JP3727624B2 - How to dial up the adapter - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an Internet telephone dial-up method for performing telephone and facsimile transmission using a dedicated telephone communication line such as the Internet .
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the spread of communications using the Internet, such as e-mail and WWW (World Wide Web), a telephone service called an Internet telephone has recently started in the Internet network. When a user calls an Internet connection company, this service listens to the user for necessary user information such as the user ID, the method of debiting, and the telephone number of the other party to be called. It is a service called.
[0003]
When a user uses the Internet phone to make a call to the other party, the following processing is necessary. That is, the user transmits his / her user ID, bank account debit number, and the telephone number of the other party to be called to an Internet connection company (also called a provider) using a push dial button of the telephone. The communication server connected to the Internet connection company identifies the contents of the dial transmission, authenticates the user, and then connects the Internet line and the public telephone line used by the calling party. Next, the server of the Internet connection company closest to the called party and connected to the Internet is requested to make a call to the called party (called party) having the telephone number requested by the calling party.
[0004]
Upon receiving this request, the server uses the public telephone line to call the requested party. When the other party goes off-hook (remove the handset from the telephone), a voice call can be made between the calling user and the called party.
[0005]
In order to enable communication over the Internet, the server of the Internet connection company converts the audio signal in the form of an analog signal into a digital signal that can be communicated over the Internet line and transmits it, and the computer of the Internet connection company near the listener Converts the digital signal into an analog voice signal for public telephone lines.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By using a dedicated telephone line called the Internet in this way, it has become possible to make a long distance call with an inexpensive telephone bill.
[0007]
However, in order to use the Internet telephone, the user presses the dial push button on the telephone in order to inform the Internet telephone company computer (server) of the user ID, the bank account number for payment, and the telephone number of the other party. Must operate. In the case of a Japanese Internet telephone company, when all the above information is input, a number having a total of 33 digits is input, and the user's operation of the dial push button is a great effort. In addition, if the dial push button is operated incorrectly, the user must perform the operation again from the beginning.
[0008]
In addition, the current technology has a problem that the quality of voice of an Internet telephone is poor compared to a telephone call using only a public telephone line, and there is a demand for selectively using an Internet telephone and a public telephone line.
[0009]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an Internet telephone dial-up method capable of minimizing user operations when making a call using a dedicated telephone line such as the Internet.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve such an object, the invention according to claim 1 provides an Internet telephone service function that allows dial-up from an adapter installed inside or outside a telephone connected to a public telephone line to be connected to the Internet. In an Internet telephone dial-up method that accepts at a server and enables an Internet telephone by the telephone, the adapter is instructed in the registration mode from the telephone and the telephone number of the dial-up destination server is input to the adapter. The adapter has a storage means, and when the registration mode is instructed, the inputted dial-up destination telephone number is registered in the storage means, and the Internet telephone call mode instruction is sent from the telephone. Is sent to the adapter, the adapter is stored in the storage means. Dialing up to the server using a remembered telephone number, connecting the telephone to the server, and having a call mode with another telephone connected to the public telephone line not using the Internet telephone when directed to the adapter from the telephone, the adapter sends out a telephone number of the other telephone sent from the telephone to the public telephone line, and connects the telephone set and said another telephone The telephone has a telephone number storage means and a display. The telephone number storage means stores a plurality of the telephone numbers, and displays the stored plurality of telephone numbers on the display. The telephone number to be registered in the storage means of the adapter is selected from the displayed plurality of telephone numbers by the dial button of the telephone.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0020]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0021]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a commercially available telephone having a known handset and dial buttons. There are two types of telephones: dial type telephones and tone type telephones. In the present embodiment, a tone type will be described as an example.
[0022]
Reference numeral 102 denotes an adapter according to the present invention. The adapter 101 automatically transmits user-related information that has been input by a user using a push-phone dial button to the server 104 of the Internet telephone company. Reference numeral 103 denotes a public telephone network. A communication server 104 is installed in the Internet telephone connection company and connects the public telephone network 103 and the Internet communication network 105.
[0023]
Reference numeral 105 denotes a dedicated telephone line network (referred to as the Internet communication network) called the Internet. In the Internet communication network 105, an audio signal is transmitted digitally according to a predetermined standard. Reference numeral 106 denotes another server connected to the Internet communication network 105 of the Internet company.
[0024]
Reference numeral 107 denotes a public telephone line network used for connection with the telephone 108 on the called side. Reference numeral 108 denotes a called telephone that the calling telephone 101 calls.
[0025]
FIG. 2 shows a circuit configuration of the adapter 102 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention.
[0026]
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a pair of office line side terminals, which are connected to a telephone line connected to a telephone exchange in the public telephone line network 103. Reference numeral 2 denotes a pair of telephone side terminals which are connected to the telephone 101. The office line side terminal 1 and the telephone side terminal 2 are connected via a side contact of a relay 3, and the office line side terminal is connected in parallel with a pair of terminals and one winding of the transformer 4 for detecting the tone signal. Both ends of the line 4A are connected.
[0027]
A photo moss relay 5 is interposed between the one winding 4A and the terminal 1, and the photo mos relay 5 is opened and closed by a signal from a dial pulse output terminal of a CPU 6 which will be described later, and a pair of stations. Open or close the wire side terminal 1. As a result, the dial pulse signal is sent to the exchange via the office line side terminal 1.
[0028]
7 detects an off / on hook of the telephone 104 based on the presence of a dial pulse signal input from the telephone 101 to the telephone terminal 2 and an off-hook signal of the telephone 101 (a signal generated by the telephone when the handset is removed from the telephone). This is a photocoupler. The off / on hook detection signal is input to the dial pulse input terminal of the CPU 6 through the amplifier 8 with filter, and further input to the off / on hook detection terminal of the CPU 6 through the amplifier 9 with filter.
[0029]
A dialer 10 supplies a dial tone signal to the other winding 4 </ b> B of the transformer 4 based on a signal from a dial tone signal (DTMF) signal output terminal of the CPU 6. The dial tone signal from the dialer 10 is given to the office line side terminal 1 through the transformer 4, and is sent from there to the telephone exchange through the telephone line.
[0030]
The tone signal input from the telephone exchange side to the office line side terminal 1 through the telephone line is input to the DTMF signal input terminal of the CPU 6 through the coupling capacitor 12 and the receiver amplifier 13. The dial tone signal input from the telephone set 101 to the telephone input terminal 2 is also input to the dial tone signal input terminal of the CPU 6 via the capacitor 12 and the amplifier 13.
[0031]
Reference numeral 14 denotes a stabilized power supply circuit which stabilizes an external direct current (DC) voltage input via the resistor 15 and supplies power to each component circuit of the apparatus. A relay driver 20 is controlled by a signal from the CPU 6 and drives the relay 3. When the relay 3 is connected to the a-side contact, the office line side terminal 1 and the telephone-side terminal 2 are linearly connected to each other, while when connected to the b-side contact, between the terminals 1 and 2 The phone terminal 2 is supplied with a stabilized voltage from the phone terminal 2 to the telephone 101 by the stabilized power circuit 14 via the resistor 16.
[0032]
Reference numeral 6 denotes a CPU, which controls the above-described circuits in order to execute the program of FIG. 3 stored in the ROM 17 and execute processing related to the present invention. Reference numeral 17 denotes a ROM which stores the program of FIG. 3 that defines the processing executed by the CPU 6.
[0033]
Reference numeral 18 denotes a RAM, which is a telephone number of an internet connection company to be connected and information necessary for connection, for example, communication control information such as a waiting time after signal transmission, and a session with a server of the internet connection company (in this case, a call is made) Information for establishing (status), that is, a user ID and a bank account number are stored. These pieces of information are assumed to be stored in advance. Further, the RAM 18 temporarily stores the called party dial number sent from the telephone set 101.
[0034]
Next, the operation of the circuit of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 3 shows the contents of the program executed by the CPU 6. The processing procedure shown in FIG. 3 is actually described in a program language that can be read and executed by the computer (CPU 6). However, for convenience of explanation, in FIG. Expresses the processing content.
[0035]
In FIG. 3, the CPU 6 monitors the presence or absence of an off-hook signal by the loop process in step S10. When the user removes the handset of the telephone set 101 from the telephone set 101 to make an Internet call, the telephone set 101 generates an off-hook signal. When the off-hook signal is input to the CPU 6, the CPU 6 advances the execution procedure to step S20, turns off the relay 3, and disconnects between the office line side terminal 1 and the telephone side terminal 2 (step S20). Next, the user uses the dial push button of the telephone 101 to input the telephone number of the other party who wants to talk. Here, it should be noted that the user only has to input only the other party's telephone number (without entering user-related information) by the same method as the dial-up method of a normal public telephone line. In the present embodiment, a first communication system using an Internet telephone and a second communication system using only a public telephone line network can be selected. In the first mode in which the user selects the first communication system, the user inputs only the other party's telephone number. In the case of the second mode for selecting the second communication system, the user enters the destination telephone number with an asterisk (*) symbol.
[0036]
The dial number generated by the telephone 101 is input to the CPU 6 and then temporarily stored in the RAM 18 (step S30). Next, the CPU 6 determines whether or not the character at the beginning of the input dial number is “*” (step S40). If the character is “*”, the CPU 6 advances the execution procedure to step S110.
[0037]
In step S110, the CPU 6 drives the dialer 10 using a number excluding the * stored in the RAM 18 and generates a tone signal corresponding to the telephone number. Thereafter, the relay 3 is turned on to connect the office line side terminal 1 and the telephone side terminal 2 (step S110 → step S120).
[0038]
Thereby, the user who has a handset can call with the other party who called the telephone after confirming a ringing tone like usual. During this time, the CPU 6 continues the standby process. (Loop processing of step S130) When the on-hook of the telephone set 101 (disappearance of the off-hook signal) is detected (YES determination of step S130), the execution procedure is returned to step S10 to prepare for the next call.
[0039]
On the other hand, when the character “*” is not added to the telephone number input by the user (NO determination at step S40), the CPU 6 reads out the telephone number of the internet company stored in the RAM 18 and dials up. (Step S70). Dial-up is performed again a predetermined number of times until the telephone is connected (loop processing from step S50 to step S60).
[0040]
When the CPU 6 detects that the connection is successful by a signal from the modem of the server 104 of the Internet connection company, the user-related information, that is, the user ID, bank account number, etc. is dialed to establish a session with the server 104. 10 to the computer (step S70). Since the types of user-related information and communication conditions vary depending on the Internet connection company, communication-related information of a desired Internet connection company is prepared in advance.
[0041]
When the session is established, the telephone call can be made thereafter, so the CPU 6 turns on the relay 3 to connect between the office line side terminal 1 and the telephone side terminal 2 (step S80 → step S90).
[0042]
After the above processing, the communication system via the Internet communication network 105 is established with the servers 104 and 106 of the Internet connection company after the above processing, and the other party uses the public telephone line network 107 from the server 106. The telephone 108 is called. When the other party off-hooks the telephone 108, a telephone call can be made between the telephone 101 and the telephone 108. During this time, the CPU 6 continues the standby process in step S100, and when the on-hook of the telephone set 101 is detected, the execution procedure is returned to step S10 to prepare for the next call.
[0043]
In addition to this embodiment, the following embodiment can be implemented.
1) In the above embodiment, the adapter 102 is externally connected to the commercially available telephone set 101. However, the adapter 101 can be installed in the telephone 101. In this case, the telephone may be provided with a telephone number registration function of an internet connection company, which will be described later.
2) In the above-described embodiment, the telephone number of the Internet connection company is stored in the RAM 18 in advance, but the telephone number can be registered using the dial bush button of the telephone set 101. For this purpose, after the user inputs a specific number string instructing the registration mode in advance, the telephone number of the Internet connection company is input. When the CPU 6 recognizes that the specific numeric string has been input, it stores the telephone number input thereafter in the RAM 18.
[0044]
As another method for instructing the CPU 6 in the registration mode, there is a method in which the telephone 101 is provided with a dedicated push button for instructing the registration mode.
[0045]
Further, a plurality of telephone numbers and communication related information are stored in advance in a memory in the telephone 101, and when a registration mode is instructed, a selection candidate is displayed on the LCD display of the telephone 101, and among the displayed candidates The user selects a desired telephone number with a push button. The telephone 101 can store the telephone number in the RAM 18 in the adapter 102 by transferring the selected telephone number and communication-related information to the adapter 102 with a tone signal.
[0046]
Conductive mounting a memory card reader in the story machine 101, the telephone number, by reading the memory card reader that stores communication conditions, it is also possible to register a telephone number, communication conditions. This memory card is issued by the Internet connection company.
3) In the above-described embodiment, the character * is added when only the public telephone line is used. However, other characters (including numbers) may be used instead of the characters, and a dedicated push button is used as the telephone. 101 may be provided.
4) In the above embodiment, the telephone 101 is an example of making an internet call, but the present invention can also be applied to a facsimile transceiver. However, in this case, it is necessary to provide a circuit for generating an off-hook signal on the facsimile machine side. When the present invention is applied to a facsimile transmitter / receiver, the telephone set recited in the claims should be interpreted as a facsimile transmitter / receiver.
5) In the above embodiment, an analog public telephone line is shown as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to an ISDN telephone public line called INS64 or INS128 in Japan. In this case, the peripheral circuit of the CPU 6 in FIG. 2 may be adapted to ISDN, and those skilled in the art can easily produce an adapter for ISDN from this specification.
6) In the above example, the Internet has been described as an example of a dedicated telephone line. However, the present invention is also applied to a dedicated telephone line used for other computer communications or a WAN (Wide Area Network) for dial-up connection. Can be applied.
7) In the above-described embodiment, a telephone that generates a tone signal of a specific frequency has been described. However, the present invention can be applied not only to a tone signal but also to other forms of dial signals.
8) In the above-described embodiment, the program of FIG. 3 executed by the CPU 6 is stored in the ROM 17, but as a recording medium for storing the program, a RAM backed up by a power source, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a memory card, etc. Portable storage media can be used. Further, a program may be installed from these recording media into a RAM or the like. Further, the ROM may be exchangeable.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the first to third aspects of the present invention, the user only has to input the other party's telephone number, and the adapter automatically transmits user-related information for dial-up and authentication to the Internet connection company. Therefore, the user is released from these information inputs, and there is no erroneous input.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a circuit diagram showing a circuit configuration of the adapter 102 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the contents of a program executed by CPU 6;
[Explanation of symbols]
101, 108 Telephone 102 Adapter 103, 107 Public telephone network 104, 106 Server 105 Internet communication network

Claims (1)

A dial-up from an adapter installed inside or outside a telephone connected to a public telephone line is accepted by a server that can be connected to the Internet and provides an Internet telephone service function. In the dial-up method,
Instructing the registration mode from the telephone to the adapter and entering the telephone number of the dial-up destination server,
The adapter has a storage means, and when the registration mode is instructed, the input dial-up destination telephone number is registered in the storage means,
When an instruction of the telephone mode of the Internet telephone is sent from the telephone to the adapter, the adapter dials up to the server using the telephone number stored in the storage means, and the telephone And connect the server,
When a call mode with another telephone connected to the public telephone line not using the Internet telephone is instructed from the telephone to the adapter, the adapter calls the telephone of the other telephone sent from the telephone. Sending a number to the public telephone line to connect the telephone and the other telephone ;
The telephone has a telephone number storage means and a display, the telephone number storage means stores a plurality of the telephone numbers, and displays the stored plurality of telephone numbers on the display, A dial-up method for an Internet telephone, wherein a telephone number to be registered in the storage means of the adapter is selected from a plurality of displayed telephone numbers by a dial button of the telephone.

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