KR200268396Y1 - Apparatus for controlling phone using internet - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an Internet telephone control device, and the device of the present invention includes a USB sound device for providing an interface between the Internet telephone and the Internet telephone control device; After setting the USB sound device as an I / O device dedicated to Internet telephony, in order to support an Internet telephony call, a USB module which controls the API module and the USB sound device to interwork by calling an API module related to voice input / output. And a sound control unit. Therefore, the telephone call sound and the general sound are separately processed, and thus, there is an effect that the telephone call can be freely made using the Internet while executing other programs requiring a sound card such as a game.

Description

Internet phone control device for separately handling phone calls {Apparatus for controlling phone using internet}

The present invention relates to an internet telephone control apparatus, and more particularly, to an internet telephone control apparatus characterized in that a telephone sound is processed separately from a general sound by a dedicated sound apparatus for interfacing with an internet telephone.

Created for the purpose of defense in the United States, ARPANET has evolved into an internet that allows the exchange of information worldwide. Although the Internet was primarily used as a means of exchanging academic information among scholars, it is now widely regarded as an important means of data communication with numerous computers connected to the world. As computer technology and network technology evolve, the Internet provides numerous services such as e-mail service, remote login (Telnet), file transfer protocol, information retrieval, and usenet news. I can do it. In recent years, as the network speeds up, real-time services such as Internet video conferencing and Internet telephony are also being provided.

Since Vocaltec's introduction of Internet telephony in 1995, Internet telephony services are rapidly expanding in popularity due to their low cost. The low cost of Internet telephony is due to the packet-switched communication method used on the Internet. Conventional telephones use a circuit-switched system, which is a system in which a single telephone line is exclusively occupied by both callers during communication to transmit and receive voice, which is shared by a third party. Can't be. Therefore, the exclusively occupied telephone line in the situation where tens of thousands of people talk in the same time zone all over the world increases the usage fee of the line, which is reflected in the telephone bill. In addition, the circuit-switched system fixedly transmits the voice speed at 64 Kbps, and thus, it was difficult to provide a service requiring a high speed and various speeds within a certain amount of circuit capacity.

In contrast, the packet-switched method transmits a separate message in the form of a packet to a circuit that transmits data, so that a packet having a specific characteristic may be inserted and transmitted between packets of the same characteristic. It is not occupied by but shared by multiple users. In addition, since the voice information for Internet telephony is compressible data, it is possible to compress and transmit the voice speed below 64 Kbps, and the usage fee for the line can be reduced by that much.

In addition, since the Internet phone uses a public Internet network, it is possible to provide a telephone service by installing Internet phone equipment on a computer connected to the Internet without installing a separate line. Therefore, the network construction only requires a small investment compared to the existing telephone network. Therefore, the use of such an internet telephone is increasing.

1 is a system configuration diagram of an Internet telephone control apparatus according to a conventional embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, in order to provide an Internet telephone service, a speaker 11 for outputting a voice of a counterpart to a system 10 that can be connected to the Internet 13, such as a general computer, and a microphone for inputting one's voice (12) is installed, and a sound device for processing a telephone call sound in conjunction with the speaker (11) and the microphone (12) should be installed inside the system (10). 1 shows an example in which the speaker 11 and the microphone 12 are separately configured, but a product in which the microphone and the speaker are integrally formed may be used, such as a headset, which is widely used in recent years.

2 is a schematic block diagram of an internet telephone control apparatus according to a conventional embodiment. That is, FIG. 2 shows the devices for controlling Internet telephony in such a system 10. Referring to FIG. 2, in order to control an Internet telephone in the related art, a sound device 14 which interfaces with a microphone 12 and a speaker 11, and one sound device 14 among various sound devices are used. The sound mapper 15 selects and manages and stores and manages various API modules operated in the system 10, and input / output of sounds to be processed through the sound device 14 at the request of the sound mapper 15. It includes an API module unit 16 for providing an API for controlling the.

In the case of such a conventional Internet telephone control device, by sharing the general sound device 14, a user makes an Internet phone call while executing a program (eg, a game, a video player, etc.) that requires the sound device 14. It was in a difficult environment to do. For example, if a user wants to make an internet phone call while playing a game, the sound of the game and the phone call are simultaneously output using a single sound device, so that it is difficult to hear the other party's voice. In the case of a sound device that does not simultaneously output / output, the voice call itself was impossible.

Accordingly, in the present invention, in order to solve such a problem, by adding a dedicated sound device for the Internet phone and its control unit to separate the phone call sound and the normal sound, while performing other programs requiring a sound card, It is an object of the present invention to provide an Internet telephone control device that enables a telephone to be used freely.

1 is a system configuration diagram of an Internet telephone control apparatus according to a conventional embodiment;

2 is a schematic block diagram of an internet telephone control apparatus according to a conventional embodiment;

3 is a system configuration diagram of an Internet telephone control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic block diagram of an internet telephone control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4A is a block diagram illustrating an example in which an Internet telephone control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed in a system in which a general sound device is installed;

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling an Internet telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5A is a flowchart illustrating a process of registering a USB phone according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5B is a flowchart illustrating a process of controlling an internal call according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5c is a flowchart illustrating a process of controlling an external call according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5D is a process flow diagram for the process of controlling a telephone call according to an embodiment of the present invention.

♣ Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing ♣

120: USB sound device 130: USB sound control unit

140: API module 200: Internet phone

In order to achieve the above object, the Internet telephone control device provided in the present invention is connected to the USB port of the computer device and a USB sound device that provides an interface between the Internet telephone and the Internet telephone control device to support voice calls using the Internet and ; After setting the USB sound device as an I / O device dedicated to Internet telephony, in order to support an Internet telephony call, a USB module which controls the API module and the USB sound device to interwork by calling an API module related to voice input / output. And a sound control unit.

Hereinafter, an Internet telephone control apparatus of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a system configuration diagram of an Internet telephone control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, in order to provide an Internet telephone service by the Internet telephone control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a system 100 capable of connecting to the Internet 110 such as a general computer, and a USB of the system 100 are provided. An internet telephone (also called a USB phone) 200 connected to the port should be provided, and a sound device for processing a telephone call in association with the USB phone 200 should be installed inside the system 100. . In this case, although not shown in FIG. 3, a speaker and a microphone for other sound processing except for a telephone call sound may be separately installed.

4 is a schematic block diagram of an Internet telephone control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the Internet phone control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a USB sound device 120, a USB sound controller 130, and an API module unit 140.

The USB sound device 120 is connected to a USB port of a computer and provides an interface between the USB phone 200 and the Internet phone control device supporting voice calls using the Internet. That is, the voice signal input from the USB phone microphone 210 and the voice signal to be output to the USB phone speaker 220 are performed.

The USB sound controller 130 sets the USB sound device 120 as an input / output device exclusively for Internet telephony, and then calls an API module related to voice input / output to support the Internet telephony call. The sound device 120 is controlled to work together. That is, when an internet phone call is initiated, the USB sound controller 130 converts the USB sound device 120 into a standby state for voice input / output, and then converts the voice stored in the API module related to the voice output to the USB sound device. It outputs to the USB phone speaker 220 through, and controls to deliver the voice input through the USB phone microphone 210 to the API module associated with the voice input. On the other hand, when the phone number is input through the keypad 230 (or the numeric keys of the keyboard) of the USB phone, the USB sound controller 130 controls the USB sound device 120 to obtain a DTMF tone corresponding to the number. To print.

The API module 140 stores and manages various API modules operated in a computer, and controls an input / output of sounds to be processed through the USB sound device 120 at the request of the USB sound controller 130. To provide. In this case, generally, an API (Application Program Interface) refers to a special method that is predetermined to request an operating system (OS) or another application, and when the application communicates with a system program such as an OS or a DBMS. Speak your language or message format. Accordingly, the API module 140 manages certain types of functions exchanged with the OS for Internet phone calls.

4A is a block diagram illustrating an example in which an Internet telephone control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed in a system in which a general sound device is installed. Referring to FIG. 4A, when both the general sound device 160 and the USB sound device 120a are installed in a system, the general sound device 160 is input / output by the general microphone 170 and the speaker 180. The sound is processed, and the USB sound device 120a processes the telephone call sound by the USB phone 200a. On the other hand, the sound mapper 150 selects and manages the general sound device 160, and after calling the API module necessary for processing the general sound in the general sound device 160 from the API module unit 140a, the API module By controlling the operation of the general sound device 160 by. That is, when both the general sound device 160 and the USB sound device 120a are installed in one system, the telephone call sound and the general sound are separated, thereby freely making an Internet call without being disturbed by other sounds. It is available.

5 is a process flow diagram for a method for controlling an internet telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, in order to control an Internet telephone according to an embodiment of the present invention, first, a USB telephone registration process s100 must be performed.

The USB phone registration process s100 is shown in FIG. 5A. Referring to FIG. 5A, in order to register a USB phone, first, system information of a computer device is searched (s110), and it is checked whether a USB sound device for providing an interface with an Internet phone is installed in the computer device (s120). . If the USB sound device is installed as a result of checking (s120), the index of the USB sound device is extracted and stored as an index of an input / output device dedicated to Internet telephony (s130). Otherwise, the index of the general sound device is extracted. Stored as an index of the input / output device dedicated to the Internet phone (s140). At this time, the index of each device is assigned by the system itself, and API modules used to extract the index of such devices are 'WaveInGetCaps' and 'WaveOutGetCaps'.

After registering the USB phone in this way, it waits for the user to log in. Then, when a user who has previously registered as a member for internet calling logs in, the corresponding user is authenticated by the registered user information (s200 and s250). At this time, the process of authenticating a user can generally apply a variety of techniques disclosed.

If the user is authenticated, the user requests a phone call using the Internet and waits for input of a phone number for an internet phone call (s300, s350, s400).

After the user requests a phone call, input a desired phone number (s450), and outputs a DTMF tone corresponding to each number of the phone number according to the input of each phone number (s500). At this time, DTMF tones are output to the USB phone via the USB sound device. If the user inputs a phone number using the keyboard, the signal input through the keyboard is analyzed to output a corresponding DTMF tone if a number is selected, and an error tone if it is not selected.

When the telephone number for the Internet telephone call is input as described above, the type of the call is determined by the telephone number (s600), and the telephone call is controlled according to the type. For example, if the telephone number starts with '070', it is determined as an internal call using the Internet network, and if the telephone number starts with various station numbers using the PSTN network such as '011' and '02', To judge.

If the call requested by the user is an internal call, an internal call is performed (s650, s700), otherwise, an external call is performed (s650, s800).

At this time, the process of controlling the internal call (s700) and the process of controlling the external call (s800) are shown in Figures 5b and 5c.

First, referring to FIG. 5B, when the user selects an internal call, the user requests a phone call to the corresponding PC using the Internet (S710). When the PC grants the request for the telephone call, it is determined that the telephone connection is successful (s720), after connecting the telephones between the subscribers (s730), and controlling the telephone calls between the subscribers until the call ends. (s750).

In addition, referring to FIG. 5C, when the user selects an external call, the user requests a telephone call to the corresponding subscriber using the PSTN (S810). In addition, when the subscriber grants the request for the phone call, it is determined that the telephone connection is successful (s820), after connecting the telephones between the subscribers (s830), and controlling the telephone calls between the subscribers until the call ends ( s850). At this time, it is determined that the telephone connection is successful when the landline telephone subscriber picks up the handset / handset for the telephone call or when the wireless telephone subscriber selects the call button for the telephone call.

On the other hand, although not shown in Figure 5b and 5c, in the internal / external call control process (s700, s800), after the user requests a call, until there is a response from the PC or subscriber requesting the call, The method further includes outputting a ring tone to the user through the USB sound device.

5D is a process flow diagram for a phone call process (s750, s850) according to an embodiment of the present invention. At this time, once the telephone is connected, since the telephone call process is the same internal / external call process, an example of the telephone call process (s750) according to the internal call control will be described in Figure 5d.

Referring to FIG. 5D, first, an index of an Internet telephone dedicated input / output device stored at the time of registering a USB phone is extracted (s751), and corresponding devices are selected (s752). In operation S753, the selected devices are switched to a state where they wait for input or output of a phone call voice. In other words, each device is opened.

When the voice is input from the Internet phone, the API module related to the voice input is called to transmit a signal corresponding to the input voice to the counterpart (s754 to s756), and the voice information is transmitted and output from the counterpart. In the case of calling the API module related to the voice output, the corresponding voice is output through the internet telephone (S757 to S760).

At this time, there are API modules related to voice input, such as 'WaveInOpen', 'WaveInPrepareBuffer', 'WaveInWrite', 'WaveInOpen' converts the USB sound device into standby mode, and 'WaveInPrepareBuffer' is input through the USB phone microphone. Temporarily store the phone call, and 'WaveInWrite' starts to read the temporarily stored phone call.

Meanwhile, API modules related to voice output include 'WaveOutOpen', 'WaveOutPrepareBuffer' and 'WaveOutWrite', and 'WaveOutOpen' converts the USB sound device to the output standby state, and 'WaveOutPrepareBuffer' is a temporary phone call to be output. Save, and 'WaveOutWrite' lets you output a temporarily stored phone call through the speaker of your USB phone.

The above description is merely an example of an embodiment, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the appended utility model registration claims. For example, the shape and structure of each component specifically shown in the embodiment of the present invention can be modified.

The Internet phone control apparatus of the present invention as described above is to handle the phone call sound and the general sound separately, and thus, it is possible to freely make a phone call using the Internet while performing other programs requiring a sound card, such as a game. There is.

Claims (2)

In the Internet telephone control device, A USB sound device connected to a USB port of a computer device and providing an interface between an Internet telephone and an Internet telephone control device for supporting voice calls using the Internet; After setting the USB sound device as an I / O device dedicated to Internet telephony, in order to support an Internet telephony call, a USB module which controls the API module and the USB sound device to interwork by calling an API module related to voice input / output. Internet telephone control device comprising a sound control unit. The method of claim 1, wherein the USB sound control unit When an internet phone call is initiated, the USB sound device is converted into a standby state for voice input / output, and then the voice stored in the API module related to the voice output is output to the Internet phone through the USB sound device, and the Internet phone Internet phone control device, characterized in that for controlling to deliver the voice input via the API module associated with the voice input.