KR19990041535A - An automatic response device and its service implementation method over the Internet - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an automatic answering device used in connection with an Internet phone, and more particularly, to a technique of automatically responding to an incoming Internet phone in absence. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus and method for providing an automatic answering service via the Internet, the method comprising the steps of: connecting to an Internet phone having an Internet connection unit for performing telephone communication through the Internet network, When the incoming call to the Internet phone is received, the stored response message is automatically transmitted and the calling message of the calling party is recorded.

Description

An automatic response device and its service implementation method over the Internet

The present invention relates to an automatic answering machine, and more particularly, to an automatic answering machine via an Internet and a method of implementing the service, which can be connected to an Internet phone to inform the user of the presence of a user via the Internet and record a desired message on the calling side.

The operation environment and the block diagram of the conventional answering machine are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. As shown in FIG. 1, when the operating environment of the conventional automatic answering telephone is described, the calling party calls the receiving party who wants to make a call. At this time, the exchange 10 detects a dial signal dialed from the calling side, and designates the receiving side by calling the exchange 20 of the area to which the receiving side subscribes via the telephone network (PSTN), and the exchange 20 And gives a call signal to the receiving side. On the other hand, when the receiving side is an answering machine having an automatic answering mode according to the user, the answering machine automatically answers the received answering signal. A configuration of a conventional answering machine capable of performing such an automatic response is shown in Fig. To illustrate,

The key input detecting unit 113 detects the generation of data such as a key command for controlling the operation of the automatic answering device by the user, an automatic response setting key, a playback key, a recording stop key, a telephone number registration key, and a remote response message recording key . The control unit 111 controls the overall operation of the answering machine. The telephone line interface 122 and the communication circuit 115 are connected to the public telephone network through a telephone line, and interface ring signals, tone signals, and call voice signals between the telephone and the public telephone network, and form a voice communication path between the telephone and the public telephone network. The voice circuit unit 120 converts the analog voice signal input through the telephone line interface unit 122 and the call circuit unit 115 into a digital signal, converts the digital voice signal into an analog voice signal, and outputs the analog voice signal to the call circuit unit 115. The voice storage unit 121 stores ICM and OGM. The status display section 114 displays each status under the control of the control section 111. [ The memory 112 stores a control program of the controller 111, a specific telephone number, and various data generated when an overall control operation is performed. The DTMF generation unit 116 generates a DTMF signal under the control of the control unit 111, and the DTMF reception unit 117 receives the DTMF signal through the communication circuit unit 115.

In the conventional answering machine having the above-described configuration, when an incoming call signal is received in the automatic answering mode, the incoming call signal notifies the controller 111 via the telephone line interface 122 that there is an incoming call signal, and the controller 111 holds the telephone line And transmits the response message stored in advance in the voice storage unit 121 to the calling party. Upon completion of the transmission of the response message, the other party's voice (message of interest or incoming message) is received and stored in the voice storage unit 121, indicating that the recorded message is present in the status display unit 114. When the user of the answering machine confirms the reception of the announcement message through the status display 114, the user inputs a record reproduction key (not shown) and confirms the recorded contents in the voice storage unit 121 through the speaker.

However, the conventional answering machine has a problem in that when the long distance / international call is used, the calling party has to pay a relatively expensive telephone charge, compared to the in-city / out-door telephone.

Therefore, it developed the technology that can use the long distance telephone / international telephone with a cheaper telephone charge, and it is an Internet phone, and when the recipient makes a telephone call with the Internet phone, the user can sufficiently make a call using the local telephone charge through the Internet network.

However, the above-mentioned Internet phone also has a problem. In order to make an Internet phone call, the calling party and the called party must be ready to receive a call on the Internet, and the called party (receiving party) There was a problem that should be done.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic answering device connected to an Internet phone that provides an automatic response function when a user is absent, and a method of implementing the service, .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic response apparatus and method for providing an automatic response apparatus and service through the Internet. The apparatus includes an Internet connection unit and is connected to an Internet phone that performs telephone communication through an Internet network, When the incoming call to the Internet phone is received, the stored response message is automatically transmitted and the calling message of the calling party is recorded.

1 is a diagram showing an operating environment of a conventional automatic answering telephone

2 is a block diagram of a conventional automatic answering telephone

3 is a diagram illustrating an operating environment of an automatic answering telephone connected to an Internet phone according to the present invention;

4 is a block diagram of an automatic answering telephone connected to an Internet phone according to the present invention

5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating the operation of the Internet phone on the transmitting and receiving sides in the automatic answering mode operation of the receiving side according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an operation flow for executing an Internet phone on a transmitting / receiving side in the automatic answering mode operation of the receiving side according to the present invention.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a control flow for performing an automatic answering service via the Internet in an answering machine connected to an Internet phone according to the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details, such as specific processing flows, are set forth in the following description to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. Further, the detailed description of known functions and configurations that may be unnecessarily obscured by the gist of the present invention will be omitted.

In order to provide the automatic response function via the Internet according to the present invention, the operating environment of FIG. 3 should be configured. Referring to FIG. 3, the operation environment of the automatic answering telephone connected to the Internet phone according to the present invention will be described. The calling party 210 is an Internet phone and can operate independently of whether the answering machine is mounted or not. In accordance with the present invention, the user side (called party) telephone 300 should be an answering machine connected to an Internet phone, and the calling party 210 and the user side 300 need to provide an Internet service provider (ISP) Quot; ISP "). The ISP is an Internet network provider to which a general user subscribes to use the Internet. Subscribing to the ISP is not only required for using the Internet phone, but is also a necessary procedure for accessing the Internet in general. On the Internet, there are a plurality of ULS (Universal Location Service) servers, and the calling party and the called party can search the other party through the ULS server. The ULS is a service that allows users who need an internet phone call to register their own information or access the other party's information to communicate with the user. On the other hand, an Internet phone has its own IP (Internet) address used on the Internet, and it is used like a telephone number of an ordinary telephone. Referring briefly to an Internet phone call through a simple Internet network with reference to the operation environment configuration of an Internet phone connected to the above-described Internet network, the caller first dials the ISP 220 to access the Internet. At this time, the user of the caller 210 only has to pay a local call charge to make a call with a local ISP, and in the case of a charge (for example, an in-house LAN or ISDN), there is no need to pay a local call charge. The calling party 210 can access the ULS server on the Internet and retrieve the IP address of the other party to call and call the other party. At this time, the called party (receiving party) must be connected to the Internet and register their own information. When the calling side 210 calls, the called party sounds at the called party 300, and the called party 300 user can pick up the handset and make a call through the Internet network. In the operating environment of the Internet phone connected to the Internet network as described above, the called party 300 may go out or be absent due to unavoidable circumstances of the user. In this case, the called party 300 may be connected to an Internet phone capable of making Internet calls, FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an automatic answering telephone connected to an Internet phone according to the present invention, which provides an automatic answer function in the absence of a caller and performs communication with a calling party. 4, a telephone line interface (I / F) unit 370 used when connecting to the Internet using a modem, a modem unit 340 for data communication with an ISP, a local area network (LAN) A LAN interface (I / F) unit 360 for connecting to the Internet through a local area network (LAN), a network control unit 350 for selecting the LAN or modem, a key input unit for transmitting a user input to the control unit 310 320, a status display unit 330 for displaying the operation status of the system, a voice codec unit 384 for converting the received counterpart voice data into an analog signal and converting the received voice data into data for transferring the user voice to the other party, A voice circuit unit 382 for receiving an analog signal from the voice codec unit 384 and converting it into a voice signal, an voice storage unit 386 for storing voice, A program memory (ROM) 314 for controlling the overall operation of the automatic answering device connected to the Internet phone and storing the program, a program memory (ROM) 314 for controlling the overall operation of the answering machine connected to the Internet phone, And a control unit 310 including a data memory (RAM) 316 for temporarily storing data generated during execution and an I / O control unit 318 for controlling input / output signals. The configuration part according to the automatic response function is 380.

FIG. 5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an Internet phone on a transmitting / receiving side via the Internet in the automatic answering mode operation of the receiving side according to the present invention,

Step 401: The calling party 210 calls the ISP or accesses the Internet via the LAN.

The called party (user side) 300 calls the ISP or accesses the Internet via the LAN and registers his / her information in the ULS. Also, the automatic answer mode is set according to the present invention.

Step 402: The calling party 210 obtains the receiving side information from the ULS.

Step 403: The calling party 210 calls the receiving party who wants to make a call. At this time,

300 receives an incoming signal.

Step 404: The user side 300 transmits a response message according to the automatic response mode to the caller

.

Step 405: The calling party 210 receives a response message to be transmitted after receiving the response message

To the user side 300.

The user side 300 transmits the received message message information data to the voice storage unit

.

Step 406: The calling party 210 transmits a call termination signal according to the termination of the call to the user side 300

.

The user side 300 ends the recording and displays the recorded message < RTI ID = 0.0 >

Is present.

FIG. 6 is a detailed diagram illustrating the operation of the Internet phone on the transmitting / receiving side via the Internet in the automatic answering mode operation of the receiving side in FIG. Step 407, which is not shown in FIG. 5, is a step of reproducing and confirming a user-recorded service message on the user side 300.

FIG. 7 is a control flowchart for performing an automatic answering service via the Internet in an answering machine connected to an Internet phone according to the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 3 to 6, In order to perform the operation shown in FIG. 7, a configuration according to an automatic response device having an operating environment using an Internet network and an Internet phone as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 must be provided. Caller) must be subscribed to the ISP and the user must be connected to the Internet in advance and set to auto answer mode. After the above conditions are satisfied, the calling side 210 searches for information on the receiving side that wants to make a call through the ULS and makes a call, and the operation of the user side 300 on the receiving side proceeds from step 501. At this time, the user may directly perform the above operation, or may be performed automatically by the Internet phone or may be performed by the ISP instead. In step 501, the controller 310 checks whether an incoming call is received through the Internet network. If the incoming call is received through the Internet, the controller 310 proceeds to step 502. If there is no incoming call, the controller 310 waits for an incoming call. In step 502, the controller 310 checks whether the automatic answer mode is set. If the automatic answer mode is set, the controller 310 proceeds to step 504. If the automatic answer mode is not set, the controller 310 proceeds to step 503 to perform the corresponding function. In step 504, when the control unit 310 detects the setting of the automatic answer mode according to the user's presence, the control unit 310 accesses the response message stored in the voice storage unit 386 in advance and transmits the response message to the calling party through the modem unit 340 or the LAN I / F unit 360 . Upon completion of the transmission of the response message, the caller 210 may be informed of the end of the transmission of the response message, and a ring tone may be provided to inform the caller 210 of the start of the input of the target message. Then, in step 505, the control unit 310 checks the receipt of the service message. If the service message is received from the calling party, the control unit 310 proceeds to step 507. If not, the control unit 310 proceeds to step 506 to check whether the set time has elapsed. If it is determined that the set time has not elapsed, the process returns to step 505, and if the set time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step 509. In step 507, the control unit 310 stores data corresponding to the calling party request message received by the modem unit 340 or the LAN I / F unit 360 in the voice storage unit 386 through the Internet network. In step 508, the control unit 310 receives the caller's purpose message transmission completion signal, and proceeds to step 509 when storing the service message. If the service message storage is not completed, the control unit 310 continues storing the service message. In step 509, the control unit 310 completes storing the service message, displays the service message storage on the status display unit 330, for example, by flashing or blinking the LED, detects the end of the call on the calling side 210 according to the reception of the call termination signal, And then maintains the standby state. Thereafter, in step 510, the controller 310 recognizes the receipt of the service message from the status display unit 330 and returns to step 511 if the received message confirmation selection key is input. In step 511, the control unit 310 reads the service message data stored in the voice storage unit 386 and applies the read service message data to the voice codec unit 384. The control unit 310 converts the service message data into analog signals by controlling the voice codec unit 384, And controls the audio circuit unit 382 to convert the converted analog signal into a signal of a predetermined size and apply it to the receiver unit 392 to reproduce the audio signal through the receiver unit 392.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited by the illustrated embodiments, but should be determined by the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

As described above, the present invention has an effect of providing an automatic response function that receives a request of the other party when the user is out of the office or can not directly make a call in an environment using the Internet.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it is possible to record long distance / international telephone calls at a very low telephone charge, and in particular, when the telephone is connected to a LAN, such as an office environment, It is very useful to set the auto-answer feature when you are in the middle of a call or can not make a call directly.

Claims (5)

An automatic answering device having an audio circuit unit, an audio codec unit, and an audio storage unit capable of automatically responding via an Internet network, And an Internet access unit capable of accessing the Internet by joining an Internet service provider (ISP), and is connected to an Internet phone that performs telephone communication through the Internet network to transmit an automatic response message to the caller when the user is absent, And a voice message stored in the voice message is reproduced when necessary. The method according to claim 1, The Internet phone includes a modem unit for performing data communication with an Internet service provider to access the Internet, a LAN interface unit for connecting to the Internet through a local area network (LAN), and a network control unit for selecting the modem and the LAN Characterized by an automatic response device. A method for implementing an automatic answering service via the Internet in an answering machine connected to an Internet phone having an internet connection unit and performing telephone communication over the Internet, And automatically transmitting a stored response message when an incoming call to the Internet phone is received through the Internet network when the user is absent, and recording the service message of the calling party. The method of claim 3, And recording the caller's service message and playing back the recorded service message if necessary. A method for implementing an automatic answering service via the Internet in an answering machine connected to an Internet phone having an internet connection unit and performing telephone communication over the Internet, A process of connecting to the Internet and setting up an automatic response function when the user is absent, Transmitting an automatic response message stored when an incoming signal is received through the Internet to a calling side through the Internet; Receiving a call message of the calling party through an Internet network; Storing the received call destination service message; And reproducing and confirming the calling party service message stored by the user when necessary.