KR20040039603A - System and method for providing ringback tone - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system and method for providing ringback tones is provided to output text and picture information as well as a preset voice to a caller's terminal at a ringback tone time. CONSTITUTION: A system for providing ringback tones consists of a control part(41), a web access part(42), an information storage part(43), a data synthesis part(44), a network access part(45), and a switching part(46). The control part(41) is connected with each part through a control bus(47). The web access part(42) provides a webpage to provide a ringback tone service to a user's PC. The information storage part(43) stores user information and ringback tone information, composed of text ringback tones, picture ringback tones, and voice ringback tones. The data synthesis part(44) converts ringback tone information, provided from the information storage part(43), in the form of data having an appointed data format and sends the converted data to the switching part(46). The network access part(45) transmits a control signal, supplied from an exchange(30), to the control part(41), and sends ringback tone information, supplied from the switching part(46). the exchange(30). The switching part(46) transmits the data-formatted ringback tone information, supplied from the data synthesis part(44), to the exchange(30) through the network access part(45), based on a control signal from the control part(41).

Description

Ring back tone providing system and method thereof

The present invention relates to a ringback tone providing system and a method for providing a voice signal and a text / video signal set by a called party to a caller's communication terminal at a ringback tone time.

In general, the caller dials the called party's communication terminal number to talk to the called party, and a ring signal is generated by the called party's communication terminal, and a ringback tone signal is provided by the caller's communication terminal. Then, the called party sets his communication terminal to the on state, so that the caller and the called party make a call through the communication terminal.

At this time, the ringback tone signal is provided to the sender's communication terminal at the exchange, and takes about 3 to 10 seconds, and a constant tone is always provided to the caller's communication terminal, for example, "following". However, the same ringback tone that you hear on each call makes the caller feel monotonous.

On the other hand, the age group of users who use a communication terminal is gradually getting lower, and users are demanding to receive fresher services. In recent years, a ringback tone service has been provided to transmit a specific sound such as an advertisement or a song to a caller's communication terminal in a ringback tone time.

That is, the conventional ringback tone service provides only a voice signal to the caller's communication terminal. However, at present, most communication terminals are configured to include a display window that can display and output text or images as well as audio output. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to provide not only voice but also text and image information in ringback tone time.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a ringback tone providing system and method for displaying and outputting text and image information as well as voice transmission set by the called party to the caller's communication terminal during ringback tone time. There is a technical purpose in providing.

1 is a system schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a ring back tone providing system according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the functional separation of the internal configuration of the ringback tone providing device 40 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data format of ringback tone information generated by the data synthesizing section 44 shown in FIG.

4 is a diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of the calling party terminal 10 shown in FIG.

5 is a view for explaining the operation of the ringback tone providing system according to the present invention.

******* Brief description of the main parts of the drawing *******

10: calling terminal, 20: called terminal,

30: exchanger, 40: ringback tone providing device,

41: control unit, 42: web connection unit,

43: information storage unit, 44: data synthesis unit,

45: network connection, 46: switching unit,

47: control bus.

The ringback tone providing system according to the first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is combined with an exchange that establishes a call path between the calling party terminal and the called party terminal period, and provides ringback tone information to the calling party terminal through the exchange at a ringback tone time. A ringback tone providing system comprising a ringback tone providing device, wherein the ringback tone providing device comprises network connection means for performing data transmission and reception with a switch, and ringback tone voice information and text / image information provided by a user. Ring back tone information storage means stored in correspondence with the user's terminal number, data synthesis for converting ring back tone voice information and ring back tone character / image information stored in the ring back tone information storage means into ring back tone information having a data format Means, ringback tone voice / character stored corresponding to called party terminal number information applied from an exchange in said ringback tone information storage means; And control means for providing image information to the data synthesizing means and controlling ring back tone information generated by the data synthesizing means to the exchange, wherein the calling terminal is provided with ringback tones for a ringback tone time from the exchange. The information is divided into voice information and text / image information, and the text / image information is displayed and output, and the voice information is configured to output voice.

In addition, the ringback tone providing method according to the second aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is combined with the exchange to set the call path of the calling party terminal and the called party terminal period, ringback tone information to the calling party terminal through the exchange at the ringback tone time In the ringback tone providing method of the ringback tone providing system comprising a ringback tone providing device for providing a, Ringback tone information storage step of storing the voice information and text / image information provided from the user to correspond to the terminal number of the user The information reading step of reading voice information and text / image information stored corresponding to the terminal number on the basis of the called terminal number information provided from the exchange according to the call connection request from the calling terminal, the information reading step Ringback tone information generation unit for converting voice and text / image information into ringback tone information in a data form having a predetermined data format Ringback tone information providing step of providing ring back tone information generated in the ring back tone information generation step to a calling terminal at a ring back tone time through an exchange, and providing ring back tone information applied from the exchange at the calling terminal to voice information and text / It is characterized in that it comprises a ring back tone information output step of separating the image information, the audio information is audio output and the text / image information is displayed and output.

That is, according to the present invention, instead of listening to the monotonous ringback tone during the call with the called party, the caller can not only listen to a good sound but also receive a text message and good image information set by the called party. It becomes possible to provide ring back tone service.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following, the sender and the called party express the user separately from the call point.

1 is a system schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a ring back tone providing system according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ringback tone providing system according to the present invention comprises a switch 30 which forms a communication path by performing call processing between the calling party terminal 10 and the called party terminal 20, and the exchange 30 is provided to the exchanger 30. It is composed of a ringback tone providing device 40 is coupled to provide a text and video and audio signal set by the called party to the caller terminal 10 in the ringback tone time.

Here, the switch 30 provides the called party's called number to the ringback tone providing device 40 in response to the caller's call connection request, and transmits ringback tone information applied from the ringback tone providing device 40 to the caller terminal 10. When the call is connected between the calling party terminal 10 and the called party terminal 20, the connection with the ringback tone providing device 40 is terminated.

In addition, the caller terminal 10 and the called terminal 20 is a communication terminal that can perform voice communication with the other party through a wired or wireless communication network such as a PSTN network, a wireless communication network, the Internet, or a VoIP network. A communication terminal is provided with a display window for displaying and outputting image data.

In addition, the ringback tone providing device 40 is coupled with the user's computer device through the Internet to receive and store ringback tone information from the user in advance, and the ringback tone set by the user for the call connection request to the user's communication terminal. And provide information to the communication terminal of the user who requested the call connection.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functional separation of the internal configuration of the ringback tone providing device 40 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ring back tone providing apparatus 40 includes a control unit 41, a web connection unit 42, an information storage unit 43, a data synthesis unit 44, a network connection unit 45, and a switching unit ( 46, the control unit 41 and each device is coupled via a control bus 47.

The control unit 41 controls the overall operation of the ringback tone providing apparatus 40, and in particular, stores the ringback tone information of the user provided through the web connection unit 42 in the information storage unit 43, the exchanger 30 The ringback tone information stored in the information storage unit 43 is searched / read based on the called party number information applied from the data storage unit 43, and provided to the data synthesis unit 44, and the information generated by the data synthesis unit 44 is exchanged. Will be controlled to be sent.

The web connection unit 42 is for connecting to a user's computer device through the Internet, and provides a predetermined web page for providing a ringback tone service to the user's computer device, and controls the information provided from the user's computer device. 41). In this case, the web connection unit 42 may be configured to store information provided from the computer device of the user directly in the information storage unit 43.

The information storage unit 43 stores the user's terminal number, that is, the caller's personal information for each called party's called terminal number and ringback tone information including ringback tone character / ringback tone image / ringback tone voice. At this time, the ring back tone image information becomes moving image or still image information. In addition, the ringback tone character / ringback tone image / ringback tone voice information transmitted for the calling number may be set differently, and the ringback tone information for each time zone may be set differently.

The data synthesizing unit 44 converts the ringback tone information provided from the information storage unit 43 into a predetermined data format, converts the ring back tone information into a data format suitable for transmission with the exchanger, and transmits the data to the switching unit 46. At this time, the data format includes a calling number and ringback tone content information, as shown in FIG. 3, and the ringback tone content information indicates a start signal, text / picture information, text / picture information indicating the start of ringback tone text / picture information. End signal indicating end, ringback tone voice information.

The network connection unit 45 is a device for performing data transmission / reception processing with the exchanger 30. In particular, the network connection unit 45 transmits a control signal provided from the exchanger 30 to the control unit 41, and a ringback tone applied from the switching unit 46. The information is sent to the exchange 30.

The switching unit 46 sends ringback tone information of the data format as shown in FIG. 3 applied from the data synthesizing unit 44 to the exchanger 30 through the network connection unit 45 based on the control signal of the control unit 41. Done.

Meanwhile, the ringback tone control device 10 transmits ringback tone text / image information and ringback tone voice information together as shown in FIG. 3 in providing ringback tone information to a caller's communication terminal, and output methods are different. A predetermined start signal and an end signal are inserted to separate text / image information and voice information. Therefore, the caller terminal 10 for receiving the ringback tone service according to the present invention should be configured to detect the start signal and the end signal.

Figure 4 schematically shows the internal configuration of the calling terminal 10 applied to the present invention. That is, the caller terminal 10 is composed of an interface 11 for transmitting and receiving data through the exchange 30, a plurality of keys, in particular, a key input unit 12 for executing a call number input and a call connection request command, and voice. Voice signal processing unit 13 comprising a speaker 13a for transmitting a signal and a microphone 13b for receiving a caller's voice, a display unit 14, and an exchanger 30 for displaying and outputting predetermined text or image information. In addition to performing normal call control with the ringback tone information detection unit 15 which separates text / image information and voice information from the ring back tone information applied from the caller terminal 10, and the called party's terminal 10, an exchange (e.g. 30 provides ringback tone information to be applied to the ringback tone information detection unit 15, and the character / image information detected by the ringback tone information detection unit 15 is displayed and output through the display unit 14, and the ringback tone information detection unit 15 is provided. Voice detected from Through the viewing speaker (13a) is configured to include the call control unit 16 to control to an audio output.

Next, the operation of the ringback tone providing system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the user connects to the ringback tone providing device 40 using his computer device. At this time, the ringback tone providing apparatus 40 is coupled to the user's computer device through the web connection unit 42, and provides a predetermined web page for providing the ringback tone service to the computer device. The user transmits ringback tone information, such as his / her terminal number (called terminal number at the time of call) and personal information such as name and address, ringback tone character / ringback tone image / ringback tone voice information, etc. to the ringback tone providing device 40. to provide. The control unit 41 of the ringback tone providing device 40 performs ringback tone information registration processing by storing ringback tone information of the user provided from the web connection unit 42 in the information storage unit 47 (ST1).

In the above state, when the caller dials the called number through the calling terminal 10 to make a call connection request to the switch 30 (ST2), the switch 30 requests a call connection provided from the calling terminal 10. The calling / calling number information is read from the information, and the read calling / calling number information is sent to the ringback tone providing device 40 (ST3).

The caller / called number information applied to the ringback tone providing device 40 is provided to the control unit 41 through the network connection unit 45, and the control unit 41 is applied from the exchange unit 30 in the information storage unit 43. In addition to retrieving the called number, ringback tone information stored corresponding to the retrieved called number is read out (ST4). In this case, the ringback tone information includes ringback tone voice information and text / image information.

Then, the control unit 41 of the ringback tone providing device 40 provides the ringback tone information read in step ST4 to the exchanger 30 (ST6). In this case, the ringback tone providing apparatus 40 generates the data format shown in FIG. 3 by using the calling number and ringback tone information received in step ST3, and converts the data format into a data type suitable for transmission. It is sent to the exchange 30.

Meanwhile, the exchange 30 transmits ringback tone information applied from the ringback tone providing device 40 to the calling party terminal 10 (ST6).

In addition, the calling party terminal 10 provides ring back tone information applied from the exchange 30 to the ring back tone information detection unit 15 to separately detect ring back tone character / image information and ring back tone voice information. Subsequently, the ringback tone text / image information is displayed and output through the display unit 14, and the ringback tone voice signal is output through the speaker 13a. That is, the ringback tone voice set by the called party is output to the caller terminal 10 at the ringback tone time, and the character or image information set by the called party is displayed and output (ST7).

In addition, the exchange 30 makes a call connection request to the called party terminal 20 corresponding to the calling party terminal provided with the ringback tone information while transmitting the ringback tone signal to the calling party terminal 10 (ST8). At this time, a ring signal sounds to the called party terminal 20.

When the called party sets the called party terminal 20 in the off-hook state in the above state and a predetermined off-hook signal is applied from the called party terminal 20 to the switch 30 (ST9), the switch 30 receives the called terminal ( On the basis of the off-hook signal applied from 20) the ringback tone termination information is sent to the ringback tone providing device 40, and the connection with the ringback tone providing device 40 is stopped for the corresponding calling number. Then, the ringback tone providing device 40 performs ringback tone service end processing such as generating ringback tone information for the corresponding calling number and ending transmission based on the ringback tone end information applied from the exchange 30 (ST11). ).

In addition, the exchange 30 performs a call connection process between the calling party terminal 10 and the called party terminal 20 based on the off-hook signal applied from the called party terminal 20 to perform a normal call (ST13). ).

That is, according to the embodiment, the voice set in advance by the called party is output to the calling terminal during the ringback tone time, and text / image information is displayed and output.

Therefore, instead of listening to the monotonous ringback tone during the call with the called party, the caller can not only listen to a good sound but also receive a text message and good visual information set by the called party. It becomes possible to provide.

On the other hand, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, instead of listening to the monotonous ringback tone during the call with the called party, the caller can not only hear a good sound but also receive a text message and good visual information set by the called party. It will be possible to provide a fresher ringback tone service.

Claims (6)

In a ringback tone providing system, comprising a ringback tone providing device coupled with an exchange that sets a call path between a calling party terminal and a called party terminal period, and provides ringback tone information to the calling terminal terminal through the exchange at a ringback tone time. The ring back tone providing apparatus includes a network connection means for performing data transmission and reception with an exchanger, ring back tone information storage means for storing ring back tone voice information and text / image information provided by a user corresponding to a user's terminal number, and ring back tone Data synthesizing means for converting ring back tone voice information and ring back tone character / image information stored in the information storage means into ring back tone information in a data form having a predetermined data format, and called party terminal number information applied from an exchange in the ring back tone information storage means; And control means for providing ring back tone voice / text / image information stored correspondingly to the data synthesizing means and transmitting ring back tone information generated in the data synthesizing means to the exchange. And the caller terminal is configured to separate ringback tone information provided during the ringback tone time from the exchange into voice information and text / image information to display and output text / image information and to output voice information. The method of claim 1, The ring back tone providing apparatus includes a web connection means for coupling to a computer device of the user and the Internet, and the control means is configured to store ring back tone information of the user authorized through the web connection means in the ring back tone information storage means. Ringback tone providing system characterized by. The method of claim 1, The data conversion means of the ring back tone providing apparatus generates a data format in order of a start signal, text / image information, end signal, and voice information. And the caller terminal comprises information detecting means for detecting a start signal and an end signal from ring back tone information applied from an exchange and separating text / image information and voice information. Ring back tone providing method of ring back tone providing system, including ring back tone providing device which is combined with exchange which sets call route of calling terminal and called terminal terminal, and provides ring back tone information to calling terminal through exchange in ringback tone time To A ringback tone information storing step of storing voice information and text / image information provided from the user so as to correspond to the terminal number of the user; An information reading step of reading voice information and text / image information stored corresponding to the corresponding terminal number based on the called terminal number information provided from the exchange according to a call connection request from the calling terminal; A ringback tone information generation step of converting the voice and text / image information read out in the information reading step into ringback tone information having a data format; A ringback tone information providing step of providing the ringback tone information generated in the ringback tone information generation step to a calling terminal at a ringback tone time through an exchange; And a ringback tone information output step of dividing the ringback tone information applied from the exchange into the voice information and the text / image information in the calling terminal and outputting the voice information and displaying and outputting the text / image information. How to provide ringback tone. The method of claim 4, wherein The ringback tone information storing step is a ringback tone providing method characterized in that receiving the ringback tone voice information and text / image information to be provided from the user's computer device through the Internet. The method of claim 4, wherein The ring back tone information generating step generates a data format in order of a start signal, text / image information, end signal, and voice information. The ringback tone providing method in the ringback tone information output step, characterized in that for outputting the separated character / image information and voice information based on the detection of the start signal and the end signal.