JP4313723B2 - IP telephone exchange method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention provides an IP telephone that connects an IP telephone terminal accommodated by the apparatus and an IP telephone terminal included in an external public IP telephone network via an IP private branch exchange (hereinafter referred to as IP-PBX). The present invention relates to an exchange method and apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 1, as one form of connecting an IP telephone accommodated in an IP-PBX via a dedicated IP network and an IP telephone of an external public IP telephone network, it responds to a call connection request between telephones. The IP-PBX main body performs the call connection procedure. After the call is set up, voice signal packets are exchanged directly via one link between telephones. Examples of the former call setting include SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), H.264, and the like. IP telephone protocols such as H.323 and Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) are used, and the latter voice signal packets are packetized by the same voice compression standard using RTP (Real-time Transfer Protocol). A packet is transmitted.

  By the way, during a call in which an IP telephone under the IP-PBX directly communicates a voice signal packet with an IP telephone in the public IP telephone network, it may be desired to transfer the call to another IP telephone under the IP-PBX due to a transfer request. . In this case, since the voice signal termination point needs to be changed, the direct packet communication between the IP telephones returns to the call connection procedure in the IP-PBX again, and the voice signal is part of the call transfer procedure in the call connection protocol. It is necessary to change the end point.

  However, frequent execution of the procedure for changing the voice signal termination point in such a call connection protocol causes a large overhead and a processing delay. Furthermore, when connecting to a plurality of public IP telephone networks, the call connection protocol, function, or capability included in them may not be compatible with such call transfer.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an IP telephone exchange method and apparatus that enables call transfer without performance degradation such as processing delay.

An IP telephone exchange method according to the present invention is a telephone exchange method for call connection between an accommodated IP telephone terminal and an external IP telephone terminal, wherein at least one relay address is provided in response to a call connection request, A setting step for setting a correspondence table between the outgoing address of the IP telephone terminal, the incoming address of the called IP telephone terminal, and the at least one relay address , and the outgoing address from the outgoing address in response to the call connection request The voice signal packet is set in response to a path setting step for setting a bidirectional voice signal packet path that reaches the destination address via the relay address and a call transfer request that designates another IP telephone terminal to be accommodated as a transfer destination. Route reconfiguration for changing any one of the outgoing and incoming addresses in the route to the address of the IP telephone terminal of the transfer destination and resetting the voice signal packet route A step, characterized in that it comprises a.

The IP telephone exchange apparatus according to the present invention is an IP telephone exchange apparatus for call-connecting an accommodated IP telephone terminal and an external IP telephone terminal, and is provided with at least one relay address in response to a call connection request. A setting means for setting a correspondence table between the outgoing address of the IP telephone terminal on the side, the incoming address of the incoming IP telephone terminal, and the at least one relay address , and the outgoing address corresponding to the call connection request Route setting means for setting a bidirectional voice signal packet route from the relay address to the destination address, and in response to a call transfer request specifying another accommodated IP telephone terminal as a transfer destination, Route resetting by changing any one of the source and destination addresses in the signal packet path to the address of the IP telephone terminal of the transfer destination and resetting the voice signal packet path Characterized in that it comprises a stage, a.

  According to the IP telephone exchange method and apparatus according to the present invention, the route of the voice signal packet corresponding to the call setting is set to the route via the relay address, and when a call transfer request is generated, the call transfer is supported. Thus, a configuration is provided in which only the audio signal termination point is changed. As a result, call transfer can be performed without performance degradation such as processing delay.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention and shows the configuration of an IP telephone exchange apparatus. Here, the private branch exchange (PBX) IP-PBX 20 can be connected to an IP-VPN 10 which is a dedicated IP data network dedicated to a specific organization such as a company, and an IP telephone terminal of a general subscriber. It is connected to the public IP telephone network 30. The IP-VPN 10 is connected to IP telephone terminals 11 and 12 as an example of a plurality of IP telephone terminals accommodated in the IP-PBX 20. An IP telephone terminal 31 is connected to the public IP telephone network 30 as one of a plurality of subscribed IP telephone terminals. The IP-PBX 20 includes a call server unit 21, an ordinary telephone accommodating interface unit (IF) 22, an IP telephone terminal accommodating interface unit (IF) 23, a public IP telephone network gateway unit (GW) 24, and a free relay address table. 26 and an audio signal relay unit 25.

  The call server unit 21 is connected to each unit included in the IP-PBX 20 to control the entire PBX exchange function. The call server unit 21 performs call control of extension calls between accommodated IP telephone terminals and receives incoming calls from the public IP telephone network 30 or public It has a function of performing call control of external line calls including outgoing calls to the IP telephone network 30. In response to the call connection request, the call server unit 21 also searches for a free relay address from the free relay address table 26 and sends it to the voice signal relay unit 25, so that the voice signal relay unit 25 performs a voice packet. And a function of receiving a call transfer and controlling the call transfer process.

  The ordinary telephone accommodation interface unit 22 has a function of connecting the conventional ordinary telephone 19 and has a voice IP conversion function for performing a mutual conversion between a voice signal in the conventional system and a voice signal formed into an IP packet. As a result, the ordinary telephone 19 can be handled in the same manner as an ordinary IP telephone terminal. The IP telephone terminal accommodating interface unit 23 is connected to the IP-VPN 10 and has a function of transmitting / receiving a call control signal packet and a voice signal packet to / from a plurality of IP telephone terminals using the IP protocol. The public IP telephone network gateway unit 24 is connected to the public IP telephone network 30 and has a gateway function for transferring IP packets between different networks.

  The voice signal relay unit 25 receives the correspondence between the relay address extracted from the idle relay address table 26 based on the call connection request received by the call server unit 21, the outgoing address and the incoming address, and the voice signal route setting table 27. It has a function to set to. The voice signal relay unit 25 is further requested to correspond to the relay address set based on the call connection request, the source address, and the destination address based on the call transfer request received by the call server unit 21. It has a function of changing the audio signal path setting table 27 to the transfer destination address of the transfer destination IP telephone terminal. Further, the voice signal relay unit 25 transmits the voice signal packet received via the IP telephone terminal accommodating interface unit 23 and the public IP telephone network gateway unit 24 to an appropriate partner according to the voice signal route setting table 27. Has a relay function.

  FIG. 3 illustrates the configuration of the idle relay address table and the voice signal route setting table shown in FIG. The idle relay address table 26 is a table that stores unused addresses among relay addresses that serve as relay points for relaying voice signal packets. In the example of this figure, the free relay address table 26 is set as "aaa.bbb.ccc.001 to aaa.bbb.ccc.011" and holds a plurality of free relay addresses. As management of idle relay addresses, for example, one relay address is deleted from the table by being used in a voice signal routing table 27 described later for each individual call connection, and this is accompanied by the release of the call. Is returned to the empty relay address table again.

  The voice signal path setting table 27 sets a path that gives to which IP address the voice signal packet should be transmitted according to the destination address included in the voice signal packet received by the IP-PBX 20. It is a table. The audio signal path setting table 27 is managed by being divided into a plurality of relay addresses 271a and 271b provided for each call connection. For example, the relay address 271a is further associated with the setting table 272a, and similarly the relay address 271b is further associated with the corresponding setting table (not shown). In the setting table 272a, the IP address on the IP-PBX side and the IP address on the public IP telephone network side to which voice signal packets are communicated using the relay address as a relay point are set.

  The setting table 272a in the example of the figure shows the IP address of the IP telephone terminal 11 on the IP-PBX side and the public IP telephone network side to which voice signal packets are communicated with the relay address "aaa.bbb.ccc.001" as a relay point. The IP address of the IP telephone terminal 31 is set. Thereby, the voice signal packet transmitted from the IP telephone terminal 11 to the IP-PBX 20 is once transmitted to the IP telephone terminal 31 via the relay address “aaa.bbb.ccc.001” of the voice signal relay unit 25. The On the other hand, the voice signal packet transmitted from the IP telephone terminal 31 to the IP-PBX 20 is transmitted to the IP telephone terminal 11 once via the relay address “aaa.bbb.ccc.001” of the voice signal relay unit 25. .

  The setting table 272a 'in the example of this figure shows settings when a call between the IP telephone terminal 11 and the IP telephone terminal 31 is transferred to the IP telephone terminal 12 accommodated in the IP-PBX 20. At the time of such transfer, the IP address “IP telephone terminal 11” on the IP-PBX side is simply changed to “IP telephone terminal 12”. As a result, a voice signal packet from the IP telephone terminal 12 is transmitted to the IP telephone terminal 31, while a voice signal is transmitted from the IP telephone terminal 31 to the IP telephone terminal 31, and an appropriate voice signal path based on call transfer is transmitted. Setting is achieved.

  In the IP address specification in the above description, along with the IP address specification, additional address information such as a port number may be used in combination as a subaddress required when the same IP address is shared.

  FIG. 4 shows a processing procedure of the IP telephone exchange method according to the present invention. The processing procedure will be described with reference to the components shown in FIG.

  First, the IP telephone terminal 11 makes a call with the IP telephone terminal 31 as a destination (step S01). Next, in response to a call from the IP telephone terminal 11, the call server unit 21 of the IP-PBX 20 searches for a free relay address from the free relay address table 26 (step S02). Next, the call server unit 21 transmits the relay address to the public IP telephone network 30 using the transmission side voice signal termination point (step S03). In response to the call, the public IP telephone network 30 receives the incoming call to the IP telephone terminal 31 that is the destination (step S04). When the IP telephone terminal 31 responds to the incoming call (step S05), the public IP telephone network 30 responds to the IP-PBX 20 with the incoming address of the IP telephone terminal 31 as the incoming voice signal termination point (step S06). Thereby, the call connection between the IP telephone terminal 11 and the IP telephone terminal 31 is prepared.

  In response to the response, the call server unit 21 of the IP-PBX 20 sends the voice signal relay unit 25 included in the IP-PBX 20 to the voice including the address of each of the IP telephone terminal 11 and the IP telephone terminal 31 and the designation of the relay address. A signal relay request is transmitted (step S07). In response to this, the voice signal relay unit 25 creates a voice signal path setting table 27 based on each designated address (see FIG. 3), and responds to the call server unit 21 with the completion (step S08). In response to the response, the call server unit 21 responds to the IP telephone terminal 11 using the relay address as the terminating voice signal termination point (step S09), so that the IP telephone terminal 11 and the IP telephone terminal 31 are connected. A voice signal packet path is set as the speech path.

  Next, a voice signal packet is communicated between the transmission address and the relay address of the IP telephone terminal 11 by a call between the IP telephone terminal 11 and the IP telephone terminal 31 (step S10). On the other hand, these voice signal packets are exchanged between the incoming address and the relay address of the IP telephone terminal 31 (step S11).

  FIG. 5 shows a processing procedure at the time of call transfer in the IP telephone exchange method according to the present invention. The processing procedure will be described with reference to the components shown in FIG.

  As a premise, as a result of the processing procedure shown in FIG. 4, a voice signal packet is exchanged between the outgoing address and the relay address of the IP telephone terminal 11 (step S10), and the incoming address of the IP telephone terminal 31 These voice signal packets are exchanged with the relay address (step S11).

  Here, the IP telephone terminal 11 makes a transfer request for transferring the call to the IP telephone terminal 12 accommodated in the IP-PBX 20 (step S12). In response to the transfer request, the call server unit 21 of the IP-PBX 20 requests the voice signal relay unit 25 of the IP-PBX 20 to change the transmission address of the voice signal route setting table 27 to the transfer destination address. (Step S13). The voice signal relay unit 25 changes the setting of the voice signal path setting table 27 in response to the change request, and responds to the call server unit 21 with the completion of the change (step S14).

  Following this response, the call server unit 21 responds to acceptance of the call transfer request of the IP telephone terminal 11 (step S15) and makes a transfer request to transfer the call to the IP telephone terminal 12 (step S16). When the IP telephone terminal 12 makes a response corresponding to the call transfer (step S17), the path of the voice signal is the IP telephone terminal 12 and the IP telephone terminal under the call connection between the IP telephone terminal 11 and the IP telephone terminal 31. The call transfer is substantially achieved.

  By a call between the IP telephone terminal 12 and the IP telephone terminal 31, a voice signal packet is communicated between the forwarding address and the relay address which are the IP telephone terminal 12 (step S18), and the IP telephone terminal 31 These voice signal packets are exchanged between the incoming address and the relay address (step S19).

  In the above embodiment, when an IP telephone terminal under the IP-PBX is communicating with the public IP telephone network and the voice signal termination point such as forwarding is changed, the call connection protocol processing that is usually required frequently is unnecessary. It becomes. Therefore, the processing delay due to the change procedure is eliminated. In addition, a call transfer function can be provided regardless of restrictions on the call connection protocol, function, or capability of the public IP telephone network.

It is explanatory drawing explaining the conventional IP telephone exchange method and apparatus. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration including an IP telephone exchange apparatus according to the present invention, showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is explanatory drawing explaining the structure of the idle relay address table and audio | voice signal path | route setting table which are shown by FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process sequence of the IP telephone exchange method by this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process sequence at the time of the call transfer of the IP telephone switching method by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 IP-VPN
11, 12, 31 IP phone terminal 19 Normal phone 20 IP-PBX
21 Call server section 25 Voice signal relay section 26 Free relay address table 27 Voice signal route setting table 30 Public IP telephone network

Claims (2)

A telephone exchange method for making a call connection between an accommodated IP telephone terminal and an external IP telephone terminal,
In response to the call connection request, at least one relay address is provided, and a correspondence table of the outgoing address of the originating IP telephone terminal, the incoming address of the incoming IP telephone terminal, and the at least one relay address is set. Configuration steps;
In response to the call connection request, a route setting step for setting a bidirectional voice signal packet route from the originating address to the incoming address via the relay address;
In response to a call transfer request that designates another IP telephone terminal to be accommodated as a transfer destination, any one of the outgoing and incoming addresses in the voice signal packet path is changed to the address of the IP telephone terminal of the transfer destination, A route reset step for resetting the voice signal packet route;
The telephone exchange method characterized by including. An IP telephone exchange apparatus for call-connecting an accommodated IP telephone terminal and an external IP telephone terminal,
In response to the call connection request, at least one relay address is provided, and a correspondence table of the outgoing address of the originating IP telephone terminal, the incoming address of the incoming IP telephone terminal, and the at least one relay address is set. Setting means;
In response to the call connection request, path setting means for setting a bidirectional voice signal packet path from the calling address to the incoming address via the relay address;
In response to a call transfer request that designates another IP telephone terminal to be accommodated as a transfer destination, any one of the outgoing and incoming addresses in the voice signal packet path is changed to the address of the IP telephone terminal of the transfer destination, Route resetting means for resetting the voice signal packet route;
An IP telephone exchange apparatus comprising:

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