DE19718847A1 - Exchange control for telephone calls - Google Patents

Abstract

Telephone calls from at least one calling subscriber to at least one second required subscriber are made by following steps via an exchange, which accepts the called subscriber to be paying for the call. Then the acquisition call is carried out with the first subscriber, who is required to answer relevant questions. Then a free sign is forwarded to the first subscriber when he has correctly answered the asked question and the telephone number of the second subscriber is accepted from the first subscriber. The second subscriber number is dialled and the telephone connection is built-up.

Description

The invention relates to a method for switching Te phone calls from at least a first calling part subscriber to at least one second desired subscriber. The invention further relates to a device for transmitting phone calls from at least one first call Participants to at least a second desired Participant, the telephone conversation for the first and the second participant is free.

In the case of normal telephone calls, the caller falls Most participants usually immediately during the conversation Fees. This is especially true for long distance public transportation speak disadvantageous, as for a phone call Means of payment must be kept available immediately. In particular re abroad makes this a difficult phone call since you can  rarely enough small change in foreign currency with you wearing. On the other hand, the medium telephone is not least we against a very restrictive case law on advertising practically undeveloped.

WO 96/14706 describes a method for forwarding and Billing a phone call between one of them most and a second participant, in which over a computer of a third party the connection between between the first and second participants predetermined intervals are interrupted by advertising. However, this method has the disadvantage that the advertising Blinds usually on the passive waiting participant mer without significant advertising impact, d. H. without the affected Participants internalized the advertising message, more or passes less noticed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved Procedure of the above Kind and an improved device of the o.g. Kind to provide which the above Eliminate disadvantages.

The present invention is further intended to contribute to simple and legal way of using the medium phone for advertising to develop better and more effectively.

This task is accomplished by a procedure of the above. Kind with the method steps specified in claim 1 and by a Device of the above Kind with the marked in claim 7 neten characteristics solved.

The following steps are provided according to the invention in a method of the type mentioned above:

• (a) Accepting a telephone connection as the paying agent Participants with the first participant,  
• (b) Conducting a promotional conversation with the first part taker,
• (c) Forwarding questions to the first participant Lich the advertising meeting and answer just held by the first participant,
• (d) passing a free sign to the first participant more if this answers the questions from step (c) correctly answered
• (e) Record a second phone number of the desired one second participant, which the first participant enters,
• (f) Dial the second phone number, and
• (g) Establishing a connection between the first part participant and the second participant.

This has the advantage that a telephone connection between Participants can be made without this connection for a fee for any of the participants have to be. The first participant can, for example Public change without change or phone card Use a phone or a phone abroad with little effort make a call, without change in the appropriate currency or have a corresponding foreign calling card have to. The first participant also has the advertising message in his mind, since he was talking about the right answer Follow the words of the following questions carefully and then actively answering the questions must become. The telephone connection cannot be made by just one public telephone, but also from a very nor paint landline, z. B. from home or from an office made from.

Further developments of the method are preferably shown in FIGS Claims 2 to 6 described.

The advertising interview is expediently carried out in step (b) with respect to a predetermined product and preferably in person or automatically using an audio system.  

For a later billing or a selection of examples It is an advantage for people who are linging or having to make advertising calls liable if the first participant has an authentication or Enter the key code.

Instead of billing the first participant a statistical evaluation only by the first participant has a key code, for example for the branch of its activity or the purpose of the telephone call fes enters.

For a purely external financing of the telephone call oh ne to burden a participant with costs themselves, d. H. For a free call, after step (g) in predetermined ten intervals repeats steps (b) and (c), wherein the connection to the second party continues if the questions in step (c) were answered correctly. The For example, the topic or product of the promotional conversation using the aforementioned key code specifically for a be the right target audience is selected or is fixed.

The advertising calls take place in conventional telephone systems expediently only audible, they take place in videophones advantageously also audiovisually.

In a device of the above Type includes the device a means of conducting an interactive sales call with the first participant before connecting and / or during the connection with the second subscriber.

This has the advantage that a telephone connection between Participants can be made without this connection immediately charged for any of the participants must be or that by selecting a foreign network node least is cheaper with cheaper phone tariffs. For example, if the network node is in the vicinity of the first  Participant, then he pays a local ge talk, no matter where the second party is. Further the first participant remembers the advertising message, because he has to take part in the interactive interview.

Further developments of the device are preferably shown in FIGS Claims 8 to 14 described.

This is for the automated execution of the advertising conversation Means to conduct an interactive sales call Audio system.

Conveniently, the means for performing an in interactive advertising conversation a device for handing over ner product information, a device for dispensing Questions regarding the previous advertising interview and / or a facility for receiving responses to the previous questions. This leaves the corresponding part participant interactively in the advertising conversation and leads to a better memory effect regarding the advertising offer shaft.

To indicate the appropriate time for the first part The subscriber for dialing the second number includes the device also a means of transferring a free sign to the first participant. This does not have to be a real dial tone ner another, second telephone line, but can also a virtual one, generated by a telephone node itself Dial tone.

For a toll-free telephone connection, all or is partially funded by advertising revenue Device further includes a means for importing advertising divisions.  

The advertising takes place in conventional telephone systems Recordings are only audible, in videophones they are also advantageously carried out audiovisually.

To free the first participant during the phone call Keeping charges is the first preferred phone number assign a toll-free phone number.

The invention based on the attached drawing nations explained in more detail. These show in

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a connection between two subscribers rule over a telephone network node and

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of a production of a telephone connection with advertising talk.

For example, a first subscriber 10 would like to make a telephone call with subscriber 18 free of charge. This scenario is explained in more detail below with reference to FIG. 1.

The first subscriber 10 selects a switching center or a direct switch 12 in Germany or abroad. The connection between subscriber 10 and network node 12 is established via a line 14, for example by means of a free access number of a public network operator, such as Deutsche Telekom AG. The first subscriber 10 thus dials a toll-free access number such as. B. 0130.. . . etc. to get to the node 12 . It should also be borne in mind that the connection can be established not only by means of a toll-free access number from a public network operator, but also via lines from a private domestic or foreign telephone network operator or Internet providers, e.g. B. Viag InterKom, Veba-Com u. Like., namely on their toll-free access number.

As soon as there is a successful connection 14 between subscriber 10 and node 12 , there is an advertising call, as will be described in more detail below, and subscriber 10 then receives another dial tone. Now subscriber 10 can enter a desired telephone number in order to reach a second subscriber 18 . The node 12 evaluates this telephone number and while subscriber 10 maintains the free connection to node 12 , node 12 establishes a second connection to subscriber 18 . This connection is also free of charge for both subscribers 10 and 18 , so that neither of them incurs telephone costs.

As soon as the second connection 16 has been successfully established, the node 12 automatically connects the participants 10 and 18 to one another. If a connection between participant 18 and node 12 does not come about, for example because the device is occupied by participant 18 , participant 10 can either dial another number or end the connection 14 between themselves and node 12 .

If a successful telephone connection 20 is established between the two subscribers 10 and 18 , who carries out further advertising calls at predetermined intervals during this telephone connection 20 , which was switched or merged by nodes 12 . Instead, commercials 22 , 24 can also be inserted into the virtual connection 20 , which can be heard by subscribers 10 and 12 or are also visible on video telephones. These advertising plays 22 , 24 or advertising conversations take place in the virtual line 20 through nodes 12 automatically or in person using an operator.

Fig. 2 shows an exemplary flow chart of the sequence during an inventive method for imparting free telephone calls. The method starts in a first step 26 and a check is carried out in a step 28 to determine whether there is a call, for example, from the first subscriber 10 ( FIG. 1).

As soon as this is the case, a code is requested in step 30 . This query is optional and can also be omitted. It is used, for example, to authenticate the caller or simply as a selection criterion for advertising spots or advertising calls, which is explained in more detail below. In a loop while the code query, a query step 32 is advantageously inserted, which checks whether the caller has not been reprinted.

In step 64 there is an advertising conversation, followed by questioning the first participant in step 66 . The advertising speech or the topic or the product about which the conversation is conducted can preferably be selected in a step 60 on the basis of the code number entered from step 30 . If the question or questions relating to the advertising conversation are answered incorrectly, the conversation is ended in step 68 .

In a subsequent step 34 , the caller is then given a dial tone. The subsequent query step 36 , whether the connection is disconnected, is intended to prevent the caller from being waited for in step 38 , although the caller may have already hung up. Such a query is expediently also implemented in step 38 itself.

In step 40 , the telephone number entered by the caller in step 38 is dialed on a further separate line and a connection is established to a corresponding subscriber with this telephone number. If the connection establishment was unsuccessful, step 42 initiates a return to step 34 "give dial tone" and the caller has another opportunity to enter a telephone number or to terminate the connection to node 12 .

If the connection establishment was successful, step 42 switches to a further step 44 in which the two subscribers previously only connected to the telephone network node 12 ( FIG. 1) are now connected to one another to carry out a telephone conversation.

In a subsequent step 46 it is checked whether a certain time has expired and in a further step 48 it is checked whether the connection has been disconnected from the subscribers. This then causes a return to the first step 26 .

If it is determined in step 46 with an existing telephone connection between the two subscribers that a predetermined time has expired, then step 46 initiates a jump to steps 60 , 62 , 64 and 66 , after which further advertising talks, as described above, are carried out. Instead, one can also be selected and imported from a number of predefined commercials. This selection is made, for example, based on the code entered in step 30 . If this code corresponds to a specific branch of the caller, a specific commercial or a specific advertising conversation can be selected which has this branch as a target group. This is optional. Alternatively, commercials or advertising talks can also be recorded without code evaluation according to a rigid scheme.

This can be done as often as you like, however, a limit of, for example, a maximum of five advertising recordings can also be set. Furthermore, the immediate termination of the connection after incorrectly answering one or more questions in steps 66 and 68 is optional. A predetermined number of questions may also be answered incorrectly until jumping from step 66 to step 68 to disconnect, or the participants are given a waiting time of 5 to 15 seconds to say goodbye until one is announced The connection is disconnected.

In return, that the subscriber 10 or both subscribers 10 and 18 listen to these or other subsequent commercials or advertising calls and answer the questions asked correctly or tolerate an interruption of their conversation, the network node 12 provides a free telephone connection 20 between the two Participants 10 and 18 available.

This takes place, for example, in that subscriber 10 connects 14 via a sogn. has produced a toll-free telephone number, so that a telephone network operator who does not have to be identical with the operator of the network node 12 but charges the fees at the network node 12 . The two te compound 16 to subscriber 18 th directly from Kno paid 12 because the node has 12 self-produced this conventional call by dialing. So both participants 10 and 18 remain free of fees.

Reference list

10th

first participant

12th

Telephone network node

14

first phone line

16

second telephone line

18th

second participant

20th

virtual connection

22

Commercials

24th

Commercials

26

Step: start

28

Step: call?

30th

Step: code?

32

Step: Disconnected?

34

Step: give a dial tone

36

Step: Disconnected?

38

Step: Record an entry for the second phone number

40

Step: Dial the second telephone number on a separate line and establish a connection

42

Step: successful connection establishment?

44

Step: connect

46

Step: Has a predetermined time expired?

48

Step: Disconnected?

50

Step: Select the commercial according to the code number

52

Step: Import the commercial into the telephone line

60

Step: Select a sales call

62

Step: Conduct a sales call

64

Step: answer questions

66

Step: Questions answered correctly?

68

Step: disconnect

Claims (14)

1. A method for switching telephone calls from at least one first calling party to at least one second desired party, characterized by the following steps,

• (a) accepting a telephone connection as a fee-paying subscriber with the first subscriber,
• (b) conducting an advertising conversation with the first participant,
• (c) forwarding questions to the first participant regarding the advertising conversation that has just taken place and answering this by the first participant,
• (d) passing on a free sign to the first participant if he has answered the questions from step (c) correctly,
• (e) recording a second telephone number of the desired second subscriber, which the first subscriber enters,
• (f) Dial the second phone number and
• (g) Establishing a connection between the first subscriber and the second subscriber.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the advertising conversation in step (b) regarding a agreed product is done. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the advertising meeting in step (b) in person or auto is done by means of an audio system. 4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims,  characterized in that after step (a) the first participant authenticates code or key code. 5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that after step (g) at predetermined time intervals Steps (b) and (c) are repeated, the Ver loyalty to the second subscriber is continued if the questions in step (c) were answered correctly. 6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the advertising conversation is only acoustic or audiovisual follows. 7. A device for switching telephone calls from at least a first calling subscriber ( 10 ) to at least a second desired subscriber ( 18 ), the phone call being free of charge for the first and the second subscriber, characterized in that the device is a means for carrying out a interactive advertising conversation with the first participant before connecting and / or during the connection with the second participant comprises. 8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that the means of executing an interactive ad speech is an audio system.   9. The device according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the means of executing an interactive ad speak a device for dispensing a product formation includes. 10. The device according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the means of executing an interactive ad speak a facility for submitting questions Lich of the previous advertising conversation. 11. The device according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the means of executing an interactive ad speeches a facility for receiving responses to the previous questions. 12. The device according to one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that the device further comprises a means for passing on a Free character to the first participant. 13. Device according to one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the device further comprises a means for importing advertising messages ( 22 , 24 ). 14. Device according to one of claims 7 to 13, characterized in that commercials ( 22 , 24 ) are only audible or audiovisual.