KR20080007786A - Apparatus and method for telephone connection relay - Google Patents

Abstract

A telephone connection relay device and a method therefor are provided to receive both voice calls and Internet calls, and to easily enable telephone connection with a receiving party as easily carrying out conversion between the voice calls and the Internet calls. A telephone number selection module(110) searches an external storage device(300) which stores information on a telephone number or a telephone connection request if the request is inputted from a sending user, selects an Internet telephone number as a telephone number to be used for telephone connection if the Internet telephone number for a receiving party is confirmed, and selects a telephone number of a mobile communication network as the telephone number for the telephone connection if the Internet telephone number is not confirmed. A telephone connection module(120) conducts the telephone connection between the sending user's telephone and the receiving party, depending on whether attributes of a received telephone number refer to an Internet call or a call using the mobile communication network.

Description

Dial-up relay device and method therefor {Apparatus and Method for telephone connection relay}

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a dial-up relay apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a public telephone network telephone having a telephone connection relay function according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a mobile communication terminal having a telephone connection relay function according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart for schematically illustrating a dial-up relaying method according to a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

5 is a flowchart for schematically illustrating a dial-up process according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a dial-up relay apparatus for using both a voice telephone and an internet telephone, and a method therefor.

In the past, in order to communicate by voice with a remote counterpart, a PSTN telephone that can communicate with each other through a public telephone network (PSTN) has to be used. Recently, mobile communication terminals using wireless mobile communication networks have also been used.

The mobile communication network establishes or leases its own network separately for each service provider, apart from the PSTN network, and communicates between the PSTN telephone and the mobile terminal by adding an interworking service with the PSTN network based on the communication between the mobile communication terminals. Is making it possible.

However, when making a call through a PSTN network or a mobile communication network, additional call costs are incurred according to the use of each network, which incurs a great burden on the users of the PSTN phone or the mobile communication terminal.

In recent years, many people have used low-cost Internet phones. In general, Internet telephones are also called IP telephones, which digitally encode analog voice signals and deliver them to other parties through IP networks (packet communication networks) rather than circuit switched networks. For this purpose, Internet phone digitizes analog voice signal and compresses 64kbps signal and transmits it through packet network using transmission standardization protocol such as H.323.

However, since a conventional voice phone such as a PSTN phone and a mobile communication terminal does not have an Internet phone function and cannot make an Internet phone, there is a disadvantage in that a separate terminal or PC must be used to use an Internet phone.

In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a means and a method capable of accommodating both a voice telephone and an internet telephone such as a public telephone network or a mobile communication terminal.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a means and method for easily making a telephone connection with a called party while easily switching between the telephones in using both a voice telephone and an internet telephone.

Telephone connection relay apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object,

Upon receiving a dial-up request from a calling user, the device searches for an external storage device that stores the dial-up request or information on the telephone number. If the Internet telephone number for the called party is confirmed, the Internet telephone number is used for dial-up. A telephone number selection module for selecting a telephone number and, if not confirmed, selecting a telephone number of a public telephone network telephone or a mobile telephone network as a telephone number to be used for dial-up; And,

Upon receiving telephone number information to be used for dial-up from the telephone number selection module, the telephone number between the calling user's telephone and the called party's telephone, depending on whether the telephone number is an Internet telephone, a public telephone network or a mobile telephone network. It is configured to include a dial-up module for performing the connection.

In addition, a dial-up relay method for achieving the above object,

Receiving a dial-up request from a user;

Checking whether the dial-up request includes information on an internet phone of the dial-up counterpart, and if not, retrieving information on the other party's internet phone; And,

If there is information on the other party's Internet phone, and attempting to connect to the Internet phone, if there is no information on the other party's Internet phone, it comprises a step of attempting to connect to the general phone of the other party.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the same reference numerals are used for parts having similar functions and functions throughout the drawings.

1 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of a dial-up relay apparatus according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the telephone connection relay apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a telephone number selection module 110 and a telephone connection module 120, and preferably, the display apparatus 200. And a memory unit 300. The display device is a device for informing the calling user of the information on the dial-up process, and typically includes an LCD device, the memory unit 300 is the telephone number of the public telephone network telephone to the called party, the mobile communication terminal A storage device for storing information of any one or more of a telephone number or a telephone number (access number) of an Internet telephone.

In this case, in the preferred embodiment applicable to the present invention, the memory unit 300 may be configured as a separate external device that is distinguished from the dial-up relay device 100.

When the telephone number selection module 110 receives a telephone connection request for the called party who wants to make a phone call from the calling user, the phone number selection module 110 controls to attempt to make an Internet phone call to the called party first. To this end, the telephone number selection module 110 first determines whether the telephone connection request includes information on the Internet telephone number of the called party, and if the telephone number selection module 110 includes the telephone number to be used for the telephone connection with the called party. The number is selected and sent to the dial-up module 120.

In this case, if the call connection request does not include information on the called party's Internet phone number, the phone number selection module 110 collects information on the called party's Internet phone number based on the call connection request. . To this end, the phone number selection module 110 searches for the memory unit 300 storing the phone number information. If the Internet telephone number for the called party is found in the memory unit 300, the phone access module 120 is searched. Selects the Internet telephone number as a telephone number to be used for dial-up with the called party.

That is, even if the telephone connection request includes the telephone number of the called party's voice call, before the telephone number of the voice telephone is selected as the telephone number to be used for the telephone connection, the telephone connection request or the memory unit 300 is stored. When the Internet telephone number for the called party is confirmed through the search, the telephone access module 120 selects the Internet phone number as the phone number to be used for dialing the called party.

When the phone access module 120 receives the phone number information for use in the phone connection with the called party from the phone number selection module 110, whether the property of the phone number is an internet phone, a public telephone network or a mobile phone network. Accordingly, the telephone connection between the calling user's telephone and the called party's telephone is established.

That is, when receiving the information on the Internet phone to the telephone number of the called party for the telephone connection from the dial-up module 120, using the Internet dial-up module 121 performs a dial-up process through the wired / wireless IP network Then, when receiving information on a telephone using a public telephone network telephone or a mobile communication network, the voice telephone connection module 320 is used to perform a telephone connection process to the voice telephone of the called party through the voice telephone network.

2 is a block diagram showing the schematic configuration of a public telephone network telephone having a telephone connection relay function according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the public telephone network telephone according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a control unit 1000, a display device including a management module 130, a phone number selection module 110, and a telephone connection module 120. 200, the memory unit 300, the packet converter 400, the transceiver 500, the handset 600, and the keypad 700 is configured to include.

If the calling user can make a telephone call through the Internet call with the called party, the control unit 1000 first performs a telephone call with the other person's Internet call through the IP network. To this end, the telephone number selection module 110 may be used for dial-up so that a telephone connection with the Internet telephone is made before a telephone connection with the Internet telephone of the called party is possible. The telephone number of the Internet telephone is selected as the telephone number, the dial-up module 120 performs a telephone connection with the called party using the telephone number selected by the telephone number selection module 110, and the management module 130 receives the call. In order to proceed with a telephone call with the other party, a peripheral unit such as a packet converter 400, a transceiver 500, and a handset 600 is managed.

The handset 600 includes a microphone device for inputting the voice of the calling user by the calling user for a phone call with the called user and a speaker device for receiving the voice of the called user.

The display apparatus 200 is an apparatus for outputting to inform the calling user of information related to a telephone connection with a called party and a call progress process. The display apparatus 200 is preferably an LCD apparatus.

The keypad unit 700 is a means for directly inputting information related to a telephone call with the called party from the calling user. In general, the keypad 5000 includes a continuous numeric key from 0 to 9 and a '*' key and a '#' key as function keys for performing a specific function, but a new key is added by a person skilled in the art. Or the configuration may vary.

The packet converter 400 converts a voice path input and output through the handset 2000 into a VoIP packet input and output through an IP network. The packet converter 400 includes a codec unit 410 and an Ethernet physical layer unit 420. do.

The transceiver 500 provides a connection with the LAN or the PSTN so as to make a telephone connection with the called party through the IP network or the voice telephone network (PSTN) according to the instruction of the controller 1000. To this end, the transceiver 500 includes a LAN connector 510 and a PSTN connector 520.

3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a mobile communication terminal having a telephone connection relay function according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

3, the mobile communication terminal according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the management module 130, the telephone number selection module 110, the telephone connection module 120 and the wireless IP network determination unit 140 The control unit 1000 includes a control unit 1000, a display device 200, a memory unit 300, a packet converter 900, a wireless transceiver 800, a handset 600, and a keypad 700.

If the calling user's mobile communication terminal can make a telephone call with the called party's Internet phone via the wireless IP network, the controller 1000 firstly establishes a connection with the other party's Internet phone via the wireless IP network. To this end, the wireless IP network determination unit 140 determines whether the wireless IP network is available in the region where the mobile communication terminal is currently located.

If data communication through the wireless IP network is possible by the wireless IP network determination unit 140, the telephone number selection module 110 determines whether the telephone number for the Internet phone of the called party is known. If the telephone number of the called party's Internet telephone is known, even if the telephone number of the called party's voice telephone is known, the telephone number of the called party's Internet telephone is selected as the telephone number for dial-up, and the dial-up module ( 120 performs a phone connection with the called party by using the phone number selected by the phone number selection module 110, the management module 130 is a packet conversion unit 400, to proceed with the phone call with the called party; It manages peripheral devices such as the wireless transceiver 800 and the handset 600.

The handset 600 includes a microphone device for inputting the voice of the calling user by the calling user for a phone call with the called user and a speaker device for receiving the voice of the called user.

The display apparatus 200 is an apparatus for outputting to inform the calling user of information related to a telephone connection with a called party and a call progress process. The display apparatus 200 is preferably an LCD apparatus.

The keypad unit 700 is a means for directly inputting information related to a telephone call with the called party from the calling user. In general, the keypad 5000 includes a continuous numeric key from 0 to 9 and a '*' key and a '#' key as function keys for performing a specific function, but a new key is added by a person skilled in the art. Or the configuration may vary.

The packet converter 900 may include a codec unit 410 and an Ethernet physical layer unit for converting a voice path input and output through the handset 2000 into a VoIP packet input and output through an IP network or a data format input and output through a mobile communication network. 420.

The wireless transceiver 800 transmits / receives a wireless data signal to enable a telephone connection with a called party through an IP network or a mobile communication network according to an instruction of the controller 1000.

4 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a telephone connection relay method according to a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, a call connection request for a called party is received from a calling user (S400). Such a dial-up request is an access number such as voice telephone number information or a user ID, which is a telephone number of an Internet telephone, such as a telephone number of a public telephone network (PSTN) telephone number and a telephone number of a mobile communication terminal, or the like. In a separate storage device that stores information, the information may be information regarding an entry of the information.

When receiving a dial-up request from the calling user, it is checked whether the dial-up request includes information on the Internet telephone number of the called party (S405). If the dial-up request includes information on the called party's Internet telephone number, a telephone connection is attempted by the Internet telephone (S420).

At this time, if the telephone connection request does not include the information on the Internet telephone number of the called party, the information on the Internet telephone number is retrieved from a separate storage device that stores information on the telephone number (S410). This is to make a telephone call with the called party's Internet telephone first. Even if the dial-up request includes information about the called party's voice telephone number, the Internet connection is made before the voice telephone number is dialed. Retrieve information about phone numbers.

Next, it is determined whether or not the Internet phone number of the called party in the storage device through the step S410 (S415), when information on the Internet phone number of the called party is retrieved, the incoming call using the searched phone number Attempt to dial the other party's Internet phone (S420).

At this time, in a preferred embodiment applicable to the present invention, the process of the steps S410 ~ S420 can be output to the calling user through a separate display device so that the calling user can check, before the steps S415 and S420 The method may further include receiving an instruction regarding whether to proceed with the step from the calling user.

Next, if the Internet phone number for the called party is not found even in the storage device, it is checked whether a call connection request of the calling user and the phone number information of the voice call for the called party are included through the storage device (S425). ). If the phone number information of the voice caller for the called party is found, an attempt is made to dial in to the searched voice call (S435), but if no information is found, the caller is informed that the caller cannot access the call according to the call-up request. (S430).

At this time, in a preferred embodiment applicable to the present invention, the process of the step S435 may be output to the calling user through a separate display device so that the calling user can check, the process of the step before the step S435 Receiving an indication as to whether or not from the calling user may further comprise.

In step S435, when both the PSTN phone of the called party and the phone number of the mobile communication terminal are searched, the priority of attempting a dial-up can be determined by the choice of a person skilled in the art, preferably the calling user. It may be set in advance to be automatically determined based on the information about the call charge between the terminal of the terminal and the terminal of the called user.

In addition, in step S420, when the caller attempts to dial in with the Internet phone of the called party, but the caller does not respond to the call, the caller requests the caller's telephone connection and the voice call to the called party through the storage device. After checking whether the phone number information is included, an additional step of attempting to connect to the retrieved voice call may be added.

5 is a flowchart for schematically illustrating a dial-up process according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the calling user 2000 tries to make a telephone connection with the telephones 4100 and 4200 of the called party 4000 using the voice telephone 3000. At this time, the called party 4000 has both a telephone number (02-123-4567) and a telephone number (010-123-4567) of the mobile communication network terminal as well as an ID (abcd), which is a telephone number of an Internet telephone. have.

First, the calling user 2000 attempts to make a telephone connection with the called party 4000 using the telephone number of the public telephone network telephone or the mobile communication terminal, which is the voice phone 4200 of the called party 4000 (S500). Accordingly, the telephone number of the voice telephone 4200 of the called party 4000 is input to the controller 3100 of the voice telephone 3000 of the calling user 2000.

 Next, the controller 3100 determines whether the received telephone number of the called party 4000 is the telephone number of the Internet phone 4100 of the called party 4000 (S505). Since the telephone number received from the calling user 2000 is not a telephone number of the Internet telephone, the controller 3100 stores the Internet telephone number of the called party of the received telephone number through the storage device 3200. If there is a search, the ID (abcd) which is a searched result value is transmitted (S515).

The controller 3100 that checks the telephone number of the Internet telephone 4100 with respect to the called party 4000 is connected to the voice telephone 3000 of the calling user 2000 and the called party 4000 through the IP network based on the telephone number. A telephone connection is made with the Internet telephone 4100 (S520).

At this time, if the called party 4000 is not currently logged in to the IP network or is busy, and the telephone connection between the voice phone 3000 and the Internet phone 4100 is not possible (S525), the controller 3100 receives the called party 4000. After confirming the telephone number information of the voice telephone 4200, the user establishes a telephone connection between the retrieved voice telephone 4200 of the called party 4000 and the voice telephone 3000 of the calling user 2000 (S530).

The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and it is common in the art that various substitutions, modifications, and changes can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

According to the present invention, not only the voice call and the Internet call can be accommodated, but also the phone call can be easily connected to the called party while easily switching between the voice call and the Internet call.

Claims (16)

Upon receiving a dial-up request from a calling user, the device searches for an external storage device that stores the dial-up request or information on the telephone number. If the Internet telephone number for the called party is confirmed, the Internet telephone number is used for dial-up. A telephone number selection module for selecting a telephone number and, if not confirmed, selecting a telephone number of a public telephone network telephone or a mobile telephone network as a telephone number to be used for dial-up; And, Upon receiving telephone number information to be used for dial-up from the telephone number selection module, the telephone number between the calling user's telephone and the called party's telephone, depending on whether the telephone number is an Internet telephone, a public telephone network or a mobile telephone network. Dial-up relay device comprising a dial-up module for performing a connection. The method of claim 1, A display device for informing a calling user of information about a dial-up process; And, And a storage device for storing information of at least one of a telephone number of a public telephone network telephone, a telephone number of a mobile communication terminal, or a telephone number (access number) of an Internet telephone for a called party. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The dial-up module may include: an internet dial-up module for performing a dial-up process between the calling user and the called party's Internet telephone through a wired / wireless IP network; And, And a voice telephony connection module for performing a telephone connection process between a calling user and a called party's public telephone network or a mobile communication terminal using a public telephone network or a mobile communication network. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The dial-up request is a telephone number of a public telephone network (PSTN) telephone number, a telephone number of a mobile communication terminal, a telephone number of an internet telephone, and a separate storage device for storing information about the telephone number. Dial-up relay device, characterized in that any one or more selected from the related information. If the calling user can make a telephone call with the called party through the Internet telephone, the control unit firstly connects the calling user and the called party's Internet telephone via the IP network; A handset unit including a microphone device for inputting the voice of the calling user by the calling user for a telephone call with the called user and a speaker device for outputting the voice of the called user; A display device which is a device for outputting information related to a telephone call connection and a procedure with a called party to a calling user; A keypad unit for directly receiving information related to a telephone call with a called party from a calling user; And, And a transceiver for providing a connection with a LAN or a public telephone network so as to make a telephone connection with a called party through an IP network or a public telephone network according to the instruction of the controller. The method of claim 5, The control unit, If the telephone number for the called party's Internet telephone is known, the telephone number of the Internet telephone is selected as the telephone number for dialing up before the telephone connection for the voice telephone such as the called party's public telephone network or mobile communication terminal is made. Telephone number selection module; A telephone connection module for performing a telephone connection with a called party by using the telephone number selected by the telephone number selection module; And, And a management module for controlling a peripheral device to conduct a telephone call with a called party. The method according to claim 5 or 6, And a packet converter configured to include a codec unit and an Ethernet physical layer unit to convert a voice path input and output through the handset to a VoIP packet input and output through an IP network. The method according to claim 5 or 6, The transceiver is according to the instruction of the controller, A LAN connection unit for providing a connection with the Internet so as to make a connection with an Internet telephone of a called party through an IP network; And, And a PSTN connection portion for providing a connection with the PSTN to establish a connection with a public telephone network or a mobile communication terminal of a called party through a public telephone network (PSTN). The method according to claim 5 or 6, The dial-up request is a telephone number of a public telephone network (PSTN) telephone number, a telephone number of a mobile communication terminal, a telephone number of an internet telephone, and a separate storage device for storing information about the telephone number. Communication terminal, characterized in that any one or more selected from the related information. The method of claim 5, The control unit, A wireless IP network determination unit that determines whether a wireless IP network is available in an area where a mobile communication terminal is currently located; If data communication through the wireless IP network is possible by the wireless IP network discrimination unit, it is determined whether the telephone connection with the Internet telephone of the called party is possible, and the voice telephone such as the public telephone network or the mobile communication network terminal of the called party is determined. A telephone number selection module for selecting a telephone number of the Internet telephone as a telephone number for dialing up before making a telephone connection; A telephone connection module for performing a telephone connection with a called party by using the telephone number selected by the telephone number selection module; And, And a management module for controlling a peripheral device to conduct a telephone call with a called party. The method of claim 5 or 10, And a packet converter configured to include a codec unit and an Ethernet physical layer unit for converting a voice path input and output through the handset into a VoIP packet input and output through a wireless IP network or a data input and output through a mobile communication network. Characterized in that the communication terminal. The method of claim 5 or 10, The dial-up request is a telephone number of a public telephone network (PSTN) telephone number, a telephone number of a mobile communication terminal, a telephone number of an internet telephone, and a separate storage device for storing information about the telephone number. Communication terminal, characterized in that any one or more selected from the related information. Receiving a dial-up request from a calling user; Checking whether the dial-up request includes information on the Internet telephone of the dial-up counterpart, and if not, retrieving information on the Internet telephone of the called party; And, And attempting to connect to an internet telephone if there is information on the other party's internet telephone, and attempting to connect to a voice telephone of an accessible party if there is no information on the internet telephone of the other party. The method of claim 13, The step of retrieving the information on the other party's Internet telephone comprises: retrieving information on the called party's Internet telephone number in a separate storage device storing information on the telephone number. Connection relay method. The method according to claim 13 or 14, The dial-up request is a telephone number of a public telephone network (PSTN) telephone number, a telephone number of a mobile communication terminal, a telephone number of an internet telephone, and a separate storage device for storing information about the telephone number. And at least one selected from the related information. The method according to claim 13 or 14, Before the step of attempting to dial in by the callable voice call of the called party, Notifying the calling user that there is no information about the called party's Internet telephone; And, And receiving an instruction from a calling user as to whether or not to make a telephone connection by using a voice call to which the called party is connectable.

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