JP2009147399A - Telephone relaying device, telephone relaying method, and program for telephone relay - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to check on personal information on a caller in an incoming call of a telephone without storing the personal information in a telephone terminal. <P>SOLUTION: A user information storage section 130 holds the correspondence between the telephone number of the telephone terminal 200 of the user B and a telephone number for relay. A notification information storage section 150 holds the correspondence between the telephone number of the user A and personal information, such as the name of the user A. A telephone relaying section 110 acquires notification information corresponding to the telephone number of the user A from a caller information acquisition section 140 for transmitting to the telephone terminal 200 of the user B stored in the user information storage section 130 corresponding to the telephone number for relaying to notify the notification information with voice, when receiving the incoming call to the telephone number for relaying of the user B from the user A. When a connection request is received from the user B, the call of the user A is connected to that of the user B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a telephone relay apparatus and a telephone relay method, and more particularly, to a telephone relay apparatus and a telephone relay method for notifying a callee of caller information.

  There is a caller number notification function as a conventional method for notifying a user of information of a caller when an incoming call is received from a telephone terminal. This caller ID notification function is a function of notifying the caller's phone number information to the callee's telephone terminal as specified by the caller, and is provided as a telephone company service. However, with this service itself, the user can know only the telephone number information of the caller when receiving a call.

  Therefore, a conventional mobile phone terminal is equipped with a phone book storage means, searches the phone book using the caller telephone number notified at the time of incoming call as a key, and displays the name information of the caller on the display. It has been proposed or put into practical use (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). As a result, the callee can know the name information of the caller before answering the call.

  However, in the above prior art, the user needs to store the correspondence between the telephone number and the name information as telephone directory data in the telephone terminal. Therefore, for example, when a mobile phone terminal is used for business, it is necessary to store information on names and telephone numbers of business persons such as customers and colleagues in the mobile phone terminal. In recent years, the importance of protecting personal information in organizations such as corporations has increased, so storing personal information of business personnel on mobile phone terminals as described above has a high risk of information leakage when the terminal is lost. From the viewpoint of protecting personal information, it is not desirable. On the other hand, if this information is not stored in the mobile phone terminal, the user can refer only to the phone number information of the caller when receiving a call, and if there are many business parties, the phone number information It is difficult to identify the caller from only.

  For this reason, Patent Document 3 proposes a technique that allows the personal information of a caller to be confirmed when a call is received without storing the personal information in the telephone terminal. In this Patent Document 3, the user registers the correspondence between the message content and the message number in advance in the telephone relay device, and the caller calls the telephone relay device and sets the telephone number of the destination telephone terminal. When the message number is input, the telephone relay device reads the message content corresponding to the input message number, calls the destination telephone terminal of the input telephone number, and receives the message content before receiving the response. Send to phone terminal.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-032105 JP 2004-015815 A JP 2005-244418 A

  According to the method described in Patent Document 3, it is possible to confirm the caller's personal information when receiving a call without storing the personal information in each user's telephone terminal. However, the caller must enter the telephone number and message number of the called telephone terminal after calling the telephone relay device, and is forced to perform a special and troublesome operation different from the normal call operation.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel telephone relay device that can confirm the caller's personal information when receiving a call without storing personal information in the telephone terminal, and does not require any special operation when making a call. And providing a telephone relay method.

  A first telephone relay device of the present invention includes a user information storage unit that holds a correspondence between a user telephone number assigned to a user's telephone terminal and a relay telephone number assigned to the telephone relay device; A notification information storage unit that holds the correspondence between the user telephone number and the notification information, and a user telephone number corresponding to the relay telephone number is acquired from the user information storage unit when an incoming call is received to the relay telephone number In addition, the notification information corresponding to the caller telephone number notified from the telephone network at the time of the incoming call is acquired from the notification information storage unit, and the calling telephone terminal which is the caller terminal of the incoming call and the acquired user telephone And a telephone relay unit for performing a relay process for connecting to a destination telephone terminal, which is a number telephone terminal, and a process for notifying the acquired notification information to the destination telephone terminal.

  A second telephone relay device of the present invention includes a user information storage unit that holds a correspondence between a user telephone number assigned to a user's telephone terminal and a relay telephone number assigned to the telephone relay device; When receiving a call to a relay telephone number, the user telephone number corresponding to the relay telephone number is acquired from the user information storage unit and the caller information is acquired as notification information from the telephone terminal of the caller. Relay processing for connecting the caller telephone terminal that is the caller terminal of the incoming call and the callee telephone terminal that is the telephone terminal of the acquired user telephone number, and the acquired to the callee telephone terminal And a telephone relay unit that performs notification processing of notification information.

  The telephone relay method of the present invention includes a first step in which a caller telephone terminal calls a relay telephone number assigned to a telephone relay device for a telephone network, and the telephone relay device receives an incoming call through the telephone network. The telephone number of the user corresponding to the received relay telephone number is acquired from the user information storage unit, and the notification information corresponding to the caller telephone number notified from the telephone network is acquired from the notification information storage unit A second step, a relay process in which the telephone relay device connects the calling telephone terminal and a called telephone terminal that is the telephone terminal of the acquired user's telephone number, and the call to the called telephone terminal And a third step of performing a notification process of the acquired notification information.

  A telephone relay program according to the present invention includes a user information storage unit and a user telephone number that hold correspondence between a user telephone number assigned to a user's telephone terminal and a relay telephone number assigned to a telephone relay device. The telephone number of the user corresponding to the relay telephone number received from the caller telephone terminal through the telephone network is stored in the computer constituting the telephone relay device having the notification information storage unit that holds the correspondence between the telephone number and the notification information. A process of acquiring from the notification information storage unit the notification information corresponding to the caller telephone number notified from the telephone network, and acquiring from the user information storage unit, the calling side telephone terminal and the acquired user A relay process for connecting to a receiving side telephone terminal that is a telephone terminal having a telephone number of the telephone number, and a notification process for the acquired notification information to the receiving side telephone terminal. .

"Action"
In the present invention, when the calling side telephone terminal calls a certain relay telephone number to the telephone network, the incoming call arrives at the telephone relay device. In the telephone relay device, the telephone number of the receiving telephone terminal corresponding to the relay telephone number is acquired from the user information storage unit, and the calling telephone terminal of the calling telephone terminal sent from the telephone network by the caller number notification function is acquired. The notification information such as the name of the calling user is acquired by searching the notification information storage unit using the telephone number as a key. Then, a relay process for connecting the caller telephone terminal and the callee telephone terminal and a process for notifying the acquired notification information to the callee telephone terminal are performed.

  According to the present invention, the called-side user of the telephone terminal can confirm the caller's personal information when receiving a call without storing the personal information in the telephone terminal. There is an effect that only a normal operation of inputting a telephone number (relay telephone number) is performed, and no special call operation is required.

  Further, according to the present invention, a third party who knows only the relay telephone number corresponding to the user's telephone number can make a call to the user only through the telephone relay device. Thus, each user can select whether or not to execute connection after confirming the notification information corresponding to the caller for a call from a partner who does not give his / her telephone number. On the other hand, if you tell a family member or close friend who knows your identity only by the phone number displayed when you receive a call, you can tell him the phone number of the phone terminal instead of the phone number for relaying. It can be used just like a normal phone.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
Referring to FIG. 1, the telephone relay system according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a telephone relay device 100, a plurality of telephone terminals 200, and a telephone network 50 that connects them to each other.

  The telephone network 50 has a function of notifying the callee of the sender information of the caller. The caller information is information related to the caller. Specifically, the caller information includes the telephone number information of the telephone caller or information regarding the reason why the telephone network 50 cannot provide the telephone caller's telephone number. Examples of information relating to the reason include “non notification”, “public telephone”, and “out of display area”. An example of the telephone network 50 is a public telephone network.

  The telephone terminal 200 is a terminal such as a mobile phone used by each user. Each telephone terminal 200 is assigned a unique telephone number.

  The telephone relay apparatus 100 has an individual “relay telephone number” for each user as a telephone number for the user of the telephone terminal 200 to receive an incoming call from another person via the telephone relay apparatus 100. The relay telephone number is a telephone number assigned to the telephone relay device 100 and is different from the telephone number assigned to the user's telephone terminal 200. That is, two types of telephone numbers, a telephone number directly connected to the telephone terminal 200 and a telephone number connected via the telephone relay apparatus, are apparent on the telephone terminal 200 of the user who desires an incoming service via the telephone relay apparatus 100. It will be assigned. In order to distinguish both telephone numbers, the former is called a user telephone number, and the latter is called a relay telephone number.

  The user of each telephone terminal 200 informs a third party of the relay telephone number as his / her telephone number instead of the user telephone number. Also, the user's telephone number may be notified to family members and close friends, and the user's telephone number may be kept secret, and the relay telephone number may be notified to the person concerned with work such as a customer as his / her own telephone number.

  The telephone relay device 100 is a device that connects a user's telephone terminal 200 that has made a call to a relay telephone number and a telephone terminal 200 having a telephone number corresponding to the relay telephone number. The telephone relay device 100 includes a telephone relay unit 110 having a function of performing a telephone relay process via the telephone network 50, a voice synthesis unit 120 having a function of generating voice data information from input text information, and a user telephone. A user information storage unit 130 having a function of storing correspondence information between numbers and relay telephone numbers, a notification information storage unit 150 having a function of storing correspondence information between user telephone numbers and notification information, and the notification The caller information acquisition unit 140 has a function of acquiring notification information corresponding to the caller's user telephone number from the information storage unit 150.

  The notification information stored in the notification information storage unit 150 in association with the user telephone number is typically name information. However, the notification information may be arbitrary information as long as it is information related to the user telephone number, such as the affiliation and age of the owner of the terminal of the user telephone number, in addition to the name information.

  The voice synthesizer 120 has a data voice function. Specifically, it has a function of receiving text input from the telephone relay unit 110 and outputting voice data that reads out the text.

  An example of information stored in the user information storage unit 130 is shown in FIG. In this example, for example, the line “09012345678: 050-1234-0001” indicates that the relay telephone number corresponding to the user whose user telephone number is “09012345678” is “050-1234-0001”. Show.

  An example of information stored in the notification information storage unit 150 is shown in FIG. In this example, for example, the line “03-1111-2222: Yamadataro” indicates that the notification information corresponding to the user telephone number “03-1111-2222” is “Yamadataro”.

  The sender information acquisition unit 140 has a function of receiving input of sender information from the telephone relay unit 110 and referring to information in the notification information storage unit 150 to output notification information corresponding to the sender information. Here, if the input source information is not a user telephone number but other specific source information (eg, “non-notification”), the caller information acquisition unit 140 is a notification information storage unit 150. The predetermined notification information may be output without referring to. Further, when the notification information corresponding to the caller information cannot be found from the notification information storage unit 150, the caller information acquisition unit 140 may output predetermined notification information.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.

  First, a user of a certain telephone terminal 200 (referred to as user A) makes a call to a user of another telephone terminal 200 (referred to as user B) using the relay telephone number of user B. Assuming a scene, the telephone relay processing in this embodiment will be described.

  When the user A calls from the telephone terminal 200 to the relay telephone number of the user B, the call arrives at the telephone relay unit 110 of the telephone relay device 100 via the telephone network 50 (step S11 in FIG. 4). .

  The telephone relay unit 110 first obtains the user telephone number of the telephone terminal 200 of the user B by searching the user information storage unit 130 of FIG. 2 using the incoming relay telephone number as a key (step S12). ).

  Next, the telephone relay unit 110 inputs the call source information (such as the user telephone number of the user A) acquired from the telephone network 50 to the caller information acquisition unit 140 and acquires the corresponding notification information ( Step S13). At this time, the sender information acquisition unit 140 searches the notification information storage unit 150 in FIG. 3 using the input sender information as a key, and if the corresponding notification information (name of the user A, etc.) is registered. Return it to the telephone relay unit 110.

  Next, the telephone relay unit 110 calls the user telephone number acquired in step S12, that is, the telephone number of the telephone terminal 200 of the user B, and waits for a response from the user B (step S14). At this time, if a predetermined condition is satisfied, for example, the telephone relay unit 110 is not “not notified”, the telephone number of the telephone relay unit 110 is received by the telephone terminal 200 of the user B by the caller number notification function of the telephone network 50. Displayed at times.

  When the user B responds to the incoming call from the telephone relay unit 110, the telephone relay unit 110 converts the text including the notification information acquired in step S13 into a voice message using the voice synthesizer 120 and converts the user B's telephone. It transmits with respect to the terminal 200, and waits for the response input from the user B (step S15).

  In the above voice message, in addition to the notification information acquired in step S13, a word prompting the user B to input a response is included. Specifically, for example, when the notification information is “Yamadataro”, “It is a phone call from Yamadataro. Press 1 button to connect, press 0 button to connect.” A message like this flows. This message can be selected by the user B by connecting or not connecting, and the response input of the user B corresponding to each selection is to press the “1” button on the telephone terminal. And pressing the “0” button.

  When receiving a response input from the user B, the telephone relay unit 110 determines whether or not the response input corresponds to the connection request (step S16). For example, in the above message example, a response by pressing the “1” button on the telephone terminal corresponds to the connection request. When the response from the user B corresponds to the “connection request”, the telephone relay unit 110 connects the call received in step S11 and the call made in step S14, and receives it in step S11. Call originator A and call recipient B originated in step S14 are connected to each other so as to be able to talk to each other (step S17), and the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the response input from the user B does not correspond to the “connection request”, the telephone relay unit 110 disconnects the call with the user B made in step S14 and performs processing. finish.

  With the above processing, when a call is received at the relay telephone number corresponding to the telephone terminal 200, the user B first receives an incoming call from the telephone relay device 100 and receives a voice announcement of notification information corresponding to the caller. You can choose whether or not to execute the connection by yourself.

  Next, a situation is assumed in which a user (referred to as user C) of a certain telephone terminal 200 makes a phone call to user B using user B's user telephone number.

  The operation in this case is the same as a normal telephone, and when a call is made from the telephone terminal 200 of the user C to the user telephone number of the user B, the call is sent to the telephone terminal 200 of the user B via the telephone network 50. Incoming call. At this time, if a predetermined condition is satisfied, for example, the telephone terminal 200 of the user C is not “hidden”, the user telephone number of the user C is changed to the user by the caller number display function of the telephone network 50. Displayed on the telephone terminal 200 of B. Unlike the case through the telephone relay device 100, the name information of the user C is not displayed.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to the present embodiment, user B does not store personal information in his / her telephone terminal 200, and uses information such as the name of caller A who has called his / her relay telephone number as a voice when receiving a call. It becomes possible to confirm with. Further, the caller A only dials a telephone number (relay telephone number), and there is no difference from a normal call operation.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to make a call to the user B only via the telephone relay device 100 to a third party who does not know the user telephone number of the telephone terminal 200 of the user B. As a result, the user B selects whether or not to execute connection after listening to the voice announcement of the notification information corresponding to the caller for the call from the other party who does not give his / her user telephone number. can do.

(Second embodiment)
Referring to FIG. 5, in the telephone relay system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the telephone relay apparatus 101 further includes an answering machine service unit 160 as compared with the first embodiment shown in FIG. Are different from each other in that the user information storage unit 131 further holds information on the transfer destination telephone number and the function of the telephone relay unit 111 is expanded.

  Referring to FIG. 6, the user information storage unit 131 stores correspondence information among user telephone numbers, relay telephone numbers, and transfer destination telephone numbers. The forwarding telephone number is a telephone number registered in advance as a telephone number to which a call received via the telephone relay device 101 is forwarded.

  The answering machine service unit 160 is a device that records the voice of the caller and allows it to be reproduced later by an operation from the callee.

  In addition to the function of the telephone relay unit 110 in the first embodiment, the telephone relay unit 111 "connects" or "does not connect" to the user on the incoming side that has received an incoming call to its relay telephone number. In addition to the two options “,” one or more additional service options are provided. As an example of other one or more additional service options, the present embodiment has the following functions: “Forward to other specified phone number”, “Forward to phone number specified by user”, “For user specified” "Start a three-way call with the selected phone number", "Transfer to the answering machine service", "Transfer to the answering machine service and send the voice of the exchange between the caller and the answering service to the user's phone" However, it is not limited to them.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. As an operation example, the case where user A calls the relay telephone number of user B as in the first embodiment is taken up.

  After user A calls from the telephone terminal 200 to the relay telephone number of user B, the telephone relay unit 111 transmits a voice message to the telephone terminal 200 of user B. The operation until the response input is waited is the same as that in the first embodiment (steps S11 to S15 in FIG. 7). Here, in addition to the notification information acquired in step S13, the above voice message includes "connect", "do not connect", "forward to other specified phone number", "use" Transfer to the phone number specified by the user ”,“ Start a three-party call with the phone number specified by the user ”,“ Transfer to the answering machine service ”,“ Transfer to the answering machine service, caller and answering machine The phrase that prompts the user to input a response “speech the voice of communication between services to the user's phone” is included.

  Upon receiving a response input from user B, telephone relay unit 110 determines which option the response input corresponds to (steps S16, S21 to S25).

  When the response input is “connection request”, the telephone relay unit 111 connects the call of the caller A and the call of the callee B as in the first embodiment (step S17).

  When the response input is “forward to other specified telephone number”, the telephone relay unit 111 uses the relay telephone number or the user telephone number of the user B who has received the call as a key. The information storage unit 131 is searched to obtain a transfer destination telephone number (step S26), and the call from the user A received in step S11 is transferred to the transfer destination telephone number (step S27).

  When the response input is “transfer to the telephone number designated by the user”, the telephone relay unit 111 receives the input of the telephone number of the transfer destination from the user B of the call destination (step S28), and in step S11 The received call from user A is transferred to the transfer destination telephone number (step S29).

  When the response input is “start a three-way call with the phone number specified by the user”, the telephone relay unit 111 accepts an input of a third-party phone number from the user B as the call destination (step S30). ), The call from the user A received in step S11, the call made in step S14, and the call made to the inputted third party telephone number are connected to enable a three-party call (step S31).

  When the response input is “transfer to answering machine service”, the telephone relay unit 111 transfers the call from the user A received in step S11 to the answering machine service unit 160 (step S32).

  When the response input is “transfer to voice mail service and send voice of exchange between caller and voice mail service to user's phone”, telephone relay unit 111 starts from user A received in step S11. Is transferred to the answering machine service unit 160 (step S33), and voice information exchanged between the user A and the answering machine service unit 160 is transmitted to the telephone terminal 200 of the user B (step S34). .

  The telephone relay unit 111 manages the timeout value and the default process, and executes the default process when the response input from the user is not received within the predetermined time in step S15 (or step S14). May be. Here, as a default process, for example, “transfer to answering service” can be set. Thereby, even when the user B cannot respond for some reason, the prescribed process can be executed.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to this embodiment, the same effect as the first embodiment can be obtained, and at the same time, after confirming notification information such as the name of the caller, it is forwarded to another phone depending on the situation. It is possible to use an answering machine service or make a three-party call.

(Third embodiment)
Referring to FIG. 8, in the telephone system according to the third embodiment of the present invention, compared with the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the telephone terminal 201 makes a telephone call via a network 60 such as the Internet. In addition to being connected to the relay device 102, the telephone terminal 201 has an electronic mail function as a data communication function via the network 60 in addition to telephone communication via the telephone network 50, A point of being provided with a caller information notifying unit 170 for notifying a caller of the caller information by electronic mail, a point that the user information storage unit 132 further holds a mail address as destination information of data communication, It differs in that the function is expanded.

  Referring to FIG. 9, the user information storage unit 132 stores user telephone number, relay telephone number, and mail address correspondence information as destination information for data communication.

  The caller information notification unit 170 has a function of receiving notification information in text format and a mail address from the telephone relay unit 112 and transmitting a mail including the notification information to the mail address destination via the network 60.

  In this embodiment, e-mail is used for data communication. However, SMS (short message service) can be used in addition to e-mail as long as data can be transmitted and received between caller information notification unit 170 and telephone terminal 201. ), Push-to-talk, IM (instant messaging), and the like. In that case, the user information storage unit 132 holds information for specifying the other party by the data communication instead of the mail address. The caller information notification unit 170 may use the telephone network 50 instead of the network 60 for data communication with the telephone terminal 201.

  Compared with the telephone relay unit 110 in the first embodiment, the telephone relay unit 112 notifies the caller information terminal 170 of notification information such as the name of the caller by e-mail to the telephone terminal 201 of the callee. It is different in the point that it did.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. As an operation example, the case where user A calls the relay telephone number of user B as in the first embodiment is taken up.

  When the user A calls from the telephone terminal 201 to the relay telephone number of the user B, the call arrives at the telephone relay unit 112 of the telephone relay device 102 via the telephone network 50 (step S41 in FIG. 10). .

  The telephone relay unit 112 first obtains the user telephone number and mail address of the telephone terminal 201 of the user B by searching the user information storage unit 132 of FIG. 9 using the incoming relay telephone number as a key. (Step S42).

  Next, the telephone relay unit 112 inputs call source information (such as the user telephone number of the user A) acquired from the telephone network 50 to the caller information acquisition unit 140, and acquires corresponding notification information ( Step S43). At this time, the sender information acquisition unit 140 searches the notification information storage unit 150 in FIG. 3 using the input sender information as a key, and if the corresponding notification information (name of the user A, etc.) is registered. Return it to the telephone relay unit 112.

  Next, the telephone relay unit 112 passes the notification information acquired in step S43 and the mail address of the user B acquired in step S42 to the caller information notification unit 170, and notifies the caller information notification unit 170 by e-mail. Information is transmitted to the telephone terminal 201 of the user B (step S44).

  Finally, the telephone relay unit 112 transfers the call received in step S41 to the telephone terminal 201 having the user telephone number of the user B acquired in step S42 (step S45).

  Through the above processing, first, notification information corresponding to the caller A is transmitted to the telephone terminal 201 of the user B in step S44, and then, a call from the caller A is transferred in step S45. Therefore, the user B can determine whether to answer the call from the caller A after confirming the notification information of the caller.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and at the same time, notification information such as the name of the caller is notified by text, so that it is not heard as in the case of notification by voice. It is possible to confirm the information of the sender without fail.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the above third embodiment, the telephone relay unit of the telephone relay device notifies the caller A of the information to the caller B and then immediately transfers the call of the caller A to the user B ( In steps S44 and S45) of FIG. 10, in this embodiment, after the telephone relay unit transmits the notification information to the user B, the response from the user B is waited for, and the response from the user B is a transfer request. The notification information is transmitted to the user B only when it is.

  Since the overall configuration of the telephone relay system of this embodiment is the same as that of the third embodiment, the following description will be given with reference to FIG. Further, FIG. 11 shows a processing example of the telephone relay unit 112 in the present embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, caller information notification unit 170 receives notification information in text format and a mail address from telephone relay unit 112, and transmits a mail including the notification information to the mail address destination via network 60. In addition, it has a function of transferring the contents of the electronic mail received from the telephone terminal 201 via the network 60 to the telephone relay unit 112.

  Further, the telephone relay unit 112 has a function of analyzing the electronic mail transmitted from the caller information notifying unit 170 and determining the response content.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the third embodiment. As an operation example, the case where user A calls the relay telephone number of user B as in the third embodiment will be taken up.

  The operation from the time when user A calls his / her telephone terminal 201 to the relay telephone number of user B until the telephone relay unit 112 acquires notification information corresponding to the caller information is the same as that in the third embodiment. It is the same as the form (steps S41 to S43). When the telephone relay unit 112 acquires the notification information, the telephone relay unit 112 passes it to the caller information notification unit 170 together with the mail address of the user B acquired in step S42, and the notification information is sent to the user by e-mail through the caller information notification unit 170. B is transmitted to the telephone terminal 201 of B, and a response from the user B is waited (step S51).

  When user B receives the e-mail transmitted from the telephone relay device 102 at his / her telephone terminal 201 and displays it on the terminal screen, the user B recognizes that a call addressed to himself / herself has been made based on the content of the e-mail. Check the sender information from. When responding, the telephone terminal 201 transmits an e-mail describing that fact in a predetermined format to the telephone relay apparatus 102.

  When the caller information notifying unit 170 receives the e-mail transmitted from the telephone terminal 201 of the user B, the caller information notifying unit 170 transfers the e-mail to the telephone relay unit 112. The telephone relay unit 112 analyzes the content of the e-mail and transmits the response content. Is discriminated (step S52). If the response content is “transfer request”, the telephone relay unit 112 transfers the call from the user A to the telephone terminal 201 having the user telephone number of the user B acquired in step S42 (step S45). If the response content is not “transfer request”, the call is not transferred and the process is terminated.

  In the present embodiment, e-mail is used as data communication. However, SMS, push-to-talk, IM, and the like can be used as in the third embodiment.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effect as in the third embodiment can be obtained, and at the same time, even if there is some mail delay, the user B can surely receive the call forwarded to himself / herself. Notification information such as the name of the caller can be confirmed.

(Fifth embodiment)
In the above third embodiment, the telephone relay unit of the telephone relay device notifies the caller A of the information to the caller B and then immediately transfers the call of the caller A to the user B ( In steps S44 and S45) of FIG. 10, in this embodiment, the telephone relay unit first notifies the user B that there is a call, and if there is an inquiry about the notification information from the user B, the notification information is displayed. Send.

  Since the overall configuration of the telephone relay system of this embodiment is the same as that of the third embodiment, the following description will be given with reference to FIG. In addition, FIG. 12 shows a processing example of the telephone relay unit 112 in the present embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, caller information notifying unit 170 receives text-format notification information and the like and a mail address from telephone relay unit 112, and sends a mail including the notification information to the destination of the mail address via network 60. In addition to this function, it has a function to transfer the contents of the electronic mail received from the telephone terminal 201 via the network 60 to the telephone relay unit 112.

  The telephone relay unit 112 has a function of analyzing the electronic mail transmitted from the caller information notifying unit 170 and discriminating the content of the inquiry.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the third embodiment. As an operation example, the case where user A calls the relay telephone number of user B as in the third embodiment will be taken up.

  The operation from the time when user A calls his / her telephone terminal 201 to the relay telephone number of user B until the telephone relay unit 112 acquires notification information corresponding to the caller information is the same as that in the third embodiment. It is the same as the form (steps S41 to S43). When the telephone relay unit 112 acquires the notification information, the telephone relay unit 112 passes the predetermined text describing that the call has been made and the mail address of the user B acquired in step S42 to the caller information notification unit 170, and sends the caller information. The fact that a call has been made by e-mail is transmitted to the telephone terminal 201 of the user B through the notification unit 170 (step S61). Subsequently, the telephone relay unit 112 transfers the call from the user A to the telephone terminal 201 having the user telephone number of the user B acquired in step S42 (step S45).

  When user B receives the e-mail transmitted from the telephone relay device 102 at his / her telephone terminal 201 and displays it on the terminal screen, the user B recognizes that a call addressed to himself / herself has been made. When the sender information is to be confirmed, the telephone terminal 201 transmits an e-mail in which the notification information is inquired in a predetermined format to the telephone relay apparatus 102.

  When the caller information notifying unit 170 receives the e-mail transmitted from the telephone terminal 201 of the user B, the caller information notifying unit 170 transfers the e-mail to the telephone relay unit 112. The telephone relay unit 112 analyzes the content of the e-mail and sends the inquiry content. Is determined (step S62). If the response content is “notification information inquiry request”, the telephone relay unit 112 passes the notification information acquired in step S43 and the mail address of the user B acquired in step S42 to the caller information notification unit 170. The notification information is transmitted to the telephone terminal 201 of the user B by electronic mail through the caller information notification unit 170 (step S63).

  In the present embodiment, e-mail is used as data communication. However, SMS, push-to-talk, IM, and the like can be used as in the third embodiment.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effect as in the third embodiment can be obtained, and at the same time, the user B can inquire and confirm the information of the sender only when necessary.

(Sixth embodiment)
Referring to FIG. 13, in the telephone system according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention, compared with the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the telephone terminal 202 makes a telephone call via a network 60 such as the Internet. The function of referring to a storage device connected to the electronic mail function and the network 60 as a data communication function via the network 60 in addition to the telephone communication via the telephone network 50 in that the telephone terminal 202 is connected to the relay device 103 (For example, a browser), the telephone relay device 103 further includes a notification unit 171 for notifying a callee that a call has been made by e-mail and a storage unit 180 for storing information of the caller. In addition, the user information storage unit 132 further holds a mail address as destination information for data communication, and the function of the telephone relay unit 113 is expanded. In different.

  Similarly to the example shown in FIG. 9, the user information storage unit 132 stores user telephone numbers, relay telephone numbers, and mail address correspondence information as destination information for data communication.

  The notification unit 171 has a function of receiving a text describing that a call has been made from the telephone relay unit 113 and a mail address, and transmitting a mail including the text to the mail address destination via the network 60. In this embodiment, e-mail is used as data communication. However, SMS, push-to-talk, IM, etc. are used in addition to e-mail as long as data can be transmitted and received between the notification unit 171 and the telephone terminal 202. can do. In that case, the user information storage unit 132 holds information for specifying the other party by the data communication instead of the mail address. The notification unit 171 may use the telephone network 50 instead of the network 60 for data communication with the telephone terminal 202.

  The storage unit 180 is a storage device that stores information of a caller in an area for each telephone terminal 202, and is written from the telephone relay unit 113 and read from the user's telephone terminal 202 through the network 60. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 180 is arranged in the telephone relay device 102, but may be arranged outside as a device different from the telephone relay device 102.

  Compared with the telephone relay unit 110 in the first embodiment, the telephone relay unit 113 stores notification information such as the name of the caller in the storage unit 180, and a call is made to the telephone terminal 202 of the called party. This is different in that the notification unit 171 notifies the user by e-mail.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. As an operation example, the case where user A calls the relay telephone number of user B as in the first embodiment is taken up.

  When user A calls from the telephone terminal 202 to the relay telephone number of user B, the call is received by the telephone relay unit 113 of the telephone relay device 103 via the telephone network 50 (step S71 in FIG. 14). .

  The telephone relay unit 113 first obtains the user telephone number and mail address of the telephone terminal 202 of the user B by searching the user information storage unit 132 of FIG. 9 using the incoming relay telephone number as a key. (Step S72).

  Next, the telephone relay unit 113 inputs the call source information (such as the user telephone number of the user A) acquired from the telephone network 50 to the caller information acquisition unit 140 and acquires corresponding notification information ( Step S73). At this time, the sender information acquisition unit 140 searches the notification information storage unit 150 in FIG. 3 using the input sender information as a key, and if the corresponding notification information (name of the user A, etc.) is registered. Return it to the telephone relay unit 113.

  Next, the telephone relay unit 113 uses the notification information acquired in step S73 as an area corresponding to the relay telephone number received in step S71 in the storage unit 180, that is, an area corresponding to the telephone terminal 202 of the user B. (Step S74).

  Next, the telephone relay unit 113 passes the predetermined text indicating that the call has been made and the mail address of the user B acquired in step S72 to the notification unit 171, and the call is made by e-mail through the notification unit 171. To the user B's telephone terminal 202 (step S75).

  Finally, the telephone relay unit 113 transfers the call received in step S71 to the telephone terminal 202 having the user telephone number of the user B acquired in step S72 (step S76).

  After the information of the caller A is stored in the storage unit 180 by the above processing, a mail indicating that a call has been made is transmitted to the telephone terminal 202 of the user B, and then a call from the caller A is sent. Is transferred. Therefore, the user B refers to the storage unit 180 from the telephone terminal 202 via the network 60, confirms the notification information of the caller in a text format, and determines whether or not to answer the call from the caller A. It becomes possible to do.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and at the same time, notification information such as the name of the caller can be confirmed in a text format. It is possible to confirm the information of the sender without fail. Further, if it is not necessary, it is possible to omit the step of confirming the information of the sender.

(Seventh embodiment)
Referring to FIG. 15, in the telephone relay system according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention, compared with the first embodiment shown in FIG. A notification information storage unit 151 that holds information corresponding to each user is provided, the functions of the telephone relay unit 114 and the outgoing information acquisition unit 141 are expanded accordingly, and the notification information storage unit 151 The difference is that a notification information update unit 152 that manages registration, change, and deletion of notification information is provided.

  Referring to FIG. 16, the notification information storage unit 151 sets, for each user identification information of each user, a set of notification information to be notified to the user when an incoming call is received from the user telephone number. Remember. As the user identification information, the user telephone number or relay telephone number of the user's telephone terminal 200 can be used.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. As an operation example, the case where user A calls the relay telephone number of user B as in the first embodiment is taken up.

  When the user A calls from the telephone terminal 200 to the relay telephone number of the user B, the call arrives at the telephone relay unit 114 of the telephone relay device 104 via the telephone network 50 (step S11 in FIG. 4). .

  The telephone relay unit 114 first acquires the user telephone number of the telephone terminal 200 of the user B by searching the user information storage unit 130 of FIG. 2 using the incoming relay telephone number as a key (step S12). ).

  Next, the telephone relay unit 114 inputs the call source information (such as the user A's user telephone number) acquired from the telephone network 50 and the user B's user telephone number to the caller information acquisition unit 141. And corresponding notification information is acquired (step S13). At this time, the caller information acquisition unit 141 sends the call information from the notification information held in the notification information storage unit 151 corresponding to the user identification information that matches the input user B user telephone number. The notification information (name of user A, etc.) corresponding to the original information is searched, and the result is returned to the telephone relay unit 114.

  The subsequent processing is the same as that in the first embodiment.

  Next, operations for registering, changing, and deleting information in the notification information storage unit 151 will be described.

  When there is an incoming call from the user's telephone terminal 200 to the notification information update unit 152 of the telephone relay device 104, the notification information update unit 152 corresponds to the user identification information that matches the caller telephone number notified from the telephone network 50. Registration, change, and deletion of information in the area of the notification information storage unit 151 to be performed are enabled. Specifically, the operation method is guided to the user by a voice message or the like, the type of registration, change, or deletion is selected by the button operation of the telephone terminal 200, and the telephone number or notification information is input as a character string Let

  In this embodiment, the telephone terminal 200 is connected to the notification information update unit 152 via the telephone network 50, but may be connected via a network such as the Internet. Further, notification information may be registered, changed, or deleted by an operation from a terminal such as a personal computer different from the telephone terminal 200.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and different notification information can be provided depending on the user of the destination even if the caller number is the same. Is possible.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, since the telephone relay device 104 provides the user with the notification information update unit 152 for registering, changing, and deleting information in the notification information storage unit 151, the user It is possible to set the information notified corresponding to the caller telephone number by itself.

  Although the present embodiment is based on the first embodiment, the same modification as the notification information storage unit 151 and the notification information update unit 152 is applied to other embodiments such as the third embodiment. It is possible to add.

(Eighth embodiment)
Referring to FIG. 17, in the telephone relay system according to the eighth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the telephone relay device 105 includes a caller information acquisition unit 140 as compared with the first exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. And the notification information storage unit 150 is not provided, but instead, the telephone relay unit 115 requests the caller's information to the caller by a voice message or the like, and the information obtained from the caller is used as the notification information. It is different in that it has a function to be used.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. As an operation example, the case where user A calls the relay telephone number of user B as in the first embodiment is taken up.

  When user A calls from the telephone terminal 200 to the relay telephone number of user B, the call arrives at the telephone relay unit 115 of the telephone relay device 105 via the telephone network 50 (step S11 in FIG. 4). .

  The telephone relay unit 115 first acquires the user telephone number of the telephone terminal 200 of the user B by searching the user information storage unit 130 of FIG. 2 using the incoming relay telephone number as a key (step S12). ).

  Next, the telephone relay unit 115 sends a voice message such as “Now we are in the process of connection. Please let us know your name and affiliation”, request the caller's information from the caller, and obtain it from the caller. The received information is temporarily held as notification information. Examples of information acquired as a response from the caller include the caller's voice and character input by button operation of the telephone terminal 200.

  Subsequent operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  According to the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the notification information can be transmitted to the user even if the notification information is not stored in advance in the notification information storage unit. It becomes possible.

  Although the present embodiment is based on the first embodiment, the caller information acquisition unit 140 and the notification information storage unit 150 are omitted from the other embodiments such as the third embodiment. A function similar to that of the relay unit 115 can be added.

(Other embodiments)
Although the present invention has been described with reference to some embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and various other additions and modifications can be made. For example, the following embodiments are also conceivable.

  An embodiment may be adopted in which a notification information storage unit that holds the correspondence between the user telephone number and the notification information is installed outside the telephone relay device, and both are connected via a network.

  In each of the embodiments described above, when the telephone relay unit performs the telephone relay process, no response is made to the caller to the relay telephone number, and therefore, the relay process is not performed to the caller. During execution, a ringback tone provided by the telephone network was provided. However, an embodiment in which a specific announcement sound is sent to the caller until the telephone relay unit transfers the call to the user may be employed. As an example of the announcement sound, there is a voice message “The phone is currently connected”. As a result, the caller to the telephone relay number can recognize the processing status.

  In addition, the telephone relay device of the present invention can be realized by a computer and a telephone relay program, as well as hardware functions. The telephone relay program is provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a magnetic disk or a semiconductor memory, read by the computer at the time of starting up the computer, and controlling the operation of the computer. Each of the above-described processes is executed by functioning as a telephone relay device in each embodiment.

It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the telephone relay system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data stored in the user information storage part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data stored in the notification information storage part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the telephone relay process in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the telephone relay system concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data stored in the user information storage part in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the telephone relay process in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the telephone relay system concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data stored in the user information storage part in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the telephone relay process in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the telephone relay process in the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the telephone relay process in the 5th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the telephone relay system concerning the 6th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the telephone relay process in the 6th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the telephone relay system concerning the 7th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data stored in the notification information storage part in the 7th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the telephone relay system concerning the 8th Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 50 ... Telephone network 60 ... Network 100-105 ... Telephone relay apparatus 110-115 ... Telephone relay part 120 ... Speech synthesizer 130-132 ... User information storage part 140, 141 ... Caller information acquisition part 150, 151 ... Notification information Storage unit 152 ... Notification information update unit 160 ... Answering machine service unit 170 ... Caller information notification unit 171 ... Notification unit 180 ... Storage unit 200-202 ... Telephone terminal

Claims (11)

A user information storage unit that holds correspondence between the user telephone number assigned to the user's telephone terminal and the relay telephone number assigned to the telephone relay device;
A notification information storage unit that holds the correspondence between the user telephone number and the notification information;
When receiving a call to the relay telephone number, a user telephone number corresponding to the relay telephone number is acquired from the user information storage unit, and a notification corresponding to a caller telephone number notified from the telephone network at the time of the incoming call Information is obtained from the notification information storage unit, and a relay process for connecting a caller telephone terminal that is a caller's caller telephone terminal and a callee telephone terminal that is a telephone terminal of the acquired user telephone number; and A telephone relay apparatus comprising: a telephone relay unit that performs a process of notifying the acquired notification information to a destination telephone terminal.   2. The telephone relay according to claim 1, wherein the notification information storage unit holds a correspondence between the user telephone number and the notification information for each user identification information which is a user telephone number or a relay telephone number. apparatus. A user information storage unit that holds correspondence between the user telephone number assigned to the user's telephone terminal and the relay telephone number assigned to the telephone relay device;
When receiving an incoming call to the relay telephone number, a user telephone number corresponding to the relay telephone number is acquired from the user information storage unit, and information on the caller is used as notification information from the telephone terminal that is the caller of the incoming call. Relay processing for acquiring and connecting the caller telephone terminal that is the caller terminal of the incoming call and the callee telephone terminal that is the telephone terminal of the acquired user telephone number, and the acquisition to the callee telephone terminal A telephone relay device comprising a telephone relay unit for performing notification processing of the notification information.   3. The telephone relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification information is notified to the called telephone terminal by voice communication.   3. The telephone relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification information is notified to the called telephone terminal by data communication.   3. The telephone relay device according to claim 1, wherein the notification information is notified to the called telephone terminal by writing the notification information in a storage device that can be referred to by the called telephone terminal.   3. The telephone relay device according to claim 1, wherein the notification information is notified to the called telephone terminal after waiting for an inquiry from the called telephone terminal.   3. The telephone relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relay process is performed after waiting for a connection request from the destination telephone terminal.   The telephone relay unit analyzes a response input from the destination telephone terminal and provides the additional service to the destination telephone terminal when an additional service other than a connection request is requested. The telephone relay apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. A first step in which a calling telephone terminal calls a relay telephone number assigned to a telephone relay device for a telephone network;
The telephone relay device acquires the telephone number of the user corresponding to the relay telephone number received through the telephone network from the user information storage unit, and supports the caller telephone number notified from the telephone network. A second step of acquiring notification information to be received from the notification information storage unit;
The telephone relay device connects the calling telephone terminal to the called telephone terminal that is the telephone terminal of the acquired user's telephone number, and notifies the received notification information to the called telephone terminal. And a third step of performing processing. A user information storage unit that holds the correspondence between the user telephone number assigned to the user's telephone terminal and the relay telephone number assigned to the telephone relay device, and the correspondence between the user telephone number and the notification information. In the computer constituting the telephone relay device provided with the notification information storage unit,
The telephone number of the user corresponding to the relay telephone number received from the caller telephone terminal through the telephone network is acquired from the user information storage unit, and the caller telephone number notified from the telephone network is handled. Processing for obtaining notification information from the notification information storage unit;
A relay process for connecting the calling telephone terminal and the called telephone terminal that is the telephone terminal of the acquired user telephone number;
A telephone relay program for causing the receiving telephone terminal to perform notification processing of the acquired notification information.

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