KR20020022976A - International Mobile Communication Roaming Servicing System over Internet Protocol - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An international mobile communication roaming service system on an Internet protocol is provided to combine a roaming service with an Internet phone having a phone-to-phone system, so as to supply an international mobile communication roaming service through the Internet protocol at a low cost. CONSTITUTION: A PSTN server receives Internet international roaming application information including domestic telephone ID numbers and local telephone ID numbers from a user, and registers the application information in a roaming database(25). The PSTN server receives a calling signal of a domestic telephone ID number, and retrieves the roaming database(25) from the domestic telephone ID number of the received calling signal, to extract a corresponding local telephone ID number. The PSTN server transmits the received calling signal with the local telephone ID number. Internet calling servers(13,15) receive the calling signal from the PSTN server, and retrieve an address conversion database(19) from the local telephone ID number included in the calling signal, to extract an IP of a local gateway close to a local telephone. The Internet calling servers(13,15) digitally convert the calling signal to compress the calling signal, and transmit the digital calling signal to the local gateway by adding the extracted IP as Internet protocol packets.

Description

International Mobile Communication Roaming Servicing System over Internet Protocol

The present invention relates to a communication system, and more particularly to an Internet phone system for providing a telephone service over the Internet protocol.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has recently been in the spotlight due to the reduction of communication charges through the efficient use of existing network resources and the ease of management through the integration of telephone and data networks. Voice communication over the Internet, not the public switched network (PSTN), has been developing rapidly since the first implementation of Vocaltec, Inc., with Internet phone software. This early model, called the PC-to-PC model, is a personal computer with a handset all equipped with a sound card, speakers, a microphone and a modem (or network card), which runs on the voice They make calls using the same software that compresses the signal, converts it into IP packets, and sends them over the Internet.

As technology has advanced, a dedicated gateway server for Internet calls has emerged, acting as an interface between the Internet and the public switched network. The gateway server is equipped with a voice card, allowing users to make Internet calls using standard telephones. Fig. 1 schematically shows the overall configuration of such a conventional so-called phone-to-phone type internet phone system. When the caller dials the telephone number of the Internet phone service provider, the call originated from the caller's telephone 11 is transferred to the nearest gateway server 13 through the public switched telephone network 12. The gateway server 13 converts the received analog voice signal into a digital signal, compresses it, and converts the received analog voice signal into an IP (Internet Protocol) packet. On the other hand, the gateway server 13 is the IP of the gateway 15 closest to the called party's telephone 17 from the other party's telephone number input from the calling party's telephone 11 to the gatekeeper 18 connected on the Internet 14. Request and transmit these packets to the gateway 15 having the corresponding IP. The gatekeeper 18 may also be referred to as a call agent or a call server. The gatekeeper 18 is a node on the Internet that performs address translation between heterogeneous networks, that is, a telephone number and an IP address. It also performs subscriber authentication based on the Internet Telephony Signaling Protocol (Layer) layer, and is generally a server managed by a service provider. Here, the Internet Telephony Signaling Protocol (ITSP) defines the signaling and control methods required for call setup and phone calls in VoIP systems such as H.323, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) / Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), etc. Means the standard protocol.

Such a gatekeeper server 18 may be located at any point on the Internet 14, but may be physically implemented within the same server as the gateway server 13, or may not be the Internet as shown by the dotted lines in the figure. It may be a server connected by an internal LAN. Since this configuration is already known and implemented in the art before the filing date, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The receiver gateway 15 reconstructs, restores and forwards the received packets and converts the call to the receiver through the public switching network 16 using the telephone number of the receiver telephone 17 decoded from the signal packet. Connect.

Such Internet phones are spreading rapidly because they are superior in terms of network efficiency and cheaper than general telephones using public switched networks. Since the Internet phone must go through a gateway, the method of use is complicated, so it is not used for local calls but mainly for international calls.

On the other hand, in the existing public exchange network, when using the international telephone roaming service, when a person with a domestic phone number stays in a foreign country for a business trip, etc., someone who does not know this in Korea calls the person's phone number and receives a guide message. It was possible to automatically dial the local telephone number of the person in a foreign country. However, international roaming service of such public switched network is expensive and its use is restricted.

The present invention is to solve such a problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system that can provide a cheap international telephone roaming service.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of providing a cheap mobile communication international roaming service.

1 schematically shows the overall configuration of a phone-to-phone type internet phone system according to the prior art.

2 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an international telephone roaming service system on the Internet protocol according to an embodiment of the present invention

3 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an international telephone roaming service system on the Internet protocol according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

17, 29, 211: telephone 16, 28: public switched network

13,15: gateway server 14: the Internet

18: Gatekeeper Server 19: Address Translation Database

22: web server 23: base station

24: Mobile Server 25: Roaming Database

26: roaming server 27: switchboard

212: user computer

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, an international mobile communication roaming system on the Internet protocol according to the present invention:

Receiving Internet international roaming application information including a domestic telephone identification number and a local telephone identification number from a user and registering the information in a roaming database; Receiving a call signal to the domestic telephone identification number; Extracting the corresponding local telephone identification number by searching the roaming database from the domestic telephone identification number of the received call signal; A public network server for transmitting the received call signal together with the local telephone identification code;

Receive the call signal from the public network server; Extracting the IP of the local gateway close to the local telephone by searching the address translation database from the local telephone identification number included in the call signal; An internet call server for digitally converting and compressing the call signal and adding the extracted IP as an internet protocol packet to transmit to the local gateway; Characterized in that it comprises a.

According to a preferred aspect of the invention, the Internet call server:

Receive the call signal from the public network server; A gateway server for transmitting an address conversion request signal including a local telephone identification number included in a call signal, and digitally converting and compressing the call signal to a gateway having received IP address information and converting the call signal into an Internet protocol packet;

A gatekeeper server which extracts and transmits an IP of a local gateway that is closest to a local telephone in response to an address translation request signal from the gateway server;

Characterized in that it comprises a.

Furthermore, according to a further aspect of the present invention, the public network server is characterized in that for receiving international roaming application information from a user from a user computer connecting via the Internet.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily understand and reproduce.

The present invention provides an internet international mobile communication roaming service that can be used conveniently and inexpensively by people traveling abroad or frequently. By applying for this service, the user can forward calls made to his mobile terminal in Korea to his local telephone.

2 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an international telephone roaming service system on an Internet protocol according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the roaming service system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be divided into an application unit 100, a calling unit 200, and a called unit 300. The application unit 100 is configured to apply for international roaming service, and accesses the web server 22 through a user computer 212 connected on the Internet 14 to register in the roaming database 25 or to a general telephone 211. By directly connecting the roaming server 26 connected to the exchange 27 through the) it is possible to register their roaming information in the roaming database 25 through a kind of ARS function. For example, a user who does not want to miss a call from his mobile terminal before leaving for a business trip to the United States runs a web browser on his computer 21 and accesses the web server 22 to access his web address as a domestic telephone identification number. A mobile phone terminal number; Register for Internet roaming application information, including your local mobile phone number in the United States as a local telephone identification number.

Once a roaming service is applied for and received, the roaming database includes information indicating that an international mobile communication roaming service on an Internet protocol is designated for each user; Domestic telephone identification numbers, for example, domestic telephone numbers; As a local telephone identification number, for example, a telephone number or a mobile telephone terminal number owned by the United States is registered. Later, when someone calls the domestic telephone identification number to call this user, this call is through the exchange 27 in the case of a circuit-switching network, a call to the user registered by the roaming server 26. The call is confirmed and the roaming database 25 is queried to extract the user's local telephone identification number and then forwarded to the telephone number. From then on, the signal is delivered in a conventional phone-to-phone manner as described above in the prior art. That is, the gateway server 13 converts the received analog voice signal into a digital signal, compresses it, and converts the received analog voice signal into an IP (Internet Protocol) packet. The gateway server 13 is the gateway 15 closest to the telephone 17 of the local telephone number, which is the receiver, from the local telephone number extracted and transmitted from the roaming server 26 to the gatekeeper 18 connected on the Internet 14. ) Is requested and the packets are transmitted to the gateway 15 having the corresponding IP. The gateway 15 recovers the digital compressed signal, converts the analog signal into a conventional public switched network signal, and then sets up and transmits the telephone receiver 17 and the public switched network of the local receiver.

3 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an international telephone roaming service system on an Internet protocol according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention. Unlike the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the present embodiment is a gateway server and a gatekeeper server implemented as a single server. As described above, the functions are the same whether they are separate servers connected through the Internet, separate processors implemented in the same server, or servers sequentially configured in the same server, and thus do not need detailed description.

As in the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, the user can access the web server 22 through the web browser of the user computer 212 to apply for the Internet roaming service. For example, a user who does not want to miss a call from his mobile terminal before leaving for a business trip to the United States runs a web browser on his computer 212 and accesses the web server 22 to access his or her own domestic phone identification number. A mobile phone terminal number; Register for Internet roaming application information, including your local mobile phone number in the United States as a local telephone identification number. Such international roaming application information is registered in the roaming database 25. Although the web server 22 and the mobile server 24 are illustrated as being separate servers in this embodiment, they may be physically the same server and may simultaneously support web protocols such as HTML and WML and mobile internet protocols. It may be.

However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the application for roaming services through a website, for example, a mobile telephone terminal 11 calls a specific telephone number provided by a service company through a mobile server 24 via a base station 23. You can register. In this case, the existing ARS may be used, and more preferably, it may be registered through a mobile communication means such as WAP, SMS, or ISMS protocol capable of transmitting and receiving two-way text data. As another example, it is also possible in the form of ARS using the general circuit switched network described in the above embodiment. Since such a network system can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art as of the filing date through many WAP applications or ARS applications, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Three aspects of these exemplary international roaming service subscriptions may be implemented simultaneously, or only one or two of them may be selected and implemented.

Once a roaming service is applied for and received, the roaming database includes information indicating that an international mobile communication roaming service on an Internet protocol is designated for each user; As a domestic telephone identification number, for example, a domestic mobile communication terminal telephone number; As a local telephone identification number, for example, a mobile communication terminal telephone number subscribed to locally by the US is registered. Afterwards, when someone calls the domestic telephone identification number to talk to this user, the call goes through the exchange 27 in the case of a circuit-switching network, and the base station 23 in the case of a mobile communication terminal as shown. In the mobile server 24, the telephone number of the mobile communication terminal 17, which is a local telephone number registered in the roaming database 25, is added and forwarded to the Internet call. From then on, the signal is delivered in a conventional phone-to-phone manner as described above in the prior art. That is, the gateway / gatekeeper server 13 converts the received analog voice signal into a digital signal, compresses it, converts it into an IP (Internet Protocol) packet, and extracts an address from a local telephone number extracted from the roaming server 26 and transmitted. It searches the conversion database 19 and requests the IP of the gateway 15 closest to the telephone 17 of the local telephone number which is the called party and sends these packets to the gateway 15 having the corresponding IP. The gateway 15 recovers the digital compressed signal, converts the analog signal into a conventional public switched network signal, and then sets up and transmits the telephone receiver 17 and the public switched network of the local receiver.

As described in detail above, the present invention provides an international mobile communication roaming service through an internet protocol by combining a roaming service and a phone-to-phone Internet phone, thereby providing a convenient mobile international roaming service at a low price. It is possible.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many other obvious modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as interpreted by the claims set forth below from this description. Do.

Claims (5)

Receiving Internet international roaming application information including a domestic telephone identification number and a local telephone identification number from a user and registering the information in a roaming database; Receiving a call signal to the domestic telephone identification number; Extracting the corresponding local telephone identification number by searching the roaming database from the domestic telephone identification number of the received call signal; A public network server for transmitting the received call signal together with the local telephone identification code; Receive the call signal from the public network server; Extracting the IP of the local gateway close to the local telephone by searching the address translation database from the local telephone identification number included in the call signal; An internet call server for digitally converting and compressing the call signal and adding the extracted IP as an internet protocol packet to transmit to the local gateway; International mobile communication roaming service system on the Internet protocol comprising a. The international mobile communication roaming service system according to claim 1, wherein the public network server is a mobile server. The server of claim 1 wherein the public network server is: An international mobile communication roaming service system on an Internet protocol, characterized by receiving international roaming application information from a user from a user computer connected via the Internet. The method of claim 1 wherein the Internet call server: Receive the call signal from the public network server; A gateway server for transmitting an address conversion request signal including a local telephone identification number included in a call signal, and digitally converting and compressing the call signal to a gateway having received IP address information and converting the call signal into an Internet protocol packet; A gatekeeper server which extracts and transmits an IP of a local gateway that is closest to a local telephone in response to an address translation request signal from the gateway server; International mobile communication roaming service system on the Internet protocol comprising a. Receiving internet international roaming application information including a domestic telephone identification number and a local telephone identification number from a user and registering the information in a roaming database; Receiving a call to the domestic telephone identification number; Extracting a corresponding local telephone identification number by searching the roaming database from the domestic telephone identification number of the received call; Extracting an IP of a local gateway close to a local telephone by searching an address translation database from the local telephone identification number; Digitally converting and compressing the call signal and transmitting the call signal to a local gateway using the IP as an Internet protocol packet; International mobile communication roaming service method on the Internet protocol comprising a.