KR20040096721A - The apparatus and method of voice conference funcion for on-line game service with the basis of internet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device and a method for offering a voice conference service for an Internet based online service are provided to offer fast/high quality one-to-one voice communication service and multi-user voice conference service by converting voice into a PCM(Pulse Coded Modulation) mode and installing a software based mixer on an access control network of an ISP(Internet Service Provider). CONSTITUTION: The mixer generates a new voice conference group, or adds a subscriber to a present group, and performs service withdrawal/termination by a request of the subscriber(110). The mixer transmits the mixed voice to other subscriber by performing a mix-minus voice mixing process. A mixer load relay uniformly assigns the request to the mixer having the small load or transfers the request to the mixer requested from the subscriber. A client API(Application Programming Interface) module(150) is connected to the mixer by linking with a client program of the subscriber and records/transmits/plays the voice of the subscriber. The access control network of the ISP(300) connects an online service center(310), the mixer, the mixer load relay, and the subscriber.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing a voice conference service for an online service based on the Internet,

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for providing a voice service capable of real-time voice conferencing for combining with an Internet-based online service such as an online game or a shopping mall.

Currently, the domestic high-speed Internet network infrastructure is at a global level, and the number of subscribers of Internet access service has already exceeded 10 million. In addition to the existing ADSL, cable network, and Internet line service, wireless LAN and VDSL Various services are provided. Based on this rich Internet network infrastructure, domestic Internet based services are growing year by year, and many developers are developing and supplying various types of services. The existing Internet-related services provided free services to subscribers, securing a large number of subscribers and selling banner advertisements. However, due to the limitations of the banner advertisement market and the difficulty in steadily generating revenue, It is a trend to provide new and various paid services. A variety of services have been developed, such as pay-per-view services for clubs and online games, avatar sales, remote education solutions, Internet shopping malls, and Internet broadcasting including VOD (Video On Demand) A multi-media based Internet service combining voice and video is being developed.

Meanwhile, the Internet network designed for initial data transmission has evolved into a broadband integrated network capable of simultaneously transmitting multimedia signals such as voice and video according to the development of communication technology and users' demands. In order to replace the PSTN, a voice call service based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is being provided. VoIP, by using the Internet network established by Internet service providers, was able to provide voice telephony services at low cost compared with free or existing PSTN public telephones even if there is a problem in convenience of use or voice quality, The cost of voice has been lowered at a faster rate than that of conventional telephones. However, recently, there has been an increase in the number of existing services such as free call service provided by telephone service providers and price cut service The advantages of price are reduced compared with the telephone service, and the problem of voice quality due to the use of the data communication network is not solved. Therefore, it is introduced only in a limited area such as the connection of the enterprise overseas or local branch office.

The present invention relates to a VoIP service, which is developed to replace the existing PSTN voice telephone market by combining a voice conference service with an Internet-based online service and creating a variety of Internet- To enable voice call and conferencing services to be used without additional equipment and to provide a voice conference service device in the access control network of the Internet service provider to enable stable use of higher quality voice service.

Conventional VoIP voice communication service compresses voice signal through channel setting between end points based on IP address and delivers voice packet data. Voice compression technology overcomes the problem of using fixed bandwidth of 64kbps in existing telephone network, It is possible to provide a voice call service using a small bandwidth according to the compression codec. VoIP is not currently in a single standard, and technology-related standardization work is under way between the Telecommunication Association and the related industries, centered on ITU-T and IETF, and ITU-T is working on various standards based on H.323 system And IETF is proceeding with standardization based on SIP similar to HTTP. A single standardization work called H.248 / MEGACO is underway in combination with IETF MGCP standard and ITU-T H.248 .

Currently, the VoIP service that is provided in Korea has a method of installing a VoIP GW between terminations of a subscriber, connecting a PBX or a telephone to a GW to use a VoIP service, and all the subscribers' There is a way of connecting to PSTN public network through service. The former can only make a VoIP call between terminals, and only a line connected to GW can use a VoIP service, and a dedicated line is required to be installed separately for stable service. In the latter case, all the lines connected to the PBX can use the VoIP service, and there is no burden for installing a separate line, but the current service cost is less advantageous than the existing PSTN line. On the other hand, VoIP uses a data communication network instead of a dedicated network for voice communication, so that voice call quality is affected by traffic of the network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transmitting a voice of a subscriber without using a separate voice compression / In order to simplify the call setup procedure for voice transmission / reception between service subscribers, the IP address information of the service subscribers registered in the client and the server program of the company that intends to establish an Internet- And to provide a fast and secure high quality one-to-one voice communication and a multi-party voice conference service by confirming end-to-end positions and installing a software-based mixer in an access control network of an Internet service provider (ISP).

1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration of a voice conference service for an Internet-based online service;

2 shows an online service center configuration using a voice conference function

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a mixer minus mixer

4 is a flowchart illustrating a voice transmission process between a mixer and a voice conference client

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of processing a voice conference service

Description of the Related Art [0002]

100: service client 110: subscriber

150: voice conference client API module 200: access network

210: access server 300: ISP access control network

310: online service center 320: service server

330: server API module 340: service management system

350: Mixer load repeater 360: Mix-minus voice mixing

process

361: UDP receiving module 362: Voice input queue

363: mix minus mixing 364: audio output queue

365: UDP sending module 370: Mixer

As a means for achieving the object of the present invention, an apparatus for providing a voice conference service for an Internet-based online service according to the present invention comprises:

A new voice conference group is created or a subscriber is added to or removed from an existing voice conference group, a service is terminated, and a mix-minus voice mixing process for voice conference service is performed to receive the synthesized voice A mixer for transmitting the high-quality voice to the other subscribers without passing through a separate voice compression and decompression process with a minimum transmission delay time;

It manages the state of the voice conference group and the mixer generated in the mixer, and assigns the request of the service subscriber to the mixer evenly to the mixer with low load, or includes the existing group in which the subscriber wishes to participate in the voice conference, A mixer load repeater for forwarding a request of a subscriber to a mixer that is in charge of the mixer;

A connection control network of an Internet service provider (ISP) connecting the online service center, a mixer, a mixer load repeater, and a plurality of online service subscriber clients;

A voice conference client API module that integrates with a client program provided by an online service provider to a subscriber to connect to a mixer so as to use a voice conference service, and to record, transmit, and play back voice of a service subscriber;

And a server API module integrated with a server program of an online service provider to transmit a voice conference request of a subscriber and IP address information of a subscriber stored in a server to a mixer and transmit a response of the mixer to a service server.

Also, a method of providing a service using the apparatus for providing an audio conference service, configured as described above,

An arbitrary Internet-based online service subscriber activates a client program for an online service, requests a group creation for a new voice conference using an interface for voice conference provided by the program, or requests participation in an existing voice conference group A first step of requesting a voice conference service of the first party;

A second step of delivering a subscriber's IP address and a request to a mixer load repeater using an interface of a voice conference server API module provided in the online service server that has accepted the request of step 1;

In response to a request from a subscriber, a message is transmitted to a mixer having a low load according to a subscriber's request, or a message is transmitted to a mixer in which an existing voice conference group exists. , And 3) delivering the subscriber's request for termination;

4 steps to create a voice conference group in the request forwarded to the mixer, receive subscriber information for joining or leaving a subscriber as an existing group, or ending a voice conference, and transmitting the result to a service server via a mixer load repeater ;

A fifth step of confirming a response of the mixer input to the server of the online service provider and delivering the response to the voice conference client API module through the service client;

By using the response information of the mixer transmitted to the service client integrated with the voice conference client API module, a UDP connection for voice conference is created between the mixer installed in the access control network of the Internet service provider (ISP) and the subscriber, A sixth step of providing a voice conference service;

If the subscriber terminates the voice conferencing service of the mixer due to the termination of the service or a network problem, the mixer transfers the voice conferencing service to the online service server through the mixer load repeater to exclude the subscriber from the voice conferencing service, In the first step,

All message delivery is transferred to the mixer through the server of the service provider and the voice conference server API module through the mixer load relay. However, after the connection is established, the actual voice data is directly connected to the mixer through the voice conference client API module .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for providing a voice conference service in an Internet-based online service according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a network configuration of a voice conference service for an Internet-based online service provider according to the present invention. Each subscriber 110 subscribed to each Internet service provider (ISP) that provides online service is a PSTN / ISDN or xDSL The access server 210 accesses the access control server 300 through an access network 200 such as a wireless network, a cable accessory, and an optical cable. The access server 210 accesses the access control network 300 having an on- To an Internet service provider (ISP). Accordingly, the service subscriber 110 using the Internet service using the voice conference function can access the online service center 300 located in the access control network 300 of the Internet service provider (ISP) And an online service based on a voice conference in cooperation with the Internet 51 can be used. The online service center 310 can be installed in the access control network of a general-purpose Internet network or an Internet service provider (ISP) according to the network construction environment of the service provider. Also, the online service center 310 can provide high- The conference service can be provided stably without interruption, and the existing online service can also provide a more stable service based on the high-quality network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an online service center, which includes a service management system 340 configured with an online service subscriber management, a billing management, a network management system for managing the status of each server providing the service, and the like.

An online service server 320 that provides an online service and provides a voice conference function to a service subscriber using the voice conference server API module 330;

Monitors the network status of each mixer 370, the service subscriber capacity and the voice conference group, requests the voice conference service request from the subscriber to request a new voice conference group to be created in the mixer with a small load, A mixer load repeater 350 for transmitting a request such as service participation, withdrawal, or service termination to a mixer to which the group belongs, and transmitting a response of the mixer according to the delivered request to the service server 320;

A voice conference service such as subscriber participation, withdrawal, service termination, and the like is performed in an existing voice conference group, and a voice conference client API module (hereinafter referred to as " 150 and a UDP connection for voice transmission to perform a Mix-Minus voice mixing process 360 and deliver the UDP connection to other subscribers in the group.

In this embodiment, FIG. 3 shows what voice data is delivered to a service subscriber due to the structure of the mixer and the mix-and-minus voice mixing process. That is, when four voice conference service subscribers 110 are denoted by A, B, C, and D, respectively, and they simultaneously transmit a voice message, the mixer 370 transmits a voice conference through the UDP receiving module 361 The voice data of the service subscribers is stored in the voice input queue 362 and then synthesized in the order inputted to the queue through the mix minus mixing 363 and stored in the voice output queue 364, Module 365 to the other subscribers. In the mix-and-minus mixing procedure 360, when the voice messages sent by the respective service subscribers are A, B, C, and D, the subscriber A 11 transmits voice messages A of the other subscribers Messages B, C, and D can be received.

4 is a block diagram illustrating a process in which a voice of a voice conference service subscriber is transmitted to another subscriber through a mixer.

When the voice conference service subscriber 110 transmits an arbitrary message to use the voice conference service, the voice conference service client 111 records (111) voice of the subscriber in real time and stores (112) in the voice queue, After the preprocessing process 113 is performed to convert the data packet into a necessary data packet format, the data is stored in a voice queue 114 and transmitted from the internet UDP transmission module 116 to the mixer 115 and read from the voice queue of the mixer 117). The mixer reads the voice of the service subscriber from the voice queue, saves the voice through the mix-minus mixing process 118 back to the voice queue 119, and transmits 120 the voice to the other service subscriber. The voice data received through the Internet UDP receiving module 121 is stored in the voice queue at the client of the voice conference service subscriber, and then played back (122) sequentially. In transmitting the voice of the service subscriber, compression and restoration processes using the codec are not performed, thereby minimizing the transmission delay time of the voice by reducing the computing time of the mixer and the voice conference client API module, Quality voice conference service.

5 is a flowchart of a service providing method using a voice conference service system.

That is, when an online service developer or the like who intends to use the audio conference service first makes an application 401 for a voice conference service, a server API module and a voice conference client API (402), configures an Internet online program in which a voice conference service is supported, and registers server information of a service using company in a mixer load repeater (403).

After the registration process of the subscriber is completed as described above, the online service subscriber activates the client program to request a group creation for a new voice conference using an interface for voice conference provided by the program, And terminates the service to the online service server (404), and the server that receives the request transmits the request of the subscriber to the mixer load repeater (405) using the voice conference server API module. The mixer load repeater creates a new voice conference group in the mixer with a low load according to the subscriber's request or transmits a message to the mixer to which the existing voice conference group belongs so that the subscriber can end the participation, , The mixer performs a voice conference service according to the transmitted request (408), transmits the response result to the mixer load repeater, and transmits the response result to the subscriber through the service server. The service subscriber uses the response information of the mixer 410 to create a new UDP connection or terminates the existing connection to use the voice conference service 411. If the voice conferencing service is terminated or the connection is broken due to a network problem (407), it is forwarded to the service server (409) to exclude the subscriber from the voice conferencing service group and reflect this to the voice conferencing system.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a system and method for providing service to a service developer, comprising: a mixer located in an access control network of an Internet service provider (ISP) to provide a voice conference function; a mixer load repeater for evenly distributing requests of service subscribers to a mixer; Server application programming interface (API) module for integrating with a server and delivering a subscriber's voice conference service request to a mixer load repeater and a service client to create a mixer and a UDP connection and to record, A voice chat client API module is configured to exchange voice chat with a game service subscriber while playing an online game or to exchange information about a product together with a manager of a shopping mall or other subscribers while purchasing a product at an online shopping mall,

In transmitting the voice of the subscriber, it is converted into a PCM (Pulse Coded Modulation) method instead of a separate voice compression and decompression process to reduce the bandwidth, and a client and a server program By using the IP address information of the registered service subscribers to identify the end-to-end location, and installing the software-based mixer in the access control network of the Internet service provider (ISP), fast and secure high-quality one- There is a good effect that can provide.

Claims (4)

A mix-minus voice mixing process for a voice conference service by performing a request for a service subscriber 110, creating a new voice conference group, adding a subscriber to an existing group, A mixer 370 for transmitting the synthesized voice to other subscribers and transmitting the high quality voice at a minimum transmission delay time without performing a separate voice compression and decompression process; And manages the state of the voice conference group and the mixer generated in the mixer 370 to allocate the request of the service subscriber to the mixer evenly to the mixer with less load or transmit the request of the subscriber 110 to the mixer according to the request of the subscriber A mixer load repeater 350; An audio conferencing client API module 150 connected to the mixer 370 so as to use the audio conferencing service in cooperation with the client program of the online service subscriber 110 and capable of recording, transmitting and reproducing the voice of the service subscriber; ; A server API for transmitting a voice conference request of the subscriber 110 and the location information of the subscriber stored in the server to the mixer 370 in cooperation with the server program of the online service developer and delivering a response of the mixer to the service server 320 A module 330; The connection control network 300 of the Internet service provider (ISP) connecting the online service center 310 with the mixer 370, the mixer load repeater 350 and the online service subscriber 110, And an Internet-based on-line service. The method of claim 1, wherein each subscriber (110) subscribing to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) Connected to the access server 210 via an access network 200, such as a PSTN / ISDN or xDSL or wireless network or optical axis cable; The access server 210 is connected to an Internet service provider (ISP) providing an Internet access service through an online service network, that is, an access control network 300 having an online service center according to the present invention; Therefore, the subscriber 11 subscribed to the online service using the voice conference function can access the online service center 310 located in the access control network 300 of the Internet service provider (ISP) by using the game client installed in his computer system And providing an online service and a voice conference function to the subscriber in cooperation with the Internet service provider. A method for providing a service using a voice conference service providing apparatus, A step 1 in which an on-line Internet-based online service subscriber requests a service for voice conference; A second step of the online service server accepting the request to transmit the subscriber's IP address and the request to the mixer load repeater; A third step of delivering a message to a mixer 10 having a low load according to a request of a service subscriber in a mixer load repeater to perform a new voice conference service or delivering a message to a mixer requested by a subscriber; A fourth step of performing an appropriate service according to the request inputted to the mixer and delivering the result to the service server via the mixer load repeater; A fifth step of confirming a response of the mixer inputted to the server of the online service provider and delivering the response to the voice conference client API module through the service client, Mix-Minus of the Mixer Delivered to the Service Client Integrated with the Voice Conferencing Client API Module Using the response information from the voice mixing process, the mixer and the subscriber installed in the access control network of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) A sixth step of providing a higher quality voice conference service by generating a UDP connection for voice conference; If the subscriber terminates the voice conferencing service of the mixer due to the termination of the service or a network problem, the mixer transfers the voice conferencing service to the online service server through the mixer load repeater to exclude the subscriber from the voice conferencing service, The method of claim 1, wherein the step of repeating step 5 is repeated every time the subscriber joins and terminates the service. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the Mix-Minus speech mixing process (360) Each subscriber who subscribes to the online service transmits his / her voice to the mixer 370 using the UDP receiving module 361 provided to the client program; Receiving voice of each subscriber 110 transmitted to the mixer 370 and receiving voice data of a voice conference service subscriber; Mixing and minus mixing (363) of storing the voice data in the voice input queue (362) and then mixing only the voice of other subscribers except the voice sent by any subscriber in the order inputted to the queue; And transmitting the mixed voice to the subscriber through the UDP transmission module 365 by storing the mixed voice in the voice output queue 364 and transmitting the mixed voice to the subscriber so that only the voice of the subscriber other than the voice of the subscriber Wherein the method comprises the steps of: