JPH06253028A - Method for communication path setting - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the load on a service subscription charge, and to attain the constitution of a simple conference system by successively operating communication path setting, and operating conference communication by each subscriber's terminal. CONSTITUTION:The up voice data of the channel B1 of an ISDN information channel are defined as V1, the down voice data of the channel B2 are defined as V2, and the voice data of the microphone of a terminal handset 65 are defined as V3. Then, the channels B1 and B2 are connected with the other subscriber. The voice data outputted to the speaker of the handset 65 are V1 + V2. Also, V2 + V3 are outputted to the up voice data of the channel B%. Moreover, V1 + V3 are outputted to the up voice data of the channel B2. The similar addition is operated by each terminal, and the voice data of entire subscribers which set a communication path are mutually transmitted, and the conference communication can be attained. Thus, the setting of the communication path enabling the low cost of a communication charge can be attained by information for preliminarily recognizing the place of each subscriber's terminal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for automatically setting a communication path when a plurality of terminals are connected and a conference communication or the like is performed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network), which has become increasingly internationally standardized, has entered the age of practical application. Even in Japan, commercial services have started and are spreading nationwide.

According to this ISDN, the telephone network
Various conventional communication networks, such as a data communication network / facsimile network, which have been independently served for each terminal type or each medium, are integrated into one network called ISDN to realize more advanced and various communication services.

There is a basic (basic) interface as one of the ISDN user / network interfaces. The basic interface has two information channels (B channels) used for information communication between terminals and terminals, and a control channel (D channel) for controlling transmission / reception between terminals and networks (exchanges). For this reason, the channel configuration of the basic interface is called 2B + D.

The above two B channels are each 64 kbps
Has a transmission rate of 16 kbps while the D channel has 16 kbps
k transmission rate. By controlling transmission / reception via the D channel with the network or the exchange, the circuit can be switched in units of the B channel.

[0006] In circuit switching for connecting terminals and B channels of terminals, there are various additional services other than the basic service for connection, and some of them have started services. For example, in services related to communication channels,
Typical services include call transfer (CT) that transfers an incoming call to a third party, and three-way communication (3PTY) between the transferred third party and the first communication partner.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conference device connected to a conventional network.

In the figure, subscribers A, B, and C connected to the network 22 use the terminals 21a, 21b, and 21c of the subscribers to connect to the conference device 23 connected to the same network. Apply for participation in the conference by performing. The conference device 23 uses the audio data Va, Vb of the subscribers A, B, C,
Vc is mixed and sent to the connected subscriber. For example, to the subscriber A in FIG. 2, the voice in which the voices Vb and Vc of the subscribers B and C are added is transmitted. Similarly, for subscriber B, voices Va + Vc of subscribers A and C, and subscriber C
To the subscribers A and B, that is, Va + Vb.

As a result, the subscribers A, B, and C are allowed to use the conference device 2
A voice conference was being held via 3.

[0010]

When the above-mentioned conventional conference apparatus is used, each subscriber makes a contract to receive the service, pays the service subscription fee, and the call fee is added according to the time. It Although there is an advantage that the subscriber's terminal can be simple, there is a problem that the burden of the service subscription fee is large.

The present invention was devised to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide a voice conference system which does not require a service subscription fee.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention is a method of setting a communication path in a communication network to which a plurality of terminals are connected. A first step of transferring the subscriber identification information from the first terminal to the second terminal based on the subscriber identification information written in the terminal; the first terminal and the second terminal; And a second step of setting a communication path between the second terminal and the third terminal based on the subscriber identification information transferred from the first terminal. A third step of transferring, and a fourth step of setting a communication path between the second terminal and the third terminal
And the steps of.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first step, when the subscriber identification information is transferred from the first terminal to the second terminal, the second terminal cannot respond. In this case, based on the subscriber identification information,
The first terminal transfers a fifth step of transferring the subscriber identification information to a third terminal other than the second terminal, and a communication path is established between the first terminal and the third terminal. A sixth step of setting, and a seventh step of temporarily disconnecting the communication path set between the first terminal and the third terminal when the second terminal returns to a state in which it can respond. A step of transferring the subscriber identification information from the first terminal to the second terminal; and a step of setting a communication path between the first terminal and the second terminal. 9 steps.

In a third aspect based on the first and second aspects, when setting the communication path, the communication path is lowered based on the subscriber identification information and the connection fee between each terminal. It is characterized by determining the setting order of.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the terminals of the subscribers operate to perform conference communication by sequentially setting the communication paths without using the conference device as in the above-mentioned conventional example. Therefore, it is possible to construct a simple conference system without burdening the subscription fee to the service.

[0016]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration for explaining an embodiment of a communication path setting system of the present invention. In the figure, terminals 31m, 31a, 31b and 31c of subscribers M, A, B and C are connected to a subscriber network 32. The subscriber network 32 may be a PBX, and is assumed to provide, for example, the ISDN basic interface service described at the beginning of the present invention. The basic interface has a function of delivering arbitrary information between terminals called user-user information.

In this embodiment, the subscriber M is the organizer,
Description will be made assuming that a voice conference is held among four subscribers M, A, B, and C.

FIG. 1 shows a sequence of incoming and outgoing messages when a voice conference is held. M in the figure is a subscriber M
And shows a sequence of call path setting with each of the subscribers A, B, and C via the network.

First, the subscriber M uses the subscriber numbers of the subscribers B and C as subscriber identification information in order to hold a conference with the subscribers A, B, and C, and sends a call message to the subscriber A. It is set in the user-user information element of the setting message and transmission is performed. This call setup message and user
The details of the information element will be described later.

The call setup message from the subscriber M is notified to the subscriber A via the network. In the call setup message from the subscriber M, which is an incoming call to the subscriber A, the subscriber numbers of the subscribers B and C are included in the user / user information as described above. The subscriber A connects the communication path with the subscriber M by returning a response message to the call setup message from the subscriber M. Next, the subscriber A detects the subscriber number of the subscriber B from the terminal identification information of the user / user information in the call setup message from the subscriber M, and sends this subscriber number to the subscriber B. The call is sent to the subscriber B by using the called number of the call setup message. At this time, the subscriber A deletes the subscriber identification information of the subscriber B in the user / user information, and sends it by including it in the call setup message for the new subscriber B. That is, the subscriber identification information included in the call setup message from the subscriber A to the subscriber B is included in the subscriber C.
Your subscriber number will be included. The subscriber B returns a response message to the call setup message from the subscriber A and establishes a communication path with the subscriber A. The subscriber B also performs the same process as the subscriber A. That is, the subscriber number of the subscriber C of the subscriber identification information in the call setup message from the subscriber A is set in the called number information element of the call setup message, and the subscriber information is sent from the user-user information element. The subscriber identification information of C is deleted. As a result, the user / user information in the call setup message from subscriber B to subscriber C becomes empty. The subscriber C returns a response to the incoming call setup message from the subscriber B and establishes a communication path with the subscriber B. Further, since the call setup message from the subscriber B does not include the subscriber identification information indicating the next subscriber in the user-to-user information element, the subscriber C performs the next call operation. Do not fit.

By the operation up to this point, a call path is established between the subscriber M and the subscriber A, the subscriber A and the subscriber B, and the subscriber B and the subscriber C, respectively. As for the voice data of the subscriber's terminal, a mixed version of the downlink (direction from the network to the subscriber's terminal) voice data of each subscriber is transmitted through the handset. The mixing of voice data of the subscriber terminal will be described later.

Here, the call setup message and the user-user information element used in the above-mentioned call connection sequence will be described.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the basic structure of a call setup message used in ISDN call control. This message structure is based on CCITT Recommendation Q. 931. In the figure, the first octet is an octet called a protocol identifier, and CCITT recommendation Q. 9
Code "00001000" indicating that the protocol is 31
Is set. A numerical value for representing one call is set in the next call number area, and the call is identified by the numerical value. The octet of the message type is the type of this message, that is, the code "000001" indicating that it is a call setup message.
01 ”is set. The next transfer capability information element is an essential information element for the call setup message, and requests what is used among the transfer capabilities provided by the network.

In this embodiment, it is set to be voice because it is a voice call. By setting the sender, that is, the subscriber's own subscriber number in the calling party number information element, the called party can determine from which subscriber the call is received. On the other hand, by setting the subscriber number of the person who wants to communicate in the called party number information element, it is possible to make an incoming call to the requested party. The last user-user information element is a field that can be included in a call setup message or the like and is directly notified to the other subscriber.

In this embodiment, the communication path is set by using the user-user information element of this call setting message.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the user-user information element of the call setup message. The user-user information element can be included in other messages as well as in call setup messages. The figure shows the contents of the elements included in the call setup message from the subscriber M to the subscriber A in this embodiment. In the structure of the user-user information element shown in the figure, the first octet is the user-user information element identifier, and this information is the user-user information. Shows. The number of octets of this user-user information element content is set in the second and third octets. The user-to-user information area starts from the fourth octet. You you
The top octet of the user information area is a protocol identifier indicating what kind of protocol the user / user information follows. Here, "00000000", which represents a user-specific protocol, is used. The subscriber identification information described in this embodiment is set after the fifth octet. In the present embodiment, the subscriber identification information is described as the partner subscriber number, but any information that can be identified by the partner subscriber may be a corresponding number or alphabetic characters. That is, any information can be used as long as the subscriber number can be indexed from this identification information.

In the above-described embodiments, each subscriber who sets up a communication path identifies the subscriber number of the next subscriber from the subscriber identification information of the incoming call setup message, and the subscriber of the outgoing call setup message is identified. The method of setting the called party number information element and deleting the subscriber identification information in the user / user information has been described. It is not always necessary to delete this subscriber identification information. For example, the subscriber identification information is increased by one octet, and if the octet is "0", it is unused, and if it is "1", the communication path has been set. By using such a method, each subscriber sets a communication path. That is, it becomes possible to know the number of people and members who are conducting conference communication.

As described above, the present invention can be implemented by leaving the subscriber identification information in the user-user information instead of deleting it.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the subscriber M sets the subscriber number of the subscriber A to the called number of the outgoing call setup message, and sets the subscriber numbers of the subscribers B and C to this call setup. The subscriber identification information of the user-user information element of the message is set. All the subscribers who hold a conference by setting their own subscriber identification information, subscriber A, subscriber B, subscriber C, and communication paths in the user / user information of the call setup message of subscriber M Person identification information,
By indicating whether each piece of identification information has been used or not, that is, whether the setting of the communication path has been completed, information of all subscribers participating in the conference can be commonly notified. Also, in the example of deleting the subscriber identification information of the first embodiment and the example of setting the communication path setting code, the calling subscriber deletes or rewrites the subscriber identification information. When the called subscriber who receives the outgoing message, that is, the incoming message returns a response message and the communication path is set, the called subscriber may perform the same processing.

Next, the terminals of the subscribers in the four-party voice conference in this embodiment will be described in detail.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the terminal of one subscriber in this embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 61 is a CPU such as a microcomputer for controlling the entire terminal. 62 is CP
Read only memory (R
OM). Reference numeral 63 denotes a readable / writable memory (RAM) which is a work area of the CPU 61. Reference numeral 64 denotes a key and a display unit for the man machine of the terminal, which is controlled by the CPU 61. 66 is ISDN which is the line of this embodiment
It is a basic interface control unit. An ISDN line 67 is a line in which two 64 kbps B channels and one 16 kbps D channel accommodated in the ISDN basic interface control unit 66 are multiplexed. ISDN line 2
The B + D channel is an ISDN interface control unit 66.
The D channel of the control channel is connected to the communication control unit 68 that performs serial communication control.
Under the control of U61, the ISDN call control sequence and the like are performed using the D channel. On the other hand, the two B channels B1 and B2 are connected to the voice addition control unit 69. Reference numeral 65 denotes a voice input / output unit of the terminal, which is generally a handset. Although a handset will be described here, a microphone and a speaker may be considered.

The addition of audio in the audio conference of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the downstream voice data of the B1 channel of the ISDN information channel is V1 and B2.
The downstream voice data from the channel is V2, and the voice data from the microphone of the handset 65 of the illustrated terminal is V3. As described above, different subscribers are connected to the B1 and B2 channels, respectively.

First, the voice data output to the speaker of the handset 65 is V1 + V2 obtained by adding the downlink voice data of the B1 and B2 channels.

As the upstream voice data of the B1 channel, the addition voice V2 + V3 of the downstream voice V2 of B2 and the voice data V3 of this terminal is output. Further, as the upstream voice data of B2, the addition V1 + V3 of the downstream voice data V1 of B1 and the voice data V3 of this terminal is output. Each terminal of the present embodiment performs the same addition as that of the terminal shown in the figure, whereby the voice data of all the subscribers for whom the communication path is set is transmitted to each other, and the conference becomes possible. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation when the destination subscriber is busy or unable to respond as a result of setting the communication path in the present embodiment. The figure shows the operation when the subscriber B is busy (busy, etc.) when calling from the subscriber A among the subscribers A, B, and C.

First, the subscriber A recognizes the subscriber B from the subscriber identification information in the user-user information element as in the above-described embodiments, and sends a call setup message to the network (symmetrical). Form protocol, the network sends (not shown). The subscriber B, which has received the incoming call setup message via the network, is busy at that time, and therefore transmits the release completion message in which the reason display is busy. Upon receipt of the release completion message from the subscriber B, the subscriber A recognizes the busy state of the subscriber B and remembers that the communication path setting with the subscriber B has failed, and the user A again. The subscriber number of the next subscriber C is extracted from the subscriber identification information of the information and the call is sent to the subscriber C. By returning the response message after the calling message from the subscriber C, a communication path is established between the subscriber A and the subscriber C, and the call becomes possible. After that, the terminal of the subscriber A inquires the status of the subscriber B using the user information message, and the terminal of the subscriber B is still busy or empty in response to this status inquiry. The subscriber A is notified by means of a user information message.

The subscriber A's terminal disconnects the communication path, which has been communicating with the subscriber C so far, at the time of receiving the notification from the subscriber B that the busy state is released and becomes empty. After the disconnection / recovery, the communication path for the subscriber B is set again. The subscriber B returns a response to the subscriber A, sets a communication path with the subscriber A, and sets a communication path for the next subscriber C according to the operation of the present invention described above. Operate.

Although the example of the audio conference is described in the present embodiment, the data flowing through the information channel is not voice, and is, for example, video information, image, or information of a plurality of combined media. Even if there is, it does not depart from the gist of the present invention of setting the communication path.

Here, a method for setting the subscriber identification information in the user / user information element of the subscriber M will be described.

Even when the communication paths are set one after another as in the present embodiment, the caller usually pays the communication charge. Therefore, when the subscriber M sets the subscriber identification information, if the subscriber M has information for recognizing the position, that is, the location of each subscriber terminal in advance, it is possible to set the communication path so that the communication charge is as low as possible. Is. On the other hand, if the other subscribers A, B, and C have the information for recognizing the location of each subscriber terminal as described above,
From the subscriber identification information in the user-user information element, the subscriber having the closest or lowest communication charge can be identified and the communication path can be connected.

Next, another embodiment will be described.

An example of a terminal for conducting a voice conference is shown in FIG.
Although the operation has been described with reference to FIG. 5, the voice addition control unit 69 in FIG.
Will perform fairly complex addition control. The embodiment described below is an example of a method for further simplifying the addition control necessary for the terminal. By following the above-described communication path setting procedure, each terminal can recognize the communication path setting order from the subscriber identification information in the user information. That is, each terminal can determine whether its own terminal is located in the middle of the communication path or at the end thereof from the subscriber identification information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the information flow of the information channel for simplifying the addition control unit of each subscriber terminal. In the figure, information input of each subscriber terminal is Mi (subscriber M), Ai (subscriber A), Bi (subscriber B), Ci (subscriber C), and information output is Mo (subscriber M). ), Ao
(Subscriber A), Bo (subscriber B), and Co (subscriber C). On the other hand, the transmission data from the subscriber M to the subscriber A via the information channel is I ₁ , the subscribers A to B are I ₂ , the subscribers B to C are I ₃ , and the subscribers C to B are I. ₄ ,
Let subscribers B to A be I ₅ , and subscribers A to M be I ₆ .

The input information Mi from the subscriber M is the same as that of the subscriber A.
Subscriber A is notified via the information channel as transmission data I ₁ to. Subscriber A's terminal uses its own input information A
i is added to the transmission data I ₁ from the subscriber M and is transmitted as I ₂ to the next subscriber B via the information channel. Similarly, the subscriber B adds the transmission data I ₂ from the subscriber A and its own input information Bi to I ₃ and transmits it to the next subscriber C. Further, the subscriber C at the final stage receives the information I from the subscriber B.
_It adds its own input information Ci to ₃ and sends it to subscriber B as I ₄ . The subscriber B transmits the information I ₄ from the subscriber C as transmission data I ₅ to the subscriber A. Similarly, the subscriber A notifies the information I ₅ from the subscriber B as transmission data I ₆ to the subscriber M. With the method of notifying the information of each subscriber through the information channel as described above, if each terminal has one addition control, the above-described operation becomes possible. That is, the plurality of addition controls described in FIG. 5 becomes one.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the content of the information described in FIG.

In the figure, (1) is the input information Mi of the subscriber M. Here, it is not the form of voice data, but M
The description will be given in the form of image data of one screen, i. Next, (2) is the transmission data I ₁ from the subscriber M to the subscriber A, which is the same as the input information Mi of the subscriber M. (3) is a diagram showing the transmission data I ₂ from the subscriber A to the subscriber B, which is the information obtained by adding the transmission data I ₁ from the subscriber M and the own input information Ai. Here, a screen is vertically divided and shown. (4) is
Is a diagram showing transmission data I ₃ to the subscriber C from the subscriber B, becomes the subscriber M, the input information Mi and Ai and its input information Bi to that of the subscriber A is added. (5)
Is the result of the subscriber C adding the transmission data I ₃ from the subscriber B and his / her own input information Ci. The transmission data I ₄ from the subscriber C shown in (5) is information I ₅ , I ₆ notified to the subscriber A via the subscriber B and the subscriber M via the subscriber A. Is the same as That is, by displaying as a screen for each subscriber to monitor,
All the image data of each subscriber for whom the communication path is set will be displayed.

As described above, since each subscriber terminal can recognize the position of its own terminal in the communication path from the user / user information in the communication path setting procedure,
It is possible to automatically determine the process of adding and combining.

[0049]

According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically set a communication path for performing conference communication and to construct a simple conference system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a sequence of incoming and outgoing messages when a voice conference is held. In the figure, M indicates a subscriber M,
It is a figure which shows the sequence of call-path setting with each subscriber A, B, and C via a network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration for explaining an embodiment of a communication path setting system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of a call setup message used in ISDN call control.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a user-user information element of a call setup message.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the terminal of one subscriber in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation when the other party subscriber is busy or cannot respond as a result of setting a communication path in the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an information flow of an information channel for simplifying an addition control unit of each subscriber terminal.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the content of the information described in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conference device connected to a conventional network.

[Explanation of symbols]

 61 ... CPU 62 ... ROM 63 ... RAM 64 ... Key / Display device 65 ... Voice input / output unit 66 ... ISDN basic interface control unit 67 ... ISDN line 68 ... Communication control unit 69 ... Voice addition control unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tomoaki Yoshida 70 Yanagi-cho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa, Toshiba Yanagimachi Co., Ltd. in the factory

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of setting a communication path in a communication network to which a plurality of terminals are connected, wherein a first terminal among the plurality of terminals is based on subscriber identification information described in the terminal. And a second step of transferring the subscriber identification information to a second terminal; a second step of setting a communication path between the first terminal and the second terminal; Third step of transferring the subscriber identification information from the second terminal to the third terminal based on the subscriber identification information transferred from the second terminal, the second terminal and the third terminal A fourth step of setting a communication path with a terminal, the method of setting a communication path. 2. In the first step, the first
When the subscriber identification information is transferred from the other terminal to the second terminal, if the second terminal is in a state where it cannot respond, based on the subscriber identification information, the first terminal A fifth step of transferring the subscriber identification information to a third terminal other than the second terminal, and a sixth step of setting a communication path between the first terminal and the third terminal And a seventh step of temporarily disconnecting a communication path set between the first terminal and the third terminal when the second terminal returns to a state in which it can respond, From the other terminal to the second terminal, the eighth step of transferring the subscriber identification information, and the ninth step of setting a communication path between the first terminal and the second terminal. The communication path setting method according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. When setting the communication paths, the setting order of the communication paths is determined based on the subscriber identification information and the connection charges between the terminals so that the connection charges are lowered. A method for setting a communication path according to 1 or 2.