from the caller terminal is rejected based on the contents of the table. An incoming call control device.   In the case of refusing an incoming call from the calling terminal based on the contents of the table, it further includes a time measuring means for starting a time until an incoming call allowable time when the incoming call is allowed, and the current time is allowed by the time measuring means 3. The incoming call control device according to claim 2, wherein the incoming call notification means performs the incoming call notification process when the time is reached.   When the called terminal is roaming out, it further includes conversion means for converting the time zone information defined in the table into the local time of the roaming destination, and the time zone is converted by the conversion means. The incoming call control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein incoming calls from a calling terminal to a called terminal are controlled based on the contents of the table.   The incoming call according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein information indicating at least one of an incoming call rejection time zone and an incoming call allowable time zone and information indicating an incoming call rejection reason transmitted from a user of the called terminal is provided. An incoming call control method comprising: a registration step of registering with a control device; and an incoming call control step of controlling incoming calls from the calling terminal to the called terminal based on the contents registered in the registration step .

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