KR20070069514A - Conference call system and method of operating the system - Google Patents

Abstract

A conference call system and an operation method of the system are provided to more quickly/conveniently supply a conference call service through recorded phone numbers by previously recording phone numbers of users who frequently participate in a conference call or who belong to a predetermined group. An authenticator(510) receives a connection request from the first user's computer terminal(550), and authenticates the first user in response to the connection request. A conference call request receiver(520) receives more than one piece of ID information for more than one of the second communication terminals(570) from the authenticated first user's computer terminal(550), and receives a call request. A conference call setup unit(540) demands call setup to the first user's first communication terminal(560), and controls so that the more than one of the second communication terminals(570) sets a call with the first communication terminal(560) if the call with the first communication terminal(560) is set.

Description

CONFERENCE CALL SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SYSTEM}

1 is a diagram illustrating a network to which a conference call system is connected according to the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram showing an output means of a computer terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group information database according to the present invention.

5 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is an internal block diagram of a general purpose computer device that may be employed to perform the method of operation of a conference call system in the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

500: conference call system 510: authentication unit

520: Conference call request receiving unit 530: Group information database

540: conference call setup unit 550: computer terminal

560: first communication terminal 570: second communication terminal

The present invention relates to a conference call system for providing a conference call service to a communication terminal and a method of operating the system. More particularly, a user can access at least one second call to the conference call system through a computer terminal to participate in a conference call. Input one or more identification information for a communication terminal, and according to the identification information, the conference call system provides a conference call service to the first communication terminal of the user and a second communication terminal corresponding to the one or more identification information. It relates to a call system and a method of operating the system.

Today's remarkable development of information and communication technology has rapidly promoted the popularization of communication terminals (mobile devices), so that most ordinary people always have communication terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs. Therefore, the user can easily communicate with the counterpart using the communication terminal, so that communication is more frequent than before, and users of the communication terminal are gradually increasing.

Such communication terminals are provided with more various functions to meet the needs of users as the communication technology and the use of users increase, thereby providing user convenience.

Most carriers provide a conference call service, which is a 1: N call as well as a 1: 1 call, through a communication terminal as a form of an additional communication service. In order to perform a conference call service, a user first establishes a call with a communication terminal of a second user through a communication terminal. Thereafter, additional call setup is performed with one or more communication terminals in order to use the conference call service. To this end, the user must input a combination code of a specific letter or number for additional call setup in the communication terminal, and further input the telephone number of the communication terminal to participate in the conference call. Thus, the user must know the combination code according to the conference call service in advance in order to perform the conference call service, as well as memorize the telephone number of each communication terminal for the additional call setup. As such, the conventional conference call service method requiring a complicated operation of the user has a problem that the user using the conference call service is extremely limited. Therefore, there is an urgent need for technical ideas that make it easier and more convenient to use conference call services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to improve the prior art as described above, and an object of the present invention is to use a conventional conference call service more conveniently by requesting a conference call service through a computer terminal.

An object of the present invention is to increase the profits of a telecommunications carrier through a more convenient conference call service to seek the development of a telecommunications business.

Another object of the present invention is to record in advance the telephone number of a user who participates in a conference call or a user belonging to a predetermined group in advance, and provides a conference call service more quickly and conveniently through the recorded telephone number.

In order to achieve the above object and to solve the above problems of the prior art, the method of operating a conference call system according to the present invention receives a connection request from a computer terminal of a first user through a predetermined communication network; Authenticating the first user according to the access request, receiving at least one identification information of at least one second communication terminal from a computer terminal of the authenticated first user, and receiving a call request; The information includes a customer telephone number (CTN) of the communication terminal, requesting a call setup to a first communication terminal of the first user, and when the call is established with the first communication terminal, the at least one second communication. And controlling the terminal to establish a call with the first communication terminal.

In addition, the conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention receives an access request from a computer terminal of the first user through a predetermined communication network, the authentication unit for authenticating the first user according to the access request, the authenticated Conference call request receiving unit for receiving one or more identification information of one or more second communication terminals from a first user's computer terminal, and receiving a call request-The identification information includes a customer telephone number (CTN) of the communication terminal. -, And a conference call for requesting a call setup to the first communication terminal of the first user, and when the call is established with the first communication terminal, controlling at least one second communication terminal to set up a call with the first communication terminal. It characterized in that it comprises a setting unit.

Hereinafter, a conference call system and a method of operating the system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a network to which a conference call system is connected according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a user accesses a first server 110 connected to an intranet within a company through a computer terminal 111. Thus, the first server 110 receives predetermined authentication information from the computer terminal 111 and performs the authentication operation of the computer terminal 111. The authenticated computer terminal 111 inputs identification information of the second communication terminal 113 for requesting a conference call to the first server 110. The second communication terminal 113 includes one or more communication terminals, and refers to all communication terminals conducting conference calls with the first communication terminal 112. Therefore, the first communication terminal 112 and the second communication terminal 113 used herein are a mobile communication terminal, PSTN terminal, VoIP, SIP, Megaco, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), cellular phone, PCS (Personal Communication) Service (Phone), Hand-Held PC, CDMA-2000 (1X, 3X) Phone, Wideband CDMA Phone, Dual Band / Dual Mode Phone, Global Standard for GSM Mobile (Mobile) phone, Mobile Broadband System (MBS) phone, or satellite / terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) phone and the like.

In addition, the internal intranet refers to a predetermined network, which is obviously applicable to a network such as a groupware or a portal site.

In addition, the identification information includes a customer telephone number (CTN) of the second communication terminal 113, any information for call setup is applicable.

Receiving the identification information from the computer terminal 111, the first server 110 interlocks the identification information of the first communication terminal 112 and the identification information of the second communication terminal 113 recorded in advance with a predetermined communication network. It transmits to the second server 120, and transmits the conference call request. If the identification information is identification information corresponding to telephone number information of the first communication terminal 112 and the second communication terminal 113, the identification information is processed to generate the telephone number information. The generated identification information or the telephone number information is transmitted to the third server 130, and the third server 130 first performs a call setup request to the first communication terminal 112. When the third server 130 establishes a call with the first communication terminal 112, the third server 130 performs a call setup request to the second communication terminal 113 including one or more communication terminals and conferences with the first communication terminal 112. A predetermined carrier system is controlled to establish a communication channel according to the call service.

The first server 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention maintains the one or more identification information and group information corresponding to the identification information in a group information database. Accordingly, a user accesses the first server 110 through the computer terminal 111 and selects the group information without separately inputting identification information about the second communication terminal 113 to the group information. One or more corresponding identification information may be selected.

A user according to an embodiment of the present invention may not only input identification information of the second communication terminal 113 through the computer terminal 111, but also further input predetermined text data. Accordingly, the third server 110 may further include a text to speech (TTS) module for converting the text data into voice data. The TTS module converts the text data input from the user into voice data, and the converted voice data is transmitted to the user of the second communication terminal 113. The voice data may be provided in a ringback tone transmission interval during a call setup process with the second communication terminal 113. In addition, the voice data is guide information input by a user of the first communication terminal 112 requesting a conference call and may include guide information such as a purpose of a conference call or participant information.

The third server 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention provides predetermined advertisement data to the first communication terminal 112 or the second communication terminal 113. To this end, the third server 130 receives the advertisement data from a predetermined advertisement providing server and provides the call setting request to the first communication terminal 112 or the second communication terminal 113. The third server 130 may receive the advertisement data in advance from the advertisement providing server and maintain the advertisement data in a database or provide the advertisement data to the first communication terminal 112 or the second communication terminal 113 in real time.

The first server 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention is the first communication terminal 112 according to the conference call service from the second server 120 having the connection state information transmitted from the third server 130 and The connection state information of the second communication terminal 113 is received, and the received connection state information is provided to the computer terminal 111. Accordingly, the computer terminal 111 outputs the connection state information to the output means as audio or video data.

As described above, in order to perform the conference call service according to the present invention, the first server 110, the second server 120, and the third server 130 are essential components included in the conference call system according to the present invention. Element.

In addition, the conference call service according to the present invention may provide a video call service as well as a voice call.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step 201, the computer terminal requests a connection through a wired or wireless communication network to the conference call system according to the present invention. The connection request includes ID and password information, and the conference call system authenticates a user of the computer terminal according to the connection request received from the computer terminal. Thus, in step 202, the conference call system transmits an acknowledgment (ACK) signal according to the authentication to a computer terminal, and the computer terminal receiving the acknowledgment signal is driven in advance by driving an application to maintain Receive identification information of a second communication terminal for conducting a conference call from a user, and transmit the received identification information of the second communication terminal to the conference call system (step 203). In addition, the user requests a call with the second communication terminal corresponding to the identification information to the conference call system through the computer terminal (step 204).

The conference call system makes a call setup request to the first communication terminal according to the call request of step 204. The conference call system according to the present invention collects and maintains identification information of the first communication terminal from the user through the computer terminal in advance. If the conference call system does not maintain the identification information of the first communication terminal, the conference call system may request identification information of the first communication terminal.

After the step 204, the conference call system sends a call setup request to the first communication terminal (step 205), and establishes a predetermined communication channel with the first communication terminal according to the call setup request. (Step 206). The conference call system that establishes a communication channel with the first communication terminal transmits a call setup request to the second communication terminal in step 207, and a conference call session between the second communication terminal and the first communication terminal. The carrier system is controlled to be set (step 208).

Since the technical idea of establishing a conference call session between specific communication terminals is well known in the art, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention maintains group information corresponding to the one or more identification information in a group information database. That is, the computer terminal web-connected to the conference call system does not need to input respective identification information for the second communication terminal in order to perform a conference call service with the second communication terminal. The one or more identification information can be selected. To this end, the user accesses the conference call system in advance through the computer terminal, and sets the identification information and the group information.

The computer terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention may transmit not only the identification information or the group information, but also predetermined text data to the conference call system. The conference call system includes a Text To Speech (TTS) module for converting the text data into voice data, the TTS module converting the text data into voice data to call the call of step 205 or step 207. Can be used as a ringback tone substitute during the setup request process.

The conference call system according to another embodiment of the present invention receives advertisement data from a predetermined advertisement server. Accordingly, the conference call system may use the advertisement data as a ringback tone replacement sound during the call setup request process of step 205 or 207.

The conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention maintains connection state information between the first communication terminal and the second communication terminal, and provides the connection state information to the computer terminal upon request of the computer terminal. Accordingly, the computer terminal provides the connection state information to the user through an output means including a speaker or a display device.

The conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention may join a third communication terminal to a conference call while performing a conference call service between the first communication terminal and the second communication terminal. In addition, a specific communication terminal may be excluded from the conference call.

3 is a diagram showing an output means of a computer terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the computer terminal 300 outputs screen information for accessing the conference call system. The screen information may be output from the conference call system or by driving an application previously received from the conference call system.

First, reference numeral 301 is a field for inputting a telephone number for a call originator of a conference call. When the conference call system maintains the identification information of the first communication terminal in advance, the telephone number for the call organizer may be automatically set. If the conference call system does not maintain the identification information of the first communication terminal, the user may directly input the telephone number of the first communication terminal through the input means of the computer terminal.

In addition, the user further inputs the telephone number of the call participant according to the conference call through the input means of the computer terminal. The telephone number of the call participant is identification information of the second communication terminal. The telephone number of the call participant may be input directly from the user or may be input by selecting group information from the user. That is, when receiving the group information from the user, the conference call system sets the identification information corresponding to the group information to the call participant phone number by referring to a group information database.

A user who enters a call organizer phone number and a call participant phone number requests a call through reference numeral 303.

In addition, when the reference numeral 304 is clicked, the computer terminal requests input of reservation time information according to a call reservation. Accordingly, the user inputs reservation time information for using the conference call service, and the conference call system determines whether the reservation time information corresponds to current time information at predetermined intervals. If the reservation time information and the time information correspond to the determination result, the conference call system performs the conference call service as described above.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group information database according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a group information database 400 according to the present invention includes a group information field, an identification information field, and a terminal specification information field.

The group information field records one or more group information, and the identification information field records one or more identification information corresponding to the group information. The terminal specification information field records terminal specification information of a second communication terminal corresponding to the identification information. As shown in FIG. 4, the identification information of the second communication terminal corresponding to 'group # 1' includes '010-3333-4444', '010-5555-6666', '010-7777-8888', and the like. The second communication terminal corresponding to '010-3333-4444' is 'specification # 1', the second communication terminal corresponding to '010-5555-6666' is 'specification # 2', and the '010' The second communication terminal corresponding to '-7777-8888' is 'specification # 3'. The terminal specification information is reference information for providing advertisement data or voice data to the second communication terminal. The conference call system may determine the format of the advertisement data or the voice data according to the terminal specification information. .

According to the group information and the identification information corresponding to the group information, the user may automatically input the respective identification information through selection of group information without having to input all identification information of each of the second communication terminals through the computer terminal. You can enter

Conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention is capable of transmitting a text message through the identification information recorded in the group information database 400. To do this, the user writes a text message with a computer terminal and selects the group information. Accordingly, the conference call system transmits the text message by controlling a predetermined short text message center (SMSC).

5 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a conference call system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the conference call system 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include an authenticator 510, a conference call request receiver 520, a group information database 530, and a conference call setup unit 540. It includes.

The authentication unit 510 receives a connection request from a computer terminal 550 of the first user through a predetermined communication network, and authenticates the first user according to the connection request. For example, the access request may include ID information and password information previously set by the first user. The conference call system 500 may authenticate the first user according to the access request.

The conference call request receiver 520 receives one or more identification information about one or more second communication terminals 570 from the computer terminal 550 of the authenticated first user, and receives a call request. The identification information may be input directly by the user through the computer terminal or automatically by selecting the group information. To this end, conference call system 500 maintains a group information database 530. The group information database 530 records group information corresponding to the one or more identification information. Therefore, when the user selects and inputs group information, the conference call system may read the one or more identification information corresponding to the group information.

In addition, the user inputs a call request through an input means such as a mouse or a keyboard of the computer terminal. The call request may be implemented to be input by selecting a predetermined icon corresponding to the call request in a web browser output to the computer terminal 550.

The conference call setup unit 540 requests a call setup to the first communication terminal 560, and when the call is established with the first communication terminal 560, the second communication terminal 570 calls the first communication terminal 560. Control the carrier system to be set. To this end, the conference call setting unit 540 may interwork with a telecommunication company system and interwork with a predetermined gateway for performing a conventional conference call service.

6 is an internal block diagram of a general purpose computer device that may be employed to perform a method of operating a conference call system in accordance with the present invention.

Embodiments of the invention include a computer readable medium containing program instructions for performing various computer-implemented operations. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The media may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape, optical recording media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, magnetic-optical media such as floppy disks, and ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute the same program instructions are included. The medium may be a transmission medium such as an optical or metal wire, a waveguide, or the like including a carrier wave for transmitting a signal specifying a program command, a data structure, or the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

Computer device 600 includes one or more processors 610 connected to a main memory including random access memory (RAM) 620 and read only memory (ROM) 630. The processor 610 may also be called a central processing unit (CPU). As is well known in the art, the ROM 630 serves to transfer data and instructions to the CPU unidirectionally, and the RAM 620 typically transfers data and instructions bidirectionally. Used to. RAM 620 and ROM 630 may include any suitable form of computer readable media. Mass storage 640 is bidirectionally coupled to processor 610 to provide additional data storage capability, and may be any of the computer readable recording media described above. The mass storage device 640 is used to store programs, data, and the like, and is a secondary memory device such as a hard disk which is generally slower than the main memory device. Certain mass storage devices such as CD ROM 660 may be used. The processor 610 may include one or more input / output interfaces such as a video monitor, trackball, mouse, keyboard, microphone, touchscreen display, card reader, magnetic or paper tape reader, voice or handwriting reader, joystick, or other known computer input / output device. 650 is connected. Finally, the processor 610 may be connected to a wired or wireless communication network through the network interface 670. Through this network connection, the procedure of the method described above can be performed. The apparatus and tools described above are well known to those skilled in the computer hardware and software arts.

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described so far, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by those equivalent to the scope of the claims.

According to the present invention, the user can use the conventional conference call service more conveniently by requesting the conference call service through the computer terminal.

According to the present invention, it is possible to increase the profits of the telecommunications carrier through the conference call service which is more convenient, thereby promoting the development of the telecommunications business.

According to the present invention, a telephone number of a user who participates in a conference call or a user belonging to a predetermined group is recorded in advance, and a conference call service can be provided more quickly and conveniently through the recorded telephone number.

As described above, the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which can be variously modified and modified by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Modifications are possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only by the claims set forth below, and all equivalent or equivalent modifications thereof will belong to the scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

In a method of operating a conference call system, Receiving a connection request from a computer terminal of a first user through a predetermined communication network, and authenticating the first user according to the connection request; Receiving at least one identification information of at least one second communication terminal from a computer terminal of the authenticated first user and receiving a call request, wherein the identification information includes a customer telephone number (CTN) of the communication terminal; -; Making a call establishment request to a first communication terminal of the first user; And When the call is established with the first communication terminal, controlling the at least one second communication terminal to establish a call with the first communication terminal. Method of operation of a conference call system comprising a. The method of claim 1, Maintaining a group information database in which group information corresponding to the one or more identification information is recorded; More, And receiving the one or more pieces of identification information and receiving a call request, receiving the group information as the identification information. The method of claim 1, The step of receiving the call request from the computer terminal may include receiving predetermined text data; And Converting the text data into voice data through a predetermined text to speech (TTS) module and providing the converted voice data to the one or more second communication terminals Method of operation of a conference call system comprising a. The method of claim 1, And the conference call system transmits the connection state information of the second communication terminal to the computer terminal, and the computer terminal displays the connection state information through an output means. The method of claim 1, The step of requesting a call setup to the first communication terminal of the first user is Transmitting predetermined advertisement data to the first communication terminal or the computer terminal. Method of operation of a conference call system comprising a. The method of claim 1, Receiving reservation time information from the computer terminal; Requesting call setup to the first communication terminal when the input reservation time information and the current time information maintained in the conference call system match; When the call is established with the first communication terminal, controlling the at least one second communication terminal to establish a call with the first communication terminal. Method of operation of a conference call system, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, The first communication terminal and the second communication terminal is a mobile communication terminal, PSTN terminal, VoIP, SIP, Megaco, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), cellular phone, PCS (Personal Communication Service) phone, hand-held PC (Hand-Held) PC), CDMA-2000 (1X, 3X) phones, WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) phones, Dual Band / Dual Mode phones, GSM (Global Standard for Mobile) phones, Mobile Broadband System (MBS) phones Or a satellite / terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) phone. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 6. In the conference call system, An authentication unit which receives an access request from a computer terminal of a first user through a predetermined communication network and authenticates the first user according to the access request; A conference call request receiving unit for receiving one or more identification information of one or more second communication terminals from a computer terminal of the authenticated first user and receiving a call request, wherein the identification information is a customer telephone number (CTN) of the communication terminal; Including-; And A call setup unit for requesting a call setup to a first communication terminal of the first user and for setting up a call to the at least one second communication terminal when the call is established with the first communication terminal; Conference call system, comprising a. The method of claim 9, A group information database in which group information corresponding to the one or more identification information is recorded; More, The conference call request receiving unit receives the group information as the identification information from the computer terminal, Database management unit for extracting the at least one identification information from the input group information Conference call system, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 9, The conference call request receiving unit receives predetermined reservation time information from the computer terminal, and the conference call setting unit determines whether the input reservation time information and the current time information maintained in the conference call system match. Conference call system.

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