JP2012015981A - Communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication system capable of suppressing communication cost without being restricted by a range of activity by using a portable terminal as an extension terminal.SOLUTION: The communication system 10 performing communication via a portable communication line or a wireless LAN line includes: the portable terminal 24 and extension terminals 23a and 23b, to which extension numbers are given and which have voice communication means; extension terminal managing means 22 having a function for switching and connecting voice communication of the portable terminal having incoming/outgoing calls via a network 40 and the voice communication between the terminals, and a function for managing the extension numbers and private addresses of the portable terminal and the extension terminals; an optical circuit terminal equipment 25 for connecting to an external terminal via the network; and a virtual network 21 for connecting the portable terminal, the extension terminals, the extension terminal managing means and the optical circuit terminal equipment. The portable terminal is connected by either the portable communication line or the wireless LAN line when it is connected to the virtual network via the network.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system, and particularly to a communication system using, for example, a portable terminal.

Managers in many companies are required to continue business management without degrading the quality of services with limited personnel. Problems such as cost reduction and business efficiency under such constraints are common to any industry and any organization in a company.
However, in the information society like the present, communication costs are increasing more and more. Therefore, companies need to efficiently use terminals while reducing communication costs as a solution for cost reduction and the like, and as a matter of course, the quality of services cannot be reduced. Therefore, it can be said that companies have come to a time when more excellent services are required in terms of cost and function.

  On the other hand, mobile terminals are now widely used, and apart from communication costs, the communication infrastructure has been greatly enhanced. In addition, in recent years, portable terminals similar to PCs that can install various applications such as smartphones are on the market. Furthermore, communication methods have evolved in the same way, and information can be transmitted by more communication methods such as mobile phone communication and wireless LAN communication.

In a situation as described above, as a technique aiming at efficient communication operation, for example, a communication system capable of call connection to a circuit-switched portable terminal moving between a plurality of premises is disclosed. (See Patent Document 1).
That is, this communication system includes a circuit-switchable portable terminal to which a unique external line number is assigned, a data communication network to which an SIP server storing the external line number is connected, and a gateway apparatus to which an IP address is assigned. A local network connected to the data communication network, a local base station that detects that a mobile terminal located in the first local area or the second local area is wirelessly connected to the local network, and a mobile terminal detected by the local base station A control device that acquires an external line number, and a proxy registration device that transmits the external line number acquired by the control device and the IP address of the gateway device to the SIP server through the data communication network. A communication system characterized by storing an IP address in association with each other.

JP 2009-225399 A

  However, since the above communication system restricts the movement of the mobile terminal to the local network where the proxy registration device is installed, even if the mobile terminal is used as an extension terminal in the local network, the range of action is There was a problem of being restricted to the local network. Further, the above system has a problem that it is impossible to collectively manage mobile terminals and other extension terminals.

  Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a communication system that takes advantage of the convenience of a mobile terminal while using the mobile terminal as an extension terminal, that is, is not restricted by the action range. Moreover, it is providing the communication system which enables suppression of communication cost.

A communication control system according to the present invention is a communication system that performs communication via a portable communication line or a wireless LAN line, and is provided with an extension telephone number and is provided with a voice call means for performing voice communication and an extension terminal And an extension terminal management means having a function of exchanging and connecting a voice call to / from the mobile terminal and a voice call between the terminals, and a function of managing an extension number and a private address of the mobile terminal and the extension terminal, and a network And a virtual network for connecting the mobile terminal, the extension terminal, the extension terminal management means and the optical line termination device, the mobile terminal via the network When connecting to a virtual network, the extension function is controlled by either a mobile communication line or a wireless LAN line. And having a, a communication system.
In the communication system according to the present invention, it is preferable that the extension function control unit automatically selects a mobile communication line or a wireless LAN line based on communication cost information.
In the communication system according to the present invention, the mobile terminal is preferably a reception terminal.

According to the communication system according to the present invention, since the mobile terminal is used as an extension terminal, the communication cost that occurs when using the mobile terminal is only the cost that occurs between the mobile terminal and the virtual network. Costs can be reduced. Moreover, since a portable terminal is used, it can be used without being restricted by the action range. Furthermore, the mobile terminal can be collectively managed by the extension terminal management means as an extension terminal.
In the communication system according to the present invention, when the extension function control unit automatically selects either the portable communication line or the wireless LAN line based on the communication cost information, the extension function control unit determines whether the portable terminal is connected to the virtual network. It is possible to suppress the cost generated by the process without taking time.
Furthermore, according to the communication system according to the present invention, when a portable terminal is used as a reception terminal, there is no need to separately arrange a reception person in charge, so that it can be used for an unmanned reception terminal, thereby reducing labor costs. can do.

  The above-described object, other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments for carrying out the invention with reference to the drawings.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the portable terminal concerning this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the extension terminal management apparatus concerning this invention. It is the figure which showed the data structure of the management database part in the extension terminal management apparatus concerning this invention. It is the schematic which shows other embodiment of the communication system concerning this invention.

  The communication system according to the present invention is a communication system that can significantly reduce communication costs by using a mobile terminal as one of extension terminals. FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing one embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention. A configuration example and the like of the communication system 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The communication system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a first campus 20 and a second campus 30. The first premises 20 and the second premises 30 correspond to, for example, a head office and a branch office. That is, the first premises 10 and the second premises 20 are constructed at locations separated via the network 40.

  The first premises 20 includes an extension terminal management device 22 (for example, IP-PBX: Internet Protocol Private Exchange change) connected to a virtual network 21 (for example, VPN: Virtual Private Network) that is virtually constructed, The extension terminal management device 22 includes a plurality of extension terminals 23 a and 23 b and a portable terminal 24. Furthermore, an optical line termination device 25 (ONU: Optical Network Unit) installed at the end of the optical communication network is provided, and these are connected through the Internet. The second campus 30 includes a virtual network 31, extension terminals 33 a and 33 b connected thereto, and an optical line termination device 35.

  The extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, and 33b are so-called extension telephones, and are terminals for performing extension calls as well as performing voice communication with the external terminal 50. The extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, and 33b are individually assigned IP addresses in the virtual networks 21 and 31, and the extension terminal management apparatus 22 is assigned an extension telephone number. And it is a terminal provided with the audio | voice communication means which performs audio | voice communication with another terminal through the network 40 or the virtual networks 21 and 31. FIG.

  The mobile terminal 24 is, for example, a so-called mobile phone including a smartphone. The portable terminal 24 is a terminal for performing voice communication with the extension terminals 23 a, 23 b, 33 a, and 33 b and performing voice communication with an external terminal via the extension terminal management device 22. Further, a means (remote VPN) for connecting to the virtual network 21 via mobile phone communication or wireless LAN communication is provided. Furthermore, voice communication means for voice communication with the external terminal 50 and the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b is provided. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a configuration example of the mobile terminal 24.

  The portable terminal 24 includes a control unit 243 as an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU, and a memory 240 that is a storage device is connected to the control unit 243. Various applications and data are stored in the memory 240 and read out to the control unit 243 as necessary.

  In addition, the mobile terminal 24 includes a voice communication function 241, a voice communication protocol control unit 242, a voice communication application 243a, a call middleware 243d, and a call unit 246 such as a speaker and a microphone as voice communication modules. It has.

  The voice communication function 241 is an interface that transmits and receives a voice signal, a VoIP IP packet, and the like, and the transmission / reception follows a communication protocol controlled by the voice communication protocol control unit 242. The call unit 246 is an interface that mutually converts voice and a voice signal that is an electrical signal, acquires voice by a microphone, and outputs voice by a speaker. The voice input / output by the call unit 246 is controlled by the call middleware 243d. The voice call protocol control unit 242 and the call middleware 243d are executed on the control unit 243, and are operated and controlled by a voice call application 243a that is also executed on the control unit 243.

  The portable terminal 24 includes a data communication function 244, a data communication protocol control unit 245, a data communication application 243c, an input middleware 243e, a display middleware 243f, an operation unit 247, and a display unit 248 as data communication modules. I have.

  The data communication function 244 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data communication IP packets and the like. The data communication function 244 transmits and receives packets in each communication medium (wireless LAN, XDSL, optical communication). The data communication protocol control unit 245 transmits and receives the packets. Follow the controlled communication protocol. The operation unit 247 is a user interface such as a numeric keypad or a button, and converts an operation performed by the user into a control signal that is an electrical signal. The display unit 248 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display, for example. Input / output of data by the operation unit 247 and the display unit 248 is controlled by the input middleware 243e and the display middleware 243f. The data communication protocol control unit 245 and the input / display middleware 243e and 243f are executed and controlled by the data communication application 243c that is executed on the control unit 243 that is a CPU and also executed on the control unit 243. The In addition, the data communication application 243c acquires display data such as HTML via the data communication function 244, analyzes the data, generates image data to be displayed, and displays it via the display middleware. Displayed on the part 248.

  Further, in the control unit 243, the extension function dedicated application 243b is activated and executed. Note that the application executed by the control unit 243 can be realized by a combination of the voice communication application 243a and the general-purpose data communication application 243c. The extension function dedicated application 243b is used instead of the data communication application.

  This extension function-dedicated application 243b is equivalent to the general-purpose data communication application 243c in terms of a function for connecting to the virtual network 21 (so-called remote VPN function), conversion of a user operation into an electric signal, and its transmission function. In addition, a function for automatically starting an application at the time of an incoming / outgoing extension call and a function for automating data communication destination setting and authentication procedures are added.

  Specifically, the extension function dedicated application 243b receives display information from the extension terminal management apparatus 22 through the data communication module in parallel with the voice call by the voice communication module, and displays the display information on the display unit 248. While displaying, the control signal with respect to the extension terminal management apparatus 22 from the operation part 247 is transmitted. The extension function dedicated application 243b is used when the mobile terminal 24 is located in an area where communication with the extension terminal management device 22 is possible and an incoming call from the extension terminal management device 22 or a call to the extension terminal management device 22 is made. Automatically started.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a configuration example of the extension terminal management device 22.
The extension terminal management device 22 provided in the first premises 20 is connected to the function of a general extension exchange for exchanging and connecting communication for the representative telephone numbers to the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, and 33b, via data communication. Is a device that provides a PBX / IP-PBX or the like having a function of transmitting and receiving a control signal for extension exchange. For example, it is provided for managing the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b and the portable terminal 24. Further, it has a function of associating the extension number of each extension terminal 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b set in the virtual network 21, 31 with the IP address. For example, in the extension terminal management device 22, the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b and the portable terminal 24 are managed in a lump.

  Further, the extension terminal management device 22 receives the public line telephone number assigned globally to the general external terminal 50 and the portable terminal 24, and the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b in the extension group. By linking and dialing the extension number, an exchange connection is made using the public line telephone number, and a call can be made with another terminal in the group. Accordingly, the general-purpose portable terminal 24 having no extension function can be handled like an extension telephone.

  The extension terminal management device 22 includes a public line connection unit 22a, a connection control unit 22b, a management database unit 22c, and a voice communication unit 22d as modules for extension exchange.

  The public line connection unit 22a is an interface for connecting to the network 40, and can make and receive an external line call via the public line. The public line connection unit 22a has a VoIP function for exchanging voice signals and packet signals and transmitting and receiving voice signals as IP packets.

  The connection control unit 22 b is a module that performs control regarding voice communication between terminals and exchange connection of voice calls that are made and received by the terminal device through the network 40.

  The management database unit 22c is a database device that stores table data for storing the extension numbers assigned to the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b and the like in association with the private addresses. FIG. 4 illustrates a configuration example of a database table used in the communication system 10 according to the present invention. FIG. 4 shows the correspondence between the IP address and the extension number in each of the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b and the portable terminal 24.

  The voice communication unit 22d is an interface for establishing a voice communication transmission path between the extension terminal management device 22 and the extension terminals 23a, 23b, 33a, and 33b. In the case of IP-PBX, Ethernet (registration) This is a module corresponding to VoIP by a wireless LAN or the like, and corresponding to a public line or a cellular phone network 40 in the virtual networks 21 and 31.

  The optical line terminators 25 and 35 are devices installed at the end of the optical communication network, for converting between optical signals and electrical signals and multiplexing / demultiplexing optical signals. In the present embodiment, the optical line terminators 25 and 35 are installed at the termination of the network 40 in the first premises 20 and the second premises 30, respectively, and are used for connection with the external terminal 50. .

  The external terminal 50 is, for example, a terminal installed at a business partner or the like, and is a so-called fixed telephone or the like. In the present embodiment, for example, the connection from the portable terminal 24 to the external terminal 50 is connected through the optical line termination devices 25 and 35 via the extension terminal management device 22. Note that, even if the external terminal 50 is called from any of the extension terminals 23 a and 23 b and the portable terminal 24, the external terminal 50 is recognized as calling from the first campus 20.

  Hereinafter, a connection process for making a call using the above-described communication system 10 will be described in detail.

(Connection process from mobile device to external device)
First, connection processing from the portable terminal 24 to the external terminal 50 will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a communication system 10 according to the present invention.

  As a first process, the mobile terminal 24 is connected to the virtual network 21 by using the extension function dedicated application 423b. At this time, a mobile phone communication or a wireless LAN communication can be used as a communication line for connection. Which one is used may be selected by the extension function dedicated application 243b. In addition, the selection may be performed automatically such that a communication cost can be further reduced based on communication cost information set in advance. The specification for connection to the virtual network 21 is performed by a global address that is predetermined in the virtual network 21.

  Then, the mobile terminal 24 transmits source information (for example, an extension number of the mobile terminal 24, a private address, etc.) and destination information (a telephone number of the external terminal 50, etc.). Subsequently, the extension terminal management device 22 receives the transmitted transmission source information and transmission destination information via the virtual network 21. Then, the extension terminal management device 22 connects the portable terminal 24 to the external terminal 50 via the optical line termination device 25 based on the transmission destination information. Thus, since the connection to the external terminal 50 is performed via the optical line termination device 25, the external terminal 50 is not recognized as a call from the mobile terminal 24, and an external line number displayed on the external terminal 50, etc. To be transmitted from the first premises 20.

(Connection process from mobile terminal to extension terminal)
Next, a connection process from the mobile terminal 24 to, for example, the extension terminal 33a will be described. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the communication system 100 according to the present invention.

  First, as an initial process, the mobile terminal 24 is connected to the virtual network 21 by using the extension function dedicated application 243b. The mobile terminal 24 transmits source information (extension number, private address, etc. of the mobile terminal 24) and transmission destination information (extension number, etc. of the extension terminal 33a). Subsequently, the extension terminal management device 22 receives the transmitted transmission source information and transmission destination information via the virtual network 21. Then, the extension terminal management device 22 inquires the destination information and the data in the management database unit 22c, and specifies the virtual network 31 to which the extension terminal 33a is connected. Then, the extension terminal management device 22 connects the portable terminal 24 to the extension terminal 33a via the virtual network 31.

  According to the communication systems 10 and 100 according to the present invention, the communication cost due to the use of the mobile terminal is only the cost that occurs between the mobile terminal and the virtual network. Since the extension terminal management device and the like can be realized by a wide variety of commercially available devices, the cost required for introducing the system can be reduced. In addition, since the mobile terminal is managed as an extension terminal in the first premises, it is not a call from the mobile terminal to the external terminal, but a call from the first premises from an external line number or the like displayed on the external terminal. It can be recognized as a call.

  In addition, according to the communication systems 10 and 100 according to the present invention, a mobile communication line or a wireless LAN line is automatically selected as a communication line for connecting a mobile terminal to a virtual network. It is possible to suppress the cost generated with the virtual network without taking time.

  In the communication systems 10 and 100 according to the present invention, a mobile terminal is used, but this may be used as a reception terminal. Then, since it is not necessary to arrange the person in charge of reception separately, it can be used for an unattended reception terminal, so that labor costs can be suppressed. At this time, the extension function dedicated application is appropriately changed for the reception terminal.

  In addition, although voice communication has been mainly described, the present invention is not limited to this and may be used in the form of a video phone. At this time, as described above, when the portable terminal is used as the reception terminal, it is possible to have a conversation while watching the other party who has come to the reception terminal.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are made by adding, deleting, or changing new components to the configurations described in the embodiments. be able to.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Communication system 20 1st campus 21, 31 Virtual network 22 Extension terminal management apparatus 22a Public line connection part 22b Connection control part 22c Management database part 22d Voice communication part 23a, 23b, 33a, 33b Extension terminal 24 Portable terminal 240 Memory 241 Voice Communication function 242 Voice communication protocol control unit 243 Control unit 243a Voice communication application 243b Extension function dedicated application 243c Data communication application 243d Communication system middleware 243e Input system middleware 243f Display system middleware 244 Data communication function unit 245 Data communication protocol control unit 246 Call unit 247 Operation unit 248 Display unit 25, 35 Optical line terminator 30 Second campus 40 Network 50 External terminal

Claims (3)

A communication system for performing communication via a mobile communication line or a wireless LAN line,
A portable terminal and an extension terminal provided with an extension telephone number and provided with a voice call means for voice communication;
An extension terminal management means having a function of exchanging and connecting a voice call to and from the mobile terminal through the network and a function of managing an extension number and a private address of the mobile terminal and the extension terminal;
An optical line termination device for connecting to an external terminal via the network;
A virtual network for connecting the portable terminal, the extension terminal, the extension terminal management means and the optical line termination device,
The portable terminal is
A communication system comprising: an extension function control unit that is connected by either a mobile communication line or a wireless LAN line when connecting to the virtual network via a network. The extension function control unit
2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein a mobile communication line or a wireless LAN line is automatically selected based on communication cost information.   The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the portable terminal is a reception terminal.

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