JP4350273B2 - Telephone system, terminal adapter device, and telephone - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a telephone system, a terminal adapter device, and a telephone that transmit information such as voice via the Internet.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, access to the Internet has become easier, and various Internet application technologies have been developed. One of such Internet application technologies is to realize a telephone function. Conventionally, as a protocol for realizing such a telephone function, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), Internet telephones using H.323 are being considered. Since such an Internet telephone protocol is made in consideration of an extended function other than a one-to-one call, the system is complicated.
[0003]
On the other hand, a protocol using NOTASIP (Nothing Other A Simple Internet Phone) is considered as a protocol that realizes basic functions as simply as possible. The Internet phone using NOTASIP is based on the premise that the main functions of an existing telephone can be used without exchanging data other than voice, and functions that cannot be performed by an existing telephone are not realized. Is simplified. Further, in the Internet telephone using NOTASIP, the PSTN (public telephone network) and the Internet can be easily connected to each other.
[0004]
An Internet telephone system using NOTASIP will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, a basic system of an Internet telephone using NOTASIP includes a telephone 1, a terminal adapter device 2, the Internet 3, a telephone directory server 4, a DNS (Domain Name Server) 5, a gateway. 6 and a telephone line network 7.
[0005]
Hereinafter, each part is demonstrated concretely. The telephone 1 is a normal telephone. The terminal adapter device 2 is connected to the telephone 1 and the Internet 3. The terminal adapter device 2 outputs an instruction for calling the other telephone 1 to another terminal adapter device 2 or the gateway 6 via the Internet 3. In addition, when a call is connected via the Internet 3, the terminal adapter device 2 encodes a voice signal input from the telephone 1 to generate a data packet, and transmits the data packet via the Internet 3. To do. Further, the terminal adapter device 2 decodes and extracts a voice signal from a data packet that arrives via the Internet 3 and outputs it to the telephone set 1. Note that the processing in which the terminal adapter device 2 calls the other party's telephone using the other terminal adapter device 2 or the gateway 6 will be described in detail later.
[0006]
The phone book server 4 corresponds to a telephone number, an address on the Internet corresponding to the telephone number (for example, an IP address or a domain name), and identification information representing a voice codec method that can be encoded / decoded on the other side. It is attached and stored. The telephone directory server 4 receives telephone number information from the terminal adapter device 2 via the Internet 3 and transmits an address corresponding to the telephone number. DNS 5 stores a domain name and an IP address in association with each other. The gateway 6 is provided between the Internet 3 and the telephone line network 7, extracts a voice signal from a data packet received via the Internet 3, and transmits the voice signal via the telephone line network 7. The gateway 6 encodes a voice signal received from the telephone line network 7 to generate a data packet, and transmits the data packet via the Internet 3.
[0007]
Here, a procedure in which the terminal adapter device 2a calls the counterpart telephone 1b or 1c according to an instruction from the telephone 1a will be described. The terminal adapter device 2a receives an input of a telephone number by a tone signal (DTMF audio signal) from the telephone 1a, accesses the telephone directory server 4 via the Internet 3, and corresponds to the telephone number input from the telephone 1a. Obtain an IP address or domain name. Here, when a domain name is acquired, it is good also as accessing DNS5 further and acquiring a corresponding IP address. The terminal adapter device 2a accesses the IP address via the Internet 3. The IP address acquired here includes the IP address of another terminal adapter device 2b or gateway 6.
[0008]
When the IP address corresponding to the telephone number is another terminal adapter device 2b, the terminal adapter device 2a is connected to the other terminal adapter device 2b with respect to the other terminal adapter device 2b. To call.
[0009]
If the IP address corresponding to the telephone number is the IP address of the gateway 6, the terminal adapter device 2a encodes the tone signal input from the telephone 1a to generate a data packet, and the gateway 6 Send to. In this case, the gateway 6 extracts a tone signal from the data packet received from the terminal adapter device 2 a and outputs it to the telephone line network 7. Then, an exchange (not shown) provided in the telephone line network 7 calls the telephone 1c with this tone signal.
[0010]
In the conventional Internet telephone, the call connection is made by such processing of the terminal adapter device 2, the call is started, and the identification information of the voice codec system that can be handled by the other party obtained from the telephone directory server 4 together with the IP address Accordingly, the codec method of the audio signal is selected, and the audio signal encoded by the codec method is transmitted as a data packet.
[0011]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional telephone system via the Internet, if a data packet including a tone signal is lost or an error occurs for some reason on the Internet, the gateway side can receive the tone signal. The telephone cannot be called via the telephone line network, and the call cannot be connected. As described above, the conventional telephone system using the Internet has a problem that the reliability of the call connection to the telephone connected via the telephone network is low. In addition, some telephone services obtain numerical information using a DTMF tone signal, and if the tone signal cannot be transmitted reliably, it is difficult to use such a service and the convenience is low. There was a problem.
[0012]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a telephone system capable of improving reliability and improving convenience for connection of a call to a telephone connected to a telephone network.
[0013]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention for solving the problems of the above conventional example is connected to a telephone, exchanges voice signals with the telephone, converts voice signals and data packets to each other, and transmits the data packets via a network. A terminal adapter device that transmits and receives a voice signal of a telephone through a network, and a gateway device that is provided between the network and the telephone line network and converts the voice signal and the data packet to each other. In the telephone system, the terminal adapter device recognizes whether the voice signal input from the telephone is a tone signal, and when the voice signal is a tone signal according to the recognition result. The tone signal data packet is repeated a predetermined number of times, and the signal is transmitted via the network. It is characterized by having a means for transmitting to the projection system.
[0014]
In addition, the present invention for solving the problems of the above-described conventional example is connected to a telephone, exchanges voice signals with the telephone, converts voice signals and data packets to each other, In a terminal adapter device for transmitting / receiving a voice signal of a telephone via a network by transmitting / receiving via the network, means for recognizing whether the voice signal input from the telephone is a tone signal, and the recognition In accordance with the result, when the audio signal is a tone signal, there is provided means for repeatedly transmitting a data packet of the tone signal a predetermined number of times.
[0015]
Furthermore, the present invention for solving the problems of the above-mentioned conventional example is directed to a gateway device provided between the network and the telephone line network for instructing to call the other party's telephone via the telephone line network. A terminal adapter device that transmits via a network, and when a tone signal representing a telephone number is input from a telephone, the tone signal is converted into a data packet, and the data packet is set in advance as the instruction. It is characterized by only repeatedly transmitting.
[0016]
Furthermore, the present invention for solving the problems of the above-mentioned conventional example is directed to a gateway device provided between the network and the telephone line network for instructing to call the other party's telephone via the telephone line network. When a telephone is transmitted via a network, when a telephone number is input, the tone signal of the telephone number is converted into a data packet, and the data packet is repeatedly transmitted as a preset number of times as the instruction. It is characterized by.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The telephone system according to the embodiment of the present invention has the same configuration as the general NOTASIP telephone system shown in FIG. 1, but the operation of the terminal adapter device 2 is different from the conventional one. Therefore, the operation of the terminal adapter device 2 of the present embodiment will be described below. The buffer 24 is divided and managed into a reception area and a transmission area.
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal adapter device 2 of the present embodiment includes a telephone interface 21, a network interface 22, a control unit 23, and a buffer 24, which are connected to each other by a bus. The telephone interface 21 is connected to the telephone 1, encodes a voice signal input from the telephone 1, generates a data packet, and stores the data packet in a transmission area of the buffer 24. The telephone interface 21 takes out a data packet received via the network from the reception area of the buffer 24, decodes it, converts it into an audio signal, and outputs it to the telephone 1.
[0019]
The network interface 22 is connected to a network such as the Internet and transmits data packets input from the control unit 23. In addition, the network interface 22 obtains data packets addressed to the own station from the data packets that arrive via the network by using the IP address, and accumulates them in the reception area of the buffer 24.
[0020]
The control unit 23 performs processing for taking out a data packet to be transmitted from the transmission area of the buffer 24 and outputting it to the network interface 22. The processing of the control unit 23 will be described in detail later. The buffer 24 includes a first ring buffer as a reception area and a second ring buffer as a transmission area.
[0021]
Here, the operation of the control unit 23 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The terminal adapter device 2 sequentially reads out the data packets stored in the transmission area of the buffer 24 and starts the processing shown in FIG. 3, and the audio signal contained in the read data packet is a tone signal (DTMF signal). It is determined whether or not (S1). If it is a tone signal (if Yes), the data packet is continuously output to the network interface 22 for a preset number of times (n times) (S2), and the process is terminated. If the audio signal included in the read data packet is not a tone signal (No) in process S 1, the read data packet is output to the network interface 22.
[0022]
Next, a call operation in the telephone system of the present embodiment will be described. When the user of the telephone 1a calls the other telephone 1c, the telephone number of the telephone 1c is input by operating the telephone 1a. Then, the terminal adapter device 2a receives the input of the telephone number by the voice signal of the tone signal, accesses the telephone directory server 4 and acquires the IP address corresponding to the telephone number. Here, the IP address returned from the telephone directory server 4 is the IP address of the gateway 6. Then, the telephone interface 21 of the terminal adapter device 2a encodes the tone signal representing the telephone number input from the telephone 1a to generate a data packet, stores it in the buffer 24, and the data read out from the buffer 24 by the control unit 23. Since the packet is a tone signal, the data packet is output to the network interface 22 a predetermined number of times (n times). Then, the data packet including the tone signal representing the telephone number is received n times by the gateway 6. Here, even if the data packet is lost on the Internet 3, the gateway 6 can call the telephone 1c via the telephone line network 7 if the data packet reaches the gateway 6 even once out of n times.
[0023]
When the telephone 1c is called and an incoming operation is performed on the telephone 1c, a communication path is formed from the telephone 1a to the telephone 1c via the terminal adapter device 2a, the Internet 3, the gateway 6, and the telephone line network 7. The The voice signal uttered to the handset of the telephone 1 a is encoded by the terminal adapter device 2 a and converted into a data packet, reaches the gateway 6 via the Internet 3, and the data packet is voiced by the gateway 6. It is converted into a signal and reaches the telephone 1 c via the telephone network 7. On the contrary, the voice signal uttered to the handset of the telephone 1c is encoded by the gateway 6 and converted into a data packet, arrives at the terminal adapter device 2a via the Internet 3, and is voiced by the terminal adapter device 2a. It is converted into a signal and reaches the telephone 1a. During this time, a data packet including a general voice signal that is not the tone signal is transmitted only once, so that the load on the network does not become extremely high. However, even if this general audio signal is to be transmitted with high quality even if the load on the network is increased, the processing shown in FIG. 4 is executed instead of the processing shown in FIG. The number of times (m times) may be continuously output to the network interface 22 (S4).
[0024]
In the present embodiment, when the gateway 6 receives a data packet having the same contents a plurality of times, the gateway 6 selects one of them and discards the other data packet.
[0025]
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, not only the tone signal of the telephone number when calling the other party's telephone 1 but also the tone signal is transmitted continuously for a preset number of times after the call is connected. . Therefore, regardless of whether the other party is connected to the terminal adapter device 2 or the telephone line network 7, the tone signal is transmitted a plurality of times after the call is connected, thereby increasing the arrival rate of the tone signal. For example, a tone signal can be transmitted more reliably to a service that transmits number information using a tone signal, and convenience can be improved. In this case, when the terminal adapter device 2 also receives a data packet having the same contents a plurality of times, one of them is selected and the other data packet is discarded.
[0026]
In addition, the number n of transmission of tone signal data packets is preferably about 3, and in the case of a general audio signal, m = 2 is preferable in consideration of network load. These values may be set as appropriate according to the bandwidth of the network.
[0027]
In the description so far, the number of transmissions is changed depending on whether or not the terminal adapter device 2 includes a tone signal with reference to the data packet from the telephone 1, but it is directly connected to a network such as the Internet 3 or the like. If the telephone 1 is connectable, the telephone 1 may perform the processing shown in FIG. 3 or FIG.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, as a terminal adapter device that converts a tone signal of a telephone number input from a telephone into a data packet and transmits it through a network a preset number of times, and a telephone system including the terminal adapter device Therefore, it is possible to improve the reliability of the call connection to the telephone connected to the telephone line network.
[0029]
In addition, according to the present invention, since the telephone number tone signal of the input telephone number is converted into a data packet and transmitted for a preset number of times via the network, the other party connected to the telephone line network It is possible to improve the reliability of the call connection to the telephone, to transmit the tone signal more securely to various services, and to improve the convenience.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an example of a general NOTASIP telephone system.
FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of a terminal adapter device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a control unit 23.
4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a control unit 23. FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 telephone, 2 terminal adapter device, 3 internet, 4 telephone directory server, 5 DNS, 6 gateway, 7 telephone line network, 21 telephone interface, 22 network interface, 23 control unit, 24 buffer.

Claims (4)

Connected to a telephone, exchanges voice signals with the telephone, converts voice signals and data packets to each other, and transmits / receives data packets via the network. A terminal adapter device for transmitting and receiving;
In a telephone system comprising a gateway device provided between a network and a telephone network for converting voice signals and data packets to each other,
The terminal adapter device is
Means for recognizing whether the audio signal input from the telephone is a tone signal;
Depending on the result of the recognition, when it is a tone signal, means for repeating the data packet of the tone signal a preset number of times and transmitting it to the gateway device via a network;
A telephone system characterized by comprising: Connected to a telephone, exchanges voice signals with the telephone, converts voice signals and data packets to each other, and transmits and receives data packets via the network, thereby transmitting the voice signals of the telephone via the network. In the terminal adapter device that transmits and receives
Means for recognizing whether the audio signal input from the telephone is a tone signal;
Depending on the result of the recognition, when the audio signal is a tone signal, means for repeatedly transmitting a data packet of the tone signal a predetermined number of times;
A terminal adapter device. A terminal adapter device for transmitting an instruction for calling a telephone on the other party via a telephone line network to a gateway device provided between the network and the telephone line network,
When a tone signal representing a telephone number is input from a telephone, the tone signal is converted into a data packet, and the data packet is repeatedly transmitted as a predetermined number of times as the instruction. A telephone that transmits an instruction to call a telephone on the other party via the telephone line network to the gateway device provided between the network and the telephone line network,
Upon receiving an input of a telephone number, the telephone converts the tone signal of the telephone number into a data packet, and repeatedly transmits the data packet a predetermined number of times as the instruction.

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