JPH07112214B2 - Message storage and exchange system - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a message storing and switching system capable of automatically delivering a message posted in a mailbox to a called subscriber.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Recent efforts to improve efficiency in office are remarkable, for example, it is time-consuming and inefficient to call again when the other party is absent, so messages are posted in the mailbox. Then, a system is considered in which this is read out and transmitted to the other party.

Conventionally, there are a voice mail service, a facsimile mail service, an electronic mail service, etc. as services in such a system, but these services are roughly divided into two types described below.

(1) A message is posted in a mailbox assigned to each subscriber so that the message can be transmitted after being removed from the called subscriber.

(2) A message is posted in a mailbox for each subscriber by designating a delivery time to the called subscriber, and when the designated time is reached, the message is read out and transmitted to the recipient.

Here, (2) is convenient because it automatically sends out a message, but on the other hand, it is troublesome to handle because it requires an input operation to specify the delivery time when the message is posted. 1) is the mainstream.

By the way, in the case of (1), the mailbox subscriber must always confirm whether or not a message has arrived in his or her mailbox.

As a means for solving this, for example, in a voice mail service, a multifunction telephone having function keys and a display (LED display) is used, and when a message arrives in a mailbox, the message is displayed on the telephone display of the called subscriber. The method of displaying is considered.

However, only a few use such a multifunctional telephone, and most of the telephones that are used do not have an indicator or the like added to it. I have no solution.

Therefore, in the case of (1) described above, such a subscriber does not know in advance whether or not a message has arrived, and thus has the following problems.

(A) The subscriber has to constantly check whether or not there is a message in his or her mailbox, which places a considerable burden on the subscriber.

(B) If the subscriber neglects to confirm the incoming call due to such a burden, messages are accumulated and the mailbox cannot be used effectively.

(C) The message sender is worried because there is no guarantee that the message will always reach the other party.

[Object of the Invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can significantly reduce the burden on both the calling and called subscribers and can effectively use the mailbox by eliminating the accumulation of messages in the mailbox. It is an object of the present invention to provide a message storage / exchange system that can eliminate the anxiety of people.

[Outline of Invention]

The message storage / exchange system according to the present invention manages and stores the message from the calling subscriber for each called subscriber, and monitors the time when the incoming time of this message is added as a fixed time as the automatic sending time, and the message is sent by this time. If there is no retrieval of the message, the called subscriber corresponding to the message is notified of the message, and if the called subscriber does not respond to this notification, the automatic sending time is updated to a time with a predetermined time added. When the message is not retrieved by this new automatic sending time, the called subscriber corresponding to the message is called again to notify the message.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, if the subscriber of this mailbox does not retrieve the message within a certain time after the message is posted in the mailbox, such subscriber can be called and the message is automatically sent. The burden of mail subscribers can be greatly reduced by eliminating the hassle of constantly checking whether a subscriber has a message in his or her mailbox. Further, since the message can be automatically sent in this way, it is possible to prevent the message from being retained due to forgetting to take out the message, so that the mailbox can always be effectively used.
Furthermore, even if the called subscriber is unable to answer when calling the called subscriber due to the automatic transmission time, the called subscriber is called after a predetermined time has elapsed and the message Since the notification is made, the message can be surely notified to the called subscriber. This also ensures that the message will be delivered to the other party, so that it is possible to eliminate the situation in which the sender is concerned about whether the message has arrived.

Example of Invention

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a voice mail service.

In the figure, 1 is a private branch exchange (hereinafter referred to as PBX), and this PBX ₁ has a PBX main body 11 and a control unit 12.

PBX ₁ is a subscriber's telephone that uses voice mail service 2
2a ... 2n are connected and the mail service device 3 is also connected. The mail service device 3 has voice interfaces 31 and 32, a main memory 33, a storage device 34, a control interface 35, and a mail control unit 36.

Here, the main memory 33 has a mailbox management table that stores the number of outgoing and incoming calls, mail numbers, etc. for each subscriber, and a message management table that stores the mail numbers of messages, outgoing and incoming callee numbers, mail directories, etc. In addition, the storage device 34 stores the message in the area corresponding to the message management table. Further, the mail control unit 36 uses the voice interface 3
The control information is transmitted and received to and from the PBX control unit 12 via the control interface 35 while giving instructions such as transfer of voice information to 1, 32.

Next, the operation will be described.

Now, a case where a subscriber A who owns the telephone 2a sends a mail to a subscriber B who owns the telephone 2 will be described.

First, the subscriber A dials the telephone 2a for connecting the mail service apparatus 3. Then, the PBX control unit 12 sends information indicating that a connection request has been made to the mail control unit 36 of the mail service apparatus 3 via the control interface 35. The information in this case includes the number of the calling subscriber A (here, the telephone
2a number) is also sent to one.

When the mail control unit 36 determines that connection is possible, the mail control unit 36 returns a connection enable signal to the PBX control unit 12 via the control interface 35. As a result, the telephone 2a and the mail service device 2 are connected.

In this state, the mail service device 3 has a voice interface.
At the same time, the telephone 2a is notified via 31 that the mail service device 3 has been connected, and at the same time, the input of the destination, service type, etc. is prompted. Therefore, the subscriber A is the destination of the subscriber B.
Number (here, the number of phone 2b) and a mailbox communication request as the service type
The service type and the like are also taken into the mail control unit 36 via the control interface 35.

When these inputs are completed, the mail control unit 36 causes the storage device 34 to
The storage area is secured in and the telephone 2a is notified via the voice interface 31 that recording of a voice message is started.

In this state, the subscriber A inputs a voice message. The voice message of the subscriber is sequentially transferred from the main memory 33 to the storage device 34 via the voice interface 31 to the main memory 33, and is stored in the previously designated area.

When the subscriber A puts the handset of the telephone 2a at the end of the voice message, the voice message recording is also ended. When the handset is placed, the PBX control unit 12 detects this and notifies the mail control unit 36 to that effect. As a result, the mail control unit 36 determines that the recording of the voice message is completed, and attaches a number to the mail at this time. This email number is unique and exists until the corresponding message disappears.

By the operation up to this point, the main memory 33 adds one to the number of outgoing calls from the outgoing table A1 of the outgoing and incoming mailbox management tables A1 and A2 of the subscriber A as shown in FIG. The mail number, which is stored here as mail No. 7, is added to the number of incoming calls in incoming call table B2 of subscriber B's outgoing and incoming mailbox management tables B1 and B2, and the above-mentioned mail No. 7
Further, the message management table C stores the mail number, that is, the mail No. 7, the sender number, the recipient number, the mail directory indicating the storage area, and the automatic message sending time.
Here, the automatic sending time is expressed in the form of year, month, day, hour, and minute, for example, and is the time when the message recording is completed, that is, a predetermined time such as 4 hours or 8 hours is added to the incoming time. .

In this way, the posting of the message from the subscriber A to the subscriber B is completed, and the retrieval of the subscriber B is awaited. At the same time, the message of the mail No. 7 is subject to time monitoring.
Here, the time monitoring is performed by comparing the automatic sending time of the message in the message management table with the current time at a certain time interval, for example, every one minute.

In this case, when the subscriber B retrieves the message before the automatic transmission time, that is, when the subscriber B calls the mail service device 3 and issues a mail retrieval request to retrieve the mail No. 7, the main memory 33. Subscribers A, B
All the information relating to the mail No. 7 is removed from the mailbox management tables A1 and B2, the message management table C, and the storage device 34, and is not subject to the time monitoring.

However, if the subscriber B does not take out the mail No. 7 within a predetermined time, the automatic sending time of the mail No. 7 and the current time coincide with each other at a timing of time monitoring. Then, in the message management table C shown in FIG. 2 of the main memory 33, the table of the mail No. 7 which is the object of automatic transmission stores the called party number in addition to the called party number. Call subscriber B using the person number. In other words, in this case, when the mail control unit 36 issues a call request to the PBX control unit 12 via the control interface 35, it sends out the simultaneous called party number (here, the number of the telephone set 2b of the subscriber B). This causes the PBX controller 12 to call the telephone set 2b of the subscriber B.

In response to this, when the subscriber B lifts the handset, the PBX control unit 1
2 detects this and notifies the mail control unit 36 that the connection is completed. Then, the mail control unit 36 uses the voice interface.
The subscriber B is notified via 31 that the call is from the mail service device 3 and that a voice message has arrived, and then it is confirmed whether the subscriber B is the voice message. And if you confirm with subscriber B, email No.7
Is read from the storage device 34 and sent to the subscriber B via the voice interface 31.

When the subscriber B finishes listening to the message and puts on the handset, the PBX controller 12 detects this and sends a signal to that effect to the mail controller 36 via the control interface 35. Then, the mail control unit 36 causes the main memory 33 to subtract 1 from the number of incoming calls in the incoming mailbox management table B2 of the subscriber B shown in FIG. The number of outgoing messages in the mailbox management table A1 is decremented by 1, the mail No.7 is removed, and the information about the mail No.7 in the message management table C is deleted and used for the mail No.7 of the storage device 34. The area is also released elsewhere.

As a result, the mail N sent from subscriber A to subscriber B
For o.7, the processing when subscriber B does not take out within a certain time is completed.

Here, if the subscriber B does not answer the call or if the other party who has come out to the telephone set 2b is not the subscriber B, a certain time may be added to the automatic transmission time, and the call may be recalled with this time monitoring target. . In this way, even if the called subscriber cannot answer the call when the call is made, and the called subscriber cannot receive the notification of the message, after the predetermined time has elapsed, Can be notified of messages.

Although the case where the voice message is sent from the subscriber A to the subscriber B has been described above, the message can be similarly exchanged between the subscriber B and the subscriber A as well as other subscribers.

In this way, the posted message is basically retrieved in response to a request from the called subscriber. Therefore, the calling subscriber does not need to specify the delivery time to the called subscriber, which simplifies the operation for posting the message. Moreover, if there is no message extraction within a certain time after posting a message, it is possible to automatically send a message to the called subscriber, so the mail subscriber always confirms whether or not there is a message in his or her own mailbox. This eliminates the hassle and hassle of reducing the burden on subscribers and, in addition, preventing the accumulation of messages and effectively using the mailbox. Moreover, since the message can be reliably delivered to the other party, it is possible to eliminate the anxiety that the message held by the sender has reached the other party.

By the way, in the case of the above-described embodiment, the message from the subscriber A to the subscriber B is automatically delivered to the subscriber B after a certain period of time elapses. For example, it is possible to call the mail service device 3 to send a message to another subscriber.

In such a case, if the subscriber B is positively notified of the presence of the incoming mail, the message of the subscriber A can be delivered to the subscriber B before a certain period of time elapses, thereby further improving the mail service. be able to.

To do this, for example, as shown in FIG.
Determines the type of mail service that subscriber B wants to receive when calling the mail service device 3, and if it is a mail listening service request, performs the specified mail service processing as described above, and other than that, other subscribers For example, when a message is sent to the subscriber B, it is determined whether there is an incoming mail for the subscriber B by searching the incoming mailbox management table B2 of the subscriber B in the main memory 33. It suffices to notify the subscriber B of the guidance such as "I have received it" via the telephone 2b.

Thereby, the subscriber B can know that the incoming mail has even when using another mail service.

On the other hand, if the incoming mails are concentrated on a specific subscriber, the mailbox may become full before a certain period of time before being automatically sent out, and other subscribers may not be able to use it.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such an inconvenience, when the number of incoming calls counted by the mail control unit 36 of the mail service device 3 reaches a predetermined number, it may be automatically sent at this point.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented by appropriately modifying it without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the above description, the telephone numbers used by the subscriber are used as the numbers of the caller and the callee, but different subscriber-specific numbers may be used. Further, although the voice mail service has been described consistently in the above, it can be applied to other mail services.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 and FIG. 3 are views for explaining the same embodiment, respectively. 1 ... PBX, 11 ... Main body 12 ... PBX control unit, 2a, 2b ... 2n ... Subscriber telephone 3 ... Mail service device 31,32 ... Voice interface, 33 ... Main memory 34 ... Storage device, 35 ... Control interface 36 ... Mail Control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A message storage exchange for managing and accumulating a message from a calling subscriber for each called subscriber and notifying the stored message to the called subscriber in response to a retrieval request from the called subscriber. In the system, among the stored messages, the ones for which the retrieval request has not been made by the predetermined message automatic transmission time are treated as unretrieved messages, and the called subscriber corresponding to the unretrieved message is called to retrieve the unretrieved message. Message automatic notifying means for notifying a message, sending time setting means for setting a time obtained by adding a certain time to the incoming time of the message from the calling subscriber as the message automatic sending time, and the message automatic notifying means Called subscriber responding to unretrieved message for calls by If not respond, the message store and forward system, characterized in that a transmission time updating means for updating the message automatic transmission time to the time obtained by adding a predetermined time to the time that has been set so far.