Abstract:
A proxy response terminal wherein information relating to the call being called is acquired and the call to which a proxy response is to be made is expressly specified so that the call may be responded. The proxy response terminal includes an incoming information acquiring means for requesting the information relating to the call in the calling state to the call control apparatus and a proxy response requesting means for issuing connection request specifying the call to which a proxy response is to be made based on the information notified by the call control apparatus. And the call control apparatus includes an incoming information notifying means for notifying the information relating to the call in the calling state at a terminal in the group to which the proxy response terminal belongs in response to an incoming information acquiring request presented by the proxy response terminal, and a call controlling means for relaying the connection request presented by the calling terminal and the proxy response request presented by the proxy response terminal.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
       [0001]    The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP 2005-365691 filed on Dec. 20, 2005, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to an art that enables to identify to whom incoming calls are addressed in connection with proxy responses that may be made to the incoming calls to other telephone apparatuses. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    In the past, businesses corporations often respond to telephone calls in the form of proxy response when the telephone apparatus of the post to which the callee is affected is ringing, even if the call is not addressed to the telephone apparatus on the callee&#39;s desk, and the PBX (Private Branch exchange) or the telephone apparatus has a function to execute the proxy response. 
         [0004]    On the other hand, as a means for conveying the information relating to the caller to the callee at the time of reception, a caller number notifying function has been introduced. The caller number notifying function notifies the telephone number of the caller to the callee by displaying the same on the callee&#39;s telephone apparatus. 
         [0005]    An example of receiving proxy response sequence in the IP telephone system is shown in the JP 2002-152224A or the JP 2004-235778 A. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The prior caller number notifying function could notify the caller&#39;s telephone number to the receiving terminal or the callee. However, it was impossible to obtain the information relating to the caller by using the terminal used to carry out the proxy response before the telephone communication. 
         [0007]    The issue that the present invention is trying to solve is to enable the terminal used to carry out proxy responses to obtain the information relating to the caller and the information relating to the callee. 
         [0008]    As a means for solving the issue described above, the proxy response terminal according to the present invention has an incoming information acquiring means for requesting the information relating to the call in the calling state on a terminal within the group to which the proxy response terminal belongs from the call control apparatus. 
         [0009]    And the call control apparatus according to the present invention has an incoming information notifying means for notifying the information relating to the call in the calling state on a terminal within a group to which the proxy response terminal belongs upon receiving an incoming information acquiring request from the proxy response terminal. 
         [0010]    In addition, the proxy response terminal has a proxy response requesting means for issuing a connection request specifying the call chosen for proxy response based on the information notified by the call control apparatus as a response to the incoming information acquiring request. 
         [0011]    And the call control apparatus has a call controlling means for relaying the proxy response requests from the proxy response terminal and the connection requests from calling terminal and for handling a communication with the proxy response terminal and the calling terminal as a call. 
       [Effect of the Invention] 
       [0012]    The incoming information acquiring means that the proxy response terminal has and the incoming information notifying means that the call control apparatus has enable the terminal chosen to execute a proxy response to provide the proxy responder with information on the caller. As this enables the proxy responder to estimate the caller before starting the communication, it will be possible to judge definitively whether a proxy response should be made or not. 
         [0013]    And when a plurality of incoming calls are received at the same time, the incoming information notifying means can be used to convey all the plurality of incoming call information within the group, and the proxy response requesting means that the proxy response terminal has can be used to cope with the same by specifying the calls to which proxy response will be carried out. This will enable the proxy responder to identify the caller and the callee of a call in the midst of the call being made even if a plurality of incoming calls is received within the group. As a result, it will be possible to respond by selecting calls having a high priority. 
         [0014]    Furthermore, the call controlling means that the call control apparatus has can be used to connect the connection request calls from the caller terminal and the proxy response calls from the proxy response terminal. This will enable to make efficient use of the prior terminals as they are without adding any special functions to the calling terminal for coping with proxy responses. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing an example of configuration of the proxy response system according to the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an example of configuration of a proxy response terminal; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing an example of configuration of a call control apparatus; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a sequence diagram showing an example of connecting procedure at the time of proxy response; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing an example of processing procedure at the time of proxy response at the proxy response terminal; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing an example of processing procedure at the time of proxy response at the call control apparatus; 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a table illustration showing an example of the terminal control table of the call control apparatus; 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  is a table illustration showing an example of the session control table of the call control apparatus; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 9  is an illustration showing an example of the physical image of the proxy response terminal. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing an example of the constitution of the proxy response system according to the present invention. The caller terminal  1  takes two different forms depending on whether the call is made for outside communication  1   a  or for inter-office communication  1   b.  The caller terminal for inter-office communication  1   b  is connected with the inter-office communication network  9  in the same way as the receiving terminal  2  or the proxy response terminal  3 . On the other hand, the caller terminal for outside communication  1   a  calls the receiving terminal  2  connected with the inter-office communication network  9  through the call control apparatus  5  from the outside communication network  7 . The call control apparatus  5  manages the calling and receiving of the terminals connected with the inter-office communication network  9  and controls the relay of call control messages. The communication network may be either a circuit switching network or a packet switching network. However, if the inter-office communication network  9  is a packet switching network, and the outside communication network  7  is a circuit switching network, the call control apparatus  7  plays the role of a gateway apparatus also. In the case of a packet switching network, the communication of voice data and other non-calling control messages is normally directly transmitted and received between the terminals. However, in the case of sending and receiving data with a circuit switching network and between a circuit switching network and a packet switching network, a call control apparatus  5  having the gateway function relays the data. 
         [0025]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an example of configuration of proxy response terminal. The proxy response terminal  3 , which may be either in the form of a telephone apparatus or a softphone that works on a PC or the like, has the following functions. As a user interface, it has a voice input interface  16  having a function corresponding to a microphone, a voice output interface  17  having a function corresponding to a speaker, a display  19  displaying the incoming information, and an operating interface  20  accepting dial input or key input. Messages and data are transmitted and received between the communication networks through the communication controlling unit  10 . The voice inputted from the voice input interface  16  is codified by a coder  14 , shaped into a communicable form by the sending packet generating unit  11  and is transmitted from the communication controlling unit  10 . On the other hand, the packet received by the communication controlling unit  10  is analyzed by the type of contents by the incoming packet analyzing unit  12 , and in the case of voice data, the data are decoded into waveform information by the decoder  15 , and are outputted from the voice output interface  17 . 
         [0026]    A series of operations such as on hook, off hook, dial operation and the like are inputted through the operating interface  20 , replaced by the corresponding commands by the command generating unit  21 , shaped into communicable form by the sending packet generating unit  11  and are outputted from the communication controlling unit  10 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 9  is an illustration showing an example of the physical image of a proxy response terminal. To carry out a proxy response, for example, the proxy response button  107  (a part of the operating interface  20 ) is pushed to request the acquisition of information relating to the incoming data from the terminals within the group in the calling state. This request is replaced by a corresponding command (for example, a request for SUBSCRIBE to the terminals belonging to the group) by the incoming information acquiring means  22  in the command generating unit  21 , shaped into a communicable form by the sending packet generating unit  11  to be sent out by the communication controlling unit  10 . 
         [0028]    As a result, the incoming information notified by the call control unit  5  passes through the communication control unit  10  and the incoming packet analyzing unit  21 , reaches the display contents shaping unit  18  to be displayed by the display  19 . This display example is shown as an example in  105  of  FIG. 9 . 
         [0029]    To carry out a proxy response after confirming the incoming information, for example, the numeral button corresponding to the call for proxy response is pressed, and then the proxy response button  107  is pressed again. This request is replaced by the corresponding command (for example, a REPLACE request and the like) by the proxy response requesting means  23  within the command generating unit  21  in the same way as the incoming information acquiring means, shaped into a communicable form by the sending packet generating unit  11  to be sent out from the communication controlling unit  10 . 
         [0030]    Although the description of this mode of carrying out mentions the calling terminal, the receiving terminal and the proxy response terminal by differentiating them respectively, the structure of providing a same terminal with various terminal functions may be adopted. 
         [0031]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing an example of configuration of a call control apparatus. The call control apparatus  5  includes a CPU ( 30 ), a memory ( 36 ), a storage device ( 34 ) and a network interface ( 32 ) and stores a control program described in details below. The control program of the call control apparatus stored in the storage device is deployed on the memory at the time of operation and is executed by the CPU. The storage device may be mounted in the enclosure, or may be installed in a different enclosure as an outside storage device, or may be connected by a network. It may also include a user interface for enabling the user having the power of managing the apparatus to operate the call control apparatus. The user interface may be, for example, a keyboard for inputting commands, a mouse for inputting GUI, a display screen and the like. 
         [0032]    The control program includes a communication control program  40 , a gateway program  41 , a call control program  42 , a terminal control table  43 , and a session control table  44 . 
         [0033]    The communication control program  40  analyses the packet received through the network interface  32 , shapes the header information required for sending the packet and sends the same. 
         [0034]    The gateway program  41  represents the so-called VoIP (Voice over IP) gateway or IP-PBX function, converts the protocols between the circuit switching network and the packet switching network, and even in the case of communication protocols of the same packet switching, converts different protocols such as H.  323  and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) so that communications may be made mutually. 
         [0035]    The call control program  42  mainly solves addresses and relays the connection control messages issued by terminals, and at the same time is the main constituent element of the call control apparatus  5  for managing the calling state. Although the prior functions of the call control program are omitted in the figure, one of the representative functions is an address solution program  46  used in solving the addresses. The address solution program  46  solves the addresses of the address terminal by referring the information contained in the terminal control table  43  as shown in  FIG. 7 . In the present invention, the terminal control table  43  and the address solution program  46  are used not only for solving addresses but also for solving the users of the terminal and the groups belonging to the terminal. The detailed flow of operations will be described for the description of  FIG. 6 . 
         [0036]    In addition, in order to realize the proxy response function of the present invention, the call control program  42  includes an incoming information notifying means  47  and a call controlling means for addressing to proxy responses  48 . 
         [0037]      FIG. 7  is a table showing an example of the terminals control table. The terminals control table  43  manages location information such as the terminal IDs ( 90 ) and contact addresses  91  (for example “IP addresses”) managed by the call control apparatus. For the terminal IDs ( 90 ), telephone numbers and the identifiers of SIP, URI and the like are used. The contact addresses  91  may be registered fixedly by the manager for their use or may be dynamically reflected by the registration notices from terminals. And the validity term of registration may be managed by a timer. 
         [0038]    And in the terminals control table  43 , the terminal user information  92  and the information on what group the terminal belongs  93  are managed by correlating the same with the terminal IDs through the registration work of the manager. However, the contact addresses  91 , the user information  92  and the information on what group the terminal belongs  93  may be managed respectively by separate table because what is required is the relationship of correspondence with the respective terminal ID ( 90 ). And the management table may be divided in block of group to which the terminals belong. 
         [0039]      FIG. 8  is a table showing an example of the session control table  43 . The session control table  44  manages changes in the state of each call. In the case of the SIP system, Call ID ( 95 ) is used for the identifier of call, and manages the state of each call ( 98 ) by linking the same with the caller information ( 96 ) and the callee information ( 97 ) and by forming pairs. For the caller information and the callee information, identifiers such as telephone number, SIP-URI and the like are used. And during the period ending with the establishment of a call, the message contents included in the calling message (for example, SDP: Session Description Protocol) and the like are recorded in parallel. 
         [0040]    The session control table  44  and the local location table  43 , which are described in  FIG. 3  as tables on the memory  36 , may be a data base table placed on the storage device  34 . And the terminals control table may be kept in outside DB (data base) instead of keeping the same in the call control apparatus and this DB may be accessed whenever it is necessary. However, in order to accelerate the relay processing of call controlling messages, it is more advantageous to keep the information on the terminals to which the user responds himself or herself in the user&#39;s own server in the form of a terminal control table  44  than to refer always the outside DB. The same thing can be said for the session control table. 
         [0041]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing an example of processing procedure for carrying out a proxy response in the call response apparatus. When the received message is an incoming information request sent from a proxy response terminal  3  (step  80 ), the incoming information notifying means  47  in the call control program  42  is executed. The incoming information notifying means  47  extracts the terminals of the group specified in the incoming information request message received or other terminals of the group to which the proxy response terminal having issued the incoming information request message belong by referring the terminals control table  43 . Then, it confirms the calling state of the extracted terminals by referring the session control table  44 . At this stage, if the state of call ( 98 ) is calling (ringing), information relating to calls in the calling state (ringing) such as call ID ( 95 ), caller information ( 96 ), callee information ( 97 ) and the like is notified to the proxy response terminal  3  (step  81 ). 
         [0042]    Then, if the received message turned out to be a proxy response request sent from a proxy response terminal  3  (step  82 ), the call controlling means responding to proxy response  48  in the call control program  42  is executed. The call controlling means responding to proxy response  48  searches the session control table  44  by using the identifier of the proxy response call specified in the proxy response request message as a search key, and answers by loading the response message with the connection information (for example SDP and the like) contained in the proxy response request message to the caller terminal  1  of the call (step  83 ). In addition, it answers to the proxy response terminal  3  by storing the message information  99  of the call registered in the session control table  44  in the response message (step  84 ). And it sends a message of interrupting the call to the receiving terminal  2  (step  85 ). And it renews the calling state ( 98 ) and callee information ( 97 ) in the session control table  84  as shown by the example of  102  in  FIG. 8 . 
         [0043]    Incidentally, the processing procedure from the steps  84  through  86  may be changed. Other processing of the call control program  42  not directly related with the processing of other proxy responses  42  is summarized in step  87 . 
         [0044]    This example of carrying out is described on the assumption that, when there are a plurality of incoming information in the calling state to be notified in the step  81 , the incoming information of all the calls in the calling state is notified to the proxy response terminal  3 . However, an item of managing the time of renewal of state may be added to the elements in the session control table  44 , and the calls that entered into the calling state before others may be given priority in the order of notification. And another method of controlling the priority in the order of notification may be the addition of an item for weighting the users  92  among the elements of the terminals control table  43  in such a way that the higher position the user occupies the higher weight may be given so that the incoming call addressed to high-ranking officers may be given priority in the order of notification. 
         [0045]    This example of carrying out is described on the assumption that each of the functional blocks shown by  40  through  48  in Table 3 is entirely executed by software processing. However, processors, signal processing circuits and the like corresponding respectively to the functional blocks may be used to realize by hardware the configuration shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0046]      FIG. 4  is a sequence diagram showing an example of the connecting procedure at the time of proxy response. Here, the sequence that may be realized if SIP is used as the connection control protocol is taken up as an example. The transmission of an INVITE message to the receiving terminal  2  from the calling terminal  1  through the call control apparatus  5  (F 51 , F 52 ) and the response of calling message from the receiving terminal  2  to the calling terminal  1  through the call control apparatus  5  (F 53 , F 54 ) are similar to the prior SIP sequence. 
         [0047]    For the incoming information acquisition request from the proxy response terminal  3  in the present invention, information on the state of terminals belonging to the group is used. In particular, SUBSCRIBE messages specifying the group as the address of request are sent as request message for the acquisition of information on the state of the group terminals in the calling state (F 55 ). On the other hand, NOTIFY messages are used for the incoming information notice from the call control apparatus  5  (F 57 ). 
         [0048]    Then, in response to the proxy response request from the proxy response terminal  3 , INVITE messages using the Replaces header defined in RFC3891 are used (F 61 ). The call control apparatus  5  having received the message of F 61  searches the session control table  44  by using the call identification ID (Call ID) specified in the Replaces header as a search key, and sends back a response message containing the SDP information of F 61  to the calling terminal  1  of the call (F 62 ) On the other hand, the message information  99  of the call registered in the session control table  44  loaded on the response message is sent back to the proxy response terminal  3  (F 63 ). And a message of interrupting the call is sent out to the receiving terminal  2  (F 64 ). 
         [0049]    In the example of sequence shown in  FIG. 4 , the SUBSCRIBE message of F 55  used as a Fetch-type message is issued after a call has occurred. However, the message may be issued in advance, and after the reception of the calling message of F 53 , the information may be notified by a NOTIFY message as shown by F 57 . However, in the case of using such a form of operation, even if no proxy response is required, the incoming call information may be notified to the terminal having made a prior request (SUBSCRIBE), and this may create a problem in terms of privacy. In such a case, the problem can be solved by introducing a presence server having the function of monitoring and notifying changes in the state and allowing the level of information disclosure to be set. 
         [0050]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing an example of processing procedure at the time of proxy response in a proxy response terminal. When an acquisition request has been issued for information relating to messages received by the terminals within the group in the calling state as a result of an pressure applied on the proxy response button  107 , an incoming information request is generated by the incoming information acquiring means  22  within the command generating unit  21 , and the message is sent out to the call control apparatus  5  through the sending packet generating unit  11  and the communication controlling unit  10 . 
         [0051]    Upon receiving the incoming information through the communication control unit  10  and the incoming packet analyzing unit  21  (step  71 ), the incoming information is displayed on the display  19  through the display contents shaping unit  18  (step  72 ). 
         [0052]    When a proxy response is executed by confirming the incoming information (step  75 ), a proxy response request is generated by the proxy response requesting means  23  and a message is sent out to the call control apparatus  5  through the sending packet generating unit  11  and the communication control unit  10  (step  76 ). 
         [0053]    Upon receipt of a response message to the proxy response request through the communication control unit  10  and the incoming packet analyzing unit  21  (step  77 ), the process passes to the communication start state (step  78 ). 
         [0054]    When a cancellation of operation such as on hook operation has occurred during the standby state for receiving message or the input of a command like step  71 , step  75  and step  77  (step  73 ), the proxy response processing is interrupted. 
         [0055]    In the example described above, the effect of carrying out a proxy response to an incoming message to the internal telephone apparatuses is described. However, the present invention displays the following effects in the case where the caller is an internal telephone apparatus and the callee is a cellular telephone used outside. 
         [0056]    PBX and prior call control apparatus include devices wherein the transfer of calls during the absence of the user can be set. The use of such a device will enable the user to set the incoming message to the telephone apparatus on the user&#39;s desk to be transferred to a cellular telephone when the user is absent, or to set the call control apparatus to transfer the call to the representative number of the group or the telephone on the user&#39;s desk when the user cannot respond to the incoming call to the cellular phone (for example, when the cellular phone is out of reach of the electric wave or in the case of no response after repeated calls, and the like). 
         [0057]    If the call control apparatus includes an incoming information notifying means of the present invention in a situation similar to the latter, it will be possible to inform the proxy responder that the primary address is the cellular phone. When anyone other than the owner of the cellular phone responds to the call to the cellular phone, the caller will be perplexed. However, when the proxy responder can realize in advance that he or she is responding to a call to the cellular phone, the proxy responder will be able to respond adequately. 
         [0058]    The proxy response method of the present invention, which enables to acquire information relating to the calls in calling state, for example, information on who is calling who, can be applied as a telephone system of an organization wherein a plurality of telephone apparatuses are used and the proxy response is required to facilitate business.