CN100411397C - Method and system for collect call service based on VoIP technology - Google Patents

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a collect call method and system thereof, more particularly, in order to charge the called party with a uniform toll for collect call, which is determined by only the type and location of called party terminal. In one embodiment, the collect call method, system and a counsel service providing method use a free VoIP network for part of the voice call link and a charge PSTN network for the rest of the voice call link. In one embodiment, if the first link corresponding to the collect call request is established, the collect call switch calls the called party terminal to establish the second link, and billing on the second link is initiated.

Description

Method and system for collect call service based on VoIP technology

technical field

The present invention relates to a method and system for collect call services, and more particularly, in order to achieve a flat charge for collect calls regardless of the location and/or type of the recipient terminal, the present invention relates to a free A method and system for establishing a call link between a caller and a recipient in a VoIP (Voice over Internet) network and a traditional network that charges the recipient.

Background technique

Traditional telecommunication services have been only a medium of voice communication, however, current telecommunication services have been developed as new means for providing various high-quality services. The purpose of telecom service providers now is to provide new telephone services customized according to user needs at low cost and efficiency, and the most important thing is to obtain competition rather than a kind of hostility. The Internet, which is the most suitable solution to achieve this goal, has become an essential part of daily life with the rapid increase in the number of users. The connection between PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) network and IP (Internet Protocol) network provides cable service providers, mobile service providers, ISP (Internet Service Providers), equipment manufacturers and value-added information service providers respectively. All kinds of opportunities.

Standardization bodies such as IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), ITU (International Telecommunications Union), ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and others have been working on providing traditional telephone services and value-added services previously provided through PSTN networks through the Internet. IETF has proposed standards such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), SDP (Session Description Protocol), MEGACO (Media Gateway Control Protocol), SIGTRAN (Signaling Transport Protocol) for VoIP and value-added services on the Internet, H. 323 protocol is a standard developed by ITU-T since 1990 for transmitting voice/data/image between terminals on a packet network. In H.323, in order to communicate on the network, four basic entities, terminal, gateway, gatekeeper (gatekeeper) and MCU (Multipoint Control Unit) are defined, and recently released support TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP ( User Datagram Protocol) H.323v3. In order to meet the demand for public solutions such as VoN (Voice over Network), ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) takes into account the technical problems that arise when SCN (switched circuit network, switched circuit network) and the Internet are connected to each other , TIPHON (Telecommunications and Internet protocol Harmonization Over Network, network-oriented communication and Internet protocol integration) was established for development and standardization. Currently, among the VoIP standards, H.323 is the most widely used. FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a VoIP network according to the H.323 standard. The PSTN phone 10b sets up a call to the receiving phone 13 through the registered gateway 11a, while the VoIP stand-alone phone 10a can also set up a call to the receiving phone 13 without a gateway. The calling/called gateways 11a, 11b are compatible with networks operating based on the H.323 standard and different standards as nodes for accessing different networks, and convert data and control signals entering from one network into network of. The gatekeeper 12, which is an entity based on the H.323 network, bundles a plurality of termination points such as gateways, client terminals (PCs, VoIP stand-alone phones), and MCUs (not shown) in a predetermined network called "zones" in the network. section and performs control/management/registration functions for endpoints located in the zone. In H.323-based networks, the gatekeeper 12 is not an essential entity, but it can perform main tasks such as address translation, call validation and bandwidth control as well as additional tasks such as call control, generation of statistics and billing . The best billing system method for voice telecommunication services that has been introduced so far in VoIP systems is the use of prepaid cards. Prepaid cards have different forms of exchangeable value such as cash, points, miles, coupons, etc. Compared with PSTN network or mobile network, there are more callers and calling terminals in VoIP network, so it is difficult to bill each call separately, so prepaid card is the most effective solution for VoIP billing system. However, although the service charge of the voice telecommunication service of the VoIP system is cheaper than that of any other network, the number of users of the VoIP has not increased because users must purchase a prepaid card before using the VoIP network. In another method, the user can adopt the form of postpaid (postpaid) after signing a contract with the service provider before using it.

Unlike VoIP systems, the number of pay-to-pay subscribers is growing faster in PSTN networks. Even though the collect service was originally provided by the PSTN service provider who was suffering from a rapid decrease in subscribers due to the development of mobile communication, the mobile communication service provider currently provides the same service. Figure 1B shows a telecommunications system for collect call service. The caller enters the collect call identifier and the called party number in the telephone 20a, 20b and if the called party accepts the collect call, the cost of the collect call is paid by the called party. For example, if a caller 20b calls a called user 25a on a mobile phone who is a PSTN user, then the cost of using both the mobile network and the PSTN network is paid by the called user. Thus, a problem with the conventional collect service is that the charge for a collect call must be calculated not only according to the type of the called subscriber terminal but also according to the type of the calling terminal.

Figure 1C shows the flow chart of traditional consulting services based on ARS (Auto Response System). Referring to FIG. 1C , in step 30 , users who need paid consultation (hereinafter referred to as "consulting users") dial their known telephone numbers. Paid consulting service in PSTN/mobile network is provided through ARS, and there are various systems such as fortune, stock, tax, etc. In step 35, upon receiving a phone call, the ARS generates several voice menus that the consulting user can choose and receives the user's selection. After establishing a connection between the consulting user and the selected consultant in step 40, the consulting user must explain the content (hereinafter referred to as "basic information") that it needs to consult in step 45, and then in step 50, the consulting user can Hear the results of consultation (hereinafter referred to as "consultation information").

Most ARS advisory systems begin billing only after the call is connected to the ARS advisory system. Selecting an advisor and explaining basic information takes the majority of the time in a paid consultation business, and if the consulting user fails to explain the basic information accurately, it can prolong the overall duration of the call. Also, since the communication equipment in the ARS counseling business is limited to voice, various services such as fortune-telling or dream interpretation, which can communicate basic information and counseling information by voice, can be realized through ARS. At the same time, since the ARS consulting service is provided in real time, if the consultant is off duty or has multiple consulting requests at the same time, the consulting service cannot be provided. Meanwhile, since ARS consulting business requires high-cost CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) equipment, it is difficult for service providers to start ARS consulting business.

Contents of the invention

As described above, there is a problem that a VoIP user must purchase a prepaid card before use and that the charge for collect calls depends on the type of the caller's terminal and the type of the called user's terminal.

In order to solve these problems, the basic purpose of the present invention is to provide a VoIP network-based method and system for collect call services that can use VoIP calls without a prepaid card and can reduce the cost of the called user.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for collect calls based on VoIP networks, in which method and system, only the type and location of the called user terminal are considered when determining the cost of collect calls without the need for Consider the type and location of the caller, thereby reducing the cost of collect calls.

Still another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for consulting services in a VoIP collect call system. In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a desired consulting service that allows consulting users to send basic information and consultant selection information to their terminals free of charge, and allows consultants to generate all necessary consulting information based on the basic information.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a collect service based on a VoIP system, the method comprising the following steps: when receiving a collect call request from a VoIP network, establishing a call between the called gateway and the collect call switch The first link, wherein the VoIP network is established between the calling gateway connected to the calling terminal and the called gateway connected to the collect call switch, and the calling terminal uses known access information to access the called gateway; Set up the second link between the switchboard and the called terminal; Respond to the acceptance (collect call acceptance) signal of the other party's pay call from the DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency, Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) signal format of the called terminal, in the first link establishing a connection between the first link and the second link to initiate the charging process; and in response to a normal call end request from one of the calling terminal and the called terminal, releasing the connecting link to end the charging process.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a collect service based on a VoIP network containing a plurality of gateways, the method comprising the following steps: when receiving collect call from a calling terminal that already knows the access information of the VoIP collect call system When making a call request, carry out the RAS (registration/permission/status) approval of calling terminal verification and the other party's paid call request, and obtain the access information of the called gateway corresponding to the called terminal; if the RAS approval and the called gateway's access information, then connect the calling gateway and the called gateway by sending a collect call request to the called gateway; respond to the collect call request to set up the first link between the called gateway and the collect call switch; Establishing a second link between the called terminals; responding to an acceptance signal of a collect call in DTMF signal format from the called user terminal, connecting the first link and the second link to initiate the charging process of the second link; And in response to a normal call end request from one of the calling terminal and the called terminal, the connection link is released to end the charging process.

According to the present invention, a VoIP-based collect call system is provided, including: a called gateway, which is connected to the call gateway through a VoIP network, and establishes a call gateway when receiving a collect call request from a calling terminal through the VoIP network A VoIP link, wherein the calling terminal can access the called gateway through known access information; and a collect call switch, which is connected to the called terminal through a network selected from one of the PSTN network and the mobile network, and responds to the collect call requesting the establishment of a first link to the called gateway and a second link to the called terminal, and connecting the first link and the second link in response to a collect call acceptance signal from the called terminal , and perform charging processing for the second link.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for providing consulting services based on a VoIP collect call system, comprising the following steps: when receiving basic information from a consulting user terminal connected to an affiliated website, storing the information of the affiliated website Identifiers, collect call numbers submitted by consulting users, and consultant identifiers representing consultants selected by consulting users in the database; sending basic information, affiliated website identifiers and collect call numbers to consultant terminals corresponding to consultant identifiers; and calculate the total call time by recording the call start time when the consultant terminal establishes a call with the collect call number and the call end time when the call ends, wherein the basic information is selected from one of text data, image data, sound data and combinations thereof kind.

According to the present invention, a method for providing consulting services based on a VoIP collect call system is provided, the method comprising the following steps: if the consulting user terminal connected to the consulting service server sends a basic information, storing the collect call number submitted by the consulting user and the consultant identifier representing the consultant selected by the consulting user in the database; by recording the call start time when the consultant terminal calls the collect call number and the call end time when the call ends to calculate the total ; classify active and inactive calls by using at least one of call start time, call end time, and total call time; and calculate the sum of the total call time for active calls for the advisor, where the basic information is selected from One of text data, image data, sound data, and combinations thereof.

Description of drawings

Figure 1A shows a VoIP network according to the H.323 standard;

Figure 1B shows a telecommunications system for collect call services;

Figure 1C is a flow chart of ARS-based traditional consulting services;

Fig. 2 shows the method for collect call service based on VoIP according to the present invention;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a VoIP collect call system according to the present invention;

Fig. 4 shows the flow chart of the collect calling method based on VoIP network according to the present invention;

Figure 5 is a signal flow diagram in a VoIP collect calling system without a gatekeeper for RAS authentication according to the present invention;

Figure 6 shows a signal flow diagram in a VoIP collect calling system with a gatekeeper for RAS authentication according to the present invention;

Fig. 7 is shown as the signal flow diagram of calling proxy server and gatekeeper by the other party;

Figure 8 shows a method for providing consulting services based on the VoIP collect call service;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for providing consulting services through an affiliated website according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 10 is a flow chart of a method for communicating with each other to provide consulting services through instant messages or Internet messages according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the description of the present invention in conjunction with the embodiments is only used to help those skilled in the art better understand the present invention, and does not limit the spirit and scope of the present invention to the embodiments and specific descriptions described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the specification, for simplicity of description, a VoIP system compatible with H.323 will be described among a plurality of VoIP standards. However, it is not intended to be limited to a VoIP system compatible with H.323, and it is clear to those skilled in the art that there may be a system compatible with SIP, MGCP (Media Gateway Control Protocol), etc. and have the same object and effect of the present invention equivalent system.

Fig. 2 shows a method for collect call service based on VoIP according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, collect calls according to the present invention provide services through a VoIP network between a calling terminal and a called gateway as a PSTN-VoIP connection node and a PSTN/mobile network between the called gateway and the called terminal. A VoIP network includes a calling terminal, a calling gateway, and a called gateway, and also includes a gatekeeper and a collect call proxy server. PSTN network includes collect call exchange and general exchange, and mobile network includes MSC (mobile switch center, mobile switching center) and BSC (base station controller, base station controller).

The difference between the collect call service of the present invention and the traditional collect call service is that the fee paid by the called user for the pay link is predetermined according to the type and/or location of the called terminal. Since all calling terminals send call requests and make voice calls on the VoIP network in the present invention, the types of calling terminals are all the same. For example, if the type of the calling terminal is a mobile terminal and the type of the called terminal is an ordinary telephone connected to the PSTN, the collect call charges including PSTN usage fee and mobile network usage fee and network access fee are all paid by the called user . In another example, if the calling terminal is located abroad, collect call charges including local call charges and international call charges abroad are paid by the called user. However, since the extra charge of using the VoIP network is not imposed on the caller and the called user in the present invention when the caller requests a collect call, the charge for collect calls can be reduced. The change of collect call charges according to the location of the called terminal will be described below in conjunction with the embodiments. In the case where the collect call switch is located in Seoul, if the called terminal is located in Seoul, the called user pays the local call charge as the charge for the collect call, but if the called user is located in Kyung-gi-do (Kyung-gi Province) away from Seoul ), the called party must pay the long-distance call charge as the charge for the collect call. However, if the calling terminal is connected to a VoIP gateway of a service provider for special telecommunications, the call link between the calling terminal and the gateway is paid by the caller or called user. The payer of the service provision fee can be changed according to the policy of the service provider.

In order to save costs, the calling terminal must have the VoIP access function and the collect call switch must have the VoIP collect call processing function, which can distinguish the collect call request of the VoIP terminal from the collect call request of the PSTN/mobile terminal for different processing. deal with. In the present invention, the call terminal that can visit the VoIP network includes (1) a computer with a gateway module embedded in software or hardware; (2) a VoIP stand-alone phone with a gateway module embedded in software or hardware; A phone connected to a traditional telephone network (eg PSTN/mobile network) to call the gateway. The method and system for the VoIP collect call system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a VoIP collect call system according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3 , the VoIP collect call system includes a calling terminal, a calling gateway, a called gateway, a collect call switch, and a called terminal. In addition, the VoIP collect call system further includes a gatekeeper (not shown) and collect call proxy server 160 . Some caller terminals, calling gateways and called gateways are connected to each other through an IP network supporting the VoIP standard (hereinafter referred to as "VoIP network"), while collect call switches and called terminals are connected to each other through traditional networks (hereinafter referred to as "PSTN") network") are connected to each other. Furthermore, the term "gateway" in the present invention refers to a node connecting two different networks, and is used to describe a preferred embodiment compatible with H.323. Thus, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that an equivalent entity may be substituted for a gateway in another VoIP network supporting a standard different from H.323.

The calling terminal includes PC 100, VoIP stand-alone phone 110 and phone 150 connected to VoIP gateway through PSTN network. Call gateways can exist in different forms. In the case of using the PC 100, the gateway module embedded in software/hardware is included in the PC 100 or server connected to the VoIP network, so callers can access the VoIP network through the PC 100. In case of a VoIP stand-alone phone 110, a gateway module embedded in software/hardware can be included in the phone 110 or an additional gateway with several VoIP stand-alone phones connected. In the case of a telephone 150 connected to a VoIP gateway through a PSTN network, the calling gateway is connected to or contained in the switch. A collect call request made by a calling terminal 100, 100, 150 includes a collect call identifier that is called by the gateway 130b, 130c or The calling gateway 130a identifies the call as a collect call. Moreover, the collect call request further includes: the access information of the called user, so that the calling gateway 130b, 130c directly sends the collect call request to the called gateway 130a. Where the VoIP collect call system includes a gatekeeper or collect proxy server for RAS authentication and gateway assignment, the collect call request also includes the address of the called gateway or gatekeeper/collect proxy server access information.

The called gateway 130a is connected to the calling gateways 130b and 130c through the VoIP network, and is also electrically connected to the collect call exchange. The called gateway responds to the collect call request from the calling terminal 100, 110 and 150, and realizes the voice call between the two terminals by establishing an H.323 compatible link with the calling gateway. In addition, the called gateway sends a VoIP collect call notification to the collect call switch, so that the collect call switch can perform charging processing.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, unlike the traditional VoIP system, because the VoIP network is not charged but the PSTN link between the collect call switch and the called terminal is used to pay, the access information of the called gateway can be disclosed. In the traditional VoIP system, if the access information of the calling/called gateway is disclosed, unauthorized free calls will frequently occur. In order to prevent unauthorized calls, traditional VoIP systems manage access information in a gatekeeper and users cannot know it. Thus, users who already have gateways for other VoIP systems can directly access the called gateway of the present invention by using the disclosed access information. In another embodiment, if the VoIP system includes a gatekeeper or a collect call proxy server for managing a plurality of called gateways located in each area, the access information of the gatekeeper or collect call proxy server can also be disclosed as described above .

The collect call switch 140 is electrically connected to the called gateway 130a, and is connected to the called terminal 120 through the PSTN network. The collect call switch 140 responds to the collect call request from the called gateway 130a, respectively establishes PSTN links to the called gateway 130a and the called terminal 120, and connects each link, that is, when receiving the call request from the called terminal 120 A voice call is established between the calling terminal and the called terminal when the accept signal of the collect call is received. Also, if a voice call is established between the calling terminal and the called terminal, charging processing is initiated. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, preferably only the use of the PSTN link between the collect call switch and the called terminal generates charges as collect calls, while the charges for collect calls are based on the called terminal's The product of the unit cost booked by the type and the total call time. However, different charging methods may be adopted according to the policy of the telecommunications service provider managing the collect call switch 140, and even in these cases, the charging target is only the communication between the collect call switch 140 and the called terminal 120. PSTN link.

In establishing a voice call between the calling terminal and the called terminal, the collect call proxy server 160 adopts different business processes of the present invention for different types of networks (PSTN network, VoIP network). Specifically, the collect call proxy server 160 performs network routing processing for sending collect call requests to collect call networks and VoIP networks, call statistics/addition for providing caller statistics and CID (Caller Identification) Service provision processing and OA&M (Operation, Administration, Maintenance) processing for generating billing statistics for each network and call management. Additionally, if the VoIP collect calling service is provided only to subscribed members, the collect call proxy server may have a subscriber authentication process for confirming subscription validity and allowing the collect service to be used.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of the collect calling method based on the VoIP network according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, in step 200, the calling terminal sends a collect call identifier and a collect call number for indicating that the call type is a collect call.

In step 210, when the collect call request is received, the collect call number is extracted from the collect call request and then the called terminal is called.

In step 220, if the called terminal answers the call, it is determined whether the answer is an acceptance or rejection of the collect call. According to the result of the determination, if the answer is acceptance, the method proceeds to step 230 ; otherwise, the method ends in step 220 .

In step 230, if the called user signals collect call acceptance, a voice call link is established between the calling terminal and the called terminal. During the entire connected voice call link, the caller and the called user can communicate with each other. When a voice link is connected, billing processing for calculating the total call time is initiated.

In step 240, when a normal call end request is received from the calling terminal or the called terminal, the voice call link is released and the calculation of the total time ends.

In step 250, the calculated total call time is multiplied by the unit charge to obtain the collect call charge and the collect call charge is paid by the called party.

FIG. 5 is a signal flow diagram of the VoIP collect call system according to the present invention. Specifically, Figure 5 shows a signal flow diagram for a system without a gatekeeper for RAS authentication.

Referring to FIG. 5, in step 300, the calling terminal sends a collect call request to the calling gateway. The collect call request includes a collect call identifier and a collect call number. If the calling terminal is a VoIP stand-alone phone or PC, step 300 can be omitted.

In step 305, when receiving the collect call request, the calling gateway sends a call signal (call signaling) to the called gateway corresponding to the collect call identifier. Since this embodiment is performed in a VoIP system compatible with H.323, the call signal is an H.225 protocol message. Also, there is no gatekeeper in the system, so the calling signal is sent directly to the called gateway. When a call signal is received, the called gateway and the calling gateway are connected through the VoIP network. Control signaling messages are exchanged between gateways following the H.245 protocol (not shown).

In step 310, the called gateway requests a PSTN link to the collect call switch. The collect switch establishes a PSTN link to the called gateway.

In step 315, the collect call switch calls the called terminal by using the collect call number included in the collect call request. When the called terminal answers, the collect call switch establishes a PSTN link to the called terminal, and in step 320, outputs a voice announcement informing that this is a collect call.

In step 325, after completing the voice announcement, the collect call switch temporarily establishes a voice call link between the calling terminal and the called terminal, so that the called user can identify the caller. Step 325 may be omitted according to the policy of the telecommunications service provider.

In steps 330 to 340, after the voice call link is released, a voice notification for requesting to accept the collect call is output to the called terminal. When a DTMF signal corresponding to a particular button is received, the collect call switch analyzes the signal and determines whether the called party accepts the collect call. According to the judgment, if the called user accepts the collect call, the collect call switch connects the voice call link between the calling terminal and the called terminal and initiates the billing process.

Then, when a normal call end request from the calling terminal or called terminal is received, the voice call link is released and the total call time is calculated and charges for collect calls are generated.

FIG. 6 is a signal flow diagram of the VoIP collect calling system according to the present invention. Specifically, Figure 6 is a flow diagram showing gatekeeper signaling including collect call approval and billing data validation. The same description as FIG. 5 is omitted without hindering the spirit of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, in step 400, when receiving a request to connect a PSTN link corresponding to a collect call request, the calling gateway establishes a PSTN link to the calling terminal. If the calling terminal is a VoIP stand-alone phone or PC, then step 400 can be omitted.

In step 405, if the PSTN link is established, the calling gateway sends a collect call request and information about the calling user terminal to the calling proxy server to pass it on to the called gateway. In addition, the call gateway may request the call proxy server to confirm that the calling user is a valid user who can use the collect call service and perform charging processing for the calling user, if necessary.

In steps 410 and 415, when receiving the collect call request and the caller information, the collect call proxy server judges whether the caller has the right to use the collect call service and sends the judgment result to the calling terminal through the call gateway. In more detail, the collect call proxy server transfers a collect call request to one of a collect network and a VoIP network according to a collect call number, generates call statistics for each caller, and provides additional services such as CID. Furthermore, the collect call proxy server generates billing statistics for each network and manages call processing. Furthermore, if each caller requires billing processing, the collect call proxy server can perform confirmation processing for this.

In step 420, the collect call proxy server sends a call signaling message corresponding to the collect request to the called gateway, so that the calling gateway and the called gateway are connected to each other.

Since steps 425 to 455 are the same as steps 310 to 340, descriptions of these steps are omitted.

Figure 7 is a signal flow diagram showing a call to proxy server and gatekeeper via collect. Specifically, FIG. 7 shows a signal flow diagram of a VoIP system including a gatekeeper for the RAS. The same descriptions as in FIGS. 5 and 6 are omitted without hindering the spirit of the present invention.

Since steps 500, 505 and 515 are the same as steps 400 to 410 in FIG. 6, the description of these steps is omitted.

In step 510, when receiving the collect call request and the calling user information, the collect call proxy server sends a RAS message to the gatekeeper managing all VoIP system entities. When the RAS message is received, the gatekeeper registers the calling gateway and authorizes the requested collect call. Furthermore, the gatekeeper handles the collect call request: looking for access information of the called gateway suitable for handling the collect call request.

In step 520, the gatekeeper sends the registration result of the calling gateway, the approval of the collect call and the access information of the called gateway to the collect proxy server. When receiving the result of approving the collect call and the access information of the called gateway, the collect call proxy server approves the calling user to use the collect call service.

In step 525, the collect call proxy server sends the approval result to the calling user terminal, and in step 530, sends a collect call request to the called gateway according to the access information received from the gatekeeper, so the calling gateway and the called gateway connected to each other.

In another embodiment, in step 525, the calling terminal receiving approval from the collect call proxy server sends the caller information stored in the call terminal to the gatekeeper through the collect call proxy server. If approved, the caller information is sent to the called gateway and displayed on the called terminal. Wherein, the caller information is text, image or a combination of text and image.

Since steps 535 to 565 are the same as steps 425 to 455 in FIG. 6, descriptions of these steps are omitted.

FIG. 8 shows a method for providing consulting services based on the VoIP collect call service. Referring to FIG. 8, in step 600, a consulting user selects a consulting service by using a client program installed in a consulting user terminal, and then selects a consultant to provide the selected consulting service from a list of consultants. Wherein, the counseling user terminal is one of electronic data processing equipment (for example, computer, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), notebook computer, etc.) connected to wired/wireless Internet or portable phone connected to mobile network. Also, the client program installed in the consulting user terminal is a general-purpose web browser or a dedicated browser. Among them, the plug-in program for using the consulting service may be pre-installed in a common web browser, or may be automatically downloaded from an affiliated website or a consulting service management server when the consulting user uses the consulting service.

After selecting the consulting service and consultant, in step 605, the consulting user sends basic information to the consultant. If the consulting service is provided through the affiliated website, the consulting user uploads the basic information to the bulletin board or sends the basic information to the consultant through the affiliated website. Wherein, sending the basic information through the affiliated website can be realized by one of the following methods: (1) the consulting service management server transmits it to the consultant terminal; (2) the affiliated website directly sends it to the consultant terminal (not through the consulting service management server ); (3) The consultation terminal directly receives the basic information from the affiliated website (not through the consultation service management server). If the counseling service is provided by a P2P (Peer-to-Peer) method, basic information is directly sent from the counseling user terminal to the counselor terminal. Since the data transmission technology is well known to those skilled in the art, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

The basic information is one of text data, image data, sound data, and combinations thereof. Since the information that can be delivered by voice can vary according to the counseling user and in a specific counseling business, it is impossible to transmit all the information by voice, the counseling user can provide the basic information required by the counselor in different data forms. For example, when fortune-telling is performed using Taro cards, the consulting user must select several cards from a set of Taro cards to receive the consulting business. However, in telephone consultation using ARS, since the consultation user cannot select playing cards, the consultation user currently receives a simple text message from the Internet or has to meet a fortune teller in person. However, according to the present invention, when the consulting user selects cards and a fortune teller on his own terminal, the fortune teller can receive information about the cards selected by the consulting user, and the voice consulting information can be delivered to the consulting user's Telephone. When performing patent consulting services, there are many cases where consulting users cannot fully explain their inventions. Therefore, in order to receive patent consulting business, inventors have to meet with patent attorneys, so it is inevitable to spend time and money. That is, when the patentability of the invention is low, the inventor must also meet the patent attorney in person and provide supplementary information to receive the correct consultation service. The present invention can be applied to other professional consulting services, such as medical, taxation, legal, etc.

In step 610, when the basic information is received, the consultant analyzes the basic information, and then in step 615, the consultant sends a collect call to the consulting user. Among other things, an advisor can make a computer-to-computer or computer-to-phone collect call by clicking a call button displayed on his terminal.

In step 620 , a counseling user who receives a collect call from a counselor can decide whether to accept, and then listens to the counseling message from the counselor in steps 625 and 630 .

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a consulting service method according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, more specifically, a method for providing consulting services through an affiliated website. Referring to Fig. 9, in step S800, after the consulting user accesses the affiliated website that provides consulting service through its terminal 700-1, ..., 700-m (hereinafter referred to as "700"), the consulting user selects the required consulting service and consultant. The consultant can be selected not only by the consulting user but also by the consulting service management server. Wherein, the web server managing the subsidiary website may be logically/physically separated from the consulting service management server, or may not be separated from the consulting service management server. That is, consulting services may be provided by one service provider or more than two cooperating service providers.

In step 810, through affiliated sites, affiliated site identifiers such as PINs (identification numbers) for each affiliated site, collect call numbers submitted by consulting users, consultant identifiers representing consultants selected by consulting users, and information such as consulting The consultation user identifier of the user's identity (ID) is sent to the consultation service management server, and the basic information is sent to the consultation service management server or directly to the consultation terminal 730-1, . . . , 730-n (hereinafter referred to as "730") . In another embodiment, the identifier of the affiliated website, the collect call number, and the counseling user identification may be sent to the counselor terminal along with the basic information. Of course, there is no need to publish the basic information on the bulletin board, but to send a notification indicating that there is a consulting request to the consultant terminal, and the consultant can read the basic information on the bulletin board or download it to his terminal. However, although various implementations can be obtained by changing the steps of providing basic information to the consultant terminal, if the consulting user can provide basic information in different forms and the consultant can generate consulting information based on the basic information, then these embodiments do not depart from this principle. the scope of the invention.

In step S820, when receiving the affiliated website identifier, the collect call number, the consultant identifier and the consulting user ID, the consulting service management server 720 stores them in the database, and sends a call to the consultant terminal 730 corresponding to the consultant identifier. Send affiliate site identifier and collect call number. In order to distinguish multiple consultation requests of the same consultation user, the consultation service management server 720 sends a consultation request identifier, for example, a serial number indicating each consultation request, to the consultation terminal 730 . In another embodiment, if the basic information comes from the affiliated website 710, the basic information can be sent to the consultant terminal 730, or a notification indicating that there is a consultation request is sent to the consultant terminal 730 and the consultant can obtain the basic information after accessing the consulting business management server 720. information.

In step 830, after receiving the affiliated website identifier and the collect call number from the consultation service management server 720 and generating consultation information by analyzing the basic information, when the consultant issues a collect call to the provided collect number, the consultant terminal 730 Notifies the consulting business management server 720 that the other party's payment has started. Preferably, the collect call number from the advisor is hidden and deleted after the advisor clicks the call button and the advisor terminal is connected to the collect call switch. Illegal or unauthorized use of user information by consultants can be prevented. After receiving the collect call start notification from the advisor terminal, the counseling service management server 720 stores the call start time associated with the affiliated website identifier, the collect call number, the advisor identifier, and the advisor user identifier.

In step S840 , the advisor terminal 730 sends the collect call number to the collect call switch 740 . Through this step, the counselor communicates with the counseling user by voice through the VoIP link formed between the counselor terminal 730 and the collect call switch 740 . A detailed description of the signals between the collect call switch, the gatekeeper and the gateway for call setup/voice call/call release is omitted here. Since the service provider with the collect call switch actually performs the billing process, it is preferred for the advisor terminal 730 to send the affiliate website identifier and advisor identifier to the collect call switch 740 along with the collect call number. The collect call switch 740 generates a CDR (Call Detail Record) including call start time, call end time, collect call number, affiliate site identifier, and advisor ID, and stores the CDR in the billing database. Stored CDRs can be used to search for invalid calls such as no answer or abnormally terminated calls.

In step S850, the collect call switch 740 forms a voice call link to the collect call number, and if the consulting user accepts the collect call, connects the consulting user and the consultant over the entire voice call link. If the call ends normally, the collect call switch records the call end time, and if the consultant terminal notifies the collect call to end, the consulting service management server 720 also records the call end time.

If the call ends, the consulting service management server 720 and the collect call switch periodically classify active and invalid calls, generate total call time for each affiliated site and consultant, and allocate consulting service fees according to predetermined rates.

Fig. 10 is a flow chart of a consulting service method according to another embodiment of the present invention, specifically a consulting service method in which a consulting user and a consultant can communicate with each other through instant messages or Internet messages. The following mainly describes the differences from the method shown in FIG. 9 .

In step S900 , when a consulting user enters the consulting service management server 720 having a plurality of registered consultants, selectable consulting service lists and valid consultants for each consulting service list are displayed on the consulting user terminal 700 .

In step S920 , if the consulting user selects a consultant and inputs basic information, the basic information is sent to the consultant terminal 730 . In this embodiment, when the consulting user selects a consultant, a chat window is simultaneously displayed on the consulting user terminal and the consultant terminal, and the consulting user can send basic information by inputting a chat message. At the same time, if the consulting user selects a specific type of consulting service, this consulting service requires the consulting user to select from the consulting service types provided by the consultant, for example, fortune telling with Taro cards, then the option that the consulting user can choose will be displayed on the consulting user terminal. window. Selections made by the counseling user are sent to the counselor terminal 730 . Since the next steps are the same as steps S830 to S850 in FIG. 9 , a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

In this invention, the method and system for providing collect call service on VoIP network and the method for providing consulting service based on VoIP collect call system which can reduce collect call charges are described in the preferred embodiment. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Meanwhile, the scope of the present invention is determined by the appended claims.

industrial application

As described above, according to the present invention, the caller can use the voice call on the VoIP network without purchasing a prepaid card before use, and only the flat rate of the collect call determined according to the type and location of the called user terminal is provided by the called party. The user pays, so the financial burden of the called user can be reduced. Thus, the collect service can be widely used.

Meanwhile, since the access information of the VoIP collect call system according to the present invention is public, anyone can access the VoIP collect call system. Thus, unauthorized calls or piracy calls using the VoIP voice call service in the present invention do not occur and piracy to gateways or gatekeepers becomes meaningless.

At the same time, since consulting users do not need to waste paid consulting time, they can receive consulting information at low cost. According to the present invention, a counseling user can provide basic information without form restriction before receiving counseling information, so that more satisfactory counseling business can be obtained.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since there is no restriction that the consultant must provide the consulting service in real time and that the consultant cannot respond to more than two consulting requests at the same time, the consultant can successfully provide the consulting service. Meanwhile, according to the present invention, since the consultant can receive basic information in advance, the consultant can provide more satisfactory consulting information and various consulting services that cannot be provided by the ARS.

Finally, according to the present invention, consulting service providers can provide various services without purchasing expensive CTI equipment.

Claims (12)

1. A method for providing a collect call service based on an Internet telephone system, comprising the following steps: When receiving a collect call request from the Internet telephone network, a first link is established between the called gateway and the collect call switch, and the Internet telephone network is established between the call gateway connected to the calling terminal and the Between the called gateways connected to the toll call switch, wherein the calling terminal uses the known access information to access the called gateway; establishing a second link between the collect call switch and the called terminal; establishing a connection between said first link and said second link to initiate billing processing in response to an accept signal of a collect call in DTMF signal format from the called terminal; and In response to a normal call end request from one of the calling terminal and the called terminal, the connection link is released to end the charging process. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Internet telephony system is compatible with one selected from the group consisting of H.323, Session Initiation Protocol, and Media Gateway Control Protocol. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the calling terminal is selected from a computer with a gateway module embedded in software or hardware, an internet telephony stand-alone phone with a gateway module embedded in software or hardware, and One of a group of phones connected to the Call Gateway through the traditional telephone network. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the method further comprises the step of temporarily allowing voice transmission in order to enable the called user to identify the caller when establishing the second link, and when temporarily allowing Voice transmission is inhibited after voice transmission until collect call acceptance arrives. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charge of the collect call is the charge of the second link, which is equal to the product of the predetermined unit charge according to the called terminal type and the total call time. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the collect call request is transmitted to the called gateway through the call proxy server performing authentication and billing processing related to the collect call request on the calling terminal . 7. A method for providing a collect call service based on an Internet telephony network comprising a plurality of gateways, comprising the following steps: When a collect call request is received from a calling terminal that already knows the access information of the Internet telephone collect call system, authentication of the calling terminal and registration/permission/status approval of the collect call request are performed, and communication with the called terminal is obtained The access information of the corresponding called gateway; If the registration/permission/status approval and the access information of the called gateway are obtained, connecting the calling gateway and the called gateway by sending a collect call request to the called gateway; establishing a first link between the called gateway and the collect call switch in response to the collect call request; establishing a second link between the collect call switch and the called terminal; connecting the first link and the second link to initiate billing processing for the second link in response to an accept signal from the called user terminal in the form of a collect call in dual tone multi-frequency signal format; and In response to a normal call end request from one of the calling terminal and called terminal, the connection link is released to end the charging process. 8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the verification of the calling terminal is checking the caller's subscription and confirming the caller's billing data. 9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, the access information of the called gateway is the gateway information selected from the type and location of the called terminal in consideration of at least one of the gateways that makes the call cost of the other party the lowest. 10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of allowing voice transmission temporarily in order to enable the called user to identify the caller when establishing the second link, and temporarily After voice transmission is enabled, voice transmission is disabled until collect call acceptance arrives. 11. A collect call system based on Internet telephony, comprising: a called gateway, which is connected to the calling gateway through an Internet telephony network, and establishes an Internet telephony link to the calling gateway when receiving a collect call request from a calling terminal through the Internet telephony network, wherein the calling terminal uses Known access information can access the called gateway; and a collect call switch, which is connected to the called terminal through a network selected from one of a public switched telephone network and a mobile network, and establishes a first link to said called gateway and a second link to said called terminal in response to a collect call request. A second link connects the first link and the second link in response to a collect call acceptance signal from the called terminal, and performs charging processing for the second link. 12. The collect call system based on Internet telephony according to claim 11, characterized in that, the system also includes a collect call proxy server, which executes the call terminal when receiving the collect call request from the call terminal and the registration/permission/status approval of the collect call request, and obtain the access information of the called gateway corresponding to the called terminal, and send the collect call request to the called gateway by using the obtained access information.

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