KR20000024300A - Advertisement Service Method with Reduction of Call Charge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method is provided to perform an effective advertisement as well as to concentrate on the advertisement by transmitting an advertisement message instead of a ring signal when making a call. CONSTITUTION: Advertisement accumulation time is converted into free telephone call time(72). Calculated free telephone time is compared to total telephone call time to decide if the calculated free telephone time is larger than the total telephone call time(74). If the free telephone call time is less than the total telephone call time, the free telephone call time is deducted from the total telephone call time(76). Fees for remaining telephone call time are charged to callers(78) and fees for the free telephone call time are charged to an advertiser(80).

Description

Advertisement Service Method with Reduction of Call Charge}

The present invention relates to a commercial communication service system, and more particularly, to an advertisement service method that provides a benefit of reducing call charges instead of transmitting commercial advertisements when there is a call of a communication subscriber.

Recently, service competition among companies providing two-way communication services including the Internet is getting fiercer. As one of these service competitions, even free call service has emerged. These services are being used for the benefit of consumers including communication subscribers. In addition, wireline and wireless carriers that provide voice, video, and data communication services are also seeking to utilize free calling services as part of the price competition for call charges. Such toll-free services typically provide free calls in exchange for allowing telecommunications subscribers to listen to advertisements. However, advertisements provided in free calling services are diminishing the mental and temporal utility of telecommunication subscribers.

In fact, in the case of a free telephone service on the Internet, a subscriber who pays a certain monthly fee to a telecommunications service provider can call a desired party only after viewing an advertisement through a personal computer connected to a communication line. In addition, a wireless subscriber subscribed to a wireless communication company can call a desired party only after listening to an advertisement for a predetermined time in advance.

All of these toll-free calling services allow communication subscribers to dial after viewing (or listening to) a certain amount of time (or a certain amount of time) of advertisements, thereby causing communication subscribers to take the hassle or inefficiency of time. Also, toll-free services to date have caused subscribers to deliberately avoid listening to an advertisement or to pay advertisers inefficiencies, such as wasting time and money, because they do not concentrate on watching (or listening to) the advertisement. .

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an advertising service method of reducing call charges, which enables an advertiser to efficiently advertise according to time and cost, and also allows a subscriber to concentrate on advertising.

1 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a communication system to which the advertisement service method of the present invention is applied.

Figure 2a and Figure 2b is a flow chart illustrating a step-by-step advertising service method of call charge reduction according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram schematically showing another example of a communication system to which the advertisement service method of the present invention is applied.

4 is a diagram schematically showing another example of a communication system to which the advertisement service method of the present invention is applied.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10,11: wired switch 12,14: mobile communication switch

13,15: base station 10A, 11A, 12A, 14A: commercial unit

20,21: phone terminal 22: personal mobile phone

In order to achieve the above object, an advertisement service method of reducing call charges according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: receiving a call from a subscriber; Calling another subscriber in response to the call and sending an advertisement message instead of a ring signal; Counting the time at which the advertisement message was sent; And reducing the charge for the talk time based on the advertisement time.

Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above object will be apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

1 schematically shows a wired communication system to which the present invention is applied. The wired communication system of Fig. 1 includes first and second wired switching devices 10 and 11 connected by communication lines. A plurality of telephone terminals 20, 21 are connected to each of these first and second wired switching devices 10, 11 via a communication line. In addition, personal computers (not shown) and similar data terminals are connected to each of the first and second wired switching devices 10 and 111 in addition to the telephone terminals 20 and 21. Furthermore, each of the first and second wired switching devices 10, 11 has a commercial unit 10A, 11A. The commercial units 10A and 11A repeatedly supply advertising messages to the first and second wired switch devices 10 and 11 when the wired switch devices 10 and 11 request them.

2A and 2B illustrate step by step an advertising service method of reducing call charges according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B are performed by each of the first and second wired switching devices 10 and 11 shown in FIG. 1, and for convenience of description, the process performed by the eleventh wired switching device 10 is described. Let's explain.

The first wired switching device 10 waits until a " call (i.e., calling phone number) " is received from the communication line in any one subscriber in the home country (step 30). When a "call" is received from any one domestic subscriber, the first wired switching device 10 checks whether the "call" (ie, the calling telephone number) is the domestic subscriber (step 32). If the "call" is a domestic subscriber, it is checked whether the subscriber corresponding to the "call" is busy (step 34). When the subscriber called in step 34 is a domestic subscriber, the first wired switching apparatus 10 sends a busy tone toward the telephone terminal 20 of the subscriber who has received a "call" (step 36). . The first wired switching device 10 waits until the subscriber's telephone terminal 20 to which the "call" has been received is hooked on (step 38). The first wired switching device 10 ends the switching operation when the subscriber's telephone terminal 20 is hooked on.

If the subscriber called in step 34 is not busy, the first wired switching apparatus 10 transmits a ring signal to the called subscriber's telephone terminal (step 40), and the subscriber's telephone to which the "call" has been received is received. The terminal 20 repeatedly transmits the advertisement message instead of the ring signal (step 42). At this time, the advertisement message is reproduced in the advertisement unit 10A and supplied to the telephone terminal 20 of the subscriber in which the call was made via the first wired switch 10. To this end, the commercial unit 10A includes a voice recording device capable of performing a reproduction operation under the control of the first wired switching device 10. The first wired switch 10 initializes the count value of the advertisement time counter to "0" (step 44). The first wired switch 10 checks whether the value of the advertisement time counter is greater than or equal to the threshold time (for example, 5 seconds) (step 46). The threshold time is set to ensure the time at which an advertisement message can be sent to the calling terminal's telephone terminal 20 at least once or twice. If the value of the advertisement time counter is greater than or equal to the threshold time in step 46, the first wired switching device 10 checks whether the called subscriber's telephone terminal is hooked off (ie, the calling subscriber has received a call) ( Step 48). If the value of the advertisement time counter is less than the threshold time or the called subscriber's telephone terminal is not hooked-off at step 46, the first wired switching apparatus 10 adds the value of the advertisement time counter by "1". The process then returns to step 46 (step 50). When the subscriber's telephone terminal called in step 48 is hooked-off, the first wired switch apparatus 10 accumulates the advertisement counting and / or viewing counting values (ie, the advertisement listening and / or viewing time) counted in the advertisement time count. Add to time (step 52). The first wired switch 10 forms a communication path between the called subscriber's telephone terminal and the calling subscriber's telephone terminal (step 54), and counts the talk time using the talk time count (56). step). The first wireline switching device 10 monitors whether one of the calling subscribers and the called subscriber's telephone terminals is hooked on to check whether the call is terminated (step 58). Return to step 56. When the call is terminated in step 58, the first wireline switching device 10 adds the value (call time) counted to the talk time counter to the total talk time (step 60).

On the other hand, when the subscriber called by the calling party in step 32 is not a subscriber in the home country, the " call received by the corresponding wired switching device (hereinafter referred to as the second wired switching device 11) to which the called subscriber is subscribed. (I.e., subscriber's telephone number) to request line establishment (step 62). Subsequently, the first wired switching device 10 waits until any one of a ring tone and a ring signal is received from the second wired switching device 11 (steps 64 and 66). When the ring tone is received from the second wired switch 11, the first wired switch 10 transmits the ringing tone from the second wired switch 11 to the telephone terminal 20 of the calling subscriber. Step 68). After performing step 68, the first wired switching apparatus 10 waits until the calling subscriber's telephone terminal 20 is hooked on and then relays the call when the calling subscriber's telephone terminal 20 is hooked on. The operation ends (step 70). When the ring signal is received from the second wired switch 11 in step 66, the first wired switch 10 proceeds to step 42.

In addition, after performing step 60, the first wired exchange apparatus 10 converts the cumulative advertisement time into the free talk time (step 72). At this time, the converted free talk time includes the free talk time previously carried forward and is added to it. The first wired exchange apparatus 10 compares whether the calculated free talk time is greater than the total talk time (step 74). If the free talk time is less than the total talk time in step 74, the first wired exchange apparatus 10 subtracts the free talk time from the total talk time (step 76), and then charges for the remaining remaining talk time. Call the subscriber (step 78) and charge the advertiser for the free talk time (step 80). If the total talk time is less than the free talk time in step 74, the first wired exchange device 10 charges the advertiser for the total talk time (step 82), and surplus free time exceeding the total talk time is obtained. Talk time is carried forward (step 84).

As described above, in the call service reduction advertisement service method according to an embodiment of the present invention, the calling subscriber transmits an advertisement message instead of a ring signal when the calling subscriber generates a "call" so that the calling subscriber can concentrate on watching or listening to the advertising message. As a result, the call service reduction method according to an embodiment of the present invention can maximize the advertising effect on the time and cost of the advertiser. In addition, the advertisement service method of reducing the call charges according to an embodiment of the present invention can prevent the subscriber's mental and time utility from being degraded by transmitting an advertisement message instead of the ring signal.

3 schematically illustrates a wired / wireless hybrid communication system to which the present invention is applied. The wired / wireless hybrid communication system of FIG. 3 includes a wired switching device 10 and a mobile communication switching device 12 connected by a communication line. A plurality of telephone terminals 20 are connected to each of the wired switching devices 10 via a communication line. In addition to the telephone terminal 20, the wired switching device 10 is connected to a personal computer and similar data terminals. Each of the wired switching device 10 and the mobile communication switching device 12 includes commercial units 10A and 12A. The commercial units 10A and 12A repeatedly provide advertisement messages when the wired switching device 10 or the mobile communication switching device 12 requests them. The mobile communication switching device 12 is connected to the base station 13 through a communication line. The base station 13 demodulates and demodulates radio signals from the personal cellular phone 22 by modulating the signals received from the mobile communication switching device 12 through the communication line into radio signals and transmitting them to the personal cellular phone 22. The transmitted signals are transmitted to the mobile communication switching device 12 through the communication line. The mobile communication switching device 12 included in the wired / wireless hybrid communication system also performs the call service reduction advertisement method described in the flowchart of FIG. 2 similarly to the first wired switching device 10 of FIG. 1. .

4 schematically illustrates a wireless communication system to which the present invention is applied. The wireless communication system of FIG. 4 includes first and second mobile communication switching devices 12 and 14 connected by communication lines. Each of the first and second mobile communication switching devices 12 and 14 is connected to the base stations 13 and 15 via a communication line. Each of the first and second mobile communication switching devices 12, 14 includes a commercial unit 12A, 14A. The commercial units 12A and 14A repeatedly provide advertisement messages when the mobile communication switching devices 12 and 14 request them. Each of the base stations 13 and 15 modulates the signals received from the mobile communication switching devices 12 and 14 through a communication line into radio signals and transmits them to the personal cellular phone 22, and wirelessly from the personal cellular phone 22. The demodulated signals are transmitted to the mobile communication switching device 12 through the communication line. The mobile communication switching devices 12 and 14 included in the wireless communication system also perform the call service reduction advertisement method described in the flowchart of FIG. 2 similarly to the first wired switching device 10 of FIG. 1.

As described above, the call service reduction advertisement service method according to an embodiment of the present invention allows an outgoing subscriber to watch or listen to an advertisement message by transmitting an advertisement message instead of a ring signal when the originating subscriber generates a "call." . Accordingly, the advertisement service method of the call charge reduction according to the embodiment of the present invention can maximize the advertising effect on the time and cost of the advertiser. In addition, the advertisement service method of reducing the call charges according to an embodiment of the present invention can prevent the subscriber's mental and time utility from being degraded by transmitting an advertisement message instead of the ring signal.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (5)

Receiving a call from a subscriber; Calling another subscriber in response to the call and sending an advertisement message instead of a ring signal; Counting the time at which the advertisement message was sent; And reducing the charge for the talk time based on the advertisement time. The method of claim 1, The call receiving step is a call service reduction advertising service method characterized in that for receiving a call from a telephone terminal connected to the communication line to the wired switching device. The method of claim 1, And the call receiving step receives a call from a mobile terminal via a base station connected to a communication line to a mobile communication switching device. The method of claim 1, The advertisement message sending step is to send a ring signal to the subscriber corresponding to the call, and then to send the advertising message to the subscriber who made the call, the service fee reduction advertising service method. The method of claim 1, The call receiving step is a call charge reduction, characterized in that to send an advertising message to the subscriber who generated the call after receiving a ring signal from any one of the wired switching device and the mobile communication switching device accommodated by the subscriber corresponding to the call. Advertising service method.