KR100330140B1 - Internet phone system - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, an out-of-band signal that cannot be handled by a public communication network is processed using an Internet Auto Response System (IARS) instead of being directly transmitted to a gateway, thereby realizing a cheaper and higher quality call and simultaneously encrypting a call stream that is the content of a call. By doing so, it is to provide an Internet phone system with an enhanced security.

The present invention is installed between the Internet network and a public communication network, the Internet phone system having a gateway for converting a signal transmitted from the Internet network into a public communication network signal, and converts a signal transmitted from the public communication network into an Internet signal And an out-of-band signal, which is installed between the internet network and the gateway and is a signal of more than a band that can be processed by a public communication network, through the internet network, processes the out-of-band signal and outputs the signal to the gateway. In case of input through a communication network, the out-of-band signal is processed and output to the Internet network, and when the security is required for the contents of the call, the Internet automatic response system for encrypting or decrypting the call stream and outputting it is requested. It characterized in that it comprises a).

Description

Internet Phone System {INTERNET PHONE SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to an Internet phone system for making a telephone call using the Internet network, and in particular, an out-of-band frequency signal that cannot be used in a public switched telephone network (PSTN), an integrated services digital network (ISDN), or a mobile communication network. The present invention relates to an internet phone system that processes a call and encrypts voice resources so that a call can be made from the Internet to a general public telecommunication network.

Recently, modem technology has been developed to use inexpensive and widely used telephone lines for data communication between a computer and a terminal, and as the number of users increases, a dedicated communication network connecting a computer center and a terminal has emerged. Such large-scale communication networks include public telephone networks for voice telephony, wireless broadcasting networks for television and radio broadcasting, and cable television networks. However, these were all networks that handle analog signals, so data communication performance was very poor. Therefore, a separate network has been devised for the efficient transmission of digital data. With the rapid development of computer technology, data communication has been used not only for communication between computer and terminal but also for information transmission between computer and computer. In particular, with the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, multimedia applications such as voice letters, video conferencing, television program transmission, Internet phones, Internet video broadcasting, and virtual reality applications appeared.

In particular, in recent years, a technology using an internet network for long distance communication has been developed. Telephony using the Internet is much more efficient than public telephone networks. Because telephone communication using public communication network uses circuit switching mode, which always allocates one line regardless of whether or not data is generated for one call, average 60% of talk time. On the other hand, in the case of telephony using the internet network, it is possible to economically share one line by dividing the data into an appropriate size without allocating a line exclusively to a specific call. This is because the use of a packet switching mode, which allows a higher number of communication sessions per exchange, is possible than in a public telephone network. In addition, the Internet network has the advantage of low distance proportional fee. Because of these cost and efficiency issues, the so-called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which allows voice calls to the Internet for long distance calls, has recently attracted attention.

However, the protocols of general public telephone networks and Internet networks are different. In other words, the phone has a very good real-time response because the two terminals are assigned a part of the exchange for communication and occupy until the end of the communication. Because path selection is independent, packets sent first may arrive later at the receiver than packets sent later and may even be ignored or discarded during delivery. Sending connection-oriented public network signals to the connectionless-oriented internet requires reliability, and a series of protocols and devices are required. H.323 protocol is recommended.

The H.323 protocol is a standard protocol established by the ITU to provide real-time multimedia communications in data networks. It was originally proposed for the videoconferencing standard protocol, but has now become the standard protocol of VoIP. The H.323 protocol specifies four system components: Terminal, Gateway, Gate Keeper, and Multipoint Control Unit (MCU).

The terminal is a computer (PC) or phone (Phone) that the user directly interfaces for a telephone call.

The gateway converts the public network signal into the Internet signal when the public network signal comes in through the terminal, and converts the public network signal into the public network signal when the Internet signal comes in.

Gatekeepers have information about gateways and terminals and exchange information with them. Gatekeepers are used to prevent fraudulent user connections or to settle charges by terminal. In particular, it should be noted that the gatekeeper only has channels related to call control and does not have a channel for media transmission. It is responsible for address translation, user authentication, and bandwidth control.

The MCU is a component used for multi-party video conferencing.

Fig. 1 shows a configuration example of a conventional general internet phone system using such an H.323 protocol. In Fig. 1, reference numerals 10 and 60 denote terminals (PCs or telephones), 20 denotes an Internet network, 30 denotes a VoIP gateway according to the H.323 protocol, 40 denotes a packet switch, and 50 denotes a public communication network. The VoIP gateway 30 and the packet switch 40 are equipment provided at an information service provider (ISP) side.

Hereinafter, a process of making a phone call in the conventional Internet phone system configured as described above will be described. When a user inputs a voice through a sender (not shown) on the terminal (PC or telephone) 10 for a telephone call, the voice signal is converted into an Internet signal in accordance with the H.323 protocol by the terminal 10 and is connected to the Internet network. Via 20 is sent to the IP address (IP Address) of the VoIP gateway 30. The gateway 30 converts the Internet signal entered through the Internet network 20 into a public communication network signal and transmits it to the packet exchanger 40, and the packet exchanger 40 at the ISP side transmits the public communication network signal to the public communication network 50. Call is transmitted to the subscriber of the terminal 60 side.

As described above, in the conventional Internet phone system, the terminal 10 directly transmits a call signal to the VoIP gateway 30 using the H.323 protocol through the Internet network 20 to connect with the packet switch 40. It uses a method of calling other public network subscribers through the network.

However, since this method establishes a call by directly sending a call signal to the VoIP gateway 30 without any processing other than signal conversion for transmission on the Internet, a voice resource for voice service provided in addition to the call content is provided. ) Or the out-of-band signal becomes difficult. This is because the VoIP gateway only converts Internet signals into voice or dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) public network signals, or converts these public network signals into Internet signals.

As a result, in the conventional Internet phone system, the VoIP gateway 30 is only responsible for switching the signals necessary for each other between the public communication network 50 and the Internet network 20, and a gatekeeper (not shown) is also a separate channel for media transmission. Since it does not have the additional processing as described above is not easy. This process requires more services than those recommended by the H.323 protocol, so you have to wait until the new ITU standard is released or create a gateway that arbitrarily extends the H.323 protocol. However, this will inevitably cause problems with inter-gateway compatibility, and the cost per processing call will be high because expensive equipment must be used to process the public network signal processed by this expansion gateway. Therefore, there is a need for a cost-effective, cost-effective way to handle the Internet before it can be converted into a public network signal through a gateway.

In addition, the H.323 protocol handles TCP / IP over IPv4, which has almost no security concept. Therefore, there is a risk of eavesdropping. Although there is a gatekeeper for authentication to screen out fraudulent users, it handles only the terminal user as a legitimate user, and cannot handle encryption of stream type call content at all. Therefore, when security of the call content is required, a channel for encrypting the call content in the form of a stream is additionally required.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and implement a cheaper and higher quality call by processing out-of-band signals that cannot be handled in a public communication network using an Internet Auto Response System (IARS) without directly sending to a gateway. At the same time, it is to provide an Internet phone system that further enhances security by encrypting a call stream, which is a call content.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional Internet phone system using the H. 323 protocol.

2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an Internet phone system constructed using the H.323 protocol according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of FIG. 2 in more detail.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100, 700: terminal 200: Internet network

300: IARS 310: Switching Hub

320: IP Redirector 330: Audio Stream Server

340 processor 350 decoder

360: Encoder 400: VoIP Gateway

500: Packet Switcher 600: Public Communication Network

The Internet phone of the present invention for achieving the above object is installed between the Internet network and the public communication network, the signal transmitted from the Internet network is converted into a public communication network signal, the signal transmitted from the public communication network is converted into an Internet signal It is assumed that an Internet phone system having a gateway is provided between the Internet network and the gateway, and when an out-of-band signal, which is a signal of more than a band that can be processed by a public communication network, is input through the Internet network, the out-of-band signal is used. Processes the signal and outputs it to the gateway, and when it is input through a public communication network, processes the out-of-band signal and outputs it to the Internet network. Or the Internet Automated Response System (IARS) for decoding and outputting And that is characterized.

In the above configuration, the IARS is connected to the Internet network, the switching hub for sending and receiving signals, the IP redirector for distributing the signal output from the switching hub, and when the call start signal or call termination signal is input from the IP redirector in advance It is preferable that the audio stream server for outputting the stored voice information signal to the switching hub.

When the out-of-band signal is input, the IARS processes the out-of-band signal as a signal that can be used in a public network and outputs the signal to the VoIP gateway, and when an encryption request signal is input, the IARS generates a predetermined encryption key according to the encryption request signal. It is preferable to further include a processor for issuing and outputting to the switching hub.

In addition, the IARS, after the processor issues an encryption key and outputs it to the switching hub, if the call contents encrypted according to the encryption key are received by the switching hub through the Internet network, the IARS decrypts the output and outputs the encryption key to the VoIP gateway. It is preferable to further include a decoder and an encoder for encrypting and receiving the encryption request signal from the VoIP gateway and outputting the encrypted request signal to the switching hub.

The above and other objects and features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

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

2 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment for implementing the Internet phone system of the present invention. In Fig. 2, reference numerals 100 and 700 denote terminals, 200 denotes an Internet network, 300 denotes an IARS (Internet Auto Response System), 400 denotes a VoIP gateway according to the H.323 protocol, 500 denotes a packet switch, and 600 denotes a public communication network. have. In addition, in FIG. 2, the IARS 300, the VoIP gateway 400, and the packet switch 500 are equipment provided at an information provider (ISP) side.

2 is different from FIG. 1 in that the IARS 300 is provided between the internet network 200 and the VoIP gateway 400. The IARS 300 is a core component of the present invention and has a function of processing out-of-band signals that cannot be handled in a general public communication network and encrypting and processing a call stream which is a call content.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration example of the Internet phone system according to the present invention, the same components as in Figure 2 will be given the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 3, reference numerals 100 and 700 denote terminals, 100 denotes a PC, and 700 denotes a case of a telephone, and both have an analog / digital converter and an encoder / decoder (not shown). Reference numeral 200 denotes an internet network, and in this internet network 200, TCP (Transfer Control Protocol), UDP (User Datagram Protocol), and IP (Internet Protocol) are used as intermediate protocols.

As shown in FIG. 3, reference numeral 300 denotes an IARS for processing out-of-band signals and encrypting call contents. The switching hub 310 exchanges signals with the terminal 100 through the Internet network 200; When the call start signal and the call end signal are received through the IP redirector 320 and the Internet network 200 through which the signal output from the switching hub 310 is received, the voice previously stored in the internal memory (not shown). An audio stream server 330 that provides information, a processor 340 for processing out-of-band frequency signals that cannot be processed in a public communication network, and a VoIP gateway that decodes encrypted data sent from the Internet network 200. The decoder 350 outputs to 400, and the encoder 360 encrypts the contents of the call sent from the public communication network 600 to transmit to the switching hub 310.

Hereinafter, with reference to Figure 3 will be described the operation of the Internet phone system of the present invention.

First, when the user attempts to access the IARS 300 of the operator of the information service provider from the terminal 100 through the Internet network 200, the switching hub 310 of the IARS 300 is called IP The redirector 320 is notified, and the IP redirector 320 generates a control signal and instructs the audio stream server 330 to send the previously input voice information and the like to the switching hub 310. The audio stream server 330 sends voice information to the switching hub 310, and the switching hub 310 sends voice information supplied from the audio stream server 330 to the terminal 100 through the internet network 200. For example, the voice information service is provided to the user immediately before a call with the public communication network is made. This voice information service uses the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) standard or Microsoft's stream server to send the stream as it is. , An out-of-band signal can be transmitted. Therefore, if only a sound card is installed in a terminal connected to the Internet network 200, a much higher quality sound can be transmitted than a telephone.

In addition, by using the IARS 300 of the present invention, even between the terminal and the terminal, a specific signal or event signal exceeding the voice frequency range used in the public communication network, a text message signal, a video information signal, and synchronization information that cannot be transmitted by voice It can process out-of-band signals such as signals. The process is as follows.

When the out-of-band signal is received from the terminal 100 through the Internet network 200 to the switching hub 310, the switching hub 310 notifies the IP redirector 320 that the out-of-band signal has been reached, and the IP redirector ( 320 sends an out-of-band signal to processor 340. Processor 340 processes these out-of-band signals and sends them back to IP redirector 320. The IP redirector 340 transmits the out-of-band signal thus processed to the VoIP gateway 370. The VoIP gateway 400 converts the processed out-of-band signal into a public network signal suitable for the public communication network, and sends it to the packet switch 500. The packet switch 500 transmits the public network signal to the public network 600 by transmitting the public signal. It is connected to the terminal 700 of the subscriber connected to the communication network 600, the call for the out-of-band signal is possible.

Next, the operation of the Internet phone system of the present invention in the case where encryption is necessary for security reasons for the call content will be described.

When the security of the call is required, when the user requests encryption of the call using a specific key, the switching hub 310 sends the encryption request signal to the IP redirector 320. The IP redirector 320 sends this encryption request signal to the processor 340 to request a key for encryption. The processor 340 transmits a predetermined encryption key to the switching hub 310 according to the user, and the switching hub 310 sends the key to the terminal 100 through the internet network 200. The terminal 100 encrypts the call content by an encoder (not shown) using this encryption key, and then transmits the encrypted call content to the switching hub 310 through the Internet network 200. The switching hub 310 sends the encrypted call to the IP redirector 320, and the IP redirector 320 distributes the encrypted call to the decoder 350. The decoder 350 decodes the encrypted contents and transmits the decrypted contents to the VoIP gateway 360. The VoIP gateway 400 transmits the decoded signal to the public communication network 600 via the packet switch 500 to the public communication network 600. A call is made between a subscriber of the terminal 700 connected to the subscriber and a subscriber of the terminal 100 connected to the internet network 200.

On the other hand, the contents of the call requiring encryption from the terminal 700 side reaches the VoIP gateway 400 via the public communication network 600 and the packet switch 500, and the VoIP gateway 400 requires this encryption. The call is sent to the encoder 360. The encoder 360 encrypts the call content from the VoIP gateway 400 and sends it to the switching hub 310, and the switching hub 310 sends the encrypted call content to the terminal 100 through the Internet network 200. . The encryption signal sent to the terminal 100 is decoded by a decoder (not shown) mounted in the terminal 100 so that the user of the terminal 100 hears the call.

Although the operation of the Internet phone system according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the description of this embodiment. That is, in the above description of the embodiment, the case of the PC-to-Phone system has been described as an example. However, the present invention may be applied to the case of the phone-to-phone system. In the case of a phone-to-phone system, a public communication network, a packet switch, a VoIP gateway, and an IARS having the same configuration as that shown in FIG. 2 are connected between the terminal 100 and the Internet network 200 in order from the terminal 100 side. do.

According to the Internet phone system according to the present invention as described above, by using the IARS in the step of the Internet network to process out-of-band signals that could not be processed in the conventional public telecommunications network, by encrypting the contents of the call to cheap and high-quality calls In addition to the implementation, it has the effect of improving security.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for purposes of illustration, and those skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications, changes, substitutions and additions through the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (4)

An internet phone system provided between an internet network and a public telecommunication network, comprising a gateway for converting a signal transmitted from the internet network into a public communication network signal, and converting a signal transmitted from the public communication network into an internet signal. When an out-of-band signal is provided between the Internet network and the gateway and is a signal of a band or more that can be processed by a public communication network through the Internet network, the out-of-band signal is processed and output to the gateway. When an external signal is input through a public communication network, the out-of-band signal is processed and output to the Internet network, and when the security of the contents of a call is required, an Internet automatic response system for encrypting or decrypting and outputting a call stream (IARS) Internet phone system comprising a). The method of claim 1, The IARS, A switching hub connected to the internet network to send and receive signals; An IP redirector for distributing a signal output from the switching hub; And an audio stream server for outputting voice information signals stored in advance to the switching hub when a call start signal or a call end signal is input from the IP redirector. The method of claim 2, The IARS, When the out-of-band signal is input, the out-of-band signal is processed as a signal that can be used in a public network and output to the VoIP gateway, and when an encryption request signal is input, a predetermined encryption key is issued according to the encryption request signal to switch the hub. Internet phone system further comprises a processor for outputting. The method of claim 2 or 3, The IARS, A decoder for issuing an encryption key and outputting the encryption key to the switching hub, and decrypting the encrypted call contents when received by the switching hub through the internet network and outputting them to the VoIP gateway; And an encoder for encrypting an encryption request signal received from the VoIP gateway and encrypting the encrypted request signal to the switching hub.