JP4489792B2 - Telephone intermediary device and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for mediating telephone calls between users.

Due to the rapid spread of the Internet, for example, on a website (so-called dating site) where goods can be bought and sold between individuals through an online auction, and individuals can publish their self-introduction on the web screen and recruit friends, etc. Opportunities to communicate between individuals on the network, such as getting to know each other, are increasing (for example, see Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2). In such network communication, a stranger is usually the other party. For this reason, for example, there is a great need to talk directly on the telephone and confirm the personality of the other party before meeting for the first time at the end of the transaction at an online auction or at a dating site for the first time.
"YAHOO! Auction", [online], [Search July 18, 2003], Internet, <URL: http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/> “YAHOO! Personals”, [online], [Search July 18, 2003], Internet, <URL: http://personals.yahoo.co.jp/?intl=jp>

  However, as described above, since communication on the Internet is mostly performed with an unknown party, if the telephone number is inadvertently notified to the other party, there is a possibility that an unexpected trouble may be developed later. Therefore, there is a demand for a mechanism in which users can make phone calls without knowing their telephone numbers by the other party.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a telephone call mediation apparatus and method capable of allowing each user to make a telephone call with another user without knowing the telephone number of the other party. The purpose is to provide.

To achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a computer connected to a network, and is an apparatus for mediating a telephone call between users,
Voice response means for answering a call from a telephone and sending a voice message to the telephone;
For each user, a database for storing user ID and personal information including a telephone number in association with each other;
A call request receiving means for receiving a call request for a call from a user terminal in communication to a specific destination user;
A telephone number obtaining means for identifying the calling user of the call request and the partner user, and reading out the respective telephone numbers of the identified calling user and the partner user from the database;
Circuit establishment means for establishing a communication line between the read source user's and destination user's telephone numbers;
User ID acquisition means for acquiring the user ID a transmitted from the user terminal a;
A transmission guide page including a message for making a call so as to notify a caller number to a predetermined telephone number and an authentication code input form is created, and the transmission guide page is sent to the user terminal a. Outgoing guidance means;
An authentication code generating means for acquiring a telephone number c of a telephone that has arrived at the predetermined telephone number, generating a unique authentication code d, and storing the authentication code d in association with the telephone number c;
Authentication code notifying means for notifying the telephone of the telephone number c of the authentication code d by the voice response means;
When the authentication code input and sent in the input form of the call guidance page matches the authentication code d temporarily stored in association with the telephone number c, the telephone number c is associated with the user IDa. Phone number registration means stored in the database;
It is provided with.

In addition, the present invention is compatible with voice response means for sending a voice message to a telephone in response to a call from the telephone and personal information including a user ID and a telephone number for each user. A method for mediating a telephone call between users by means of a computer with a database for storing information, the computer comprising:
A call request receiving step for receiving a call request for a call from a user terminal in communication to a specific destination user;
A telephone number obtaining step of identifying the call source user of the call request and the destination user, and reading out the respective phone numbers of the identified source user and destination user from the database;
A line establishment step for establishing a call line between the read source user phone number and the destination user phone number;
A user ID acquisition step of acquiring the user ID a transmitted from the user terminal a;
A transmission guide page including a message for making a call so as to notify a caller number to a predetermined telephone number and an authentication code input form is created, and the transmission guide page is sent to the user terminal a. Outgoing guidance step;
An authentication code generating step of acquiring a telephone number c of a telephone that has arrived at the predetermined telephone number, generating a unique authentication code d, and storing the authentication code d in association with the telephone number c;
An authentication code notification step of notifying the telephone of the telephone number c of the authentication code d by the voice response means;
When the authentication code input and sent in the input form of the call guidance page matches the authentication code d temporarily stored in association with the telephone number c, the telephone number c is associated with the user IDa. Phone number registration step stored in the database;
It is characterized by performing.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to mediate a telephone call between users so that each user can make a telephone call with another user without knowing the telephone number by the other party.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this system includes a telephone intermediary device 10. The telephone intermediary device 10 is configured by a server computer connected to a network, for example, the Internet 12.

  A large number of browser terminals (user terminals) 14 are connected to the Internet 12. The telephone intermediary device 10 also has a function as a WWW server. For example, a network auction site or a registered user can present a self-introduction on the Web screen to the browser terminal 14 to recruit friends and the like. Provides a Web page screen of a Web site.

The telephone intermediary device 10 is also connected to the public telephone network 16 and can be connected to each user's telephone 18 via a telephone line. The telephone intermediary device 10 includes a telephone exchange 20 and an automatic answering device 22. The telephone exchange 20 can control establishment and disconnection of a telephone line between the telephones 18 of the respective users. 22 , an automatic response can be made to the telephone set 18 by the synthesized voice. Note that a part or all of the public telephone network 16 may be an IP telephone network. In this case, the telephone intermediary device 10 can suppress the call charge as much as possible by using the IP telephone network as much as possible.

  The telephone intermediary device 10 also includes a user database 24 and an auction database 26. FIG. 2 shows the data structure of the user database 24. As shown in the figure, in the user database 24, user ID, account name, password, address, name, telephone number, e-mail address, and other personal information are recorded as user information for each registered user. The auction database 26 stores an auction ID, an exhibitor's user ID, product information, bid information, and the like for each auction item.

  In the present embodiment, the telephone intermediary device 10 has a function of authenticating a registered user using the telephone number of each user. Then, the telephone number obtained in the authentication is stored in the user database 24 in association with the user ID. The personal authentication may be performed by a server different from the telephone intermediary device 10. Moreover, it is good also as storing the telephone number which the user declared at the time of user registration in the user database 24, without using such a personal authentication.

  User authentication by the telephone intermediary device 10 is performed, for example, when a user who is a general user is registered as a special user with a higher authentication level. Here, the procedure of personal authentication will be described.

  FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the process of the personal authentication method used in this embodiment. 4A to 4D are schematic screen views of Web pages transmitted to the browser terminal 14 that has accessed the telephone intermediary device 10 in the process. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the user who wants to authenticate himself / herself operates the browser terminal 14 with the telephone 18 at hand.

  First, the user accesses the telephone intermediary device 10 from his / her browser terminal 14 (s1). The telephone intermediary device 10 sends a Web page (login page: FIG. 4A) including a form for inputting login information based on the user ID and password to the browser terminal 14 that has accessed (s2).

  When the user ID and password are input to a predetermined form (31, 32) in the browser terminal 14 that has received the login page and returned as form data (s3), it is acquired (s4) and these logins are made. Query user database 24 for information. In this embodiment, when it is confirmed that the login information sent from the browser terminal 14 belongs to the user, the confirmation time is stored (s5 → s7), and if the predetermined time has passed from this point, the user ID is not authenticated. If the correct combination of user ID and password does not exist in the user database, a Web page (error page) or the like indicating that the login information is re-input may be returned (s5 → s6).

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not the acquired user ID corresponds to a special user ID. Here, the user ID is not a special user ID. Then, a message sentence 34 indicating that the caller number should be transmitted to the telephone number 35 of the telephone intermediary device 10 by notifying the caller number by the user's own telephone 18 is described, and a form 36 for inputting the authentication code A Web page (calling guidance page: FIG. 4B) including the above is sent to the browser terminal 14 (s8 → s9).

  A user who has browsed this outgoing call guidance page using the browser terminal 14 calls the telephone number 35 described on this page using his / her telephone 18. The telephone line corresponding to the telephone number of the telephone intermediary device 10 has subscribed to a well-known dial number notification service in the telephone communication carrier, and the telephone intermediary device 10 uses the telephone number (caller number) of the incoming call to itself. It can be confirmed before replying. When there is an incoming call at its own telephone number, the telephone intermediary device 10 acquires the caller number (s11, s12). Here, if the caller's phone number cannot be obtained, such as when the caller ID is not notified, the voice message that the caller ID notification state is set in response to the incoming call and the call is made again The guidance may be notified by synthetic voice. Alternatively, if the telephone number cannot be acquired, the call may be disconnected unconditionally.

  When the telephone intermediary device 10 obtains the caller number, the telephone interrogation device 10 queries the user database 24 for the telephone number, and whether the corresponding user ID exists, that is, whether the telephone user of the caller number is a special user. Confirm. Here, it is assumed that the caller number is not associated with the special user ID. An authentication code unique to the acquired user ID corresponding to the caller ID is generated, and this authentication code and the acquired telephone number are associated with each other and temporarily stored (s13 → s14). In the present embodiment, for example, the code is generated based on the date and time of generation of the authentication code and the telephone number. Therefore, this code itself represents the association with the telephone number, and the generation date and the corresponding telephone number can be reversely generated from the authentication code. Note that the authentication code is not limited to this example, and may be a serial number or the like, and is stored in association with a telephone number, and any code system may be adopted as long as a plurality of the same code does not exist at the same date and time. Good.

When the telephone intermediary device 10 generates the authentication code, the telephone intermediary device 10 responds to the telephone 18 that has received the call, and notifies the code and the guidance that the code is filled in the authentication code input form on the outgoing call guidance page and sent back by synthetic voice. (S15). A user who makes a call to the personal authentication system while operating the browser terminal 14 enters the authentication code notified by the synthesized voice in the authentication code input form 36 of the outgoing call guide page, and sets the send button 37 on this page to the browser terminal. 14 to instruct. The transmission button 37 is set with a link for sending an authentication code as form data to a predetermined CGI of the telephone intermediary device 10.

  The telephone intermediary device 10 acquires a corresponding telephone number based on the authentication code sent from the browser terminal 14. In the present embodiment, the code itself is generated based on the date and time and the telephone number, and the telephone intermediary device 10 reversely generates the date and time and the telephone number from the sent authentication code (s17 → s24, s25). ). The telephone intermediary device 10 manages a session with the browser terminal 14 that has been accessed using a well-known cookie or the like, and triggered by a certain browser terminal 14 sending a user ID via a login page. When a call guidance page is sent and an authentication code is sent via the call guidance page, it is specified to which browser terminal 14 the authentication code is input to the input form of the call guidance page sent (S26), the outgoing call guidance page recognizes which user ID was sent to the browser terminal when it was acquired. Thereby, the user ID and the authentication code are associated with each other.

  If the elapsed time from when the user ID is acquired is within the time limit, the user ID associated with the sent authentication code and the caller number acquired when the authentication code is generated are displayed. Corresponding and registering in the user database 24, the date and time after a predetermined period is set as the expiration date from this registration date and time. Further, a predetermined code is added to this user ID so that it can be identified and managed as a special user ID, and the user who uses the accessed browser terminal is authenticated (s27 → s29 → s31). If the user is authenticated, a Web page (authentication confirmation page: FIG. 4C) stating that fact is sent to the browser terminal (s32). Then, if the telephone intermediary device 10 and the browser terminal 14 continue to maintain the session as they are, the browser terminal 14 is allowed to access the website for the special user. Provide WWW services.

  Next, a flow of processing in which the telephone intermediary device 10 mediates a telephone call between users will be described assuming that the telephone number of each user is registered in the user database 24 by the above-described personal authentication. Here, a case where a call between a user A who accesses the auction site and a user B who is an auction exhibitor is mediated is described as an example.

  FIG. 5 shows the flow of processing when mediating a telephone call between user A and user B. As shown in the figure, when the user A accesses the auction site from his / her browser terminal 14 (s100), the telephone intermediary device 10 transmits an auction list screen showing a list of auction items to the browser terminal 14 of the user A. (S102). When any auction item (here, an auction item in which user B is an exhibitor) is selected on the auction list screen (s104), the telephone intermediary device 10 displays the corresponding auction exhibitor (here, the auction item). The user ID, account name, product information, bid information, etc. of the user B) are read out, an auction information screen for displaying the contents is generated (s106), and transmitted to the browser terminal 14 (s108).

  FIG. 6 shows an example of an auction information screen. As shown in the figure, a product name 50, an exhibitor's account name 52, bid information 54, and the like are displayed on the auction information screen, and a telephone icon 56 is also displayed. When the user A browses the auction screen and wants to talk to the user A directly on the telephone, the user clicks the telephone icon 56. The telephone icon 56 corresponds to an “object” in the claims. It should be noted that information indicating whether or not telephone contact is desired may be recorded in the user database 24, and the telephone icon 56 may be included in the auction information screen only when telephone contact is desired. Alternatively, information indicating a time zone in which telephone contact is desired may be recorded in the user database 24, and the phone icon 56 may be included only during the desired time zone.

In the telephone icon 56, a link for transmitting information for specifying the exhibitor (here, user B) on the auction information screen to the CGI of the telephone intermediary device 10 is set. Therefore, when the telephone icon 56 is clicked on the auction information screen (s110), the telephone intermediary device 10 can specify the exhibitor (here, user B) on the auction information screen as the destination of the call request. Further, by referring to the cookie of the browser terminal 14, the user A who clicked the telephone icon 56 can be specified as the call request source user. Then, the following processing is executed to mediate the telephone call between the specified users. First, the telephone numbers of user A and user B are read from the user database 24 (s112), and a call is made using the telephone number of user B as the destination (s114). When there is a response from the telephone number of the user B (s116), the automatic answering device 22 “for example,“ There is a call from the auction screen that you exhibited, but if you approve the call “1”, if you reject, ”“ 2 “Please press“ ”is sent ( s 118). Then, when an operation of refusing the call is performed on the user B's telephone (when “2” is pressed in the above guidance voice example), the telephone intermediary device 10 calls the user A's telephone number. The call is disconnected and a screen including a message indicating that the call is rejected by the user B is transmitted to the browser terminal 14 of the user A (s120 → s122, s124). On the other hand, when an operation for approving the call is performed on the user B's telephone (when “1” is pressed in the above guidance voice example), the telephone intermediary device 10 sets the telephone number of the user A as the destination. perform call (s120 → s 126), when there is a response from the telephone of the user a (s128), by the telephone exchange 20 establishes a communication line between the telephone number and telephone number of the user B of the user a, both A direct call can be made between them (s130).

  In the above description, the case where the telephone call between users is mediated at the auction site has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to, for example, a self-introduction site as shown in FIG. This example is a self-introduction screen of the user C, and other users who have viewed this screen can click the telephone icon 56 to make a phone call with the user C in the same manner as in the above embodiment. In addition, according to the present invention, a user who browses a web page screen that publishes unique information for each user clicks an object such as a phone icon included in the screen and makes a telephone call with the user related to the web page screen. It can be applied to make a call.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the user can make a phone call with the desired party simply by clicking the telephone icon 56 displayed on the screen, and the users inform each other of the telephone number of each other. There is no need. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to mediate a telephone call between users via the Web screen while protecting the privacy of each user.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the telephone intermediary device 10 makes a call to each user's telephone number and then establishes a communication line between the two users, the telephone intermediary device 10 has a communication time between the two users. Can be grasped. Therefore, although the operator of the telephone intermediary device 10 pays the call charge to the telephone company, the call charge can be collected from each user according to the grasped call time. Therefore, the operator of the telephone intermediary device 10 can use the difference between the fee paid to the telephone company and the fee collected from the user as the operating profit. In addition, for example, in the above example, when the user B who is an auction exhibitor is a merchandise sales business operator, the user B pays the full amount of the call charge, and the user A's call inquired about the product by telephone. The fee can be free. In addition, in the self-introduction site as shown in FIG. 7, it is considered that there are many cases where calls between the opposite sexes are made. In this case, the call charge may be borne on the male side.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of a user database. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of a process of the personal authentication method used in this embodiment. 4A to 4D are schematic screen views of Web pages transmitted to the browser terminal that has accessed the telephone intermediary device in the process of FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of a process in the case of mediating the telephone call between users. It is a figure which shows an example of an auction information screen. It is a figure which shows an example of a self-introduction screen.

Explanation of symbols

10 Telephone intermediary device 12 Internet 14 Browser terminal (user terminal)
16 Public telephone network 18 Telephone 20 Telephone exchange 22 Automatic answering device 24 User database 26 Auction database 56 Telephone icon (object)

Claims (10)

A device configured by a computer connected to a network to mediate a telephone call between users,
Voice response means for answering a call from a telephone and sending a voice message to the telephone;
For each user, a database for storing user ID and personal information including a telephone number in association with each other;
A call request receiving means for receiving a call request for a call from a user terminal in communication to a specific destination user;
A telephone number obtaining means for identifying the calling user of the call request and the partner user, and reading out the respective telephone numbers of the identified calling user and the partner user from the database;
Circuit establishment means for establishing a communication line between the read source user's and destination user's telephone numbers;
User ID acquisition means for acquiring the user ID a transmitted from the user terminal a;
A transmission guide page including a message for making a call so as to notify a caller number to a predetermined telephone number and an authentication code input form is created, and the transmission guide page is sent to the user terminal a. Outgoing guidance means;
An authentication code generating means for acquiring a telephone number c of a telephone that has arrived at the predetermined telephone number, generating a unique authentication code d, and storing the authentication code d in association with the telephone number c;
Authentication code notifying means for notifying the telephone of the telephone number c of the authentication code d by the voice response means;
When the authentication code input and sent in the input form of the call guidance page matches the authentication code d temporarily stored in association with the telephone number c, the telephone number c is associated with the user IDa. Phone number registration means stored in the database;
An intermediary device for telephone calls, comprising: In claim 1,
The user ID acquisition means temporarily stores the date and time of acquisition of the user ID a ,
When the authentication code input and sent in the input form of the outgoing call guidance page matches the authentication code d temporarily stored in association with the telephone number c, the telephone number registration means starts from the temporarily stored date and time. If it is within a predetermined time, the telephone number c is associated with the user IDa and stored in the database. In claim 1 or 2 ,
The telephone call mediation device, wherein the authentication code generation means associates the authentication code with the telephone number by generating an authentication code based on the acquired telephone number and the generation date and time of the authentication code . In any one of claims 1 to 3,
Screen transmission means for transmitting web page screen data for publishing unique information for each user, including an object for performing a call request operation to a user terminal accessed via the network;
The call request receiving means receives a signal transmitted from the user terminal in response to an operation on the object included in the Web page screen as the call request,
The telephone number acquisition unit specifies a user who has performed an operation on the object as the source user, and specifies a user specified by information for specifying a destination user included in the object. The telephone call mediation apparatus according to claim, characterized in that the telephone call is specified as a user. In claim 4 ,
The line establishment means
Calling the destination user's telephone number read by the telephone number acquisition means as a destination, and receiving a response from the telephone number, a guidance voice for inquiring whether to approve or reject the call is addressed to the telephone number When the operation of rejecting the call is performed by the destination user, the call to the telephone number of the source user is disconnected and the operation of approving the call is performed by the destination user. A call intermediary device that establishes a call line between the caller user and the callee user with the telephone number of the caller user as the callee. In claim 4 or 5 ,
The telephone call mediation apparatus, wherein the Web page screen is an auction information screen. 6. The telephone call mediating apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the Web page screen is an auction information screen, and the destination user is an exhibitor of the auction information screen. A voice response means for transmitting a voice message to the telephone in response to a call from the telephone and a personal information including a user ID and a telephone number for each user in association with each other. A method for mediating a telephone call between users by a computer comprising a database, the computer comprising:
A call request receiving step for receiving a call request for a call from a user terminal in communication to a specific destination user;
A telephone number obtaining step of identifying the call source user of the call request and the destination user, and reading out the respective phone numbers of the identified source user and destination user from the database;
A line establishment step for establishing a call line between the read source user phone number and the destination user phone number;
A user ID acquisition step of acquiring the user ID a transmitted from the user terminal a;
A transmission guide page including a message for making a call so as to notify a caller number to a predetermined telephone number and an authentication code input form is created, and the transmission guide page is sent to the user terminal a. Outgoing guidance step;
An authentication code generating step of acquiring a telephone number c of a telephone that has arrived at the predetermined telephone number, generating a unique authentication code d, and storing the authentication code d in association with the telephone number c;
An authentication code notification step of notifying the telephone of the telephone number c of the authentication code d by the voice response means;
When the authentication code input and sent in the input form of the call guidance page matches the authentication code d temporarily stored in association with the telephone number c, the telephone number c is associated with the user IDa. Phone number registration step stored in the database;
A call intermediation method for a telephone, characterized in that: In claim 8 ,
In the user ID acquisition step, the date and time of acquisition of the user ID a is temporarily stored,
In the telephone number registration step, when the authentication code input and sent in the input form of the outgoing call guidance page matches the authentication code d temporarily stored in association with the telephone number c, from the temporarily stored date and time If it is within a predetermined time, the telephone number c is associated with the user IDa and stored in the database.
A telephone call mediating method characterized by the above. In claim 8 or 9 ,
In the authentication code generation step, the authentication code is generated based on the acquired telephone number and the generation date and time of the authentication code, thereby associating the authentication code with the telephone number ;
Call intermediary method characterized by the above