JP2009232186A - Call center system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a call center system which includes a plurality of call control servers as fault countermeasures and is capable of avoiding an additional operation or function limitation with registration switching of call control server. <P>SOLUTION: Each of IP telephone terminals included in a call center system performs registration processing multiply upon each of at least two of call control servers as registration destination call control servers and in the case where a new call origination request is inputted, any one of the registration destination call control servers is selected. In the case where each of the call control servers itself is selected as one registration destination call control server by a call control server selecting means, the call control server provides a telephone exchange service corresponding to the call origination request to the relevant IP telephone terminal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a call center system including a plurality of IP telephone terminals and a plurality of call control servers each capable of independently providing a telephone exchange service thereto.

  In a conventional call center system, in order for an IP telephone terminal to receive provision of a telephone exchange service, it normally registers itself in one of the call control servers, and thereafter, the telephone exchange service is exclusively used from the registered call control server. The operations received by For example, assuming that SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is assumed as a call control protocol, such registration is realized by an IP telephone terminal transmitting a registration (REGISTER) message to a call control server.

  As a technique related to the registration process of the IP telephone terminal with respect to the call control server, although it is an example of a mobile terminal that is assumed to move between networks, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is referred to. Here, the mobile terminal has a function of dynamically acquiring a home address, and registers the correspondence between its own SIP identifier and the acquired home address with the call control server. As a result, even if the mobile terminal moves between networks, it is possible to receive an incoming call from another terminal in a different network through the optimum route.

By the way, the call control server provided in the network to which the IP telephone terminal belongs at the time is usually in charge of control of outgoing and incoming calls of the IP telephone terminal. Therefore, if the call control server is stopped due to a failure, the IP telephone terminal cannot use telephone functions such as outgoing / incoming calls. In order to prevent such a situation, for example, a countermeasure against failure such as duplication of call control servers can be considered. In this case, the IP telephone terminal needs to re-register with another active call control server instead of the registered call control server that has failed.
JP 2003-348174 A

  However, in the above-described form, it is necessary for the user of the IP telephone terminal to manually switch the registration destination server based on the notification of the failure of the call control server, or in the case of a mobile IP telephone terminal, the call control server Inconveniences such as having to move to a normally operating network. In addition, during such operations and movements, all outgoing and incoming calls during that time become impossible.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a call center system that includes a plurality of call control servers as a countermeasure against failures, and that can avoid additional operations and function restrictions associated with registration switching of the call control servers.

  The call center system according to the present invention provides a plurality of IP telephone terminals and a plurality of IP telephone terminals, each of which provides a telephone exchange service for making a call or receiving a call to an IP telephone terminal registered for itself among the IP telephone terminals. Each of the IP telephone terminals, wherein at least two of the call control servers are set as registered call control servers, and multiple registration processes are performed on each of the call control systems. Multiple registration means, and call control server selection means for selecting any one of the registered call control servers when a new call origination request is input, each of the call control servers, When the call control server selection means selects itself as the one registered call control server, it provides the IP telephone terminal with a telephone exchange service corresponding to the call transmission request. And wherein the door.

  According to the call center system of the present invention, even when the operation of the call control server is stopped due to a failure, it is possible to avoid additional operations and function restrictions associated with switching the registration of the call control server.

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

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and shows an overall configuration including a call center system. The call center system 1 includes a first sub-system 10, a second sub-system 20, and a plurality of IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n (n is a positive number), and each of these devices is an IP network. They are connected to each other by a network (LAN) 20.

  Each of the subsystem 10 and the subsystem 20 is a subsystem that is connected to the subscriber telephone network 50 and can independently provide a telephone exchange service for all the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n included in the call center system. The first sub-system 10 includes a gateway device 11 responsible for an inter-network connection function with the subscriber telephone network 50 and a call control server 12 responsible for a call control function. The second subsystem 10 includes a similar gateway device 21 and a call control server 22. Each of the subsystems 10 and 20 can be operated independently, and even if both are operating in parallel, one may be operating and the other may be in a hot standby state as a backup system.

  The gateway devices 11 and 21 have the same internal configuration. For example, the gateway device 11 exchanges call control data and voice data between the subscriber telephone network 50 and the LAN 20 which is an IP network, and communication processing. The function of notifying the call control server 12 of incoming information from the subscriber telephone network 50 using the unit 111 and requesting the subscriber telephone network 50 to make a call request from the call control server 12 is provided. The gateway devices 11 and 21 and the subscriber telephone network 50 are connected by, for example, an analog line, an INS (Information Network System) line, a dedicated line, or the like.

  The call control servers 12 and 22 have the same internal configuration. For example, the call control server 12 uses the communication processing unit 121 to notify the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n of incoming calls from the gateway device 11, or It has a function of requesting the gateway device 11 to make a call request from the telephone terminals 41 to 4n. The call control server 12 also includes a terminal information recording unit 122 that holds terminal information and status information of the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n registered in the subsystem 10.

  Each of the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n is a terminal such as an IP telephone, a client PC, or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and basically has the same function. For example, the IP telephone terminal 41 includes a communication processing unit 411, a connection destination storage unit 412, and a call processing unit 413. The IP telephone terminal 41 performs registration processing with the call control servers 12 and 22 through the communication processing unit 411 and outgoing / incoming processing by the call processing unit 413. When the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n are registered in the call control servers 12 and 22, a message indicating that the IP telephone terminals 41 and 22 are not suspended due to a failure is periodically sent to the call control servers 12 and 22, for example, using the SIP function. To notify. Each of the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n stores setting information such as IP addresses of the call control servers 12 and 22 in the connection destination storage unit 412 as connection destinations. The setting information is not limited to the setting information for the call control servers 12 and 22, and a plurality of other call control servers (not shown) can be provided as registered call control servers including them.

  FIG. 2 shows a setting example of the terminal information storage unit and the connection destination storage unit shown in FIG. Each of the terminal information storage unit 122 and the connection destination storage unit 412 is stored in a table format, for example, as illustrated.

  The terminal information storage unit 122 includes a terminal identification unique to the IP telephone terminal such as a SIP identifier or a MAC address, an IP address assigned to the terminal, and terminal status information of the terminal. As the terminal state, for example, any one of a plurality of states such as a standby state, an incoming call rejection state, or a suspended state is sequentially changed by the call control server including the terminal information storage unit 122 according to the transition of the terminal state.

  The connection destination storage unit 412 includes at least a server identification unique to the call control server such as a SIP identifier or a MAC address, an IP address assigned to the server, and a priority of the server. As the priority, for example, as shown in the figure, the server identification of the call control server 12 is “00-00-00-00-00-AA” and the server identification of the call control server 22 is “00-00-00”. -00-00-BB ", the priority of the call control server 12 can be set to" 1 "and the priority of the call control server 22 can be set to" 2 ". Thereby, the call control server 12 can be set to have a higher priority as a connection destination than the call control server 22 for the IP telephone terminal. The connection destination storage unit 412 may further hold a server state such as in operation or failure, and may be auxiliary information for determining the priority of the call control server.

  FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure of registration processing performed by the IP telephone terminal in the embodiment of the present invention. Here, a processing procedure executed by one IP telephone terminal 41 on behalf of IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n shown in FIG. 1 is shown.

  In response to activation such as power-on, the IP telephone terminal 41 starts registration processing in the call control servers 12 and 22 via the communication processing unit 411 (step S201). Next, setting information necessary for registration with respect to the call control servers 12 and 22 as connection destination servers is read from the connection destination storage unit 412 (step S202). Next, a registration message for the call control server 12 is assembled based on the setting information and transmitted to the call control server 12 (step S203). At the same time, similar processing is performed for the call control server 22 (step S204).

  The IP telephone terminal 41 repeats the processing procedure for waiting for responses from the call control servers 12 and 22 (steps S205 and S206). If the response is returned normally, the registration process is completed, and a transition is made to a standby state (step S207). Thereafter, for example, re-registration processing may be performed at specified times based on the SIP protocol (step S208). As a result of the above processing procedure, the IP telephone terminal 41 has been registered in multiple in the plurality of call control servers 12 and 22.

  FIG. 4 shows the processing procedure of the incoming call processing performed by the IP telephone terminal in the embodiment of the present invention. Also here, a processing procedure executed by one IP telephone terminal 41 on behalf of the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n shown in FIG. 1 is shown.

  Assume that the IP telephone terminal 41 receives an incoming call notification message from, for example, the call control server 12 via either of the call control servers 12 and 22 via the communication processing unit 411 (step S301). The IP telephone terminal 41 processes the content of the incoming notification message by the call control unit 413 and notifies the user of the incoming call. When the user accepts an incoming call by an operation such as lifting the handset, the IP telephone terminal 41 transmits an incoming call rejection message indicating that it cannot receive the call to another call control server, that is, the call control server 22 (step). S302). As a result, the call control server 22 changes the terminal state of the terminal information storage unit to an incoming call rejection state indicating that the incoming call cannot be received. Accordingly, the call control server 22 does not transmit an incoming call notification message to the terminal based on a new incoming call to the subsystem 20.

  On the other hand, the IP telephone terminal 41 transmits a response message indicating that the incoming call has been accepted to the call control server 12 after or simultaneously with step S302 (step S303), and starts a call (step S304). When the IP telephone terminal 41 detects a call disconnection operation, the call processing unit 413 generates a disconnection process message and transmits it to the call control server 12 (step S305). When the disconnection process is completed and the state transits to the standby state again, the IP telephone terminal 41 transmits an incoming call ready message to the call control server 22 (step S306). The call control server 22 that has received the incoming message changes the terminal state of the terminal information storage unit to the standby state. Thus, the IP telephone terminal 41 finishes the incoming call process (step S307).

  FIG. 5 shows a processing procedure of outgoing call processing performed by the IP telephone terminal in the embodiment of the present invention. Also here, a processing procedure executed by one IP telephone terminal 41 on behalf of the IP telephone terminals 41 to 4n shown in FIG. 1 is shown.

  Assume that the IP telephone terminal 41 starts the calling process by an operation such as turning a dial by the user (step S401). The IP telephone terminal 41 transmits a call request message to the call control server 12 (step S402). At the same time or in parallel, the call request message is transmitted to the call control server 22 (step S403). Next, it is determined which of the call control servers 12 and 22 responds faster to these call request messages (step S404). That is, the call control server of the response message that reaches the earliest is determined.

  If the response from the call control server 12 is early, the IP telephone terminal 41 transmits a response message to the call control server 12 (step S405), and continues the outgoing call processing via the call control server 12. Next or simultaneously, a call cancellation message and an incoming call rejection message are transmitted to the call control server 22 (step S406). In response to these messages, the call control server 22 changes the terminal state to the incoming call rejection state in the terminal information storage unit. Accordingly, the call control server 22 does not transmit an incoming call notification message to the IP telephone terminal 41 based on a new incoming call to the subsystem 20. That is, the subsystem 20 stops providing the telephone exchange service to the IP telephone terminal 41.

  On the other hand, if the response from the call control server 22 is early, a response message is transmitted to the call control server 22 (step S407), and the outgoing call processing via the call control server 22 is continued. Next or simultaneously, a call cancellation message and an incoming call rejection message are transmitted to the call control server 12 (step S408). In response to these messages, the call control server 12 changes the terminal state to the incoming call rejection state in the terminal information storage unit. Accordingly, the call control server 12 does not transmit an incoming call notification message to the IP telephone terminal 41 based on a new incoming call to the subsystem 10. That is, the subsystem 10 stops providing the telephone exchange service to the IP telephone terminal 41.

  The IP telephone terminal 41 starts a call after the outgoing call processing via the call control server 12 or 22 (step S409). Next, after the call, a disconnection process is performed according to a disconnection operation from the other party or a disconnection operation from itself (step S410). Thereafter, an incoming call ready message is transmitted to either one of the call control servers 12 and 22, that is, the other call control server not involved in the current call processing (step S411). In response to the completion of the disconnection process or the incoming call message, both the call control servers 12 and 22 change the terminal state of the terminal information storage unit to the standby state. With the above processing procedure, the IP telephone terminal 41 completes the calling process (step S412).

  The above processing procedure is based on the assumption of the two call control servers 12 and 22 and determines which of the responses is faster. However, the present invention may be configured to include two or more call control servers. It is. In that case, the IP telephone terminal transmits a call request message to three or more call control servers in parallel, and selects the call control server whose response is the earliest.

  As a modification of the above embodiment, using the priority and server status information set in the connection destination storage unit of the IP telephone terminal, the outgoing processing is always performed for one subsystem having a high priority without a failure. The form to perform is also possible. Then, when a response such as line busy is returned from the call control server having a high priority, a form of transmitting to another subsystem having a lower priority is conceivable.

  In the above embodiments and modifications, the IP telephone terminal has a plurality of call control servers as multiple registration destinations, and can receive a telephone exchange service from a subsystem including the plurality of call control servers. As a result, even if one subsystem is shut down due to a failure, the user of the IP telephone terminal can receive the telephone exchange service using another subsystem without manually registering the connection destination. it can.

  In addition, when transitioning to a call state using one subsystem, the IP telephone terminal transmits an incoming call rejection message to the call control server of the other subsystem, so that these IP telephone terminals during the call can Do not receive calls from other subsystems. Thereby, useless call time can be reduced. Furthermore, the IP telephone terminal transmits a call request message simultaneously to a plurality of subsystems when making a call, and sends the call via the subsystem that responds quickly. Therefore, the user can operate without being aware of the status of the subsystem being stopped.

  The call center system according to the present invention is not limited to a so-called call center system in which a large number of operators perform a specific customer service, but can also be applied to a private telephone network in a company or the like.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration including a call center system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the terminal information storage part and connection destination memory | storage part which were shown by FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the registration process which the IP telephone terminal in the Example of this invention performs. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the incoming call process which the IP telephone terminal in the Example of this invention performs. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the transmission process which the IP telephone terminal in the Example of this invention performs.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Call center system 10, 20 Subsystem 11, 21 Gateway apparatus 12, 22 Call control server 41-4n IP telephone terminal 50 Subscriber telephone network 111, 121, 411 Communication processing part 122 Terminal information recording part 412 Connection destination memory | storage part 413 Call Processing part

Claims (4)

A plurality of IP telephone terminals, and a plurality of call control servers each providing a telephone exchange service for making or receiving calls to an IP telephone terminal registered for itself among the IP telephone terminals. Including a call center system,
Each of the IP telephone terminals
Multiple registration means for performing multiple registration processing on each of these call control servers as registration destination call control servers,
Call control server selection means for selecting any one of the registered call control servers when there is a new call origination request input;
Each of the call control servers includes a telephone corresponding to the call origination request to the IP telephone terminal when the call control server is selected as the first registered call control server by the call control server selection means. A call center system characterized by providing an exchange service.   The call control server selection means transmits a call request message to each of the registered call control servers in an order according to a priority set in advance, and a response that reaches the earliest to these The call center system according to claim 1, wherein a registration destination call control server that is a message transmission source is selected as the one registration destination call control server.   The call control server selection means, when a registration destination call control server having the same priority is set, sends the call request message to each of the registration destination call control servers having the same priority in parallel. 3. The call center system according to claim 2, wherein transmission is performed.   Each of the IP telephone terminals has an incoming call rejection means for transmitting an incoming call rejection message to a registered call control server other than 1 when the first registered call control server is selected by the call control server selection means. The call center according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a registration destination call control server that receives the call rejection message stops providing a telephone exchange service for incoming calls to the IP telephone terminal. system.

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