JPH1117844A - Telephone switch system and charging control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a call tariff from getting different because of the difference even starting through the same exchange by eliminating the tariff difference caused by the direction of a call at the time of inter-operator connection. SOLUTION: A 1st operator A and a 2nd operator B previously contract concerning charging. Speaking is performed by originating a call from a 1st subscriber accomodated in a 1st exchange 2 of the 1st operator A to a 2nd subscriber accomodated in a 2nd exchange 5 of the 2nd operator B. In this case, the 2nd exchange 5 to be an incoming exchange receives a charging rate determination information factor 3 of a caller preset from the 1st exchange 2 of the starting exchange. Then, a charging rate 4 is determined from the charging rate determination information factor 3 and previously stored charging rate determination data and based on the charging rate 4 transferred to the 1st exchange 2, charging is performed. Therefore, in the case of speaking at the time of inter-operator connection, there is no difference in the tariff of a call to the caller in speaking through the exchange of a certain operator.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a telephone exchange system and a charging control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional telephone exchange system and a charging control method thereof will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a principle explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional telephone exchange system and a charging control method.

In FIG. 3, this prior art shows the contents disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-46341, in which an exchange 32 having no private branch exchange charging means is provided with a charging means such as a subscriber line switching office. Connected to the trunk 33 of the exchange 31
The telephone number assigned to the trunk 33 is stored in a trunk attribute memory 34 storing the attributes of the trunk 33. It also has a calling subscriber memory 35, a receiving subscriber memory 36, and a charging subscriber memory 37. Exchange 3
The exchange 31 reads out the telephone number assigned to the trunk 33 from the trunk attribute memory 34 and writes the billing information into the area of the billing memory 37 corresponding to the telephone number by the outside call originating from the extension subscriber 2 and thereby the general subscriber. The charging process of the exchange 32 is performed by the same process as the charging process for.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional charging control method when the originating exchange and the destination exchange have different communication carriers.

[0006] In FIG. 4, in the charging control method in the case where the communication carriers are different, when a call 41 is issued from the originating exchange 40, a billing rate determination information element is transmitted to the destination exchange 50. The destination exchange 50 performs only call processing without performing charging control. The billing process is performed by the originating exchange 40,
When the response is received, the call processing unit 43 requests the charging unit 42 to determine the charging rate. The charging unit 42 determines the charging rate by the charging rate determination data unit 44 and performs charging.

[0007]

The conventional telephone exchange system and the accounting control method therefor are, in the case of the connection shown in FIG. 3, charged via a specific trunk 33 even if the originating exchange has no accounting processing means. Since the charging station is connected to an exchange having processing means and the accounting processing is performed there, even if accounting processing means is provided in the receiving exchange, the control method is such that accounting is always performed on the originating exchange.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, even when the originating exchange and the destination exchange have different carriers, the originating exchange has a control method in which charging is performed on the originating exchange.

Therefore, especially in the case shown in FIG.
For example, the billing rate of the destination exchange is lower than that of the originating exchange,
Even if it is low, there is a problem that the destination exchange cannot charge.

[0010] Further, there is a problem that even if the call passes through the same switching center, since the operators of the respective switching centers are different, the difference in calling charges is caused by the difference of the originating switching centers.

[0011]

According to the telephone exchange system of the present invention, a first business operator and a second business operator have previously signed a contract for billing, and the first exchange of the first business operator is accommodated. A first call processing unit for processing an incoming / outgoing call from a subscriber, and a first charging unit for performing charging processing at a charging rate, wherein the second business is connected to the first exchange. A second call processing unit for processing a call originating and terminating to a subscriber accommodated by the second exchange, and a second call processing from the subscriber of the first exchange. Receiving a charging rate determination information element including a predetermined network code of the first operator and a charging class of the calling subscriber for an incoming call to the subscriber of the station, and based on the charging rate determination information element; Charging rate determination data storing data for determining the charging rate When, and a second charging unit for transferring the billing rate to the first switching center through determines the charging rate and the second call processor.

In the billing control method according to the present invention, the first carrier and the second carrier make a contract for billing in advance, and the first subscriber accommodated by the first exchange of the first carrier. When a call is made by a caller to a second subscriber accommodated by a second exchange of the second operator, the second exchange serving as a destination exchange is an originating exchange. Receiving a preset caller charging rate determination information element from the first exchange, and determining a charging rate from the charging rate determination information element and the previously stored charging rate determination data. Transfer to the first switching center, and the first switching center charges based on the transferred charging rate.

[0013] In the charging control method according to the present invention, the first business operator and the second business operator make a contract for charging in advance, and the first business operator exchanges the second business operator with the first switching center of the first business operator. Second
When there is a call to the subscriber accommodated by the exchange, the first
Exchanges the charging rate determining information element including the network code of the first operator and the charging class code of the calling subscriber to the second switching station, and receives the charging rate determining information element. The second switching center determines whether or not the subscriber is a contract carrier in the second call processing based on the network code of the first switching center in the charging rate determination information element. Only when the station is a contract carrier, the second call processing unit requests the second charging unit to determine a charging rate, and the second charging unit that has received the charging rate determination request stores the request in advance. The billing rate is determined based on the billing rate determination data and the billing rate determination information element, and the billing rate is transmitted to the second call processing unit. Exchange The first switching center transmits the charging rate to a first charging unit when the first switching center receives the charging rate before a call connection, and the first exchange receives the charging rate before receiving the call connection. The charging is performed at the charging rate.

[0014]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the operator A and the operator B make a contract for charging in advance, and the first exchange (originating exchange) 2 of the operator A processes the call of the caller from the accommodating subscriber. A call processing unit 10 for performing a call processing, and a billing unit 11 for performing a billing process at a billing rate. The second switching center (terminating exchange) of the business unit B connected to the first switching center (originating switching center) 2 is provided. Station)
Reference numeral 5 denotes a call processing unit 9 for processing calls originating and terminating to subscribers accommodated by the second exchange (incoming exchange) 5, and a second exchange from the subscriber of the first exchange (originating exchange) 2. Receiving a charge rate determination information element 3 including a predetermined network code of the service provider A and a charge class of the calling subscriber for an incoming call to the subscriber of the exchange (arriving exchange) 5 at A charging rate determination data unit 7 for storing data for determining a charging rate based on the determination information element 3 and a first switching center (calling switching center) via a call processing unit 9 for determining a charging rate. And a charging unit 9 for transferring a charging rate to the charging unit 2.

The billing rate determination information element 3 transferred from the originating exchange 2 to the destination exchange 5 in the present embodiment is:
It includes the network code of the calling party A, the calling subscriber charging class, the ISDN indication, the calling user type code, and the additional user type code.

In the present embodiment, the system in which the destination exchange 5 determines the charging rate and the originating exchange 2 performs the charging is called a flexible charging system, and the operators A and B make an agreement beforehand by contract. Shall be

Next, a charging control method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The operator A and the operator B make a contract in advance regarding charging, and the first exchange (originating exchange) 2 of the operator A sends a second exchange (terminating exchange) of the second operator B. When an outgoing call 1 is made to a subscriber accommodated by the (office) 5, the first exchange (originating exchange) 2 sends a call to the operator A to the second exchange (incoming exchange) 5.
The second switching center (destination switching center) 5 which has transmitted the charging rate determination information element 3 including the network code of the calling party and the charging class of the calling subscriber, and received the charging rate determination information element 3, performs charging in the call processing section 9. First in rate determination information element 3
Is determined based on the network code of the switching center (originating switching center) 2 as to whether or not the operator is the contracted carrier A. Only when the first switching center (originating switching center 2) is the contracted carrier A, the call processing unit 9 requests the charging unit 8 to determine the charging rate. Charge rate determination data and charge rate determination information element 3 stored in advance
, And sends it to the call processing unit 9. The call processing unit 9 that has received the charging rate transfers the charging rate 4 to the first conversion station (originating exchange) 2, The switching center (originating switching center) 2 transmits the charging rate to the charging unit 11 when the charging rate 4 is received before the call connection, and the charging unit 11
Then, charging is performed at the received charging rate 4. The charging control method according to the present embodiment is to eliminate the difference in charges due to the directionality of a call at the time of connection between carriers. For example, when a call connection between the service provider A and the service provider B as shown in FIG. 1 is considered, when the connection is performed such that the call direction changes from A to B according to the conventional billing method, the service provider A is used. , The charge rate is determined by the operator B when the connection is performed such that the call direction becomes A ← B. In this case, there is a charge difference between the charging rate determined by the provider A and the charging rate determined by the provider B.

Then, when the operator A is registered by the operator B as a flexible charging target operator, the call direction (A → B)
The connection rate can be determined by the operator B even if the connection described in the above is performed. Thus, by controlling the data for determining the billing rate of the carrier B, it is possible to eliminate the difference in the charges due to the call direction at the time of connection between the carriers.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a charging control method among three operators to which the present embodiment is applied.

In FIG. 2, when the operator C has registered the operators A and B as the operators to be charged flexibly, the accounting rate a to be sent to the operator A and the accounting rate to be sent to the operator B In the case of b, the charging rate can be differentiated according to the intention of the operator C.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, a contract is made in advance with the second business operator of the first business operator for billing,
When a call is made by a call from a first subscriber accommodated by a first exchange of a first operator to a second subscriber accommodated by a second exchange of a second operator The second exchange serving as the destination exchange receives the caller's charging rate determination information element set in advance from the first exchange of the calling exchange, and stores the information in advance with the charging rate determination information element. By determining the charging rate from the charging rate determination data and charging based on the charging rate transferred to the first exchange,
In a call at the time of connection with a carrier, there is an effect that it is possible to eliminate a difference in a call fee to a caller in a call via an exchange of a certain carrier.

Also, there is an effect that the call rate can be differentiated by the business operator.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of controlling charging between three operators to which the present embodiment is applied.

FIG. 3 is a principle explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional charging control method.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional billing control method when the originating exchange and the destination exchange have different carriers.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 originating (call) 2 originating exchange 3 charging rate determination information element 4 charging rate 5 destination exchange 6 incoming (call) 7 charging rate determination data section 8 charging section 9 call processing section 10 call processing section 11 charging section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first business operator and a second business operator make a contract beforehand for billing, and a first exchange of the first business operator handles incoming and outgoing calls from a subscriber. A first call processing unit that performs charging processing at a charging rate, and a second charging unit that connects to the first switching center.
The second switching center of the business unit of the second switching center processes a second call processing for processing an outgoing / incoming call to a subscriber accommodated by the second switching center; Receiving a charging rate determination information element including a predetermined network code of the first operator and a charging class of the calling subscriber in response to an incoming call to the subscriber of the exchange, and converting the charging rate determination information element. A charging rate determination data unit storing data for determining the charging rate based on the charging rate; determining the charging rate; and transmitting the charging rate to the first exchange via the second call processing unit. And a second charging unit for transferring. 2. A first business operator and a second business operator make a contract in advance for billing, and a first subscriber accommodated by a first exchange of the first business operator sends the second subscriber to the second subscriber. The second of business
When a call is made by calling a second subscriber accommodated by one of the exchanges, the second exchange serving as the destination exchange is preset from the first exchange of the originating exchange. Receiving the charging rate determining information element of the calling party, determining the charging rate from the charging rate determining information element and the preliminarily stored charging rate determining data, and transferring the determined charging rate to the first exchange. A charging control method, wherein the first exchange performs charging based on the transferred charging rate. 3. A first business operator and a second business operator make a contract for charging in advance, and a first exchange of the first business operator sends a second exchange of the second business operator. When there is an outgoing call to the subscriber serving the first switching center, the first switching center sends the second switching center a network code of the first operator,
The second exchange, which has transmitted the charging rate determination information element including the charging class code of the calling subscriber and received the charging rate determination information element, performs the second call processing in the second call processing. A determination is made as to whether or not the first switching center is a contracted carrier based on the network code of the first switching center. Only when the first switching center is a contracted carrier, the second call processing unit notifies the second billing unit. Requesting a billing rate determination, and receiving the billing rate determination request from the second
The charging unit determines the charging rate based on the charging rate determination data stored in advance and the charging rate determination information element, sends the determined charging rate to the second call processing unit, and receives the charging rate. The call processing unit transfers the charging rate to the first switching center, and the first switching center transmits the charging rate to the first charging unit when the charging rate is received before the call connection. Wherein the first charging unit performs charging based on the received charging rate.