JP2008166941A - Multi-line telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To determine a line to be released from holding next in an order desired by a user when the user disconnects a call during speech communication or when it is disconnected while holding a plurality of lines. <P>SOLUTION: In the multi-line telephone set in a VoIP telephone system, a decision criterion for releasing the call on the line from holding can be set to a setting table. Then, from the state of performing the speech communication while holding the calls on the plurality of lines, when the user disconnects the call during the speech communication or when it is disconnected, one line is selected from the lines on hold and is released from holding on the basis of the decision criterion reference stored in the setting table. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a multiline telephone capable of simultaneously using a plurality of lines (or a plurality of telephone numbers) in a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone system, and in particular, a call is made while holding a call of a plurality of lines on hold. From the state, when a call in progress is disconnected or disconnected, one line is selected from the lines on hold based on the determination criteria stored in the determination criteria setting table, and the hold is released. It relates to multi-line telephones.

  In recent years, an IP telephone service using an IP (Internet Protocol) network has been provided. In the IP telephone system, the voice from the transmitting side is digitized, further converted into an IP packet, flows on the IP network, and reaches the destination (receiving side). The IP packet received at the call destination is restored to the original information, and thus a call can be made between the transmission side and the call destination. This IP telephone system is being widely used because it can reduce operation, maintenance, and management costs as compared with an existing telephone network.

  In an IP phone system, when a specific IP phone receives an incoming call, the connection is made after confirming the connection media such as voice codec and packet length between the other party (caller) IP phone and the called IP phone. The call is started. This process is generally called a negotiation process. The negotiation process is performed using, for example, a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system that is currently commercially available.

  This negotiation process is performed in order to match the communication environments of the originating and terminating IP telephones before a specific IP telephone has an incoming call and before the connection or call is started.

  SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a typical call control protocol of the VoIP system. The call control by the SIP server includes an outgoing control command called INVITE. The INVITE command is the first control message sent from the IP phone on the caller side to the destination. In this message, the destination address, caller address, communication capability information, caller name, company name, etc. are issued for each IP phone. It can be sent to the destination as supplementary information for a call.

  In an IP network, it is necessary to uniquely recognize a partner by using an address assigned to a device such as an IP address. For this reason, a device called a gatekeeper is generally used. The gatekeeper manages a database in which a telephone number assigned to an IP telephone and an IP address are associated with each other, and searches for a corresponding IP address in accordance with the designation of the telephone number from the IP telephone, so The IP address of the telephone can be specified.

  The VoIP telephone system is a technology that transmits an audio signal using an IP network. As shown in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-191881) and Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-356746), for example, a plurality of incoming telephone numbers are set for telephones in the VoIP telephone system. There are multi-line telephones that can be used by switching between them.

  The multi-line telephone disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a VoIP system in which multi-line compatible SIP telephones to which a plurality of telephone numbers are assigned are connected via a network, and are held in a held state. If a SIP phone that is using a line other than a telephone number receives a hold release request from the hold-side SIP phone, the hold-side SIP phone accepts the hold release request and then reverses the hold-side SIP phone. A hold request is sent to and held.

  The multiline telephone disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a VoIP telephone terminal having a RAM for storing a setting table including one or more setting items and setting contents of the setting items, and one or more settings of the setting table. And a server that outputs an initial setting file having initial setting contents of the setting items to the VoIP terminal. The VoIP telephone terminal stores a setting table stored in the RAM of the VoIP telephone terminal based on the initial setting file of the server. In the VoIP system having the control circuit to be initialized, the control circuit of the VoIP telephone terminal does not change the contents of the setting items in the setting table that are not in the initial setting file in the initialization, and the same items in the initial setting file Configured to delete the contents of the setting items in the setting table that are present but have no contents A.

Some multi-line telephones, for example, can use a maximum of 25 lines (25 telephone numbers) at the same time, and such telephones theoretically hold 24 lines and make a call on the remaining one line. It becomes possible. In such a telephone, when a call in progress is disconnected or disconnected from a state in which a call is made on one line while holding a plurality of lines, the next of the plurality of lines held until now is Which line was released from hold and made active was fixedly handled. For example, in each telephone, a line number is assigned to each line, and the line with the smallest line number among the held lines is set as the active line.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-191881 (FIGS. 1 and 2) JP 2004-356746 A (FIGS. 1 and 5)

  However, in the conventional multi-line telephone set, a call in a call is disconnected or disconnected from a state in which a number of lines are simultaneously held, and a call on any line is released. As described above, since it was fixedly handled, it was in accordance with the priority order provided by the telephone manufacturer, and there was a problem that the hold could not be released in the order desired by the user.

  As a result of various studies to solve the above problems, the inventor of the present application has said that when a call in progress is disconnected or disconnected from a state in which a call is held while holding a call of a plurality of lines, Based on the determination criteria stored in the determination criterion setting table, the present invention has been conceived in that the above-mentioned problems can be solved by selecting one of the pending lines and releasing the hold. It has come to be completed.

  That is, the present invention has an object to solve the above problems, and in a multiline telephone, when a call in progress is disconnected or disconnected from a state in which a plurality of lines are put on hold, It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-line telephone that can release a hold in a desired order.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is
It is a multi-line telephone in a VoIP telephone system, and a determination criterion setting table capable of setting a determination criterion for releasing a call on a line and a state in which a call is in progress while holding a call on multiple lines, It is provided with a hold release means for selecting one line from the lines on hold based on the determination criteria stored in the determination criteria setting table and releasing the hold when disconnected or disconnected. .

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, priority is given to a call having a long holding time as the determination criterion.

  The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1 or 2, the determination criterion is set based on a destination telephone number acquired by a calling number notification function. .

  The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is characterized in that, in the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the determination criterion is set on the basis of the incoming telephone number.

  The multiline telephone of the present invention has the following effects.

  That is, in the invention according to claim 1, it is possible to set a determination criterion for releasing a call on a line, and a call in a call is disconnected or disconnected from a state in which a call is made while holding a call on a plurality of lines. When this is done, one line is selected from the pending lines based on the criteria set by the user and the hold is released. As a result, when a call during a call is disconnected or disconnected from a state where a call is made while holding a plurality of lines, the hold can be released in the order desired by the user.

  In the invention according to claim 2, in the multi-line telephone according to claim 1, priority is given to a call with a long hold time as the determination criterion, so that the hold can be released in order from the long-waited party, It is possible to reduce the possibility of waiting on hold for an extremely long time.

  In the invention according to claim 3, in the multiline telephone according to claim 1 or 2, the determination criterion is set based on the destination telephone number acquired by the calling number notification function. , It is possible to reduce the number of important customers, business partners, etc. waiting on hold for a long time.

  Further, in the invention according to claim 4, in the multiline telephone according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the determination criterion is set based on the incoming telephone number. It becomes possible to give priority to a call received by an external number that is highly likely to be a call from a person.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. However, the embodiment shown below exemplifies a multi-line telephone for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and is not intended to specify the present invention as the multi-line telephone of this embodiment. However, the present invention is equally applicable to the multiline telephones of other embodiments included in the scope of claims.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a VoIP telephone system to which a multiline telephone of the present invention is applied. This VoIP telephone system comprises telephones A, B, C,..., N, etc. that are compatible with multi-lines, a router 20, a gateway 30, and a call control server 40. The telephones A, B, C,..., N, the router 20, the gateway 30, and the call control server 40 are connected by a LAN 13, and the call control server 40 is a SIP server to which a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) protocol is applied. Can be used.

  Calls from subscriber telephones 14 connected to the telephone line network 12 to the telephones A, B, C,..., N are made through the gateway 30, and the telephones are controlled under the call connection control of the call control server 40. Connected to A, B, C,. In addition, calls from telephones installed in other IP telephone systems connected to the router 15 are telephones A, B, C under the call connection control of the call control server 40 via the Internet network 11 and the router 20. ,..., N are connected. 1, telephones B, C,..., N other than the telephone A have the same configuration as the telephone A, although illustration of the configuration is omitted.

  The telephone set A50 includes a control unit 501, a voice transmission / reception unit 502, a display unit 503, an input unit 504, a memory 505, and a built-in clock 506. The control unit 501 includes a microprocessor having a RAM and a ROM, and controls each unit based on a control program stored in the ROM. The voice transmitting / receiving unit 502 includes a microphone and a speaker and is used for a call.

  The display unit 503 is composed of a liquid crystal display unit or the like, and is used for various setting screens of the telephone A50, display of incoming calls, and the like. The input unit 504 has alphanumeric keys, function keys, and the like, and is used for various operations such as telephone number input and outgoing calls.

  The memory 505 stores a setting table to be described later. The built-in clock 506 measures the current date and time, and measures the hold time of a call that is put on hold during a call.

When an incoming call is received on any of a plurality of lines (telephone numbers) assigned to the telephone A50, connection is made to the corresponding line of the telephone A50 under the call connection control of the call control server 40. When there is an incoming call on a line, a call on a line other than the already connected active line (call in progress) is put on hold. When the call on the active line ends and the line is disconnected, the call that has been put on hold is connected and the line becomes the active line.
According to the present invention, when a call in progress as an active line in the memory 505 is disconnected or disconnected, a line selection criterion for canceling the hold and making it the next active line is selected from the held calls. By setting, the call on hold with the priority desired by the user is released and connected.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a multiline telephone. In FIG. 2, 507 is a line key, 508 is a liquid crystal screen, and 509 is a hold button. The line key 507 has a plurality of keys with built-in lamps, and an internal or external telephone number is set for each key by operating the input unit 504. The built-in lamp informs the state of the line assigned to the key by, for example, turning on during a call and blinking during a call. The liquid crystal screen 508 displays information related to calls and settings. The hold button 509 is used when placing a call on hold.

  In such a telephone, it is possible to make a call while holding a plurality of lines, but from such a state, when a call during a call is disconnected or disconnected, among a plurality of held lines, It is automatically determined according to the priority order desired by the user which line is released from the hold and becomes the active line. Therefore, in the multiline telephone of the present invention, the determination criterion for the highest priority hold call can be set in advance by the user, and for example, a determination criterion setting table as shown in FIG. 3 is stored in the memory 505.

  The determination is made based on the holding time of the call in the hold state, the destination telephone number, the own telephone number, and the like. Among them, the hold time determines a line to be released from the hold in descending order of the hold time. At that time, the holding time may be measured by the built-in clock 506, or a timer may be provided separately.

  In addition, the other party telephone number sets a priority to the other party telephone number, and determines a line to release the hold based on the priority. Priorities are set in advance, such as grouping telephone numbers by important customers, business partners, etc., and assigning priorities to each group, or prioritizing external numbers over extension numbers for those not included in the group. Keep it. At that time, it may be set in units of individual numbers. The destination telephone number can be acquired by the calling number notification function.

  In addition, the telephone number is set according to which number of the telephone numbers assigned to the telephone is the incoming call, and the line to be released from the hold is determined based on the priority. For example, it can be set such that a call that arrives at an outside line number has priority over a call that arrives at an extension number, or a priority order may be set for each individual telephone number.

  Which of the holding time, the destination telephone number, and the own telephone number is to be determined can be specified by the code of the determination item. At that time, only one item may be designated, or a plurality of items may be designated at the same time. When specifying multiple items, for example, if hold time and destination phone number are specified, if the destination phone numbers of multiple held calls belong to the same group, the call with the longer hold time is given priority. It becomes possible to do.

  Release of hold is performed as follows. For example, if the determination item is set to hold time and, as shown in FIG. 4, when a call is being made on line 1 and lines 2 and 3 are on hold, the call on line 1 is terminated and the call is disconnected. Then, the active line is automatically changed to the line 2 having a long holding time, and the partner information of the line 2 is displayed on the liquid crystal screen 508. Thereafter, the hold call on line 2 is released by pressing the hold button 509 or raising the handset.

  Note that the liquid crystal screen 508 displays the destination information (phone number, phonebook registered name, etc.) held on the corresponding line, and when the hold sound ringing function based on the destination information is available. The hold sound according to the destination of the corresponding line can be made to sound from the speaker. At this time, the user does not need to perform any operation. After that, if the other party information displayed on the liquid crystal screen 508 is visually checked and the hold is released by a simple hold release operation (such as pressing the hold release button), You can return to the call.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the VoIP telephone system to which the multiline telephone of this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows an example of a multi-line telephone. It is a figure which shows an example of the determination reference | standard setting table of the highest priority hold call. It is a figure which shows the state of each line.

Explanation of symbols

11 ... Internet network 12 ... Telephone network 13 ... LAN
14 ... subscriber telephones 15 and 20 ... router 30 ... gateway 40 ... call control server 50 ... multiline telephone 501 ... control unit 502 ... voice transmission / reception unit 503 ... display unit 504 ... input unit 505 ... memory 506 ... built-in clock 507 ... Line key 508 ... LCD screen 509 ... Hold button

Claims (4)

It is a multi-line telephone in a VoIP telephone system, and a determination criterion setting table capable of setting a determination criterion for releasing a call on a line and a state in which a call is in progress while holding a call on multiple lines, It is provided with a hold release means for selecting one line from the lines on hold based on the determination criteria stored in the determination criteria setting table and releasing the hold when disconnected or disconnected. Multi-line phone. The multi-line telephone according to claim 1, wherein priority is given to a call having a long hold time as the determination criterion. The multi-line telephone according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determination criterion is set based on a destination telephone number acquired by a calling number notification function. The multi-line telephone according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the determination criterion is set based on an incoming telephone number.

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