JPH07221855A - Additional service charging system in intelligent network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To implement the additional service and other imposing processing to a subscriber accommodated in a mechanical exchange automatically without intervention of the operator of an attendant board. CONSTITUTION:A relay exchange is provided with a charging pulse generating system consisting of an interpreter section 3, a charging pulse generating section 4, a charging rate arithmetic section 5, an additional service information reception section 6 and a detailed charging information recording section 7. The additional service information reception section 6 acquires charging control information relating to the additional service and call connection control information through inter-communication with a service control point 15. The interpreter section 3 calculates the charging the control information relating to a communication charge based on the acquired call connection control information. The charging rate arithmetic section 5 decides a period of a charging pulse based on the charging control information relating to the additional service and the charging control information relating to the communication charge, and the charging pulse generating section 4 generates the charging pulse based on the decided period and sends the pulse to the mechanical exchange.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging system for supplementary services in an intelligent network system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An intelligent network system can provide a plurality of additional services such as a premium rate service (pay information additional service) and a shared billing service (call charge sharing service). The charging process when the subscriber uses such a service will be described below.

Generally, an exchange (hereinafter, referred to as a subscriber) accommodating a subscriber
When a call is made from a subscriber,
It has an automatic number extraction type that automatically extracts the caller's number information (dial digit information) and sends that information to the upper exchange (relay exchange), and a calling subscriber number extraction function such as a mechanical exchange. There are some numbers that are not manually extracted. Hereinafter, the charging process will be described separately for the former exchange and the latter exchange.

When the subscriber exchange is of the automatic number extraction type, billing processing is automatically performed for each call, and the processing results after the call are classified and aggregated for each subscriber.

The above-mentioned billing is performed in the following procedure.
For example, when a subscriber makes a call, the caller's number information is automatically extracted and sent to the upper exchange.
The host exchange determines the distance between the calling subscriber and the called subscriber based on the sent number information, and the charging index is calculated according to the unit charge determined from the calculated distance and the call duration (day / night / midnight). To decide.

When the billing index is determined, the host exchange records the calling subscriber number, the called subscriber number, the call start time, the call end time and the billing index as billing data in the detailed billing information recording section (such as a magnetic tape). To do. A bill is prepared by computer-processing the recorded data.

In the above case, when the subscriber uses the above-mentioned supplementary service, in addition to the above-mentioned billing process regarding the call charge, the billing index based on the call condition preset for each supplementary service is set. Desired. Each charging process is performed based on the obtained charging index related to the additional service and the charging index related to the call charge,
Each processing result is recorded in the detailed charging information recording unit as detailed charging data.

On the other hand, in the case where the subscriber exchange is of the manually extracted numbering type, the subscriber exchange accommodating the calling subscriber is identified by the incoming call line, and the billing index is calculated using this subscriber exchange and the called subscriber number. It is determined.

When the charging index is determined, the upper exchange can
Convert the billing index into a corresponding signal (billing pulse),
The signal is sent to the subscriber exchange via the line in use. The subscriber exchange charges the call charge by changing the period of the charging pulse based on the transmitted signal and counting the number of the pulses within the call time. Total). Call charges are calculated based on this added pulse integrator (generally, a photo of the pulse integrator is taken every month, and the charge per frequency is applied to the difference from the previous month to make an invoice. create).

In the above case, when the subscriber uses the above-mentioned additional service, the exchange operator checks the subscriber number, etc., and provides the subscriber with the information necessary for the billing process of the additional service. By checking it, the charging process is performed or the use of the additional service is restricted.

As an example of the billing process when the above-mentioned subscriber exchange is of the automatic number extraction type, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08585/1993
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 9, a billing method for call charges and additional service charges for terminals such as public telephones and car phones has been proposed.

In the charging method disclosed in the above publication,
A billing device is provided in both the public telephone terminal and the network device, and the billing process for the call is performed by mutual communication between the billing devices. When a specific additional service is used, an independent charging process is performed separately from the above charging process.

[0013]

In the case where the above-mentioned number-extracting manual extraction type mechanical exchange is provided in the network, in order to charge the subscriber accommodated in the mechanical exchange, a call from the exchange operator is required. It was necessary to extract the subscriber number. In particular, when the subscriber receives the supplementary service, the exchange operator confirms the information necessary for the billing processing for the supplementary service, such as the calling and receiving subscriber number, to perform the billing processing. In some cases, the use of additional services was restricted. Therefore, the service to the subscribers is deteriorated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a billing system capable of automatically performing an additional service and other billing processing for a subscriber accommodated in a mechanical exchange without the intervention of an exchange operator. is there.

[0015]

A supplementary service billing system using a billing pulse according to the present invention comprises a relay exchange to which a subscriber exchange is connected by a telephone line, and a service control point connected to the relay exchange. Is a supplementary service billing method in an intelligent network system for performing supplementary service, and obtains call connection control information and billing control information for each supplementary service by mutually communicating with the service control point. And a translation unit that calculates charging control information regarding call charges based on the call connection control information acquired by the additional service information receiving unit, charging control information regarding additional services acquired by the additional service information receiving unit, and the translation. Charges for call charges calculated by the department A charging rate calculation unit that determines the cycle of the charging pulse from the control information, and a charging pulse generation unit that generates a charging pulse based on the cycle determined by the charging rate calculation unit and sends the charging pulse to the communication line. And having.

The additional service charging method in the intelligent network system is characterized in that it has a detailed charging information recording section for recording the cycle of the charging pulse determined by the charging rate calculating section and the charging information about the called subscriber.

[0017]

In the supplementary service billing system based on the billing pulse configured as described above, the transit exchange extracts the destination number and the call line information from the call line to which the subscriber exchange is connected, and the service control point ( (Hereinafter referred to as SCP) extracts information necessary for the billing process based on the extracted destination number and telephone line information.

According to the present invention, since the transit exchange sends a charging pulse according to the information extracted by the SCP to the subscriber exchange, the subscriber exchange does not have the calling subscriber number extraction function. However, the subscriber exchange can automatically provide supplementary services and other billing processing to the subscriber.

Further, in the billing process carried out by the transit exchange, the billing pulse period and billing information about the called subscriber are recorded in the detailed billing information recording section, so that the billing process for the called subscriber is possible. .

[0020]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a transit exchange using a supplementary service charging system in an intelligent network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The relay exchange shown in FIG. 1 relays a call connection between the respective subscriber exchanges and is a subscriber accommodated in a subscriber exchange such as a mechanical exchange having no subscriber number extracting function. When a call is made from the call originator, mutual communication with the SCP 15 is performed based on the call origination information to obtain information required for the billing process, and a billing pulse for performing the billing process is sent to the subscriber exchange. To do.

The repeater exchange comprises a switching unit 1, a switching connection control unit 2, a translation unit 3, a charging pulse generation unit 4, a charging rate calculation unit 5, an additional service information receiving unit 6 and a detailed charging information recording unit 7. Has been done. In addition, the above SCP15
Has an additional service information transmission unit 9 and additional service charging information 10 connected thereto. The supplementary service billing information 10 stores billing control information, which is a billing index based on a call condition preset for each supplementary service.

In the relay exchange, the subscriber exchange 13 is connected to the exchange section 1 via the incoming call line 11, and the subscriber exchange 14 is connected to the exchange section 1 via the outgoing call line 12. The incoming call line 11 and the outgoing call line 12 are connected by the exchange unit 1.
It is controlled by the exchange connection control unit 2 connected to.

Mutual communication between the relay exchange and the SCP 15 is as follows.
This is performed between the supplementary service information receiving unit 6 of the repeater exchange and the supplementary service information transmitting unit 9 of the SCP 15. When performing mutual communication, the additional service information receiving unit 6 sends the destination number and the incoming call line information received by the transit exchange through the incoming call line 11, and the additional service information sending unit 9
Returns the call connection control information necessary for connecting to the called subscriber in the exchange network and the billing control information about the additional service according to each information sent from the additional service information receiving unit 6. The charging control information returned here is according to the additional service used, and when a plurality of additional services are used, the charging control information regarding the plurality of additional services is returned.

The translation unit 3 uses the incoming call line 1 based on the call connection control information in the information received by the additional service information receiving unit 6.
1 and the information necessary for connecting the outgoing call line 12 are acquired and output to the switching connection control unit 2 and the charging control information regarding the call charge is output to the charging rate calculation unit 5.

The billing rate calculation unit 5 uses the billing control information relating to the additional service in the information received by the additional service information receiving unit 6 and the billing control information relating to the call charge output from the translation unit 3 to determine the period of the billing pulse. To decide.

The detailed billing information recording unit 7 records information necessary for billing the called subscriber from the calculation result of the billing rate calculation unit 5 in the detailed billing information 8 such as a magnetic tape.

The charging pulse generator 4 sends the charging pulse to the incoming telephone line 11 based on the cycle of the charging pulse determined by the charging rate calculator 5. The subscriber exchange, which has received a call connection request from the subscriber, uses this sent billing pulse to perform billing processing for the corresponding subscriber.

In the billing process with the above-mentioned configuration,
Charge processing for call charges and additional services is not performed separately. That is, the cycle of the charging pulse determined by the charging rate calculation unit 5 is determined so that both the call charge and the additional service can be charged together.

Next, the operation of the repeater exchange configured as described above will be described.

When a subscriber makes a call connection request to the subscriber exchange 13, the relay exchange recognizes that fact through the telephone line 11. Since the subscriber exchange 13 does not have the function of extracting the subscriber number, the destination number and incoming call line information are extracted by the relay exchange. The extraction result is sent from the additional service information receiving unit 6 to the SCP 15.

The transmitted destination number and incoming call line information are received by the supplementary service information transmission unit 9 of the SCP 15. Then, the SCP 15 accesses the supplementary service billing information 10 and extracts the call connection control information and the billing control information on the supplementary service based on the received information. The extracted call connection control information and billing control information related to the additional service are sent from the additional service information transmitting unit 9 to the additional service information receiving unit 6 of the transit exchange.

The additional service information receiving unit 6 receives the transmitted call connection control information and charging control information about the additional service.
When the service is received, the supplementary service information receiving unit 6 outputs the call connection control information of the received information to the translation unit 3 and the billing control information regarding the supplementary service to the billing rate calculation unit 5.

Upon receiving the call connection information, the translation unit 3 outputs the information necessary for connecting the incoming call line 11 and the outgoing call line 12 from the information to the exchange connection control unit 2 and the charging rate calculation unit 5 to the information. The billing control information regarding the call charge obtained from the information is output.

When the billing information on the additional service and the billing control information on the call charge are input to the billing rate calculator 5, the billing rate calculator 5 calculates the period of the billing pulse based on the input information. To decide. The determined cycle of the charging pulse is output to the charging pulse generating section 4 and the detailed charging information recording section 7, respectively.

When the cycle of the charging pulse is input to the charging pulse generating section 4, the charging pulse generating section 4 generates a charging pulse based on the cycle of the input charging pulse, and the generated charging pulse is the incoming call line. 11 send out. Then, the subscriber exchange 13 obtains the billing pulse sent from the billing pulse generator 4 through the incoming call line 11, and charges the corresponding subscriber for the additional service by using the obtained billing pulse. , Add the result to the pulse integrator.

On the other hand, when the cycle of the charging pulse is input to the detailed charging information recording section 7, the detailed charging information recording section 7 records the information necessary for charging the called subscriber in the detailed charging information 8 such as a magnetic tape. To do. Based on the information recorded in the detailed billing information 8, the billing process for the called subscriber is performed.

As described above, the charging process for the additional service for the subscriber is performed and the call charge is calculated.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the billing process when the subscriber uses the premium service, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the billing process when the subscriber uses the shared billing service.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the subscriber uses the premium service, the SCP 15 gives the information that the call charge is 10 times per minute and the information providing charge is 10 times per minute. Processing is performed.

In the above case, the translating unit 3 provides the charge control information of 10 pulses per minute as the call charge, and the additional service information receiving unit 6 provides the charge control information of 1 per minute as the information providing charge.
The charging control information of 0 pulse is output to the charging rate calculation unit 5, respectively.

The charging rate calculator 5 determines the cycle of the charging pulse, which is 20 pulses per minute, based on the output charging control information. Then, the charging pulse generator 4 generates a charging pulse with a period of 20 pulses per minute and sends it to the incoming call line 11. The subscriber exchange 13 performs the charging process for the subscriber based on the sent 20 charging pulses per minute.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the subscriber uses the shared billing service, information that the call charge is 10 times per minute and the share rate is 50% is S.
Charge processing is performed by being given from CP15.

In the above-mentioned case, the billing rate calculation unit receives from the translation unit 3 billing control information of 10 pulses per minute as the call charge, and the supplementary service information receiving unit 6 obtains billing control information of the share rate of 50%. It is output to 5.

The billing rate calculator 5 determines a billing cycle of 5 pulses per minute on the basis of the outputted billing control information. Then, the billing pulse generator 4 generates a billing pulse having a period of 5 pulses per minute into the incoming call line 1.
1 above. In the subscriber exchange 13, the charging process is performed based on the sent charging pulse of 5 pulses per minute.

The period of the charging pulse determined by the charging rate calculation unit 5 is recorded in the detailed charging information 8 by the detailed charging information recording unit 7 together with the information necessary for charging the called subscriber. To the call charge of the called subscriber, the call charge accumulated based on the charge information recorded in the detailed charge information 8 is added.

[0048]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it becomes possible to automatically perform the billing processing of the call charge and the additional service charge even for the subscriber exchange which does not have the calling subscriber number extraction function. There is an effect that the service to the subscriber is improved.

In addition to the above effects, the second aspect of the present invention has an effect that it is possible to perform a billing process to the called subscriber such as the burden of the called subscriber and further improve the service to the subscriber.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a transit exchange using a supplementary service charging system based on a charging pulse according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a billing process when a premium service is used.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a billing process when using a shared billing service.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 exchange unit 2 exchange connection control unit 3 translation unit 4 billing pulse generation unit 5 billing rate calculation unit 6 supplementary service information receiving unit 7 detailed billing information recording unit 8 detailed billing information 9 supplementary service information transmitting unit 10 supplementary service billing information 11 input Call line 12 Outgoing call line 13, 14 Subscriber switch 15 Service control point

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A supplementary service billing method in an intelligent network system which has a relay exchange to which a subscriber exchange is connected by a telephone line, and a service control point connected to the relay exchange, and which performs a plurality of supplementary services. An additional service information receiving unit that obtains call connection control information and billing control information for each additional service by mutually communicating with the service control point; and call connection control information obtained by the additional service information receiving unit. A translation unit that calculates charging control information related to the call charge based on the charging control information related to the additional service acquired by the additional service information receiving unit and the charging control information related to the call charge calculated by the translation unit based on the The billing rate calculator to determine Charging rate calculating unit on the basis of the determined period by generating a charging pulse, additional service charging system in an intelligent network system, comprising a charging pulse generator for delivering the billing pulse on the communication line. 2. The supplementary service billing method in the intelligent network system according to claim 1, further comprising a detailed billing information recording unit for recording the period of the billing pulse determined by the billing rate calculation unit and billing information regarding the called subscriber. An additional service billing method for intelligent network systems.