FR2809563A1 - METHOD OF MANAGING A PUBLIC TELEPHONY NETWORK FOR ACCESSING THE INTERNET, PUBLIC TELEPHONE AND MANAGEMENT SERVER FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for managing a public telephone network (1) comprising at least a management server (3) and public telephones (10, 10') providing access through an appropriate interface to a data transport system (2) such as the WEB and Internet. The invention is characterised in that the data exchanged by the users of said public telephones (10, 10') when accessing said data transport system are supervised to generate databases concerning the identity of users and/or the type of operations carried out such as consulting sites or sending messages.

Description

 METHOD OF <B> <U> MANAGING A </ U> <B> <U> </ U> </ U> </ U> TELEPHONY <B> <U> PUBLIC TELEPHONY </ U> </ U> </ U> </ U> / B> TO ACCESS <B> <U> TO THE INTERNET, </ U> </ B> TELEPHONE <B> <U> PUBLIC AND SERVER MANAGEMENT TO ITS IMPLEMENTATION </ U> </ B> </ B> </ b> </ b> relates to a management method of a public telephony network for accessing an Internet-type information transport system. The invention also relates to a public telephone and a management server adapted to the implementation of this method.

A public telephone network consists of public telephones distributed on a given territory. The public telephones are connected to a communication network, constituted for example by the switched telephone network, with which they communicate by means of a modem. Of course, these public telephones can be connected to other types of networks such as digital networks, such as integrated service digital network, or even mobile radio networks, whatever the nature: GSM , CDMA, TDMA, AMPS, D-AMPS or PCS.

A public telephone network also comprises one (or more) management server, often called PMS (acronym for the English term Payphone Management System), allowing the operator of the network to operate the supervision of different public telephones. This server, is connected by modem to the switched telephone network, for the purpose of exchanging with the park of public telephones information relating to the operation of the telephone system.

Typically, such management server calls or is regularly called by each public telephone through the telephone network at a time when the phone is not used by a user. The purpose of this call is to transfer data concerning the number of calls made, the number of units corresponding, and any faults encountered. All this information is then consolidated by the management server to establish various statistics. Conversely, the monitoring server can provide information to each public telephone, such as new tariff tables when they have been changed the operator.

As public telephone networks today face competition from cellular radiotelephones, the operators of these networks are seeking to offer new services likely to attract users back to public telephones. These new services include access to the Web and the Internet.

Information transport systems such as the World Wide Web, known as the Web, are known, which together with its data distribution medium, the Internet, constitutes a heterogeneous and distributed universe of multimedia information accessible by different telecommunication networks.

Web and Internet-specific technologies make it a simple, powerful and universal information transport system that has become a global reference model for information communication.

A multitude of services has been set up from the Web of the Internet, such as the provision of targeted information (news, stock prices, schedules, etc.), banking, the purchase of material goods or remote immaterial, also called e-commerce, promotional communication or advertising, e-mail, etc.

On the Web and the Internet, the information, and therefore the services, are found on computers, also called servers, which are in charge of answering the requests for information, known as requests, from the various requestors, so-called client computers. that is to say, to transmit to them the information required, and to receive from them certain information or data, specifying, for example, requests for information. These servers may for example be dedicated mail processing machines dedicated to multimedia information.

communication principle, called client-server, is the foundation of the Web and the Internet. It ensures, in conjunction with Web and Internet standards, the decentralized and evolving nature of the information transport system they constitute. Anyone can publish information, as long as you set up a server or use an existing server, and anyone can read if they have a client computer.

 The Internet connects all client computers and servers together. The notion of universality of access to information translates into the fact that anyone can have access to freely accessible information from servers, using any type of computer equipped with the elements and necessary software.

For a long time, the Web and the Internet have only been accessible via PCs or desktop computers. Given the growing importance of the Web and the Internet in people's lives in terms of their professional lives, there is now a strong demand from the public for access points to these areas. networks otherwise, through personal computers.

Access to the Web and the Internet via public telephones generally spread over the territory is a response to this expectation. This was clearly analyzed in an article by Peter Meade for the magazine America's Network of June 1997 titled Cyberbooths: the new payphone? , which describes the interest of both consumers and operators of public telephone networks to have access to the Internet and the Web via public telephones.

However, other alternative solutions for accessing the Web and the Internet are currently being marketed, in particular those offered by the new cellular radiotelephones using the so-called WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) technology which allows the transfer of Internet data through the Internet. cellular radiotelephone networks. If such devices are still expensive and not very user-friendly especially because of a display screen of limited size, current developments suggest that in the near future these disadvantages should be solved.

Faced with these emerging competing offers, the operators of public telephony networks can not therefore be limited to offering a simple access to the Web and the Internet to hope to seduce in a sustainable way a new clientele more and more demanding. However, it is not the few information on the consumption of telesaxes or the duration of the communication available to the operators thanks to management servers which today allow the operators of public telephone networks to define an attractive and competitive offer. The present invention therefore aims to remedy these disadvantages by providing operators of public telephony networks with tools to know the expectations of their users and to offer these services perfectly adapted.

The management method of the invention relates to a public telephony network comprising at least one server such as a management server and / or an access server to the Internet and public telephones allowing access by means of an interface suitable for an information transport system such as the WEB and the Internet, According to the invention, the method of managing a public telephone network is characterized in that the information exchanged by the users of public telephones during accesses to the information transport system are supervised to generate databases relating to the identity of the users and / or the nature of the operations carried out such as the sites consulted or the types of messages sent.

According to another characteristic of the management method that is the subject of the invention, the access to the information transport system is monitored at the level of each public telephone of the telephone network, the data thus collected being periodically transmitted to an associated server for Generate databases at the network level.

According to another characteristic of the management method that is the subject of the invention, the data collected on the accesses to the information transport system include cookie messages generated during the consultation of the websites.

According to another characteristic of the management method that is the subject of the invention, the access interface to the information transport system implemented in the public telephones is periodically modified to take into account the data thus collected over the entire network.

According to another characteristic of the management method that is the subject of the invention, the modifications of the access interface to the information transport system can also be personalized for each public telephone system, taking into account the data collected locally.

According to another characteristic of the management method that is the subject of the invention, messages are sent to the users listed in the databases in order, for example, to inform them of the modifications made to the telephony network.

The present invention also relates to a public telephone for implementing the method according to the invention.

According to the invention, the public telephone is characterized in that it comprises means of access to an information transport system cooperating with an appropriate human machine interface, means of data transmission to an appropriate server, means for receiving data and software transmitted by this server, means for supervising access to the Internet and means for creating and storing databases relating to access to the information transport system.

The present invention also relates to a server such as a management server or an access server to the Internet for implementing the method according to the invention.

According to the invention, the server is characterized in that it comprises means for transmitting data and software for the public telephones attached thereto, means for receiving data transmitted by the public telephones, means of creation and storage of databases relating to access to the information transport system transmitted by the telephones.

According to another characteristic of the server which is the subject of the invention, the latter comprises data processing means thus collected, these data processing means relating to the accesses to the information transport system cooperating with software development tools used by them. male computer interfaces of public telephones allowing access to the information transport system, these software being intended to be transmitted in public telephones by the abovementioned transmission means.

According to another characteristic of the server that is the subject of the invention, the data processing means relating to accesses to the information transport system cooperate with means for sending messages to the users listed in the databases.

The following description with reference to the appended drawing, given by way of non-limiting example, will make it clear what the invention consists of and how it can be achieved.

FIG. 1 is a public telephony network diagram for implementing the method according to the invention.

In Figure 1 is shown a public telephony network 1 consisting of a plurality of public telephones 10, 10 '. These public telephones are intended to be used by the public self-service and are therefore installed for this purpose in public places, such as the street, or semi-public, such as shopping centers, airports, hotel halls, restaurants, shops, etc.

These public telephones allow users to make telephone calls to untyped private telephones or to other public telephones through, for example, the public switched network (PSTN) or an integrated digital services network ( ISDN) or any other known telephony network. These public telephones are also adapted to access an information transport system including the Internet.

The service offered to the user whether it is possible to call another telephone or to connect to the Internet is billed either at the same public telephone, through coins, prepaid cards, electronic purses, or other equivalent means, or invoiced in a deferred manner, for example by means of bank cards or subscriber cards.

These public telephones are terminals designed specifically for use in public or semi-public sites, with specificities in terms of components and software (microprocessor, memory, etc.), energy consumption, ergonomics use, operation costs (especially updates, maintenance, etc.).

Each public telephone 10 thus comprises a certain number of particular elements inherent in a public telephone, in particular for ergonomics. In particular, there are display and data acquisition devices, such as a screen 11 and a keyboard 12 with keys. On the other hand, the public telephone 10 implements software for exchanging and representing information in specific formats better adapted to its ergonomics, working well according to the principles of hypermedia links.

In particular, each public telephone integrates in these electronic circuits hardware and especially software resources, such as a browser, necessary for setting up and operating a human-machine interface for accessing the Web and the Internet, and in particular to consult sites to send electronic messages or to consult his electronic mail.

The public telephony network 1 is therefore intended to be connected to an information transport system 2 using standard formats for exchanging and representing information. As illustrated in FIG. 1, this system 2 can be the Web of the Internet with its set of information servers 21 or e-mails in particular.

As shown in FIG. 1, the public telephone network 1 is connected to the information transport network 2 via a server 20, also called a gateway, comprising in particular an interpreter which is a software capable of converting data. information from the standard formats of the network 2 to the specific formats of the network 1. Obviously, this architecture is not limiting of the invention and any other device allowing the connection of public telephones 10, 10 'to the Internet 2 can be used .

The purpose of the server 20 is to translate the data or instructions in the HTTP format of the network 2 into data or instructions directly interpretable by the public telephones 10, 10 ', and more particularly in the case where the latter do not have hardware resources. and software to use the http protocol. Indeed, given the low power levels of public telephones, it is difficult to implement the computational capabilities required for such protocols. In fact, public telephones are limited to using the only TCP / IP protocol. The server 20 is also connected to an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to access the network 2 and the various servers 21 of the Web and the Internet.

The link between the public telephone network 1 and the server 20 is made by physical access modules connected to the PSTN or ISDN network. This connection can also be done via network 2 and an ISP.

The main functions of the server 20 are to recognize the type of public telephone 10, and therefore the specific formats to be used, as indicated to it by the public telephone, thus implementing the principle of format negotiation; converting information contained in HTML pages, or any information of any existing standard format of exchange and representation including storage of information (particularly databases), to specific representation formats adapted to each type of public telephone, formats that can be specific to each type; convert the requests sent between the public telephone 10 and the servers 21 of information, services or electronic mail, as a result of actions or data entries of users, and which can be a format specific to each type of telephone public, http requests, or any standard query format; and in the end, ensure the transport of information between the public telephone 10 and the Internet access provider and therefore also with the servers 21 of the Web and the Internet.

The interpreter is thus adapted to each type of public telephone 10, each type of public telephone (determined by the type of ergonomics, for example: characteristics of the screen, keyboard, etc.) that can correspond to a configuration, version, of the interpreter. The use of a server 20 to obtain the interoperability of a public telephone pool to the Web and to the Internet and therefore to information and services has only been described as an example of realization and could for example be replaced by appropriate means located at each public telephone.

As can be seen in FIG. 1 through a 10 'schematized public telephone, the latter are equipped with TCP / IP communication protocols compliant with the FIETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) technical recommendations. Public telephones also have adapted software such as a browser for accessing the Web and the Internet as well as for transmitting and receiving electronic messages.

FIG. 1 also shows a server 3 for managing public telephones 10, 10 ', ... This server 3 is still called PMS (acronym for Payphone Management System), its function is to exchange with the park of public telephones information relating to the operation of the telephony system. The public telephones 10, 10 'and the management server 3 are provided with appropriate means of supervision and reception / transmission of data and software, these means are in themselves known will not be described in more detail.

These supervision and reception / transmission means are responsible for organizing the exchange of information between the public telephones 10, 10 ', ... and the PMS 3, in particular for controlling file transfers and / or software transfers between the public telephones and the PMS 3.

In addition, the supervision means manage the initialization sessions of the public telephones and establish statistical data from the information received from public telephones 10, 10 ', ... means allowing the transfer of software and / or files are intended to provide the public telephones with the files necessary for their operation, such as tariff tables, configuration parameters concerning the type of numbering for example, opposition or surveillance lists, status files of public telephones, or to receive telephones information relating to their use, namely a daily report containing data on the transactions made, traffic, and an alarm report that makes it possible to report PMS the occurrence of incidents on a public telephone, such as a breakdown on the card reader or a handset torn off, so as to provide for the intervention of a monitoring.

The management server 3 also has means for creating and developing software used for the implementation of the access interface of payphones to the Web and the Internet.

In accordance with the invention, the public telephones also include embedded navigation software control means that control access to the Web and the Internet. Essentially software means, collect in the form of cookies non-confidential information such as the websites visited or the addresses of electronic mail consults.

These cookies mainly take the form of short strings stored by the browser in appropriate memories of the public telephone. Their role is to keep temporarily or permanently information about the visited site.

These cookies can be generated automatically or on request. In the latter case, appropriate means then trigger the creation of cookies. These means may be located in the public telephone or even in the server 20. The information contained in the cookies thus collected are then stored in the form of databases in appropriate RAM memories public telephones or even in the server 20.

This information on the connections to the Web and to the Internet are then periodically transferred to the management server 3. The latter thus has means, also software, for receiving the data thus collected on the Internet accesses, as well as means for creation and storage of databases gathering all the information sent by each public telephone. Of course, when this information is stored on the server 20, it may be possible to process it directly on the server 20 without transferring it to the management server 3, the operator also having access to the server 20.

Thanks to these databases, the network operator is able to have very detailed information on the users of public telephones, which allows him to have a better knowledge of users and their expectations.

Indeed, the operator of a network of public telephones like number of operators of self-service devices, has no direct contact with its customers. The only information available to date concerned the number, duration and location of telephone calls made from a public telephone, which is very insufficient to know the profile of customers, and therefore offer a service corresponding to the expectation of those this.

Thanks to the information provided by users when accessing the WEB and the Internet, the operator of the public telephone network finally has tools to improve the service offer and to develop campaigns perfectly targeted communication.

With regard to the service offer, it is thus possible to provide regular updates of the home menus of the access interface to the Internet, updated adapted especially according to the addresses to the Web and to the most requested internet. Similarly, is possible to offer a typical message service, ready to fill, example We have arrived in Stockholm, we are the hotel, room N'_, phone messages can be developed from the global analysis of The most commonly used messages on the network, on the other hand, are adapted to the possible specificities inherent to each public telephone, particularly because of its location.

Thus, the services of a public telephone located in a terminal may differ from those offered by a public telephone installed in a rural municipality or those offered by a public telephone of a seaside resort campsite.

Thus, messages may be differentiated according to seasonality: greeting cards at the end of the year or during holidays, an electronic postcard service corresponding to the location of payphones.

The implementation of these modifications of the Web access interface and the Internet can for example be operated using the aforementioned means of creation and development of software used for the implementation of the interface of Payphone access to the Web and the Internet. These means can thus be coupled with the databases for accessing the Web and the Internet and exploiting the content to change the content of the access interface of the payphones. The new interfaces are then downloaded to each of the public telephones. The updates may be common to all public phones, they may also vary depending on the public phones operating local specificities.

As far as communication is concerned, it finally becomes possible to communicate with the users by sending them, for example, messages to their e-mail addresses. These messages may relate for example to the features of public telephones or even on payment cards, such as collector cards. To do this, all you have to do is search the users' e-mail databases. These communication procedures may be more or less integrated in the management server 3, which may for example have for this purpose means for transmitting messages connected to said databases.

Of course, the illustrated embodiment has been given by way of example and absolutely not limiting of all the solutions that can be implemented thanks to the present invention.

 Thus the network of public telephones described above can be replaced by any network of devices offering the public and self-service access to all or part of the Internet. Such public terminals may for example be dedicated to this service consisting of all the elements of a PC, but assembled in a specific housing adapted to their public use.

Claims (1)

<B> <U> CLAIMS </ U> </ B>. Method for managing a public telephone network (1) comprising at least one server (3; 20) and public telephones (10, 10 ') for accessing via a suitable interface to a system (2) transporting information such as WEB and the Internet, characterized in that the information exchanged by the users of said public telephones (10,101 during access to said information transport system are supervised to generate databases relating to the identity of the users and / or the nature of the operations carried out such as the sites consulted or the types of messages sent 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the access supervision to said information transport system is operated at level of each public telephone (10,101 of the telephony network (1), the data thus collected being periodically transmitted to an associated server (3; 20) to generate databases of 3. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that among the data collected on the access to said information transport system are messages or cookies generated during the consultation of websites. 4. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the access interface to said information transport system implemented in public telephones (10, 10 ') is periodically modified to take account of the data. collected over the entire network (1). 5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the modifications of the access interface to said information transport system can also be personalized for each public telephone (10, 101, taking account of the data collected locally). any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that messages are sent to the users listed in said databases to, for example, inform them of changes made to said network (1) 7. Public telephone (10,101 for the implementation of process according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it comprises means for accessing an information transport system (2) cooperating with appropriate human machine interface, data transmission means to a server (3; 20) means for receiving data transmitted by said server (3; 20), access control means Internet and means for creating and storing databases relating to access to said information transport system (2). 8. Server (3; 20) for public telephones (10,10 ') according to claim 7, characterized in that it comprises data transmission means for public telephones (10,10') attached thereto , means for receiving data transmitted by said public telephones, means for creating and storing databases relating to access to said information transport system (2) transmitted by said telephones. 9. Server (3) for public telephones (10, 10 ') according to claim 7, characterized in that it also comprises means for processing said data, said data processing means relating to access to said transport system (2). information cooperates with software development tools used by the human machine interfaces of public telephones allowing access to said information transport system, said software being intended to be transmitted in public telephones by said transmission means. 10. Server (3) for public telephones (10,101 according to claim 7, characterized in that said means for processing data relating to the accesses to said information transport system (2) cooperate with means for sending messages to destinations. users listed in said databases.