WO2009036589A1

WO2009036589A1 - Method, apparatus and system for multimedia communication

Info

Publication number: WO2009036589A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/002726
Authority: WO
Inventors: Haoyi Liu; Bao LI
Original assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
Priority date: 2007-09-17
Filing date: 2007-09-17
Publication date: 2009-03-26
Also published as: CN101803357A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and system for establishing multimedia communication. The method for establishing multimedia communication between a communication center and a user terminal initiating voice communication with the communication center, wherein the multimedia communication includes voice communication and video communication and the communication center and the user terminal are connected by a communication network, and the method comprises: the communication center detects whether the user terminal supports video communication £&die;S302£©; the communication center prompts the user terminal to enable the video communication if it detects that the user terminal supports the video communication, while the voice communication is maintained (S303); and the communication center establishes the multimedia communication with the user terminal after the user terminal enables the video communication (S305).

Description

METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR MULTIMEDIA

COMMUNICATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to multimedia communication technology, specifically to a method, apparatus and system for providing a multimedia toll free service.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Many companies/organizations provide toll free service to their users or members, and these users or members (customers) can obtain such service by dialing a toll free number supplied by the companies/organizations. The toll free number is typically a telephone number, such as an 800 number.

The customers enjoy the toll free service from which they can obtain technical support, product promotion, relevant information and other service, etc.

Recently, with the high-speed growth of broadband technologies such as ADSL/HSDPA, etc., service providers, i.e., the companies/organizations can provide more bandwidth to their end users. This makes multimedia communication feasible.

In general, multimedia communication can provide more information, and is more efficient compared with voice only communication (i.e., the conventional toll free service mentioned above), since it can provide video and voice at the same time.

Accordingly, the user can see the demo of the products, operation procedure, etc. by their own eyes and also can present the products they owned which may be damaged via video communication.

Several solutions have been proposed to allow the establishment of video communication between remote communication equipments connected to communication networks.

A first family of solutions offers a full IP ("Internet Protocol") video communication by using an Internet protocol (IP), such as H.323 or SIP ("Session Initiation Protocol") to transmit both audio and video data between audio and video equipments of remote users over an internet network.

A second family of solutions offers a mixed IPl telephone video communication by using simultaneously an internet network to transmit the video data and a telephone network to transmit the audio data.

One solution of this second family is described in US 200210083462. It consists in using, on both the calling and called party sides, apparatus merging a standard telephone, a digital camera and a display means, and connected to a standard telephone network (or POTS for "Plain Old Telephone Service") and to an internet network (through the POTS network (for instance with the so-called ADSL ("Asymetric Digital Subscriber Loop")), or through a cable network).

The apparatuses establish a video communication by transmitting one to the other short data bursts comprising their respective IP addresses, over the POTS network.

This solution is convenient for the users because the video communication establishment is managed by their dedicated apparatuses. But it requires that each user be equipped with the dedicated apparatus.

Another solution of this second family is described in WO 031092287. It consists in using the telephone of a client, connected to a POTS network, and also equipped with IP communication equipment, to initiate an audio communication requiring the establishment of a video communication with it.

Then the call center transmits a dedicated web page to the client IP communication equipment in order to collect information on the client and its audio and video equipments and to control the establishment of the video transmission over the internet network in parallel with the audio transmission over the POTS network. The phone call of the video communication is started from an integration server of the call center by means of an internet call management server, a computer telephony server and a phone switch.

With such a solution the user only requires a small knowledge of the internet world and does not require any dedicated equipment. But this solution does not allow either the calling user or the call center to start in a pure audio mode (without video) and then to decide at any moment to continue in a video plus audio communication mode with both audio and video data transmission. It will increase the cost of the service provider to establish a dedicated video communication system between the provider and its end users. And on the other hand, using the video toll free service to replace the traditional voice toll free service will change the user experience, which will make the user feel uncomfortable or inconvenient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and system for establishing a multimedia communication.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for establishing multimedia communication via a communication network with a user terminal initiating voice communication with the apparatus, wherein the multimedia communication includes voice communication and video communication, and the apparatus comprises" a detection unit, configured to detect whether the user terminal supports the video communication; a prompt unit, configured to prompt the user terminal to enable the video communication if the detection unit detects that the user terminal supports the video communication, while the voice communication is maintained) and a multimedia unit, configured to establish the multimedia communication with the user terminal after the user terminal enables the video communication.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for establishing multimedia communication between a communication center and a user terminal initiating voice communication with the communication center, wherein the multimedia communication includes voice communication and video communication and the communication center and the user terminal are connected by a communication network, and the method comprises-' the communication center detects whether the user terminal supports video communication_*' the communication center prompts the user terminal to enable the video communication if it detects that the user terminal supports the video communication, while the voice communication is maintained; and the communication center establishes the multimedia communication with the user terminal after the user terminal enables the video communication.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for establishing a multimedia communication, comprising: a user terminal, a communication center including the above-mentioned apparatus for establishing the multimedia communication, and a network for connecting the user terminal and the communication center.

Furthermore, in the method, apparatus and system according to any aspect of the present invention, the multimedia communication can be used for providing toll free service to a user.

By use of the present invention, it can provide video service together with traditional voice service to a user without changing user experience, keep the same access number for the service provider, and keep backward compatibility of existing voice service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

It is believed that through following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, made in conjunction with the drawings, above-mentioned features, advantages, and objectives will be better understood.

Fig.l is a schematic diagram showing a system for providing multimedia toll free service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig.2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the apparatus in the toll free service center according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig.3 is a flowchart showing the process establishing multimedia communication in the toll free service center according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig.4 is a flowchart showing the process establishing multimedia communication in the toll free service center according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Next, a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be given in conjunction with the drawings. Fig.l is a schematic diagram showing a system for providing multimedia toll free service according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig.l, the system for providing multimedia toll free service according to the present invention comprises: a user terminal 101, a network 102, and a toll free service center 103.

The user terminal 101 can be any of communication devices with/without the function of video communication, such as, fixed phone, mobile phone, PC (Personal Computer), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), etc.

For example, the user terminal 101 could be a fixed telephone connected to a POTS network or a PSTN ("Public Switched Telephony Network"), or a mobile telephone connected to a cellular radio network (such as GSM or GPRSIEDGE or CDMA or else UMTS), or else a laptop or a PDA provided with at least an audio communication module, or else an audio communication device connected to a voice over IP (VoIP) network over the internet network," a fixed personal computer (PC), or a television (TV) set connected via a set-top-box (or STB) to an internet network (possibly through a xDSL network or a cable network) and to a video equipment delivering digital video data, such as a digital video camera; and a mobile with the function of video communication, for example, a mobile of the generation 2G+ or 3G based on the 2G+ communication standards such as GPRS ("General Packet Radio System") or EDGE ("Enhanced Data Rates for Gsm Evolution") published by the ETSI ("European Telecommunications Standard Institute"), or the 3G communication standards such as UMTS ("Universal Mobile Telecommunication System") or IMT-2000 ("International Mobile Telecommunication") published respectively by 3GPP ("Third Generation Partnership Protocol") and the ITU. These standards allow the existence of adequate data transmission rates and a high level of flexibility for providing multimedia communications such as communication by means of video communication.

Correspondingly, the network 102 can be any kind of networks for connecting the terminal 101 and the center 103, such as PTSN, ADSL/HSDPA network, wireless network, IP network, etc.

The toll free service center 103 comprises an apparatus configured to provide multimedia toll free service, which is controlled by the service provider and connected to the user terminal 101 via the network 102. The configuration and operation of the apparatus in the center 103 will be illustrated in conjunction with Fig.2 in detail hereafter.

Based on the same concept of the invention, Fig.2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the toll free service Center according to an embodiment of the present invention. The toll free service center 103 comprises an apparatus which in turn comprises a terminal detection unit 201, a video service decision unit 202, and a multimedia service unit 203.

The terminal detection unit 201 is configured to detect whether the user terminal 101 supports video communication. For example, when the user terminal 101 dials the toll free access number and establishes voice communication with the toll free service center 103, the terminal detection unit 201 may request the user terminal 101 to send certain parameters indicating whether the terminal 101 supports the video communication by an interrogating signal. Alternatively, the terminal detection unit 201 may also determine whether the user terminal 101 supports the video communication or not by certain parameters sent along with the incoming call by the terminal 101.

The above-mentioned parameters can be the type of the user terminal 101, the encoding mode of the user terminal 101, or the protocol used by the user terminal 101.

As known in the art, the user terminal (101) supporting video communication can be a "hard terminal", such as the mobile phone mentioned above, PDA, and Video Phone, or a "soft terminal", such as a PC with a camera. Moreover, the protocol can be SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), H.323, etc., and the encoding mode can be H.264/ H.263.

For example, it can be conceived that the protocol is SIP, and a SIP protocol packet sent from the user terminal 101 to the toll free service center 103 can be presented as follows'-

User-Agent: PolycomSoundPointIP-SPIP_500-UA/1.3.0 <-— the type of a phone

Supported: 100rel,timer,replace AllowEvents: talk,hold,con±erence

Max-Forwards: 70

Content-Type^ application/sdp

Content-Length'- 231 v=0 o=- 915156447 915156447 IN IP4 10.202.7.4 s=Polycom IP Phone <^■— the type of a phone

C=IN IP4 10.202.7.4 t=0 0 m=audio 2248 RTP/AVP 18 0 8 101 a=rtpmap:l8 G729/8000 <-—supported encoding a=rtpmap:θ PCMU/8000 <— - supported encoding a=rtpmap:8 PCMA/8000 <— - supported encoding a=rtpmap^:101 telephone -event/8000 wherein, the type of the phone is PolycomSoundPointIP-SPIP_500-UA/1.3.0, and the encoding modes supported hy this terminal are G729, PCMU and PCMA.

From this example, the terminal detection unit 201 can determine that this terminal 101 does not support video communication. In another example, the supported encoding mode includes H.264/263, and then the terminal detection unit 201 can determine that this terminal 101 supports video communication

The video service decision unit 202 is configured to determine whether to provide video toll free service together with voice toll free service to the user terminal 101 on the basis of the result of the terminal detection unit 201.

Specifically, if the terminal detection unit 201 determines the user terminal 101 supports the video communication, the video service decision unit 202 will ask or prompt the user terminal 101 to enable the video communication with the toll free service center 103, by sending a text message, an warning tone, or by voice, automatically or manually by the operator of the toll free service center 103.

And if the user terminal 101 (the end user) agrees and enables the video communication with the toll free service center 103, the multimedia service unit 203 will provide the video toll free service and the voice toll free service to the user terminal 1015 if the user terminal 101 disagrees to establish the video communication with the toll free service center 103 or if the terminal detection unit 201 determines the user terminal 101 does not support the video communication, the multimedia service unit 203 will provide only the voice toll free service to the user terminal 101.

Further, the multimedia service unit 203 may comprises a video service subunit 2031 configured to provide video toll free service to the user terminal 101, and a voice service subunit 2032 configured to provide voice toll free service to the user terminal 101.

Alternatively, the toll free center 103 may ask the user whether he/she would like to have video toll free service during the process providing the voice toll free service.

The toll free service center 103 and its components in this embodiment may be constructed with specialized circuits or chips, and also can be implemented by executing corresponding programs through a computer (processor). Furthermore, the toll free service center 103 in this embodiment can operationally implement the method for providing multimedia toll free service in the embodiment described later in conjunction with Fig.3.

Next, detailed description of the process in the toll free service center 103 will be illustrated with reference to Fig.3.

Based on the same concept of the invention, Fig.3 is a flowchart showing the multimedia communication process in the toll free service center 103 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

At the beginning, the user dials a toll free access number, e.g., an 800 number by a user terminal 101 to obtain toll free service. Upon receiving an incoming call from the user terminal 101 (S301), the toll free service center 103 establish voice communication with the user terminal 101 (S306).

Next, the toll free service center 103 determines whether the user terminal 101 supports the video communication or not by checking certain parameters sent along with the incoming call (S302).

As described ahead, the parameters can be the type of the user terminal 101, the encoding mode of the user terminal 101, or the protocol used by the user terminal 101.

If the toll free service center 103 determines the user terminal 101 supports video communication from the parameters (S302, Yes), the toll free service center 103 then asks the user terminal 101 to enable the video communication with it (S303).

This can be performed by sending a text message, a warning tone, or by voice, automatically or manually by the operator of the toll free service center 103 (S303).

Then the user decides whether to enable the video communication with the toll free service center 103 (S304). If the user terminal 101 agrees and enables the video communication (S304, Yes), the toll free service center 103 establishes video communication with the user terminal 101 while maintaining the voice communication established initially, and thus provides the multimedia toll free service to the user terminal 101 (S305).

Further, if the user disagrees to establish the video communication with the toll free service center 103 ( S304, No ) or if the toll free service center 103 determines that the user terminal 101 does not support video communication (S302, No), only the voice toll free service will be provided to the user terminal 101 (S306).

Based on the same concept of the invention, Fig.4 is a flowchart showing the multimedia communication processing in the toll free service center according to another embodiment of the present invention. The description of this embodiment will be given below in conjunction with Fig.5, with a proper omission of the same parts as those in the above-mentioned embodiments.

The difference between the multimedia communication processing of Fig.3 and that of Fig.4 is that there is a step S401 between the step S301 and the step S302.

At S401, the toll free service center 103 may request the user terminal 101 to send certain information indicating whether the terminal 101 supports the video communication by an interrogating signal.

The information may include the type, encoding mode and protocol of the user terminal 101. As to the example in which SIP is used, the toll free service center 103 may request the user terminal 101 to send the SIP packet mentioned ahead.

Then the toll free service center 103 will perform the processing in the same way as that in step 302 to step 307, which have been described in conjunction with Fig.3.

For the above-mentioned embodiments, the video communication is established during the voice communication between the user terminal 101 and the toll free center 103 in the case where the user agrees to do so.

It is important to notice that any one of the user and the toll free service center may decide at any time to stop the video communication between them without affecting the corresponding and parallel voice communication.

With the method, apparatus and system for providing multimedia toll free service according to the embodiment of the present invention, the end user can obtain multimedia toll free service or traditional voice-only toll free service by dialing the same toll free access code for the service provider, which keeps the same user experience. Furthermore, since the video service is provided only after the user agrees to accept, i.e., depending on the choice of the end user and the functionality of the end user terminal, it will save bandwidth resource and cost.

Though a method, apparatus and system for providing multimedia toll free service have been described in details with some exemplary embodiments, these above embodiments are not exhaustive. Those skilled in the art may make various variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments; rather, the scope of the present invention is only defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for establishing multimedia communication via a communication network (102) with a user terminal (101) initiating voice communication with the apparatus, wherein the multimedia communication includes voice communication and video communication, and the apparatus comprising-' a detection unit (201), configured to detect whether the user terminal (lθl) supports the video communication; a prompt unit (202), configured to prompt the user terminal (lθl) to enable the video communication if the detection unit (202) detects that the user terminal (101) supports the video communication, while the voice communication is maintained; and a multimedia unit (203), configured to establish the multimedia communication with the user terminal (lθl) after the user terminal (101) enables the video communication.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit (201) detects whether the user terminal (101) supports the video communication by requesting the user terminal (101) to send parameters indicating whether the terminal (101) supports the video communication.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit (201) detects whether the user terminal (101) supports the video communication on the basis of parameters sent along with the call initiated by the user terminal (101).

4. The apparatus according to claims 2 or 3, wherein the parameters include one of the following: the type of the user terminal (101), the encoding mode of the user terminal (101), or the protocol used by the user terminal (101).

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the prompt unit (202) prompts the user terminal (101) by a text message, by voice, or by a warning tone.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia unit (203) continues the voice communication with the user terminal (101), if the user terminal (101) disagrees to establish the video communication or if the detection unit C201J detects the user terminal (.101) does not support the video communication.

7. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the user terminal (101) can be one of fixed phone, mobile phone, PC, and PDA.

8. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication network (102) can be one of PTSN, ADSL/HSDPA network, wireless network, and IP network.

9. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the multimedia communication is used for providing toll free service to a user.

10. A method for establishing multimedia communication between a communication center (103) and a user terminal (101) initiating voice communication with the communication center (103), wherein the multimedia communication includes voice communication and video communication, and the communication center (103) and the user terminal (101) are connected by a communication network (102), and the method comprising: the communication center (103) detecting (S302) whether the user terminal (lθl) supports video communication; the communication center (103) prompting the user terminal (101) to enable the video communication if it detects that the user terminal (101) supports the video communication, while the voice communication is maintained; and the communication center (103) establishing the multimedia communication with the user terminal (101) after the user terminal (101) enables the video communication.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the communication center (103) detects (S302) whether the user terminal (101) supports video communication by requesting (S401) the user terminal (101) to send parameters indicating whether the terminal (101) supports the video communication.

12. The method according to claim 10, the communication center (103) detects (S302) whether the user terminal (101) supports video communication on the basis of parameters sent along with the call initiated by the user terminal (101).

13. The method according to claims 11 or 12, wherein the parameters include one of the following: the type of the user terminal (.10Ij, the encoding mode of the user terminal (101), and the protocol used by the user terminal (101).

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the communication center (103) prompts the user terminal (lθl) by a text message, by voice, or by a warning tone.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the communication center (103) continues the voice communication with the user terminal (lθl), if the user terminal (101) disagrees to establish the video communication or if the communication center (103) detects the user terminal (101) does not support the video communication.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10-15, wherein the user terminal (lθl) can be one of fixed phone, mobile phone, PC, and PDA.

17. The method according to any one of claims 10-16, wherein the communication network (102) can be one of PTSN, ADSL/HSDPA network, wireless network, and IP network.

18. The method according to any one of claims 10-17, wherein the multimedia communication is used for providing toll free service to a user.

19. A system for establishing multimedia communication, comprises^ a user terminal (101), a communication center (103) including the apparatus according to any one of the claims 1-8, and a network (102) for connecting the user terminal (101) and the communication center (103).

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the multimedia communication is used for providing toll free service to a user.