Network telephone system

Details Network telephone system Network telephone system

2000-10-30

2004-09-14

Trost, William (Department: 2684)

Telecommunications

Radiotelephone system

Special service

C379S211010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06792266

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a network telephone system for replying to a phone call to a subscriber which originates from another subscriber while the subscriber is communicating via a network such as Internet using a phone line.
There are listed below some abbreviations for use in this specification, which are typically used in the communications field. These abbreviations are suitably utilized for explanation throughout this specification.
PC . . . Personal Computer
ICW . . . Internet Call Waiting
IP . . . Internet Protocol
PSTN . . . Public Switched Telephone Network
TN . . . Telephone Network
LS . . . Local Switch
ISP . . . Internet Service Provider
GW . . . Gateway
CA . . . Call Agent
AS . . . Access Server
STP . . . Signal Transport Point
SCP . . . Service Control Point
DHCP . . . Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
QoS . . . Quality of Service
DNS . . . Domain Name System
WWW . . . World Wide Web
FTP . . . File Transfer Protocol
URL . . . Uniform Resource Locator
IAM . . . Initial Address Message
Recently, a greater number of users receive a variety of services by using dial-up connection via a modem from a PC (Personal Computer). One of the services is an ICW (Internet Call Waiting) service. The ICW service is a service in which when a subscriber A receives a phone call from another subscriber B while being in dial-up connection to the Internet, the subscriber A is notified that there is an incoming call from the subscriber B via the Internet using IP packets, instead of sending an audible signal to subscriber via the phone line, and if the subscriber A replies, the connection for the call is established via the Internet.
FIG. 20
is a block diagram schematically showing a network for providing the conventional ICW service.
FIG. 21
is a diagram showing a procedure of the conventional ICW service from the time when the subscriber A makes dial-up connection to the Internet to the time when starting conversation with another subscriber B.
Firstly, the subscriber A makes a call to an AS (Access Server) of an ISP (Internet Service Provider) of which the subscriber A is a member to effect dial-up connection, and log in a network for the ISP. Thereby, an IP (Internet Protocol) address from the ISP is assigned to the subscriber A.
Next, the ISP registers the IP address assigned to the subscriber A in an ICW server operated by the ISP. Also, the ISP makes a setup to transfer a phone call to the subscriber A who is in connection to the Internet to the ICW server. For example, the ISP makes a setup to call a specific telephone number which is prepared for a call transfer request, and transfer phone calls to the subscriber A to the ICW server. Thereafter, a call transfer process is performed automatically through a common channel signaling network.
In this way, after the ICW server has made various setups, if the subscriber B makes a call to the subscriber A who is connecting to the Internet, the call to the subscriber A is transferred to the ICW server under the control of the common channel signaling network. Then, the ICW server sends a message in IP packets notifying that there is an incoming call to the subscriber A via the Internet, using the registered IP address of the subscriber A. This message includes several choices which the subscriber A can select, and a message screen containing these choices is displayed on a screen of the PC operated by the subscriber A. For example, a message screen containing the choices such as “a. Take a call,” “b. Reject,” “c. Transfer” and “d. Save as a voice mail” is displayed.
The subscriber A takes a desired choice from among a plurality of choices contained in this message screen. For example, if the subscriber A makes a choice “a. Take a call,” the ICW server connects a call transferred from the subscriber B via the Internet to the subscriber A. Thereafter, the subscriber B can talk with the subscriber A via the IP network.
As the prior art for notifying or transferring a phone call from the subscriber B to the subscriber A, “Network Telephone System” as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-322462 is well known.
By the way, the conventional ICW service described in the above had the following three problems.
A first problem is that since the conventional ICW service is one of the services provided by the ISP to which subscriber A has subscribed, the subscriber desiring an ICW service is necessary to connect via an ISP providing this ICW service to the Internet. This means that when the subscriber connects via other ISP to the Internet, the subscriber can not receive the ICW service. For example, an ICW service of an ISP to which the subscriber A has subscribed is enabled by registering an IP address of the subscriber to an ICW server corresponding to this ISP, but the registration process to the ICW server provided in the specific ISP can not be effected, when the subscriber connects via the other ISP to the Internet. Accordingly, when the subscriber A connects via the ISP not applied for the use of the ICW service or the ISP not practicing the ISP service to the Internet, the subscriber A can not use the ICW service.
A second problem is that if the subscriber A has a phone call from another subscriber B while the subscriber A is connecting to the Internet, the call is all transferred to the ICW server, and therefore even if the call is thereafter connected via the Internet, the service charge may not become cheap in some cases. For example, suppose that there are a number of access points to an ISP across the nation, to which the subscriber A living in Nagoya has subscribed, an ICW server corresponding to this ISP is located in Tokyo. If the subscriber A has a phone call from the subscriber B who lives in Osaka while the subscriber A is connecting via an access point of Nagoya where the subscriber A lives to the Internet, the call from the subscriber B is once transferred to the ICW server in Tokyo. Therefore, if the subscriber A and the subscriber B subsequently make communication via the Internet, it follows that the subscriber B makes the long distance call to Tokyo, so that the telephone charge is more expensive than when directly calling the subscriber A in Nagoya without the Internet.
A third problem is that the link to the conventional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is difficult to make. When the subscriber A takes a call from the subscriber B while connecting to the Internet, the subscriber A is connected via the Internet at any time, and can not talk via the PSTN only. Particularly, the Internet has unstable quality of speech because the traffic is burst. Accordingly, for an important matter, the subscriber may want to talk by connecting the line not via the Internet, but only via the public switched telephone network which is conventionally provided. However, with the conventional ICW service, the link to the PSTN is difficult. Therefore, when the subscriber wanted to talk via the PSTN, the subscriber A once disconnected dial-up connection to the Internet, and then one of the subscribers A, B needed to call the other person again, which took much time and labor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been achieved in the light of these respects, and it is an object of the invention to provide a network telephone system which allows the use of a telephone service via the Internet, irrespective of whichever ISP may be used or without making dial-up connection (in this case, replying way is only via the IP network). It is another object of the invention to provide a network telephone system which can reduce the charge for telephone call when the subscriber makes communication via the Internet. Further, it is a further object of the invention to provide a network telephone system which can readily establish the link to the conventional PSTN.
A network telephone system of the invention comprises service providing unit for providing a predetermined service via a predetermined network to a first subscriber who has made dial-up connection, subscriber information regis

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